Make Failure a Friend

It Starts Well…
There you are.  With oustanding plan in hand you approach your boss with the plan to take your organization to the next level.  You amass your team and the research begins.  As you had hoped the research confirms your suspicions.  You elaborate your plan, ensuring all the i’s are dotted and the t’s [...]

The Truth in Advertising

STORIES
Well, the SHSMD conference is over at last and now I’m home.  The sessions I attended were informative, but my main takeaway was of a different sort to me.  I listened to many speakers talk about how they overcame obstacles to communicate to their patients or clients.  I listened to how we should excite women [...]

Creativity Examples

There is nothing I love better than some great examples of creativity no matter the medium.  Here’s a site I came across that has this and more.

Healthcare Marketing Goes 2.0

This week I’m at a SHSMD conference in San Francisco.  (That’s Society for Healthcare Strategy and Marketing Development for those playing at home.)  The big buzzword so far has been “2.0.”   One gentleman I spoke with yesterday from a healthcare group is having a hard time getting the corporate boys to realize the playground equipment [...]

How NOT to Market – Incredible Story

Last week I was watching CNN Headline News.  The story was about a gas station in the southeastern region of the U.S.  They were selling gas for about 30 cents a gallon.  There were stories of happy customers, people calling other people, and of course long lines.  To say the event was viral would be [...]

An example of great Marketing, creativity, ad design and text copy

Coming to us via MarketingBlurb, Pantene has a very clever ad campaign featuring ads like the own shown above.  The ad, to me, represents great marketing, great ad design, and minimal copy.  Has anyone seen a campaign lately that can top this one?

How to get FREE coffee – online

Lately there has been a bit of talk on the podcasts and blogs about the power of FREE.  Some see the word as a gimmick, but let’s face it – it’s one of the most attention getting words of all time.  Especially when FREE comes just before something you really enjoy a lot.  Like coffee. 
John [...]

Losers, Idiots and Adams

The latest cast member of CBS’ Big Brother includes a Public Relations “Specialist” who claims he works for an organization to help children with special needs.  For being in PR, he was already prone to making me suspicious about his profession when he called a 46-year old woman, “Ma” on numerous occasions.  He couldn’t understand [...]

Are Reebok and Kool-Aid Serious?

 
According to posts on both brandcurve.com and styletots.com, Reebok and Kool-Aid are teaming up to deliver shoes that smell like the best flavored drink a child should ever know.  No, this is not a joke.  I don’t know if my mind can wrap around this idea, regardless of the many sites that feature this new line.  Making Reeboks [...]

Back to the Basics

Whether it’s about productivity, marketing or simply life, sometimes you just have to get back to the basics.  We live in a world that loves to complicate itself.  Decisions are deferred to committees.  Emails are bounced around and people who should not be involved get tossed into the mix.  Internet searches take too long because [...]