Brains on Fire

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  Endeavor Realty

  Posted on September 30th, 2005 by Spike and currently 1 commenting.

  You’ll be hearing several things about my experience at the WOM vs. Advertising Conference this week, but I wanted to start off with a report on the brief conversation that I had with a one Evan Kane. He has a remarkable idea for a realty agency and he’s making it real.

  The idea is that realtors receive their commission based on their client’s satisfaction. Brilliant. The client knows this from the beginning and is surveyed several times throughout the home buying process. The higher the rating, the higher the commission and vise-versa.

  Evan, that flies in the face of an entire industry. And I love it.

  Tags: Evan Kane, Realty Agency, WOM vs Advertising
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  My Turn!

  Posted on September 28th, 2005 by Jennifer and currently 0 commenting.

  As Spike posted before, all of my fellow BOF bloggers are in New York today for the WOMMA conference on WOM vs. Advertising. Since it’s Ad Week up there, there is an awful lot going on, so this afternoon I’m heading up there for the Applied Improvisation Network’s four day conference called “Everyday Epiphanies: Seeing and Seizing the Moments of Life.” The title is a little over the top, but it’s going to be four days about learning to apply improv theatre techniques to business, creative ideation, brand strategy… it should be quite a ride. And if you’re not convinced that this improv theatre is good for anything other than giving Drew Carey and his friends something to do, I would check out the book Improv Wisdom by Patricia Ryan Madson. She does a great job of outlining the ways that the simple lessons we learn in improv can really affect the way you think. It’s things like accepting ideas instead of judging them, doing what you can to make your team members look good, being specific, being ready to roll with whatever comes along… it doesn’t take many pages before you begin to see that we can learn a lot from the simple principles of showing up, supporting your team and telling a compelling story. And what are we trying to do in this business if not tell customers a compelling story?

  So needless to say, I’ll be writing more about this when I get back. See you next week!

  Tags: Ad Week, Applied Improvisation Network, BOF bloggers, brand strategy, creative ideation, Drew Carey, Everyday Epiphanies: Seeing and Seizing the Moments of , Improv Wisdom, Patricia Ryan Madson, WOM vs Advertising, WOMMA
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  Have a nice Day

  Posted on September 26th, 2005 by Geno and currently 2 commenting.

  Early last week flipping through channels a music video caught my eye. I could tell by the voice and the guitar it was Bon Jovi, but what kept my attention was the story line. It goes like this, Jon comes out on the street and is signing autographs, when a fan hands him a CD jewel case, Jon signs it with a smiley face with some attitude. The guy looks at it, pulls out his camera phone and snaps a picture. And bam the video shows it being turned into a Shepard Fairey propaganda style sticker campaign. The video has its moments of ups and downs. I hate the thrown in the middle concert scene, why go through all the trouble to set up this street marketing movement, and not play an impromptu concert like U2 has done in many of their videos. But I have to admit, the video worked on me, I bought the song on iTunes, I can’t bring myself to purchasing the whole CD just yet.

  Jon Bon Jovi popped back into my life again when I came home from work Wednesday evening. My wife a Bon Jovi and Oprah fan told me Jon appeared on Oprah’s talk show. She told me Bon Jovi presented Oprah with a check for 1 million dollars from the band to go towards her Hurricane Katrina relief effort. Bon Jovi, explained, “You could steward this so that it gets to the people who need it — Habitat, Red Cross. That’s from the four of us.
  “You told the human story. This isn’t a race issue, it’s a class issue and it’s American people that we have to help.” Way to step up Bon Jovi, I’m now a little more of a fan and I will buy that new CD. And if you have some time check out Oprah’s Angel Network, they have lots of options for helping families.

  Have a nice Day.

  Tags: Bon Jovi, Habitat, Have a Nice Day, Hurrican Katrina, iTunes, Oprah, Oprah's Angel Network, Red Cross, Shepard Fairey, Street Marketing Movement, U2
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  I have a great idea. Lets cut the Anti-Drug Campaign to pay for Hurricane Katrina

  Posted on September 26th, 2005 by Geno and currently 1 commenting.

  A group of House Republicans have proposed eliminating the White House’s anti-drug media campaign to pay for Hurricane Katrina. The Republican Study Committee, said in its proposal released this week that “there is no solid evidence that media campaigns are effective in either preventing or reducing the use of illegal drugs.” The group, headed by Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., estimated the cut would save the government $1.3 billion over 10 years.

  So we are going to cut all the prevention dollars, and waste all the years of Office of National Drug Control Policy efforts. Living in a state that spends zero dollars on youth prevention, this puts a bad taste in my mouth.. I haven’t been the biggest fan of all the efforts of the ONDCP but I believe it is needed. I believe these campaigns from federal to state to local, open the door for conversations between parents and teens. I know they have for me with my eleven year-old. You would also think we would learn from Katrina the many social issues Americans face. Illegal drugs are a big costly one.

  “We need strong support for the campaign in order to continue driving down teen drug use,” said ONDCP representative Tom Riley. “Dollars invested in prevention today save millions of dollars and thousands of lives tomorrow.” I totally agree, Lindsey Graham, Bob Inglis expect a call and an email from me.

  Tags: Anti-Drug media campaign, Bob Inglis, House Republicans, Hurrican Katrina, Illegal Drugs, Lindsey Graham, Mike Pence, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Tom Riley, White House
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  Heading to WOMMA in NYC

  Posted on September 26th, 2005 by Spike and currently 0 commenting.

  A group of us will be heading to NYC tomorrow morning for the Word of Mouth vs. Advertising conference on Wednesday. We’ve posted several entries on their group blog and are looking forward to reconnecting with folks we met at the first conference (when we presented back in March) and meeting some new kindred spirits.

  We’ll give a full report when we get back.

  Tags: Kindred Spirits, NYC, Word of Mouth vs Advertising Conference