The Design Symphony Experience

The Best Creative Money Can't Buy

The interesting thing about the the video from will.i.am in my recent post is that it was created without any input, direction, or request from the Obama campaign.

As will.i.am tells it:

"I was sitting in my recording studio watching the debates...
Torn between the candidates...I was never really big on politics...
and actually I’m still not big on politics...

And then came New Hampshire... And i was captivated... Inspired...

I began making this song...
I came up with the idea to turn his speech into a song...
I wanted the inspiration that was bubbling inside me to take over...

so I called my friends...
and they called their friends...
in a matter of 2 days...
We made the song and video...

Usually this process would take months...
a bunch of record company people figuring out strategies and release dates...
interviews...
all that stuff...
but this time i took it in my own hands...
so i called my friends sarah pantera, mike jurkovac, fred goldring, and jesse dylan to help make it happen...
and they called their friends..
and we did it together in 48 hours...
and instead of putting it in the hands of profit we put it in the hands of inspiration...

You know you're delivering an impressive brand experience when your fans start creating their own ways to refer more business to you and promote your goals/dream/agenda.

After I sent out the video, my good friend and work colleague Berit sent me the following images created by Shepard Fairey - a well known artists of "Obey Giant" fame who specializes in the prolific stickering and flyposting of propaganda-style images.

Not only are these beautiful posters with powerful imagery, but once again, they were created by a "fan" who wanted to lend his own creativity to the cause. As he tells it:

"I first became interested in him [Obama] in 2004, after his speech at the Democratic convention and have been impressed with him ever since. I think I'm a pretty good judge of character and my feeling about Barack is he stuck his neck out by being against the war, he always seems to speak his mind whether it's the popular position or not and he just seems like he follows what he believes in, which impresses me. So I decided I'd support him and put up my own money to do so. Some people asked me why I don't wait until he's got the Democratic nomination, but if you want a candidate to win, why not try your best to ensure he actually gets the nomination? "

So here's the ultimate question: How many of your customers, supporters, donors, etc. would put their own time and money into creating amazingly creative campaigns to promote your cause?

If you struggle to answer that question, maybe you should start by thinking about how much you inspire them? Just a thought...

P.S. While the posters are sold out and there are no plans to print more, you can download a B/W version from Obey Giant here.

Yes We Can

Friends:

As many of you know, I grew up in a family full of politicians - so as you might imagine, I've been around this stuff for almost 35 years now... But I must confess, today is different from all the other days.

It's "Super Tuesday" and many believe that today has the potential to decide the next four years. I believe that today has the potential to decide the course of history for our planet...

I'm writing today to ask you to take 4 minutes to view this video:

Once you've watched, ask yourself this:
Do you believe that we can do better? As a people? As a country? As a planet? As individuals?
Do you believe that our country isn't as divided as people claim?
Do you believe that the differences between Republicans, and Democrats, and Independents, and those who don't even want to be labeled, aren't really that far apart?

The main think to ask: Do you believe?

I do.

I believe we can change.

I believe the time is now.

I believe Barack Obama is the best person to lead us.

I believe Barack Obama is the best person to inspire us.

I believe Barack Obama is the best person to help us believe again.

You may not live in a Super Tuesday primary state, but I imagine you know someone who does...

Call them.

Email them.

Right now - there is still time. (you can even forward this email if that makes it easier for you...)

Ask them to support Senator Obama for President.

Ask them to go vote today - or in the coming days if their state hasn't had a primary yet.

Ask them to believe.

To paraphrase, "I'm not just asking you to believe in Senator Obama's ability to bring about real change in Washington... I'm asking you to believe in yours..."

If not now, when will it happen?

If not you, who will do it?

Years from now, people will have the chance to look back on this election and say,

Today was when America changed the course of human history...

Today was when people started to believe again...

Today was the day that made all the difference...

Thanks for your time... Thanks for your optimism... Thanks for your hope... Thanks for believing that yes we can...

Joey

The Seth Godin Experience

Last month I had the chance to meet the infamous Seth Godin - business writer, presenter, and marketer extraordinaire when he came to the University of Maryland business school.

Seth's writing is fantastic and his presenting lived up to his written word reputation. Here's my mindmap of notes from the meeting:

Download 3.4mb Mindmap PDF

The #1 takeaway for me from Seth's presentation?

Don't be afraid to risk.

And then risk some more.

Seth told a great story about one of his son's bathtub toys and a red circle that perfectly illustrates the point. Give me a call (two-zero-two -- 834-0111) or send me an email and I'd be happy to tell you the whole story (it's too long for a blog post).

The Max Experience

I visited the Bahamas last week and had the chance to reconnect with one of my favorite business owners in the world. Max is the ultimate entrepreneur - operating no fewer than five businesses (not counting his growing real estate holdings) and constantly working to develop new offerings.

Max owns the taxi company - and drives one of the vans every day so he can interact with his customers.

Max owns the auto-import business - and uses vehicles he imports as the fleet for his endeavors.

Max owns the building - and lives in one of the apartments so he understands what his tenants are experiencing.

Everywhere you go on New Providence island (population: 200,000+) people know Max. And everyone returns his signature smile when they see him.

Max is the experience because he participates in the experience. He knows first-hand what his customers and employees go through every day and he makes sure he is ready to respond and fill their every need.

Note: If you're ever headed to Nassau and need a driver, let me know and I'll put you in contact with Max.

New York Times Agrees with Joey!

This just in from Roger Cohen at the New York Times (in support of Joey's earlier post on Brand Beckham):

David Beckham, Football Ambassador (January 20, 2007)

Becks is a self-made man, an image merchant, a constant reinventor of himself: in other words, he's American to the core.

Personal Brand David Beckham is on the way... Get ready America!

It's all about Mii

The new Nintendo Wii was the Christmas gift of the season. While the buzz on this product tended to focus primarily on the wireless controllers (and the "accidents" they were causing), an overlooked aspect of the gaming system was Mii.

Mii (pronounced "me") is the character you create for playing games on the system - your very own avatar. For all the non-gamers reading this, think of it as being able to watch yourself onscreen, playing inside a video game. Pretty cool stuff...

What I find fascinating about this is how personal identity is now invading the video game space. People have been able to create avatars in Second Life and other online worlds for years, but the Mii is the first to bring it truly mainstream, make is simple to create, and give it a funny and clever name. Not to mention that you can create characters for all of your friends so when they come over to play, they can use characters that look like the players look in real life...

In fact, if you check out Flickr you can see thousands of people posting their personal "Mii" and even creating celebrity Mii.

The possibilities are limitless...

U.S.A. Scores Soccer Brand

David Beckham - one of the best examples of personal branding in the world today - just announced that he is leaving Real Madrid this summer to come play soccer in the United States.

Beckham agreed to a five-year, $250 million dollar deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy and the sports world is a flutter with what this means for "football" in the U.S.A. (that's "soccer" for all you American readers in the audience).

What impact will Beckham have? Only time will tell...

Beckham in Hollywood seems like a perfect combination. Athletic, good-looking, superstar - and that's just his wife! (the former "Posh" of the Spice Girls) Beckham is also an athletic, good-looking, superstar who is extremely well paid and brings with him big endorsement contracts. While the same can be said of many of Beckham's new neighbors in the City of Angels, the last time an athlete of such international stature moved to southern California the impact was tremendous. Playing for the Los Angeles Kings, Wayne Gretzky brought lots of buzz, sold-out crowds, and national expansion to U.S. hockey.

While Beckham may not change America's opinion of soccer, he will surely provide a real-time example of a personal brand in action. On that note, I give it three years (max) before we see Beckham with a big role in a major motion picture.

My Personal IPO

Earlier this summer I had the chance to deliver a presentation at the CFUNITED 2006 Conference. This conference is organized by a client of mine, TeraTech Inc. and I've had the pleasure of speaking there for the last three years. In 2005, I received the great honor of being selected as the conference's top speaker.

This summer's presentation was entitled, "My Personal IPO: Taking Yourself Public to the World."

The presentation went very well and the audience feedback was great. About three weeks later I received an email from the Executive Editor of Cold Fusion Developer's Journal - the national magazine and leading industry publication for Cold Fusion programming. She said that she had heard about my presentation and was wondering if I could turn it into an article for their magazine.

Needless to say I was excited by this opportunity.

I wrote the article and sent it off to be published. You can imagine my surprise when three weeks later I received the issue and my article had turned into the cover story!

You can read the entire article here.

Now I am excited to be working on a book that will expand on this concept of personal branding and a personal IPO. I will definitely keep you posted as this project develops and look forward to big announcements in 2007!

Why Typepad?

After deciding that I wanted to start a blog, I needed to figure out the easiest and fastest way to do it – so as to support my Version 1.0 philosophy.

I quickly narrowed my options to Typepad, WordPress, and Moveable Type.

Moveable Type was taken off the list because it requires some basic programming knowledge. Version 1.0 requires speed and ease of use – hence, no Moveable Type.

That left Typepad and WordPress.

On Typepad’s “Why Typepad?” page they note that some of the biggest names in blogging use Typepad – including Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point) and Scott Adams (Dilbert). One of the best business writers out there, Seth Godin also uses Typepad.

Years ago I had the chance to chat with the then C.E.O. of K.B. Toys. I have many fond memories of hours spent cruising the aisles of K.B. Toys looking for the newest Star Wars toys, LEGO kits, and G.I. Joe action figures. I imagine you might have similar memories…

The thing I remember most was the C.E.O.’s story of how K.B. Toys found store locations around the country. They would meet with the developers of a new mall and say, “Where is the Sears store going to be located?” If the developers said, “Here” – K.B. Toys would lease the retail space immediately next to the Sears location. If the developers said, “Sears doesn’t have a store in our mall” – K.B. Toys would move on to the next mall.

The C.E.O. explained that K.B. Toys would use all of the market research Sears had used – without paying a single cent for it. They had figured out that the audience they wanted to reach was similar to the audience Sears wanted to reach and if it was a good enough location for Sears to build a store, it was a good enough location for K.B. Toys!

So Seth, and Malcom, and Scott – thanks for being my “Sears” ;-)