Brains on Fire

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  Be Remarkable

  Posted on February 22nd, 2012 by amy and currently 0 commenting.

  

  A man sat in a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During the rush hour, it was estimated that more than 2,000 people passed him, most on their way to work.
  
  Three minutes after he started playing, a middle-aged man noticed the musician. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, then hurried on. A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip. The woman threw the money in the hat without stopping and continued on her way. A few minutes later, a man leaned against the wall to listen, but then glanced at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

  The person who paid the most attention to the musician was a three year-old boy. His mother was rushing him along, but the child stopped to look at the violinist. So the mother nudged the child forward and the child continued to walk – turning his head back toward the musician along the way. This scenario was repeated by again and again by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced their children to keep walking, hurry up and move on.

  In the 45 minutes the musician played only six people stopped and stayed for a while. About twenty gave him money, but continued walking on. The musician collected $32 in total. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

  The violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most renowned musicians in the world. Two days before the subway serenade, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston at a seat price of $100 per ticket. That morning in the subway station, Bell had played one of the most intricate pieces ever written on a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

  Joshua Bell’s incognito performance in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. They sought to answer several questions. Mainly, in a  commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour do we perceive beauty? Will we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

  If people do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

  In a busy world, message matters. It is estimated that on any given day we are exposed to 3,500 to 5,000 marketing messages. Is your brand Joshua Bell playing for a sold out crowd? Or are you just a guy in the metro playing a violin?

  In order to thrive YOU MUST BE REMARKABLE. In order to be remarkable, YOU MUST CREATE REMARKABLE EXPERIENCES FOR OTHERS. You must have passion and a point of view. You must elevate people, invite them to the table and empower them to share your story – by making your story their story, too.

  
  

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  Courageous Marketing.

  Posted on February 21st, 2012 by Robbin and currently 2 commenting.

  Years ago someone added a word to my title at Brains on Fire. And overnight, quietly and without fanfare, I became the Courageous President of Brains on Fire.
  
  It gets a laugh when I’m introduced at speaking gigs and meetings.

  Even though I admit I like the smile it produces, it’s more. It’s a one word mantra, and a constant reminder to myself. To be fearless. To follow my heart. To choose the path uncharted. To say yes. To listen harder. To keep an open heart. To dream big, crazy dreams. To trust people. To trust my gut. To speak from my heart. To find forgiveness against all odds. It can mean many, many things depending on the day.

  I Believe I can Fly ( flight of the frenchies). Trailer from sebastien montaz-rosset on Vimeo.

  Last week, this video (thanks to our very own @bethdelo) reminded me that being courageous also means doing what makes your heart sing. Yup…
  
  Being courageous means telling yourself the truth and doing what makes you truly happy.

  Someone sent me a note recently about something they heard on NPR about happiness. It was wise words from a 89 year old man:

  “In my 89 years, I’ve learned that happiness is a choice, not a condition.”

  Since I’m always talking about happiness, emotions and things like courage, I want to share why I think those topics matter so much in this new world of marketing we’re living in.

  In this crazy, swirling, wonderful,fast-changing, connected world of ours, all of us in marketing need to add “courageous” in front of our titles.

  Organizations must to be courageous to succeed. We all need to remind ourselves these things:

  To be fearless. To follow our hearts. To choose the path uncharted. To say yes. To listen harder. To keep an open heart. To dream big, crazy dreams. To trust people (our customers and our employees). To trust our guts. To speak from our hearts. To find forgiveness against all odds. And more importantly we need remind ourselves to find our purpose and fly that banner high. Because happy organizations grow.

  Be brave. Be happy. Be fearless. CHOOSE happiness. Become a Courageous Marketer.

  Tags: Courage
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  Fandom Acts of Fanatics

  Posted on February 17th, 2012 by Geno and currently 0 commenting.

  We are the stories we tell… being a part of a great story compels us to share.

  photo credit Birmingham News

  We are the stories we tell – and being a part of a great story compels us to share.

  Meet Alabama Freshman Jackson Blankenship, a University of Alabama basketball fan. A fan willing to really be a part of the story.

  While most fans shout, yell or make a handwritten sign to interrupt an opposing player’s attention, Jackson does something remarkable. He puts himself into the story in a big way by holding up a giant, bug-eyed cut out of himself. You might call it funny (or maybe frightening.) Icall it awesome.

  I can’t think of a team, or a brand that wouldn’t want a fanatic like Jackson, willing to share their passion in authentic, original ways. But, that’s easier said than done. Fans come at a price. They share what’s authentic tothem, it falls on us to accept these actions.

  A wise client once told me “let’s be fans of our fans.” What a whack on the head. Wouldn’t it be awesome for the Alabama basketball team to return the love, and become a fan for Jackson Blankenship

  I’ll close with Jackson’s twitter bio. It’s classic: “publicly embarrassing myself since 1992.” Jackson, I hope you keep doing it.

  Tags: Alabama Basketball, Brains on Fire, fans, geno church, Jackson Blankenship
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  Your Company is the Stories People Tell About it

  Posted on February 15th, 2012 by amy and currently 1 commenting.

  I had an entirely different blog post planned for today…and then I saw the below photo (and story) a friend had posted on Facebook.

  

  “So today I was in Hallmark buying my mom a birthday card when I noticed this old man stnding in front of the Valentines card section contemplating which one to get. I decided to go over and I asked him “Are you getting a Valentine’s Day for your wife?” to which he replied, ‘No my wife died three years ago from breast cancer, but I still buy her roses and a card and bring them to her grave to prove to her that she was the only one who will ever have my heart.’ “

  I cannot confirm whether or not the story is true or not, but this much I know – it is powerful. I clicked on the original source this morning. In 23 hours the original post had received 373,317 likes, 119,745 shares, each of the 20,875  comments reflecting a range of emotions – hope, joy, sadness, nostalgia.

  According to Hallmark, Americans send 144 million greeting cards for Valentines Day each year. I wonder if any of the cards exchanged yesterday generated even a fraction emotional connection to the brand like the above story did. The story of a little, old man (and his big love) inspired people around the world to feel, talk, connect and share. It didn’t cost a penny, just a single question and a few minutes of conversation.

  This is Word of Mouth – and Word of Heart.

  If you open the Brains on Fire book to page 5, you’ll find a quote from our Chief Inspiration Officer Greg Cordell. “Your company is the stories people tell about it.”

  Are you having conversations with your people? Are you asking them questions? Do you know your company? More importantly, do you know the stories are people telling about it?

  Tags: Brains on Fire, Greg Cordell, old man, Valentine's Day, Word of Mouth
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  Sayings from Smarter People

  Posted on February 14th, 2012 by Eric Dodds and currently 1 commenting.

  Quick shot today: I thought I’d take a break from my own writing and share a few thoughts from people who are much smarter than I am. Each of these quotes made me stop and think hard:

  “I don’t know where the line is. In any creative line of work that’s also a business, you have to come up with the moment at which something is done or good enough.” –Pat Kiernan from an interview with The 99%

  “Now by doing this am I going to affect a sea change in the organization?  Likely not.  But I can make a difference for my team.” –Jamie Plesser in a recent post on his blog

  “Some debate the future of advertising, other just get on and make it.” –Martin Weigel from his blog

  
  

  
  

  Tags: Jamie Plesser, martin weigel, pat kiernan, Quotes, smart