Image by BC (see below in post for further detail)

From the soon-to-be-updated website of my current employer (modified):

BRAND COMMITMENT™

How do you maximize it for your brand?

What does every marketer want?  A consumer who chooses their brand, spends more, and stays loyal. HTML Giant understands this consumer and can help shape their commitment as never before.

That’s because we see the purchase as a journey. Our role: to deliver communications that address the consumer’s needs and influence them every step of the way. LEARN MORE >

^ A book I found for one dollar at a thrift store on 23rd Street in Manhattan. And yet, it seems to cover some valuable ground.

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Deep dive (n/v):  To review something in extensive detail.

A: We’ve got a real problem. Our product quality and customer satisfaction have slipped.
B: Yes, I agree. Please give me a copy of all the information. I’m going to take a deep dive into the data over the weekend so that I can figure out the problem.

Source:

http://www.openenglishworld.com/business-jargon/business-jargon-to-take-a-deep-dive.html

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This morning, I was able to attend a meeting with the new CEO of my company. He is very agreeable and he had some comfronting things to say. For me, the two main points were:

1) Nobody would be laid off till January unless something really bad happens

2) Our business is something very complicated and nobody understands all of it AND this is somewhat intentional

Additional context which can be anticipated by anyone who follows business: our company has lost a lot of business this year. As a result – and because we are a publicly traded company REQUIRED BY LAW to make a profit – we laid off some people. Tears, stress, insomnia.

This all seems obvious to me, and I only showed up to meet with the CEO of out mild interest in his personality, and respect for the general process of corporate proceedings. A lot of people seemed very calmed by his words, explaining every obvious problem and possible solution to… relevant market forces. These people felt as if they were being given access to certain information, information which was in my estimation already freely available, even for juniors like myself. Rumors are loud and easy to hear even (especially) in a crowed bar.

His voice was calm in the meeting. He has worked in many agencies. He is reviewing our company, which he now calls “my company.” He is doing a deep dive. As am I, in a much more junior way.

Perhaps the corporation exists to diffuse information so that it can only be seen from certain executive offices? Look up to see the crimson tower, just across the street from the Ivory Tower. Certain people have more information, more control. This may not be a bad thing.

Some people at my work seemed very confused about the facts of the election, especially the electoral college.

I have noticed vague and damning neglect, or inexcusable dread.

I hope only that my executives are proficient.

http://artistsspace.org/exhibitions/bernadette-corporation/ – a recent exhibition in NYC about the willful incorporation of artist-marxists into the aesthetic formulations of corporate power structure. The eagerness of these young people to adapt the monolithic forms of corporate culture to their own needs is interesting to me. I admire a confrontation with the thing that seems furthest from good or correct or easy.

Another stated urban-art-marxist corporation in notable contrast to dominant forms