I recently discovered Zen Pencils, a site that takes inspirational quotes and turns them into cartoons. 

I am blown away by the creativity of the concept and by the dedication of the illustrator who posts new drawings twice a week.

The cartoons on the site are individual, stand-alone comics based on each quote.  But, I found that the ones that resonated with me reflect my perspective on life.  So I decided to combine the collective wisdom to tell a brief story.  Let me know what you think.

What are some of your favorite quotes?  Is your interpretation of the quotes different from mine?

—-

The poet Robert Frost jokes about how boring and brainless a job can be. 

Mark Twain and Benjamin Franklin follow up by saying not to waste your life.

There are so many things to see, so many ways to challenge yourself.  Why live life on the sidelines watching it all happen?  Theodore Roosevelt wants you to get in on the action yourself.

Wherever you are, though, Kurt Vonnegut and the Dalai Lama remind you to appreciate the present.

In the meantime, follow your intuition as Steve Jobs did.  Find out what you’re good at, says Einstein, so you can be both fulfilled and successful.

Sydney Smith knows that it’s okay to start small and do what you can.  But Bruce Lee will jump in to add that you shouldn’t stop at the plateaus that you will inevitably face.  Instead, push your limits, and remember Shaolin Monk’s wisdom that the more you prepare now, the stronger you’ll be when it matters. 

If you want it badly enough, you can dare people to stop you, and Ayn Rand knows that the naysayers won’t be able to hold you down.

At the end of the day, the American journalist Hunter S. Thompson sums it up well.  Listen to advice, think about what you want to do, but really, when it comes down to it, just buy the ticket and take the ride.  

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The Academy of Art buildings around San Francisco normally have windows which showcase student artwork: various sketches, clothing designs, digital renderings.  

But the display that’s up now made me stop and take a second look.  The windows feature several posters of the runway with the caption stating, “Awarded internship with Burberry/ Marc Jacobs/ Corso Como/ various fashion brands.”

With various top institutions in the Bay Area, the Academy of Art can get lost in the shadow.  But by highlighting how their students are regularly selected for internships with top fashion houses, they send the message that their school produces talented taste-makers.

This accomplishes two things:

1) It could attract potential students to consider applying to the school, because of the success rate with placing students in desirable internships.  

2) It also establishes a strong brand for their current students and graduates.  Most people know about famous design schools like Parsons in New York City, but the Academy of Art wants the world to recognize that their people are working at the same brands too.

The messaging here works because it is confident and educates the viewer about an aspect of the school’s brand that people might otherwise have overlooked without the campaign.

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If you speak another language, you can attest to the benefits of bilingualism in various situations. 

In a recent Honda commercial, a young couple speaks Chinese to each other at a car dealership about how badly they want the sedan in front of them.  They assume that the salesman can’t understand, but — surprise — he can speak Mandarin too and was following their dialogue the entire time.

The commercial is light, witty, and unexpected.  But race is a tricky topic for a Fortune Global 500 company to cover in 30 seconds.  How does this commercial take the risk and succeed?

1. The ad is likely regional and targeted. 

The car dealership that created this video is based in southern California, where there are twice as many Asian-Americans as the national average, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.  The audience for the commercial is more likely to relate to the humor on a personal level rather than feel alienated by it.  This ad might not have been as relevant in, say, Arkansas. 

2. The minorities are not portrayed in a stereotypical way.

The actors in the commercial are representative of current day, real-life “hyphenated” minorities.  They speak fluent English.  They look like they shop at the Gap.  They are a normal couple in their early thirties shopping for a car together. 

In fact, besides the foreign language, the commercial downplays race in other ways and avoids the stereotypes of Asians in pop culture.  There are no gangsters from the Fast and the Furious, no “oriental” China dolls, no emasculated Asian men, no nerdy test takers.

The balance in the ad keeps the concept light-hearted as opposed to jarring.

3. It has a feel-good ending.

Even in 30 seconds, the storyline has two surprising twists.  Although the male customer tells his partner (in Chinese) not to appear too eager about the car, he ends up being so excited that he can’t help but agree to purchase on the spot.

The second twist is that the car salesman, a white guy, also speaks Chinese.  Who’s telling the joke now?  This is  important because it restores a sense of balance that was previously offset because it seemed like the foreign-language speakers had an advantage. 

—-

There are often ads in different languages intended for various demographics, but rarely are there ads meant for mainstream American media that feature Asian-Americans as the main characters.  

Overall though, this ad isn’t about race relations.  The commercial does what every ad is intended to do: make the company look good. 

Here, Honda looks great because the message is that you can try all kinds of ways to resist a Honda, but you should just give in because you won’t be able to.  And based on the quick-witted salesperson in the ad, the company is saying that we’re smart, we’re clever, and we’re competent — so trust us to make a solid car.

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Nine-year old Caine Monroy knows a thing or two about building products.  Last summer, the precocious boy founded a cardboard arcade he built from scratch inside his dad’s used auto parts store in East LA.  There was only one problem: he had no customers.

That all changed when a filmmaker stumbled upon the arcade and decided to organize a flashmob through Reddit and Facebook.  The resulting 10-minute video has since gone viral with over 5.5 million hits and over 100,000 Likes on Facebook and raised almost $200k in scholarship funding.

As a startup marketer, I see a lot of powerful lessons to be learned from Caine’s story. He’s more than a sweet kid doing what he loves.  He reflects an attitude of scrappiness and passion — or rather, obsession — that embodies the best of startup culture.  

Here’s what Caine’s story can remind us about approaching life and business with a startup mentality.

1. There’s no such thing as an overnight success.
There are no shortcuts.  The myth of the overnight success was put in place so that people can try once, fail once, feel bad about themselves, and wonder why everyone else was able to make it.  It took the mobile gaming company OMGPOP almost six years before becoming an overnight sensation with their Draw Something app.  Even the Dollar Shave Club was around for over a year before the viral video launched the company into fame.  Caine had a desire to build something great regardless of the level of work involved.

2. Learn everything you can about your topic.
According to his dad, “Caine does not pass by an arcade without stopping in.  He loves tickets, playing games, he loves prizes, so it was only natural for him to build his own arcade.”   Caine has a laser focus on the topic of arcades, which makes for tight positioning in the eyes of the customer.  The more specific you can get with carving out a well-defined niche, the more you can own your category and make competition irrelevant.

3. If you truly care about something, fight for it — and don’t take no for an answer.
Caine is willing to sit in front of his arcade without a single customer, pitch to people who are leaving his dad’s auto shop, and continue onward despite rejection.  There’s a point in the video that almost tests his dedication:  When his dad is driving home, he asks Caine, “Can we go home early today?” because there are no customers.  Caine’s reply?  ”No.  No way.”  The kid doesn’t falter for a second — he’s dedicated to his craft and isn’t about to cut corners.  A minute later, they pull into the driveway and see the flashmob of arcade goers ready to surprise Caine.

Don’t do a startup — or anything, for that matter — because it’s the cool thing to do.  Do it because it’s what you believe in, it’s what moves you, and because you can’t imagine not doing it.

4. Better done than perfect.
Instead of waiting until his arcade was perfect, Caine started building little by little and adjusting as he went along.  When he needed prizes to give away, he used his old toy cars first.  When people said that his soccer ping-pong ball game was too easy, he adjusted it by adding toy soldiers as goalies.  He didn’t make excuses about his product not being good enough yet or about making a bad impression to early customers.  He was constantly building, shipping, and tweaking as he went along.

5. No funding? Get creative.
When Caine wanted to buy a claw machine for his arcade, his dad replied, “Why don’t you just build it?”  Creativity is bred from constraints and Caine’s dad knew this (or he knew that claw machines are probably very expensive).  Instead of whining about his lack of funding, Caine got scrappy: he found an “S” hook, attached it to some yarn, and cut a track into the top of a box to make his own claw machine.

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Ah, friendly brand rivalry is always fun to watch.  

Copywriting is a way to express your brand identity and values, as well as what you don’t believe in.  Here, New Castle cleverly pokes fun at Stella for being a little too high-class.

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Photo credit: Dave, Daily Picks and Flicks, http://bit.ly/I9cjOa

I used to hate Shane Company’s radio commercials with a passion.  The founder used the same monotone, nasaly voice in every single ad.

But the other day as I was getting ready for work, my ears perked up when a Shane Company commercial came on.  Why?  Because it was pure positioning genius.

Here’s a general idea of what was said.  It’s not verbatim because I could only scribble so fast on a a nearby sticky note.

“Some people have more money than common sense.  They’re willing to pay a 30% premium just to have a designer’s name on their ring.  At Shane Company, the value is in diamond and gold — not in someone else’s name.  That’s why it makes sense to buy from the Shane Company.”

First of all, what is positioning?  There are a million different ways to talk about a brand or product.  Positioning explains to a customer how they should think about your product.  It tells the customer, this is what’s important and this is why our product matters to you.

If you are a luxury jeweler like Tiffany, De Beers, Harry Winston, or Cartier, you might position Shane Company as being cheap and tacky vis-a-vis your own luxury branding.  A female consumer might read fashion magazines and see gorgeous ads of gorgeous jewelry, and sadly wish that her fiance could afford that. She might even feel bitter and angry that she has to settle for an inexpensive ring.

Now, this would be very bad for the Shane Company because they are not competing with luxury jewelers with huge advertising budgets and glossy websites.  The Shane Company’s customer segment is value-driven and has real-life budget constraints, but still wants the romance of a picture-perfect engagement. 

What to do? The Shane Company could pretend to ignore the bigger brands and consumer psychology, and have customers feel ashamed for shopping at their store.

Instead, they instill pride in the act of choosing to spend on the quality of materials instead of a designer’s name.  They position their customers as having a choice, and choosing the Shane Company — not because they don’t have other options, but because they are smart about their options.

If you shop at Shane Company, you’re smart.  You’re smarter than those who get tricked by branding and facetious signs of luxury and prestige.

This is positioning at its best.  As a brand, you must take a stance for how your customer thinks about your brand.  Otherwise, you risk being compared to brands that you don’t want as your competitors, or being put in a category where your best brand attributes can’t shine. 

Don’t risk letting the customer decide for themselves — as a brand, it’s your responsibility to guide the customer with strong positioning.

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Check out my blog post on The Huffington Post about how Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 video blurs the line between storytelling and the truth.  I appreciate your feedback so let me know what you think.

This is Part 1 of a series analyzing the homepages of 3 popular yoga apparel retailers: Lululemon, Lucy, and Athleta.

As a retailer, your homepage is your front door. 

This is especially true if you are selling to women: In the US, 78% of women use the internet for product information before making a purchase, and a third do research online with the specific intent of buying in store.^[1]

Therefore, it’s important that your website is as reflective of your brand as your brick-and-mortar stores are.

There are certain elements — copy, imagery, content — on websites that overtly and covertly communicate your brand values and personality.  Is what your customer sees aligned with what you want to say?

Lululemon

The homepage for Lulu Lemon hits you with a big carousel image.  The aesthetic is clean, bright, understated.

At first glance, the copy is intriguing but a bit confusing.  Picasso smiling?  But then you read the sub-copy, “Come make sweat art with us” and it makes sense. 

The sweat ink blot wasn’t just clever — it achieved the purpose of directing your attention toward the tank top that created the stain — and it happens to be a design that is fairly unique to the brand.

Upon clicking, the story from the front page continues with the same image and person doing yoga.

There’s an obvious preppiness that you expect from a brand popular with sorority girls. 

But there’s also an unexpected sense of athleticism and a tiny bit of grittiness (see the sweat stains) that appeals to women in an upper-middle income bracket who have to deal with real life but look good doing it. 

The balance in brand messaging is developed through a few ways:

Font: The serif font is traditional, and white text color is crisp.

Colors: Continuity from the landing page.  Friendly and optimistic.  Maple wood is clean and fresh compared to darker wood, such as mahogany, that tends to feel sophisticated, rich, and traditional.

Copy: Spiritual yet tough.  ”Who we are on the mat is who we are off the mat” speaks to both the calm serenity that yogis may feel in the studio, and to the real-world assertiveness required outside of yoga.

Image content: The same woman from the homepage is doing a pose that looks like it takes effort to hold.  Her toes are digging into the mat and it looks like she’s lunging forward in a controlled, athletic way.  This stands out against other yoga clothing sites that focus on women lightly jogging, lounging, or doing a typical downward dog.

Lululemon challenges their customers to be confident and strong both on and off the yoga mat, and they do it in a voice that is encouraging and empowering.

Use copy to express personality:

Lulu Lemon strategically uses language that’s a bit off-the-cuff to create a playful and down-to-earth vibe.

Landing page real estate tells customers what you care about:

1/2 of the main carousel and 2/5 tiles below the fold are about upcoming events — that’s serious homepage real estate dedicated to non-product ideas. 

In today’s social world, customers increasingly demand to be part of the conversation and will hold it against brands who only want to promote themselves.

Stay tuned for Part II and III about Lucy and Athleta.

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Source: [1] Millward Brown Intelliquest via Inc Magazine, The Six Costliest Mistakes You Can Make in Marketing to Women

I went to a Skillshare class about user-experience (UX) design tonight.  I work closely with the UX team at the office and realize the importance of being able to speak the same language as my cross-functional counterparts. 

It’s mutually beneficial to know more about your co-workers’ roles.  When you know their vocabulary, you can express your ideas more quickly, concisely, and persuasively.  When you understand their processes, you can ask confidently knowing that what you’re requesting for is reasonable and speaks to their concerns, timelines, etc.  You also prevent misunderstandings, meaning you get what you want more frequently and painlessly, which is pure up-side.

The class was held in Hub SOMA (Chronicle Building on Mission and 5th) which is a cool, startup-esque workspace.  It has a modern and creative vibe with high-ceilings, wood-grain panels on walls, glass rooms, and a spiraling steel staircase.

One wall featured framed infographics and quotes, many from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.  I’ve heard good things about the book, and after seeing some thought-provoking concepts represented on the wall, I think I’m going to get it because I’m intrigued.

Per the chart above, which creative personality type are you?

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Last week, I got the best birthday present ever: I submitted an article to the The Huffington Post….and to my utter shock, it was published. 

The article is called Just Another Awkward OKCupid Date and was featured on the front pages of the Culture, Women, and San Francisco pages of the publication.

When I shared the news on Facebook and Twitter, I was overwhelmed with encouragement and support.  With every wall comment and “Like,” I realized just how fortunate I am to surrounded by such an awesome network of friends.  You are all so accomplished in your own right, and still so encouraging, that I felt humbled and honored to receive your kudos.

I’m excited to continue writing, and yes, I’m a tiny bit embarrassed that the whole world now knows that I’m on an online dating site.

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I was flipping through an issue of Ad Age today when I saw this Kleenex ad.  I had seen it in the past, and thought it was bad the first time. 

So when I saw it again today, I thought, How is it possible that this ad is still running? 

According to Ad Age’s print rate card, this full-page ad probably cost $30,000. 

It’s a hefty bit of change that Kleenex paid to run an ad  that insults its customers.  The positioning and concept of the ad is way off.

Let’s break down the copy line-by-line to see why:

“You may not realize it, but….”:

Passive aggressive and belittling.  Give your customers the benefit of the doubt, especially if you are advertising in a magazine for marketers. 

Marketers are familiar with the phenomenon of brands turning into generic terms.  We know that society now says that they need to google a store where they can buy band-aids and xerox a document.

“…you risk erasing our coveted brand name…”:

The language blames customers and creates an antagonistic dynamic of the brand against customers.  “‘YOU’ risk ‘OUR’ coveted brand name.”

The term “risk” is uncomfortable for people to read and to think about.  When people think of tissues, they want to feel safe and comforted.   Let’s keep in mind that we’re talking about tissues here — not brain surgery in an emergency room. 

“…we’ve worked so hard for all these years.”

You worked hard to build a brand name.  Now you want customers to thank you for getting them to pay twice as much for your tissues than for a similar generic brand?

“Kleenex is a registered trademark…”

Did someone call the lawyer?  This is getting serious.

“and should always be followed by a “R” and the words ‘Brand Tissue’.”

This line just makes the brand seem clueless.  News flash: no one is going to start referring to Kleenex as “Kleenex(R) Brand Tissue.”  Not even if you italicize “always.”

“I’m having a bloody nose — quick, grab me a Kleenex Brand Tissue.”  Not happening.

“Just pretend it’s in permanent marker.”

Again, stop talking to your customers as if they are children.  Okay, some of them might be children, but the ones who hold the purse strings are adults who don’t appreciate having to “pretend” that something is written in permanent marker to understand a concept.

——-

So what is a better way, you ask?

The better way is to scrap this concept entirely. 

Having a message with a negative undertone isn’t compelling nor does it make people feel guilty enough to start referring to your product by a corporatized official name. 

An ad is not the place to feature the debated issue of brands as generic terms, because it does nothing to generate goodwill for your brand.  In fact, customers might think that you should feel flattered that your brand has such market dominance that the general public uses your brand to represent a category.

If Kleenex really insisted on using this concept, here are my suggestions:

Improve the creative. 

The registered trademark “R” here looks like chicken-scratch with a No.2 pencil.  It doesn’t look like something that the brand “worked so hard on all these years.”  Once this disconnect is identified, the Creative team can create an “R” that looks like it took years of time, effort, and sweat to create. 

Also, the ad is already belittling, so avoid the Pink Pearl eraser that is reminiscent of elementary school.

Change the tone of the ad to be positive instead of negative.

This isn’t just an issue of copy.  Copy is derived from the positioning and concept of an ad, so the tone of the positioning needs to change completely. 

A more positive example of copy:

“We know you love Kleenex.  You use it at home, in the office, in the car.  You reach for us when you’re sick with the sniffles, when you need to wipe something off your desk, or when you watch The Notebook on DVD.  We’re proud that in your mind, a tissue might as well be called a Kleenex.  The other tissue brands might get jealous if you call them by the wrong name — so just make sure you keep us on hand.”

I’m not an expert on Kleenex’s target market or customer, but the overall tone of the positioning is much more comfortable to read, it’s not as corporate, and it gives the brand a humanistic feel.

What do you think about this ad?  Does it make you want to buy Kleenex?  If you are a marketer seeing this in Ad Age, what are your first impressions?

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This is the classiest “Caution: Wet Floor” sign ever.

During lunch today, I went to check out the St. Regis hotel for an upcoming work conference that I’m planning. 

Not surprisingly, the hotel is impeccably designed.  Every detail in the place — the minimalist flower arrangements, the clean lines of the furniture, the stainless steel lettering designating each conference room — was carefully thought out to create a brand that embodies modern glamor. 

Yes, they even turned a tacky plastic yellow “Caution” sign into something chic, something worthy of being seen in the hotel.  Most brands pay attention to details but rarely to this extent. 

As a marketer, you have to ask if going to this level of detail is worth the investment.  Would most people even notice?  Would they care?  Probably not. 

But the St. Regis knows that their customer is choosing to pay more than they could elsewhere in order to be immersed in an experience.  You might shop in a retail store for an hour or two maximum, but when you stay at a hotel, you spend a significant amount of time in the space — eating, bathing, meeting, sleeping.  Hotels offer a continuous brand touch point which can be amplified or ruined at any point of the customer’s stay by the smallest details. 

The amount of value a brand places on details depends on many things, including your industry, market positioning, customer demographic, etc.  For example, a J.Crew customer may be delighted by mother-of-pearl buttons on a cardigan, but an Old Navy customer might be happy with plastic buttons, as long as the price is right.

So no, the average person might not notice or appreciate an elegantly designed “Caution” sign.  But the St. Regis isn’t going after the average customer.

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I want to become a better storyteller.  

Of what, you ask?  Of the kinds of stories we tell everyday.  We constantly answer questions ranging from “What did you do last weekend?” to “What have you been up to since we last met?”  

I’ve been thinking about this topic for a while but decided to write this post after reading Penelope Trunk’s piece on managing your image by telling good stories.  My hypothesis is that by being more aware of the stories we tell on a daily basis, we can look forward to and maximize storytelling opportunities without panicking or rambling.

How do you start improving your storytelling ability?

1. Know when stakes are low versus high.  Sometimes when I’m telling my friends a story, in the middle of it, even I wonder where I’m going and what the point is.  Most of the time it’s fine, because we’re catching up in a relaxed, casual environment.  We listen to each other intently because we’ve all told stories that were a little more drawn out than they could have been.  And as friends, we offer our time and attention to show that the person is worth it, and they reciprocate by listening too.

In these situations, the stakes aren’t nearly as high as they would be for an interview.  This is why casual environments are exactly the right place to start practicing storytelling — so you can be polished and confident when you have to tell stories in higher stake situations.

2. Your audience should care about the outcome of your story enough to be slightly disappointed if you don’t finish it. I read that if you are telling a story, and in the middle you stop to say you need to use the bathroom and will be right back, your audience should beg you to stay to tell them what happened before you go.  This is an ambitious goal, but I think it’s doable although maybe in ways that are less extreme.

3. For casual, personal stories:  start the story right when the conflict and action is happening.  Most of the time, we don’t have time to rehearse or think about stories before telling them to a friend.  We just tell the story.  So a good rule of thumb in this case is to avoid losing your audience by being overly-detailed in describing the setting, context, and background.  If you know your audience well, you can elaborate on parts that they find exciting.  They will likely give you visual and verbal cues that they want to know more about a certain part.

4. Don’t get bogged down by technical details that don’t matter in the overall scheme of the story.  Say “last weekend” instead of: “Last Saturday…no wait, I mean Sunday, because I met up with a friend on Saturday so it couldn’t have been then, and I remember on Sunday, we….”  

I have a tendency to do this sometimes and make a concerted effort to catch myself.  If I talk to you, feel free to (nicely) remind me of this by tugging on your ear or something.

5. Practice.  The more times you tell a story, the more you’ll understand which parts are exciting, boring, or confusing.  The idea of practicing a story is applicable to founders pitching startup ideas.  The more times you pitch, the better you’ll be — and a pitch is essentially a type of story.  

The first few times you will suck regardless, so start telling the story and iterate as you go along.  By seeing real people’s reactions, you will be able to figure out how to adjust the content or style. That’s how I’ve come to master some of the stories that I am really comfortable telling, that I know will help me connect and express what I mean.  

Storytelling is an area that most people don’t spend a lot of time on, so a bit of investment and improvement could go a long way in making an impact both personally and professionally.  

What are some insights about effective storytelling that have worked for you?

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Photo credit: Koldobarroso.com, Storytimeforme.com

Creative ads are great.  But creative ads that consistently reinforce your campaign messaging?  Even better. 

What makes Buddy Media’s banner ads effective?

1. Create consistency with visual elements and ad placement.

Buddy Media’s 728x90 and 300x250 ad units were both above the fold and have the same tagline and theme.  This cohesive approach grabs attention because users are accustomed to seeing distracting, loud banner ads.  So seeing two ads that look the same creates an anchor that offers a unified message. 

2. Surprise users with unexpected creative elements that are relevant to your campaign message.

So up until now, it’s still a simple banner ad.  What’s so special? 

When I accidentally moused over the banner ad, the tagline lit up and moved around as if it were being shocked with electricity.  This definitely surprised — and dare I say, delighted — me.  I kept moving my mouse on-and-off of the ad just to trigger the lightning effect.  I even showed my co-worker next to me.  She said that I was racking up engagement counts for the brand, which is true.

After hovering:

3. Use the same tagline and icon throughout a long-running campaign to solidify the message.

Buddy Media has consistently used the same copy and image of a cord and plug since last fall and probably before that.  I first noticed the campaign last fall when Buddy Media bought the full front page cover of Ad Age.

The cord and plug icon was a great choice for the campaign because it is literal rather than abstract.  It conjures images of electricity, a surge of energy, connectedness, which ties directly back to the tagline “Power Your Connections.”

Using different styles of artwork, but the same tagline and icon, allows the brand to build brand messaging over time while playfully offering a refresh on the concept. 

4. Bridge online and offline marketing.

Buddy Media has supported the campaign with marketing that is creative but still relates to the core campaign concept.  This should not be underestimated because there are many interesting, shocking, or funny campaigns, but not all of them support brand goals.  Buddy Media’s campaign does. 

In January, they did an Illustrator Contest to invite artists to start social conversations through art, and currently the brand is hosting a World Tour to showcase industry speakers and networking events regarding social media. 

The campaign concept was broad enough to evolve to incorporate offline marketing such as events, but still concrete enough to resonate with the overall brand value proposition of social media in the online world.

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Photo credit: Buddymedia.com; MWM Graphics, http://mwmgraphics.blogspot.com/2011/10/power-your-connections.html