Could you imagine this happening 5 years ago?: An artist takes samples and clips from over 300 songs and combines them into one 70 minute track. Not only is it good, but it’s good enough to spread all over the internet to the point where his website is crashing from all of the traffic.

Then because a group of people love the music so much, they want to turn it into something of their own. But that costs money, so they decide to crowdsource it–and it worked really well. They raised way beyond their targeted goal ($24k) and are able to remix a remix.

There are two revolutions happening. A remix revolution where we are taking each others ideas, tweaking them and building upon them. That’s always been happening, but never at this scale and speed. And the market for everything. Kickstarter is making it possible for the weird to meet the weird and get their projects funded (plenty of normal people on it too). You don’t need permission, but just enough initiative to get a beta out there to the people waiting to be connected to you.

The first installment of a Kickstarter campaign I helped fund was released today. Girl Walk All Day is a 70 minute music video based off Girl Talk’s “All Day” album, funded entirely through Kickstarter. Enjoy

We don’t care that you released a new app.

We don’t care you want us to like you on Facebook.

We don’t care about your new promotion.

We don’t care that you “really value” our feedback so you need us to fill out a survey.

We don’t care about your email blast with a “special” offer.

We don’t care  that you’re the next Facebook/Twitter/Foursquare/Tumblr.

We don’t care that you just got a 2nd round a VC funding.

We don’t care about retweeting your latest sales pitch.

We don’t care about your big launch date.

We Don’t Care About You.

All we care about is that you’re telling us a story that matches our vision of the world. That with you, we can get where we want to go with a little more ease, simplicity, and maybe excitement. All we want is you to lead us where we want to go.

Trader Joe’s is brilliant. I’m not sure how many other grocery stores do this, but Trader Joe’s is the only one I’ve seen.

(Reads: Top on an ice cream sundae!)

The question you ask yourself while grocery shopping, consciously or not, before buying anything is “What would I use this for?” Most of the time we don’t even think about it because we have a shopping list or something is just an impulse item. But then there is the inevitable casual browsing.

When looking at most items, I won’t be thinking to myself “What can I use that for?” Instead, I’ll  just notice it without any thought. It would be impossible and exhausting to think about each product I see. But Trader Joe’s plants an answer to the necessary question you must ask yourself before buying something.

Maybe you want the pomegranate seeds for a salad instead of a sundae, but you at least have an idea to jump from now. And for most people, the first idea is the hardest.

This also helps the buyer form a story. Instead of just buying pomegranate seeds, they’re buying a topping for a sundae. Maybe they’ll use it for their kid’s birthday party coming up.

When it comes to shopping and probably life, people generally opt for the path of least resistance. Amazon knows and executes on it extremely well. The less thought and effort the customer has to put into purchasing something, the more likely they are to buy it.

Trader Joe’s eliminates thinking, answers the necessary “buy” question, all while helping provide a better shopping experience.

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This is one of the most incredible videos I’ve seen this year. You can watch embedded below, but I’d recommend watching it in 1080 full screen.

The work and effort that went into producing the video is amazing:
22 months
1,357 hours
30 people
2 ladders
1 still camera
288,000 jelly beans

Everyone who worked on this video wasn’t doing it for the money, which was likely minimal. They did it because they wanted to create something amazing and be a part of something bigger.

Money can motivate people, but it’s never the best motivator. We all have the desire to be a part of something special. To be a part of a group that is backed with a mission.

Who is your company connecting? Is there a purpose to what your customers are doing? Or are they just buying from you because you’re the cheapest?