The blog of Ready State, a creative agency

How to generate ideas like a creative team

You don’t have to be a creative genius to come up with good ideas. You can take these steps, one by one.

By Ian Clazie, Executive Creative Director  |  May 26, 2016
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A trail of words: Literary life in North Beach

The Beats and beyond. From Trieste to Vesuvio, The Godfather to The Dharma Bums, Coppola to Kerouac, take a poetic tour of Ready State’s San Francisco neighborhood.

By Curt Hopkins, Managing Editor  |  May 12, 2016
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On second thought, don’t think like a publisher

Producing great content is nothing like manufacturing SpaghettiOs. The best ingredients, tools, and metrics of success change frequently.

By Derek Slater, Content Director  |  Apr 28, 2016
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Planning with the Magic Seven

When developing a marketing plan, we adjust these variables to make sure we’re doing everything we can to deliver results. Here’s the Magic Seven.

By Katherine Ogburn, Director of Strategy  |  Apr 14, 2016
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Of flying books, pianos, and appliances

Sculptural artist Brian Goggin’s imaginative installations light up corners of several San Francisco neighborhoods, including Ready State’s.

By Pearly Tan, Multimedia Journalist  |  Mar 31, 2016
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What I love about working at a small agency

It’s the people, the work, and the culture. Being lean means being flexible, collaborative, and creative. It also means having a greater ability to generate and swiftly act on great ideas.

By Ayaz Lakhani, Senior Strategist  |  Mar 17, 2016
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A fresh approach to the professional bio

Professional bios should be “on brand” (and ideally entertaining). They should also make their subjects happy. In creating website bios for a client, we learned more about what bringing a journalistic approach to marketing means in practice.

By Ben Worthen, Editor in Chief  |  Mar 3, 2016
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Let’s take a moment to discuss moments

Marketers need to consider the nonlinearity of customers' experience, meeting them with the right message at the right moment.

By Katherine Ogburn, Director of Strategy  |  Feb 18, 2016
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Was our North Beach office really ever a barn?

We at Ready State have discovered that “The Barn” was once a nightclub featured in a 1950s film noir, and it hosted a famous sculptor and an influential magazine editor.

By Pearly Tan, Multimedia Journalist  |  Feb 11, 2016
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If you only watch one video reel today make sure it's this one!

Check out the latest video reel from Ready State, showcasing our storytelling work from the last few months.

By Ben Worthen, Editor in Chief  |  Feb 8, 2016
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