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I have always admired the creative work and branding of Volkswagon.  It’s kind of an Apple meets Target (we’re different and cool, but we still deliver value).  I’m not sure if they are successful or not, but their image is pretty solid.

In fact, I really like this recent ad using Elton John’s Rocket Man. It accomplishes so much in 30 seconds:

- We’re hip (we have an Elton John song in our ad – do the math on all of the things Elton John can mean to your brand).

- We’re ageless (the actors in the ad consume the 25-54 demo, it’s amazing how they pull it off).

- We’re upscale (look at the environments these people are in — spas, nice neighborhoods, etc).

- We’re funny (the wrong word bit is always funny, especially to a song I’ve heard a million times and still don’t know the words).  As a public service, here is a link to the real words.

This ad is an A+.

But here’s the dilemma.  The objective of the ad was to promote a feature on their Passat, the “crystal clear Fender audio…”  It only took me 114 views of this on YouTube to finally get why they were using the don’t get the words schtick.  I know I’m not as smart as the average bear, but I gotta believe the primary objective of the ad – promote Fender Audio – barely turned into tertiary (fancy word check) objective fulfilled.  As a creative, the dilemma happens all the time – do you use the home run creative and support the brand or do you keep it straight and promote the objective. Not always an easy problem to solve.

I read this article today (thank you Robert Kelen for the link) and it summed up in less than a thousand words of what our team has been preaching for the past 5-10 years.  You have to be proactive no matter how high you currently rank, there is a competitor out there creeping into your rearview mirror.  You have to be persistent when it comes to this effort.  Simply tagging all of your pages properly may or may not get it done.  And finally, you have to be patient.  It is a long, long process to be relevant with the Search Engines.

Well done, Guillaume Bouchard. Not bad for a French Canadien dude.

So each day Multiply embarks on a journey with it’s clients to Marketing Heaven.  And more specifically (lately) SEO Heaven.  SEO for those keeping score at home is Search Engine Optimization (the inane task of making your site relevant to prominent search engines like Google and Yahoo.

In order to get to SEO Heaven, which could be best described as the first page of a search engine assuming no one in their right mind goes to pages 2 through 1 million, there are some pretty basic steps to get your website headed in the right direction.  That is not the point of this blog entry.

The point of this entry and the purpose of this blog is to counsel my readers to make your websites a destination.  No, I’m not suggesting you deceive your visitors or the search engines to visit your site.  But what I am doing is suggesting to get (the right) people to your site, you have to realize that the content on your site has to be good.

Good, not boring.  Good, not fresh or updated frequently.  Good, relevant content that has to do with your product/company/message.  Good as in consistently providing your followers something fresh to chew on.

Okay, if you’re still reading (most readers of weblogs stop reading after 131 words, so this blog is probably between me, myself and I)….watch this guy…Philip DeFranco.  He is a walking and talking Internet Superstar.  He follows the formula to a T.  He’s fresh, he’s funny, and most of all he does what he says he’s going to do (two times a week).  His traffic to his site and his “Channel” are amazing.  Most videos he releases have nearly 1 million views (some twice that).  The beauty is he didn’t need NBC, CBS, ABC or (God forbid) Fox to get him 1 million views. Stalwart shows like America’s Got Talent, Paul Reiser Show, or NHL Hockey all have similar draws on NBC.  Nice work Phil, Sexy Phil or Philly (not sure how you prefer to be addressed).

No, you don’t need to be just funny to get people to your site.  Just capitalize on what you are good at and stick to it (Phil is funny and he capitalized on it).  The stick to it part takes a lot of hard work and a ton of patience.  Eventually in this virtual world you can have the same success as P-Dawg (I made that one up).

This is a great article about how people communicate today.  It is further proof of how difficult it is to reach audiences in our business.  Some people don’t read newspapers, some people only read newspapers, some don’t check Facebook, some only text message.

Gone are the days of the land line, three television networks and 12 radio stations.  Hello cable, SiriusXm, hello email, twitter, facebook, text.  And once you figure out where they are, boom, the next big thing will hit.

As the rush toward social media, blogs, etc continues…and so turns the marketing world toward some tried and true marketing tactics: Direct Mail and Radio.

- We are putting the finishing touches on a three dimensional mailer for a new client, Strategic Fundraising. The campaign is designed for their sales staff to warm up the sale.

- We are just starting to write a radio ad for the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).  AHIMA is promoting their Annual Conference to it’s membership of nearly 100,000 members nationwide (oh, yeah and we are doing some Social Media for them as well!!!).

Proven strategies whether they are old school or new school will always be leaned on, especially in risky economic times.  As for the fax campaign, that has about as much chance of coming back as the fanny pack or New Coke.

Krista found some really cool interactive media ideas.

My favorite is the one where you can send a text message to an assigned number and it will start the engine of the car on the billboard….very cool.

Second favorite is the touchscreen video game at the bus stop.  Wow, genius idea to activating your brand.

Can’t wait to align one of our clients with a new and unique media type soon (mind spinning with ideas).

-TZ

Being the sports junkie I am, I may be actually MORE of a sports uniform junkie. In fact, a buddy of mine always laughs when my dad and I comment on the uniforms teams are wearing. I used to make up my own sports teams as a kid, more concerned about the uni’s mind you, and I also designed my 12-and-under baseball team’s uni’s. It should come as no surprise that one of my favorite blogs is this.

Okay, Searchability isn’t a word. But it is a reality of marketing your business. Period. The internet has billions of web pages in it’s midst. If your web site can’t be found within a simple search, then stop paying $10 a month hosting a page no one can find!

Within weeks, you can have simple searches for simple terms found on the search engines.

Title Tag: Rule number 1, stop naming your home page “Home” in the title tag of your website’s HTML code.  If you own Acme Floor Sanding in South Minneapolis, then list your business as such in the Title Tag of your home page (note: this is what search engines index/look for when searching your site).

H1 or H2 Tag: Rule 2, match it up. Acme Floor Sanding better be repeated in your Headline (H1 or H2) tag in your first page.  The search engines love it when you tell them more than once what your name is and what you do.

Body Copy: Rule 3, by now you get the point tell your prospects what your name is, what you do and where you are located.  If these three cells of data match up, voila, someone can find.

These are 3 simple steps to searchability, there are tons more that can gain you relevance with the search engines.  But for those secrets and more, you’d have to call someone (haha).

As the search engine evolves (out goes Lycos, in comes Bing) so does optimizing your web site to meet the demands of those that are searching. In the early days the process of optimizing your site was more brute force and less scientific.

Brute Force: Slam as many key words, tags, and phrases into the code of your site. Climb the search engines magically, make millions (okay not millions, but let’s pretend someone made millions this way).

The brute force days are long gone and the level of science increases everyday (sometimes every minute). We are finding that traditional strategies of marketing a product or service on the web is a day-to-day job. Back in the day (say a year or two ago), once you got to the top of the Search Engine, you were almost unstoppable. But because of more and more competition for placement and greater and greater relevance to the bottom line, companies will not stop until they get their product or service featured for the highly sought after terms.

The following is a list of three errors companies make with their search strategy:

1. Lack of Goals. Most companies want to appear on the first page of Google for a term or set of terms.  But what most companies don’t know is if the term is actually what people are searching for when they are making a buying decision.

Advice: Install an analytics tool (e.g. Google Analytics) on your site with traceable goals.  This will help you better understand what terms people are searching for when they hit your “goal” link. Without this data, you will never know if your Search Strategy is really working.

2. They Stop. Once they hit the mark, most clients put their strategy on hold. If the terms you have targeted are making you money, my best guess is that your competitors will soon figure out your formula for success. If the terms you are targeting aren’t making money, then your strategy needs to be re-aligned.

Advice: On a monthly basis make adjustments to your site to improve your standing with all target terms.

3. Pay to Play. It is imperative to buy some Pay-Per-Click Advertising (sponsored links on the top of the search engine). PPC campaigns are great for filling the holes of certain target terms that aren’t met by your search strategy. They are also an additional source of data within your analytics account to study buying habits of your customers/prospects. Most advertisers can get away with monthly budget of $200-$300 per month.

Advice: Spend a little money on terms where you do not rank high, or where your competitors rank high. Most campaigns can be designed for a monthly budget of $200-$300 (shh…don’t tell Google I said that).

As a web design firm, it has become very apparent that 9 out of 10 sites that we are re-designing were not originally set up to be optimized for search engines and most important, they were not set up to win new customers.

Recently we were meeting with a client who’s website needed some help.  The client wanted a flash intro, a big bold headline, he had a great idea of color scheme, and most “important” he wanted a new bio picture of himself. To this we replied “yes…but.”  The big but here is “but Mr. Customer, what is the GOAL of your web site?  The answer every time, “I don’t know…make us more money?” Followed by the deer in the headlights look.

Planning: Prior to building out your site, first, establish a set of goals. Once a goal or a list of goals is reached, the next step is to design a plan to reach them and then design a plan to measure them. For example, the standard business-to-business client should first identify its current web traffic and what they are and are not doing to generate traffic to their site. In this process, clients tend to discover their key areas of need in order to increase traffic.  Note, getting more traffic is always good, but high quality traffic is way better. The final stage in planning is have measurable goals that can be measured each week/month. Most of our clients use Google Analytics (free Google Tool that monitors the success of each site visit/visitor). Goggle Analytics allows its customers to view bounce rates (how soon a visitor leaves, how long they stay, what pages they visit, etc).  But by far the most important feature of Goggle Analytics (and any other analytics tool – Google is not the only player in this game) is they give you the ability to measure successes such as “Case Submission,” “Click here to read White Paper,” “To Learn More (about whatever) Click Here,” to learn more read this “Blog”, etc.

Execution: Now that a strategy is in place, it is important to stay focused and stay with your plan for at least three months (no matter the result give your plan at least 90 days to generate some history).

Analyze It: Once you have your Analytics Code in place, you’ve committed to at least 90 days of tactics, begin to measure your success.  Have you begun to meet (not meet) or exceed your goals?  All of the data should be there each day, week or month in a nice tidy report.  At this point, you should know what activity is working and what is not. By 180 days, any given company should have a predictable marketing model in place for its website.

A friend sent me a link to this video.  As you watch this, several interesting facts jump off the screen that elicit a huge range of emotions.

What the speed of technology has done to our small business has forced us to react much quicker than we use to in order to stay ahead of the curve.  It seems like every day there is a new medium, new angle to capitalize on a market and/or a mixture of both that stirs an already confusing pot of circumstances.

My Take:  As much as things are changing, one thing about the US won’t change: our ideas and our respect for ideas.  Because of our Intellectual Property laws, the US (or other countries with strong IP laws) has/have established an ethical guidepost for the rest of the world to follow.  In other words, if I invent something (e.g. iPod) or create something (e.g. Dave Matthews album) it can’t be copied or stolen and sold for less than what the creator deems is a fair price. “But Tony, people have been selling knock off Gucci watches for 30 years…how have IP laws stopped them?” True, every good idea is copied, but how many “copied” ideas ever eventually outsell the Real McCoy?

Which leads me to my point. Because the current “civilized” system that respects someones creation as his/hers, the nations with these laws always seem to rise above those without.  So if India and China plan on “taking over the world” economy, it better get in line with “the rules”.

Although I’m sure there a million things ahead of this on the list to improve, if this is any indication brighter days are ahead for sure!

Glad I’m not the only one who feels this way.

I have to admit, I’ve enjoyed the new Volkswagen Routan commercials featuring Brooke Shields. The quirky and creative “she’s having a baby just to get a Routan” ads are a dramatic departure from the usual stylized image of a vehicle heading down the road with a current hip song playing over the top that seem to be the common creative of choice in the automotive industry.  I have to admit I thought of one of the links respected Adweek columnist Barbara Lippert brings up in this piece on the campaign but I definitely didn’t think of the others she mentions. Click here to view the “Routan Boom.”

Sunday, November 23…mark it on your calendars. That will be the day that you will not only be able to pick up the long awaited new Guns n’ Roses CD but you will also be able to get a free can of Dr. Pepper. In an effort to persuade the metal heavyweights in completing their first new body of work since 1991 (or to drum up publicity), the soft drink company says it will give a free can of Dr. Pepper to “everyone in America” (excluding ex-Guns members Slash and Buckethead) if “Chinese Democracy” arrives anytime during the calendar year 2008. Well, Axl Rose and the boys met that challenge and make sure you make a stop at your local Best Buy store and plan on carving your turkey to the sounds of “Chinese Democracy” or maybe kick it old school with some “Appetite for Destruction.”

NOTE: As a guy who grew up on the music of Guns n’ Roses and The Replacements, isn’t it odd that former ‘Mats bassist Tommy Stinson is now a member of the “new GNR?”

Over the past month I’ve noticed a billboard on my way home from work prepared by Mystic Lake Casino.  The visual is a stock image of a guy relaxing by the pool.  The headline is “Relax: Your Vacation is Here.”

I realize that because times are tough and people are traveling less that people will try to find more cost efficient ways to vacation.  When I was growing up we called it “camping” (see $5 campsite, some Hot Dogs and an old swimsuit).  Nowadays, the cheap route is a water park or theme park, instead of Disney.

But a Casino?

How does driving to Prior Lake, staying in a 3 Star Hotel, and losing a week’s pay anywhere resemble a vacation?

Here are 5 better budget ideas for you in case the Mystic Lake Adventure might be too hard to pass up:

1. Visit Lake Superior
2. Leinenkugel’s Tour in Chippewa Falls, WI (Adults Only)
3. Visit Itasca State Park (Headwaters of the Mississippi)
4. Taylors Falls (the birthplace of Minnesota)
5. Go to Wall Drug in South Dakota.  At least after this trip you’ll have a cheap plastic toy as a keepsake rather than an upside down checkbook!

Sound off any other better ideas than mine.

For those that know me, they know I’m not a big coffee drinker. So whenever I enter a local coffee joint, I feel like the guy who golfs once a year standing in the Pro Shop trying pay for his round of golf, golf balls and some of those “wooden things” you put the ball on….it’s not pretty.

The problem with the coffee shops is you can’t just order a cup of coffee, no matter how hard you try, the salesperson will always try to trip you up.

Me: One small coffee please.
Hyper Active Sales Lady (HASL): Would you like light roast or dark roast?
Me: Light…I think.
HASL: Regular or Decaf?
Me: Regular.
HASL: (true story) Our smallest size is a Tall.
Me: Okay…I’ll take the Tall.
HASL: Would you like that latte or with a whip?
Me: No idea what that means…can I just get a small…check that tall, light roast, with no whip….please?
HASL: That would be $2.88?

This happens hundreds of times each day in every major city on this planet….when will the madness stop?  ARE YOU ONE OF THESE PEOPLE?

Here’s my suggestion to the executives at Starbuck Nation: make a “small coffee” for the beginner types like me.  The user experience will be dramatically improved.  Heck after a few positive user experiences I might even come in and order a Triple Espresso Latte Mint Tulip with extra whip no Frappy.

Your thoughts…

Back in college a weekly event in my house was watching the latest episode of Cops. Once you got beyond the very annoying “bad boys, bad boys…whatcha gonna do” it was (and still is) very fascinating television. How cool was it to watch local law enforcement cracking some skulls on the (most of the time drunk or high) dregs of society. Well, the success of Cops obviously led to several spin-offs. Shows such as Real Stories of the Highway Patrol and The First 48 took that idea and pushed it a step further.

Now it seems pretty obvious that following around real-life cops would be interesting but I had no idea how interesting other professions could be. I can’t imagine doing anything as dangerous as crab fishing off the coast of Alaska like the boys from Deadliest Catch do twice a year. I can only imagine how seasick I would get as well. I can’t imagine doing anything as gross as the professions Mike Rowe investigates on Dirty Jobs. The only exterminator I’ve ever known is Dale Gribble from King of the Hill but I’m getting to know several more on Verminators. Heck, I cut wood every fall with my in-laws and I never imagined anybody wanting to watch us do it, but I know I can’t take my eyes off the guys on Ax Men. How about the trucking industry? It was always cool when you had a chimp to ride along with you but how trucking over very icy roads? Now we are talking excitement!

I think the next stop on this gravy train is a show about graphic designers and art directors. I mean, who can top the tension when we have to listen to an account manager give us their “great” ideas. Everybody knows we’re cool. We wear funky glasses have a biting sarcastic wit and by golly we can draw. Heck, even Diablo Cody dated one of us. There is even the occasional accident with an exacto knife to show a little blood on the screen.

I think it’s time. How about naming it “Mocked Up?” You can now just feel the tension emanating from the copywriter. Compelling television for sure.

With a bit of a psych background, I am quite familiar with various forms of intellectual, achievement, behavioral, emotional functioning and personality tests.  Rorschach tests are certainly part of the battery of tests used for personality assessments.  I never used them as a school psychologist, but I think we’re all familiar with these ink blot images.   They seem quite popular among tv and movie psych professionals.  You know the drill.  Look at the ink blot image and tell me what you see.  What you see in the image is supposed to convey something profound about you to the trained professional.

When looking at these logos gone oh-so wrong, I don’t think anyone can make any assumptions about one’s personality, or psychological health.  There simply isn’t much room for interpretation.  Prior to posting, I made sure I wasn’t alone in how the logos presented themselves to my brain.  I’m relieved to say, I’m not seeking professional help.  At least not now, and not based upon what I see when I look at these.

I was talking to a good friend who works for a major brewery (cough, cough Colorado) and we got to talking about the strong-hold Michelob Golden Light has in the Minnesota market. Did you know 16 of every 100 beers consumed statewide are Michelob Golden Lights? It is the number one beer in Minnesota. It’s kind of like the KQ morning show without the teenage humor. This fact is amazing considering the fact that Anheuser-Busch doesn’t really advertise or promote it and hasn’t for nearly five years. Here’s a quote I found on a beer rating site “…since moving to Minnesota last spring I have seen this beer everywhere. Every party, every bar, everyone’s refrigerator…” When I asked my buddy at the brewery for his explanation, he said its a combination of timing (beer introduced in the early 90s as an alternative to Miller Lite and Bud Light), value (premium beer at regular price) and no hometown hero in this space (see Lone Star, Iron City, etc). So I did a little more digging and found out from Anheuser-Busch that it is only available in select areas of Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. At the end of each blog I like to make a list of comparable products or draw a parallel. In this case, I’m speechless. Here are the characteristics of Michelob Golden Light: Number one in a market where it is not manufactured, not top 10 in any other major market (basically off the map), no major advertising or promotion. Please, somebody give me a solid comparison to something.

The internet is a fickle place, but there’s something to be said about a presidential candidate that appreciates and embraces this fact. Barack Obama has managed to apply the widely popular social networking website “strategy” to his own website, and we definitely see how that’s propelled him.

Of course it doesn’t hurt to hire one of the supposed “guru’s” in the industry – Chris Hughes to develop and hone his online presence.

Barack’s website is feature laden and pleasing to the eye.  People who sign up as a contributor gain access to post blogs about their experience, obtain phone numbers to get out the vote, even start your own fundraising campaign. What Obama’s website has done has created over a million tiny little presidential candidates, who need nothing more then an internet connection and a little enthusiasm (or boredom – Helloooo young people) to create one of the sharpest internet election campaigns to date.

John McCain, who initially started with a decently designed but slightly drab looking website that had the “black and gold” colors, black and white photos and the words “Honor” and “Courage” slathered about like the interior of a Marine recruiting officers office – seemed to fall short.  John McCain didn’t have the hundreds of Youtube Videos of inspiring stump speeches, storytelling, music video mashups of himself and other popular artists; No.

John McCain the war Hero seemed to be the theme of the online campaign. That is until someone at McCain headquarters realized that they were getting ground into a pulp on the internet and that they should do something to lighten their image.  That’s why now – you’ll notice that McCain’s website has tried to go “2.0″.  I sincerely doubt that they’ve really grasped the post bubble inspiration of internet companies and networks that build profits based upon advertising revenue and feature rich websites, instead he attempted to use shiny tables and Ajax.

You can see the contrast between the old and the new here :

http://store.johnmccain.com/ (old style)

And

http://johnmccain.com/ (new style)

Now this didn’t go un-noticed by my friends and cronies who some may so stereotypically refer to as “Web People”.  In fact they built a spoof site about the “decision center”: http://www.icanhaswar.com/.

It goes to show that old people on the whole still don’t get the internet, and it shows.

I admit, I’ve abandoned the god-forsaken 20-below weather many a January and headed to Puerto Rico, Jamaica and even Costa Rica. When you arrive at your destination, it’s a honeymoon with the sand, the sun, the ocean. You know your days are numbered there, and you enjoy every minute. But truthfully, there’s nothing like a Minnesota summer. Yes, it’s here, all 100 days of it. Hot sunny days, cool nights, thunderstorms, birds chirping, fresh cut-grass smell, perennial flowerbeds exploding.

Who needs Dunns River Falls? We have Minnehaha Falls. Or the coquis chirping all night…we’ve got crickets. I’ll take a loon call over a seagull anyday. So what if my legs have dozens of mosquito bites? I’ll wear them like a badge of honor! I earned every one…I survived another Minnesota winter!

So I was doing a little painting a few weeks back. I go to the paint store to buy the necessary items: paint, rollers, canisters, tape, etc. I always expect to pay about $50-100, depending the project. And quite frankly, I’ve never really looked at the price of anything in the store, until this fateful Sunday afternoon. BAM! The Blue Tape Monster attacked me worse than the worst Boogie Man of all time. $10.99! Yes, ten dollars and 99 cents. I couldn’t believe that 3M can charge twice as much for the fancy blue stuff compared to the standard masking tape. To me, this is as good of a marketing job as any. I will admit the tape can be removed easier than most. But for twice the cost? The main reason this large price difference is not a big deal to most consumers is that they aren’t paying attention when they are at the paint store. They are so happy that they actually got off their butt and made it to the store, didn’t forget anything and are going to save a few bucks doing it themselves…that a few extra bucks for the easy to remove tape is no big deal. How do I know this? I normally pay a guy a couple hundred bucks to paint a room or two for me, plus materials. Well if I do it myself, I cut out the couple hundred bucks, so who cares if the tape is $5 more? Since this fateful afternoon, I’ve developed a list of a few more BLUE TAPE products (Expensive but who cares/Unwarranted Demand):

1. Bottled Water
2. Anything at an airport
3. Coffee from a name brand coffee shop
4. Black dirt
5. Wedding dresses
6. Any form of Insurance (sorry Insurance Guys)

As you can see from one of our last blog entries, we have a bit of a sports fetish around here. Well, since uniforms and team logos are out of our system, let’s get to scoreboards. There once was a time when I thought this was cool. I’m sorry but I don’t remember when this was cool (but man, that was huge). And once this was cool and once it wasn’t and now it is again.

Now being, somewhat, in the technology field I figure I should never be amazed. However, today I am. Take a look at this, this and this. And please note, no Photoshop was involved.

The most loved Weatherman of my time was let go last week. Soft- spoken yet an authority on the Jet Stream. The man pioneered the “Backyard” at KARE-11 (which is now copied in just about every market) and he invented some weather spotting radar and made big money. Simply put, an institution. How do you fire an institution? Simple.

Why Part 1 (Shrinking Audience) No one watches the news for the weather anymore…not even Paul Douglas for that matter. Weather is delivered so instantaneous that now that it is irrelevant or not that big of an issue to wait around until 10:16 for Paul to deliver it. I can get it at 10:14 if I want it. Television News as well as Newspapers is becoming more and more irrelevant by the minute.

Why Part 2 (Simple Math) Whatever you hear or read about this topic don’t believe for a minute that today’s “economy” had something to do with this. It had nothing to do with it. Corporations are not going to keep someone to sacrifice the profit. Will the quality of the programming and the product go down? Yes! But who cares as long as the product is profitable. Paul Douglas is a product of the new economy.

Why Part 3 (Fragmentation) The media market is so specialized and so fragmented that information is delivered so fast and so accurate it will make your head spin. This speed and this specialization are great for the consumer; bad for the large antiquated media moguls (WCCO/StarTribune) to stay alive using their existing Business Model. The big question is are you the next Paul Douglas in your workspace?

I recently spoke to a group of college students about a topic that has interested me for decades – me.

More specifically, I was asked to talk to a writing class about my life as an advertising copywriter. How I got started, how I’ve worked my way to where I am, and most importantly, how these kids could start taking work away from me the moment they graduated.

I thought about my “copywriter” job description, and about what it took to continue to stay in business all these years doing a job that, literally, millions of people can do, which is write. I often kid that I went into writing because there was no math requirement. I told those bright-eyed kids that honestly, no matter what career path you take, your job is really in sales.

What job doesn’t involve selling something? I’m not talking about retail sales, but personal salesmanship. Selling yourself. No, not in the way Gov. Spitzer’s escort friend does it – rather, selling the “idea” of yourself to others.  Whether it’s your boss, your co-workers, your future employers, every day you are selling your ideas, your opinions, your value to others. Sell yourself, and your work is sold with it.

As a writer, I have to sell my audience on my ideas. I sell my idea of how to best market a widget, so that widget-buying people across the land will think of our widget before the other guy’s widget. Do that enough times, and people want you to help them sell their product, too.  Whether it’s on the air, on the internet or on a pretty piece of paper, selling widgets is still selling widgets.

I finished my 30 minutes by telling the students that they will be hired as a whole person, not a headline-making machine. Because(no comma here) frankly, very little of my time is taken up with writing witty headlines.  It’s the countless hours making the smaller, daily decisions on what to say inside the brochure, how best to describe the company on the website,  and where the bulk of the promotional budget should be spent that makes me a valuable team member.

I told them,  ” You may be up against many others who can potentially write a better headline, but none of them can be a better you. ” In my life, everyday I work to make people think that I am the guy they want to work with. That means being on time, delivering what I promise and generally being the person everyone can count on to get the job done. These are not exactly skills that are specific to writing. These are skills specific to becoming successful. Period.

(Bell rings). Thank you class, don’t forget there will be a pop quiz next week!

Google, as we all know, has become the industry standard for search and advertising throughout this wonderful medium that we call “the internet”.

What most of us likely take for granted is the laid back atmosphere of Google.  Voted Forbes top place to work in 2007, it’s no surprise that they spent money on what appears to be a space capsule.  The Google “nap pod” apparently blocks out noise and light so that employees can catch some optimized “Z’s”.

You know what I’ve always wondered?  Did Google become a great company because they had this attitude in the first place?  One thing’s for certain, I wouldn’t ever want to work at Google.  Why?  Who wouldn’t over-utilize nap pods and play pool and eat cereal all day?  After two straight days of Nap-Podding with 0 productivity I’m sure I’d have to sadly clean out my trinket laden desk.    This way I won’t ever have the shame of saying I was fired from the best place to work, and I’ll keep some sort of level of productivity – and perhaps a little dignity.  Then again, I’ll have to keep a bit of jealousy too.

I write this blog meaning no offense to some of Multiply’s best clients. Those rubber strips around the windows that keep the rain and snow out your vehicle have never been more interesting. And when you buy a pop at Rainbow, you would be surprised who receives a percentage of a cent for that transaction. One of our clients also makes me feel much better the air my buddy breaths as he works in a large local manufacturing plant. I find each and every one of our clients interesting and exciting in their own way.

However, designing a sports team logo and better yet, a sports team uniform, is the bomb. And guess what? Multiply recently did just that. Don’t get too excited. The rumored new uniforms for the Minnesota Timberwolves next season will not be designed by us. Luckily, we weren’t ones responsible for the new Viking uniforms last season. We were, however, the proud designers of the Brit’s Pub uniform (click to see the front and back) for the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships, which took place in January on Lake Calhoun. Our club weren’t the only one’s sporting some sweet uni’s. Click here to see some of the others. Unfortunately, our plucky bunch went 0-3.

This wasn’t the first time I’ve designed a uniform. About 24 years ago I designed uniforms for a whole league! As you can see, I’m a bit of a uniform junkie and uniwatch.com is one of my daily stops.

So if your bar league softball team needs a jersey, I’m your guy. If your son’s t-ball team needs a logo, give me a call. Heck, if your book club wants matching outfits, I’d love to give it a shot!

Being a developer/all around web person I’m no stranger to late night food ordering.  When the beast of hunger strikes, very few can respond fast enough to keep me fueled for late night programming binges.

While I’m not a huge Dominos pizza fan, I figured Dominos 30 minute “promise” would be a good way to get gluttonous joy into my stomach quickly.

Wouldn’t you know, Dominos had implemented a realtime pizza tracking software! Huzza!

I ordered it. Wow, talk about efficiency in motion.  Ryan was at my door in 22 minutes, holding a piping hot cardboard crusted cheese / meat / grease-scapade to my face.

Overall, I thought the service was great:

Pros : I got 30 minutes.  The store was quite literally 8-10 minutes away – making a pizza in 10 minutes a great feat for efficiency in the food ordering business.

Cons : Second worst case of food poisoning I’ve had in my life.  I would dazzle you with the details, but this is a blog about food – not poo.

I guess I can’t expect too much when you can order like this:

http://www.thesneeze.com/art/loose_art/dom1.jpg

And get This :

http://www.thesneeze.com/art/loose_art/dom8.jpg

What should you expect?

Thankfully, Dominos refunded me the appropriate amount for turning me into a human butt-rocket for a few days.

Remember, with new information and technology comes responsibility.

In some circles, your worth is determined by how well you can land a small mouth bass, and in others it’s if you can correctly pronounce the name of N.Y. Giant football player Osi Umenyiora (it’s OH-see yoo-men-YUR-ah, FYI) – but in my line of work, it’s all about who you know.

Of course, it just so happens that I am close personal friends with a pro fisherman and a sports radio talk show host, but that won’t get me more business.  It will just get me interesting anecdotes to share when I do meet up with people from the ad world. I am not the kind of person who reads all my industry journals, gossips about which old boss is rumored to be on the hot seat, or makes it out to every cocktail hour in hopes of getting my own name dropped.

I no longer have to. I’m LinkedIn.

I was invited to LinkedIn.com years ago, but I never really “got it.” Recently, I’ve set up my own website, been Facebooked and listed on MySpace, but nothing has hooked me up like Linked In. I’ve been virtually reunited with friends from high school, college – even people I met at weddings – all in the hopes of meeting and working together in the “real” world. Eighty some friends later, and I’m ready to write a testimonial about the darn site.

It’s a social gathering without the bar tab. Instead, I keep tabs on where my friends and former co-workers are hanging their shingles. I can also tell the world how great it will be if/when they get the chance to work with some of the great people I have worked with.

It’s the biggest mutual admiration society I’ve ever seen – and I love it.

Over the years, I’ve watched peers step less than gingerly upon the shoulders of others – it’s just not the path I have decided to take. Building business relationships is never simple; both parties are looking for a benefit they can take away that is often tied directly to costs. How much must I pay vs. what is the most I can take away. Linked In does not change that dynamic, but it makes it easier to stay in touch with folks who are less interested in using you as a ladder and more interested in lending you a hand.

Had I worked the “old” system, I’m sure I could be farther along in my career. Having found this “new” system, I feel very confident that I couldn’t be happier about where I am. Nice guys don’t always finish first, but we seem to smile more, bitch less and live longer. At least  I hope so. I’ve got tons of stories to tell you about the music video director I know who broke up Van Halen. But you never heard it from me!

Send me a note and let’s get LinkedIn.