The Politics of the SUPER BOWL?

We took the time to add a little zip to our two favorite pasttimes: football and politics. But, I didn't want to sway the results - just a primer on who to root for if you're angling for a politically correct team - regardless of your politics.

One would think that a classic Super Bowl rivalry match-up between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers would be conservative heaven... but not so fast! The key factors, when broken down, often can tell a different tale.

Take a read of the poster we created and let us know if we didn't hit the perfect mix between conservative and liberal — "liberative," you might say. Just remember, whichever side you choose, cheer loudly and often — it's what our football, and our democracy, was founded upon.

20/20 Brand Vision

You've got to get this right...

Branding is not your logo. Brand strategy is not a marketing plan. Brand vision isn't what others think of you.

Brand Vision is having a clear picture (shared with your employees) as to the company you WILL BE 10 years from now.  That leads you beyond a single product line or a cool new package. It transforms your business into thinking strategically, and not just as a collection of tactics.  You can say "yes" or "no" to new opportunities because you will have a simply defined benchmark from which to judge.

"We'll be the household name in backyard gardening."
"Our products will be synonymous with luxury."
"We will become the most trusted brand in local marketplaces."

No where is there is a "HOW?" That's brand strategy, not vision. But, if you and your team are not in agreement with the larger goal, you will constantly work against each other vying for an uptick in sales off of tactics that are hit-or-miss at best.

Take the second sample above (synonymous with luxury)... were this company offered the opportunity to merge with a larger, but low-price competitor, should they take the deal?  The answer should be, "No."  How could the cut-rate competitor add to their vision? However, if a new product area opened up in a high-end market, should they consider entering it , — even if they don't have much experience? The answer should be, "Yes." They may still not choose to do so, but the exercise remains consistent. 

Think of Apple. iTunes saved it. Apple has stood for "cutting edge technology with stunning aesthetics" in everything they do. They now own music downloads as a by-product of the introduction of an entirely new category. If they only saw themselves as a computer manufacturer, they would have never worked on the R&D of transforming Flash drives into music machines. The scope of the product lines Apple works on are quite diverse, but their brand vision remains true. We all can learn from this - regardless of budget.

So where do you begin? Here's the exercise:

1) Who are you now? In short, how would your typical customer describe you, what you do and what you do for them?
2) What should they be saying about you?
3) What kind of company/brand will you have in a decade? Again, in short, not specifically a marketshare question, but an emotional one.  Who will you be?

Once answered — and they're not easy to answer... you'll be well on your way toward saving your company years of frustration and even more wasted investment.  The more fractured your brand is, the more you have to spend to keep it a float. The cool part is, the more cohesive it is, the farther (whatever money you spend) will go towards achieving your goals.

The Cartoons That Made Me Who I Am Today

My formative years were the 60's and 70's. I know, to my kids, that makes me a dinosaur. And yet, as they mature into collegiate know-it-alls, I begin to see the that the years of my youth were not wasted. My knowledge of TV sitcoms, movies and maybe most of all, cartoons of that era, has provided the conduit to connect past to present in ways that today's shows just can't match.

Today, after school... after football, tennis, Irish dance or detention, my kids never sit down to watch television — they jump on the computer or the Xbox when I haven't hidden the controller well enough). Having the ability to jump to whatever show, video or level you want to is incredibly empowering, but misses out on the joy of gaining a widespread knowledge of completely useless information serendipitously.


For those that wish to walk down memory lane, I give you...

The original "pre-school"... in which if you beat mom's alarm, you might watch a little TV before school, like:

6:30 Gumby & Pokey — Clamation at it's finest. You knew it was for little kids, but there was a creepiness to it that kept you watching.
7:00 Carmen & Clancy — With Frosted Flakes or Rice Krispies, how could you go wrong when a Little Rascals episode came on or share a few jokes with Roundhouse.
7:30 meant off to school — but if you were sick, you might channel change your way through a little Romper Room (I know, it was forbidden, but you still wanted to see if they might call your name) or even Captain Kangaroo. The only good part was when they dropped the ping pong balls on Mr. Moose... but still.

When you got off the bus from school, you plopped down in front of the TV with your 5 channels and an hour and a half to kill before dinner: your prime time.

3:30 The Flintstones — If you got the short bus ride (because they traded off each week as to which route to go), you might catch the entire episode. "That Barney Rubble, what an actor."

4:00 Gilligan's Island — This show alone may have provided more one liners for my life than any other, save Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail. "Speedy, speedy, speedy."
4:30 Brady Bunch — Never one of my favorites, but you had to work through it to get to the 5:00 hour. But watching Marcia strut her stuff tickled me in ways I did not, as yet, understand.
5:00 Hogan's Heroes — The stuff of legend. Who knew that WWII could be so much fun? You'd practically have given yourself to the Germans to be in on Col. Hogan's hi-jinx.

But then, you waited for Saturday like it was Christmas. Mom and dad slept in, and on a good day, Saturday chores might not start until 10:30 or later.


7:00 Rocky & Bullwinkle — By the time I got to it, it had lost it's place as a top tier show... but it was always top tier. And think of the importance of Mr. Peabody in your life, eh?
7:30 The Jetsons — The mirror to the Flintstones... in space. Judy was a babe and Astro was the dog you'd kill for.
8:00 The Bugs Bunny Show — Ahh, the classics. How can you go wrong with Wile E. Coyote, Foghorn Leghorn or Yosemite Sam? From "taking a wrong turn in Albaquerque" to "Yoiks and away!", my kids have become wise to the shear genius of the power one voice can have in Mel Blanc. I'll also have know, much to the chagrin of my wife, that my entire knowledge of opera has been influenced by Bugs and the boys from Warner Bros.
9:00 The Herculoids — The weaker brother to Space Ghost, but the premise of a prehistoric alien family facing danger at every turn with the help of a fire breathing dragon, a rock ape and a couple of giant marshmallows was still great fun.
9:30 Space Ghost — Every kid tried his hand at being Space Ghost on the playground. Who wouldn't? Lava monsters? Get outta here.
10:00 Scooby Doo — I have had or owned over five Great Danes. Need I say more?
10:30 Jonny Quest — The king of cartoons. Everything that had gone before was mere child's play compared to this masterpiece. It was the show that treated you as if you were an adult. Mature themes, animation styles, the coolest jet plane and kids that might actually be like you. You wanted to be smart like Dr. Quest, brave like Race, mysterious like Hadji and as lucky as Jonny. And no, I didn't forget about Bandit... but I have yet to call a dog of mine by this name. Hmmm.

Like today's kids, the fun can go on too long. One needs discipline. Dad's chores were waiting, but occasionally you'd throw caution to the wind and settle in for more. Too bad, the good stuff was over after Jonny's plane sailed through the clouds. Stay later and you'd likely get into stuff you hoped would be good, but would never satisfy, like: H.R. Puff-n-Stuff or The Land of the Lost. 

Great lessons for us all.

------

Take this little quiz:

Here are your answers (don't scroll past here if you wish to test yourself honestly):




1) Scooby Doo 2) Marvin the Martian 3) Hong Kong Phooey 4) Jace, Jan & Blip 5) Dr. Zin 6) Igoo

What Happened to October?

Do as I say, 

not as I do.

No posts in October... how bad is that?

When you take up a blog, the idea to gain a following for it is to actually post something in a predictable fashion. No such luck for me... then again, it isn't luck, is it? So without fanfare, apologies or, for that matter, shame — I submit to you a humble post, but well worth your reading:

10 practical tips for living a truly happy life:
1) Eat whatever you like - only in moderation... except at Thanksgiving.
     Go big!
2) Stop waiting for perfection... accept 75% successes.
     It's OK, and you'll get more done.
3) Get involved in something larger than yourself —
     people will like you.
4) When you "work on yourself", don't take it too seriously.
     If you do, they won't like you.
5) Play hard, but don't "Super Bowl" it...
     unless you are actually in the Super Bowl.
6) Figure out what you'd actually fight for,
     but don't throw the first punch.
7) Do a favor for someone everyday.
8) Open doors for others and smile.
9) Try something new once a month.
10) Find your passions and live in them everyday...
       even if for a moment.
11) Get involved positively with kids. Your own or somebody elses'.
      — it doesn't really matter.
12) Seek out magic in the real world.
      You'd be amazed at how much is out there.

Managing Mr. Big Ideas

A query came across my desk..."How do you manage the 'creative genius'?" The implication being: they're too disorganized, their ego is too big and they seldom get their paperwork in, much less on time. 

First of all, let me clarify my position...    "I am THAT guy."

Today, I run my own company, and, I suspect, your "genius" has similar designs someday. That said, he's on your team now and is disrupting the normal workings of the company, despite all the good he can do by the speed of his intellect or a talent he possesses. These kinds of people don't live in the same boxes as the rest of your employees, nor do they see their contributions in the same ways. They love to focus on the brilliance of their ideas, forgetting that the execution of it is most important to legitimate success. And, they would see a failing of their idea as the product of someone else's inaction, and not their own.

Discipline (shame, fear, intimidation) seldom works for these guys. Why? Because they'll see a superiority position OVER the disciplinarian. They may be recoiling on the outside, but on the inside, they're thinking, "If you were so smart, why didn't you come up with the idea yourself?"

The way you need to handle this person is with education — but that's putting it mildly. The kind of education this person needs, and the kind you have to give needs to be just as ingenious as this person's wit. Telling them that their paperwork is crucial to the effort will fall on deaf ears and idle hands. They'll see nothing crucial about sending off the communication to their co-workers, the harm in not booking their time on the project... they live far too often at the center of their own universe. You'll need to jump into that center and shake it up a bit.

Play to their pride, their ego and their intellect.

Tell them that it's not enough to have the idea. Their ideas and designs need to be handled in such a way, that anyone on the team can grasp what they have to offer. Their "job" is not just to be brilliant, but to make the work around their idea just as brilliant. "What good is the great design if we can't bill for it?" Accounting needs to know. "The trade show idea is awesome, but you're going to need 10 people to pull it off, right?" Set up a team e-mail to let them know how awesome it's going to be.  "You idea was crucial to winning that piece of business, but we're going to lose it if we're not on time." You've got to take care of your AE.

Set up a check list.

If you let a task go too long, it's gone. Is their a project list, and can a box be checked? Are those boxes chronological? Something this simple can be a real help. People who can fill up a blank sheet of paper with ingenious thoughts and designs, seldom see a start and stop to their work. They're on to the next thought. Give them an official box to check —literally. It will be their "I have made fire" moment.

Do it now.

Creative people may often be disorganized, but they typically are good at playing "hot-potato".  In your correspondence, don't allow latitude on executable ideas or tasks. Be specific (we understand deadlines - you just know that the creative will use every last second of it - so "cheat" a little and demand your deadline an hour to a day in advance) and give a clear direction of what and where something has to go. By doing so, you'll allow them to work within a framework that's comfortable for them and you may actually find some peace in your work place.

When all else fails...

Have them explain how their 2% inspiration is going to make a 100% success. Honestly. They most likely see the brilliance of their own thought. They may think that it's enough for something to succeed. You know that just isn't the case, but it hasn't been their job to truly understand that fact. They can and they must. Giving them ownership of the full process may get them to cow-tow a bit better to the hard work of the paper work and communication that should accompany every project running through your company.

...or maybe they'll simply hang out their own shingle, in which case, they're no longer your problem, and you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that they are paying their penance because they finally have to manage the whole process themselves.

Social Media to the Rescue?

Yesterday, the tools of "social media" made an indelible mark on me. When a friend's in trouble, you react with whatever tools are available to you... and what struck me funny last night, is that the first place I turned to when I heard of her predicament was Facebook and LinkedIn.

Her day started with the curious sounds of mooing...

Turns out that the 6 inches of rain that had fallen the night before had caused the peaceful Rush River to swell into a monster, rising 8 feet and sweeping away a herd of cows returning back to their barn for milking. As her basement filled with water, she wondered what could be done, where the rescue, if any, was coming from and how she was going to get through the day with her son. Apparently, she had time enough to snap a couple of photos and post them to her Facebook page.

Her friends commented how tragic it was and offered her comforting words of encouragement. But, eating, breathing and sleeping marketing often makes one take different steps in light of such an event. If she was going to get some help, she needed attention — right away.

I'd put on my hip boots and jump in my Suburban to help, trouble was, I live 300 miles away. Yet what I had seen and read of the events of her day was a news story. Press coverage of her situation, and that of her neighbors, should only be made better if a news crews were on hand to shed some light on the slow tragedy that floods render.

But who do I know in the media somewhere near her farm?

Having lived in the area as a kid, I knew that all of the press coverage comes from the Twin Cities. I immediately checked into LinkedIn and searched WCCO, KARE, KMSP and the StarTribune Newspaper. To my surprise, one of KARE's reporters is a high school classmate of mine. He was even an existing Facebook friend — I just didn't know he was a reporter! I fired off a story tip for him on LinkedIn and Facebook hoping that he might check one of them (Facebook, BTW, won the day).

Meanwhile, others saw some of these posts and offered up their suggestions. We found a staff writer at the StarTribune and passed the same story tip on to him via the same channels.

Not more than 10 minutes later, I received confirmation that KARE-TV was packing their cameras and heading East to cover the story for TV and online.

My friend's TV & press report.
A competitor station picked up the story.
The Milwaukee Paper grabs the story.
And is finally picked up by the AP in the Chicago Tribune.

Social media is immediate, connective and viral. It's very hard to manufacture a viral chain of events, but if the story is honest and strong, you'll get traction. From fads to floods, crazes to cows, social media offers immediate impressions if you can put together the proper pieces.

As I write this, the waters are receding, but the damage done is significant. It's gratifying to know that I could play a part in getting others to care and provide some assistance, but now I'm left with the notion, "What's next?" Alerting people to the problems that our friends and neighbors face is important, but an actionable plan and real recovery are still in need. 

Social media doesn't have a tool for that yet... but, I'm working on it.

Do you have any suggestions? I'd be happy to hear them.

How to Brand Better than McDonalds

The McDonald's golden "m"... can any brand identity be better than that?

Most likely, no.

What does it mean? Cheap hamburgers? Great french fries? Happy Meals? Mick-anythings? If you have a child, that golden M means only one thing: toys. You did realize that the largest distributor of toys in the world is McDonalds? Well it is. And anyone charged with chauffeuring toddlers around in their mini-vans and SUVs knows that if they don't want to go to Mickey-D's for lunch, they better start distracting junior as they race by.

Amazing - a child that does not even know what the alphabet is, can discern what that "m" means. Now that's branding!

But when Dick and Mac McDonald first founded McDonald's (as a BBQ car hop)in 1940, the logo wasn't the golden arches - it was a funny little baker-dude who later turned into the "burgerman" cartoon who then became Mayor McCheese. The golden arches weren't invented until architect Stanley Meston designed them into the modern day founder Ray Kroc's Des Plaines, Illinois franchise. It really wasn't until the 1960's that McDonalds recognized that their golden arches was actually an "m" and until 1969 to actually promote it. You can almost see Ray driving by one of his restaurants and watching those golden arches turn into an "M". Guess it just goes to show you that the genius of inventing a better way to buy, cook, and sell hamburgers is more important than the genius behind the logo.

That being said, how much further and faster would the brand have traveled had they recognized what they had from the very start? Happy Meals weren't invented until 1979! How many kids (aka families) did they miss from 1953 to 1979? Quite literally, millions.

The point is, you have an opportunity — right from the start — to recognize what you have in your brand and utilize it in every piece of marketing you create. Do so, and you maximize the profit potential from every marketing dollar you spend. And what if you don't? Well, if you recognize that your brand is greater than your logo, you could well be on your way just the same - just not as smartly or as profitably. McDonalds didn't know what they had, but forged ahead just the same and became one of the world's greatest companies.

So here's your chance to outshine Ronald McDonald and all of his friends. Start by seeing your own golden "m".