111 | Seth Casteel – Little Friends Pet Photography
Posted: February 19, 2012

While all of Seth’s work is nice and he’s done lots of covers, the most impressive part of his portfolio is the underwater stuff. A client like Seth would be a snap to market because he’s got three things going for him. 1. A USP – Professional Pet Photography.  2. A second USP – Underwater Pet Photography.  3. A great portfolio. In today’s highly competitive marketplace you need to be able to define your USP and defend it. While claiming to do what others do faster, cheaper or better is nice, it won’t vault you ahead of the competition any time soon.

110 | Dream your way into a better reality
Posted: February 8, 2012

For the last 35 years I’ve been exploring the concept of creative visualization through the teachings of Yoga, Mind Dynamics and Nuro-Linguistic Programming. These schools of thought share a common belief: that you are what you believe yourself to be. And if you aren’t what you want to be – you can get there one dream at a time. Until recently I was more of a skeptic than a believer. Here’s why.

About six years ago one of my career paths came to an end. When I recovered from the initial shock that can accompany a significant loss I asked myself what I’d loved most about my professional journey so far, and what I’d gladly leave behind forever. Within hours of asking the compound question I dreamed a seemingly hopeless, yet elegantly simple answer.

I would like to parachute into a market, solve a client’s problem, and then return home.

Between the moment I had the dream, and believed the dream three years went by. But because it was the right dream, one that resonated with me at the intellectual, emotional and spiritual levels, my subconscious inched me forward towards that dream despite the hurdles I and life put before me.

My father became ill and then passed away. During that time I spent a lot of time supporting him and my mother. After he died my wife and I moved from Toronto to Winnipeg to care for her father who was dying. We stayed there for 1 1/2 years until he too passed  away. A year ago we returned to Toronto to be with my mother (91) and pick up where we left off.

While we were in Winnipeg I started supporting a small agency with a dream similar to mine. Now we help each other. Each day I go to my office in Toronto and do a mental commute to Winnipeg where I spend the day online, on the phone and on my own, solving problems creatively using my many years of agency experience.

While some days are a nightmare – it really is a dream come true.

I invite you to dream your way into a better reality too!

109 | Social Media Tactics Made Simple
Posted: January 28, 2012

108 | Why a dog is a creative director’s best friend
Posted: January 15, 2012

This is Charlie, my creative muse. Here’s a summary of what make him an idea companion on my creative journey through life – both professionally and personally.

• Co-operation. Charlie is a dog – an entirely different species. The efforts we have made over the last eight years to understand, learn and teach one another has changed my life for the better.
• Consideration. The compassion that is required to care for Charlie (who was lost or abandoned, has no real rights in our society and can’t speak for himself) has made me far more humane. Thanks to Charlie I spend MUCH more time doing social outreach and NFP work for humans + animals.
• Routine. His need to be out and about regularly takes me out of my comfort zone and onto streets, fields and beaches that encourage me to revisit my work with a fresh perspective.
• His eyes. His eyes may look like mine (we both have brown eyes) but Charlie’s eyes not only process light 25% faster, he sees the the world through a different colour palette, sees more and better than I can after dusk and before dawn – and processes distant movement much better. When I focus on what he is drawn to, I see a different world.
• His ears. Because Charlie can hear frequencies that I can’t, paying attention to him enables me to notice things coming at us that I would not be able to anticipate with-out him.
• His nose. Because Charlie’s nose (both inside and outside is exponentially more sensitive than mine, Charlie broadens my perspective here as well.
• Height. I’m over six feet tall. Charlie’s less than two feet tall. That gives bicameral perspective a whole different meaning: think ‘low hanging fruit’.

107 | Global Warming . . .
Posted: January 8, 2012

When I see dandelions blooming in January here in Toronto I know something is a bit off, but at the same time it’s a morning smile. I’ve seen them now for 15 years in select sheltered locations. I’m also not sure what to think of Global Warming. If I look at it personally & egotistically it’s a big concern because we’re putting our current way of life at risk. Looking at it globally over time and space – big deal: we’ve had our time on the beach building sand-castles. High tide is coming and all will be washed away. It’s not personal. That’s just the way of the universe.

#106 | Nature, Nurture and Helicopters
Posted: December 28, 2011

This is my Son  Ian.

A few years ago he called me and asked me about a decision he was preparing to make: he wanted to become an aircraft mechanic.

I told him that I agreed with his careers direction because it’s an ‘international ticket’ that would enable him to work all over the world (with-out retraining) and it made use of his formidable computer programming and mechanical reasoning skills. I went on to tell him those were the NURTURE reasons, and that there were some NATURE reasons he should know about as well.

When my father was in his teens (in Germany) he was expected, by his father, to apprentice in the family’s cabinetmaking business. Although he did so, his young heart was  in the next village over where his uncle was experimenting with powered gliders. I didn’t know that until I was in my 30′s. Bear that in mind as you read on.

When I finished high-school I went to an orientation at Ryerson Polytechnic. I explored two avenues: Aeronautical Technology and Business Administration. I ended up studying Business because I didn’t have the math skills needed for A.T.

Shortly after I graduated from Ryerson and began my career in advertising, I had the opportunity to move to Germany and apprentice with B.O.A.C. as a freight manager. I was very tempted, but didn’t for a bunch of reasons that I won’t go into here.

Importantly, this new information helped Ian understand that while the environment he was nurtured in had prepared him to succeed in the aircraft service & support field, something in his nature (or gene pool) seemed to be directing him towards that professional community as well.

With his heart and head in alignment Ian went off to school.

1.2 way through his basic training Ian found his calling: rotor-wing (versus fixed wing) aircraft service.

Since graduation in March 2010 Ian has been knocking about, looking for a place to park his tool-chest.

Today Ian hired on with Bell Helicopters in Winnipeg as  a Helicopter Mechanic Apprentice.

I’m all smiles because his news allowed me to relive my first day – can you remember the thrill of yours?

#105 | Merry Chrismas
Posted: December 24, 2011

#104 | Season’s Greeting from Charlie
Posted: December 19, 2011

#103 | Why stupid marketing managers have sales
Posted: December 18, 2011

This is my mother Julia. She’s 90. At Christmas she gives us money because she doesn’t understand how her own remaining five children, the grandchildren and the great grandchildren navigate life. The price of things, the speed at which things come into and go out of fashion – it’s all too much for her. Interestingly – when she asks her kids what she should get their children, they’re not so sure either. They too are amazed at the pace of change in their lives. Interestingly, the kids enjoy the money because they can do what-ever they want with it. But my mother doesn’t think giving money is a gift because it takes no thought or insight. For my mother a good gift should be a creative revelation for the recipient.

Segue to Frank Wehrmann on creative design and branding.

When I am asked to design an advertising campaign or comment on one, I ask to see the consumer U&A research first. If the client doesn’t have any but are prepared to do some, great.

If not, odds are great that I can’t help them much.

Like my mother, the people at the top are not in touch with what’s going on at the street level. They just pretend to be. They see people shopping and see lots of stores having sales. So when some stupid ad agency tells them they need to do a sale as well, they’re more than willing to do one. Follow the leader – like silly little lemmings to the sea.

Like my mother, I don’t think giving away money is very creative or insightful. Actually it’s pretty stupid. If they were smart they would add, rather than chip away, at their brand’s fragile value proposition.

#102 | Sage Advice
Posted:

This – from the tail end of my friend’s truck.

#101 | Jack Frost
Posted:

 

It’s December 18th here in Toronto. When I was a kid I was sleigh riding by now. Today I can still find blooming dandelions along the base of buildings that serve as heat sinks. A little further along the way I looks for the little streams that, under the right conditions, produce these magical ice crystals.

#100 | Beaver Bites
Posted: November 27, 2011

I had to post this shot that I took a few weeks ago in Bluffer’ Park – one of Toronto’s many land-fill lagoons.

This conservation area has attracted beavers and here’s the evidence.

I see more wildlife on my Toronto waterfront walks than I do in N. Ontario. So far, the only thing I have not seen is a bear.

#99 | John F. Kennedy
Posted: November 22, 2011

Assassinated on November 22, 1963 at 12:30 p.m.

 

#98 | Remembrance Day in Canada
Posted: November 11, 2011

Remembrance Day commemorates the sacrifices that Canadians made in armed conflicts, including World Wars I and II.

This November has been very different for me because I have been working on an advertising campaign for the Friends of The Canadian Human Rights Museum; the fund raising association of the new Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Working through the research, the copy and image banks to create compelling ads changed the way I look at these two conflicts as well as the many that have occurred since. I pray my ads do the same thing to those who read them.

©iStockphoto.com/James Warren

#96 | Getting ready for winter – tactically
Posted: November 9, 2011

Unless you’re importing all of your goods and services to the equator, your brand probably needs to get ready for winter. Here are a few examples of how some of the brands I work with get ready for winter:

• Consultants and Strategists invite their clients to get ready for the next calendar year.
• Manufacturers reduce their carrying costs of old and off-season inventory with factory clearances.
• Retailers make room for new inventory be selling off this year’s goods with factory authorized clearances or a holiday-magic approach.
• For many charities Christmas is a great donation lever.
• Travel agents focus on destinations that promise sun and warmth or a winter wonderland.
• Restaurant menus get a festive holiday makeover.
• Food stores’ drink promotions go from cooling to warming.
• Clothing and skin products focus on protection from frost-bite rather than sun-burn.

What’s important to keep in mind is this:

• While seasons change and technology changes, people don’t.
• Value, distinct, security, comfort, convenience and no surprises are still the main reasons why people buy – regardless of the weather. For example:

In the Summer . . .	In the Winter . . .
On road trips I look for a clean room, good food, good customer service, aesthetic surroundings and clean, warm  water for me and my dog to swim in.	On road trips I look for a clean room, good food, good customer service, aesthetic surroundings and clean, well defined snow paths to hike along.
When buying cloths I look for well made products that I can work and play in, that will look good for a few years, and be cool and comfortable all summer.	When buying cloths I look for well made products that I can work and play in, that will look good for a few years, and be warm and comfortable all winter.
My car is prepared for hot summer stop and go travel. I don’t want my car or passengers boiling on the side of the road.	My car is prepared for cold winter stop and go travel. I don’t want my car or passengers freezing on the side of the road

You get the picture?

When a strong brand moves from one season to another, the manner in which it speaks to its audience does NOT change. Only the product inventory is modified.

A life-long brand-friend of mine is Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC). Regardless of the season, MEC is the brand I turn to for high quality clothing and accessories that protect me from myself and the elements. For people like me MEC represents good practical and psychological good value: the math works and it feels right.

As you winterize your brand ask yourself how you can provide better practical and psychological value – to drive up brand loyalty and referral scores.

At 6P we did a number of very interesting customer use and attitude studies this year to help our clients build their businesses on solid knowledge foundations rather than on the shifting sands of assumptions. To learn more about how a survey can help build your business e-me at frank@wehrmann.ca.

 

 

 

#95 | True love :: Michelle and Charles Convey
Posted: November 6, 2011

#94 | Same sun but differrent
Posted: November 4, 2011

A few minutes after I took this picture a fellow dog-walker, also admiring this sunrise, said: it’s the same sun – but it’s different every day. My guess is that he’s in his 80′s. It’s what I love about my morning walks: no two are the same. It sounds goofy – but it is so true. It’s what gets me out of bed and inspires me to explore my neighborhood and my world. The predictable time and place of the sunrise in conjunction with the unpredictable seascape, cloud cover and so forth are brilliant reminders that today will be different – my oyster.

 

#93 | Fall
Posted:

Summer used to be my favorite season. Now, not so much. I still love the freedom that comes with not needing to bundle up and swimming in the lakes, but as I get older I’m liking fall and winter more. I love the colors that come with fall, as well as the end of the growing season. The decay in this picture is part of the never ending cycle of birth – growth – death – and rebirth.

I love getting up early enough to capture the 1st sun’s rays on the night frost that now covers the fields where Charlie and I take our morning walks. It’s where & when I do my best thinking.

 

#92 | Happy 75th CBC
Posted: November 2, 2011

 

I didn’t really get into CBC until I got married. My wife introduced me to CBC 16 years ago and now I’m hooked. Because my wife’s parents lived in Winnipeg, we went to Winnipeg and the family cottage in Kenora a few times a year. En-route and there we tuned into CBC Radio and TV. The content continuity made us feel at home although Toronto was a long way off. Over the years CBC, the local and national personalities have become part of the brand family we welcome into our home, car, hotel room and cottage.

I listen to CBC while I’m traveling because I have learned that I will receive the same content – no matter where I go. If I can’t get it off-air or by cable, I can try the internet. If all those media-channel options fail, I look for NPR. NPR is different, but has the same sensibilities and also carries some CBC content.

For years I worked with new franchisors who didn’t understand why brand consistency was important. I often used car rental, fast-food and hotel chain examples to help them understand. In the future I’ll be using CBC as well – because it’s not just a practical thing. It’s a cerebral thing as well.

#91 | Word spam – as soothing as a broken vibrator.
Posted: November 1, 2011

I remember the 1st time I got spammed. I thought for a moment I’d been discovered. Then I realized the highly complimentary entry didn’t make any sense because it was generated copy – not a language barrier or translation issue. That said. Some of them are kind of cute and soothing. Sort of like vibrators: designed for one reason – available in an unimaginable variety of shapes, sizes and textures.

So tonight I’m doing a little test. I’m going to see if looking for spam gets me more – or less vibrating spam.

 

 

#97 | Getting ready for winter – strategically
Posted:

While most of you live in a business environment where you need to focus on weekly, 10-day, monthly or quarterly sales, your customers live in a world ruled by a 365 day calendar (leap years aside), civic, religious and traditional holidays, moon phases, the zodiac and many other intellectual and emotional ‘triggers’ we all use to stage sales events: Valentine’s Day and Boxing Day are two examples.

From a psychological standpoint, winter is a great time to gather customer data that you can use to fine-tune next year’s strategic plan. In the winter people spend more time in doors and are already predisposition to make new year’s resolutions. Whether you visit people like my wife does with a little gift and a ‘Pop-By’, invite them to a breakfast meeting, give them a call, send them a card, or do it by an-email, ask your customers how you’re doing, and how you can serve them better.

GUARANTEE #1.  I guarantee you’ll learn something you can put into action to help put your organization at the top of their shopping list for the products or services you offer.

GUARANTEE #2.  I guarantee you’ll need to wade through a bunch of boring data to get at the juicy bits.

Often the customer response cloaks a bigger issue:

1. Longer hours of operation is common request that often means “I can’t get there after work” and can be solved with satellite offices or on-line or call centre options.
2. “Too expensive” often points to a self serving sales proposition. Great value is the desired response and a function of the vendor explaining and the customer understanding and believing that the proposition is money well invested – not spent.
3. “I can do that (faster) myself” is the practical cousin to #2. The people are saying they don’t understand what value you’re bringing to the table. Like those in #2, these people have a point. Your selling proposition should be crystal clear and support the brand position and promise to help close the sale.

Regardless of what questions you ask and what answers you decide to take to heart, asking your customer what they think sends a very powerful message: “I’m interested in your Point of View”. And on that note I’m going to end this article with a few questions of my own.

• If you could relay 2011 – what would do different?
• If you gained share this year – what do you attribute the gains to?
• If you lost share – what do you attribute the losses to?
• Directional business forecast for next year – why?

#90 | Thank-you Mr. Jobs
Posted: October 6, 2011

Thank-you for all you did and gave to the world, my Son and to me. May your journey on the other side be as interesting and fulfilling as the one on this side.

 

#89 | Where there is turmoil there is also opportunity
Posted: September 27, 2011

Here’s an exerpt from my Broker, Loyd Leonard, regarding what you should and should not do during tumultuous times .

“TO ALL MY CLIENTS
Over the last few weeks turning into months, the stocks markets have become very volatile with the emphasis on the down side.
When you see days where the market is down 500 points, one starts to experience the beginning of the emotional side of panic. This is in today’s world, where the major Canadian and American indexes are still in the 11,000 point range. I have joked with many of you that PANIC is when the market is down 500 points and the index is only 2000 points. When was this? It was in October 1987. The market dropped 25% in one day.
I was young, somewhat inexperienced at that time, and I took guidance from the advice of an “old” senior partner at the firm (who was on vacation in England at the time). His advice was essentially “don’t let your clients sell their good investments, because in 6 months they will regret it, but they will be too afraid to get back in”
This advice has saved my clients, untold amounts of money since then on many market corrections. The corrections were caused by many different events… political, economic, military, and terrorism to name a few.
Panic is the source of much opportunity. All corrections come to an end!
In most cases, but not all, dividends and distributions continue to get paid, and normalcy returns to market and we move onward.
In this instance, we are facing the possible unravelling of the European Economic Union (low probability) with the restructuring of the sovereign debt of Greece (high probability).
We are also facing the lack of (so far) a successful policy to be initiated by the Government of the United States of America that will foster, within its own boundaries, growth of investment spending by industry of all stripes and the return of the American consumer to start spending. Thanksgiving and Christmas could be lean.
In Canada, we are blessed with a sounder economy than most places in the world, in that we continue to produce the resources that the rest of the world needs and wants. This is currently being subjected to a moderate downturn in the commodity markets as even the growth of Asian demand cools down.
There are many undervalued opportunities being created in this volatile period.

By and large I encourage everyone to hold the course. As always, if you have any immediate concerns, please give me a call with any investment questions.”

Lloyd W. Leonard
Portfolio Manager
Macquarie Private Wealth Inc.
181 Bay Street, Toronto
T: 416-572-5363

#88 | Why I miss George and not Bruno
Posted: September 22, 2011

Over the last 35 years I’ve worked  on lots of different accounts and hundreds of clients. George and Bruno were both real clients. Here’s why I miss George and not Bruno.

While George didn’t believe that advertising could help the Canadian division of the international Brand he managed, he kept an objective, open mind and listened to reason.  Every call, letter, fax or e-mail from George began with ‘Dear Frank, could you please . . . ’ and ended with ‘Thank-you very much.’ He showed me, our agency his team-mates, the franchise and his customers how common courtesy, common sense and the common touch can be used to build a Brand-Loyal Business one customer at a time by addressing our basic need for acceptance, dignity and respect.

The collateral benefit of George’s approach included the following – and more:

• he brought out the best in me as an individual,
• he encouraged me to become a great, not just a good, agency director,
• he offered our Agency the benefit of the doubt when things went wrong and heaped on the praise when things went right,
• At George’s meetings you parked your ego at the door because the meetings probed and challenged emotions and intellect to ensure all stakeholders agreed with, could support and would defend the decisions made there.
• We all worked long hard for George, and the brand we nurtured as a team.

In the end we proved George wrong. Our promotions worked so well that we often ended the campaigns earlier than planned.

Bruno had a sign on his desk: “If anything goes wrong – someone will die”. Professionally he didn’t like Partnerships. He had one with his wife: that’s it. He liked people that did as they were told. Bruno liked being in charge and in control. It was VERY important that all stakeholders thought Bruno was brilliant.

While Bruno was a regular guest at our agency, and was always available for a cross country TV shoot, lunch, dinner and golf, to make the most of any event the spotlight had to be on Bruno from start to finish.

Bruno did whatever it took to make his numbers and did not care who got thrown under the bus when additional traction or a lighter load were called for. He never expressed appreciation because, in his mind, we didn’t exist – or if we did, only by his grace.

While little dictators like Bruno may have a role in our society, it’s definitely not in any play that involves marketing, advertising or customer service.

Great ideas are most often discovered where a key operational insight and an emotional contradiction collide like a pair of freight trains. Getting to that intersection takes intelligence, leadership, teamwork, insight and trust.

In the end Bruno lost most of the business advertising brought in because his operations rarely delivered on the advertised claims

 

#87 | A brief history of discounting in Canada
Posted: September 21, 2011

In the 1950’s Steinbach’s car salesmen were the top of the country selling more than 250 cars annually.

But that wasn’t good enough.

In 1960 the Steinbach’s car dealers held a special promotion where anyone who came to Steinbach to buy a car had their hotel, restaurant and transportation paid for by the Steinbach Dealer Association. People came not only from Manitoba but also from Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Many other business owners took note. The rest is history, greed and folly.

• Over 60 years of discount promotions have taught three generations to shop for the lowest price and avoid the MSRP at all cost – pun intended.
• The discount mentality has spread like a deadly virus to every product or service category.
• Major markets like Winnipeg have become so obsessed with getting the lowest price on an item they will abandon local merchants and drive all the way to Grand Forks to get a ‘better (cheaper) deal’.
• Low price promotion shoppers are so addicted to getting more for less that they do not care that they are ruining the economies of their home town, province and Canada to get their fix.
• Discounting forces manufacturers and service providers to move their companies out of Canada.
• Small service businesses depend on customers that believe that quality and service are important.
• Large businesses dredge the market with low price promotions and reduce small business survival rates.
• Countless studies show that a customer that is treated well and is educated along the way is far more loyal and will pay more for and item. This bodes VERY well for smart manufacturers who are able to reinvest their higher profits into R&D that leads to better, more satisfying products.

I dare you to do promotions with a higher calling.

I dare you to look at your business and customers differently and ask yourself “how can I serve them better?

I dare you to look at your business the way Mr. Jack Layton looked at Canadians.

“My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.”

I dare you.

 

#86 | A spider’s lesson on developing marketing funnels
Posted: September 17, 2011

Whether you like spiders or not, you should spend some time with this picture to better understand what an integrated marketing plan really looks like. Some key observations:

1. I was able to capture this picture early one morning because the miniscule water droplets that make up ground fog were caught in this web and defined it. Usually it’s invisible.

2. Time | Place | Target Group | Dominant Behavior | Traffic patterns – you name it – it’s been calculated into this engineering masterpiece.

3. No two webs are alike. Each addresses the relevant variance in the location to optimize the marketing funnel.

4. The strategy is used consistently and persistently because it pays off more often than it fails. The proof is that these spiders are thriving in our current environment.

5. The spider is patient – it does not waste energy chasing every opportunity – but it makes the most of every opportunity that comes its way.

What I like most is the integration – each thread supports the other.

If you tried to portray your marketing plan as a funnel – let alone a funnel spider’s web – would your funnel catch anything?

 

#85 | Asshole
Posted:

Here I am with my wife and dog. Over 1 km. down a trail that is a 1/2 hr. drive from the nearest town. The forest is pristine. We feel like we’re the first ones to ever use this trail. Then this reality check. A Tim Horton’s cup and a cigarette butt. I don’t get it. Do you?

 

 

#84 | Brilliant!
Posted: September 16, 2011

 

 

 

#83 | 98% of the men interviewed didn’t see the frog.
Posted: September 14, 2011

This little German Magazine survey result does a great job of demonstrating the vast divide between you perception and my reality. Great advertising doesn’t reduce this cognitive dissonance, it capitalizes on it. Does yours?

 

 

#82 | Sex-Drive
Posted: September 13, 2011

Funny.

When I watch a Lawyer, Doctor, Accountant, or other ‘professional’, giving their clients advice, the clients invariably do as their ‘told’.

No so in the weird and wonderful world of advertising where you’ll see freshly minted college graduates in their first marketing job ‘improving‘ a seasoned, award winning copy-writer’s work.

It keeps things interesting.

 

 

#81 | Is your brand a place that I can come home to?
Posted: September 12, 2011

The first store I can recall going to is Mikie’s Corner Store. Mikie was my first brand ambassador and I was four years old. His place offered me everything I could imagine and a whole lot more than I could afford. When I was seven, we moved from Parkdale to High Park and I got to know Pete’s Sunny Bar. Pete’s store was right across from Annette public school and he held me and four other generations of students captive until he died a few years ago. Now his daughter does the same. In high school, there was Mr. Yonka’s Variety Store. I bought my first pack of cigarettes there. Summer jobs and University took me downtown to a whole new world called Yonge Street.

What Yonge Street looked like in the ’70s

…and what it looks like now

All those people, lights, sights and sounds drew me away from the corner stores I had grown up with and exposed me to a whole new world of products and services – most of which I had never imagined. My old ‘brand loyalties’ were severed as I explored the shops and bars of Yonge Street by night and worked or attended school a few streets over by day. I was 16.

As a little boy my loyalty was to a Mikie’s Corner Store and the brands my parents told me I could trust.

Psychology played a big part in my shopping destination and purchase decision.

As a teenager I sought out stores that allowed me to experiment with new people, products and services that my parents did NOT approve of. Discretion became an important purchase variable. 

Psychology played a big part in my shopping destination and purchase decisions.

As a young (and then mature) advertising professional, I remained on Yonge Street another 20 years working for agencies like Foster, MacLaren, Baker Lovick and Ogilvy & Mather. The street changed, my needs changed. Now I knew what I wanted, when I wanted it and how I wanted it. I found a handful of stores that served me well and they still have my business today.

Psychology still plays a big part in my shopping destination and purchase decisions.

The world wide web works the very same way. On any given day there are some people who are using the web for the first time, and some who are closing their web browser for the last time.

We need to think of the online experience as an extension of the off-line experience – and vice versa –  because cognitive dissonance comes into play when you offer customers on and offline experiences that are not congruent.

Whether you’re building your online brand or offline brand presence, get to know all of your customers: the young and the old, the new and the regular, to ensure that you understand what they are buying and how they are using what they buy. Their product and service utility insights will help you ensure that your brand is mentally ‘visible’:  that I can find it, stay with it for life, or come home to it after I’ve gone through my exploration phase.

Aspirin™ is the first brand my mother introduced me to and is still my friend. I use it the same way she does. Duct tape is different. A few years ago my son made me a gorgeous silver duct tape kilt. He changed how I look at that product, where and how I now position it.

The two safest places for a brand are in the user’s heart and mind.

Streets and web addresses change. But, like any good friend, you’ll track down those you love.

 

 

 

#80 | Goodbye Mr. Jack Layton
Posted: August 22, 2011

 

August 22, 2011

Mr. Layton died earlier today.

He was only 61.

Not only has the Canadian New Democratic Party lost their leader, Canadians have lost their best and brightest moral compass.

I’m at a loss.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#79 | ColorSplash for iPhones
Posted: August 20, 2011

Last week I bought two great apps that work together seamlessly. One is a very simple but very well designed application called ‘ColorSplash’ which allows you to spot colour pictures like this. I spent 5 minutes watching the tutorial and got to work.

The other app is ‘TuneIn Radio’. This nifty little app connects me to countless radio stations around the world.

At the end of a long day I tune into SR2 (Kultur Radio in Saarbrucken Germany), pull up an interesting photo I’ve taken with my iPhone and spot colour for 1/2 an hour.

It’s great fun and it makes me feel like a little 5-year old finger-painter again. That’s the best part!

#78 | Brand Extensions
Posted: August 10, 2011

 

Brand extensions are funny things. Most will advise you to tread carefully because poorly executed brand extensions will diminish your brand equity. While I’ll go alone with the others on that, designs like this demonstrate that the essence of the brand extension discussion should not be about ‘what’, but how. I sold Vespa’s one summer in Winnipeg. The folks that bought Vespa’s were a special bunch. I know their long cold winters nights would have been made just a lot brighter with this Vespa desk-lamp.

 

 

 

#77 | Freedom of expression
Posted: August 5, 2011

I went to a really great wedding the other night. Two really wonderful women tied the knot on a warm summer night in the beautiful backyard of their good friend. They were married and blessed by  Reverend Jo Bell of the Metropolitan Church and supported by a liberal cross section of friends and family members from across Canada, the U.S. and Europe. The food, the weather, the hospitality and company all conspired to make this a very, very special and memorable event. It was almost perfect. And somehow the imperfection is what will make it that much more memorable to me. Towards the end of the speeches one of the Brides reminded everyone taking pictures or recording videos NOT to share their support for this event on social media because their social media pages are the key portal of communication with friends in far off places. Places in which this kind of union is not acceptable – for all sorts of reasons. And in that moment my friend (one of the two Brides) marked me with a VERY visceral understanding  of what I take for granted: freedom of expression.

A lot of my blog entries focus on the small changes that lead to large long lasting change.

This is a really big one because we are so very fortunate.

#76 | Building great brands like building great neighborhoods
Posted: July 16, 2011

“Why condo-villes don’t work” was the headline of a great city planning article published in the Toronto Star on  July 2, 2011. Architect, urban planner and author  Ken Greenberg observes that most new condo residences do not work because they are only one part of a community. That a good community requires diverse housing options to accommodate singles, couples, families, retirees, and low income students. The idea is being able to age in one place, to go from one stage to another in the same neighborhood so you can put down roots. Smart brands do much the same thing: they offer a wide variety of products and services that enable customers to stay with the brand from cradle to grave. Here are some unbranded examples:

• Diapers for babies – cleansing cloths for children – facial tissues for adults – incontinence products for seniors.
• Strollers – children’s tricycles -  adult bicycles – senior mobility tricycles.
• Baby food – Regular Food – Calcium & Vitamin enriched foods for seniors.
• Piggy banks – bank account – registered education accounts – checking accounts – retirement funds – legacy fund

While there will always be one-hit-wonders: people, products & services that seize the moment, great brands are very involved with their constituents and go to great lengths to ensure that they understand what’s going with their brand’s living terrain, and why. Great brands become our partners for life – until they loose touch with us. Here are a few brands that I support:

• Bayer. When I was a little boy my mother would give me 1/2 of a Bayer Aspirin to help me feel better.
• Ford. My father was the 1st on our block to own a 1965 Ford Mustang. I learned to drive on my Dad’s 1968 Ford Mustang. I’ve owned 1977 and  1988 models.
• MEC. Mountain Equipment Co-op is the only place I go when I want well designed outer wear that will last. MEC gets it and gets me.
• Folgers. It’s a pretty average coffee by my standards but I keep a jar in the house at all time. When-ever I want to ‘go home‘ – I just make a cup of Folgers. Amazing!

If you’re managing a brand, skip the quarterly report B.S. and look instead of how well the brand serves its community now and what the future holds. You don’t need a crystal ball to do that: just some common sense and some good research.

David Ogilvy said it best when he suggested that we should use research like streetlamps to help light the way, and not the way a drunken man uses them: to prop himself up.

Enjoy your day – and your journey.

#75 | The Psycology Of Colour
Posted:

#74 | Who will you meet on the road less traveled?
Posted: June 28, 2011

I learned many years ago that marching to the beat of your own drum can get lonely at times and that the rewards come when you least expect them to and don’t look anything like your preconceptions. For example – one of the companies I support in Winnipeg added the following thought to the end of their internal update. I glossed over most of the technical stuff and am adding Ray and Ted’s inspirational message to my blog because they are an example of an unexpected reward on the road less traveled.

“Introducing a new technology to market is difficult! Resistance to change is part of human nature. Status quo thinking and doing is easy – no effort is required. And, if there are no changes, there are no potential consequences. In general, people want to do today what they did yesterday, last week and last year. When presented with something new, they ask themselves; what’s in it for me? What will my existing suppliers say and do if I change? Will my customers accept this new product? How do I know for sure it will work and what will happen if it doesn’t? For most, these are daunting questions. People are afraid of change because it is easier and safer to continue selling the same old status quo stuff.

How terribly boring and unfulfilling!

Change, even change for the better is always accompanies by drawbacks and discomfort. But the journey is fascinating, energizing and financially rewarding! What we are doing cannot be accomplished by most – we applaud your efforts.”

Keep up the great work

Ray and Ted

TBC (Canada) Inc.

#73 | Finding and Living Your Passion
Posted:

Charlie came into my life when he was about 1.5 years old. He was either lost or abandoned on a cold December night. From the get go Charlie expressed an interest in balls. A ball is anything that’s round. Some call it an obsession. I call it his first and last love. He loves water retrieving best. Next comes tall grass tennis ball hunting. After that snow-ball hunting (digging them out of snow drifts). Fly-ball, baseball, golf and tennis are also of great interest to Charlie.

Charlie reinforces the advice that many of us are offered but few follow: pursue your passion. For the last 8.5 years I have worked, played and learned from Charlie who has taught me to keep it simple, focused and passionate. All that ball-playing has made Charlie a fantastic hunter, retriever, and all round-round-thing-expert. Likewise all of my communication and ‘change‘ explorations have made me really good at what I do. What now come naturally and effortlessly took years of practice and training. Charlie and I are better and happier thanks to our passions.

We hope you have and are exploring yours.

Bye4now.

#72 | A Mirror made of driftwood
Posted: June 24, 2011

When you think of mirrors you probably think of the kind you have in your bathroom or bedroom – the kind that accurately reflects what you look like. When I’m working with clients I like to use objects or images with them that reflect their present and desired states of mind and being. Take this picture for example. It features a piece of driftwood 1/2 covered by moss. From 2001 to 2006 it rested on my office credenza in my down-town Toronto office and helped remind me of what was most important to me: harmony.

When I left I took it with me. Now it rests just outside of my front door reminding me of the life I once led and have left behind. In my new office I am surrounded be a wide variety of mirrors that remind me of my journey to date and help guide tomorrow’s steps.

#71 | “Fuck You. It’s Magic.”
Posted:

My friend Crystal this little sign tucked into her space – down below eye level – and I love it because it does such a great job of reinforcing what most people in communications already know. A crisis can set you off, research can point the way to a solution, an ideation session can add some more dimension to the unfolding drama, but you’re dead in the water unless someone has an epiphany.  And that boys and girls, is why it’s fucking magic.

Great ideas defy logic, gravity and the ravages of time. They change who we are and what we believe (is possible).

“I Have A Dream.”

— Dr. M.L. King.

#70 | Should you run a summer sale or not?
Posted: June 22, 2011

It all depends.

Here are a few things to consider before committing to a summer sales event:

1. If you sell a ‘seasonal’ product, the answer is no

Your advertising efforts should focus on the benefits of your product or service because sustained price-point advertising trains customers to shop for the price, not the best value. Best price is not a brand loyalty anchor.

If your product is out of season, predictable end of season discount sales and buy-some-get-some events can also do more harm than good by discounting today’s inventory at the expense of tomorrow’s full mark-up items. Think automotive rebates for a moment. In spring, summer, fall and winter, automotive discounting is so predictable and pervasive that a new vehicle’s MSRP has become meaningless. Most computer and mobile device manufacturers are following suit.

2. Create a benefit over and above price

Is your sales event designed to move your excess inventory, or are you really trying to improve the lives of your customers and those they could refer to your business? While this may sound dumb, it’s actually sound advice designed to protect your business, and your profit margins from price shoppers who have no brand or store loyalty. Countless consumer-use and attitude research studies have found that price is NOT the key determinate for product or service selection. Think accountants, lawyers and plumbers.

3. Price is a ‘catch-phrase’ for the more complex value proposition

When a person walks into a clean, well organized store, is greeted promptly and sincerely, served by smart, engaged, well informed employees, offered a range of product choices with pros and cons that are easy to understand, and supported by after-sales support, the odds of a customer saying that the product or service is ‘priced well’ increases dramatically. What the customer is really saying is “this is a really great value proposition.” The collateral benefit of the customer feeling good about their purchase decision includes:

• Repeat purchases
• Increased likelihood of trying and buying related products or services
• Casual referrals to friends and family
• Active referrals to try your products or services

Think Mountain Equipment Co-op

4. Keep your brand top of mind during the off-season

A variety of American on and offline business media research studies conducted between 1965 and 2005 have determined that the sales of brands that continue to advertise (albeit at reduced levels) during recessionary times rebound faster and further after the recession than those that stop advertising altogether (to save money short term). The lesson for both large and small advertisers is clear: doing some brand advertising during recessionary times, or in the off-season, helps to keep your brand top of mind and on the mental shortlist of your customers.

Tough times never last – but relevant brands do.

#69 | Should I use FB to promote me | Tweet for ‘Free’
Posted: May 30, 2011

I was asked these two questions on the weekend. My answer is as usual – it depends and no.

FACEBOOK is a ‘channel’, nothing more. Just because it’s popular it doesn’t mean it’s for you. To make it work for you you need to have an audience that wants what you’ve got or wants to give you what they have. While opinions are traded freely, few would want to buy professional services that way. Not sure, contact those who are selling products and services and see if they’re doing well, experimenting – or using it as a tactic to get their name passed around.

I would not use FB to try to build my business directly or obliquely. Calling my network and asking for a referral is still far more effective.

TWITTER

To tweet well takes time and effort because the tweet is the beginning of a communication interchange that is meant to lead to an exchange of ideas – and money. as such the tweet needs to be supported by a blog, white paper, internet or other piece of valuable information. Otherwise you’re just re-sharing – for which you get zero points. Like anything else worth doing, good work takes time. Time is money – and in this case also your reputation. Along with the rate you charge for your tweets – and support articles – ensure the terms and conditions are very clear.

#68 Gordon Lightfoot and Lady Gaga
Posted:

Two weeks ago I watched Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball tour and last Friday I went to see Gorden Lightfoot play Massey Hall – perhaps for the last time. I wanted to see LGG’s show because I like her message, lyrics and strong branding. I think ‘Born This Way’ is brilliant because it will help many folks out there take pride in the skin they’re in a whole lot more. Lady Gaga reminds me of a rocket launch. It’s loud, spectacular, engaging and makes one hell of a statement. I look forward to seeing how she and her message evolves over time.

I wanted to see Mr. Lightfoot live one last time. He reminds me of Voyager 1 (launched in 1977, to study the outer Solar System and eventually interstellar space, it is the first probe to leave the Solar System and is the farthest man made object from Earth.) GordonLightfoot has been on the road now for over 46 years. The message Voyager and Mr. Lightfoot send home on a regular basis have not changes for a long time and are comfortingly consistent in their tone and manner – although the signal is getting weaker.

American Idol just helped launch a few more artists into orbit this season. It will be interesting to see which ones fizzle out on the launch-pad, which ones are able to surpass the orbit of Lady Gaga and where they’ll be in 40 or 50 years from now.

When you’re laying track for your own brand identity or that of a corporate brand it’s important to step back, and get some perspective on what you’re doing and why.

Instead of sorting paper-clips or navel gazing to find the answer – try astral projection: go look at things from Voyager 1′s perspective.

#67 | Leslee Silverman and Denny Crane at G.G. P.A.A.
Posted: May 16, 2011

Here’s a great Free Press reprint about our friend Leslee posing with Denny Crane (AKA William Shatner & Captain Kirk) at the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards.

Silverman presented with Governor General’s Performing Arts Award

Leslee Silverman, the longtime artistic director of Manitoba Theatre for Young People, received Canada’s most prestigious performing-arts honour at Rideau Hall on Friday.

She was one of six Canadians presented with the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for lifetime artistic achievement. The award comes with a $25,000 prize.

Her fellow laureates are actor William Shatner, Oscar-winning composer Howard Shore, Quebec humorist Yvon Deschamps, dancer/choreographer Margie Gillis and theatre creator Paul Thompson.

Silverman, a Wolseley resident, has led MTYP for nearly 30 years, since its inception in 1982. She is recognized as a national leader in the field of theatre for young audiences.

She was instrumental in the 1999 creation of MTYP’s performance facility at The Forks, the only one of its kind in English Canada to be built from the ground up. She has commissioned plays from major Canadian playwrights and has directed 80 shows.

She was the first recipient in 2003 of the Manitoba Arts Council Arts Award of Distinction, recognizing the highest level of artistic excellence and distinguished career achievement.

Under Silverman’s leadership, MTYP programs a full season of shows for children, teens and families from local, national and international companies, conducts annual provincial tours, operates a year-round theatre school and runs an aboriginal arts training and mentorship program.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 14, 2011 G2

#66 | Best Friends: Toby (20 lbs.) and Barnie (90 Lbs.)
Posted: May 6, 2011

Toby and Barnie are the best of friends and play (rough) together at least once a day. Human onlookers don’t get it – they think Barnie will crush Toby, but he doesn’t.

The lesson Barnie and Toby taught me is one that my mother tried to teach me. I didn’t get it at the time – but now I (finally do):  “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” I’ve learned from these two boys that the best teams and most dynamic teams are not necessarily the most obvious fit. My Poodle and another retriever just watch Barnie and Toby and never join in.

The other lesson lies in the metaphors: my dog metaphor versus my mother’s ‘book’ metaphor. When telling a personal or organizational brand story, it pays to have a series of simple and cerebral metaphors to play with because not all the people will understand or like the metaphor you think works best. Don’t believe me? Think iPhone apps.

#65 | The May o3, 2011 – Sea(t) Change
Posted: May 3, 2011

Today Canada woke up to a new majority government and a new official opposition party.  The repositioning of the Conservatives, NDP, Liberals, Bloq and The Green Party is historic and exciting in that Canadians are asking our leaders to work together to pull the country together, and not apart. I am prouder than I have been in all of my adult years to be a Canadian and firmly believe the best is yet to come.

• Aside from the elimination of the Bloq, I do not I believe that the new combination of leadership is better than the combination we had. I do not I favor one part over another.

I believe the best is yet to come because Canadians have made it clear that it’s time for a major change and that all party members – regardless of ‘stripe’ need to smarten up. I look forward to the positive lessons every party will learn form this historic event.

#64 | Brevity is an artform.
Posted: May 1, 2011

#63 | Every Time You Make A Bad Ad A Unicorn Dies.
Posted:

Source: Eagle Awards, 2010.

I love this ad because it is such a wonderful illustration of what happens when we shine shit instead of saying ‘no’ to a bad idea a client insists on. Something magical dies (in me) every time I do a stupid ad. It’s like shooting a mythical creature or tossing bags of garbage into a pristine environment. By saying ‘no’ I protect my remaining Unicorns and ensure they don’t pack up and leave my head-space for good.

I love clients who are smart and articulate enough to describe their vision and their pain, but understand that good advertising will not necessarily look like their epiphany. I love clients who give me the freedom of a tight brief as well as the time and resources to do my best work on behalf of their brand and the brand’s constituency. Not for them.

After all, if you think you can bark better than a dog, why get a dog?

#62 | Live and Learn from the best: Master Ogilvy
Posted: April 30, 2011

#61 | The Ball
Posted:

This is Charlie with a ball. He keeps a very close eye on it. I can throw it in the bush – and he won’t come back out until he finds it. I can throw it in the lake – and he’ll dive in after it, and return with it. I can bury it in a snowbank – and he’ll dig it out. Charlie is very much on the ball. Some call it a ball obsession but I call it a good example of what makes the great great. Charlie is happiest when he’s in pursuit of his little round quarry. It’s not his job or vocation – it’s his ‘calling’. What’s yours – what makes you go blind with passion?

#60 | Two lessons from Toby
Posted: April 17, 2011

Lesson 1.

Meet Toby. He’s about 1.5 years old now. I walk Toby with my dog Charlie twice a day. Toby has an incredible amount of energy others tap into. For example. A local dog walker borrows Toby to stir up the pack of dogs he walks. With-out Toby in the pack they just stands there like cows working their cuds. With Toby they’re transformed into a heard of wild dogs racing across the savannah. The next time you need to do some problem solving in communications or operations – be sure to invite a Toby to the meeting to stir the intellectual pot.

Lesson 2.

Toby has an incredible amount of energy and curiosity and teaches all of those we meet to live in the moment because if you REALLY stay in the moment everything looks, smells, feels, tastes and sounds different. Try it. Go out and enjoy some simple stuff -  like a snowflake or a fresh blade of grass.  Staying in the moment, becoming still, will help you to recreate. And by knowing a bit more about where you fit into this wonderful cosmos you’ll travel down your own road, marching to the sound of your own drum with a growing sense of anticipation rather than dread.

#59 | Subliminal Seduction
Posted:

‘Subliminal seduction’ used to be inextricably linked to the use of covert sex in advertising.

Today, not so much.

Consider this image. For virtually all of my readers, it’s nothing. Note that I said virtually, because for at least two of my readers it’s not a picture, but a magnate that will draw them in and hold them for very different reasons which I will not reveal in this public forum. I expect to receive exactly two calls or e-mails as a result of this post. No more, no less. This is NOT the same as ‘long tail marketing’. This is more like the story of the Sword In The Stone. Merlin holds a jousting contest around the church-yard where the sword is held in the stone knowing full well only one person, not even a knight yet, will be able to pull it from the stone.

Think about subliminal seduction the next time you go shopping and choose a product or service. Also think about how subliminal seduction can be used to attract and retain your most valuable customers.

Enjoy!

#58 | Q: Does e-branding make a difference?
Posted: April 16, 2011

A: Yes and it can save you money in the short and long run!

I believe that a strong, consistent brand helps your customers and prospects believe that they are in the right place – not the wrong place. Importantly, while the branding process may start with a shiny new logo, great brands integrate everything they do and say, from their e-marketing, website and social marketing to their customer service practices. In a world where, everyone wants everything fast and cheap, many e-marketing service providers take ‘branding short-cuts,’ using generic e-mail templates to do work fast, good and cheap work.

These ‘cheap and cheerful’ e-mail marketing programs feature low front-end costs followed by low open and click rates. These low results force many organizations to send out more and more of these cheap, good e-mails, rather than a few great e-mails to get the activity they anticipated. As a result e-mail lists shrink as people unsubscribe and both open and click rates drop because your e-mail is judged to be irrelevant. Think Spam.

Here’s how to combat this. Do what I do for the clients I serve: craft relevant, interesting emails that build your brand and create value for their readers.

Here are some ways to leverage branding to impact your e-marketing bottom line:

1. On-brand subject lines can double your open rates.

• Established brands have a distinct tone of voice. Readers expect to hear that voice when the brand ‘speaks’ – regardless of the medium.
• Use the brand tone of voice to compose brand relevant subject lines and reject off-brand or off-strategy ideas.
• Split-test subject lines to learn what lines works best for different types of emails.

2. On-brand visuals and articles can more than double click thru rates.

• Again, established brands have a distinct look and feel. Even when they go out on a limb, it’s a safe limb to the brand’s constituency.
• Make sure the colours, images, headlines and body copy tone and voice are consistent with your customers’ expectations.
• Split test designs to learn more about what works and doesn’t. How far you can go.
• Use SHORT surveys to help zero in on the most relevant subject matter, because poor brand alignment will decrease click rates, lead to opt outs, and affect brand loyalty in the long-run.

3. Link tests quickly identify best brand practices vs. best industry or media practices.

• For example, a “latest product news” link may be great for Nokia’s newsletter because they are going after young, affluent early adopters, but it’s probably not as relevant for the Gideon Society newsletter. Don’t rely on industry best practices: find what works for your brand.
• Test, test and test some more to determine what the audience would like to learn about, then give them the goods. The goal is to create the best, most-relevant content possible.

4. Use custom landing pages to learn more about reader behaviour.

• E-marketing metrics don’t tell you what happens AFTER readers click on the e-mail link, but a custom website landing page will.  a CMS enables you to easily run split tests on landing pages to constantly improve the website experience and the audience’s overall experience.
• Web analytic tools can tell you how your latest newsletter affected web-use and in turn – demand for products or services.

#57 | The universal translator!
Posted: March 31, 2011

If you look at my menu – just below ‘blog’, you’ll see the Google translator. It’s the next best thing to having the Federation’s Universal Translator – given I don’t deal with a lot of off-world clients.  This application allows over 95% of all people in the world to get the gist of what I’ve got to say and sell in a language they’re comfortable with. Isn’t technology wonderful?!

#56 | This is my mother
Posted: March 25, 2011

This, ladies & gentlemen, is my mother in her teens, in Germany, before the war, marriage, six kids and immigration. Today she turned 90. It’s an age and a time she never dreamed she would reach or see. I’m sending this entry of honour into cyberspace. As a follower of the Buddhist faith I support the belief that folding a 1,000 cranes makes your wish come true. And as an on and off-line communications designer I’m praying that a 1,000 reads of my blog will make my dream come true: that all the time Julia has left is good time. She has had more than her fair share of he tough times.

#55 | Little Acorns
Posted: March 13, 2011

My friends and I grew up in the pre-computer ‘era’. Some adapted to them faster than others. My friend Tom has always loved music and got involved with electronics that enabled him to accompany himself – when no one else was available. Read often.

Times change.

Tom still loves music, has become a whiz at computers and now has a daughter who also loves music. I’m listening  to their rendition of ‘Your Hand In Mine’ as I write this because I think it’s a wonderful metaphor for what can happen over time as you travel your own road, your own way. When Tom played his first note he could not have dreamed that he and his daughter would perform together for over 60.000 people. but they have.

One note at a time.  One day at a time.  Faith moves mountains.

#54 | Marc and Naomi are NOT gate-keepers
Posted: March 5, 2011

In December we moved back to Toronto from Winnipeg. The trip took five days and I still feel like we’re en-route because of the hoops we need to jump through to secure auto insurance in Ontario. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been told “Well – that’s the ways we do things ” or “I’ve never heard of that”, or  “I don’t think that’s possible” or “I don’t know”. But what I can count is the number of times someone has said – “let me check and get back to you”: twice.

1. Marc Tayler, Manitoba Public Insurance in Winnipeg MB., and

2. Naomi Wehby, The McLennan Group in Windsor ON.

I rank Marc and Naomi head and shoulders above their peers not because they have all the answers – but because they took the time to help me explore my options and select the path that was best for me. Marc works for a Public insurance company and Naomi for a private one. I’m honoring them on my blog today because I believe  that all we do and all we say helps us believe that we have come to the right place – or the wrong place.

Thank-you Naomi and Marc for all your care and concern.

Sincerely – Frank Wehrmann

#53 | “Did I tell you about my new gig?”
Posted:

If you’d asked me last month if I’d like to go to White Horse, I’d have said – no thanks, how about Tofino? But things change. Ian, my #1 son, just moved there to apprentice as an aircraft mechanic. Now I”m dying to go see him in White Horse. My desire to see him has re-ranked some other priorities in my life and the trip will subtly alter my perspective of Ian, myself and all sorts of other things along the way. As brands move through time and space their relative value, utility and capability change. As such, it’s important that we use insightful qualitative and quantitative research to track changes to the brand persona as well as changes in demand to enable us to understand how to keep the brand we manage relevant to our constituents. Changes can come  quickly – and obliquely – altering the brand terrain as quickly as Ian altered mine with his 1o word text message: “Did I tell you about my new gig in White Horse?”

#52 | Henry Wehrmann — Residual Brand Value
Posted: February 27, 2011

The other night my wife and I met my sister-in-law, her son and a bunch of friends at a pub to honor Henry, my brother, who died ten years ago. It was a wonderful evening. The following day it got me thinking about great brands and residual brand value.

• I can think of household brands like Tide and Sunlight that I’ve known for more than 50 years. If they stopped advertising it would take years for me to lose ‘faith’ in them and substitute those with other brands on my shopping list.
• I can think of business brands like HP that I began using about 10 years ago. We now have three HP computers and four HP printers. I like HP because the products do more than the ads promise they will.
• American Idol is now in it’s 10th season and is gearing up to create a handful of new brands. Their association with Ai as well as all the air-play Ai gets will keep these new brands top of mind for a short period of time. And as long as the brands are heavily promoted, fresh brands like Adam Lambert will hold my attention. But once the promotional engine stops – they drift off of my radar screen.
• I can also think of brands like Dr. Martin Luther King: brand that will grow, not diminish, over time because the brand’s message was and continues to be so relevant to so many.
• My brother Henry is like other good personal brand. In his time he gave so much of great relevance to so many that the ripple effect of random acts of kindness and common sense will keep him alive and well for years to come.

#51 | Transition zones and periods
Posted: February 18, 2011

Spring is a real mixed blessing for me and Charlie. As the snow melts we find balls that have been there for months, as well as little wild things that didn’t make it through the winter, dog waste, human garbage, mud and, well – you get the picture. All that yuk is enough to make me yearn for a fresh July afternoon – 1/2 hour after the thunderstorm rolled through – or a clean crisp ice-cold winter afternoon.

And then it struck me: seasonal transitions (read spring and fall) are always messy. Personal and corporate transitions are as well.

Transitions have become much easier for me because I’ve learned that neither the good times, nor the bad times last forever, and that at the macro level we are all ‘brands in transition’.

Look at your brand as one that is in transition and give it the opportunity to become more relevant, current and the permission to deep-six the attributes that have become irrelevant to the brand’s essence.

#50 | Happy Valentines Day – F!
Posted: February 14, 2011

#49 | What you are saying is not wrong, but . . .
Posted: February 4, 2011

Dear Abby,

For the last two years I’ve been trying to help one of my clients understand that all we say and all we do helps our clients believe that they have come to the right place – or the wrong place.  So today he sends me a contact report for a meeting that he had with one of his clients. Buried in the contact report was this gem: ” . . . a co-worker said to her “what you are saying is not wrong,but the way you are saying it makes us all not want to listen to you.” While the fact that he made this entry in his contact report suggests ‘he heard it’, I still don’t think he gets it.

What now Abby?

I’m running out of time and patience.

How do I make the ‘clapper’ connect wit the bell!?

#48 | Time travel
Posted:

When I was in high school our science teacher explained to us that some radio and TV signals pass right through our atmosphere and travel through space forever. He told us that if we had a spaceship that could catch up to those signals we could listen to radio and TV signals sent out 10, 20 – 30 years ago. Given I was young and he was old – I thought he was full of shit. Now I’m old (er) and know a bit more. Just enough to be dangerous. Last night I found this clip on Youtube and traveled back in time. 38 years ago I would put this record on, turn off the lights, crawl into bed with my headphones on and feel the pain. It’s moments like this that I just love being alive today!

#47 | Oh Arizona
Posted: January 29, 2011

Many years ago I was the Media Director on the Petro-Canada advertising account during their ‘acquisition’ period. The folks who worked at PC thought they’d died and gone to heaven because they were working for a Crown Corporation in the petroleum category that was gobbling up as many off-short competitors as it could. The theory went like this: more gas stations = more gas pumps = more customers = more revenue = more advertising  = more sales = more promotions and greater salaries for top executives.  For the most part the model worked. Until a service station owner in Huntsville, ON. declined to raise his prices because he believed his prices were high enough and he didn’t want to alienate his loyal customer base. When he refused to raise his prices, Petro-Canada locked his pumps. The story went National overnight making radio, TV and Newspaper headlines. The volume of free prime-time media set the Petro-Canada brand back by a few years because the story validated suspicions and rumors (that the P.C. P.R. department had ignored).

I hadn’t thought of that story for a long time. But when the Arizona tragedy hit the news I thought about it and the good folks in Arizona a lot.  I thought about all the people who work for Arizona business development associations and Arizona tourist boards. I wondered how much time and footing they had lost overnight because of the foolish act of one man.

#46 | Inclusion Careware: gets one of my rare but well deserved endorsements
Posted:

This is a a great little video starring my friend Getty Stewart telling viewers about Inclusion Careware. I’ve put this video on my blog for a few reasons. 1. I do a lot of their marketing and advertising support through 6P Marketing, 2. it’s a wonderful little brand with tons of upside potential, and 3. the company is run by smart, ethical people.

Getty Stewart personifies all of that. If you have a friend in the community living segment – you owe it to them to point them to: http://www.ibexinclusion.ca/

#45 | Lee Oskar – Before the rain
Posted: January 28, 2011

Here’s a little moment of goodness from me to you – care of Mr. Lee Oskar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJU0bEiMpVE&feature=related

#44 | www.xcitetoiletseat.com/register
Posted: January 21, 2011

This morning I installed a new toilet seat in my mother’s bathroom. When I unpacked it I saw this. It’s not quite like registering your electronic goods to trigger your warranty coverage or auto-updates. The makers of this toilet seat are hoping you’ll want to participate in future research projects with Bemis Manufacturing Company.

I give full marks to the marketing department for this consumer research initiative. Knowledge is power.

I give NO marks to the copywriter because just a few more words would have provided some context, improved message comprehension and increased sign-ups.

#43 | I have a dream . . .
Posted: January 18, 2011

This entry is dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

#42 | Reality check!
Posted: January 14, 2011

I spend a lot of time working with my clients and assistants – helping them understand the art and science of marketing. With some clients it’s loads of fun. With others, it’s like having a root canal done. EVERYTHING is SO very serious and painfully important. Like a misplaced ‘pixel’ on a website is going to cause a global decline in sales or something. ‘Social’ is going the same way. Suddenly ‘conversations’ need to be framed in communication briefs, strategies and tactics. What happened to flow and genuine sharing – not B.S. ‘friending’.

This is a reality check from my niece. I love it because it made me laugh and reminded me not to take myself – or others so seriously! After all – it’s just a (digital) dog and pony show. No one gets hurt and no one really dies.

On Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 Heidi wrote:

“Had a few moments between loads of laundry and went on your website. I discovered your blog.

What a treat! Just wanted to let you know I’ll be going back for more next time I do laundry! :)”

#41 | Howard Schultz and the Future of Starbucks
Posted:

Funny – while I never acquired a taste for Starbucks coffee, but I have a great deal of admiration for Howard Schultz.

He personifies my marketing philosophy incredibly well: Clear Vision. Smart Strategies. Practical Tactics. Howard Schultz has taught the world of marketing a lot about brand building and his Autobiography  (Pour Your Heart into it: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time) is a must read for anyone who takes the art and science of brand management seriously. Happy Anniversary!

#40 | Will your brand flourish or wither in 2011?
Posted:

As an Advertising Director I assume a moral obligation with my clients that I take very seriously.

Promote their brand ethically & aesthetically, and defend it from stupid people.

Over the years I’ve learned that the greatest danger to brand integrity does NOT come from the out-side, it comes from stupid, myopic brand management aspirants who will do almost anything to make their quarterly numbers. Short-sighted MBO tactics can suck the lifeblood out of a vibrant brand and hobble its full market potential.

Consider this perspective on brand management by Mr. Warren Buffett:

“What creates a high Gross Profit Margin is the company’s durable competitive advantage. It allows companies the freedom to price products and services well in excess of their Cost of Goods Sold. Without a competitive advantage, companies have to compete by lowering the price of the product or service they are selling, which of course lowers their profit margins and therefore their profitability. It also lowers their ability to raise salaries and give big bonuses, and it diminishes the companies’ capacity to expend capital on new businesses and to survive a recession.”

—     Warren Buffett’s Management Secrets, Mary Buffett & David Clark

Now consider the impact the following behavior on the long term health of your brand:

• Discounting. Think Boxing Day sales.
• Discontinued product lines. Think TV shows.
• Having your customer service people tell prospective customers to wait for the new one because the previous model isn’t worth having. Think Windows 7.
• Waiting endlessly for (live) customer service. Think Bell Canada.
• Receiving service up-sell calls at home while you’re having dinner. Think Banks.

When brand managers discount, discontinue, misrepresent, over promise, mishandle transition periods, under-staff and under-value customer service, they reduce the net (intangible) accrued brand value or brand trust that has been developed for years. Usually at a rate that the current year’s ‘constructive good-will building activities’ are not able to offset.

Strong brands have the same moral fibre that we respect in great leaders. 

But not all products and services are brands. Even if they look nice.

Brands have what Warren Buffett and I refer to as a durable competitive advantage.

They are the times, the places, the things that we hold dear and that change little over time. Like good friends they grow with us, share with us – and importantly respond to us.

Products compete on price and availability. A nice package does not make it a brand.

While any careless Brand Manager can turn a great brand into commodity product (think Eaton’s or The Bay), in less than 10 years, only a really insightful product manager who has the luck, experience, raw product potential and the correct timing, can turn a commodity product into a solid brand.  Think of your own example here. Put it on your wall and emulate it.

For 2011 my free advice to you is this:

1.      Choose your path wisely

2.      Plan your work and work your plan

3.      Get rid of brand liabilities: those who are not a brand steward \ or don’t get it.

#39 | The victims of your good intentions
Posted: January 6, 2011

This is an article that hits incredibly close to home because Charlie, my creative muse was found on the street – lost or abandoned – on a cold January night here in Toronto eight years ago.

Rover and Kitty might have seemed like the perfect presents during the mad rush leading up to Christmas, but each year, animal shelters across the country prepare for a mass return of unwanted pets in the post-holiday season.

Photograph by: David Paul Morris, Getty Images

TORONTO — Rover and Kitty might have seemed like the perfect presents during the mad rush leading up to Christmas, but each year, animal shelters across the country prepare for a mass return of unwanted pets in the post-holiday season.

“It’s a common problem unfortunately at Christmas time,” said Michael O’Sullivan, the executive director of the Humane Society of Canada. “It’s a real example of the best intentions gone wrong.”

The society hears about an influx of animals at shelters, rescue organizations and humane societies across the country every January. Fortunately, the increase isn’t as great as it used to be thanks to a number of public awareness campaigns that discourage gifting pets during the holidays. Some shelters even have strict policies prohibiting gift adoptions. O’Sullivan said people don’t always realize that all pets — whether it’s a dog, cat, turtle, rabbit, guinea pig or bird — require not only affection, but time and money. “I often liken it to a stranger showing up at your doorstep with suitcases. He’s going to live with you for 15 or 16 years and he’s saying: ‘Where’s my room?’” he said.

“It’s kind of heartbreak all around if you don’t talk to the people you’re giving the pet to first.” Animals also aren’t a “one-size-fits-all” gift; some pets require more exercise, food and medical care than others. Some dogs live as long as 18 years, while cats have an average life span of 20 years. Instead, O’Sullivan suggests those wanting to give a pet should instead give a preview gift of a leash, food and water bowl for a potential dog owner or a litter box for a cat owner and then head into a shelter in the new year. Alison Cross, a spokeswoman with the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said it’s hard on the animals when they’re returned or abandoned by new owners who suddenly find they have less time to care for them when work schedules gear up again in January. “The reality is that pets end up suffering because they have to transition from one home to another, which is quite stressful for an animal,” she said.

Many times people fall in love with an animal in a pet store and rush to purchase, unaware that the animal might not be up-to-date with vaccinations or spayed or neutered — leading to a heavy cost for the new owners.

Cross said those unable to care for their new pets should first try to reach out to their social networks and see if any of other friends or family are seriously looking for an animal companion.

At the Edmonton Humane Society, the number of animals that arrived at the shelter doubled in 2010.

“It’s terrible for the animals to move around so much like that,” said spokeswoman Shawna Randolph. “An animal needs to be in a loving home, no matter what its age.”

Randolph said the increase in animals at the shelter isn’t limited to the holiday season, largely due to a public campaign the society runs promoting half-price adoptions of cats and rabbits starting the week after Christmas.

© Copyright (c) Postmedia News

#38 | Continuity
Posted: December 30, 2010

For years I’ve argued that brand continuity is important, and for years franchisees have told me it isn’t. Here are two recent examples that illustrate why brand continuity matters.

Example #1 :: Sobeys

I lived in Winnipeg for two years and shopped at Sobeys because 1. I could walk there, 2. it was a clean bright store,  3. my father-in-law recommended it, and 4. it also had a pharmacy. I came to look forward to my frequent small shopping trips. Better yet they had a number of products that I came to love. I’m not a foodie, but Sobeys did it’s best to make me one. So now I’m back in Toronto – missing my local Sobeys and some of those special treats. I drove to the nearest one, only to find it small, dingy, unfriendly and worst of all – the treats I loves to buy in Winnipeg were nowhere to be found in the Toronto store.  The result: i will not go back to Sobey’s in Toronto and I’ll share my brand disappointment with others.

Example #2 :: Days Inn

Charlie (my dog) and I drive to Winnipeg and back a few times a year. When my wife comes along we make it a road-vacation. we set a leisurely pace and overnight 4-5 times enroute. Over the years and miles we’ve found that some hotels and motels have no-dog policies, others charge you as much as a 2nd (or 3rd) human occupant, and others will put you up in their ‘smoking’ rooms. Then there is Days Inn. So far no matter what route we have taken from Toronto to Winnipeg and back, Days Inn was always happy to put up Michelle,  Charlie and me for a $10-$20.00 premium in a non-smoking room. Given the rooms are large, comfortable and equipped with wireless internet and a desk, they’ll continue to get my business and my referrals.

As Holiday Inn to say in their ads: “The best surprise is no surprise”.

#37 | Go have lunch in Hixton Wisconsin
Posted: December 19, 2010

We’re 1/2 way home. Neither here nor there. And I love it. For the last 30 years now I have been a holiday traveler. At first it was odd to be going just when most everyone seemed to be coming. But then I got to talking to those who I met on the road. Year after year I found the same thing. And I suspect that if I had a time machine I could go back to the original Christmas Story and find the same results:

1. There are two kinds of people out there as we speak: those who are coming or going, and those who help us come and go.

2. There are two kinds of people helping us come and go: some are just putting in time, and some are ‘Transition Experts’. They help us along the way with everything from communications and transportation to food and lodging. For them its a calling – no less that this is mine and being a minister is my brother’s.

Today my wife and I refueled our vehicles at a truck-stop that’s on I95 on your right when heading into Hixton, Wisconsin.  Given the size of the truck parking area and the number of trucks there, we decided to see what the main attraction was. My years on the road told me that there was a lesson to be learned here. There was.

Here’s a summary. They give a shit. And the fact that they do permeates the entire environment. It’s a testament to my mantra: All we say and do tells your customers that they have come to the right place – or the wrong place.

:: Super clean, neat & tidy 60′s diner environment.

::  Lunch was served by a genuinely cheerful \ quirky waitress.

::  They use real Fiesta ware and complimented by heavy, matching cutlery.

::  $3.95 bought Michelle a home-made meat-loaf sandwich.

::  $3.95 bought me a cup of home-made chili and a grilled cheese sandwich on home-made bread.

We stayed much longer than planned because I need to drink it all in. Clearly the owner of this establishment gets it. S|He understands the hallmarks of great service, customer retention and how to get referrals – from the very 1st visit.They make it look easy in Hixton – but it’s not. What I found there is genuine and rare. If I weren’t hurrying ‘home’ for Christmas, I’d stay there a few days to better understand how they weave their brand magic.

Here’s what they did NOT have:

::  A great logo, nice business cards, identity kit, website, etc, etc. And that supports another of my brand theories.  A lot of brands get screwed around by Agency guys like me who think they can make the good better and the better best with more sophisticated packaging. NO TRUE. The Brand Owner in Hixton would loose most of his business if he allowed his brand to be Managed.

This is why I love the road. There is so much to learn.

In the meantime – check them out. Sorry they don’t have a website.

#36 | Thoughts about love, condoms and brands
Posted: November 24, 2010

A few days ago the lunch time conversation with the group I work with took a romantic turn and the conversation became a great metaphor (my favorite kind of animal) for better understanding brand romance dynamics.

When Mary asked Adam “so like – when did you know you were in love?”, the first thing that shot through my head was: “Which time?”.  But I bit my tongue and silently listened to the group – fascinated by their emotional triggers.

A quick flash-back produced an interesting profile of emotional triggers for those attracted to a brand named Frank:

• Ann-Marie had a peculiar weakness for my brown Levi corduroy pants.
• For Pam it was my loyalty under adverse conditions.
• Susan loved my smarts and out-door orientation.
• Anna told me she’d marry the 1^st man who could answer this question: If God can do anything, can he make a boulder that’s too heavy for God to move? I answered the question for her – then declined the proposal.
• Paula liked me for my earning potential.
• Inge appreciated my heritage.
• Michelle likes single dads. While she likes kids, she doesn’t like babies enough to go into production.

Brand Lesson #1:

People fall in love with people and brands for the most arcane reasons. Help them fall for your brand by watching and listening to them rather than telling them how great you are. Look for ways of making them feel that you are accommodating their individual needs while you court and accommodate millions of others. I call it “MASS INTIMACY”.

When I was dating (read doing Brand research) I (as well as other young brand researchers) that I did research with were VERY frustrated by the apparent mismatch between who we wanted to attract and who we actually attracted.

Brand Lesson #2:

People love (or hate) well defined people and brands.

Brands ‘in transition’ don’t do as well. I’m being polite here.

To make the most of my research expeditions, I played out the most mundane to the most outlandish scenarios and prepared for every eventuality. Here are a few of my date night tangents:

• Breath freshener – in case I smoked, she didn’t and I got to 1^st base.
• A car, a full tank of gas, a map, cash and credit cards. I always plan multiple exit strategies.
• Condoms: in case I hit a home run! For the record, my Son Ian is ‘illegitimate’ and a wonderful part of my life.
• My mother’s 1^st rule of adventure: wear clean underwear in case you have an accident & are hospitalized.
• And when I turned 18: lots of fake ID. Hmmm. Now that I’m heading for 60, I plan to revisit the fake ID thing.

Brand Lesson #3:

What you plan for and what happens are two very different things. Keep an open, opportunistic mind.

While I’ve had some very strange relationships in my time, they have all contributed to the rich tapestry that is my ongoing journey of self discovery.  One of my masters (Gurudev) once taught me to become aware that every decision I have made in in my life has led me to where I am today.

Think about that last sentence before you read on.

Brand Lesson #4:

We are the sum total of all that we breath into our brands and allow them to become by understanding how they are loved – and why. A brand is a partner on your journey – just like my wife, my son and Charlie Doodle our excellent poodle.

#35 | What happens when you look at things in a different, simple way
Posted:

My friend Mary knows I love metaphors – so she sent this one along for me to enjoy. Take a few minutes to rest on your cyber-journey and enjoy this wonderful piece of work.

Cheers – Frank!

#34 | Futility
Posted: November 11, 2010

My father and father-in-law both served in WW2. My father was in the German army and my father-in-law was in the Canadian Navy. They didn’t see each other much because my family lives in Toronto and my wife’s family lives in Winnipeg.

I remember the 1st time they met. They talked about a lot of different things for a long time and about the war for a short time. I remember them agreeing on the stupidity and the futility of that war, the one that preceeded it – and all of those that have followed.

My father came to Canada with his wife and five children (and me on the way) to escape conflict and conscription – and to give Petra, Henry, August, Martin, Barbara and me a better life.

My wife, Michelle, and I went to the Winnipeg Legislature Buildings this morning to remember Heinrich Wilhelm Wehrmann and Robert Bernard Convey as well as all the others who have stood on guard for us for all these years.

If we’re really as smart as we think we are – why can’t we figure this out?

#33 | Paradise Lost
Posted:

This gorgeous $400,000 sport fisherman ran aground on a reef off the coast of New Zealand en route to Fiji a few weeks ago.The picture on the left is before and right after.

By the next morning ‘Paradise’ was a complete write-off. Here’s why the loss of the Paradise is a powerful and visual metaphor for poor business management. The Captain and crew of the Paradise laid in the course for Fiji on her auto-pilot and turned in for the night although they were traveling through turbulent seas, flowing tides and crossing some of New Zealand’s busiest shipping lanes. While all passengers got to shore safely, the owners will have a long court battle given they were literally ‘asleep at the wheel’ in International waters. No matter how well you think you’re doing and how safe the ‘passage’ your business needs your guidance, vigilance and diligence to keep it afloat and make it to the next safe harbor. It’s why a good captain (of a ship or industry) has always been invaluable. And always will be.

#32 | Off to see the world & reinvent myself again.
Posted: October 7, 2010

Later today I’ll be boarding a plane that takes me to Wanganui, New Zealand. I’m pretty excited about it because of all the unkowns. For lots of reasons I have not had the time to make any plans of any kind. What a rush!

When we learn that change is not an enemy but a new friend that increases our knowledge and perspective, change gets easier. Even if change means leaving stuff you think you can’t live with-out behind, change is good.

#31 | Fall
Posted: September 29, 2010

I used to hate the fall because it signaled the end of the long hot days of summer. But as I got older I spent more time doing stuff and less time laying on the beach – so I stopped missing the really hot weather. Now and in part due to Charlie, I prefer the fall and see it as my ancestors did. as a time of harvest – for both thought and deed. The last quarter of the year before winter brings growth and change to a freezing halt and kiils off the old, making way for the spring’s new growth.

Change takes time and the fall is a great time to open the doors of your mind to changes you can begin now and act upon in the spring. You’ll have all winter to sit back and sweat the details.

As we and the brands we care for get older we become more resistant to change.
Get over it.
Go grow!

#30 | Yikes!
Posted: September 26, 2010

Sarah just finished my new website, which looks wonderful! Sara is my web-fairy hero who I just love working with. I challenge her – and she challenges me. This is her latest challenge for me. and this is my first step!

#29 | Chance favors those who are prepared
Posted: September 19, 2010

For years my parents toured North America by car two or three weeks at a time. After my father died I found two of his packing lists. One is a bit longer than the other.
My guess is that these list are about 20 years old now and that they were used by my parents for at least thirty years.

In October I’m going to New Zealand. I’m using the tried and true long list as my own 2010 flight-check starting point 50 years after it was written. It’s that good!

Here’s my father’s list in the order it was originally written. Don’t leave home with-out it. To the right; Henry sailing away!

Passport, Glasses, Sunglasses, Street-map, Pad, Pencil, Camera, Binoculars, Radio, Calculator, TV, Compass, Flashlight, Magnifying glass, CDN. $500., U.S. $1,000., Toiletries, Sewing kit, Towel, Suspenders, Socks, Kleenex, Tobacco, Pipe, Antibiotic cream, Hand cream, Pullover, Windbreaker, Underwear, Bathing suit, Goggles, Rainwear, Shoes, Hat, Air-mattress, Blankets, Ground-sheet, Stove, Electric Stove, Thermos, Pots, Auto-repair tools, Motor oil, Top oil, Tire pressure 30PSI, Gas, Bucket, Sponge, Cooler, Flippers, Bible, Books, Pendulum, Suit-case, Sun-hat, Pocket-knife, Long pants, Shirts, Pillow, Car Wax, Vitamins.

#28 | Cemetary Advertising is a bad idea. Period.
Posted:

I saw these stickers on the back of some monuments in the St. Norbert Cemetery that I went to today. It’s a great example of what happens when a disturbed client meets up with an unethical supplier: almost anything is possible. I’ll just leave it at that.

#27 | Stone Angels
Posted:

Today we went to St. Norbert to tidy up the my wife’s family plot. Next week we’ll add the ashes of her father. I took some pictures of stone angels while I was there. I love the serenity and the diverse expressions of faith that stand guard over final resting places long after extended families have moved on. The silent memorials remind me that life is short and needs to be live now.

I don’t find cemeteries sad places until I come upon the resting place of a child.

#26 | Organic Apples
Posted: September 18, 2010

The most unexpected part of moving to Winnipeg has been the apple trees.
Hot and cold weather bridged by swarms of mosquitoes in the summer and flocks of geese in the fall is what I was promised.
But the apple trees in my neighborhood signal the beginning, and end, of summer.

When I throw them, Charlie loves to chase them and bite them when he finally catches them.

Me? I LOVE having a nice clod and sweet one on my early morning walks with Charlie.

Apples – who knew!

#25 | Paulo Coelho
Posted: September 17, 2010

My friend Mary sent me these quotes related to change by Paulo the other day. Enjoy.

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”

“People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.”

“I can choose either to be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search of treasure. It’s all a question of how I view my life.”

His site link is: http://www.paulocoelho.com.

#24 | What goes around comes around
Posted:

I was hiking along the Toronto waterfront with my son 12 years ago on a cool fall day just like today. While we had a great time, I lost my red 3-season jacket that I simply adored. Ian and I retraced our route twice to no avail. Whenever I shop for a jacket I compare it to the memory of my red MEC jacket, which they don’t make anymore.

Imagine my delight at finding the same red MEC jacket, in my size, at a Winnipeg Value Village store today for only $12.99!

Seems there is a God – and she has a very quirky sense of humor.

Some times you really have to believe it before you see it, and keep searching until you find it.

#23 | Ignorance is bliss
Posted:

Here’s a quote from my hero David Ogilvy:

“The business community wants remarkable advertising, but turns a cold shoulder to the kind of people who can produce it. That is why most advertisements are so infernally dull … our business needs massive transfusions of talent. And talent, I believe, is most likely to be found among nonconformists, dissenters, and rebels.”

Unfortunately most Agency’s – including Ogilvy – ignore this fundamental truth and hire HR gatekeepers who ensure the agency staff is made up of like-minded individuals who are team players, with category experience: read category exposure.

As if (prolonged) exposure is a reasonable measure of intellectual horsepower.

#22 | Consistency
Posted: September 10, 2010

My mother is almost 90 now. One of her many grandchildren is about 30. About 10 years ago they struck up a conversation which has yet to come to an end. John calls my mother from Saskatoon (and more recently Halifax) EVERY SUNDAY for about an hour.

When I build personal or commercial brands I look for the operational advantage: what a person or an organization is willing and able to do consistently well over time.

#21 | Teamwork
Posted:

Charlie is an urban hunter who specializes in hunting tennis balls. I take him to overgrown fields and woodlands that surround many community tennis courts. “Where’s the ball” puts charlie into hunting mode. He blindly follows his sensitive nose which is just an inch off the ground while his tail’s wagging action tells me how close he is to his little round quarry. I’m always amazed at where he finds the balls, how many he finds and how fast he finds them.

When we work as a team we find even more balls because I am taller, have full colour eye-sight and am able to retrieve balls he finds but can’t get at.

Charlie and I employ the same basic complimentary hunting skills Charlie and my ancestors used when they first met at the dawn of time.

Sometimes it’s hard to trust someone who is very different from who you are, how you are, or how you think, but the rewards can be incredible!

#20 | Infinity
Posted:

While Charlie sniffed the base of a flower, I looked at the blossom in which a three ants were marching around gathering nectar. While those ants may have known how to work together to bring the nectar back to their nest, they had no idea of the size and complexity of the garden in which their flower grew – or that I was watching them.

Seeing how tiny and irrelevant those three ants and their flower were in the context of the world as I knew it made me wonder about how relevant my thoughts and actions are – and who might be watching me.

#19 | Sharp Knives
Posted: September 7, 2010

My Father was a Cabinet maker who began his apprenticeship in Germany when he was 14. Part of his apprenticeship included making tools and keeping them sharp. when I lived at home you could shave with many of our kitchen knives as well as all of my father’s wood-working tools. He died of Parkinson disease. As the disease progressed his mind and his tools lost the razor edge they had held for more than 70 years. Today the knives in our kitchen are like those found in most kitchens: dull. The knives – like the memory of my father are all there – but they just aren’t as sharp as they used to be.

#17 | Rain
Posted: August 28, 2010

I went to Jeff and Lori’s wedding today. The rain stopped just before they took their vows and started again just as their were being introduced to us as Mr. and Mrs. G.
The big raindrops that landed on Lori and Jeff today will become, what we in NLP call, ‘anchors’ – a visceral reminder of the moment. I’m willing to bet that for the rest of their lives that when light afternoon rain drops land on their heads or shoulders they will be reminded of today.
Many marketers use anchors to help lock in their product or service experiences. McDonald’s does it overtly with (collectible)toys in their kids meals. Disney brings cartoon characters to life that shake your hand and pose for pictures. Apple does it more discreetly – turning a device into an extension of you.

The next time it rains and you think of ‘anchors’ you’ll understand better how great marketing and advertising works.

#18 | Rain
Posted:

I went to Jeff and Lori’s wedding today. The rain stopped just before they took their vows and started again just as their were being introduced to us as Mr. and Mrs. G.
The big raindrops that landed on Lori and Jeff today will become, what we in NLP call, ‘anchors’ – a visceral reminder of the moment. I’m willing to bet that for the rest of their lives that when light afternoon rain drops land on their heads or shoulders they will be reminded of today.
Many marketers use anchors to help lock in their product or service experiences. McDonald’s does it overtly with (collectible)toys in their kids meals. Disney brings cartoon characters to life that shake your hand and pose for pictures. Apple does it more discreetly – turning a device into an extension of you.

The next time it rains and you think of ‘anchors’ you’ll understand better how great marketing and advertising works.

#16 | Routine . . .
Posted: May 14, 2009

I’d say that Charlie loves his routine as much as my wife hates any routine. I’m more like Charlie than Michelle. For the last three months Michelle and I worked hard to get our home in Toronto ready to rent in April because we needed to move to Winnipeg. I tried my best to keep Charlie calm by respecting his routine: including feeding, down and walk times. To make a long story short we got through it all and now we’re setting up a new life in Winnipeg where we’ll help care for Michelle’s father. And Charlie has become a different dog. In Toronto he was the cock of the walk, the dominant dog who challenged all comers. Here he’s the new kid on the block, treads lightly and never strays far from my side or the house for that matter. It’s been two weeks now and each day we walk the same 4 km. route to help him establish a new territory he can mark – and make his own. It’s working. He’s becoming more relaxed and walks with greater confidence and purpose. And we have to go around his territory counter-clockwise. Very important. Why? Please re-read the opening sentence.

#15 | Charlie the philanthropist . . .
Posted: March 30, 2009

While any ball is a good ball, some balls really are prized more than others. While the one on the left, which he is bouncing down the stairs, is Charlie’s favorite ball, he is always on the hunt for another. This morning he found an abandoned tennis ball at the local tennis court. Last summer he found over a hundred balls which, as his ‘ball-bank account’ grew, he shared with his friends at the park: dogs less able to hunt for their own balls. Charlie has taught me how much joy there is in found treasures: bringing them home, having them for a time, and then giving them to those who value and enjoy them as much as we do. Sometimes it’s just a beach pebble or a piece of driftwood. It doesn’t matter what it is. What matters is the emotional state that’s elicited. I have learned that philanthropy is a wonderful state of mind in which the act of giving to others generated ripples of goodness in the lives of the giver and receiver which radiate outward to touch the lives of others – prompting more and more acts of random kindness.

#14 | Old habits . . .
Posted: March 10, 2009

Spring is just around the corner here in Toronto. Last week Charlie and I played our last game of snowballs for the season.
Next: mud-baths!
In the shaded forests we walk through there are still some ‘ice-paths’. They’re the summer paths that become winter paths and over the course of the winter the snow and ice on those paths becomes the most dense – and the last to melt. On either side of these six foot wide ice-paths there’s dried grass to walk on. But old habits die hard. Charlie walk, slips and slides along these ice-paths because that’s the path. Sound familiar? Look familiar? Feel familiar?
Sometimes I too catch myself walking the ice-paths while there is wide and safer passage on either side that will get me to the same destination and a million others too.

#13 | We learn as we go . . .
Posted:

This is my Charlie.
I was just teaching myself how to add pictures to my blog and – voila!
This picture was taken by a Piotr Organa here in Toronto, Canada. His specialty is dogs.
You can see his work here: http://www.organa.ca/pet/

#12 | Playing Driveway . . .
Posted: January 28, 2009

“Driveway” is the name of a game Charlie taught me last month. Here’s how it works.

1. I take some action the suggests to Charlie that I will be going outside.
2. Charlie zooms around and finds a ball as fast as he can and follows me wherever I go. Hopefully outside.
3. If I stand outside our door, Charlie drops the ball in a corner, trots 1/2 way down the driveway, turns, stands and stares at me.
4. I throw the ball, he catches it, returns it, trots 1/2 way down the driveway again, turns, stands and stares. And so it goes.
5. The game is exactly the same length as a piece of string.
6. Driveway can only be played when he and I are alone in the driveway because a third player might steal the ball.
7. Late evening, just before bedtime is the only time he plays this game.

Weird but very cute.

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