Last Lecture by a Legend and Mentor

Dr. William Bondeson recently retired after teaching philosophy, medical ethics and humanities for 50 years at the University of Missouri. He truly defined the term Renaissance Man. Words cannot express the impact that this man had on my life and my career. The University of Missouri Honors College is truly a hidden gem, and among the greatest academic programs in the country. When I was considering colleges, Dr. Polansky, the recently retired Director of the Honors College, took me to Shakespeare's Pizza (how appropriate) on a high school campus visit. Dr. Bondeson happened to cross our path on the way and joined us for lunch. The conversation that ensued was unlike anything I had ever heard. The topics spanned the upcoming basketball season to the pasta served at the University Club with a healthy serving of philosophy and literature sprinkled in.  My college decision was sealed after that meal. 


Over the years at Mizzou, I was lucky enough to have Dr. Bondeson for six courses. He invited his students into his home, chatted with us on campus and invited theatrical performers for us to experience. I returned often, I volunteered at every chance to help recruit the best and brightest to Mizzou. I stayed passionate about the things he taught us. In short, he helped inspire me to care about gaining knowledge for knowledge sake. This emphasis on breadth of knowledge has served me better than any other specialty class or training.  


The following lecture is long, but well worth the time. I will leave you with one thought. 
Understanding the origins of ideas, the ideals of man, the philosophy and values through history and the role that the arts play in all aspects of our lives is the single most important knowledge you can possess. That knowledge allows you to understand the world around you and simply makes you better at anything you do in life. There are things you can memorize. There are things you can learn. Then there are things you must experience.   

The unexamined life is not worth living. -- Socrates

Hopefully you have had a mentor like Dr. Bondeson in your life. If not, soak up a bit of the wisdom of Bill and then seek our your own  great mentor. Enjoy... 

The Best 5:49 of Your Day: Jeff Tweedy Sings Black Eyed Peas

Happy Friday everyone. Celebrate with a little Jeff Tweedy and, wait for it... the Black Eyed Peas.
Indeed.
He took the stage in Chicago recently and Time Out Chicago was there to report on this epic event.
For those of you not in the know, Tweedy is a former founding member of Uncle Tupelo, and the current front man for Wilco.


Kick off your weekend right... 





Special Bonus since I love you all. Here is Mr. Tweedy with his rendition of My Humps.



Jeff Tweedy recites "My Humps" from Jasmine Davila on Vimeo.

Putting Relationship Back in PR

Original Building Plan Courtesy of Highwoods

I recently was interviewed in The Kansas City Star about a public relations disaster on the venerable Country Club Plaza shopping district. For those of you not from Kansas City, "The Plaza" is an historic and iconic luxury open-air shopping district just south of the urban core. So what was this disaster you say? In short, Highwoods, the North Carolina-based owner of the center announced haphazardly last August that they would build a new office building for a local law firm on the north edge of the Plaza. They released a preliminary sketch and told of "only needing to demolish a small section of shops and an apartment building." They released it as a simple business development story. But almost overnight, a development project that they assumed would be met with open arms in these tough economic times turned into a media disaster that eventually forced them to withdraw the plan. It spawned lawsuits, public outcry and a very vocal, if not reasonable, "Save OUR Plaza" group. It also harmed the reputation of the shopping center and further distanced the ownership from their customers. they burned a great deal of good will and equity. Good will that would have come in handy as they dealt with recent teen riots, tenant snafus and the lingering perception of being too corporate.

Here is what I had to say, as well as the article from Kevin Collison in it's entirety. 

Protest Group Sign

Anyone involved with commercial real estate needs to be continually engaged with the community, said Jon Stephens, the former manager of the Power & Light District, who now runs his own marketing firm. 

Whether it should or not, the perception is, everybody should have a say, and a company that doesn't understand that is clearly doomed for problems, he said. 

Had Highwoods properly vetted its Polsinelli plan, Stephens said, it would have found that razing the Balcony Building was a nonstarter.  I believe if they came out with the final plan as opposed to the first one wouldn't have been received nearly as negatively. 

Kansas City Star: Lessons from the Balcony Building Mess

The lesson in all of this, is it public relations is not about announcing projects. It is rather about continual community engagement, message management and understanding the customer, the community and the perceptions of your district. It is as much about being engaged in the community, working with your company executives to get involved in the community as it is planning an announcement.

I am not trying to vilify Highwoods. They are by all indications a good steward of their properties and for the most part have improved The Plaza and maintained a nice assortment of high-quality tenants in very tough times. However, they are miserable in their public relations and seem to make the same mistakes time and again. This has harmed them in several ways including people not giving them credit for the great tenants they do bring in.

So, what should they do going forward?

• Identify a few select employees locally that can serve as the day-to-day voice and face of their company.
• Train the Highwoods execs to be on message but also allow them to show some personality. Less corporate, more neighbor.
• Look to a communications professional to assist them in guiding how they engage the community. Create an ongoing plan for reputation management.
• Engage daily on issues big and small. Build communication pathways.
• Realize that the citizens of Kansas City hold the area as part of their "public trust" and speak in that way when discussing the Plaza. 
• Create a program for the 150+ tenants to give them the tools to be pro-Plaza advocates. 
• Identify your true neighborhood and customer brand advocates and offer them previews and perks.
• Push more regional and national media that will build pride in the community that they have a jewel in their own backyard. 
• When big changes are considered, look to a few trusted experts for advice before going public. 

This entire mess may not have been avoided even with all of the above. However; if they had initially launched (with the revised plan that saved the historic building), had already built some equity in the community, and had a known local exec speaking out in a way that people could relate to, they just might have avoided the fight and harm they have done to their reputation.

The Best 4:27 of Your Day: How to Make a Splash in Social Media

This is a story about Mr. Splashy Pants. The whale that hijacked a social media and web campaign for Greenpeace... and launched a movement. It is a very entertaining talk by Alexis Ohanian of Reddit.com. His talk reminds us of some very important things to remember when you are marketing or promoting services on the web.

First, while deep pockets help, the Internet and social media is still one of the most level playing fields there is. A great idea, story, photo or simple message can gain traction and become a movement a meme or a t-shirt slogan.

Second, Be genuine, be yourself and have a sense of humor about it all. This is especially true for brands and companies. If you give your fans a bit of ownership and flexibility while also engaging with them you will come out ahead. You can't always anticipate how even the most well thought out campaign will unfold on the Internet, but if you monitor, engage and adapt while maintaining a sense of humor, you will come out ahead.

These are lessons that our friends at Kansas State University should have learned from their recent EcoKat PR disaster.

This is a fun one people. Enjoy Mr. Splashy...

Alexis Ohanian: How to make a splash in social media

Entrepreneurs and The Cult of Stubbornness

Definition of Stubborn adj.\ˈstə-bərn\
1. Having or showing dogged determination not to change
one's attitude or position on something, esp.
in spite of good arguments or reasons to do so.2. Difficult to move, remove, or cure.
See also, 'Being a Dick.'  

I will admit that I am stubborn. From early childhood I was usually convinced that my way was the right way. My Lego airplane was perfect (even if it did have one wing twice as large as the other), my own special way of doing algebra was the right way, and so on. That carried over into adulthood, and on occasion, it still rears it's ugly head.

However, in advertising and design you need to let go of the ownership of ideas and realize that sharing, collaborating and refining a vision many times results in a much better outcome.
That is probably true in most life decisions, but for this post, I will limit it to simply my profession.
Over time, I came to the realization that letting go of my stubbornness, embracing new ideas and swallowing my pride in ideas usually led to more success.
That brings me to today's lesson kids.

MOST ENTREPRENEURS ARE STUBBORN S.O.Bs!  

In fact, the entrepreneurial community teaches and rewards stubbornness. It is a cultural problem as much as an individual problem. Institutions that breed founders of startups, the great MBA programs, the tech startups, the incubators and the entrepreneurial foundations ALL reward and admire stubbornness. They may mask it in business speak or call it a 'can do' attitude, but ultimately, it is stubbornness that hurts them.

Let me give you a recent example. While consulting with some of the most talented new entrepreneurs selected from over 1,100 applicants the number one refrain was "Your idea is the best." The second message was "Don't let anyone tell you it will fail." Waaaaaaay down the list of ideas taught where "listen to experts" and "value constructive criticism." So, what was the result?
Several of these fledgling start-ups eschewed expert advice on naming, branding, marketing, product array and market research. They were willing to stick to their idea even if the facts were stacked against them. They were unwilling to alter their idea even a bit.
Some even refused tens of thousands of dollars in free design and brand work provided by the non-profit in order to crowd source a logo from their own ideas. So what happens when the Cult of Stubbornness kicks in?

Invariably many of these stubborn entrepreneurs will succeed. The road may be tough and they may burn through a lot of good people, but they will probably succeed. Many will fail. Many would fail with great collaborative efforts. The belief however, that they succeeded by being stubborn is a fallacy. The institutions that teach and reward this stubbornness should instead instill in these entrepreneurs the value of collaborative work. They should teach them how to identify great talent. How to hire quality branding and advertising agencies. How to stick to the core idea that is their own, while collecting and sorting customer data and feedback to make it better.

Entrepreneurs that bring a great idea to the table and then bring the right partners on to refine it will have the best chance at success.
Great entrepreneurial institutions like the Kauffman Foundation could refine their message to benefit the entrepreneur and the great support network that is there to help them launch. VC firms should also insist on this before investing.

That is my stubborn idea. 

  

Five Radical Ideas for Saving the U.S. Postal Service

The popular saying for the Post Office goes "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." However, it appears that changing consumer habits, poor management and a hesitancy over the years to close some of the now 32,000 postal facilities may doom the fabled institution. 

I am not going to discuss the politics, the structuring of the financing or any other of the more laborious and realistic next steps. 

Rather, I am going to look at a few ideas that could (or could have) been enacted within the retail and branding areas over the last few years to stem the tide of red ink and led to a more successful USPS for us and our children. 

1. The USPS should radically redesign itself and it's brand. No one has taken this issue to task better than FastCoDesign with their great summary last year on Radical Retro ReBrand. 

 

2. Rather than fighting to close existing Post Offices, the USPS should sign a long-term co-location deal with McDonald's. Move the vast majority of their retail outlets to cool new in-store kiosk facilities and even locate P.O. Boxes within McDonald's. The burger giant would always welcome the added traffic. Ideally they would have partnered with Blockbuster several years ago and also led in the mail order movie business that Netflix's move to streaming is now killing. Though that ship has sailed, it might not be too late for a radical retail overhaul.  

Your Neighborhood McPost Office

3. The USPS was once one of the most trusted brands globally. Why not trust your email security to the Post Office? Internet security is a real concern and a huge multi-billion dollar business. If you receive an email with an attachment that has been delivered and certified by the United States Postal Service you would trust it. A Norton-USPS partnership could generate a lot of revenue for both and embrace the one thing that is diverting the most mail.

4.  USPS Mail Carrier for rent. OK, so that is a bit much. However, with such a large employment base there are very few other employers that have that many feet on the ground in neighborhoods each day. Why not utilize them for services beyond letter delivery? 

Market them local to deliver door hangers. Generate revenue by selling limited sponsorship's on their uniforms and delivery vehicles. Local municipalities could save money by contracting with them for services such as meter reading. 

5. Don't get rid of Saturday delivery, but rather add Sunday delivery too. Make it weekend premium services and charge accordingly.

One more bonus idea:

6. Partner with Hallmark and others to create a unified campaign for special moment cards and deliveries. Demonstrate to people that while a Facebook Birthday is nice, people that really care about you will mail you a card. Make it a movement. Make it green and focus on the simpler more meaningful moments. 

So that is it. My thoughts on radically reshaping the USPS. Do I think any of these ideas will be adopted? No. Do I think we will see tens of thousands of employee layoffs and billions in loses? Sadly, yes. Should the Postmaster General think like a gutsy CEO of a new business start-up? Absolutely. 

Another great article that discusses the more mundane ideas:

NPR: Five Ways the Postal Service Could Reinvent Itself 

Thoughts on The World's Hottest Brands

Courtesy Ad Age Magazine

Ad Age, the leading publication on advertising, marketing and branding recently released a comprehensive report that includes 30 case studies examining brand strategies as well as 32 videos of ads and viral content. It is a very well written and well researched piece that is certainly worth the subscription price. Yes, it is a fee based article to read and view the videos. If you are in the industry and deal with branding daily, I highly recommend that you read it in full. For the rest of you here are a few thoughts. 

They outline ten global brands, ten regional brands and ten local brands. Some you will have heard of and know a lot about, Nike, McDonald's, Facebook and Ikea for instance. Other great regional brands such as South Africa's Nando's, a chicken QSR with great advertising and Chinese 'local' brand Li-Ning, a multi-faceted sports and sporting apparel company. 

For the rest you will have to read the white paper. 

Here are a few of my thoughts as I read the paper:

• Now more than ever, a consistent brand strategy and brand platform is imperative.
• Local and regional brands are embracing their heritage, but looking and acting much more global.
• Social media and the Internet have forever changed how we look at brands.  
• The U.S. no longer has a monopoly on strong brands and advertising.
• Brand immersion and experiential marketing are vital everywhere.
• Successful brands are looking to multiple touch-points with their consumers via multiple product lines and activities.

Read the much more comprehensive article here with more thoughts from Ad Age:

Ad Age Article: A World of Inspirational Problem-Solving, Savvy Brands and Smart Marketing

The Best 17:52 of Your Day: On Being Wrong from TED

There is little better than ending the week with another incredible TED talk. This one by self described "Wrongologist" Kathryn Schulz. She makes a compelling case for not just admitting, but embracing our fallibility. I think that understanding why we refuse to admit when we are wrong not only impacts us as individuals, but also how we work and live.
It certainly has impacted our political process and, as I will comment on later, our entrepreneurs.

This one should generate some comments. Let me know what you think. I'll try not to tell you that you are wrong. 

Take a few minutes today, enjoy Friday, and embrace being wrong...

Kathryn Schulz: On Being Wrong

Bulletproof Art+Copy Pecha Kucha Redux

In April the good people at the AAF-KC hosted an event called Bulletproof. It is the advertising community version of the popular Pecha Kucha. In short you are given little to no direction in creating a 20 slide presentation about most anything. Then the slides advance automatically every 20 seconds. Thank goodness beer is served and cursing encouraged.
This is the result of our first attempt at this. The subject is a recent trip to China.
I am looking forward to taking another stab at this great event in the future and step up my game.
The competition is great here in KC!


Art+Copy Presents BULLETPROOF 2011 // Megan Stephens, Willoughby Design, and Jon Stephens, Rockhill Strategic from AAF - Kansas City on Vimeo.

The Art & Science of the Startup

It seems that one of the hottest new trends is the attempt to define and compartmentalize the entrepreneur. To define how they are created, if they can indeed be created, who they know, how they were educated... on and on we go . I guess it is human nature to try and quantify then replicate the conditions that make a successful entrepreneur. I believe there are indeed some traits and experiences that can lead to success as an entrepreneur. There are also some pitfalls that lead to incredible failure, but more on that in a later post.

Having worked with a lot of entrepreneurs as clients, and with the leading entrepreneurial foundation, The Kauffman Foundation, it is my conclusion that there are some markers that help to define an entrepreneur. Those markers alone do not create success, however. You cannot crate a set path for individuals and expect the same outcome. Entrepreneurs are as diverse as the startups they create. They also need a level of support and guidance different from others. More on our work on that later as well.

Regardless of the value of determining the 'origins of entrepreneurs' our friends at LinkedIn have created a very nice summary of some of the markers that help us to define successful entrepreneurs. It is worth a look:

Sequencing the Startup DNA from LinkedIn

There is a link to a more detailed study at the bottom of the article.