Creating a connected community

While I was driving home the other night in my Pontiac Vibe, I found myself practically crawling to a stop to let someone merge (almost to the detriment of the cars behind me ). So why did I make such a drastic move to let the car in? The sole reason was because the [...]

Passions that become work

Most of us have a passion for something. Passions are something that we want to do so that we can have an escape from the other things that we have to do. But what happens when our passions become work?
Growing up I use to love to play basketball. I was not [...]

Are you t-shirt worthy?

Seth Godin has a great little post about being T-shirt worthy. If your company does not pass the test of someone buying your company T-shirt and wearing it proudly, why not? Is it because:

Your product sucks
Your frontline employees are rude
You are boring

Fix your weak spots and become T-shirt worthy.

Marketing is a lot like telling a good joke…with a couple of exceptions

I have always wanted to be a better joke teller. As I was searching on the Internet for some tips on how to tell a good joke, I got to thinking about how these delivery tips I read related to branding and marketing (I told you there were a couple of exceptions, so here [...]

Stop the crummy commercials

Watching the movie A Christmas Story during this Christmas season has reminded me how important having a meaningful dialogue with your customers can be.
You’ll remember in the 1983 movie Ralphie drinks gallons of Ovaltine and patiently awaits his Little Orphan Annie decoder pin so that he can unscramble the message only meant for Little Orphan [...]

Life advice from Rocky Balboa

The new Rocky Balboa movie comes out today. When Sylvester Stallone was deciding whether or not to make another Rocky film, his wife and others begged him not to do the movie saying that he would only make a fool of himself. In response, he said:
I’d rather do something I love badly than to [...]

Goodbye McRib

I have heard that this is the last few weeks for McDonald’s McRib sandwich (again). I’ll leave it up to you if that is a good thing or a sad thing.

Marketers: Avoid “Jumping the Shark” at the Moment of Truth

The term “jump the shark” specifically refers to a scene in the hit TV comedy series Happy Days. The writers for the show created a storyline where Arthur Fonzarelli (a.k.a. “The Fonz”) is on water skis (wearing his trademark leather jacket, of course) and he literally jumps over a shark.
Many faithful watchers of Happy [...]

What If…?

“What if”…these are two powerful words. These two words at the beginning of a sentence can the start of journey that uproots us from the secure and comfortable to the unlit recesses of the yet undiscovered. No doubt, those individuals who have helped shape our world often asked themselves these two words. [...]

Bagels and Expectations

So today was bagel day in the office (I heart bagels). I grabbed a raisin bagel and spread on some deliciously sweet strawberry cream cheese…or so I thought. It turned out to be a sun-dried tomato bagel that I spread on the deliciously sweet strawberry cream cheese- not the best choice on bagel day.
When [...]