Casual Fridays

We love stories of redemption. I think it is something wired within us. It is something we all inherently yearn for.

We love the idea of something new. I think it is something we’ve been trained to desire.

New is sexy and mysterious.

New is full of potential.

New has no scorecard of history to hold it back.

Once the familiar has let us down, we start looking at the new. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…

In life, none of us want to play the role of the fool. So, we sacrifice to the idol of the ideal.

Yet, I believe we have to risk being viewed as a fool in order to play a part in a story of redemption.

Would it be foolish to sign an unemployed substitute teacher to an NFL team? Would you do it? I doubt I would. Yet, Invincible was last weekend’s top movie. We love the story of someone rising from the ashes.

This isn’t just all warm fuzzies though. I think there is true innovation found through redemption.

Like redeeming someone’s immune system to fight cancer. I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. The opportunities are all around us, if we’re willing to risk being foolish.

Michael Wagner reminds us that maybe what Father Knows Best is how to own a brand. It’s a great personal micro-story that tells the macro-story of branding.

A compelling ad campaign for Amnesty International. It brings a whole new meaning to “bringing it home.” (hat tip to Beyond Madison Avenue)

Ben & Jackie update us on the Diet Coke and Mentos meme. Apparently Coke isn’t as thrilled as you’d think. Come on. Get a sense of humor. (hat tip to Bill Kinnon)

I am trying to find a story that I briefly heard on NPR news.

Basically, it was about Jewish children separated from their parents during the holocaust. It included a story of one young man who was waiting to be reunited with his parents. He was shaking like a leaf as he turned to a friend and asked, “Who am I looking for?” He was so young when he was separated from his family that he did not know who he was.

If anyone can point me in the right direction or provide a link, I am grateful. My searches have been fruitless.

Well, Wednesday was a huge highlight of the year for me. I helped present the BMA Tulsa / OSU annual seminar. The speakers were great and included John Moore (johnmoore) of Brand Autopsy as well as some very impressive local speakers. I was blown over by these guys.

There were SEVERAL “Aha” moments for me. So many, that I decided to break them up by speaker and post them intermittently.

First up is the final speaker of the day, Dr. Todd Arnold from Oklahoma State University (my alma mater). Todd spoke on market evaluation for new products and services. This is an area that I do not handle personally and anticipated I would not find terribly interesting. Instead, Dr. Arnold gave me some very helpful knowledge in practical ways that markets can be gauged.

He explained Disruptive Market Research he used when working with New Edge. Instead of me explaining it, you can view New Edge’s presentation on Disruptive Market Research. After the intro, click on “Disruptive Market Research”.

Dr. Arnold also gave me my new favorite term: ‘What This Town Needs Is’ syndrome. This is when a few buddies are kicking back a few brewskies and one says to the other, “What this town needs is…” Then he goes on to list something the town doesn’t have. He’s right, they don’t have it, but usually there’s a good reason why. Todd went on to give an example of a store in Columbia, MO that sold 6 foot ceramic tigers. Columbia is home to the University of Missouri, whose mascot is a tiger. But why would college students buy them? The store was started and abandoned during Dr. Arnold’s studies at MU.

Good ol’ Michael Wagner of the White Rabbit Group has apparently tagged me via his Own Your Brand! blog. In the 4 Things Meme, Michael says he hoped I would accept to do this because of my servant’s heart. When someone says that about you, how do you say no… without contradicting him?

Besides, it seems like an interesting exercise. So, if you care to find out a little bit more about me, read along.

Four jobs I’ve had:
Grocery bagger – my first job working at my grandparents’ grocery store: Staiger’s Grocery
Creating decorative ceiling tiles for the Federal Courthouse in Tulsa, OK
Creative Director for a Tulsa ad agency
Marketing Director for a Tulsa telephone company

Four movies I could watch over and over:
The Natural
While You Were Sleeping (hey, it’s a cute movie)
The Bourne Identity
Clear and Present Danger

Four places I have lived:
Kellyville, OK (hometown)
Saltillo, Mexico (at a mission with parents at 2 years old)
Stillwater, OK (college)
Broken Arrow, OK (now)

Four TV shows I love to watch:
Alias (will they ever finish the final season?)
CSI
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (I’m a sap)
Frasier reruns

Four places I have been on holiday:
London, England
Guatemala
Carribbean Cruise (highly recommended)
Branson, MO (about 25 times, so if you need a tour guide…)

I hope to visit Germany since it is the land of my ancestors. My wife and I think we’ll do a European tour in the next 5-10 years.

Four websites I visit daily:
Seth Godin’s Blog (shocker)
Tom Peters’ Blog & TP Wire (another shocker)
Business Week (they have great marketing and small biz info)
Acheivable Ends by Bill Kinnon (he speaks my language)

Four of my favorite foods:
Chicken Fingers
Enchiladas (my wife’s homemade version)
Congo Bars (homemade dessert)
Cannoli (hard to find in Tulsa)

Four places I would rather be right now:
Home, playing with my kids or talking to my wife
A large, family gathering (like Thanksgiving/Christmas)
OK State Football/Basketball game
An Apple Store

And four bloggers I am tagging:

Bill Kinnon, if he’ll accept, because (as I stated above) the guy speaks my language.

Jory Des Jardins, if she’ll accept, because of her authenticity and transparency.

John Moore, if he’ll accept, because he puts the wonka-wonka in “marketing wonk.”

Jennifer Rice, if she’ll accept, because she is one of the most cerebral and decisive young marketers I’ve ever met.

…and I’ll add one more list to this meme:

Four books I’d recommend
The Gift of Being Yourself, David Benner
Orbiting the Giant Hairball, Gordon McKenzie
Velvet Elvis, Rob Bell
Permission Marketing, Seth Godin

This is probably less insight, and more of just a flippant observation.

My wife and I were watching some college basketball last night. During which, we saw an ad for Carrabba’s, one of our favorite places to eat. Toward the end of the commercial, Johnny Carrabba says, “This may be the best Italian food you’ve ever eaten.” (or something very close to that)

You might think that was a pretty conceited thing to say. But my wife turns to me and says, “That’s probably true the way he said that. He said it ‘may’ be the best.” I was shocked. Not that my wife would make a great observation. She does that. But this is the same woman who rolls her eyes as I critique everything from TV ads to the fonts selected in a restaurant menu.

But her observation got me thinking of how simple it was to make a remarkable statement (This may be the best Italian food you’ve ever eaten) without sounding conceited. Compare this to most of the marketing that is out there today.

By the way, I have to say their Pollo Rosa Maria Chicken IS one of the best Italian dishes I’ve ever had. And they consistently deliver on that promise to me.

Betty Hinshaw
1943 – 2006

Some of you may have noticed I didn’t post on Friday. That is because we laid my mother-in-law to rest yesterday (Friday). She didn’t care for the ‘in-law’ part, so I just called her Mom and she just called me son.

Friday was bitter-sweet. Mom had been struggling against cancer and was in a lot of pain the last few months. We’re relieved to know she is free from that now. Still, we will miss someone who was so full of life and shared that life so freely with others.

Emotions are raw in times like this. You find yourself compelled by love and grief to tears and to laughter.

Compelled to silence.

Compelled to share stories.

Compelled to hold each other.

Compelled to reflect alone.

Find those moments, by which we are continually surrounded unaware. The everyday moments in which love can compel you. Don’t stop after the wedding, don’t wait for the funeral. Mom didn’t, and that’s one of the things we’ll miss most.

Mom, to quote the song you sang to your children and then to your grandchildren, “We love you, a bushel and a peck.”

Goodnight.

If you’re in the Tulsa area on March 29th, don’t miss the BMA Tulsa annual seminar. It will cover small business and marketing topics. Speakers include the pithy and engaging blogger, John Moore of Brand Autopsy.

The small business topics covered in the morning are as follows:

The One Page Business Plan
Hoyit Bacon
Greenwood Performance Systems

Lean and Mean Business Growth: Growing Your Business, Not Your Overhead
Dr. Margarite White
William S. Spears School of Business, Oklahoma State University

Small Business Advertising and Marketing
Bill Hinkle
Hinkle Creative Services

The marketing topics covered in the afternoon are as follows:

Strategic Planning, It’s Not About the Money
Ed Bogle
Bogle & Associates – Strategy Consultants

Jumbo Shrimp Marketing: Get Bigger by Acting Smaller
John Moore
Brand Autopsy Marketing Practice

Growth Opportunity Evaluation: Choosing Your Market
Dr. Todd Arnold
William S. Spears School of Business, Oklahoma State University

Half day and full day registrations include a catered luncheon with the keynote presentation from Dr. Jay Kent Ferraro, The Emotionally Intelligent Leader. In the presentation, Dr. Ferraro will outline 15 key competencies of successful people that can be developed in your organization and in yourself.
For more information, visit the BMA Tulsa website.

I’m helping organize this event, so I’ll be there and would love to meet you in person if you come because of reading this blog.

For those of you in the Tulsa area, Jennifer Rice will be speaking Wednesday, January 25th for the Business Marketing Association. There are details on the BMA website.

Her presentation is Brand Humanity: How Social Technologies are Changing the Way We Do Business.

If you are wondering how blogs, wikis, and RSS change how we do business, this is for you.

—————–
Update
—————–
Jennifer did a great job in her presentation to the BMA here in Tulsa.  I’ll try to post a summary of what transpired soon.

OK, so now you have your list of
1) Things that bring you life
and
2) Things that bring you death

Here’s what you do with them (don’t read this until you’ve gone through the first part of the exercise)

Think about your life recently. Be honest. What are you doing with it?

Are you spending it pursuing life?

or…

Are you wasting it avoiding death?

This is an exercise I performed myself about two years ago. As simple as it is, it changed my life. I realized my life had been spent avoiding death, avoiding pain, and avoiding conflict. I couldn’t see joy on the other side of pain. Healing on the other side of conflict. If only I saw life on the other side, I would go toe-to-toe with what I consider “death.”

Here’s the question you have to ask yourself:
“Am I content with simply surviving, or do I really want to THRIVE?”

And if you want to thrive, then you’ll need to pursue life relentlessly. Even if it means coming face-to-face with death instead of running away.

If you’re celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend, you’ll have plenty of time to do this:

1. Write out the things in this world that bring you life. Could be a person, an activity, a tradition, etc. Just make sure they are things that energize, inspire, or breath life into you. You should be able to list at least a dozen things.

2. Now write out a second list. This one should contain things that bring you death. These are the things that give you that sick feeling in your stomach when you think about them. These are the energy-suckers. What is it that you hate to encounter in life?

Come back next Friday (December 2) and I’ll show you what to do next…

Today’s the LAST DAY to vote on a name for the Selling Is Dead newsletter.

Vote Here

I would vote, but I suggested one of the nominated names (Selling: DOA).

My hosting service (email and web hosting) was knocked out briefly on Monday. If you emailed anything to me on Monday, please try again.

Wednesday I went to Wendy’s. The previous time I was there, I ordered a $3 hamburger. After I ordered, I realized that I could buy two burgers off their value menu cheaper than one of their standard burgers. So, yesterday I ordered a $1.29 Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger and a 99¢ Jr. Deluxe.

$2.28 and I’m stuffed. Better yet, I enjoyed the experience.

Since I like to eat healthy (cough, cough), I removed one bun and stacked the burgers. Behold my creation…

The Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger Deluxe Stack. Wow, I’m full!

I got a few nice comments about last week’s 7 minute rant, and in light of Seth’s article on two kinds of writing, I thought I might keep it up.

How come I can’t buy one nail or screw from the hardware store anymore. Used to be, you could grab these out of a bin. When I go to Lowe’s or Home Depot, they sell them in packages of 6 or 8 or 12, or in a box of 50 or larger. What if I only need one or two? Why do I have to buy 6? Then I have 4 or 5 left over. Now do you see why so many guys need those big metal tool cabinets with all the little-bitty drawers? I miss Mom and Pop, don’t you?

Why do all my devices still have cords (PDA/laptop/iPod/camera)? Hasn’t Bluetooth been around longer than Dick Clark? Yet we still have all these proprietary USB, Firewire, and power cables. Why don’t the power cables spool in and out of an adapter instead of having to be wound up and untangled each time?

My bank has a camera in the drive-thru lane to get a good look at me, but I can’t see them. I usually strain to see my teller. I don’t know her name (it’s usually a “her”), I don’t even know her face. It’s a big conglomerate, so my bank’s face isn’t very distinct either.

I met a friend for breakfast at IHOP every week for a year and the staff never knew my name. They never asked.

Even worse, my doctor asked. He still calls me Gary, when I’ve told him repeatedly that I go by my middle name, Dustin.

Intentional baldness is sexier than genetic baldness today. The good news is if you’re genetically partially bald (like me), you can still be intentional about the rest.