Skateboarding has always represented “the restless soul of suburban youth.” Growing up in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, skateboarding was a daily part of my life. It was my transportation, my sport of choice, my social doorway and my creative canvas (both in the way I skated and the way I chose to decorate my board).

As I have grown older and matured in my tastes, skateboarding has also grown older and matured – from an underground activity that kids undertook when the surf was poor to a multi-million dollar marketing tool that is now an international sport. Yes, it is now a sport, with competitions, sponsorships and legitimate athletes.

Part of my psyche cringes at this realization. Something that felt so personal and my own is now universal and accessible by the masses. What was once misunderstood by everyone under a certain age and social status (i.e. my parents and teachers), is now just another media darling and merchandising juggernaut.

It is in this moment of despair that I find a new view on my love of skateboarding. Of all the unlikely places for skateboarding to take hold, East Africa takes the cake. In the Republic of Uganda sits Kitintale Skate, the only skatepark in Africa. It is handmade in a not too dissimilar fashion to the way my friends and I would make them when we were young. The ramps are created from the unused scraps of the local terrain. In true skater fashion, they are graffitied, taking on a life and personality of their own. Because of their uniqueness, they attract the local neighborhood kids, onlookers and strange gazes. This is skateboarding at its core. Being different because you are, embracing what you love, taking a chance and making it happen because it’s in your nature. Skateboarding is still the “restless soul of youth”, but it is no longer confined to suburbia.

Photography credits: Yann Gross (http://www.yanngross.com/kitintale.htm)

I’ve always likened the Operations team here at LEVEL Studios to the pit crew on a Formula 1 racing team. Our job is to get the optimal performance out of the race car that is LEVEL. We are constantly improving our tools and teamwork to “maximize” the agency’s ability to win and stay competitive in the marketplace. However, (insert BS Bingo bean here) “at the end of the day,” our job is to make sure the agency meets its margin target and operates efficiently across 3 geographically disparate studios, dozens of projects and multiple clients. But who cares? We just want to ogle the portfolio! That’s the stuff that gets awards and lets the Executive Creative Director stand up in front of a big crowd holding the Webby trophy and pose with sexy podium girls while the marketing team fields inquiries from prospective clients the next day. So in comparison, who wants to talk about efficiency and margin when we can look at really cool websites and hot new mobile apps?

It is our ability to operate efficiently that allows the agency to innovate and take risks. Say what? Efficiency does have a sexy side (and not just for investors and the Ops team). This is a business that supports the livelihood of over 130 employees and their families in the communities where we work. For that reason alone, we have a responsibility to run this place right.

LEVEL operates out of its own cash flow and has no debt. That means we HAVE to meet our revenue and margin targets. It is really about being able to forecast your future. Here is a simple real world example. As an individual, you have a paycheck (Revenue), and you have expenses (Cost of Goods and Overhead) and, with a little luck, some savings (Margin). Your savings is your financial cushion, which allows you the ability to buy a new car, take a vacation or (yikes) survive if you get laid off. If you are providing for a family, that cushion is even more critical, so you have to be diligent every month to make sure your are getting paid, managing your expenses and putting a little something away. At LEVEL, that cushion lets our management team breathe more easily, allowing us to green light more R&D or go crazy with a brand that inspires us.

On the flip side, innovation can also improve our efficiency. Like Formula 1, new cutting edge technologies like safer tires, traction control and carbon composite materials are vetted on the track before making their way into your family car. We are building interactive frameworks, code libraries and other ways of approaching today’s digital challenges that make us better, faster and more efficient next time around.

Efficiency is all about consistency, predictability and repetition, where innovation calls for risk, serendipity and experimentation. Efficiency can reliably pay the bills, and innovation feeds the sales pipeline and inspires our team. Finding the right balance keeps the LEVEL engine humming. See you on the track!

Some of the most identifiable, memorable and valuable brands are also some of the simplest. They can be defined by the quality or value of the product or by the promise of how they will change the buyers’ life in some way (i.e. shoes that will make them run faster; a drink that will make them a better athlete). No matter how complex or technical the product or services may be, these brands can define their value proposition simply and concisely.

One of my favorite brands, Patagonia, defines themselves with one promise: a simpler lifestyle. They have set themselves apart from other outdoor apparel manufacturers with the brand promise that buying and wearing Patagonia clothing is one step towards living a simpler lifestyle. Patagonia’s “simple lifestyle” promise is further reinforced by these messages: they have quality product, are environmentally conscious and promote active lifestyles in nature.

Quality Product: You need fewer items of clothing, and the ones you do have will last longer, allowing for simpler living.

Environmentally Conscious: Reduce waste in your life and do your part to use minimal resources. If you’re going to buy a product, support a company that gives money back to preserve the resources you need. Supporting a company that reduces waste whenever possible is one way people can at least feel like they are living more simply.

Active Lifestyles: A simple lifestyle often leads to pursuits in nature (climbing rocks and sleeping on the ground is as simple as life gets). Patagonia’s quality and environmental messages become more relevant as people enjoy outdoor activities because nobody likes equipment that fails, and people appreciate nature more when they are in it.

As brands try to define their value offering, it can be difficult to create one message that will truly capture the essence of the brand. A good place for brands to start is by asking their customers why they buy and focusing on the emotional triggers. Be prepared to do a bit of analysis of your findings as people don’t always know the exact reason they like a brand or purchase it. Once you’ve aggregated your findings, try to whittle it down to one sentence: your brand promise.

People are undoubtedly getting busier in the fast paced world we live in, resulting in less time for themselves and their health. Products are in development everyday to accommodate these changing trends in modern lifestyles.

Over the past decade, there has been a rise in ways that technology is being incorporated into clothing. With sales of performance-based clothing increasing rapidly, you’ll be seeing more and more of them in the future. The industry is said to reach 700 million by 2010 (according to Military and Aerospace Electronics magazine).

From jackets equipped with built-in speakers and iPod controls, to RECCO avalanche recovery systems, footwear that records your workout and undergarments that “break down” cellulite – the fashion and technology worlds have increasingly melded together to provide new solutions for the end consumer.

In the not too distant future, I predict products that have built-in cooling features, deodorizers, moisturizers and vitamins. Long-term, products could consist of circuits and sensors that provide all of the typical electronics we carry around today, like mobile phones and PDAs. Most interesting to me are the products with health benefits, clothing that can fight off sickness and smart bras that can detect breast cancer.

Who says fashion’s not important to the well-being of the world? Soon it may be our wardrobes that are feeding us, monitoring our health, giving us our daily vitamins and making sure we sleep 8 hours through the night. It would sure help me get more things done…