Acceptance of Circumstances, Enjoying What You Do, keeping a balance, making time for things you value, marketing consultant, Passion

Carpe Dieming

1 Comment

I’m not yet ready to break out all my fall sweaters on this Friday before the long weekend — one that signals that summer will soon be on its way and we’ll need to dress for crisper, cooler air.  In keeping with my post headline and being a New Englander, I plan to savor the warm days and nights of summer and all the season brings for as long as I can.

However, this post and the motto that I live by warranted my modeling a favorite sweater of mine.  Thank you Banana Republic!

IMG_2193

I’m such a big fan of both the phrase (and the color orange :)) that I eagerly scoffed up sweaters for me and my twin, Audrey, with this phrase, and wore it to work on some casual Fridays to inspire my former marcom team.

Audrey and I love to say that we are “carpe dieming” and regularly encourage friends and family to do so, being two of six siblings who have known our share of health-related hardship — three of us have battled cancer and now deal with the long lasting impact of treatment, and two live with the day-to-day challenges of multiple sclerosis (MS). Through all the great energy they bring to both their personal and work lives, I witness all the time the great awareness the Snow family siblings have of the importance of seizing every day and living each day to its fullest. And, I see this sentiment repeated over and over in a sarcoma discussion group that I participate in — whether it be voiced by current cancer patients, cancer survivors, or their caregivers and loved ones.

Given the fact that Americans, and perhaps, individuals throughout a lot of the world, think of September as a time of new beginnings and opportunities, I thought this was the perfect time to update and publish this post that I had drafted, but then put aside, several weeks ago.

To me, carpe dieming means:

1) Not putting off until tomorrow, what you can, should, or want to do today — whether it’s fun- or work-related.

2) Taking action towards your goals TODAY — whether they be to eat right, exercise, have more fun, visit more with friends or relatives, start your own business, or launch a new project.

3) Finding good in, appreciating, and enjoying every day.

4) Participating in life’s simple pleasures and acknowledging that the best things in life are, indeed, free.

5) Not over-focusing on “saving for a rainy day” to the detriment of doing enjoyable things today.

I’d love to hear what Carpe Dieming means to you.  Regardless, I hope you’ll seize this long weekend and make it the best ever, and if you haven’t seen it, check out this tribute to Robin Williams related to the important message he shared with his students in “Dead Poets Society”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

community involvement, fundraising/development, good will creation, keeping up with trends, making time for things you value, marketing consultant, social media, staying current, Target Marketing

Harnessing the Power of Social Media to Do Good

2 Comments

Every marketing blogger probably already has or plans to blog about the success of the ALS ice bucket challenge, but I’d be remiss as a marketeer who understands both the perils and benefits of social media, if I didn’t post about the great example of using social media for good that the ice bucket challenge represents.

Social media is no longer a new or innovative form of promotion. It has been around for quite some time now and, almost undoubtedly, is here to stay — for better or for worse. Since both organizations and individuals have very little control over what is said about them on various social media sites, particularly Twitter and Facebook — and even YouTube because of the ability to comment on videos — it’s a wonderful day for an organization when social media users use these channels to support good activities and altruistic behavior.

I imagine there will be lots of copy cats now — particularly, non-profit organizations who could really use a large influx of funds to support necessary research for their cause, or just to carry out their social service activities. I certainly won’t blame or criticize any organization with health-related or other social service missions for trying to launch an equally effective campaign. However, I do believe the organization in-question will need to still come up with a theme and activity that differs a fair amount from ALS’.

First of all, it wouldn’t seem fair or right to steal ALS’ thunder or divert funds away from them using tactics they employed so effectively and on a large scale. Secondly, if the majority of large non-profits decide to implement similar campaigns, I believe there is going to be a limit to the return on investment. Perhaps, I’m wrong, and I welcome your thoughts, but each and every individual and organization only has so many $$ they are willing and able to contribute annually, so regardless of the effectiveness of such campaigns, both the dollars and newness/fun factor that encourages people to participate are going to run out. So, those implementing such campaigns are going to need to come up with something very different and engaging to both grab the attention and donations of their target audiences.

I have to close with thanks, prayers, blessings, and good thoughts for both Pete Frates and his dear friend, Corey Griffin, who was so instrumental in launching the campaign. As most of you may know, Corey recently lost his own life to a scuba diving accident. My heart and thanks goes out to both of their families too — for all the pain and suffering they’ve endured or will endure and all the good they’ve done through their support of and work related to the ALS campaign.

I am adding Pete and Corey to my Keep Up the Fight page right now as I can’t think of anyone more deserving.

marketing consultant, Memorability, staying current, Target Marketing

Memorability and Target Marketing 1.2

Leave a comment

Note: Since I wrote the piece below the video referenced has been removed from YouTube.

I’ve been posting a lot recently about both the value of creating memorability and of knowing how to reach and speak to your target audience — two key principles that are ageless and will always be critical to the success of any advertising campaigns, regardless of their objectives.

Dos Equis has succeeded in implementing both these principles in its “The Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign. The beer giant understands that much of today’s  buying power resides within the “Baby Boomers” group — and its “Most Interesting Man” campaign speaks to both women and men of that generation — women who’d like to meet the “most interesting man” and men who would like to be him.

You know a campaign is memorable when others spoof and/or want to capitalize on it as YouTube has done with its subscription campaign mirroring “The Most Interesting Man” campaign. Enjoy “The Most Interesting Puppet in the World”, if you haven’t already seen it, and “Stay Thirsty, My Friends”.