July 24, 2005

I may be the last person in America to check out Stephanie Klein's blog. Having done so, I'm incredibly depressed. The site is enormously popular and chronicles Ms. Klein's life in great detail...with special sections like "100 Things About Me." It's a Carrie Bradshaw wannabee riff that has been picked up by Judith Regan for exploitation in book and movie form. And it really makes you wonder. What does its popularity say about our culture at this time? I'm reeling. Carol looked at it for a moment and said, "I guess some people just didn't get enough attention as a child."

Where Smart Marketing Solutions Begin

I characterized our firm's distinctive competence as Smart Marketing Solutions, and then - coincidentally - at our staff meeting Kathleen Donnelly gave a presentation on her role as Director of Knowledge.

She described her goal: "Helping Rawle Murdy and our clients gather and use information that helps us do smarter, more targeted and productive work than competitors, leading to better results and increased profitablity for our clients."

Smart Marketing Solutions begin with knowledge.

And, under Kathleen's direction, we undertake a wide range of knowledge mining...background/trend information, Pulse Polls, phone surveys, focus groups, online surveys, brand exploration exercises, and other research tools that enable us to develop data driven marketing and communications strategies.

It really works. There are endless examples of it...Kathleen can communicate those very succinctly. But, for me, her presentation reminded me not only of how wonderfully talented she is but also how essential this component of our work is...and how well developed our expertise and experience in this area has become. Thanks, Kathleen!

What Makes YOU So Special?

There have been several articles lately about Lance Armstrong. He has been examined exhaustively. So have many other prominent athletes. Apparently, Armstrong's heart is 20% larger than a normal person. And he delivers oxygen to his legs at a rate higher than all but maybe 100 people on this planet.

At dinner last night, we were discussing this phenomenon and then went around the table...each identifying our unique physical attributes. One woman had lungs twice the normal size. An artist who is dyslexic said he saw layers of images over images that he looks at. And so it went.

It was really like a branding exercise where we're working with a client to identify what attributes are unique to them and how they put those attributes to work. The artist last night, for example, is a sculptor. The dimensionality of what he sees (layers upon layers of any given image) lends itself perfectly to his medium.

There is no future in being a me-too or wannabee business. Identifying one's distinctiveness and then communicating that distinctiveness AND its benefits are the essential ingredients to successful marketing.

The Thrill of a Life

I touched Melissa's 3.11-pound son Cole (the smallest of her twins born Friday) about two hours after he was born. (He was gently hooked up to equipment in MUSC's Neo-Natal Unit, so I couldn't hold him.) It is impossible to describe the sensation. He seemed so content, breathing quietly, occasionally stretching his legs as though he'd been cooped up too long...not at all wrinkly or weird looking...but cute as could be, with healthy coloring, and a little cap on his head.

Looking at him - touching him - nothing else seemed important. And, I suppose, nothing else is.