Apple Store Shopping Experience

Last Saturday I dropped my son off at a library in Uptown in Minneapolis for a video game class. A few hours and what to do? Well I knew that a new Apple Store had opened one week ago in this neighborhood so I set off to take a look.

In the back of my mind this was also a chance to order the new iPhone4. My current iPhone is the original version and it has been my companion for over two and a half years. It's been starting to show it's age as the battery capacity seems to be getting less and less with each passing week.

I walk in the store and I'm not five feet in the door when a salesperson approaches me and asks how he can help. That was prompt customer service and as I look around the store I see plenty of sales team members and customers and everyone seems quite happy - it is a fun time I'm sure to work for Apple and certainly an exciting time for a customer given the recent release of the iPad and this next gen iPhone.

I get some of the specifics of the new iPhone4 - the video camera - how easy that is to edit, the improved camera with front and back capabilities, photo flash and yes improved battery life. Just then I realized that not one mention was mad of the phone's primary responsiblitiy - it's a cell phone. It's amazing isn't it that the smartphones are all about the other stuff beside the original use of it being a cell phone. Heck that's a given - it's all the bells and whistles that truly matter when you buy a smartphone.

So after five minutes of not so hard sales talk - I'm ready to buy and my order is taken on an iPad. Smart job by Apple to order it this way and then show me how cool the iPad is and don't you want one of those. Well I'm going to wait on the iPad.

I'm really looking forward to getting the new iPhone4 and seeing how it works. I'm sure the phone will work great but I'm looking forward to the camera and video camera and of course all those apps that I enjoy.

It is an easy shopping experience at Apple. I just hope that they don't disappoint me in terms of how long it will now take to get the iPhone4. It's already been three days and I don't have it yet.

What I Learned at SMBMSP#27

Last Friday I had the opportunity to sit in on SMBMSP#27 at the Target Center in Minneapolis and to hear the panel talk about how social media is impacting sports.

It was great panel including Candice Wiggins of he Minnesota Lynx, Gregg Litman from WCCO, Matt Teske of the St. Paul Saints, Scott Spiridigliozzi of the MN T-Wolves and Austin Stair Calhoun from the U of M Tucker Center.

@candicewiggins started things of by saying that "Twitter is like Cheers - it's a friendly place." She has been involved in Twitter before the WNBA had any special rules around the platform. "We didn't have any social media training from the WNBA - I just started doing it."

Candice was very articulate and very interested in using social media to build her own personal brand but to also hear what fans had to say. She is using Twitter more of a fan interface than Facebook right now.

@mattteske from the St. Paul Saints talked about how "Social media really breaks down the walls. Allows us to have great fan interaction that we couldn't have before. We can react very quickly to our guests."

@liozzi from the MN Timberwolves talked about how they want to be more "transparent" with their fans. They've had various Twitter/Facebook events since starting to ramp up in the Spring of 2009.

It was a good session in a very interesting space - Target Center with only about 200+ people in the stands. Good panel and was worth the time investment to hear the panel and Q & A. Nice job SMBMSP for putting on this session. Looking forward to what's next in July.

My first MLB Game

On this date in 1968 I saw my first Major League Baseball game at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, MN. It was between the New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins.

My dad and a friend of his John Salwei and I were sitting up in the third deck between home and first base. A pretty high view but for me it was magical. I will never forget the first time we came out of the ramp and I saw the perfectly manicured green grass of the old Met.

In the fourth inning of that game Harmon Killebrew hit a foul ball and we caught it. What a thrill for me. My first MLB game and we got a foul ball from Harmon.

Here it is 42 years later and I've still got that ball. I held onto it for 21 years before I got it signed by Harmon at a card collectors show at the Met Center. He was amazed that I had keep the ball that long. I've still got that ball in a little trophy case (picture above) and it is something I cherish and I will pass along to my kids. It is more for sentimental value than any genuine worth.

Baseball is a game that I'm passionate about it. Whether it was playing the game while growing up to collecting baseball cards and now being an ardent fan. I love all the intricacies of the game, the strategy and the wonderful execution by such talented athletes.

I'm enjoying passing along my passion to my kids as we attend several Twins games a year and we usually see one spring training game in Florida and venture to a different major or minor league park every summer. Baseball is a wonderful game for memories and I enjoy reading about players that played before I was born.

Baseball is a great game and I'm glad that I caught the bug for the game early in my life. And I thank my Dad for taking me to that first game. He helped instill in me the passion for the wonderful game of baseball. 42 years later that passion still burns for the game.

Happy Father's Day

Today is a day that I remember all the great things that my dad did for me. It has been almost sixteen years since I lost my Dad.

There are so many great memories of him and thinking back I cherish each one of them.

My dad was a great teacher of life. He passed down to me and my siblings the lessons of life that his father had taught him. My dad was hard working, honest and full of integrity. If my dad said he was going to do something - he did it.

He cared about people and loved to meet and talk with new people - he had an insatiable curiosity. My dad was a collector - whether it was cars, antiques or coins or watches he loved his collections and shared many hours with family and friends discussing them.

One of my favorite memories of him was on a childhood vacation up in Canada at Banff in Alberta. It was the fourth of July and we had a snowball fight. Why do I remember this - because my dad was fun loving and loved to joke around.

After I was out of college I was able to take a vacation with my Mom and Dad to Europe. We spent time in England and Switzerland. It was a great trip and one I look back on very fondly. We had planned to go to Norway the summer that he had passed away and I was so looking forward to that. My dad was very proud of his Norwegian heritage. My Mom and I still made that trip that summer to honor him and I'm so grateful that we did. I know Dad was watching over us then.

My dad was very important to me and I know that as the days go by I often catch myself doing things, saying things my dad would say. How does that happen?

Not just today but especially today I want to thank my dad for all he did for me. I miss not being able to say "Happy Father's Day" to him.

Crowdsourcing a new frontier

This past Wednesday at MIMA I had the opportunity to hear one of the founders of Victors and Spoils the world's first creative agency built on crowd sourcing principles. John Winsor is the CEO (twitter.com/jtwinsor)of this agency that debuted six months ago.

The Wikipedia definition of "crowd sourcing" is a nelogistic portmanteau of "crowd" and "outsourcing" for the act of outsourcing tasks, traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, to a large group of people or community through an open call.

Clearly this is a very different way to operate a marketing communications agency by tapping into a variety of sources even more so than "freelancing" that often happens across the industry.

John is a true entrepreneur and has started several businesses in his career but this is the most ambitious endeavor he has set out to establish. He gave several examples of the successes that they have had like the recent work for Dish Network that was recently written up in Ad Age (6/3/10).

The good things that he sees out of crowd sourcing are things like:

-Tapping into world class talent
-Fast
-No barriers
-No legacy issues

However, like any business model there has to be a down side and my guess is that there has to be some legal issues in what they are doing. What if one of the people that is working for them works on a competitive piece of business? How the heck does that work? What is the compensation model? How does the relationship work with the client?

There are lots of questions as to how crowd sourcing will expand. I believe there will be growth in this area but is this the answer for the next generation of ad agency? That is the big unknown. What do you think?

The greatest coach ever?

Yesterday in Los Angeles John Wooden was laid to rest. Over the past couple of weeks a lot has been written about this coaching icon of college basketball. Coach Wooden won a record 10 NCAA Men's Basketball titles in a row in the 1960's and 1970's. I grew up watching those great teams led by Bill Walton, Sidney Wicks and Dave Myers.

But as those years have passed by I've found out what a great man Coach Wooden was. A very humble Midwesterner from Indiana he led by example. Great books and for me his great quotes have left lasting impressions.

"When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur . . . Seek small improvement one day at a time. That's the only way it happens and when it happens it lasts."

The testament to any great coach is the respect that he builds with his players. Clearly John Wooden is at the top of this pyramid. When you read the stories of so many of his former players flying in from around the country and world to visit him in the hospital in his last days you see the true impact of this man. Coach Wooden was more than just a coach to his players at UCLA. He was a leader with great wisdom and character.

That is respect. That is as good as it gets.

My favorite John Wooden quote has always been,

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

Coach Wooden was a great man, a great teacher and a great family man. We should all strive to attain these accolades. Rest in peace Coach Wooden and thanks for all your wisdom that you've shared with everyone.

What will be your summer adventure?

Summer officially started in our house last Tuesday evening with the end of the Minneapolis Public School year. Kids are excited for new adventures this summer and a break from the day to day regimen of school.

So we've got a very varied schedule this year as they are trying different camps and programs throughout the Twin Cities. My wife has developed a very interesting schedule for them that should provide some interesting and fun activities. Things like a video game camp, chess camp, camera camp to mention a few. And even a week long camp for each of our kids in central Minnesota on a couple of cool lakes.

And isn't that what summer should be - kids trying new things - having some new adventures?

So do you try and do this in your professional life? Try some new things and do some different things or do you just keep your same routine going?

At Preston Kelly we are bringing some new training initiatives forward for our team - for us to become better presenters. And importantly this will extend throughout the year and not just end this summer. But it is one thing that I will be doing to learn new things this summer.

What about you - what are you going to try and do different this summer? C'mom you've got to try something? What about really engaging on Twitter? Try to post two things a day. Or get engaged on foursquare and see what the buzz is all about. There are plenty of things to learn if you just stretch yourself and try something new and different.

Happy summer adventures to all.

Giving Back to your Community

Giving back to the community is a principal that was taught very early to me by my parents. In a small town you often see the community pull together to help keep it moving forward.

Since I left my hometown when I was 17 and off to college I've had the opportunity to live in two major metropolitan areas - Chicago and the Twin Cities.

I have been very impressed by how each large metropolitan area support so many charity events and causes that benefit so many in these communities.

This past weekend I attended two events to benefits things close to our family. On Friday night we attended the annual school carnival at my daughter's elementary school - Michael Dowling Urban Environmental School in Minneapolis. It was a great night to see all the students, parents and school staff mingle and share some fun and great conversation. We make it a point to attend every school fundraiser that we can. We know that the funds are going to help children and what could be more important than that.

On Saturday morning we attended the American Heart Association Start Walk event at Target Field in Minneapolis (picture above). Attended by over 10,000 walkers from all over the metro area it is so good to see the large health care organizations and financial institutions like U.S. Bank there to support the community. This is a cause close to us because our son has congenital heart disease and we truly appreciate all that AHA does to help find solutions.

Giving back to your community is important. And it doesn't what cause you support or give back just find a way to donate your time or money to help make your community better. It certainly makes our family feel better when we support our community.

Social Media and Beer?

I'm thinking a headline with "beer" in it may capture the attention of many beer drinkers at least.

This morning I'm walking into the office and see this billboard with the headline "Best social medium Twitter or beer? The product is Summit Beer. They have a very smart tag line "Get to the bottom of it" - drink a glass of Summit and it will help you get through the discussion.

Smart creative work by a local Twin Cities agency I believe GDB.

My observation on this clever billboard is that "Twitter" is now becoming part of our normal everyday conversation. Only 17 million people use Twitter yet we can now use the brand in a headline because the brand awareness of Twitter is over 90%. This is a headline that would not have worked as effectively only 12 months ago but today it is spot on.

Being a heavy Twitter user I found this headline very thought provoking and the medium was perfect. So a shout out to Summit Beer and their ad agency for a smart outdoor board. Nice work everyone.

Also being a heavy user of Foursquare I'm waiting for the first brand to use this social media platform in their mass communication. How long before that happens? Would love to hear what you think.

Are you a game changer?

That's a pretty big question isn't it. Are you a game changer in your job? In your personal life?

I'm reading or actually listening to a book (on a CD) on Babe Ruth called "The Big Bam" by Leigh Montville a writer from Sports Illustrated. It's not a new book but it is a very in depth look at the life of Babe Ruth. The writing reminds me of David Halberstam and how deeply he took you into the subject he was writing about.

Babe Ruth was the most significant game changer for our national past time. He completely changed the way baseball was played back in the 1920's. His efforts made the game more interesting and still serve as the platform for how teams play today over 90 years later. Power baseball with home runs being more important than the "singles" game that preceded this era.

So being a game changer in your industry would put you in very select company- Henry Ford in the automobile business, Johnny Unitas in football and maybe Bill Bernbach for advertising. These three people were pioneers in their fields and their legacies continue today.

Not everyone can have this much impact in their business. But you can certainly have impact in the areas that you are involved with. Can you get a brand to do something that they haven't done before? Can you champion a new product or service for a company? Can you write a book on something that you are passionate about?

The question really becomes are you willing to fly? Are you willing to take a chance and take that big risk? Are you willing to really try something different?

Game changers answer yes to all of these questions. How about you do you want to change the game with your current company? Your current team? Go ahead and try because that is what makes our country so great. Let's all be game changers in our own individual ways. We can't all be Babe Ruth be we can certainly have an impact on our own environments.