Pow! Right Between The Eyes! Andy Nulman's Blog About Surprise

Monkey. Business.

Oh, I wish I lived in Oregon.

'Cuz if I did, I'd be buyin' me a Corvette from the Suburban Auto Group, truly one of the ballsiest car dealers I've ever come across.  They sell a helluva lot of cars, and indeed deserve to.

Instead of the usual prattle about rebates, free gas or other dull-and-done-to-death gimmicks, the Suburban Auto Group have unleashed a Pow! superstar called the Trunk Monkey on an unsuspecting and loving public via a series of TV commercials from Portland's brilliant and gutsy r-west ad agency.

Apparently, the Trunk Monkey concept was launched by self-proclaimed "uber geek" Sean Sosik-Hamor back in 2000, but the combo of r-west and the Suburban folks has elevated the crafty simian to King Kong status.

You can--no you MUST--watch the commercials here.  Enjoy; they're as good as any comedy you'll see anywhere on TV or the net.  These ain't national network ads either; this is a local campaign, albeit for a giant operation.  But still, compare this to the snoozers that Detroit, Tokyo or Germany are laying down on us, and they stand out even more.

Within 30 seconds, you'll understand why the Trunk Monkey has enjoyed national buzz, spawned fan clubs, and sold thousands of dollars in t-shirts and other merch.

What's more, he's WAY better an option than a sunroof or GPS...

So Woot!

If you don't know Woot yet, you should.

One of the great sites on the web--period. 

Sells one tech product--just one!--every day, but does so with words completely spectrum-opposite of the usual dull jargon that curses most sites that sell stuff. 

Whoever writes the copy is a maestro, pixie-disting even the most mundane piece of plastic, wires and silicon with a sales job so symphonic, you must have it even though you probably don't need it.

Although these guys Surprise each and every day, they took the cake--literally, kind of--last Friday when they embedded an actual marriage proposal into the copy for a set of (wait for it) Uniden Wireless Phones.  Check it out and read it here.

And then you can go about your day saying "Oh, I could never do anything like that where I work."

Or you can get inspired and change some lives.

Have a Woot day!

The Formula

This from Linda Tischler's article on Northwestern U's Essentials of Industrial Design class in Fast Company.  In it, Linda profiles design guru Mark Dziersk, who teaches his students about the innovation process behind great products.

His parting words to his class as they pick up an assignment can be considered the mantra for Pow!, the formula for great Surprise.  So simple, but so true, and worth repeating ad nausem:

"Remember:
Creativity plus risk
gets you the grade"

And not just in class.  In business.  In life.  Everywhere.

 

So Funny I Forgot To Laugh

My friends--my first "second family," really--at Just For Laughs are about to announce the lineup for the event's 25th Anniversary in a few days, and one night last week I caught up with a few of my now L.A-based Festival colleagues and alumni for dinner.

Conversation was wild and varied, and one of the questions posed to yours truly was "So, why exactly did you leave?" (Historical note: I split JFL in 1999 after 15 years in various positions, ending up as the event's English and French Language CEO.)

While the answer is multi-faceted (and never regretted considering the fun and success I've had with Airborne),the deep-rooted, profound sentiment was that my life had become predictable.  My calendar was a Groundhog Day-like loop, but worse yet, I was getting all the jokes before they were even told. I knew the end was near when, at an L.A. Comedy Club with manager and pal Howard Lapides, I spent more time looking at the people in the room than at the acts on stage.

Looking back, it's amazing how similar the art of creating Surprise is to the art of creating humor.  I used to teach comedy writing at Concordia University, and at the root of every joke--EVERY joke--is what I used to call the "Fork In The Road" theory.  It's a simple tale of setting up the expected but delivering the unexpected, and it goes like this:

1. Every joke starts off as a journey.
2. You walk along a path, and get to the fork in the road.
3. You expect the joke to take a right turn.
4. Instead, it veers to the left.
5. Therein lies the humor.

Working in comedy started out as fun, but in the end, the process of creating humor became so routine that not only could I telegraph every punchline a mile away, but I had heard so many jokes that my response to them--no matter how brilliant--was not a belly laugh, a guffaw or even a chuckle.  It was a two-word reflective compliment: "That's funny."

The moral of the story is that, as I've said so often here, Surprise is not a one-time shock; it's a constant flow.  After a while, no matter how much Pow! in your Surprises, the tines on the fork-in-the-road meld into one.

And that's when, instead of offering your customers/your audience a right or left turn, you dig out the ground beneath their feet and leave them breathless as they fall down a hole they wouldn't have expected in their wildest dreams.

Vicious Circle?

Here's why my phone has a high-qual digital camera.

Did a double-take after seeing this while walking the halls towards Bender-Helper Impact, Airborne's P.R. agency in Los Angeles:

Talk about a surreal paradox; the cure and the cause wrapped into one package. 

Not making fun, but this is kinda like a Pedophile Victim's Internet Chatroom...

Reverse Pow!

A lot's been said about the JetBlue Valentine's Day storm debacle and CEO David Neeleman's mucho mea-culpas, but for us here at Surprise Central, Chuck Salter's piece in this month's Fast Company summarizes why Neeleman was crucified and vilified in a manner way beyond any of his aviation peers:

"Delta is not JetBlue.  Neither is American.  The fact that those airlines stranded customers during the storm isn't Surprising.  They simply met the public's low expectations."

He's endured a rough ride, but I guess Neeleman should be proud that one of his big Pow! moments is the time he actually screws up.

Kinda reminds me of something I heard from the mouth of Meadowlark Lemon, the legendary leader of the Harlem Globetrotters many moons ago.  He was attempting a shot from one end of the basketball court to the net at the other end.  He tilted, launched the ball from his hip, and watched as it sailed through the air, hit the rim and bounced over the backboard. 

As the crowd "Awwwwww"ed in disappointment, Meadowlark cracked a huge smile and chirped:

"Well, I finally missed!"

Ding Dong

As mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I spoke at The Millennials Conference in L.A. on Wednesday, and the event's shining moment had nothing to do with what was going on up on stage.

Just to the left of the moderator's podium was a giant screen which displayed questions that participants in the room texted to the panel assembled on the dias.  I've seen these screens at many conferences lately, but at this one, it was uncommonly busy and peppered with pertinent and intelligent queries (oh, those keener Millennials!). 

Six rows in front of said screen sat a blonde woman. Throughout the day, her cellphone kept ringing a chirpy-bells tone, prompting her to leave the UCLA meeting room each time, but not before starting her conversation, and quite crisply I may add, before she reached the door.

After the fourth or fifth call, instead of a question, the following popped up on the screen, much to the delight and guffaws of the assembled crowd:

Darling, it's called 'vibrate'

There were no further interruptions.

Coke, With Nuts

Okay, if one is an event, two is a coincidence and three is a trend...

Then it stands to--and I hate to use the word in this case, but--reason that the next trend in soft drinks is "Health ," particularly if you're the Coca-Cola Company.  Obviously, dieting is not enough, because the same people who brought you the Japanese thirst-quencher Love Body (which, to quote Brandweek, "claims to not only burn calories, but contains an ingredient rumored to increase bust size") are about to unleash two new soft-drinks in North America:

1) Diet Coke Plus, a no-calorie drink loaded with vitamins B3, B6 and B12, out now

2) Lumaé, in conjunction with L'Oréal of all people!, which is a tea-based drink which is "expected to contain ingredients that will help women care for their skin" (no mention of their busts here), out in '08

Now I don't want to be a spoilsport, but isn't this stuff supposed to be BAD for you?  Is nothing sacred when soft-drinks suddenly become a health food?  Doesn't that defeat the purpose of drinking them in the first place? 

Gotta give Coke credit though; these guys are taking their swings (see their exhaustive--and I do mean that in the most breath-catching way--brand list here). 

But if three is a trend, in this case, four is utter insanity.

I need a glass of water...

Words That Don't Travel

Looking through my vacation photos for the previous post, I stumbled upon (Digressionary question: How come all the great terms are being usurped by Web 2.0 companies?) the photo below, which brought back waves of memories from my first-ever college marketing class, taught by the legendary Don Tobin. 

In it, Don taught us about the dangers of language, and how certain trademarks and company names don't travel well.  Example:  The brand of milk known as "Pet," which meant "Fart" in French.

But even in Don's wildest dreams, I don't think he could've ever come up with the dangers of the Danish term for "Final Sale":

Pop-Up Cuts

The concept of the Pop-Up continues to Pop-Up.

First there was the Pop-Up Book, which begot the Pop-Up Video, which some could say inspired Pop-Up Retail and most recently Pop-Up Hospitality.

The marketing benefits are obvious and pure Pow!(well, at least for the stores and hotels): 

• Where there once was nothing there is suddenly something
• This something is so different, it initiates buzz
• This buzz begets crowds
• Just before people can get bored, the something is taken away
• And all that's left behind is perfect nothingness

So what's next in this trend of service Surprise?  Well, if a recent trip to Denmark is any indication, how about Pop-Up Hair Salons?

Sounds nutty, but check out this picture.  We saw this just off a busy Copenhagen street, and while we were trying to be discrete in taking our photo, the "stylist" noticed us, and called us over for a quick explanation. 

Seems that he does a booming biz cutting the hair of the city's construction and road workers, and does in a few minutes what would take at least a half-hour in a shop (never mind the to-and-from travel time).

Perhaps not for the tress-obsessed like me, but there is most definitely a clientele for this type of street theater/service.  I'm thinking Festivals, multi-band outdoor rock events (imagine how much fun that would be!) and other such milieus of public spectacle.

I came, I saw, I cut.  One man's haircut is another man's show.

You're Welcome

Craig Yoe is one of the most creative guys I've ever met.  He's an artist, a speaker, a designer, an author and dresses so outlandishly he makes me look like an Amish Pastor.  One of the main reasons I go to the Licensing Show every June in New York is to see what new this wacko and his astoundingly innovative studio is up to.

My colleagues at Airborne have been doing some work with Craig and co., and this week, he caused the type of buzz not felt around the office since Hallowe'en.

As a thank you for our business, Craig sent along a hand-signed note, along with his latest book, the 400-page A Million Thanks. Now we get notes and books all the time, but this one made the rounds, from desk to desk, even over to the company's darker, more serious "admin and ops" side.  And delighted everybody in the process.

What's so special about Craig's book?  Well, it's as literal as a book gets: as the title says, it's page after page of the word "thanks," a million of 'em (how'd you like to be the poor proofreader on this cornea-crunching project?).  Fittingly, it was released on April 1.

Congrats Craig, may you sell a...few hundred thousand of 'em!

As a token of my appreciation , I will send you a copy of my latest book.  It's totally blank.

And it's called: Aw, It Was Nothing.

Idol's Secret Formula

This from an article about (oy...) American Idol in Time Magazine:

PEOPLE LIKE TO BE SURPRISED
BY WHAT THEY ALREADY KNOW

Idol has figured out the challenge of mass entertainment: how to please an audience that craves novelty but rarely rewards the jarringly new.

The New Old is the aesthetic of mass-market America...The ideal Idol performance--a hip hop Sweet Home Alabama, a beatboxed Time Of The Season--mashes up old and new, letting viewers feel cool in their squareness.

In other words, as has been said here many times before, and foist upon by FOPs ad nauseum:

"The audience isn't as hip
as you think they are...
or want them to be."

and

"Everything new is old again."

What Goes Around

Leave it to the fast-forward-thinking Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo (the pioneers of the mobile content industry) to succinctly and elegantly summarize the continuum theory of Surprise.  This from one of their trade ads:

"So Radical Today,
So Obvious Tomorrow"

Yin, meet Yang.

Take A Deep Breath

First it was the mini-bar, but guests rebelled against the exorbitant fees for a Coke or a beer.

Then it was the bottle of water, but why spend $5.00 on H2O when studies showed that what flowed from the tap was just as good, if not better.

So what can a hotel upsell its guests in-room for a little extra margin?

How about air.

Sounds wacky, but when I was in Vancouver recently, there was a neat little can of something called Oxia was where the Evian used to be.  Called "a natural energy boost," this personal oxygen dispenser is a cross between an asthma puffer and a can of Red Bull.  Push up the blue plastic spout, wrap your lips around it, press a button and presto--a mix of 10% nitrogen and 90% pure oxygen is sent into your bloodstream, claiming to do everything from alleviate headaches and hangovers to increase energy and reduce stress.

I was curious, but not feeling overly squanderous, I opted for an $18.95 use fee added to my hotel bill, as long as I left it behind for refill (the canister itself cost about $65 to buy).

So does it work?  I took it with me to my Power Within speaking gig at GM Place and frankly, the dozen or so spurts cleared some cobwebs and was less damaging--and less fattening--than a caffeine or sugar rush, not to mention the more illicit ways of sharpening up.

Critics say the same could be accomplished by a few good deep breaths, but where's the fun in that?  Carrying around the canister of Oxia gave me the swagger and menace of Dennis Hopper in "Blue Velvet."  (That's him at left.)

And gave me the idea on how to make REAL money with this stuff:

Flavor it, and find a way to mix it with alcohol.

Theory 8--Mapping Out Tomorrow

My son Aidan turned me onto the promotion that the United States Postal Service is doing with Star Wars, a new millennium revisit of the thin, young Elvis vs. old, fat Elvis stamp debate, I suppose.

More interesting than the actual Rebel vs. Galactic vote was the list of other "commemorative stamps" that the USPS is releasing in '07; everyone from Ella Fitzgerald and Jimmy Stewart to Peter Pan and The Incredible Hulk will be immortalized on a postage stamp this year. 

And that got me to thinking...and since I've been overdue in unleashing yet another one of my theories upon the blogosphere, here's the next one:

Products made obsolete by technology
are resurrected by collectibility

Commemorative stamps are far from new, but with the advent of email, IM, texting and other instant digital communication, they are more vital than ever to the bottom lines of postal services all over the world.  I couldn't track down the exact percentage of revenue, but with more than 20 million stamp collectors in the USA alone, you know that these guys have become more important a target to the USPS than the middle American, "send a letter to Mom & Pop" market.

Stamps are just one product caught in this utility-to-collectibility paradigm shift.  Milk bottles, to name just one, have gone from the ubiquity of our front doorsteps to the display cases of antique stores (not to mention the tables of weekend collector shows and the pages of collector magazines).

So what's next?  Well if I were an investor (actually, I am in some cases), I would lay some cash down on those gas station roadmaps.  GPS systems have replaced 'em in cars, and Google Maps and Mapquest have taken the art of driving directions to an extreme, granular level.

Think I'm off the beaten track with this one?  Well, what goes around comes around.  When--not IF--this happens, it will be the second coming for maps.  Check out the walloping prices on these old sea-faring charts at New York's Martayan Lan...then head to your nearest Shell or Chevron and start loading up on tomorrow.

While you're at it, you can send one to me as a thank you commission. 

And use the Rebel stamp...

Twisted

My wife and I are co-chairing the Capital Campaign of our son Hayes's school, St. George's High School.  We have built "the message" we need to communicate to prospective givers, and on Friday will meet with a creative and branding consultant to package this message in the most palatable way. 

They're called "Origami," and here are their business cards:

If you can't tell by my half-assed photo, the cards fold into pyramid-like sculptures.

Think we picked the right guys?

Some of you may be thinking, "Cute, but are they practical?"  When I was at Just For Laughs, we had oversized business cards, with the front of the card replicated in reverse on the back.  We got complaints all the time: "Oh, I can't fit them in my Rolodex/pocket/business card holder" moan whine moan ad nauseum.  But lemme tell you, they NEVER FORGOT our names, our company...or our business card.

Take your pick--you can choose to fit the wallet, or to Pow! your way into people's memories.

Yes, I Most Definitely Approve

Dan Ward tells a great story about a letter he got from Men's Wearhouse recently. 

I bought stuff from Men's Warehouse in my more conservative years, and was always impressed with the level of personal attention.  They, like many stores, take your personal information and sometimes send along a card to mark your birthday or some other calendrial event. 

But that's the expected.

Here's the Surprise.  As Dan explains it, the note he got was not one "by rote," but by Eddie, the guy who sold him his suit about a year ago  Seems that Eddie read a story about Dan's new book in the local newspaper, recognized him as a client, and took the time to send him personal congrats.

THAT is true Pow! marketing.

Three things this all means:

1. You know where Dan will be buying his next suit...and suits
2. If Eddie doesn't get a raise or promotion, there is no justice in this world
3. Most other businesses will explain why they possibly couldn't do this type of stuff, and go about their merry way underwhelming us all

Men's Wearhouse's stated biz philosophy is: "Building Community Within Companies and Organizations."  After learning how Eddie treated Dan, you know this ain't just the usual corporate website jargon.

No wonder Men's Wearhouse is one of Fortune Magazine's 2007 100 Best Companies To Work For.

Time Gets It...And So Do I

I love magazines, spend my weekends devouring them, and spend much of my hard-earned salary subscribing to them.

Recently, my subscription to Time Magazine ran out, and I got a one of those automatic renewal forms in the mail.

I sent 'em a cheque for $94.70 to re-up, and all was well with the world.

Until two weeks later, when I got an offer to subscribe for $39.95...less than half the price.

I was kinda pissed off, but let it ride, dealing with more important things in life.

Until a week later, when I got ANOTHER offer to subscribe...this time for $25.00.

On one hand, I figured if I'd wait another week or so, they may offer it for free.  On the other more realistic hand, I decided it was time to complain.  I gave the invoices (see below) to my assistant Diane, and waited for her to bound into my office, haggard and frustrated after hours of futile complaining.

 

So here's the Pow! moment.

In less than one minute, Time's phone rep was offering a cheerful apology...along a refund of $59.70.

No questions, no haggling, just an understanding and the satisfaction of a long-time customer.  Chalk up another victory for The Big Ask!

The fact that Time's subscription arm seems to be screwy is their business (and one to work on, obviously.  There are so many different rates you'd think they're running an airline or a government's taxation policy, not a magazine subscription service). 

But the fact that Time was so quick to remedy my situation is great business.

On The Road Again...And Again

Two very different conferences.

Two very different cities.

One very different guy doing both.  Yup, I'll be back on the road again speaking at two industry events.

The first is The Millenials Conference, billed as The Life and Times of the Digital Generation, on April 18.  I'll be speaking about The Buying Power of Millenials: How They Are Influencing Buying Decisions in the Digital Age, and other luminaries at this Los Angeles gathering include folks from YouTube, MySpace, Habbo Hotel, MTV, Major League Gaming...you know, the usual suspects leading the new economy.

The second is Playback's Mobile Forum in Toronto on May 17, where I'll be trying rouse the crowd to from its post-lunch slumber with a keynote rant about the future of my beloved Mobile Media industry. The agenda also includes great friends like Andy Wright of Bell Mobility, Fred DiBlasio of Telus Mobility, Andra Sheffer of Bell's New Media Fund and the inimitable Keith Ritter of the NHL, so if things get hostile, at least I know I can count on a phalanx to get me out of the building.

Drop by an say hi if you happen to be attending.
 

Loudest Easter Egg

This from Airborne colleague Gabriel Jacob:

"I've been on the Yahoo web page a million times,
but never tried this.
Go to Yahoo and click on the exclamation point."

And with that, a happy, noisy Easter to you all.

 

No Hard Cell, But...

One of the coolest devices being touted at last week's CTIA (Cellular Telecommunication Industry Association) conference had nothing at all to do with cellular.  In fact, the only calls you can make on it are web calls, as Nokia's pocket-sized N800 (guys, when are you going to get over those antiquated alpha-numeric naming conventions?) is a pure Internet device.

But quite the device it is.  As a wireless industry vet at eight years and counting, I come to hand-held web-browsing with skepticism; I've dealt with the early disappointment over cellphone WAP, live through a reasonable facsimile of it via my BlackBerry, and long for the promise of the iPhone.

But this is here and now, and I tested it with my own hands, and Surprise, Surprise...this Wi-Max baby delivers the goods.  The touchscreen keyboard changes size as it senses your fingers or a stylus, its stereo speakers punch above their size, and invisible web camera gives it added video-conferencing functionality.  The browsing?  Impeccable, and the hi-res widescreen replicated things like this lil' blog crystal-clearly (see below).

It sho' nuff doesn't replace a phone, but may allow folks like me to leave our laptops at home.

You can check out more here, or look for the Nokia's two-page spread in this month's Wired Magazine. 

And to think this company got its start in the 1800s producing toilet paper and rubber boots... (see what I mean about that never-ending race?)

Ganging Up

Will Rogers once called marketing "The art of convincing people to spend money they don't have on things they don't need."

In the case of something like the IM Beauty Brushes (see post below), I tend to agree with him. 

But when it comes to the brilliant social public service work done by Tribal DDB Vancouver for A Community That Cares' Anti-Gang Violence Campaign, well, this is when the marketing world shines above all others.

In a nutshell, the campaign uses the power of persuasion to convince youth of the dangers of gang life.  And the Reverse-Psychology 101 manner in which they do it has both street cred and boardroom smarts.

Examples include the poster at left (a "recruiting ad" that promises "Make Cash!  Partay!  Hang With Hotties!"), a 30-second TV spot that compares gang life with such fun stuff as cancer and HIV, a testimonial-filled website (www.stayout.ca) as well as a guerrilla graffiti campaign where a spray-painted phone number (call it yourself: 604-608-4400) leads to a recorded message that tells callers that the gang member they're trying to reach is either in prison...or dead.

"We likened gang life to getting a disease," explained Daryl Gardiner, the agency's Associate Creative Director.  "We're trying to show them what the consequences are. Being subversive was our main goal, getting the message out without being preachy."

Somewhere, Will Rogers is smiling.

Café Snobbery

Finally...a little liquid snobbery revenge.

I am surrounded by wine snobs.  My business partner Garner and former partner Rory Olson.  Great friends Bruce Hills, Mark McQueen, Guy Beaudry and Bill Brownstein.  Even the homeless guy outside the liquor store downstairs can recommend the proper red to go with braised beef. 

Me, I don't know my Shiraz from my elbow.  When the wine list comes, in the words of comedian Bobby Slayton, I read it like Jews read the Torah, from right to left; I see what the prices are (usually stopping at the median point), and then what wine goes with it.

So imagine my delight  and Surprise when, at the end of a very filling and tastebud-popping meal at Emeril's in Orlando, I was presented with "The Coffee List."

Taken from France's leading coffee roaster Cafes Richard (who've been doing and brewing the bean since 1875), the list includes everything from a six-buck deep-roasted Italian Florio to a whopping $12 shot of Jamaican Blue Mountain, my favorite coffee in the world.  This ain't the "load up with cream and sugar" stuff; this is sniff tenderly and sip slowly liquid platinummmmm...

By raising the profile of this taken-for-granted, after-dinner staple way past the Starbucks bar, Emeril's is not just adding big-time to its bottom line (do you know what the margin is on a 12-buck espresso shot?), but is giving people like me something to be geeky and over-educated about at a dinner table!

BAM! meets Pow!

Best. Opening. Line. Ever.

Kudos to Power Corporation Executive Vice President John Rae.

He had the unenviable task of not only following three raucous hours of Tony Robbins at today's Power Within event in Montreal, but being the "corporate guy" having to introduce keynote speaker Billl Clinton.

As boardroom conservative as one gets, the grey-on-grey John surveyed the huge room, cleared his throat, set his laser-beam eyes on the crowd, and said with steadfast conviction:

"After seeing you jump up and down so wildly during the last speech, all I could think was 'They need a Valium'.

"Well..." he continued, "I'm it."

The Never-Ending Race

While researching last week's post about the majestic Sony Bravia giveaway, I came across a number of passionate gaming bloggers all asking the same question:

Who will win the videogame race:
Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo?

Being the bold prognosticator I'm reputed to be, let me answer with certainty: 

None of the above.

The very nature of a race implies a set distance and established finish line.  Find me one of those in the marketing game.  Sure there are quarterly numbers to hit, annual projections, campaign objectives and measurable metrics, but despite all these milestones in the road, as Journey sang, "The Wheel in the Sky Keeps on Turning."

Today's loser is tomorrow's winner is the next day's "where are they now?"

For better or for worse, we're on a never-ending treadmill, and as the scenery changes all around us, we still have to face forward and keep running. This is why Surprise is so important, so imperative.  Other than disruptive innovation, it's the only way to take two steps to your competition's one.

Staying in the game, and not breathing too hard while doing it, is the real win.

The Day After The Day After

And speaking about April Fool's Day, I thought this was a big one when discussed at the Seder table earlier tonight (well...last night, as it's after midnight), but a quick Blackberry check confirmed its authenticity.

Manischewitz, the quintessential Jewish foodstuff company, is giving away a cool grand in cash to people who find an "Afikoman" instant-win certificate inside its special commemorative, five-pound, $11.99 boxes of matzah.

The promo, which runs until May 8, is part of the Kosher co.'s attempt to "move more mainstream."

Which, I guess includes the giving away of bread during Passover. 

(Call a rabbi if you don't et the significance.  Or if you're  still pondering what an "Afikoman" is...)

The Day After

So...a bunch of email today asking why no April Fool's Day stunt /post.

"Seems natural, especially considering the subject matter of your blog," read one.

And that's just the point.  People were EXPECTING it. 

Where's the Surprise?

Really, with guards up and radar on high, other than grade school kids and the truly gullible, who REALLY gets fooled on April 1st anymore?

Not FOPs.  You're all too smart for that... 

Here's What I Nose

There’s been a lot of hype these days about the power of smell as a marketing tool.  Hotels are beating each other up over respective “signature smells.”  The C-Store gas station chain in California plans to push out the fragrance of coffee at its pumps to promote sales of java.  Clear Channel is experimenting with scented billboards.  And this Starbucks story just in from the New York Times.  Worthy ventures or merely exhaust fumes?

Methinks the former.  Here's why.

Last week, trolling the vast conference floor at CTIA, I was smacked in the face by the aroma of fresh cookies.  Immediately, I abandoned my set destination and set off to find the source. I wandered around inconspicuously...or so I thought, until I was stopped by another one of my badge-wearing brethren.   He looked at me, pointed down aisle #4200 and said:

"It's over there." 

I wasn't the only one either. A conga line of guys were heading in the direction of the smell, lured like Hansel and Gretel to the gingerbread house.  And all this at a Wireless Tech conference. 

A little embarrassed, and not really needing the cookie caloric-wise, I backed off.  But the moment was indeed one of Pow! If the presence of wafting fumes can make grown men stray far off-course, you know you're dealing with something relatively potent (at least we following something other than our crotches). 

The big win with fragrances is that they don't play on our olfactory sense as much as they do our imagination.  This is a head game, not a nose game, as the things we smell conjure up idyllic memories of things past or Utopian visions of what could be.  The CTIA cookies were not as much about hunger as they were about comfort.

And with the industry of artificial fragrances expanding like a, well, a bad smell (check out the Demeter Fragrance Library and see what I mean), imagine the Surprise fun one can have by luring people with one fragrance...and delivering something diametrically opposite.

So this is The REAL Secret--the "law of attraction" starts with your honker.

Therefore, my next quest: to make this blog smell like Boing Boing or The Huffington Post.