No Idea Is A New Idea

I love trying to find the "spark/inspiration" for ideas...so I was obviously in that frame of mind while watching the Super Bowl ads on Sunday.

Of course, the inspiration for that awful Bridgestone "Whale Tale" spot was obvious...as you can see from this clip from "The Hangover".

On the other hand, the inspiration for the cars.com spot was a bit more obscure. However, I'm pretty sure it just might have been inspired by Hugh Gallagher's classic essay.

Hey, you know what they say, "No idea is a new idea".

Is Youtube the New SNL?

Back in the day, if you were a brand and your ad was "spoofed" on SNL, you had arrived!

These days, it's all about the number of times your ad is parodied on youtube.

Just ask the folks at Google. Their Super Bowl spot is already taking on a whole new life on youtube.

Here are couple of the best ones so far...enjoy!

Super Bowl Ad Parody

The "Bing" Solution

Let's Create "High Definition Monday"

Isn't it time to BRAND a day (a la "Black Friday") when you can head out and purchase a HDTV at a killer price for the Super Bowl?

Maybe the Monday before the big game each year? Call it something like "Hi Def Monday".

Just a thought....

The Three Hardest Words to Say...

I'm not talking about I LOVE YOU.

I'm talking about, I GOT FIRED!

I remember when "I got fired" back in 2005. Man, I couldn't believe it. It made no sense to me at all.

I created a whole non-traditional marketing division from scratch for DVC Worldwide. The ideas and concepts had clients salivating...and, most importantly (to the investors and parent company), we were making money.

But not enough money, I suppose...and my time as president of DVCx was, well, over.

And then it happened - I began to "package the story" about why I was leaving. I went through version-after-version in my head.

In one version I quit to pursue something new...in another version, the investors and I didn't see eye-to-eye about the vision of the company...etc...etc.

A lot of energy (of the emotional kind) was expended crafting my tale...all because my ego wouldn't allow me to say those three simple words: I got fired

Funny enough...telling people I got fired wasn't even a consideration. Come on, how could I ever tell people that? They would think I was a complete loser...a sham...not worthy of the title/responsibility/investment I was given. Simply put, they would think I was a FAILURE!

It took me a while to get my ego under control (unfortunately, a lot of damage was done in the interim)...but I finally got to the point where I was comfortable just telling the truth.

In fact, one of the reasons I named my current venture "BigHeads" was to always remind myself to keep the good ol' ego in check.

Since that time I have talked to tons of people who have been fired...and very rarely do they just say it. They all have a story.

And interestingly, the more senior-level they are...the more complex their story is. I guess that's really no surprise, since they probably have bigger egos to protect (the more senior the level...the bigger the ego...the more outrageous the story -- makes sense, right?).

A few months ago a friend of mine was fired. He told me about it before the official announcement and said, "They will spin it however I want".

My advice was to have them announce that he got fired...period. I explained that it wasn't worth the energy of crafting some story that everyone would know or assume or someday come to find out was complete bullshit.

He didn't take my advice...but I'm pretty sure that someday he'll give my advice to someone else.

The True Experiential Pioneers

Marketers and agencies continue to talk about “creating experiences”….yet many of them don’t have a clue who the true “experience pioneers” even are.

Crowdsourcing...At the Movies!

Here's a simple...and smart crowdsourcing approach -- the new Clearview Cinemas in Hoboken, NJ is letting the community/residents choose the movies they want to see!!!

Read the article here.

Wanna Get Away? - Some Very Timely Content for Southwest Airlines

We've all seen the "Wanna Get Away?" ads from Southwest Airlines featuring people making embarrassing blunders.

It would be great if they could convince The Boss to reenact his most recent BLUNDER!

A Product Benefit of HDTV They Might Want To Start Promoting

I'll admit it...I might might have a small case of A.D.D. (or A.D.H.D., whatever they call it these days)...so, it's not easy for me to sit down and watch a whole "game" or "match" or whatever.

Then along came Hi-Definition...which is perfect for a guy like me.

Take baseball - now I can watch the people in the stands behind home plate. And I spend a lot of time watching them. I watch them make calls and then wave to their friends (which annoys the shit out of me). I watch them eat their nachos...or lobster (if they are at Yankee Stadium)...I wonder how Pat Sajak, of all the celebs in LA, got such good seats.

And then there's boxing. Come on...how can you beat that? I zero-in on the celebs and literally "stalk" them for the whole match.

Football...not so much. You can't see the crowd...so I lose interest a bit more quickly.

I'm not so sure this is the type of "product benefit" the Hi-Def TV companies would ever promote...but it would definitely strike a nerve with me.