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

Generating REAL Buzz

And speaking about FOPs (see yesterday's post), long-time readers know how I've raged against, and bemoaned my numerous experiences with, cab drivers.

Well, here's a Pow! moment if there ever was one for yours truly.

Arriving from yet another out-of-town journey last week, for some divine reason I obviously didn't realize at the time, I eschewed the limos at Montreal's Trudeau Airport and stood in the cab line instead.

By luck of the draw, I was matched with a Surprisingly clean black Ford and a driver who got out to take my luggage.  I stated my destination and as I sat down and started to hit the Blackberry, said driver spoke.

"Should we take the 20?" (one of two alternative routes to my house).

"Oy.  Take Decarie please," I groaned, "the 20 always screws me up for some reason."

"I'll make you a deal," he said with a sly smile.  "We'll take the 20 and if for any reason we get screwed up, you don't pay."

Well...a challenging wager like this was not to be ignored.

"You're on," I said...before noticing that there was no meter running.

At that point, said driver pressed a button and the meter gently rose from a hidden compartment on his dash.

"If you need to check your email, why don't you use this instead?" he then offered as he passed me a Dell laptop, connected to the net via a powerful Wi-Fi card.

At that point, I checked around for cameras.  This was too good to be true.  Or maybe a chemical reaction from eating the airline breakfast.

But no.  'twas real.  And as we sped along a clear Highway 20, said driver--baptized Stanley but known to all as "Buzz"--turned to me and smiled:

"Guess you're paying for the ride!"

I did, and happily so.  As I did the next day when I was off on another flight, when Buzz showed up 10 minutes early (!!!) for the 6:30 a.m. pickup we scheduled.  As I did when he picked me up upon returning to Orlando.  And as I'll do back-and-forth to my sojourn to Chicago.

I will use Buzz's first name only for two good reasons:

1) If other cabbies knew his full name,
    they may plot an assassination
2) If too many other travelers knew his full name,
    I'd never get him again

So cheers, Buzz!  You have definitely broken the mold, and have restored my faith not just in your profession, but in humanity.

May you live long and healthily, and open your own Cab school where you can bestow this knowledge and attitude to a new breed of your brethren and sistren.

And P.S.: Are you really allowed to drive on those shoulders? ;)

Take Two

Well, Gavin and Drew are up to it again. 

After the success, both financially and critically, of their Age Of Conversation community book project, the dynamic duo--kindred spirits but separated by about five continents--are launching AOC 2.0.

And this time, much to the delight of everyone here at Surprise central, with a bit of a twist.  Namely, it's up to you to decide the topic of the book from a choice of three:

• Marketing Manifesto
• Why Don't People Get It
• My Marketing Tragedy (and what I learned)

Although I am EXTREMELY partial to number 3, the vote is an open one, and I urge you to click over here and log in yours.

Last year, I had a blast penning my ode to loudness, and if the cards fall in the right spot, I know I can whup ass with some tales of misery and imagination.

If, uh, they let me back in again.

(Seriously speaking, the best part of the whole adventure was linking up with and meeting the 99 other chapter authors, each and every one bright, forward-thinking and benevolent.  Here's to the return trip!)

What's in the Box

Cloverfield.

Hollywood's first big Surprise hit of the year.  (Last year's, Juno, has just been nominated for a shopping cart-full of Oscars).

No big stars.  No easily-marketable assets.  It's just Producer J.J. Abrams and his box. 

This quote, in Entertainment Weekly, from Cloverfield Director and long-time Abrams friend Matt Reeves:

"The very idea of a box,
and wondering what's inside a box,
is just as engaging--if not more so--
to J.J. than the actual contents
of a box."

Obviously, it's equally engaging to filmgoers...and to faithful FOPs (Friends of Pow!).

Say It Five Times...Fast

A little over a year ago, I kinda reamed the Korean car manufacturer Kia for expropriating the slogan "The Power To Surprise" for their uninspiring line of cars and the way they market them.

Well, seems like they sucked back a little Pow! kool-aid since then, as the buzz on the autoshow circuit has been humming around the Kia booth, particularly the Kia Soul crossover SUV concept car.  Check it out:

Only problem is--and I'm stretching back to my high school schoolyard hijinx and my early marketing case studies of unfortunate names for this one--the product's name.

KIA SOUL

Say it out loud.

Again.

And again.

See what I mean?

Well...at least I'm Surprised.

Buying Into It

Well, I'm back from the incredibly-run Shop.org conference in Orlando, and the buzz on Airborne's new retail mobile marketing initiative has been, to say the least, positive. 

The conference blog encapsulated my keynote quite completely, as did Giselle Abramovich at MobileMarketer, while Andy Sernovitz (that's he and I below) went one step further with his videoblog.  And this update just in: Simon Rodrigue of HomeDepot passes on these kind words.

Meanwhile, the guy who seemed to get it most was (no Surprise here) Mitch Joel...not only because he had me to deal with in shopping centers and restaurants for three days, but because of his ever-expanding, acutely-astute marketing savvy.

Next up, we take this show on the road to Chicago, for the annual Retail Advertising Conference, on Feb. 6. 

This could be the start of something big...

(UPDATE:  Already seems to be.  Got sent this late-breaking story about Google's reaction to Mobile Marketing by both Mitch Joel and Barry Welford.  Thanks guys!)

 

Mistaken Identity

A quick left-over from last week's Test The Nation gameshow and guaranteed victory  (check out this great behind-the-scenes video overview).

While I lurked about the backstages of CBC, I noticed I was being attentively watched by this young guy and girl.  Shyly, they approached and asked when I'd be joining them at their table.

"Why?" I said, puzzled.

"Uh, aren't you one of the celebrity lookalikes?" they responded.

"No, I'm one of the Bloggers..."

"Oh," said the sizzling Angelina Jolie twin.  "I thought you were a Dustin Hoffman lookalike."

By the way, I get this ALL THE TIME.  Happened at last week's Shop.org speech, right after the keynote.  And last summer, at a Toronto Film fest party, I had the pleasure of actually meeting Dustin Hoffman, who was patient and kind enough to hear my story of constantly being mistaken for/compared to him.  His response?

"Aw...you're way better looking.  I think you look more like Pacino."

Either way, I'll take it.  And for the record, the Jolie and "Young Elvis" lookalike with the Hoffman-manqué below.

 

Gorilla Marketing (Or Monkey Business)

King Kong ain't got nothing on Target Marketing and Communications, who put together a (relatively) inexpensive but monsterfully Pow!erful campaign for its client, Wallnuts Climbing Centre.

The agency purchased a zoo-full of suction cup-pawed stuffed monkeys, outfitted them in WallnutsClimbing.com t-shirts, and stuck them to windows in very visible, but hard-to-reach places throughout St. John's, Newfoundland.  (Check it out at right.)

Stuff like this has backfired in the past (remember the kerfuffle in Boston over the Adult Swim bomb scare?), but who's gonna complain over something so clearly identified and undeniably cute?  Buzz has been loud and heard wide, as the clever initiative has the city (please stop me!) going bananas.

The Blank Canvas of Marketing Surprise

When it comes to marketing copy, product packaging is a roller coaster ride of supreme extremes.  It can be a drearly, barren wasteland where words go to dry up and die a painful, dehydrating death, or a Dali-like playground where nouns, verbs and adjectives frolic in four dimensions of color and sound.

For marketers, it's an avenue to either impress or depress.  Played correctly, and taken seriously, packages are an underrated blank canvas of selling Surprise. 

Lemme show you what I mean.  Here's some copy from a package of Chocolate Bowl, some high-end chocolate-covered cashews from B.C.'s Brookside Foods. 

(Warning:  DO NOT read if you are about to drive or operate heavy machinery!!)

"Everyone at Brookside is committed to using the finest, wholesome ingredients in the masterful preparation of our delicious delicacies to endure that they can be enjoyed with confidence and satisfaction.  Chocolate Bowl, where goodness comes naturally."

Oy.  Grey and lifeless.  Spewed from the sludge of a rust-belt cliché factory.  And if you think that's bad, check out their hellzapoppin' quality guarantee:

"Our products are produced with a commitment to excellence."

Snore.  Too bad their packaging isn't.

Compare this to the back of the box of Merrick's Spring Fling (can't print it all, but this will give ya an idea):

"Our Spring Fling is a delightful tryst of the senses that pairs a lover of fine foods with an innocent bystander such as our gourmet can entrées and whirls them off into wedded bliss...

"At Merrick, we're suckers for the whole romance thing; maybe it's because we were the last ones asked to the spring dance or were never voted cutest couple.  Whatever the method is that helped shape our soft spot, we are committed to love.

It continues:

"So pack up the red gingham check blanket, a couple of champagne flutes, a lite lunch in your trusty old wooden picnic basket your mom gave you and let's head to the park."

Paints quite the picture doesn't it?  Words indeed do matter.

Uh, and did I mention that Spring Fling is a six-pack sampler of DOG FOOD?

Surprise, indeed!

(Pardon the pun, but my only "beef" with the brilliant Spring Fling package is that it's rife with punctuation mistakes, word omissions and typos...which I've corrected above for a better experience for my faithful FOPs.  But Merrick folks, if you can find the money for copy like this, you can surely spend a couple more bucks on a proofreader.  A human one, preferably...)

Tom Jones Meets Tom Peters

I'm just about to host my first roundtable at the Shop.org Innovation conference, and after listening to people like Andy Sernovitz,  QVC's Bob Myers, Mitch Joel and Carrie Johnson of Forrester Research, I realized that--particularly after such a lemon-sucking holiday season in retail--that "Business As Usual" is a guaranteed route to failure.

In fact, these days, to make a dent on the bottom line AND in consumer's minds, we need to gravitate towards (he says coining a phrase, thank you very much):

"BUSINESS AS UNUSUAL"

Mobile Motor Mouth

As you read this, I am heading towards Orlando on behalf of Airborne to the Shop.org Innovation conference , where I'll be hosting two roundtables as well as giving a keynote address debunking the myths and revealing the opportunities of  marketing via mobile phones. 

(Don't wanna sound pompous, but since this was the root of what we pioneered eight years ago for the likes of Disney, HBO and continue to do today for the NHL , Family Guy and Maxim, I think I'm pretty well-qualified not just to yammer about the subject...but to be listened to.)

The guest list the the event reads like the who's who of retail, and the hometown will also be represented by the ubiquitous Mitch Joel (my plane seatmate) and Pinny Gniwisch of Ice.com.  Another highlight is that after a year of conversing via email and phone, I finally get facetime with my namesake and kindred spirit, word-of-mouth marketing guru Andy Sernovitz, who's also keynotin' (see below).

Will be in touch later this week to let you know how it goes...

New Set Of Eyes

Been a week, and the response has been nothing but unanimously positive, so big thanks and kudos to Airborne's Scott Brooks who not only re-designed the Pow! site, but gave it its unique visual personality at launch back in October, 2006.

Not did he capture the volume this site needs to generate, but Scott also played to the fashion victim in me by incorporating my logo into a Louis Vuitton-like repetitive pattern along the sides.

Not only is he is visual whiz, but Scott is a renaissance madman of multi-media.  Check out his musings and video work at his Powerjuice blog (particularly the video he did for our Christmas party).

Don't Wanna Brag But...

When I call 'em, I sure call 'em!

End result of tonight's "Test The Nation" on CBC (which was a first-class operation and a superb networking blast, by the way):

My team, the Bloggers, win...not just as predicted, but as boastingly GUARANTEED last week right here.

Also as GUARANTEED here, top scorer over-all was a blogger, my buddy Rick Spence with an incredible 57 out of 60 correct (I had a mere 51 correct, FYI). Not only does this increase bragging rights, but it saves me $500.

Well, not really, as I'm still gonna donate it to a charity, but at least it'll be out of goodwill, and not for losing a bet.

I'm on a prognostication roll. Super Bowl predections, anyone?

UPDATE:  Below is a pic of yours truly holding the most prestigious trophy hardware since Lord Stanley's Cup.  Thanks to the fastidious Craig Silverman (who has yet to catch one of the many errors here at Surprise Central) and his blog for it.

 

Nice shot, but somewhat festishly perverse, dontcha think?

Let The Dance Begin

This is nuts. I'm in the CBC lobby and although there's no way they'll win tonight, the Celeb Lookalike team whups ass...most notably the Kiss quartet and the guy who looks like Dr. House. Gonna be fun...

Strange Bedfellows

They say that politics makes for strange bedfellows. So does the hotel accomodations for CBC's Test The Nation.

We are being put up at the Renaissance Hotel, connected to, and with an interior view of, the Rogers Center (formerly SkyDome). This weekend, it is the home of MonsterJam '08, so after making my way to the gym this morning through a phalanx of slightly obese gearheads and fume sniffers, I am currently having a delightful-yet-surreal brunch while watching cars fly over ramps and falling onto each other.

Whoops! That one hurt. Here come the paramedics.

And now, back to my whole wheat penne with sun-dried tomato...

My Old School

Steely Dan once sang "I'm never going back to my old school."

Earlier this week, I did.

Here's the result.

The moral of the story: Steely Dan should've gone to Gardenview.

A Monk Meets A Nympho

I dig Jay Nussbaum.  As a lawyer, martial arts expert and college professor, he's obviously eclectic in his interests and gutsy in his career choices. 

So it stands to reason that in publishing his second novel called A Monk Jumped Over A Wall, he's gonna take the grain and go against it.

Case in point is the "Nymphomercial" he has produced to promote the book (you can find it here and here on YouTube, and worry not, despite its suggestive name, it's office-safe). 

While other authors have turned to the ubiquitous video vault with interviews and slick EPKs to peddle their wares, Jay's dramatization of one of the book's scenes and subsequent transformation of it into a short film (and a rather professionally-made one at that) is relatively unique.

Hopefully, it'll help the tireless author move volumes of volumes.

And if anyone ever wants to pick up the movie rights, at least one scene is already in the can.

The BEST Blog Post of All-Time! (Probably)

There are words I think oughta be outlawed in marketing. Words like:

Best.  Greatest.  Number One.  Finest.

In essence, I'm rallying against any excessive hyperbolic term that, in these enlightened times, actually works AGAINST the product/service/company/person being marketed.

To drive home this point, I present this photograph of the Mui Garden Restaurant in Vancouver, taken by Francisco Ortiz (who passed away suddenly and way too young earlier this month):

The statement "Our Curry is the Best in The World" would be met with a "yeah right," ridiculed and ultimately ignored (particularly in Vancouver, not exactly renowned as the universal focal point of Indian cuisine).  But the addition of the off-balancing adverb "probably" makes what would be conceived as forgettable stupidity into a conversation-starter...and most "probably" a lure through the doors.

A little truth goes a long, long way (n'est-ce pas, Gary King?).  So does some humility.  And a sense of humor.  That's what makes this work.  These days, cynicism and a shrewd marketplace has rendered over-hype counterproductive.  That's why one of 2007's top bestsellers was a slim volume simply entitled "On Bullshit" (from Princeton University Press, no less!).  We won't get fooled again.

All this reminds me of the following tell-tale cartoon from a MAD Magazine piece on Pizza.  While published a half-century ago (!!), it shows the power of truth and humility.  And shows that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.

Give And Take

Loud Pow! kudos go out to the folks at Jawbone, the Bluetooth headset company.  Last week, to cut through the uber-thick clutter that is the CES show, they orchestrated a brilliant no-questions-asked trade-in of your old wireless phone earpiece for theirs.   Take a look at some of the barrels full of what they collected:

Yeah, it probably cost a bit more than handing out logo pens, min-flashlights or t-shirts, but the ensuing frenzy, pictures and word-of-mouth evangelists no doubt blew out the "R" in their ROI.  No better way to get someone to sample your product than to give 'em one.

I know this hit the tech-savvy, early-adopter market they were looking for because I was turned onto the story by Pierre Vanacker, our brilliant and obsessively-curious head of innovation and R&D at Airborne.  He sums it up best with these closing lines from his email to me:

"I would have waited a long time in line to switch mine. Plus all the buzz about talking about my new Jawbone.  I wish Motorola or Sony Ericsson would do something like that at CTIA: (hand in) your old shitty phone and get a new one from us."

 

Test This! (Trash Talk From A Guaranteed Winner)

The "news" is that next Sunday night, January 20th, at 8:00 p.m. eastern time, I will be appearing as a member of "The Bloggers" team on the live, nation-wide Test The Nation gameshow on the CBC in Canada. 

The format--team vs. team vs. the entire country-- is a great one, and has been a huge hit in the 40 nations in which it has aired.

But that's not the "story."

The story is, like Joe Namath in the 1967 Super Bowl (ask your parents), I am guaranteeing a win for my team.  Let me reiterate in big and bold:

I HEREBY GUARANTEE
"THE BLOGGERS" WILL WIN
CBC's TEST THE NATION

I am comfortable and confident in laying my reputation on the line for two reasons:  My team, and the competition. 

"The Bloggers" (listed at bottom) are the brilliant future of this country.  Don't ask how I lucked out to be part of this illustrious group of thinkers, commentators and rabble-rousers, but I did...and I fully intend to ride their dazzling coattails to an easy win.

Now, just look at the sorry bunch we're up against:

Celebrity Lookalikes--
Maybe one of you wannabes should've looked like Einstein instead.
Cab Drivers--
Read this blog post.  'Nuff said.  (But please hang out until the end of the show to drive us to our victory party.  That is, if you can find your way to the studio in the first place...)
Chefs--
Get into the kitchen; you can't stand the heat.
Flight Crews--
Sorry, no Auto-Pilots here, guys.  In your words, "Buh-bye!"
Backpackers--
No chance, greenies. 15 minutes under the lights in a TV studio and you'll be gasping for air.

Fightin'  words?  Of course.  But I'm prepared to back them up.

If, by some freak accident, The Bloggers actually don't win, I will agree to endure the humiliation of being spanked on air during the closing credits by co-host Wendy Mesley.  If Brent Bambury wants to join in, so be it.  (If you could think up a nastier payback, lemme know.)

Lemme take this even further.  In an email from show producer Molly Duignan last week, she said:

"...there is a $5000 Sunquest Vacations travel voucher for the highest scorer of all the in-studio participants on the Test!"

So, to sweeten the pot and double down on my bet, if by some fluke that the highest scorer in-studio is NOT a blogger, I will hand over a cheque of $500 made out to the charity of choice of the (very) lucky winner.

So there you have it.  Not just one guaranteed win, but two.  Crazy perhaps...but what did you expect from a guy who's blog starts with Pow!?

As promised, here's the list of next Sunday's winners, with links to their excellent blogs.

• Dan Arnold
• Jon Arnold (blog)
• Christopher Bird (blog)
• Buzz Bishop (blog)
• Rebecca Bollwitt (blog)
• Ryan Couldrey (blog)
• Ryan Cousineau (blog)
• Katharine Hay (blog)
• Jesse Hirsch (blog)
• David Jones (blog)
• Allyson Kenning (blog)
• John Klein
• Andree Lau (blog)
• Lainey Liu
• Amber Macarthur (blog)
• John Martz
• Hugh McGuire (blog)
• Mark McIntyre (blog)
• Patrick Metzger (blog)
• Ryan Porter (blog)
• Adam Schwabe
• Craig Silverman (blog)
• Julien Smith (blog)
• Allan Sorenson (blog)
• Rick Spence (blog)
• Graeme Stewart (blog)
• David Topping (blog)
• Kate Trgovac (blog)
• Rannie Turingan (blog)
• James Viloria (blog)
• Karen Whaley (blog)
• Frank Yang

See ya in the Winner's Circle!

The Second Time Around

By now, all FOPs know--ad nauseum, I might add--that the secret of Surprise is not doing it once, but doing it on a continual basis.  Many the blog post has been written here exalting that dictum...which brings us back to Kelly Liken's restaurant in Vail (yes, one final Vail post, folks).

About a year ago, I ranted and raved over the effect of the lil' bag of goodies she doles out after each meal (little things mean a lot...another oft-repeated theme at Surprise Central, like here, here and here), which is why I chose her place over countless other tony spots in that high-falutent town to celebrate my wife's birthday with our family a couple of weeks ago. 

But in addition to once again wanting to sample Kelly's adventurous cuisine, I wanted to see if she could once again pull off some Pow! now that I've "been there, done that" with the goody-bag.

Well to her credit, she pulled it off.  Magnificently and modestly.  Check out what we saw when we opened the night's menu:

Now I didn't ask for this.  All I did was mention that we'd be celebrating a birthday.  It was the fast thinking of Kelly and/or someone on her staff (it was so subtle I don't remember) who asked for my wife's name, and re-printed four menu sheets. 

Think about this for a second.  Probably cost less than five bucks.  Yet the warm vibes it brought was the reason we opted for the more expensive bottle of wine (WAY more) and the extra dessert; an admirable return on investment, I must say.

But frankly, that pales to the payback of us talking about the gesture throughout our stay...amnd way past it, as you see.

How many times do you volunteer that type of innocuously-personal information--or ANY type of usable information--when making a restaurant reservation? 

And what usually happens to it?  In one ear, and out the other.

Yet by listening, and with some simple, inexpensive action, restaurants everywhere can Surprise their their patrons and make them feel more like family than like "customers."  And reap the ensuing benefits.

Well done, Kelly.  But you know what we're all thinking right about now, dontcha?

What are you gonna do NEXT year?

A-Plus D-Livery

One of the great rules of showbiz, and of smart retailing, is “Play To Your Audience.”

On stage or on sale, knowing your market mitigates your risk, and minimizes the noise that could pollute and/or hamper the delivery of your message.

Or of your dinner.

Here’s what I mean—while vacationing in Vail, out of a slew of glossy promo mags and pamphlets left in our condo, my two  sons honed in on a company called “A La Car Restaurant Delivery Service," which stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb.

While a multi-menued, one-stop delivery service is commonplace in most major markets, the Pow! of the opulent Vail twist is that these guys deliver their restaurant or grocery orders in a Porsche…

…well, if you can believe the image on their menu magazine (that's it above).

Jeez, imagine the tip you’ll have to drop to impress these guys…

Surprise TV...Sort Of

Ahhh, 2008. A new year, filled with hope, promise and resolutions that should be broken by about the time you finish this sentence.

One honkin’ big diff that has warmed the hearts of all of us at Surprise Central is the change of direction—and name—of what once was Court TV, which since Jan. 1 is known as TruTv. 

Focusing its programming and spirit on “Actuality. Not Reality” (their new slogan, not mine), TruTV trumpeted its rebirth in some relatively unconventional mediaplaces, most notably the Wall Street Journal. 

In that bastion of capitalist news and thought, the network took out an upside down full-page ad. While not as effective as the similar tactic used last year by UPS (and highly hoorayed here), what was impressive was TruTV’s commitment to the essence of Pow! with its stated programming pledge:

"What Makes
Real-Life Stories
Exciting
Is That They’re
Unpredictable"

Welcome to the club, TruTV! Now go ahead…Surprise us. Again and again and again!

Or else.

Mock The Vote!

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends!

As the psycho circus called The Primaries wind their way across the USA, some of the most wildly Surprising political ads are coming out of Canada instead, as the perennially grey-dry Conservative Party is attempting to recruit youth by using pseudo-gross-out reverse psychology tactics.

Rather than extol the virtues of the party, play on the hundred years-plus of tradition or focus on the issues (oh puh-leeze!), the ads invite campus kids to “Freak Out” their roommates, profs or exes by joining the Conservative party. Take a peek:

No this is not a parody or an ad for the next Judd Apatow film. You can see more by clicking over to the youth recruitment site that expands upon the theme.

While iron-fisted and stubborn, Conservative head and Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper is far from a youth rebel, but if his party's contrary crusade actually works, it should make his next election campaign the most interesting one in Canadian history, as we move from “Rock the Vote” to “Mock the Vote.”