Good luck ignoring the alligator

In 1933 a German psychiatrist named Hedwig von Restorff did a study.

She presented human subjects with a list of categorically similar items, with one distinctive, isolated item on the list.

When their memory was tested about the list of items, the memory of the distinctive item as always better than the rest.

The phenomenon became known as the “Von Restorff effect”.

For example, if you have a list where one item stands out against the others, for example: desk, chair, lamp, table, rug, bed, alligator, couch, dresser, armchair.

“Alligator” will be remembered the most.

It also turned out that the effect happens when you alter things like size, shape, color, spacing, fonts and underlining.

In this case, let’s say you have a shopping list with 20 items on it including: eggs, milk, bread, apples, chicken, lettuce, onions and cheese, etc. Then you color the word “apples” with a yellow highlighter.

Almost everyone who reads the list will remember that the list had apples on it.

In trying to win in todays market, many brands focus their time and energy trying to create better products or deliver deeper functional benefits or more meaningful emotional experiences.

But the fact is - that in the war for consumer attention, the most powerful method of establishing brand recall is to be different.

Just somehow noticeably - different.

We are now all doing business in an “Attention Economy”.

So, if you can just stand out in a sea of sameness…

You win.

The Wrong Ingredients

There is a marina in Lahaina, a small town on the western coast of Maui, Hawaii and it's home to one of the best scuba diving sites on the island, Mala Wharf.

Mala Wharf is a collapsed pier that extends hundreds of feet into the marina. The submerged slabs and pillars of concrete create an artificial reef teeming with tropical fish, eels, rays, lobster and octopus.

The wharf didn’t collapse with age. It didn’t collapse because of a hurricane or some natural disaster. The wharf’s demise was the result of a bad recipe.

You see, when you make concrete with fresh water the material essentially becomes stone and will last for decades.

But when you cut corners and use salt water instead, the concrete seems OK for a few years, but then it begins to crumble.

Unfortunately, they used the salt water recipe for Mala Wharf.

After the wharf collapsed it was going to be far too expensive to clean it up. So they just left it there - and let the marine life take over.

Building a successful brand is like building something out of concrete.

You need to use the right recipe.

You need a solid brand strategy, a stunning brand design and to create an impeccable brand experience.

If you cut corners, before you know it things will start to crumble and cleaning up the mess gets expensive fast.

But if you use the right ingredients and a proven recipe, that brand will last for decades.

Create Your Wonder Wall

A couple years ago they made an amazing discovery in the Colombian Amazon. They call it Serranía La Lindosa.

It’s an 8-mile-long rock wall. A “canvas” completely covered with ice age drawings of mastodons, giant sloths, geometric designs, human figures in hunting scenes and nurturing plants and trees.

The ochre pigment has lasted for over 12,000 years telling the story of the indigenous people who painted it.

Now let’s be clear...

These people didn’t paint an 8-mile mural in a day.

It started with a single drawing. Then the first tiny scene. Then, over hundreds of years it became a vast panorama of images crowded together, mile after mile.

But what if they’d decided after the first mile that it was enough. That it had all been said. The wall was already so crowded. Who would see their pictures? Why bother adding to it?

We’re glad now that they resisted that impulse.

The stories they used to document, to educate and even possibly to entertain, are still informing us now.

Fast forwarding to today. Many of us are creating content to communicate, to build authority, to make our presence known.

We need to take a lesson from these Amazonians.

Don’t be intimidated by the vast crowded canvas of the internet.

Don’t think that your story is just adding to the noise.

Make your mark. Build upon it. Invest time, effort and intellectual capital.

Build a body of work that speaks for you. That works to tell your story.

We Have Lift-off

It was 1960 and we were in a race with the Russians to put a man into orbit.

Project Mercury was the name of our program that was eventually going to do it.

The operative word here is “eventually”.

The first Altas-type rocket exploded. So NASA switched to the Redstone rocket that had taken our first satellite into orbit.

The test flight of the new spacecraft and its recovery systems was scheduled. They wheeled the rocket onto the launch pad...3, 2, 1. Ignition!

There was an incredible roar, the rocket disappeared behind a huge plume of smoke. The technicians thought the rocket had accelerated so quickly they didn’t even see it go.

That’s because it didn’t go.

It lifted off a full 4 inches and then dropped back down on the platform. Thankfully, still upright.

But then the escape rocket did take off. It shot up 4000 feet then fell to earth. Then the re-entry parachutes deployed and fluttered down beside the fizzling rocket.

It was a comical failure. But it was a start.

As marketers, entrepreneurs and business partners, whenever we have out-sized dreams fueled by a desire to surpass strong competition, we have to start. We have to pick the best rocket we have and begin testing.

Things might not go as planned. We might not get into orbit on the first try.

But a four inch flight is better than standing still.

Because eventually we’ll accelerate so quickly they won’t even see us go.

Your Atomic Reaction

Alfred Gilbert made some pretty cool toys. His company focused on those that nurtured children’s interest in science and engineering. Gilbert was the man responsible for one of the most popular toys of all time, the “Erector Set”.

Science experiment toys were very popular in the 1950’s. So, Alfred capitalized on societies arrival into the nuclear age with the “Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory”. A set capable of over 150 “magic show” experiments kids could do for their parents.

And it came with something special: 4 vials of actual radioactive samples.

Oh, and a Geiger counter...you know, just to be safe.

In 2002, Radar Magazine published a list of “The 10 Most Dangerous Toys of All Time”. The U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory ranked number two. Just after Lawn Darts.

There’s a fine line between brilliant and crazy, between innovative and stupid - and between engaging and dangerous.

In marketing and design, have all have to walk that line. Trying new things. Taking chances. Experimenting to see what works. What doesn’t.

What if we try IGTV? TikTok? How about paid LinkedIn ads? A lead magnet on a pop-up? That new Photoshop filter? That kind-of-out-there font?

Because, if you don’t take the risk of making your own “U-238 Atomic Energy Lab” - then ultimately, you’ll never end up creating your “Erector Set”, either.

Guess What? You’re Drafted

Did you ever wonder why in the Indianapolis 500 race cars follow each other so closely? Or why in the New York Marathon elite runners run right on the heels of their opponent?

The answer is “drafting”. Any object uses energy to move quickly through air. That object then creates a vacuum of air behind it that “pulls” along anything that’s behind it - drastically reducing the amount of energy the follower needs to keep pace.

By using these aerodynamic truths, a Brazilian bicyclist recently reached an incredible 77mph on a highway by drafting behind a semi truck. A feat that would be totally impossible otherwise.

A couple weeks ago I started a private Facebook group called Brand Design Masters.

One of the amazing things about it is the broad range of experience and skills the members have. Some are seasoned industry vets with serious credentials. Some are just starting out - or making a pivot in their careers and starting fresh in a new direction.

But the best thing about mastermind communities like this is that it is rare that you are the most accomplished person in the group. There are others more knowledgeable, better connected or more experienced that are moving at a greater speed than you.

Why is that the best thing?

Because by using the power of drafting you can make faster progress in a shorter period of time than would be ever possible on your own.

Are You Adrift?

I’ve read Adrift, by Steven Callahan six times. In 1981, Callahan survived 76 days alone at sea in a six foot inflatable raft after his 21’ sloop was struck by a whale and sank in the middle of the Atlantic.

Before it sank, Steven was able to retrieve a few survival supplies including a small spear gun and a second-hand solar still that produced fresh water from condensation.

But in the brutal sun the solar still deteriorated to bits. The spear gun broke. He accidentally punctured his raft and spent days rigging a plug to keep it inflated. Nine ships passed him by, oblivious to his flares and signals.

I think what lead me to read Adrift six times is Steve’s persistence. When he was hit with a problem, he got busy. Failure was truly not an option. He survived because he just would not give up.

When we build a business, we set off expecting fair winds to guide us to lands of plenty. But the sea of competition is cruel. Brands can break, strategies can wear thin. Marketing holes need to be plugged, opportunities can pass us by.

But we must be persistent. Determined to survive. When adversity strikes, get busy. Because giving up is not an option.

Your Mind, Blown

My friend Adam got a Tesla. An $80,000 Tesla, to be exact. He ordered every bell and whistle. He said, “I went down the list of options and just checked every box”.

After we had dinner Saturday, Adam asked if I wanted to drive it. I can’t say I was dying to. But O.K., let's see your new toy.

Out on the street, Adam pulled out his phone, hit a button and the car drove itself over to us. Then I stepped into and literally drove the future.

Tooling down the road at 40mph Adam says, “Take your hands off the wheel and foot off the pedal”. It was freaky. Not only can it drive itself, it can pass cars and change lanes completely on its own.

When you read that a car goes from 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds that’s impressive. But then it also goes from 20 to 60 in 2 seconds. Two. Until you press a pedal and feel a car do that, you can never truly understand. I mean - Holy. Shit.

Have you ever had an experience with a product that made you reevaluate the very conception you’ve always had of particular thing? This Tesla did that.

How can you Tesla-ize what you do?

Lead Magnets That Deliver: A Quick Guide To Growing Your Email List With Content

Email marketing is an undeniably powerful marketing tool. Studies show that “email is the third most influential source of information for B2B audiences, behind only colleague recommendations and industry-specific thought leaders,” according to Wordstream.com. In the B2C world, ”Consumers who purchase products through email spend 138% more than those that don’t receive email offers.” Wordstream reports that 77% of people prefer to get permission-based promotional messages via email (versus direct mail, text, phone, or social media). Connecting with your audience through email is preferable and effective. You cannot deny it.

The reason it is so effective is because people have given you permission to market to them, which is unheard of in any other marketing channel. Most marketing comes to you in the form of advertising; online, television, print or outdoor advertising, and you have no control over when or where the ads are served. The media channels choose that.

Email marketing is different because people have signed up to hear from you. They have entrusted you with their email address which is one of the highest forms of trust today. Sharing an email address says, “I trust you to give me information I need, and that you won’t pester me by contacting me too often or with news I don’t care about.”

The best thing about email marketing (or permission-based marketing) is that the customer is in control of the relationship. The customer can decide when to stop receiving your emails - they can break up with you if you don’t serve them well. They are in the driver’s seat, but they are also qualified, highly interested in what you are doing and very likely to listen to what you are saying. Think about how your business would dramatically change if you had 5,000 or more subscribers attentively listening to your every word. You’d be unstoppable.

But what if you don’t have a large email list or what if your list is not chock-full of engaged, ready-to-buy subscribers? How do you get people to sign up?

You ask people to “trade.” The item you trade for an email address is a bit of content called a lead magnet or an opt-in magnet, which can take many forms. It’s usually a digital file; it can be an ebook, checklist, guide, report, resource list, or even access to a quick video training course.

When a prospect clicks to download the lead magnet, they have to enter in an email address in exchange. It's a reciprocal agreement; they're getting something of value and you're getting something of value. So this even trade kicks off a relationship based on mutual trust.

One of the most common forms of lead magnets is an ebook. Ebooks are inexpensive to create because there is no physical production involved. All it takes is some time, energy and a bit of brain power to pull one together.

Ebooks don't have to be a monumental project. They could be a mini-ebook, a two or three-page pamphlet. As long as it is valuable to your viewers and visitors, it will make a great lead magnet.

If your ebook is not based on current news or events it will have a longer shelf life so it is best to focus on content that is “evergreen”. You can offer a single ebook for an extended period or create variety by rotating through multiple ebooks as you continue to develop more. Before you know it, you will have a valuable library of evergreen email list-growing content.

You don't necessarily have to produce original content specifically for your opt-in magnet. Think about how you can repurpose other content of yours and deliver it in a way that is helpful for your potential customers. If you have videos or podcasts piling up, transcribe them into written form and offer that as an opt-in magnet (rev.com is a terrific transcription service, as are descript.com and temi.com. YouTube offers a free transcription service for videos on its site). Even if the viewer has seen the video or heard the podcast you’ve transcribed, offering it up in a different form may be of true value to them.

If you write blog posts or articles you can offer those in a different format, expand on them, or bundle them together as an ebook for your lead magnet. Prospects may not have come across your writing where you originally posted it, so offering it in another format will expose them to that information and provide value that they wouldn't have otherwise received.

You can also include additional promotional information about your products or services in your lead magnets. An incentive to buy sooner, offering add-on services, or free shipping offers can be very effective in a lead magnet.

Key Elements of a Lead Magnet

Title Tells All

The title must be really enticing, motivating viewers to have to know more. Spend some time researching which titles tend to be successful in your industry and try to create something that will draw people's attention.

Present Your Best

After you’ve piqued their curiosity, you have to deliver the goods. Make sure that you're not disappointing your readers. Remember, they are giving you their email address, so you want to make sure you're delivering top-notch information to them.

To ensure you are delivering the best, make sure that your piece has:

●       A design that reflects your brand

●       High technical quality

●       High factual quality

●       Good structure, flow and is well-written, in your brand voice

●       A call-to-action, it can be subtle, but it should be in there

Hire a copywriter to help you write or refine your piece, or if you can’t afford that, enlist an editor to make sure your work is free of grammatical and spelling errors. At a minimum, run it through free grammar and spelling checking software like Grammarly or Hemmingway.

Be A Trusted Resource

Deliver value early in the piece and you will get the attention you deserve. Starting with a strong assertion makes people take notice. Don't spend 5 or 10 pages leading up to the “big idea.” Give them value early.

Promoting your Lead Magnet

One of the best ways to promote your lead magnet is on social media. Include links and teasers in your Twitter and Facebook and Instagram posts. Use Bitly or TinyURL to create a nondescript link to your downloadable content. It’s a great idea to put links in your email signature and rotate the magnet you’re offering, so virtually every person that you send an email to gets access to a piece of valuable content.

You can also promote your lead magnet through a pop-up on your website. Everyone hates pop-ups, (I hate pop-ups too) but they work really, really well. About 75% of my email sign-ups come through the pop-up on my website. You really can’t argue with that kind of efficacy.  

Lastly, ask people to help you promote your opt-in. Ask people to share the link to your content - you’ll find that people want to help and if they do, you should do the same for them. Use this opportunity to create a great network of content-sharing professionals.

Once you get started with leveraging lead magnets, you‘ll see how easy it is to attract qualified, interested leads to your email list. You’ll be delivering great value to your audience, which is a solid start to the relationship. As long as you respect their time and attention, you are fostering a mutually beneficial partnership that will build your business and cultivate a tribe of brand devotees.

Can You Feel?

Dominique Apollon is 45 years old. But he almost started crying as he put on his band-aid.

It wasn’t because his cut hurt really bad. Although it probably did. He was almost brought to tears because his bandage was brown. Because Dominique is brown, too.

After he pulled himself together, he took a picture of the bandage on his hand and posted it on Twitter. It got re-tweeted over 100k times and picked up by major media channels.

People really felt it.

Tru-Colour Bandages, the company that made the bandage that Dominique was wearing was started by a man who was discouraged when he couldn’t find a band-aid that matched his African American son’s skin tone. 

But the power of the Tru-Colour brand isn’t that it stops cuts from bleeding better than other bandages. Or that it sticks better and doesn't come off when it gets wet. 

The power is in how it makes people feel about themselves. As Dominique put it, “I really just felt like I belonged, like I was welcomed, like I was valued.”

What can you do to assure you are delivering a product, a service, or an experience with that kind of benefit?

Something people really feel.

You're Gonna Love It...or maybe not

Having lived in New York City and San Francisco, two of the restaurant capitals of America, I thought I’d tasted, or at least heard of, most of the foods that grace our country. But when I moved to Cincinnati, I was introduced to a culinary experience that I had no idea existed. Skyline Chili.

First of all, to call Skyline Chili “chili” is a stretch. What it is is a thin, bean-less, virtually meatless, chili-flavored sauce that is spooned over a wad of spaghetti or a hot dog and topped with a massive pile of shredded cheddar cheese. Cincinnatians love it. Skyline Chili restaurants are always packed. Friends said, “You have to try it! You’re gonna love it!”. 

Well I did, and I didn’t.

I thought Skyline Chili was gross. I thought it was a midwestern chili-esque Franken-food mistake that had somehow escaped the kitchen and was bent on terrorizing the populace.

But Skyline Chili taught me something. It taught me that you can succeed even if you aren’t universally loved. You can be weird. You can be different. But as long as you find your super-fans and give them that one thing they crave, you can endure. 

Even if some people think it’s gross

Fake Shoes: Brand Perception is Reality

Recently a pop-up store in a Los Angeles mall had an opening party. Over 80 social media influencers flocked to the champagne and caviar reception at Palessi, a new luxury shoe retailer with an Italian flair, glass and lacquer displays, black clad associates and slinky house music.

Swept up by the experience, the attendees plunked down thousands of dollars for shoes they described breathlessly in social media posts as “elegant and sophisticated”. Facing a video camera, holding up a pair of sneakers, a woman said “I would pay $400 to $500 for these”. And then she did.

In any other mall, the sneakers she was holding cost $19.99. 

Palessi was a fake. The products were from Payless Shoes.

Contrary to popular belief the product isn’t primarily responsible for the value perception of a brand. It’s what is around the product that controls whether you think something should be expensive or cheap. 

Visual branding, sound, technology, physical environment, digital user experience, and human interaction are all levers that affect how products are perceived. And most importantly, what people are willing to pay for them.

Are your customers perceiving your brand the way you want them to? What other levers can you pull?

Set It On Fire

It was 1967 and there were a hell of a lot of great guitar players in London. John Lennon, Jeff Beck, Brian Jones, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, were all playing the clubs. If you were a guitar player too, it was hard to get noticed.

But there was this one skinny guy named Jimi Hendrix from America. He was a good guitarist. Better than most. He dressed weird, but everyone was dressing weird. He used a lot of distortion, but everyone did that, too. One typical night, his band The Experience was playing the London Astoria. At the end of their 45 minute set Jimi kneeled, laid his guitar down on the stage and…set it on fire.

The audience loved it. The music press couldn’t stop writing about it. They started calling him “The Black Elvis”. Soon it was standing room only. He was that guy who torched his guitar.

Unless you live on a tiny atoll in the Pacific, chances are there are a lot of competitors around who do what you do. You may do it better. Better than most. But how can you be really different? What can you do to set it on fire?

Last One Standing

Hurricane Michael was called a once-in-a-100-years storm. One of the towns that Michael knocked square in the nose was Mexico Beach, which was virtually flattened. It wiped out most of the structures, but also severed the deep emotional connection of it’s residents. 

But one house made it through virtually unscathed.

Russell King and his nephew build their home on 40 foot pilings driven deep into the sand, constructing it out of re-enforced concrete that far exceeded all of Florida’s famously stringent building codes. They called it the Sand Palace. Their family’s emotional connection to Mexico Beach weathered the storm because they had built a solid foundation.

Verhaal will be leading a brand strategy workshop next week were we will be building a “brand pyramid” with our client. Brand pyramids are strategic tools constructed in five layers, much like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, with the brands functional benefits on the bottom building upwards to the emotional essence at the peak. 

Defining the emotional essence of a brand is critical. Why? Because people don’t buy using their heads, they buy with their hearts. They buy based on a deeper emotional connection. And you architect that connection by building from a solid strategic foundation.

Would your brand survive a 100-year storm?

Different Is Better Than Better

If you’ve ever stayed in central London you know that the hotels are fantastic. The best.

There are hotels that have old world charm that come in a range of prices. There are contemporary design hotels like St. Martins Lane but these are always very pricey. What didn’t exist was a high-tech high-design option available at a lower price point.

The savvy folks at hub by Premier Inn noticed this empty quadrant in the X/Y map of the competitive landscape. So they did what any smart brand does, they filled it.

I stayed at hub by Premier Inn when I was at a conference recently. My room was about 9 x 14 feet - about the size of a generous jail cell. There was no window, just a backlit glass panel that made you feel like there was one. The headboard was a touchscreen that controlled everything from the “do not disturb” sign outside to the A/C. The interior design was so inspiring and clever I never felt deprived. In fact, I felt smart, stylish and just a little bit richer. 

By expertly delivering on an unmet need, hub by Premier Inn has expanded to 40 locations in under 5 years. Hub is killing it.

Take a fresh look at your competitive landscape. Does everyone look the same? Are they offering the same things, in the same way? Where is the white space that you can fill?

5 Reasons Why You Should Be Developing Content Now

For any personal brand, entrepreneur, or business the most important thing is the power of attraction. How are you going to get clients, customers, and a tribe to come to you? How are you going to attract them to your goods, services and all you have to offer?

Once you get them, how are you going to retain them? How do you become their favorite? How do you build a level of credibility that creates a steadfast belief in you? Executing flawlessly on your offering, both in product quality and service excellence is one way. But today that isn’t enough. Today that is the baseline. How you rise above the competition is by establishing content development as a core competency. So, what are some of the benefits?

#1 It Contributes To Professional Independence

Statistics show 40.4% of the U.S. workforce is now made up of “contingent workers” -that is, people who are what we traditionally consider freelancers or independent contractors. The Bureau of Labor Statistics last reported in 2005 that number was 11.6%. Think about that trend for a minute. Sobering, huh? Some estimate that by 2020 up to 50% of the American workforce could be untethered from full-time employment. This means there's a lot of people out there who are going to have to start developing independent marketing messages to attract their own customers and clients. They won't have a traditional job or a company that they work for to do that for them. Therefore, developing a level of independence is in reality developing a level of income security. Developing content is a key personal brand building activity that can help establish that independence.

#2 It Establishes Credibility

By developing content; articles, blog posts, videos, infographics, presentations, courses, newsletters, curated material, it helps establish you as a thought leader in the marketplace. Content development gives you the opportunity to demonstrate that you truly know your stuff. That you are an expert. If you offer up real value, your audience will recognize, remember, and come to revere you. Additionally, when you offer content for free it draws your audience to you even quicker. Of course, paid advertising can also draw a crowd but that activity is pure promotion. Developing content exercises the law of attraction in a way that can't be bought.

#3 It Exercises Your Creativity Muscle

Developing content is going to help you develop a special kind of muscle. A creativity muscle. Any artist, singer, painter, musician knows that by practicing their craft, they develop a creative muscle that keeps a level of “flow” happening. And if they stop practicing their art for any period of time, they get rusty and it takes them a while to get back into that flow and creative output. By making a commitment to develop content on a regular basis you're exercising your creativity muscle. You become an idea generation heavyweight. Execution is easy, but killer ideas are the fuel of innovation and growth.

#4 It Increases Confidence

Developing content is an excellent way to feel great about yourself. You're going to rapidly realize just how much it is that you know. It helps to create a personal, internal resonance of the value you can offer the world. Simultaneously, you are demonstrating your knowledge to others while in the process providing real value to them. Simply put, helping folks just makes you feel good. Like anything truly worthwhile, developing content is somewhat awkward and scary in the beginning. But over time you get better at it and it feels like a much easier and more natural thing to do.

#5 It Grows Your Business

Content development used as in-bound marketing is great for business. I’m living proof. In two years my YouTube channel and brand•muse newsletter now generate over 75% of my agency’s new business leads. By developing content that's valuable to people they become willing evangelists for your brand. And because people trust other people’s recommendations more than advertising messages or a brand promoting itself, it means your tribe becomes your marketing department. Every new piece of content you produce seeds priceless word-of-mouth marketing.

Sure, the content landscape has gotten pretty noisy and the competition for eyeballs and ears is fierce. But the benefits of developing content are as much internal as they are external. So, if you haven’t yet begun to do it, now is the time to begin. No more excuses. At the beginning you will suck at it. Everybody does. But over time the creative muscle strengthens and the gears of the idea machine start to hum. You’ll get better. But to reap these benefits, you just have to start.

Photo credit: Getty Images

Philip VanDusen is a creative thought leader and principal of Verhaal Brand Design an agency that specializes in leveraging brand strategy and design to build brand affinity and equity for companies and entrepreneurs. Get more from Philip in his newsletter brand•muse, His YouTube channel or connect with Verhaal Brand Design on Facebook.

The Brand from the Black Lagoon

When the film The Shape of Water was released my first response was disbelief. One of my favorite films as a kid was The Creature from the Black Lagoon, a black and white classic that was terrifying and yet somehow comforting in memory. How could they remake it? 

But when I saw the new version I was stunned by its beauty and poetry and thankfully it was a lot less scary. I guess I wasn’t alone. It just received the Oscar for Best Picture. 

Last week I was contacted by a prospective client who wants me to revise their brand identity. In doing my research I checked out their website. The site was like looking at a faded postcard from 1991. Unresponsive, a clunky columned layout, low resolution photographs.

The client had no idea how dated it had become. They remembered it as classic and comfortable. 

Is there an aspect of your brand that is due for a remake? Something you might revise to reach a level of beauty, poetry and performance that you hadn’t thought possible? And maybe at the same time make a little less scary?

photo: ©Universal Pictures

Your Pedal to the Metal

In 1958 Dick Flynn made a change. Dick was a race car driver and was looking for the perfect fuel. One day he discovered that by injecting nitrous oxide into his fuel mix he could produce a huge surge of power.

No one knew how he was suddenly winning so many races. But he did. He had found just the right catalyst to super-charge his engine. He kept the nitrous tank hidden under his dash, activating it just when he needed the boost.

There’s a saying, “If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got." If you're not satisfied with what you've always gotten, then something's got to change.

Brand consultants are accelerants. They can help you get places faster. Sure, you can continue in your lane, picking up an odd tactic or strategy here and there. You can slap a patch on your website or marketing materials and hope it gets you to the next mile marker.

But your dreams of success and freedom will be out of reach without a well-tuned brand. Let’s discover your perfect fuel.

photo credit: CC license @pxhere.com

The Shark and the Chumsicle

Sharks are trendy. There is a shark feeding dive I do in the Bahamas where they use a 3ft. ball of frozen fish chum (yum!) suspended from a float in 40 feet of water. They rev the boat engines like a dinner bell. In a blink of an eye there are 60 sharks milling around.

The sharks start circling the “chumsicle” in a wide rotating arc. You get to join in and swim along side them. They don’t even notice. The sharks are busy strategizing.

Soon the most ambitious peel off and attack the bait. But they have a hard time because the chumcicle is still frozen. Later, it begins to thaw and the action gives new meaning to the word “frenzy”. At the end, when the ball is dwindling, the remaining sharks fill up on what’s fallen to the sandy bottom.

When feeding off new trends you have to strategize where you want to play. Do you want to be the first to try to sink your teeth in? Do you want to join when it’s a frenzy, the food is flying and the competition is the fiercest? Or do you exercise patience and benefit from the work of others? There is no one correct answer. You just have to commit to where you want to be in the food chain.

photo credit: where2wander.com

Control vs. Creativity

Driverless cars are off to a bumpy start. The newest vehicles are racking up a crash rate double that of cars driven by humans.

So what’s the problem?

The problem is they obey the law all the time. This may not sound like a bug, but it turns out not following the rules is sometimes the best answer. Just try following the rules while merging onto a chaotic highway at rush hour. Following the rules doesn’t work out so well when no one else is following them. 

Sometimes you have to think creatively to be successful.

So how much should the car break the rules? Answer: Just enough to do what’s right. Somewhere in the valley there are a lot of AI programmers losing sleep trying to figure out how to make that happen.

When it comes to leadership in business the problem is the same. When you empower people and give them control over decision-making, most often they will simply choose to do what’s right. Or should you issue commands to follow the rules no matter what? It’s Control vs. Creativity.

How can creativity drive your success?