Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

There is no rehearsal in life."
— William Shakespeare

Marketing Monday

Volkswagen's TheFunTheory.com
An initiative of Volkswagen, TheFunTheory.com is dedicated to the idea that making a task fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. For example, if you want to encourage people to walk more by taking the stairs instead of an escalator, turn the staircase into an operational piano keyboard. When you walk on the steps, you make your own tune! By making the task fun to do, people will change their behaviour and choose the healthier mode of transportation.

Submissions like that have been sent in from all over the world. They published over 700 ideas a few months ago and they've whittled it down to 11 finalists. Go vote! The winners will be announced on March 29, 2010. They will each receive 2500 Euros in prize money as well as have their idea produced by Volkswagen. Cleverly, the VW logo will appear on all of them!



Marketing Monday is a column devoted to innovation in the world of commerce. It celebrates companies, products, packaging and campaigns that swim against the current or find creative ways to stand out. Got a suggestion for the column? Send me a comment.

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened."
— Anatole France

Marketing Monday

Small Shop, Big Idea
Originally posted on January 26th as "Give-aways that I will never qualify for...", Pretty Pots Flowers & Gifts' advertisement deserves to be in this column. Read the sign below.

Honestly, in a small town, who doesn't know a Carol or a Cindy? This ad makes the complete town its audience. How many ads can you say you've seen that have found a way to address all age groups and all audiences in an entire town?

Plus, it was done at no real cost! They're using their already-installed marquee sign (clearly visible on Main Street) so the only investment is the cost of the roses. This is significantly cheaper than a media buy.

Small-town thinking made this a brilliant advertisement that, in my humble opinion, a big-city ad agency could not have come up with. Kudos, Pretty Pots Flowers & Gifts!

Marketing Monday is a column devoted to innovation in the world of commerce. It celebrates companies, products, packaging and campaigns that swim against the current or find creative ways to stand out. Got a suggestion for the column? Send me a comment.

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things."
— Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer and explorer

Poisoned Milk -- don't you just feel like this some days?

If you like automata, you'll love this little critter from the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre.

Have a great day!

Marketing Monday

Keeping Printed News Current

“Mobilize This Digest”, by Financial Post’s paper edition, allows you to receive up-to-date information on an article on your smartphone.

If a paper-edition article includes a barcode, photograph it with your smartphone and immediately be taken to an expanded or interactive (a music video for an article on a musician, for example) article online.

Instructions on how to do it at Nationalpost.com/scanlife



Marketing Monday is a column devoted to innovation in the world of commerce. It celebrates companies, products, packaging and campaigns that swim against the current or find creative ways to stand out. Got a suggestion for the column? Send me a comment.

Marketing Monday

Staff, managers drive retailer green policies
And why not? There’s one Environmentalist in every bunch who is willing to champion the cause. That means that owners don’t have to have the know-how or interest but can gain green policies through staff. Not to mention that recycling/reducing often results in a cost savings. And, marketed effectively, the bottom-line stands to gain. Consumers that find a store with environmental practices that complement their own are going to become devoted shoppers of that store.

It’s win-win all around.

I believe it should be taken one step further. Staff and managers are front-line and are exposed to consumers’ requests — information that an Owner can’t get from their sales spreadsheet. Staff and managers should have a say in green products sold, too.

Reuters via National Post

Marketing Monday is a column devoted to innovation in the world of commerce. It celebrates companies, products, packaging and campaigns that swim against the current or find creative ways to stand out. Got a suggestion for the column? Send me a comment.

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint."
— Edward Hopper

The Sweetest Little Thing — Worthy Fundraiser

Support galleries and artists at The Sweetest Little Thing (SLT) Art Auction. Come on, it's fun!

• The Sweetest Little Thing
• Art Auction, Cakewalk, Dance
• February 14th
• 7 PM
• Owens Art Gallery, Sackville, NB
• See the artwork and bid online at www.SweetestLittleThing.ca
• Official web site of the Struts Artist-Run Gallery
• Official web site of the Owens Art Gallery

To do my part, I created the 2010 stamp for their ongoing Rubber Stamp Project. This stamp was used on the envelope to call for SLT submissions and related promotions.

The rubber stamp:


Here's what it looks like when it goes through the stamping process:


Creative Rationale for the Stamp
Each year, a member of Struts is asked to create a new stamp. The resulting graphic is a reflection of the Artist's approach to art as well as their response to the theme Sweetest Little Thing.

Personally, I'm a bit of a science fiction movie junkie (thus the 2010 movie reference), I'm a Graphic Designer (thus the adaptation of the movie's poster) and I love a play on words (thus the planet's crescent turns into a croissant, which is the French word for crescent). I think this stamp wraps me up well.

In terms of relating the image to the theme: babies are sweet little things; croissants are sweet little things; the event itself focuses on dessert-type foods; and, the auction takes place on Valentine's Day -- it doesn't get more romantic than French language and food.

Here I've re-used the stamp for the SLT poster:


Creative Rationale for the Poster
As the stamp graphic was meant to be seen only after it had gone through the process of being stamped, people would see a "grunge" version of that graphic. I decided to take the poster in the same direction. All the elements of the poster look like they've been stamped onto it. Some are rough-edged, some are misaligned — all properties of a hand-made stamp project. Adding a red background recalls Valentine's Day.

Animated .gif
Here, I've adapted it to an animated .gif for promotional use on other web sites:




Background on The Sweetest Little Thing
The Sweetest Little Thing is the most important annual fundraising event for The Owens Art Gallery and Struts Gallery & Faucet Media Arts Centre. Presented in partnership on Valentine’s Day, the Sweetest Little Thing combines a contemporary art auction with a cake walk and dance. The event has become a seasonal highlight for the community, featuring artists, friends and supporters from across the country and beyond. The funds raised go directly to the ongoing programming of the galleries.

Background on The Rubber Stamp Project
The goal - to stamp all outgoing mailings with an artistic image that will intrigue postal workers. The image must fit on a standard #10 envelope and must lend itself well to the mechanics of the stamping process. The image is often related to Valentine's Day since the stamp is launched annually on the mailout containing the call for submissions to The Sweetest Little Thing — a yearly art auction held on February 14th.

Marketing Monday

Practice online investing with pretend money
RBC Direct Investing has created a practice area on their site where all your trading is pretend. That's a very smart way to get people started. Zero risk. Zero worry. 100% clever!

www.Rbcinvesting.com/practice

Marketing Monday is a column devoted to innovation in the world of commerce. It celebrates companies, products, packaging and campaigns that swim against the current or find creative ways to stand out. Got a suggestion for the column? Send me a comment.

Give-aways that I will never qualify for...

Still, brilliant marketing on their part. Kudos.

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future."
— Niels Bohr, Danish atomic scientist

EMC picks up my Volkswagen Story

EMC Stittsville/Richmond reports on Lucky Dog Poop Bin idea chosen by Volkswagen.

Holding position #7 out of 700!

OMG! My idea is currently holding position #7 (out of 700) in the online voting!!!

http://www.thefuntheory.com/2009/12/15/lucky-dog-poop-bin

My idea selected by Volkswagen

My "Lucky Dog Poop Bin" idea has been selected as 1 of only 700 world-wide semi-finalists in Volkswagen's "The Fun Theory" competition. Vote for me!

Volkswagen's "The Fun Theory" project is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writing so that you shall come easily by what others have laboured hard for."
—Socrates

The Girl Effect

Oprah would like to suggest that we consider giving a tiny bit of money to the TheGirlEffect.org this holiday season.

To find out what it's all about, watch this beautifully-crafted 2-minute video with no audio except haunting piano. No visuals except haunting words. No alternative except to stand up and listen.

Coming from Oprah, one does stand up and listen — after all, she's one of those girls that affects a nation.



• Watch The Girl Effect Video on Oprah.com
• What The Girl Effect video on YouTube
• TheGirlEffect.org
• Global Giving to The Girl Effect
• Oprah's "For All Women" Registry

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

If you think about it, the most important moments in your life — were you alone? Life’s better with company."
— George Clooney (as Ryan Bingham) from the movie Up in the Air

Wednesday's Word of Wisdom

When people show you who they are, believe them the first time."
—Maya Angelou

I can think of several times in my life when these words would have been useful.