Up on stage as the opening keynote speaker, I explained to my audience why their efforts branding their businesses by promoting the functions of what they sell or what they do was ineffectual. Instead, I suggested they should spend their time establishing an emotional connection with their customers. I showed them why this would both ...
My plane to Cabo was scheduled to leave at 2:45 and we pulled up to the airport a little less than an hour before that. Gloria was off for the day, and she was nice enough to drive me herself, so we had left the house a bit early to enjoy a quick lunch together ...
My good buddy Tom Todoroff is one of the leading acting and best keynote speaker coaches in the world. Even though I have no evidence to confirm my hunch, I’m pretty sure that Michael Douglas’ character on the Kominsky Method is based, pretty accurately, on Tom’s life. A quick scan of the testimonials on Tom’s ...
How often have you said, “the more things change, the more they stay the same”? It seems like I hear that quite a bit. Do you know where that saying comes from? Neither do I. But I do know that saying is people’s pat response to cope with their fear of the unknown. After all, ...
Depending on when you read this post, it’s either New Year’s Day, about to be New Year’s Day, or a day or two past New Year’s Day. That simply depends on when Amazon Web Services’ algorithm chose to send you this email and when you chose to open it and read it. Regardless of when ...
Newton’s Third Law of Motion states: “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” Later, The Byrds rerecorded Pete Seeger’s interpretation of a passage from the Book of Ecclesiastes: “For everything, (turn turn turn) there is a season.” And so, we all believe that one thing causes another. The Butterfly Effect It’s natural to believe ...
An article about Hyundai’s new Genesis in Road & Track Magazine caught my eye: “Genesis has always offered good value. Now, it’s starting to offer an identity.” Reading the first two paragraphs I knew this article was for me. And for you. “Value is great. Money matters, dollars talk, and nobody wants to get hosed. ...
If you’ve been reading anything about the goings on at Art Basel in Miami, you’ve probably heard about the $120,000 banana. If you haven’t, here’s what my buddy Keith Harmeyer wrote about the most talked-about work of art at this year’s show: Duct-taped Bananas The banana, duct-taped to a wall, was the work of Italian ...
The small conference rooms held about twenty people in their late twenties or early thirties. Their job was to sell Bacardi products to legal drinking age (LDA) consumers. I started our presentation by showing the different bars we visited around the country. Then I showed a random sampling of people we spoke with during our ...
Do It Differently My Miami running group meets bright and early at 5:45 AM to get our sweaty miles in. Often when we invite new runners to join us, or when I’m telling people about our regular runs, they want to know why we meet so early. One of the reasons is so the young ...
Have you ever noticed that when a politician makes the news for a bribery conviction the amount of money they got caught taking is always surprisingly low? $1,500 here, $5,000 there. All for sacrificing their honesty, integrity, reputation, career, etc. Granted, they might not have had either of those first two assets to begin with, ...
Bobby Ingram died last month. Bobby was a stage engineer, high school theater teacher, union stagehand, merchant marine, dolphin captivity activist, navy veteran, father, husband, recording artist, songwriter, raconteur, folk-rock troubadour, and so much more. He was also my friend. Last week Bobby’s community got together and remembered him with a memorial service and celebration ...
Buying and Selling. Frank Kiick was one of the best-dressed men I ever met. His shirts and suits were always immaculate and precisely tailored to fit his lanky frame. His beard was perfectly trimmed and his accessories — tie, cufflinks, watch, shoes — were always just right. So imagine my surprise when I walked into ...
Back in the not-so-distant dark days of Web 1.0, I belonged to a group of entrepreneurs, engineers, and marketing types called The Internet Users Group. We would meet once every couple of months in San Francisco and talk about the emergence of the Internet and what it would mean to all of our businesses. Most ...
Recently, a large company whose name you would instantly recognize (but whom I won’t name) was about to merge and transition their business and their brand. They had brought in a well-known advertising agency (whom I also won’t name) to help them manage the transition. The ad agency returned with 14 different campaigns to promote ...
I was speaking at a conference in Denver and met a very successful entrepreneur who told me he wanted to be a keynote speaker. I offered to show him the ropes and let him know what it would take. “When are you going to be out west again?” he asked. (I live in Miami. He ...
When I was a kid, there was a head shop in our neighborhood called The Great Train Robbery. Perched in their window was a black light poster that featured two seedy-looking vultures lurking on the limb of a dead tree. One says to the other, “Patience, my ass. I’m gonna kill something.” Years later, I’m ...
My friend and great keynote speaker Randy Gage turned me on to this article the other day: “University of Georgia football fans are taking their fandom to the next level ahead of a game between the Bulldogs and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Dill’s Food City, a grocery store chain whose owners are known locally ...
The one hour, time-certain meeting convened at 10:00 AM. It’s 11:45 and we’re only about halfway through the agenda. The enormous conference table is completely surrounded, and even more people fill the folding chairs around the walls. A DOT engineer is making his presentation on the department’s strategy to reconfigure a high-traffic roadway. The engineer ...
My friend Carlos Oramas, CEO of the Gems Group, took a weekend off to spend time with his 10-year old daughter. Carlos and some friends went on a father-daughter cruise on a Royal Caribbean (RCCL) ship. His plan was to enjoy the amenities and the open sea, and to spend some quality time with his ...
I write this blog for three reasons: To create and maintain relationships with you and everyone who reads what I write, To stay top-of-mind and create opportunities, and To paraphrase John Lee Hooker’s Boogie Chillen’: “I gotta let that boy boogie-woogie, It’s in him, and it got to come out.” Why Write a Blog About ...
Minutes after I walk on stage as a keynote speaker presenting on brand building, I reach into my pocket and pull out a little harmonica. After a quick introduction, I play “Minuet in G” by Johann Sebastian Bach. Once I confirm that everybody recognizes the tune (despite my tortured rendition) I play another tune, this ...
My friend Naomi owns my favorite breakfast spot — the Madruga Bakery in Coral Gables, right across the street from the University of Miami. The best croissants in the world The Madruga Bakery serves the best croissants I’ve ever tasted, including ones I’ve oohed and aahed over in France, Italy and Spain. Along with the ...
Things I Don’t Like. In No Particular Order. I don’t like when people wearing earbuds or iPods approach smiling because of what they’re listening to, not because they’re happy to see me. I don’t like not picking people up at the airport simply because it’s easier to take Uber. I don’t like new apartment buildings ...
Are you familiar with the psychological phenomenon called the Benjamin Franklin effect? It’s where a person who has already performed a favor for another person is more likely to do a second favor for the same person than if they had received a favor from that person. Psychologists hypothesize that people believe they help others ...
An article in AdWeek Magazine titled “The Survivors” promised to teach readers, “How to make it as an indie agency in the merger era.” (For those of you not in the advertising agency business, that means how small, independent advertising agencies can survive without being gobbled up by one of the giant advertising conglomerates that ...
It’s not the most attractive image, I know. But I got up from the table with something stuck between my teeth. I walked through the dining room to the front counter looking for the little cup filled with toothpicks. After circling the front desk and reception area a few times, I gave up and asked ...
Regular readers of this blog know I’m an unabashed car fanatic. As a good buddy of mine (whose passions run to full-bodied cabernets) once told me, “I have a friend who says I’ve never met a wine I didn’t love for some particular nuance or reason. I think the same rule applies to you and ...
Because I believe so strongly in making my brand All About Them, I sometimes have to remind myself to take a step back from pontificating about building brand value. Instead, I need to spend more time understanding the issues and concerns my clients and readers have and try to give them proven tools, tips, and ...
In 1984 IBM’s share price skyrocketed and they were the darling of Wall Street. But ten short years later, IBM lost over $8 billion, the biggest loss in corporate history at the time. In response, the company completely revamped its strategy, moving from a product-based business to a service business. IBM spent over $30 billion ...
My mechanic has built a great brand and an enviable business. He started working in a Porsche shop when he was a teenager. After he learned his craft and paid his dues, he opened Scott Finlay Motorsports to specialize in the German sportscars. Over the years as his experience, talent, and reputation has grown, Scott’s ...
Patagonian Tooth Fish was considered by-catch trash fish until 1977 when fisherman Lee Lantz changed its name to make it more appealing to American consumers. Even though the fish is not necessarily caught in Chilean waters and isn’t technically even a bass, Chilean Sea Bass is so popular that today it’s dangerously overfished. As early ...
A few years ago, I visited Graceland, Elvis Presley’s home in Memphis. After oohing and ahhing in the Jungle Room and checking out Elvis’ cars and airplanes, we walked through the museum. Behind the glass was a huge collection of Elvis memorabilia; Guitars, motorcycles, posters, and mannequins dressed in his various stage and movie costumes. ...
A friend and I spent some time talking about her business. The next day I received a lovely thank you note from her. “Thank you for your generosity yesterday Bruce – You really got my wheels spinning in creative ways. I can get some interesting URL options based on our conversation. I wasn’t sure which ...
From an accounting point of view, the distinction between the assets and liabilities is simple: Assets are the items you or your company owns that can provide future economic benefit. Liabilities are what you owe other parties. Assets make you money, liabilities cost you money! But when it comes to your brand and your product or service, the distinction ...
After finally figuring out he was hopelessly mired in the sticky tar pit, the struggling diplodocus called out to his friend, the triceratops, happily munching reeds at the edge of the glossy black surface: “Hey buddy,” the hapless diplodocus bellowed, “wade on in here and help drag me out, would you please?” The horned beast ...
Your kids can’t tell time. Did you know that? Really, they can’t tell time. Don’t believe me? Test them some time. Wait until you’re in a room with an analog clock and a teenager or a twenty-something. Tell them they can’t look at their phone and then ask them the time. Point to the analog ...
My wife and I were celebrating our eighth wedding anniversary in Florence, Italy. We were having dinner at a wonderful restaurant with our curly headed six-year-old Danny and two Roman dentists whom the restaurant’s owner had sat with us at the big rustic table. The dentists didn’t speak any English and we didn’t speak any ...
At first, I wanted to cry. Three of my longtime readers unsubscribed from my blog this week. I didn’t know which of their notes was more cutting. One simply wrote, “delete me from your mailing list.” “Mailing list?” “Delete me from your MAILING LIST?” Is that all we’ve meant to each other? These essays are ...
Each time I use a restaurant bathroom I see a different version of this sign: “Please Wash Your Hands After You Go To The Bathroom.” Here’s something I don’t understand: why should you wait to wash your hands until after you go to the bathroom? Pardon me for getting personal here, but if you shower ...
The speed of evolution is measured by the genetic changes of a species over time. If these genetic changes occur over a short period of time, the speed of evolution is defined as “fast.” Of course, “fast” is a matter of interpretation because, evolutionary speaking, a short period of time is defined as thousands of years. If thousands of ...
It used to be that a sincere “I’m sorry” was accompanied by a bouquet of flowers and a sappy card. Then life went back to normal. For companies, fixing a mistake usually meant a generic apology by the CEO and a conscientious program set up to rectify whatever wrong the company was apologizing for ...
It’s time for you to market your business like a pickup truck. That’s because Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is about to release their 2020 Jeep Gladiator; a midsized truck based on their best-selling Wrangler four-door SUV. The Gladiator is a nostalgic recreation loosely inspired by Jeep’s original Gladiator pickup truck that was built between 1962 ...
How often have you left a negotiation or a personal meeting and thought you’d like to be a fly on the wall and hear what’s going on when you’re not there? Of course, it’s always been a reality for famous people. For example, when they act in a show or play a concert or write ...
My friend David and I were having breakfast at the Madruga Bakery in Coral Gables, sipping our tea and chewing the fat. David was telling me about a potential client who opened a conversation with the statement, “I don’t want to steal your intellectual property.” “You know what that means?” David asked me. “Sure do,” ...
Last week I received an email from my friend Randy. Over time I’ve been helping Randy with his business: “Hey Bruce, I got a call from a potential client yesterday. He had been referred by someone I didn’t recognize. That person must have known of me thanks to my blog. After the conversation, I sent ...
Do you ever wonder where the writers for Saturday Night Live get ideas for their skits? How about where the comedians on the show get ideas for their characters? I think I know. While I’m writing this post, I’ve already spent an agonizing eight hours sitting in a city council review board. I’m pretty sure ...
Hermés uber status symbol, the Birken Bag, range from $12,000 to more than $200,000. Fortune Magazine suggests that they might be a good investment because “Earlier this month, a single handbag sold at a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong for $223,000, breaking a world record for handbags sold at auction. That record-setting handbag was a ...
Here’s a fascinating dichotomy: The management structure in most hotels is very hierarchical. The org chart pyramid starts at the top with the owner, then the General Manager, then the department directors (Food & Beverage, Housekeeping, Grounds Keeping, Operations, Administration, etc.), then the supervisors, and so on. At the base of the pyramid, both in ...
Lots of brand consultants like to use an exercise where they ask their audience this question: “If your brand was a car, what car would it be?” They use cars because most people have a good understanding of what the different car brands stand for – Jeeps are rugged, Toyotas are dependable, Mazdas are fun, ...
Years ago I was introduced to a brilliant woman who was doing business with a friend. When we met, she gave me a copy of her book – a New York Times bestseller that I had heard a lot about. I read it across the weekend and found it interesting. A few years after we ...
Let’s try an experiment. Let’s dispassionately examine some of the phenomena that are front and center in our national zeitgeist these days. Please don’t be swayed by whether you agree or disagree. Just try to let the idea of what people are thinking about wash over you without judgment: Gillette ran an ad suggesting that ...
I was reading The Piano Shop on The Left Bank when I came across the following phrase, attributed to piano virtuoso György Sebök: “There is no such thing as a music note by note just as there is no such thing as a book word by word. We have to accept that things are ambiguous.” Author ...
