Overheard 1

"Networking kinda sounds like not working."

- Los Angeles bar

Shits and Giggles 1

Damn!

Infiltrate Culture

I was just looking at pictures from the US Open (which sadly ends today) when out of the wall of pictures, I spotted this one. Brilliant!



It's the Geico caveman just nonchalantly and unassumingly watching the match. No there was no mention of Geico or the new Caveman show on ABC. Just another tennis fan (remember he had a wooden tennis racquet in the airport travellator ad).

In fact, here's the caption... "Fans watch the US Open semifinal match between Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and switzerland's Roger Federer at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, 08 September 2007."

The caveman is already so ingrained in culture and has developed such a relationship with people that you no longer need to constantly beat a person down with brand messages. It's a free-flowing interaction with people. Seemingly unplanned, completely welcoming - just another part of culture.

Connection Planning defined.

Here's a succinct definition of connection planning I stumbled accross on Facebook. Special thanks to Callcott London . I have to get his/her real name.

"Connection Planning is the art/science of; firstly segmenting your audiences by business objective, deciding which message will excite each segment, deciding on the moment you should reach each group and then (and only then)developing the correct message (creative) and medium IN TANDEM (channel e.g. PR, ads, events, digital) to grow the business."

Media as a strategic weapon.

Here's an example of using media as a strategic weapon that Gareth Kay used during his session at the Adcenter's Advanced Management Training for Creative Directors program. I really like it. Simple and powerful at the same time.

Screw up

I saw this caption for a picture on an Asian American newspaper I picked up in DC.

Kinda awesome screw up.... Guess the editor thought that Whatisname must have been Japanese or something.

Hug me please.

I was really bummed during a recent trip to NYC because I was going to miss Amma . While the odds of breaking through the crowds to get a hug from her were really slim, I read that she does make the extra effort to give everyone a hug and I know that I definitely needed one following a bad interview.

That’s the funny thing about hugs. No matter who offers it, you always end up with a smile. It is a personal moment – one where an individual offers love and concern to another and says, “hey, I care.”

Which brings me to this story I saw on ABC. It involves the free hugs movement.

For those of you who already know about this, I apologize for old news. But isn’t it amazing that complete strangers offer hugs to you on the street. If you can get over hugging a stranger, then imagine what a surprising pick me up it can be after a long day of discussing ROI on a wild posting.

Even better, why don’t brands offer free hugs? Forget about ROI, tracking studies, and what-have-you, and think about a genuine offering of love. “It doesn’t matter that you buy our soap, here’s just a hug we wanted to give you,” says a brand. Imagine that.

It obviously isn’t a literal hug that brands give but more of the little things that you can do for an individual that doesn’t ask for anything in return, A free wash and blow even though you don’t buy our shampoo. A free cookie even if you don’t buy our coffee. A free oil change even though you didn’t buy our car… because it’s not customers who matter, but people. People matter.

So instead of creating great and lavish communication pieces, why don’t we offer hugs? Even if it’s not an entire campaign, it can be so much more relevant, but more importantly meaningful to people... especially if you approach them at that right time.