...and Action!

Being blessed with an imaginative brain can lead you to places you never expected. It's a constantly working muscle that flexes in ways that just can't be predicted. 

Need an idea? Got one.

Need another?  How about this...

...and so it goes.  Only one problem; that's the ability to simply jump in and begin the work AFTER the idea has been hatched.  You know, boots-to-the-pavement style?

The bane of "creatives" is that they get the 2% inspiration in spades, but often lack the drive to get the 98% perspiration into play.  Subsequently, some of the greatest ideas the world is in desperate need of will simply have to wait until another day, if ever.  It's not that idea-junkies don't mean well, but 100% of an idea without the will to execute (which means taking a chance on failure) means that you'll have 100% ownership of nothing.

You don't have to be a genius. Frankly, it's easier to pretend that you're a genius than simply being modestly good.

You see, ideas by their very nature are sexy. To put them into action, you actually have to work. (And) working isn't sexy, unless it actually produces a product that succeeds.  The truth is, "that ain't easy to do."  It's a lot easier to be the guy who simply dreams something up and leaves it to the shoemaker's elves to produce. If you don't want to do the work, you better be prepared to pay someone who can.

And therein, lies the rub.

Nothing comes for free - time, treasure or talent. Take your pick, often all three are necessary to achieve your vision. Having the idea, and not putting up your money is often a great gauge as to how bold of an idea you actually have.  If you think it can't miss, you'll be tempted to pony up.  If you hope for some schmuck to lend his hard-earned cash to the cause, you better have one hellluva pitch.

So what's a right brainer to do?

Go for small victories. 

1. Dream the dream.
2. Write it down. Make it clear.
3. Write an actionable plan to make it public.
4. Share it with someone who will hold you accountable.
5. Follow the plan.
6. Do. (and check a box)
7. Review 2 and repeat steps 3 through 6 as often as necessary.
8. Reap the rewards of an idea fully vested, implemented and offered to the public.

Box checked.

The finish line feels far off. In some cases, it might actually be — but, scoring a simple "victory" (i.e.: a box that can be checked off) is all that any of us need to feel like we're gaining ground and on a winning path.

Write it down. Make it official. Ask for a box to be checked and do everything you can to check it.  Creatives get that... and can do that.  Push it too far down the list and you're sure to become distracted and disinterested. Do that, and you're sure to come up with yet another idea that never makes it to the big screen.

QR Code Design Secret Revealed!

You've probably begun to notice odd UPC-like codes popping up online, in print ads, on posters and even on TV.  They're called QR codes. That's short for "quick response" code... something that Toyota actually invented back in 1994.  The cool part about the codes is that with a simple free iPhone app, your Smart phone can read them — which, in turn, transports you to the web page of your choice.

Although Toyota has the license on this, they have allowed it's free creation and usage at this point in time. Fantastic! So how can you get one for any address you'd like?  Just jump over to the Kaywa site and you'll have your own in about 60 seconds.

But what's the big secret?

Well, as it turns out, all of the little bits and bites of the design of these codes are not necessary. What that means is, is that you can add a few graphic elements to enhance your code and it's recall without affecting the delivery of your web page.  As you can see by the graphic found on Wikipedia, the scan really only needs to read a few key sections of this square.  The rest, is up to your designers to fiddle with. The cool part about that is that you can test its effectiveness instantly. Either you get to the page or your don't.

Need help developing your own?  I just happen to know of a design firm that can produce one for you, starting at $50 a pop.... just scan the code on this page to find out who it possibly could be!

Who really won the Super Bowl?

Check out the ad winners from the game...

Every year, big-budget TV commercials make their appearance during the world's most watched TV event. With 40,000,000 households across the U.S. viewing the game between the Packers and Steelers, advertisers shelled out nearly $3,000,000 for a single 30 second spot. For marketers, the pressure is on to craft an ad that has both lasting power (or buzz) AND produces the desired result - product/awareness/benefit recall from consumers.

So which brands really got some bang for their bucks?

Let's take a look:

Doritos "House Sitting" - A very funny spot that tells us, "Things come to life with Doritos." A product capable of re-incarnation HAS to be good. This gets high marks for product placement, involvement, humor and recall.  A




Pepsi Max's "Love Hurts" - The shock factor on this one helps the humor... a guilty pleasure to see the pain inflicted by his hovering wife.  I can't help but note however, that if the racial roles were reversed, this spot would have never made it on the airwaves.  The line "Zero calories. Maximum taste" clearly resonates. B+



Volkswagen's "The Force" - The most talked about spot (and wonderfully/wordlessly acted by a 6-year old boy in full Darth Vader garb) just cannot seem to muster the Force to animate the world around him... until he meets up with his dad's VW.  A tour de force, if you will, on how a cleverly crafted 60 second spot can be "leaked" online (to date, over 16,000,000 views) prior to the Super Bowl, for everyone to view a 30 second TV spot in game (that's a savings of $3MM). This is how you do it - only thing is, the product benefit of push button start is rather weak and you'll never remember for which vehicle make.  Great for overall VW recall, but not so great for the Passat.  A+ PR  |  A VW  |  C recall



Snicker's "Not Yourself" - The very best spot of last year (Betty White) was remade featuring the winey-ness of Rosanne Barr and Richard Lewis. Only thing is, we know what's coming - and Richard Lewis isn't well-enough known. It was the shock of an old actress getting close-lined last year that made, pardon the pun, such an impact.  This is funny, but not off the charts. Yet, the talk instantly recalls last year's spot as a comparison. I'm sure they thought it was a topper. It wasn't, not even close. But, do you recall that Snickers will pick you up? You bet.  C+ Ad  |  A 1 year-old recall




Chrysler "Imported from Detroit" - The most expensive media buy of the night was this one. A full 2 minutes of cinematic beauty. An Eminem score, with Slim Shady behind the wheel adds to the authenticity. An instant classic on how to address the biggest fears of your potential consumers is to replace their current thoughts with new, more enduring ones. Will folks buy American again from a company that was on it's deathbed?  Time will tell, but this is the bold punch in the mouth that should bring them out from a governmental shadow and into a re-birth of the Lee Iacocca era.  A attitude  |  C- in game placement (Should have paid for the first spot after kick off)




Not sure you agree with these 5 picks? Check out USA Today's Ad Meter to see if your favorites made the list: AD METER.

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.