February 4, 2012

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BrandingBlog Radio: Michele Miller on Sports, Politics and F.A.R.E.

January 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:21 — 45.0MB) | Embed

Recording this Podcast was a blast. I’ve been working with Michele Miller for 10 years now and being able to share conversations like this is exactly why I started podcasting.

What really made this one fun is that we were face-to-face instead of on Skype. We were both in Palm Springs to have an annual meeting with a client that we’ve worked with almost as long as we’ve been Wizard of Ads partners. This past year our retail client grew 28% over the previous year. That’s a big deal any way you look at it.

In this rambling conversation, we discuss trends in societal change, sports (was it baseball or football?), politics and New Year’s Resolutions, or the lack thereof. You’ll learn about Michele’s F.A.R.E. mantra and my own twist on it.

I hope you enjoy it. I think I managed to maintain my family friendly rating on iTunes. Somehow, turning on the recorder kept us both from flinging f-bombs around the room.

This picture was from her Wonderbranding Class at Wizard Academy on Halloween, 2007. Yes, she taught the class dressed like this.

Filed Under: Customer Experience, Podcasts, Quotable, Rants/Raves, Sports, Wizard Academy, Wizard of Ads

Stupid is as stupid does

January 16, 2012 By 1 Comment

This is clever, cute, witty.

Until you have to spell it. Or search for it.

Stoopeed.

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Filed Under: Advertising, Quotable

BrandingBlog Radio: Mark Effinger

November 25, 2011 By 1 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:11:04 — 48.7MB) | Embed

I managed to corner Mark Alan Effinger for this week’s podcast. If you know Mark, you’ll really enjoy this episode. If you don’t know Mark, just buckle your seatbelt, hit play and hang on.

Mark and I helped teach a book writing workshop several years ago with an all-star cast led by Mike Drew.

We talk about PR, Brain nutrients, Amazon, Sean Phillip’s Full Strength shakes, and loads of other crazy stuff, including the time that Mark overdosed Rich Christiansen with niacin. It’s basically unedited and rambling and just soooo Effinger.

This is the kind of conversation that I love having with Mark. We’ve had so many of these, and this is the first I recorded for a podcast. I know there will be more. Effing Effinger.

Filed Under: Podcasts, Quotable, Rants/Raves, Uncategorized

Marc Maron and Paul Reiser on Getting Started

October 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I was out on a walk today listening to episode 192 of Marc Maron’s WTF Podcast. (One of the podcasts that inspired me to get started with my own podcasting.) Maron is one of the best interviewers I’ve every heard and his podcast is a wonderful window into the world of all your favorite standup comics.

In this episode, he’s got Paul Reiser in his garage studio and is reflecting on getting started in comedy.

A 19-year-old Maron first met Reiser on a trip to NYC to see comedy. He walked up to Reiser’s table and asked him how to get started doing comedy. Reiser told him, “You just do it.”

A few minutes later, Reiser tells him about some advice he got on writing screenplays shortly after his appearance in Diner. He asked Barry Levinson, “How do you write a screenplay?” Levinson told him, “OK. You write, ‘Fade in’ and you keep typing.”

Good advice for starting just about anything you ever wanted to do.

Filed Under: Leadership, Quotable, Strategy

BrandingBlog Radio: Anna Cummins and The Evil Wiener

August 30, 2011 By 8 Comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:36 — 47.2MB) | Embed

I had a blast recording this week’s episode. The Evil Wiener is a mobile food truck business in Austin, started by Anna and Jeff Cummins and their partner Roger Zapata. Jeff and Roger have impressive professional foodie credentials. The idea for The Evil Wiener was hatched (as you probably guessed) over a few beers one evening. Anna had no choice but to sign on as den-mother and Chief Marketing Officer.

The double entendres flow freely in this interview and also through the menu and the cult following that the Wiener has developed in just a few short months of operation.

They’ve already been featured in a segment on The Food Network’s Eat Street and they are winning new accolades and followers every day.

We talked mainly about how they built the business from conception to launch. I hope you enjoy it and that you get a chuckle out of the humor.

“I can’t wait to come to Austin and get my hands on a Naked Cowgirl.”
-Dave Young

Follow the Wiener…

The Evil Wiener on Facebook

The Evil Wiener on Twitter

Photos:

Filed Under: Buzz This, Podcasts, Quotable, Strategy, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Weekend Video Assignment: Think about what YOU can control!

August 5, 2011 By 1 Comment

After watching this video, you can start to understand the forces that can cause the stock markets to plunge to a depth that wipes out all of your earnings for the year. The simple fact is that you are not in control of money that you might have invested in the markets. We’ve turned it over to the machines.

I don’t mean to upset you for the weekend, but you might want to consider safer ways to hang on to your cashola.

Filed Under: Buzz This, Quotable, Rants/Raves

What? The number one question from the NT character, Don Draper

November 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Anyone who studies Myers-Briggs, would label Don Draper as an NT, the iNtuitive Thinker. He is a quick decision maker, following his intuition.

When he needs information, clarification, explanation, he falls back on his favorite question: What?

This is the question that cuts to the chase. He’s not asking why. He doesn’t care how. Who is immaterial.

Just the facts, ma’am.

Can you name any other characters that want to get right to the point?

Filed Under: Quotable, Science Tagged With: , , ,

Create a Company Culture…Start Now!

December 30, 2009 By 3 Comments

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I'm not big on year-end resolutions, big plans and the like. But, I have to share a post from my friend Rich Christiansen.

I've written about Rich before. He wrote "Bootstrap Business" and is an SEO and Adwords expert.

In his latest post on the Bootstrap blog, Rich talks about his relationship with Ray Noorda, founder of Novell. It's a cool story about how one man formed a strong company culture by his own leadership through story, connection and love.

This is a list of qualities that Rich took away from Noorda's funeral…

  • Believe and trust in people.
  • We all have a responsibility in life. Be faithful to it.
  • Customers first, employees second, shareholders third.
  • Be unassuming.
  • Listen, especially with your heart.
  • Practice integrity.
  • Be loyal.
  • Be true to your own core beliefs, but recognize the need to compromise within parameters that don’t violate those beliefs.
  • Respect the individual, not the title.
  • Marriage is ordained of God, and is your first priority in life.
  • Practice fiscal responsibility.
  • Take care of your health.
  • Willingly forgive others’ mistakes and shortcomings.
  • Retain your dignity, no matter the circumstances.
  • Give something back.

Be sure to go read the entire story on the Bootstrap Business Blog.

Have a Happy New Year!

Filed Under: Buzz This, Customer Experience, Market Share, Quotable Tagged With:

Advertising vs. Being Remarkable

April 13, 2008 By 2 Comments

Blendtec"Advertising is a tax you pay for being unremarkable."
-Geek Squad founder Robert Stephens

There are STILL plenty of very smart people in the world who have not begun to realize the power of the web. For some, it’s a fear of technology. Others have been too busy engaged in successful business. Still others just have their heads in the sand.

I was having a conversation with a group of very successful brick and mortar jewelers a couple of weeks ago. We were talking about my blogging class and they asked if I knew of any jewelers who have had any measure of success with blogging. I pointed them to Ice.com and their use of a blog strategy to tie their name to celebrities and provide lots of in-bound links to products.

Then, they asked me if I could name a business that has achieved any kind of success with YouTube?

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, musings, Quotable, Strategy, Web/Tech, Weblogs

Wizard of Ads Michele Miller on CNBC

October 18, 2007 By 1 Comment

I just want it known that I interviewed her several weeks before CNBC. You can hear my interview on our podcast.

CNBC spent a couple of hours at Michele’s home the other day for a 7-second soundbite to go along with this story about Home Depot opening a couple of new stores designed for women shoppers.

Michelemilleroncnbc They quote her on their web site (although they misspelled her name in the text version of the story).

There are two video pieces embedded in the story. The first is a straight feature, with Michele’s clip. The second video is the usual banter with the misogynist anchorman making an ass of himself. Actually, both videos seem a bit slippery. When the first one opens, I can picture Jack Black raising his eyebrows and saying a Home Depot ‘for the ladies.’

If you want to know more about how to do a better job at crafting your business message to appeal to women, join me in Austin on Oct 30 & 31 for Michele’s WonderBranding class. Michele’s got just a couple of open seats left in the class.

So, who’s watching CNBC? Did they run this story "for the ladies" or do they care?

Filed Under: Quotable
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