Today’s motivation is inspired by 2 brands who are doing a great job of “Thinking Outside the Box”:
·         Mini (a BMW owned auto company)
·         Taco Bell

These 2 companies do a great job of not just speaking at consumers, but actually speaking with them and their unique strategy is paying off handsomely.  They are great reminders of the successes you can achieve if you break out of the mold and do things YOUR way.

Mini- “Not Normal”
Mini’s media campaign is all about celebrating your individuality so in turn their marketing is unique. 

This year they launched their “Not Normal” campaign using unique marketing strategies such as displaying cars from posts to catch the attention of consumers and custom digital screens that aim messages directly to Mini drivers.

As Mini drivers pass digital screens along one of London's main roads, they find simple, fun content aimed directly at them.  Messages such as "Hey Cream Mini, what's your secret?" and ""Hello blue Mini driver" flash up on giant screens, thanks to software that recognizes the Minis as they drive by.  At gas stations along the way, Mini drivers are offered treats -- bacon sandwiches or smoothies in the morning and a tank of fuel or bunch of flowers on the journey home.

Mini's Not Normal Campaign is perfectly captured in this energy-pumping video that makes you want to immediately book it out of your normal house, buy a not normal mini, and laugh at all the boring normal people driving their boring normal sedans (and try the Pollack-style painting with your mini: watch the video to understand).

Taco Bell

You don’t have to look far to see that Taco Bell takes the “think outside the box” message to heart. Before they changed their campaign to Live Mas in 2011, their campaign was actually “Think Outside the Bun.”

Over the past two years, Taco Bell has even thought outside the “shell” to increased its menu offerings to add wraps and rice bowls and establish a partnership with Doritos launching the special Doritos Locos Tacos in the U.S.

Interestingly when the Doritos Locos Taco launched, they were only available in the U.S., not Canada.  Frustrated Canadians started posting all over social media their hurt for being left out of this culinary delight.  Rather than send the obligatory customer service email to these upset customers, Taco Bell did something really cool… 

They didn’t just listen to their consumers and silently make the Doritos Locos suddenly appear on Canadian menus, instead they embraced the resentment being thrown their way and threw it back in the face of the angry consumers to celebrate the arrival of the Doritos Locos in Canada.  Taco Bell made them eat their words.

Check out this video: 

Note:  Taco Bell just won Ad Age’s Marketer of the Year award and was named a top brand to follow on twitter by HuffPo

Happy Monday!

Happy Labor Day Weekend All!

Since we all have Monday off for Labor Day, here is a special Motivation edition you can use over the weekend with you free time.  It is a must-visit website I just came across called: This Is Why I’m Broke.
http://www.thisiswhyimbroke.com/

This site, which calls itself “The Internet’s Mall,” is a collection of the most wacky and wonderful products on the web. 
This is a great source to find products that you didn’t know you needed.  I anticipate some great holiday gifts coming from this site.

After spending a long time perusing the site (loving every minute of it), here are some of my favorite things:

Imagine a world where you can explore the colorful underwater world of the Great Barrier Reef, take a trip down the Amazon Basin, climb Mt. Everest,  journey down a small path in the Grand Canyon, or even visit the Kennedy Space Center without ever leaving your home.

Well thanks to Google Treks, you can.

Google has spent a lot of time and human hours mapping some of the more remote areas of the globe with its Trekker program, and now we have a chance to go behind the scenes and learn more about both those places and the process.

Google put up a new site complete with video, amazing images, maps and audio and visual tours. Besides being an awesome time-killer for when you have some hours to spare, the Trek microsites give Google a way to show off a number of its products all in one place. It combines YouTube, Maps, Maps tours, HTML5 web technologies, slideshows and more.

http://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the-scenes/streetview/treks/

Happy exploring and happy Monday!

We’ve all heard the phrases: “It’s a classic for a reason.  
Why reinvent the wheel?  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

But that kind of thinking doesn’t get anyone anywhere.  
Life is about constantly pushing to reinvent. Make something bigger and better.

So this week’s motivation is a reminder of the great successes that come when you breathe new energy into a classic story/ song/ idea/ or even your own life.

The key is to reimagine it with a modern spin… inject a fresh approach that pays homage to the classic idea at its core but transforms it using current trends/influences.

Here are 2 examples of classics that have been reimagined into modern day hits:

Three Little Pigs The Guardian's (the UK based news source) ad campaign reimagines the classic Three Little Pigs tale as a modern day news story.  Described by Adweek as a "masterpiece of craft and storytelling," the ad follows the story from the paper's front page headline, through a social media discussion and finally to an unexpected conclusion.

This award-winning ad for The Guardian's open journalism, screened for the first time in February 2012, but is still sweeping up awards for its creativity.

Hey Hey Hey
Did you know Robin Thicke’s hit song, “Blurred Lines” was inspired by Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up”

Robin Thicke’s New song: 

Don’t be afraid to mix things up a bit and reimagine your own story- it will only get better and better.
Happy Monday!

Today’s Monday Motivation is a collection of teasers for a few New Reality TV shows. 
These shows have Emmy written all over them!

A big shout out to James McCracken, my awesome cousin-in-law, for sharing one of these with the family last week.

Then after doing a little research, I found a few others that are must-watch teasers. 

Happy Monday!

You know those random posts that appear on your Facebook wall that tell some story that 300,000 people like?
I am usually not a big fan of those posts but this one that Ted shared with me last week really struck a cord.

It is a story reinforcing that there is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations.

It is our "job" as humans to continue encouraging each other to find our own happy.  
And the magic of it all is that the ultimate happiness is achieved by doing this "job"!

Happy Monday!

THE STORY
Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.
One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs.
His bed was next to the room's only window.
The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end.
They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation..
Every afternoon, when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.
The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake.
Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.
As the man by the window described all this in exquisite details, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine this picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon, the man by the window described a parade passing by.
Although the other man could not hear the band - he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive word.

Days, weeks and months passed.
One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep.
She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.
Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside.
He strained to slowly turn to look out the window besides the bed.

It faced a brick wall.

The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window.
The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.

She said, 'Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.'

Happy Monday everyone!  
Hope you all had a wonderful July 4th holiday.

For me the best part of 4th of July celebrations are the exciting firework shows that light up the skies across the country.

These ooh and ahh-inspiring shows treat our eyes to a fantastically colorful world of visuals set against the dark night sky.

In honor of these amazing displays of light, today’s Monday Motivation is about the Art of Visual Effects.

Check out this remarkable behind the scenes video of the complex visual /green screen effects from the recent film The Great Gatsby.   You may have to watch it a few times to catch all the before and after effects.

Happy Monday!

It’s official! 
Based on both the calendar and the temperature outside,  Summer is in full swing.

It is an exciting time filled with all kinds of adventures from beach vacations to weekend bike trips.

Speaking of bike trips (good segue huh), this week’s Monday’s Motivation is a hilarious mockumentary video titled, "The Impossible Journey."  This video is about a man’s treacherous journey from the Massachusetts shoreline to Boston by bike.  It was created by an ex co-worker of my dear friends Ray and Caroline Donohoe (thanks for sharing this great piece!). 

The reason it is selected is a motivation—it is a perfect reminder how no journey is impossible.
You may run into some road blocks to get to your goal, but with patience and determination you will always get to your “Boston”.

Wishing exciting journeys this summer.
Happy Monday!

News Alert- Instagram just announces 15 sec video!
Learn more!
http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/20/facebook-instagram-video/

This week’s Monday Motivation goes out to my dear friend Allison Niedermeier.

Last fall, she took a chance in her career, leaving her steady job to work on the production of Martin Scorsese’s newest film, The Wolf of Wall Street (scheduled to be out this Holiday season). 

The film’s trailer has just been released to the public and features an original score by Jay-Z. 

To quote Ted “It should be called OSCAR of Wall Street”- this one is going to be a winner.

Take a look at the trailer.  It looks really exciting.  
http://www.thewolfofwallstreet.com/

So the Moral of this Allison Niedermeier Inspired Motivation…… 
Take a Risk, Put Your Heart Into It, And You WILL be greatly rewarded.

Happy Monday!