Hit the gas, sell more stuff!

I'm a fan of great creativity; odds are, so are you if you're here reading my blog & checking out my website.

The new Ford "Bold Moves" campaign is quite good. Maybe not Motel 6 brilliant, but awfully good. They're showing scenes (that prominently display Ford vehicles) using people in situations that you & I can SEE ourselves in. The lady who offers to pay for the dry cleaning of the handsome man behind her in line...sure, we've thought that once. How about the family who spends the day together...then drops the divorced father off at his small apartment? TOO many of us are in that situation. The new one is a brilliant commercial for the new Shelby Mustang GT featuring some police doing what we would all LOVE to do if we had the chance (see the video now at BigMouthAudio.com's BigMouthBites section).

The lesson here is that Ford is giving us situations we would all want to be in. We can see ourselves there, therefore, the connection with Ford is an easy tie.

What mental images do you tie YOUR marketing to? "You've tried the rest, now try the best" doesn't cut it. But a Father & Son dumping the clutch on 300 horsepower does. Get it?

Bravo Ford, I'm impressed that you SaySomethingImportant!




Now, if we could only get you to do something with the Detroit Lions. ;)

Bah... Cut the Holiday Cliches, PLEASE!

C'mon people...this should be horribly obvious, yet it happens this time every year. Some dork throws on a Santa hat & claims he's checked his list twice & he's passing the savings on to you.

No one believes it. Don't do it in your marketing. If you do, you'll look like a tool & alienate any potential client who uses their brain.

This rant holds true for every holiday. Don't be tempted by the cliche.

I grew up in Michigan and there is a very large furniture chain there who had a "Sale!" on EVERY holiday of any kind; New Years? Sale. 4th of July, a sale. Presidents' Day? Hell no, it became the Presidents' WEEK Sale! (WTF?!) Someone in a boardroom approved all of these ads & they spend MILLIONS to get that message out to the people... But what do we perceive about them? That they're the lowest common denominator of their industry.

How do YOU want to be perceived?

This Holiday season, Say Something Important, okay? Thanks.

Sometimes it IS enough to just get your name out...

...so, there I was the other day, thinking "Gee, that doesn't feel quite right." My chest was a bit tight and my heart was fluttering. I'm not done with testing yet, but I was having Premature Ventricular Contractions. I'll know more after the Nuclear Stress Test they're putting me on in 2 weeks.

In a way, simply being alive is a form of marketing yourself (just as a long established business is more well known than a startup). I have a son about to be born (less than 8 weeks away!) and I want him to know me. Not what someone tells him about me, but actually get to know ME. That probably means I need to lose weight, eat better, exercise more and do more things I'm proud of. You know, in a way, that IS like marketing your business; you can stretch the truth all you like, but in the end, the important stuff shines through.

So, take care of your family and your body; I'll help you grow the business, but that's really not the most important part of any of our days!