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January 2008 Archives
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January 28, 2008
Seth Godin Action Figure=Personality
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks | Filed under: Brand & Identity
Marketing guru Seth Godin just became an action figure. The familiar, bald-headed scribe is now available as a six-inch toy, complete with a booklet of pithy marketing phrases and kung-fu action grip. He can be yours for only $8.95.
Aside from being kind of funny, why is this worth noting? Because it fits Godin's personality. He's always trying things that are different and funky (or to use his terminology--remarkable, purple cows)--like a marketer as an action figure. It's something that can get people talking. The purple tie, mismatched socks and bald head are all signature Seth Godin. Plus all the profits go to charity, another signature Seth Godin move.
How many other authors or marketers could get away with an action figure? It works for Godin because it fits who he is. It's part of his personality, part of his identity.
The lesson here isn't to run out and make an action figure out of your CEO. The lesson is to find those unique things that fit your organization, connect with your audience and communicate your message. It all needs to fit into a cohesive package. Simply being funny doesn't cut it.
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January 17, 2008
Fruit of our Labor
Posted by Shawn Stewart | Filed under: Brand & Identity
It feels good to see the tangible results start rolling in from the largely unseen ground laying work that we do with our clients in our Personality Profile™ process. And we've recently seen just that. One of our clients, Inspiration Cruises & Tours just recently finished redesigning their logo as the first step in revitalizing their whole brand identity as we plot out a marketing strategy to align with their Personality Profile™.
We helped them select a great design team facilitated by Kyle Chowning at Motiveight in Nashville, Tenn., and then stayed engaged to keep the project moving along and to ensure that everyone stayed true to Inspiration Cruises & Tours' personality, both the designers and even our client.
We think the results speak for themselves. The logo on the top was the original logo, the one on the bottom is their new "personality based" logo.
Just thought we'd share. We kinda feel like new parents that can't help but pull out the wallet and show off the pictures of their kids.
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January 11, 2008
Know > Do > Treat
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Philosophy
Shawn and I had a conference call earlier this week with a client about some staffing issues. The client had called wanting some feedback on a particular employee they were thinking of promoting to a new position. Not only were we against promoting this person, we were also not so sure this person was best matched with the position they already have.
About half way through the call, the client got a little somber and shared some personal issues this employee was going through, and how difficult it would be if this employee was not promoted, not to mention let go.
I shared some advice I received several years ago about how to deal with situations like this. I call it the "Know > Do > Treat" approach.
1. Know the mission.
2. Do the vision.
3. Treat people really well.
All three of these must be done together and in this order.
1. Know the mission
The mission for your organization is what you're moving toward. Without it, you're lost. When JFK said the U.S. was going to put a man on the moon and return him safely home by the end of the decade, we all had somewhere to look to.
Continue reading "Know > Do > Treat"
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January 8, 2008
Full Circle
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Philosophy
I blogged about Andy Whitlock a couple months ago when he talked about putting meaning before marketing. Andy later pointed me to an older post of his about how companies behave. It's quite the read and echoes a lot of what Personality™ is all about.
I find it quite interesting how so many things come full circle. Andy had watched The Corporation, a movie that tells how the idea for corporations came about by the need to create a "person" (a shelter of sorts) that was made up of people but was not an actual human. Today, the talk is all about how companies need to become human again. Full circle.
This reminds me of the telephonic communication story. After years of trying, on March 10, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant, Thomas Watson, would hear each other's voice over a wire for the first time. Just three years later the Bell Company had connected 133,000 telephones. This all came about because Bell and Watson figured out how to convert data signals across wires into voice. Now, over 100 years later we figured out how to send data over those same voice lines to get the Internet (remember those modem sounds with AOL dial up?), which now again is being converted into voice for VOIP. Full circle.
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January 5, 2008
No Competition, No Passion
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Philosophy
I'm often caught up in the uniqueness of what Personality™ does and tempted to think that we're the only ones doing what we do. Perhaps no one else could ever do what we do as good as we do it. Lest my arrogance and ignorance get the best of me, I quickly remember that if I don't have any competition, two things must be happening:
1. If we don't have competition, maybe what we do doesn't really matter. If it mattered someone else would want to capitalize on it too.
or
2. If we don't have competition, we must not care enough about what we do. If we were passionate enough about what we do, we would want competition because we know the problem we're trying to solve is too big and we're going to need others to help.
Competition is a good thing because it means you must be on to something that really matters and you'll go to great lengths because you want to be a passionate part of helping solve that problem.
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January 1, 2008
8 Questions to Begin 2008
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: E-mail Newsletter
This originally appeared in our e-mail newsletter. If you're not getting it, you can sign up today.
Happy New Year from all of us at Personality™! We thought we'd get the year started off with eight simple questions:
1. Do you get frustrated when your staff/team doesn't know how to really communicate what your organization does with clarity?
2. Do you have a sinking feeling that you might be wasting money on marketing and advertising?
3. Do you feel stuck or stymied because you have too many or too few options, and you're not sure which way to go?
4. Do you feel like the passion or purpose for what your organization does has subsided and wish it was more front-and-center to you and the people you work with?
5. Do you wonder what really makes you unique or different from other similar organizations?
6. Do you wish you had a better way to make marketing and communication decisions?
7. Do you wish you had an expert or two who could provide ongoing consulting for communication/marketing?
8. Do you want to do a better job at "branding" but you're not sure what it means or how to begin?
If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, it sounds like the beginning of 2008 is a great time for us to get acquainted. Personality™ can help.
We give organizations--business and not-for-profit--the confidence to communicate clearly using 21 powerful personality frames. Drop me a line if you're interested in learning more.
2008 is waiting ...
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