Being Meaningful
August 17, 2010 by Ed McLaughlin
Shortly after his return to Apple in 1997, Steve Jobs defined the company’s purpose to employees. The brief video below captures the essence of this message.
Belief in the mission matters. Do you believe in yours?
Two Questions
June 3, 2010 by Ed McLaughlin
Invest a few minutes and watch the video below. Then answer two questions:
- Do you get it?
- What now?
Will It Blend?
August 13, 2009 by Ed McLaughlin
Imagine the excitement when a prospect receives your latest brochure.
“Bill! Look at this – it’s Blue Banana’s* new brochure!”
“Really? What does it say?”
“Well, let’s see…wow! Are you ready? They’ve been in business for fifty years!” He looked at Bill. “Maybe we should talk to them about our next project. Do you have time now?”
“Wait,” said Bill. “Let me call me wife to tell her about this brochure first.”
Come on. No one really cares. You don’t think people talk about standard marketing collateral, do you?
On the other hand, more than 7 million people watched Blendtec’s video below – and that was just on YouTube. Do you think you could get that many people to look at your brochure?
The lesson is simple: if you want people to spend time on something, make it worth their while.
*not a real company
We Show Up
August 9, 2009 by Ed McLaughlin
The cost of an advertisement is not positively correlated with its effectiveness. Consider the following:
Advertisement 1
Media: TV Commercial (2007)
Company: Shell Oil (with Ferrari Formula 1 Cars)
Cost to produce: $3.9 million
Advertisement 2
Media: Signage
Company: A-1 American Chimney and Roofing
Cost to produce: $500 – $1,000 (estimate)

It’s obvious which one is more memorable.
Creative advertising has little to do with how much cash you throw at the project. Inexpensive, smart and funny will win every time.
Gary Vaynerchuk Wants You…
July 31, 2009 by Ed McLaughlin
…to stop doing stuff you hate. He wants you to have patience. To have passion. To leave a legacy.
This video is from his presentation at the Web 2.0 Expo. If this doesn’t inspire you to do and want more, I don’t know what will.


