Earlier this week, I was part of The Art of Marketing conference in Toronto. It was an extravaganza of big ideas and zesty commentary, with 1,600 participants and six speakers in a single day, including:
(A quick jaunt down Memory Lane… Seth Godin carries a particularly fond place in my heart. I’d interviewed Seth for two episodes of my podcast, The Naked Career. Seth also generously wrote a review of Fascinate, which proudly resides on the back cover. As for Dan Heath, I met Dan years ago at a business author conference; entirely charmed by his intellect and wit, I’d also interviewed Dan for two different posts. When I sold Fascinate to a publisher in 2008, I chose HarperCollins because the editor, Ben Loehnen, had also edited Dan’s book, Made to Stick. Suffice to say, it was fun to see them both again.)
Anyway. The Biz Media folks stirred the social media pot, using Twitter to crowdsource questions. Participants tweeted questions to each speaker, the speaker picked the top 3 questions, and winners received a signed book and video response. The questions were impressively insightful and sophisticated, showing that the audience was really “getting” the concepts behind each presentation. Here are the three questions I picked to answer:
1. How do you spark the alarm trigger without endangering quality or care?
2. How do you fascinate people when your product is utterly boring, and you’re unable to change the offering?
3. You mentioned the 7 triggers, and they fact that they’re irrational. Can you expand on that? Why is that, and why is it important? (or is it)
Great questions, no? Here are my video responses:
The Art of Marketing’s live hashtag at #taom remains vibrantly active; for a for a few hours during the event, the conference was the top trending Twitter topic in Canada. (Yes, this was a remarkably savvy crowd of participants… my thanks to everyone who tweeted questions and brought this conference to new levels of interactive zestiness).
I loved hearing questions from the group, and chatting about how to fascinate. Do you have a question about the seven triggers, how brands apply the triggers, or some other glittering spark of inquiry? Share your question here. You just might see your curiosity rewarded in an upcoming blog post!
Think of it as a virtual cocktail party… except without the chardonnay and stale pigs-in-a-blanket.
The supremely cool folks at Talent Zoo are setting up a live conversation for us (yes… us, as in you and me… the person reading this blog, and the person writing this blog). We’ll chat, banter, and explore how fascination can make your own ideas more persuasive.
How to get your golden insiders-only ticket?
1) Email a copy of your Fascinate receipt to fascinate@talentzoo.com. (Lost your receipt? No worries. Just name what logo is on page 65 of the book). Talent Zoo will email you your VIP pass.
2) Take the F Score test, so we can discover into which triggers you’re using to influence others, and then explore how to refine those triggers to become even more influential at work.
3) Thursday the 18th at 2 pm EST, slam back a few caffeinated beverages, and log into this inner-circle rendezvous.
The topics are yours to choose. We can chat about how to make your marketing messages more memorable; why most great ideas fail; or even the three-year writing process behind Fascinate. If you’ve got questions about the book, or about fascination as it applies in your own life, I’m eager to learn them. And I’m excited for the opportunity to talk with you about how fascination applies in your own life.
TO: Christmas, Inc.
FROM: Sally Hogshead, branding consultant
Re: Updating the Christmas brand
Hello team, great to see you all at the North Pole HQ offices last week. Below, please find my recommendations for re-branding the 2010 holiday season.
Market share: Christianity holds a leadership position with two billion consumers, but we’re losing share to competitors such as Hinduism and startups like Wicca. To boost Christian population, encourage more holiday alcohol consumption. Attract the 18 – 35 demo with vodka-laced energy eggnog?
Spokesperson: Santa scores high on awareness, but we’re getting complaints parental groups that he’s a poor role model for obesity and pipe smoking. Consider partnering with Jenny Craig for a before/after campaign, and do some Phillip Morris work pro bono. Or, introduce a lil’ sidekick: Jolly Green Giant had Sprout, Scooby Doo had Scrappy Doo, and Dr. Evil had Mini-Me. (Note: The media department says we could broaden demographic appeal by casting Hispanic.)
Reindeer: The ASPCA could protest reindeer activity longer than 8 hours, unless legal dept can argue that overtime doesn’t count across multiple time zones.
Elf labor: Are you outsourcing the Christmas list database to workshops in India?
Revenue streams:
Sell ad space on Santa’s sleigh to Expedia.com
Approach Disney about a Bethlehem theme park
Encourage mall Santas to build database of toy requests, and sell as trendcasting data to Target
Updating language:
Lessen confusion by limiting usage of multiple Santa names (St. Nicolas, Old Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, etc.)
Cut jargon such as ‘Twas, ‘Tis, O’, and Yon
Handwritten letters to Santa– can we do SMS text or Skype?
Merging holidays: December calendar is too cluttered. Co-brand a holiday with Winter Solstice, unless we have the budget to acquire New Year’s Eve.
Ad campaign: Stir up some buzz by taking on the competition directly with a Mac vs. PC approach… Christmas vs. Birthday.
Possible retail extensions:
Extra-Strength Mistletoe, brought to you by Viagra
“Silent Night,” made possible by Bose noise-cancelling headphones
Babies ‘R Us rocking mangers
Body Shop frankincense bath soaps
Virgin Mary cocktails for all ages
Jingles: Update content with new topics. For instance: This Christmas at Mommy’s, Next Christmas at Daddy’s with His Younger Girlfriend We Call By Her First Name.
Looking forward to your feedback next month at the retreat in St. Thomas.
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