World's Largest UNO Game Coming to Charleston

Our fair city of Charleston, West Virginia, has been chosen as the host site for the world's largest UNO game. This record-breaking event marks the 35th anniversary of the birth of UNO.

The rationale for choosing Charleston? It is the 35th anniversary. West Virginia was the 35th state in the Union. Charleston is the state capital. Get it? Good.

The event will be held at our gorgeous, new, very well designed baseball park--Appalachian Power Park.
And if that were not enough of an enticement for you, take delight in the fact that Mattel will be making a donation to the YMCA of the Kanawha Valley, a truly great organization.

From a PR perspective, this is a home run. It is good for UNO/Mattel, good for Charleston, good exposure for the baseball team and its stadium, plus it is beneficial to the YMCA. Kudos to the marketing geniuses at Mattel (and to their friends at Golin Harris).

An Unreasonable Idea That's Worth a Try

Author and management consultant, Lisa Haneberg, has a great idea for getting ahead and maximizing success. It is rooted in making unreasonable requests. Sure, this sounds odd at first. But it is so different that it might just be powerful and effective. [By the way, thanks to Matt Homann and Curt Rosengren for promoting Lisa's great idea.]

Each week Lisa makes five unreasonable requests from people that she barely knows--people she has no business asking for favors. The request is something big, something powerful and bold. She might ask someone for a referral, for a book endorsement, for an introduction or for an interview. Perhaps she is asking a celebrity to make an appearance at an event. Lisa knows that if she gets at least one out of ten of those unreasonable requests granted, she'll come out way ahead of the pack. Think of it.

I like this bold approach. I am going to try it.

How about you, marketing geniuses ... when is the last time that you made an unreasonable request? Let's get started!

We've Been Dugg

Following the PR-Buzz spiral this week concerning our client, Mersive, I discovered yesterday that the news of our project had made it onto Digg.

Digg is a user driven social content website. News and stories are submitted by the Digg user community. All of it is then reviewed by the user community for relevance and popularity. On the site, visitors can choose to click "Digg it" on a story ... or they can click "Bury it." So it is a really unique, news filtering and review site, which has become quite popular.

Here is the Digg news item about Mersive.

To be a marketing genius in today's high-tech world, you have to know how to work the Web media--sites like Digg, Engadget, Instapundit and Technorati--as well as the traditional media (print and broadcast).

Engadget Coverage Adds to the Buzz about Mersive

Engadget is one of the Web's foremost authorities on technology, electronics and computing. When folks want to know what's new, what's hot and what's not, in the world of high-tech gadgets, they turn to the Engadget blog. A few, self-proclaimed, technology nerds whom we know profess to read it every day. It is so cool and so informative that Bill Gates reads it every day.

Yesterday, Engadget picked up on the Mersive Mega Display story.

Nothing supports a company launch like good publicity. Getting in the news is informative and validating. It builds buzz about the company. Working with tech start-up Mersive, we have been very fortunate to enjoy some great media coverage this week. In addition to the Engadget coverage, Mersive was on the front page of the Louisville Courier Journal yesterday. Today, we posted a press release on the news wire, and we will be submitting a technology blurb to SlashDot.

It's exciting stuff ... as all of you marketing geniuses know!

Mersive Mega Display and IdeaFestival06

Our client, Mersive, is unveiling a mammoth 25-foot wide by 15-foot high, 50 million pixel, seamless display tomorrow. It's called the Mersive Mega Display, and it will be the world's largest, high resolution seamless display.

We'll be there at this exciting debut to assist with their demonstration of this breakthrough in visual display technology. The event takes place in Louisville, Kentucky, at the fourth annual International IdeaFestival. ideaFestival06 promises to be a veritable feast for trendspotting and hobnobbing with some of the world's most creative and progressive thinkers. Headline guests include DJ Spooky, Burt Rutan, Ray Kurzweil and Valerie Boyd.

I hope that all of our marketing geniuses will take a minute to check out Mersive and this cool, exciting technology project.

In Creative Work - Greatness Cannot Be Rushed

In my experience, the truly great work comes when we allow creativity sufficient time to blossom. This begins with an immersion phase, allowing time for all of the new information to sink in and gel. Once immersed, the creative brain can begin its subconscious work ... the iterations, the wild explorations. All too often, creative work is driven by tight deadlines. This just does not fit. Sure, creativity can be nudged along. Admittedly, procrastination will not produce a great, creative result. But by contrast, creativity cannot be compressed, or expedited. In fact, sometimes I have to avoid intentionally thinking about an assignment or a project to enable the creative thoughts to flow. Perhaps you've had the great creative epiphany in the shower, at the shaving mirror, or while ironing, doing dishes or mowing the lawn. Sometimes we have to allow the conscious, analytical left brain to disengage before the creative, right brain will engage.

One of the greatest ad campaigns that we've created came from the 1,000th conversation (only a slight exaggeration) about our client's customers, their needs & desires, coupled with companion discussions about the client's approach and philosophy on serving clients. Our client was patient, willing to allow us to arrive at a depth of understanding and a point of full immersion in the topic. Then one day, the magic phrase that crystallized all of this meaning just came out. The moment we heard it, we all knew that was it.

Marketing geniuses know and understand the ways in which creativity works best.