One of the best way to capture great ideas is to carry a notebook with you at all times. For several years, I've tried always have something at hand to capture thoughts... In the past two years I've been exclusively using the Moleskine (mole-ay-skee-nay) journals.

In looking through them, I realized I have lots of great notes and scratchy drawings I'd like to share on this blog.

Some are inspirational, client notes, random ideas, and questions to pose to myself... until now.

I hope to share these with you on a regular basis...

Here goes my first installment.

What Do I Do That Adds...

I originally wrote this note to challenge what Idea Sandbox does for clients. It's a quote from Tom Peter's Face Company article "The Brand Called You."

This challenge is versatile as it can apply to a person equally as well as a brand, company, product or service.

It's not simply being remarkable OR measurable OR distinguished or distinctive... it's ALL of them...

• remarkable - worthy of attention
• measurable - able to be measured as such
• distinguished - discernible difference
• distinctive - being the only one with those characteristics

Later Peter's adds, "What do you want to be famous for?"

I couldn't resist showing off a photo of my pride and joy in the shot with my Moleskines.

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categorized as REMARKABILITY , to my way of thinking

The dusty adage "Jack of all trades, master of none" is defined as... "A person who can do many different types of work but who is not necessarily very competent at any of them." So we work to be a master.

That sums up our basic evaluation system. Our job performance is based on meeting or exceeding the expertise outlined for our role. Human resource teams look for the perfect fit.

So, we become experts.

Brick by brick we build our tower of knowledge - hoping it stands taller than our competition (i.e. co-workers, fellow job applicants, others in the RFP process).

If you want to be remarkable, in addition to your tall tower... build bridges. Master your trade and understand others. Be the Jack of all trades, AND the master of ONE. The most advantageous directions to build your bridges are toward: Your Customers, Your Co-Workers, and Beyond Your Industry.

Customers
It’s obvious as marketers we need to know who are customers are and whom we’re targeting. Nevertheless, it’s not enough to memorize slide no. 23 in the brand presentation outlining "key segment demographics and psychographics". You need to understand what candidly motivates their thinking and purchase decisions. What products and services they buy and how they really use them. I suggest picking up a Paco Underhill book. Start with Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping. Through empathy you gain true understanding.

Co-Workers / Departments
Sure you have to get along with your co-workers. After all, these are the folks we spend most of our time with day to day. But to really understand them you need to walk a proverbial mile in their proverbial shoes.

You rely on co-workers and members of your cross-functional teams to achieve your own agenda and goals. They're trying to do the same thing. By understanding what motivates and frustrates the folks you rely on, you will develop a better relationship with them, and gain understanding how their world works. In the end, you'll work more efficiently together knowing how their cogs and gears mesh with yours.

By the way, your interest and quest for understanding needs to be genuine. This way of working isn't meant to be a ploy or scheme, but a way of authentically managing yourself.

Beyond Your Industry
Finally, and I think this is the biggest secret, is understanding how the world works around you. The more you understand about seemingly unrelated industries and systems... the better you will be at your own system.

For example, the process of film making has little to do with how marketing works (save the obvious marketing to promote a movie). I can't imagine all the work it takes to keep track of all the shots, and scenes filmed on different days, and continuity, and who was wearing what, and how many bites did she take out of the pancake in that last scene? Consequently, if I understand the process used to manage the complicated minutia in moviemaking, I'm sure there are techniques we could apply to, say, managing the summer consumer promotion.

Next time you're at a huge magazine stand, pick up a title with a business topic you know little or nothing about and read it. Or, start filling your mind with interesting facts, pick up a copy of the magazine Mental Floss or the book Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things by Charles Panati.

"Jack of All Trades, Master of One" is what Built to Last author Jim Collins would label as the "power of the and." Being a jack of all trades implies that you can't also master one. The secret to remarkability is doing both. Build bridges between your tower and others. The result will be a rich network of knowledge.

That's the fact, Jack.

I originally published this post on the MarketingProfs DailyFix Blog

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categorized as REMARKABILITY , LEADERSHIP > leadership secrets , LEADERSHIP > management > managing yourself

This first one from the Hampton Hotels?

Hampton allows you to customize the background and contents of the snowglobe scene then send it as an e-card to someone. I added a cat, some kids on a tube, a snowman, and a red ribbon. When you grab the base and move it, it fills with snow. Just what you expect.

Or this Flash version by "e-Tractions?"

You can't customize anything. But it plays cool music and is fun to watch. When you shake it up, all the contents including the kids, tree ornaments are swirled around. It is accompanied by the yelling of the helpless contents.

Which one would you pass on? Which one is worth talking about? Which one would you be excited to get in an e-mail? Which one yodels?

I thought so.

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I've always been a fan of Steve Martin's brand of humor. He's a part of my iBoard of Directors.

John Moore at Brand Autopsy (who has been talking about Steve Martin's memoir) Born Standing Up sent me the URL to the recent interview (below) between Steve and Charlie Rose. It's interesting to hear Steve talk about being remarkable and doing something different in comedy... Just the same way we marketers try to differentiate our products, services, and companies.

Steve explains his act was funny and successful in the mid-70s because it was unknown and unexposed. By '78 audiences knew what to expect. He had to keep his career moving and (in my words) reinvent himself. I find so many fascinating similarities between what we marketers think about, and what Steve it talking about.

John too mentions his "eureka moment" inspired by how performing comedy on stage is related to presenting business in the board room.

One of my favorite lines in the Charlie Rose interview, is found near the very end, Steve says...

"Be so good they can't ignore you."

Great advice.

Enjoy the interview.

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categorized as REMARKABILITY , cocktail napkin wisdom

A little Friday inspiration. This is a great story about John Bramblitt, a college student at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas who has creatively found a way to paint despite losing his sight.

This story didn't tell me enough... So I visited John's website to learn more about how he creatively found ways to do his work. In exploring John's website, he describes his process...

He first draws on his canvas with fabric paint to create raised outlines he uses as a painting guide... He then fills between the raised lines using oil colors. He can feel the difference in paint thickness and uses this to combine colors...

I paint primarily in oils because they are thick and easy to feel on a brush and they take a long time to dry allowing you to take your time. Also different colors of oil paint feel slightly different. For example in the brand of paint that I use black is very slick while white is thick and almost pasty. This helps when mixing paints because you can get an idea of the shade of color you want by the way it should feel when you are through mixing it.

I share this with you as a reminder of the quote "if you can dream it, you can do it." John has found a way to do what some would call impossible. If you work the problem long enough, you can find ways to work around traditional barriers.

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categorized as REMARKABILITY , cocktail napkin wisdom

I just started reading a book by Sam Horn called "Pop! Stand Out In Any Crowd" it is about creating messages that are Purposeful, Original, and Pithy... but I'll be talking about that at a later time....

I thought it was cool that I came across a "can" of pop that stands out from the crowd.

Take a look...

I've got my business card behind the 'can' and you can see it is clear. Made of clear plastic instead of metal.

What a great way to package a beverage wanting to be different.

It's flavored sparkling water... this was green apple, there was also an orange. It was delicious, crisp, and refreshing.

Using a clear package gives the impression that there is less "stuff" in it and that it is more pure... It looked more refreshing than the other choices...

Now that you've seen it... this type package makes sense... It's basically a common plastic bottle, chopped off at the top with a can lid put onto it... But, it isn't something you'd immediately think of... change the metal package to plastic.

I purchased this in Amsterdam. It is produced and packaged in the Netherlands... Let me know if you've seen this package in your market...

Is it still a can if it is not a can?

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categorized as REMARKABILITY

Google recently started to offer custom themes for your personalized Google Home page. That's nothing new... and there are tons of sites that offer customization hoping you'll make their page your home.

Google currently offers six different design/color themes... and they plan to add more.

• Beach
  
• Bus Stop
  
• City Scape
  
• Sweet Dreams
  
• Tea House
  
• Seasonal Scape

My favorite is the Tea House. Every two hours the scene completely changes.

Here is the series of artwork used. It's very pretty. Click for a larger view.

6 am

8 am

10 am

12 noon

2 pm

4 pm

6 pm

8 pm

10 pm

12 midnight

2 am

4 am

Here is what Jessica Ewing, Product Manager at Google had to say on March 20th regarding the new themes. Her comments are from the Official Google Blog...

We wanted to offer you a way to add some personality to your Google homepage... but we had to ask ourselves some tough questions. How do we add personality without taking away from the information? How do we make sure people don't get sick of looking at the same theme every day?

Today we're releasing six themes for the personalized homepage that try to solve these challenges: a city, a teahouse (super cute -- this one is my favorite), a winter scene, a sky, a beach and a bus stop. All of our themes are dynamic: they change with your own local time of day, current weather conditions or season. If you add the beach theme, for example (changes with time of day), it will ask you for your Zip code and adjust itself to match your local sunrise and sunset times. So if you happen to be stuck in a windowless office, you can at least crack open a cold one and watch the sun set over your desktop.

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categorized as REMARKABILITY

Not to name drop, but folks who belong to the Idea Sandbox "Sand for Your Inbox" eNewsletter have just received personalized copies of this month's installment...

The topic? Remarkability.

It is based it on an inspirational quote I recently heard from a wine maker at the Camel Valley Vineyards in Cornwall, England.

Read this month's Idea Sandbox tip!

In if you'd like to receive monthly creativity and problem solving tips delivered directly to your inbox (Inbox Sand) click to subscribe.

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Dunkin' Donuts has recently announced a deal to partner with Proctor & Gamble (P&G) to distribute Dunkin' products across the United States. In that announcement, Dunkin' describes themselves as the #1... the best... the only...

Here's a bit from the press release...

With Dunkin' Donuts as the #1 coffee and baked goods chain worldwide and Procter & Gamble as the #1 selling coffee roaster in the United States, the agreement brings together two leading consumer brands with extensive knowledge of the coffee industry.

Is Dunkin' Donuts really #1? Yes. Dunkin' has created their own Dominant Selling Idea (DSI) their own Zag! and create a new category that is exclusively theirs...

"Coffee and Baked Goods Chain"

I could be #1 tomorrow if I opened my own shop that specialized in selling: coffee, baked goods and men's socks. If customers cared and purchased, I could claim to be the "#1 Coffee, Baked Good, and Men's Sock" business in the world.

In a series of posts on Idea Sandbox, I talked extensively about the different ways companies can differentiate themselves. For more on how to be different, check out these posts:

• How to Be Different: Dominant Selling Idea
  
• How to Be Different: Zag!

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  categorized as REMARKABILITY

  

"The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)"
by Seth Godin
Hardcover book of 96 pages
To be published: May, 2007 by Portfolio

Why would someone write a book about quitting? We're taught that quitting is for the weak... for losers... for those who lack moxie?

But Seth Godin's upcoming book "The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)" is about quitting. (Seth knows controversial book topics get attention... a recent book of his was "All Marketers are Liars")

Long story short... Seth suggests strategic quitting. Stop the stuff that's not getting you to your long-range goal... and try another tactic.

In addition to great advice... the book is peppered with motivational quotable quotes...

Never quit something with great long-term potential just because you can't deal with the stress of the moment.

Quit the wrong stuff. Stick with the right stuff. Have the guts to do one or the other.

The "dip" that Seth refers to is that low, challenging part experienced after the high, fun, and excitement of starting something and before the other high-point of being the best at something... "The long slog between starting and mastery."

The Dip is the combination of bureaucracy and busywork you must deal with in order to get certified for scuba diving.

The Dip is the difference between the easy "beginner" and the more useful "expert" approach in skiing or fashion design.

The Dip is the long stretch between beginner's luck and real accomplishment.

What separates those we have heard of, those who are "great" at something from those you've never heard of... is survival of the dip. The difference between mediocre and remarkable!

When the pain gets so bad that you're ready to quit you've set yourself up as someone with nothing to lose. And someone with nothing to lose has quite a bit of power. You can go for broke. Challenge authority. Attempt unattempted alternatives. Lean into the problem; lean so far that you might just lean right through it.

To be successful focus on the long-term strategy... your big goal. Work through this hard part... the dip... even if you need to modify your short-term strategy.

I'd recommend a companion book to Seth's "Dip" especially if you're finding yourself a bit bogged down in your own dip experience... "The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles" by Steven Pressfield.

The Dip is under 90 page long, yet chock-full of inspiring advice.

Idea Sandbox recommends it.

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You probably know Marty from his book "The Brand Gap". His most recent book "Zag: The Number One Strategy of High-Performance Brands" talks about and teaches us how to create and harness the power of differentiation in a cluttered marketplace.

Who: Marty Neumeier

What: Zag! Be Different. No, REALLY Different.

What is it?

The solution? When everybody zigs, zag.

How is it done?

Good are the attributes that customers value: quality, workmanship, good aesthetics, low price, high functionality, ease of use, speed, power, style...

Different are the attributes that make you different: surprising, weird, ugly, fresh, crazy, offbeat, novel...

Your Onliness Statement
With those qualities in mind, you need to create an onliness (only-ness) statement.

This statement identifies what makes you the ONLY one doing what you're doing. A zag isn't merely differentiation, but RADICAL differentiation.

Fill in the blanks for your organization...

Do you have a zag? Something that no other business in your category is doing?

The onliness statement provides framework for your zag. Once you've defined your point of differentiation, you have a decisional filter for all your company's future decisions. By checking back against your statement you can quickly see whether any new decision will help or hurt, focus or unfocus, purify or modify your brand.

Here are two examples of potential onliness statements from the book:

Harley Davidson

HOW: (point of differentiation)
...that makes big, loud motorcycles...

WHO: (audience segment)
...for macho guys (and macho "wannabees")...

WHERE: (marketing geography)
...mostly in the United States...

WHY: (need state)
...who want to join a gang of cowboys...

WHEN: (underlying tend)
...in an era of decreasing personal freedom.

Hooters Restaurant Chain

HOW: (point of differentiation)
...that hires overtly sexy waitresses...

WHO: (audience segment)
...for young male customers...

WHERE: (marketing geography)
...in the United States...

WHY: (need state)
...who want to indulge their libidos...

WHEN: (underlying tend)
...in an era of strict political correctness.

Hopefully this piece has piqued your interest and has whet your appetite for cooking-up your own zag. Marty explains how to find, design, build and renew your zag (and much more) in the book.

Check Out

Books

• Check out "Zag: The Number One Strategy of High-Performance Brands" on Amazon.
  
• Also on Amazon, "The Brand Gap."

Online

• The "Zag" book site... Includes FREE previews of the book content!
  
• Marty's company Neutron.
  
• johnmoore talks about Zag at Brand Autopsy and posts slides with 'money quotes'.

• Guy Kawasaki and Create a Contagion
• Bill Schley and Dominant Selling Idea (DSI)
• Seth Godin and Being Remarkable
• Seth Godin and Creating a Purple Cow
• Doug Hall and Dramatic Difference
• Tom Peters and Wow!

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New on Idea Sandbox! If you hover over a link on my site a small image pops-up of the linked page. Now you can see where you may go before you click.

This free-to-install feature, called "Snap Preview Anywhere," is from a search-engine company called Snap.

From a customer service perspective... readers like you can now preview where a link will take you, thus allowing you to decide upfront if you actually want/need to go there.

From a marketing perspective (as the owner of a business and a webmaster) it seems like my pages will be stickier. You won't have to leave Idea Sandbox to check out that link... So perhaps you'll stay longer on my site.

If you have a blog or website and want to add an enhancement for your readers, check Snap out... It simply involves a line or two of code and a couple of minutes from sign-up to installation...

What's masterful about Snaps approach is that they are actually in the search engine business. Allowing websites to use their 'Snap Preview Anywhere' is a viral way to spread the word about their key product - the search engine. Brilliant.

It worked for me... 20 minutes ago I was browsing a site that had this cool pop-up thing... I followed the link to Snap... signed-up... installed... and now I'm an evangelist. Nice work, Snap!

Let me know what you think about this new feature by placing a vote on the home page of this blog (upper right-hand corner).

Here's some of what Snap says about themselves their ABOUT page...

Snap is an Idealab company located in Pasadena, California... We're a small group fighting a big battle to deliver a step-function change in the search experience... We're passionate, committed and are confident enough to think we can make a difference...

They say that winning attracts winners and those of us at Snap have come here to build the next great search engine. ...We're having fun building The other way to Search™.

Our strategy is to constantly innovate on all fronts — technology, product, marketing, advertising, and business operations...

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The crux of Guy Kawasaki's book "The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything" is about turning ideas into action! In chapter 9, "The Art of Branding," Guy offers advice on how to create a remarkable product or brand.

Who: Guy Kawasaki

What: "Create A Contagion"*

What is it?

How is is done?

Contagion is...

Effective - You can't brand crap. You can't brand something that doesn't work.

Distinctive - It is easy to notice and advertises itself. It leaves no doubt that it is different from the competition.

Disruptive - Contagious products are disruptive. They either upset competitive status quo ("Oh, hell, this is better. We're in trouble.") or make them go into denial ("Why would anyone want a graphical user interface?"). But they do not leave people unaffected.

Emotive - It exceeds expectations, and by exceeding expectations, it makes you joyful.

Deep - The more you use it, the more you discover what it is capable of.

Indulgent - Purchasing it makes as feel as if you've indulged yourself. This may be because it costs more than alternatives, it's cooler, or it's more than you really need. Thus, it enables you to escape the mundane.

Supported - Provide exemplary service.

Guy continues the chapter with great advice on brand building... but we'll stop here... with focus on remarkability.

Check Out

• Get "The Art of the Start" from Amazon.

• Guy's site featuring "The Art of the Start"
• Guy's Blog "How to Change the World"

• Bill Schley and Dominant Selling Idea (DSI)
• Seth Godin and Being Remarkable
• Seth Godin and Creating a Purple Cow
• Doug Hall and Dramatic Difference
• Tom Peters and Wow!

Upcoming Post:

• Marty Neumeier and Zag!

*This post was originally referred to as Guy's advice for creating "Secret Sauce." He recommends when you are pitching your product/service/company that you explain the underlying magic of your company. What is the "technology, secret sauce, or magic behind your product or service?" By sharing your contagion, you'll accomplish this task.

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In their book "Why Johnny Can't Brand: Rediscovering the Lost Art of the Big Idea" Bill Schley and Carl Nichols Jr. share their idea of the dominant selling idea (DSI) and how to create a #1 brand. While you may be familiar with product differentiation these fellas talk about both product and brand differentiation.

Who: Bill Schley and Carl Nichols Jr.

What: "DSI" (dominant selling idea)

What is it?

Questions to Qualify Your DSI
You need to ask if your company or product...

• Superlative - is best in class - better than the competition. Promise me something nobody else does.
  
• Important - offers something that really matters. Something I really want or would be in the market for if I knew about it.
  
• Believable - offers a logical reason, has credibility.
  
• Memorable - has an emotional hook that sticks until purchase time. Do you have something not only that I need - but what I want. (This is the Free Prize)
  
• Tangible - offers something real. Customers trust it because they’ve experienced it and it performed as promised. Must perform in a way that's totally aligned and consistent with all of your claims.
  

How is is done?

1. Identify and choose your unique ownable specialty.
2. Create a specialty statement... articulate your specialty.
3. Create the five building blocks your DSI star.

1. Base + Extenders...

• Identify your specialty by identifying or creating your 'unique reason' for being #1.
• Add "extenders" to your "base specialty" until you separate yourself from the pack.
• Base Specialty + (Extender + Extender + Extender) = Unique Ownable Specialty

Example:
Base Specialty = Lager Beer
Extender 1 = German (Lager Beer)
Extender 2 = Lite (German, Lager Beer)
Extender 3 = Non-Alchoholic (Lite, German, Lager Beer)

Non-Alchoholic, Lite, German, Lager Beer = Unique Ownable Specialty

2. Specialty Statement

"__________ (product/company) is the #1 choice for __________ (specialty). That's because only __________ (product/company) has __________. (a unique reason why: a superlative ingredient, process, or service that other's don't)."

3. DSI Star

1. Your name. Is it meaningful? Does it convey what the company/product is about? Is it catchy and memorable?
2. What is our unique ownable specialty - what do we do that no one else does?
3. What tagline (or mantra*) encapsulates what you do? *More on mantra in the next post in this series about Guy Kawasaki. This is your "DSI wrapped in a magic word package."
4. What is our key image (worth 1000 words)? Not your logo... it's an "indelible snapshot that demonstrates both performance and proof - you DSI - in a single flash." This is your... Drinking Straw in the Tropicana Orange.
   
   
   Marlboro cowboy.
   
   
   Krazy Glue guy stuck to the girder.
   
   
   The fried egg (your brain on drugs) from the
   Partnership for a Drug Free America.
   
   

5. Define our DSI-Level Performance - this is walking the talk. Creating total consistent alignment within our business. Our ‘service-level agreement’ with ourselves to maintain our DSI.
   

Of course, these highlights only scrape the surface of what is covered in the book. With my clients, I use this DSI work in combination with Seth's "remarkability" and with "creating a Zag" (Which will be discussed in the upcoming Marty Neumeier post).

Check Out

• Get "Why Johnny Can't Brand" from Amazon.

Online

• Free downloads from "Why Johnny Can't Brand." The Introduction (PDF) and the First Chapter (PFD). (from the Carl and Bill's company site David ID)
  
• "Dominant is Sexy" (PDF) article from The Hub on-line magazine. (Jan 2006)
  
• "Why Johnny Can't Brand" listed as one of Strategy+Business Magazine's Best Marketing Books of 2006. (may require registration to see full list)
  
• David ID, Carl and Bill's brand consulting company.
  

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In the previous post in this series I share Seth Godin's idea of creating a Purple Cow, he provides more detail about how to create a purple cow in his book "Free Prize Inside" and an expanded explanation of "remarkability...

Who: Seth Godin

What: "Being Remarkable"

How is is done?:

Differentiation is a zero-sum, advertising based game. The only thing that leads to real growth is person-to-person conversation - word of mouth... And these only come about when you do something truly remarkable... You must be more than different. You must be extreme. You must live on the edge.

First Seth made sure we herd of the "Purple Cow" and the notion of remarkability... His next book, "Free Prize Inside: The Next Big Marketing Idea" dives deeper into remarkability by explaining and describing how to create innovative products, remarkable products, and how to champion such projects...

The 'free prize' Seth speaks of is the element that transcends the utility of the original idea and adds a special, unique element worth paying extra for, worth commenting on. He states that if you build products with a free prize inside, you'll have remarkability built in.

DEFINITION: Remarkable - simply means that a customer is willing to make a remark about it. If you can create remarkable products, people will talk about them. If that happens, the word will spread and your sales will grow.

Now that we get what being remarkable (or a Purple Cow) means... how do we do it?

Seth starts by stating...You don't need to have ideas that are startling in their originality... What you need is the guts to do the things you need to do.

Seth suggests a method called 'edgecrafting' to come up with remarkable ideas.

1. Find a product or service that's completely unrelated to your industry.
   
2. Figure out who's winning by being remarkable.
   
3. Discover which edge they went to.
   
4. Do that in your own industry. (Go all the way to that edge - as far from the center as consumers you are trying to reach dare you to go).
   

Seth acknowledges that this isn't necessarily a simple process... You must accept the fact that the edges of a problem aren't always obvious. Because the edge you're seeking is not the primary reason for being, you've got to see it out of the corner of your eye.

Here's the flow:

Selected remarkability tips from "Free Prize Inside"

• You must go all the way to the edge. Accepting second best doesn't make sense.
  
• Embrace the fact that the problem you're trying to solve isn't the problem you think you have!
  
• You don't build a better car by building a faster car. You do it by building the fastest car, or the least polluting car, or the biggest car.
  
• If you go all the way to the edge and build communication into the use of your product, it instantly becomes remarkable. (See the book "Creating Customer Evangelists" for a guide to building communication into the use of your products....)
  
• Make it fun. "What would Bozo do?"
  
• If any unrelated expert (different field than you) could change your product or service, what would it be? What would they do?

Check These Out:

• Get "Free Prize Inside" on Amazon.
  

• Seth's "Free Prize Inside" website.
• "The Best Things in Life Are Free" article by Seth on Fast Company website. (June '04)
• John Moore and Paul Williams review and discuss "Free Prize Inside" with Seth on the Brand Autopsy Blog.
• The "Dog Ear Score" for the book "Free Prize Inside" (on the Brand Autopsy site).

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