Hey everyone, here we go. . . . . .

 

IN OUR WORLD

 

 

Coming to you from beautiful Seattle as I finish work on a Narrative Arc project.  This strategic platform continues to be one of our most successful programs in recent years.  Our VISIBLE VALUE projects from 2006 are registering results as our client’s strengthened key aspects of the visual impact plans.

 

We signed an agreement with a new client to design facilitation programs for a series of strategic meetings that will take place across the country this summer and fall.  We use a simple, participatory model that we re-designed from our Goal Setting Strategic Platform.   Strong strategic meetings need processes that create the highest level of engagement.  Maximum participation, where you can capture all the ideas and determine the highest and best value is a sure formula for success.

 

I am excited about becoming involved in a new and exciting mentoring program in Dallas designed to help school principles learn to apply business concepts in the world of academics.  I have been honored to be selected as a mentor for a high school that is part of the Gates Foundation grant program.

 

Next week I am off to Portland Maine and New Jersey.

 

 

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

 

I am always interested in not only the process of new ideas, but also the results;

 

• GEICO:  You would have been living under a rock if you are not familiar with the GEICO gecko and the deep penetration the ad campaign has shown on the TV viewing public.  Not only has the gecko add been successful, but the caveman and famous actors spots have proven just as popular.  What a unique idea in an ad campaign – launch three separate ideas at the same time.  Most would have been worried about diluting the message, but the effect has been jus the opposite.  Here is the impact – GEICO has quadrupled in size within the past 9 years!  Not bad for a car insurance co!  Think about the impact any marketing campaign can have and add a little strategic thinking and you will find methods of leverage that have just  been sitting on the table waiting for someone to find them.

 

• The Jobs Impact @ Disney:   I am pretty sure most of you know that when Disney bought Pixar for a + $7 billion dollar stock swap that it made Steven Jobs the primary shareholder and thus the driving force behind Disney.  I want to look at just on simple impact he has had on the culture –digital media.  When Disney started to sell TV episodes on iTunes for $1.99 (without commercials) the ad community went crazy, but the impact has been staggering.  There have been 21 million downloads worth about $42,000,000, which sent about $28,000,000 into the Disney bank.  Though it is a small amount of the $34 billion in total revenue, it is accelerating at a staggering pace.  Add the streaming video of at ABC.com and the Disneychannel .com you come up with a huge explosion of delivery that Jobs brought to Disney.  This is just the tip of the Apple Mindset that will start to literally shift the culture to new frontiers.  Great result from a new idea.

 

So what is the secret to IMPACT?  Well, it is not a formula that can easily be quantified.  It reacts, bends, accelerates, decelerates and moves like a blob of mercury.  I can tell you this.  It never happens when things stand still!  As Dylan said:  He not busy being born, is busy dying”!

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT

 

 

MOIVES:  –   The new Ocean’s movie breaks this weekend and I will be home just in time to see it.  OCEANS 13 looks to be as good as the first two.

 

 NetFlix Fans:  Happy Feet  is now on DVD.  For most of us, it is hard to get out to see an animated film, especially one that once again drives the damn penguin into our lives, but this is really good.

 

TV:    With all my favorite shows off the air until fall and my travel schedule so busy, TV is not that interesting to me.  I will watch the finals of the French Tennis Open on NBC, but other than that I will be hanging out on the satellite side watching the History, Discovery, and Food Network.

 

BOOKS:  As I was flying to Seattle, I was excited to start a new Randy Wayne White novel.  He writes about an interesting character named Doc Ford who is a marine biologist in the Florida Keys who just so happens to be an ex- Special Forces guy.  Twenty pages into the book I realized I had already read it.  Damn, almost 4 hours of airplane time with only my clip articles to read! 

 

Try Made To Stick by Chop Heath.  This is a great read on why some ideas make and some don’t.  It would be a marvelous companion to The Dip by Seth Godin, which I recommended last week.

 

MUSIC:  I was playing some music with some friends last weekend and one of the wives asked me if I knew any Counting Crowes and sure enough I did.  I hadn’t played anything by them in a while and love their music.  Here is a video of one of my favorite songs:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPFdziXnKUc

 

 

WEB SITES:  When bored with what ever is on the tube I often visit:

 

www.fastcompany.com       One of my favorite magazines.

 

 

 

SOUTH OF NORMAL

A short and sweet trip through South of Normal:

• I read an article about creating and dominating a small niche and came across Voodoo Donuts in Portland OR – http://voodoodoughnut.com/ .  People line up ever day for the weird stuff coming out of this unique bakery.  I love the way small organizations actually spend quality time on trying to find a little room on the South of Normal block.
• I was reading a series of serious news headlines when the fifth headline (this was after all the bas news from Middle East and Washington was done) read like this – “Chickens may have arrived in the new world ahead of Columbus.”  Really? 

 

She is so tender

She has no corners at all

She is one of God’s unique inventions.

Nils Lofgren

 

 

 

Drop me a note with your comments at creativeventures@nova1.com.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by and until next time, Adios and Aloha.

 

 

Hey everyone, here we go. . . . . .

 

IN OUR WORLD

 

 

Had a few days in town this week and used to get caught up on projects that were waiting some input.  This included two rich media (video) and month end stuff like newsletters and client project reports.  I used to think this was the boring part of the job, but now I like the challenge of creating reports in graphic format where pictures replace the usual endless text.

 

I also used the time to complete one of the great beatings of our time – trying to buy a new car.  With the advent of endless streams of new models and car makers, the process can really beat you down.  Investigating crash test ratings and reading reviews really blurs the distinction between companies and car styles.  I finally made my decision and embarked on the dreaded, let’s go to the car lot and start the “dance of the purchase”.

 

After a few surprisingly simple rounds with a wonderfully talented sales person, we agreed on a price and I wrote the check.  I didn’t need to finance the car so I expected to be able to write the check and drive away – WRONG.

 

Due to the “process” in place I had to wait almost an hour to meet with their finance department.  I tried to introduce the “bag of money” philosophical position but it seemed to meet on deaf ears.  I had a bag of money that I wanted to give them and they had a product that required a bag of money.  A simple transaction – I give you a bag of money (I don’t need any of your money) and you give me the product – sweet and simple, but complexity snuck in when no one was looking.

 

Even though I only had to sign a couple of papers, I had to wait almost an hour.  I used this time to beat into the head of the salesperson and sales manager that the complexitiy of your purchase process is enough to drive someone like me out the door.

 

Don’t forget the “bag of money” philosophy and try not to make it difficult for someone to buy what you sell!

 

 

 

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

 

Some recently sent me an email that said something to the effect – “how in the hell do you keep up with all the stuff in your blog.”  Well, since I am easily fascinated almost everything strikes me as interesting.  I simply write down all the interesting stuff and choose what to add each week.  Here are some really cool things you should know.

 

 

·        Google:  These guys are at it again.  Check out this revolutionary addition to the already best map site on the web – Google Maps.

 

http://www.goodmagazine.com/blog/google_maps_is_the_best_double_true

 

·        Electronic Waste:  We have a huge problem with what the hell to do with all of our rapidly growing supply of obsolete electronic equipment.  Did you know that millions of lbs. of these things are disposed of every year?  Between 1997 and 2007 over ½ billion computers alone became obsolete.  These things are hard to get rid of and even hard to do so with some type of responsibility to the environment.  We ship most of the junk to 3^rd world nations that don’t have strict environmental laws and guess what?  They burn the damn things.  So you can do two simple things to help: 1) retire your electronic stuff to companies like Apple and Dell can help or 2) simply choose a responsible recycler.

 

·        Goodbye Trans Fats;  McDonalds announced that by year end all 13,500 American locations will get rid of trans fats and Wendy’s, Taco Bell, KCF, and Pizza Hut joined in.  BUT, a couple of fast food places said; “We’re not sure our CUSTOMERS want the potential of loosing flavor by switching.  We believe the MEDIA wants that but we don’t hear that from our CUSTOMERS.”  Carl’s Jr (great burgers by the way) just introduced the Teriyaki Burger with about 1060 calories and Hardies added a big old Patty Melt with only 760 calories.  Interesting stuff.

 

·        Environmental Good News:  GE Chairman Jeff Immelt said their environmental unit is on track to blow away its target of growing sales to $20 billion by 2010.  The demand for environmental products is riding the momentum of more and more awareness that there are choices and when possible it looks like we might be choosing better environmental products.

 

ENTERTAINMENT

 

 

MOIVES:  –   Nothing to make me rush out to the theater, though a very good friend told me that the foreign film – The Black Book, was the best film he has seen in 5 years!

 

 NetFlix Fans:  Happy Feet  is now on DVD.  For most of us, it is hard to get out to see an animated film, especially one that once again drives the damn penguin into our lives, but this is really good.

 

TV:    Lost, Heroes, House MD and Boston Legal all ended their regular season runs with fantastic season enders.  God, I love House!

 

My week will be spent in front of the tube watching The Tennis Channels coverage of the French Open.

 

BOOKS:  The Dip  by Seth Godin is a must buy for everyone who reads “the Corner”.  Not only is Godin one of the best writers in the business but this little business book (80 pages) is all about the art of quitting, yep quitting.  FANTASTIC.

 

 

 

MUSIC:  A little Texas music for you.  Someone sent me this bad a_ _ cover of Your Eyes by Monte Montgomery (unbelievable guitar) and Brian Andrew Lee on vocals.  The next link is the REAL thing of Texas blues – the great Stevie Ray Vaughan. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvQMiV9pJWQ

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAxLgGVRV64

 

 

WEB SITES:  When bored with what ever is on the tube I often visit:

 

www.goodmagazine.com      Perfect bits of good info.

 

 

 

SOUTH OF NORMAL

My regular tennis partner, Mark Kane, is the owner of EntertainMart, a huge retailer dealing in used CD’s, DVD’s, Video Games and electronics.  After a recent 90 minutes of running each other into the ground we were talking about people’s attitude on used stuff and he gave me this great South of Normal piece of information.  What are the four things people should buy used?  Don’t look down, but see if you can guess.  Makes for a great “list question”.   These are in order:

 

1.      Consumer Electronics:  Buy a used iPod, TV or digital camera.

2.      Cars:  Let someone else suck up the depreciation. 

3.      Pets:  Get “man’s best friend” from the SPCA or your local animal shelter.

4.      CD’s / DVD’s:  No harm in paying $3.99 for a CD or movie that someone else saw.

 

So, as I was driving my used car, with my refurbished iPod playing a John Mayer tune I downloaded from a used CD I paid $3.00 bucks for while Logan, my dog from the shelter, was sticking his head out the window, I was thinking; “hey, I am officially South of Normal.

 

Hope is gone

And she confessed

When you lay your dreams to rest

You can get what’s second best

But it’s hard to get enough

David Wilcox

 

 

 

Drop me a note with your comments at creativeventures@nova1.com.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by and until next time, Adios and Aloha.