Celebrating the birthday of Lemonade

Supposedly today is the the 380th birthday of Lemonade - of course different sources claim differently but for me I'm going to celebrate it today.

Lemonade is a great summer beverage. I remember all those Country Time Lemonade TV spots and the idyllic settings that they portrayed. Simpler times meant peaceful laid back times in those spots.

And when I think of Lemonade it does take me back to my childhood. It was the beverage of choice that my Mom would offer instead of a soda. Even though there can be more sugar in lemonade than some sodas - because it said "Lemon" it must have been healthier.

My belief is that anything that takes you back to your childhood summers is a good thing. Lots of outside play time and no school. Growing up in North Dakota our summers were pretty carefree - swimming pool and playing outside games in the neighborhood. My kids got to enjoy that last weekend. We had no Internet and I got them to stay away from the TV. They read and played games in the park with their cousins and walked uptown to my brother's Variety Store. They love that and can spend lots of time looking at all the toys and candy. Of course a few free samples from Wayne's bulk candy always makes a day better.

This year they really got to experience a few summer days like I did growing up. Simpler times and they had a blast. My son always say I love going to North Dakota because all our cousins just come over to Grandma's house - we don't have to set up "get together" dates with our friends. How true, how true.

So as I sit here today and think back on those fun childhood times I'm glad a glass of Lemonade can bring back a cascade of great memories. Have a glass today and savor the last few weeks of the summer of 2010. Enjoy.

An empty household

On Monday morning we packed up our two kids and they headed off to two different camps in central Minnesota. They were nervous with excitement and wondering what the next week held in store for them. Hey, it's camp, it's a nice warm summer in Minnesota and they get to be surrounded by beautiful lakes what's not to like.

Meanwhile my wife and I were about to experience something that we hadn't since July of 1998. An empty household. Yes for the first time in 12 years we were going to be spending a week at our house with no children. What are we going to do?

We of course had grand plans for dining out every night at restaurants with white table cloths and evenings of summer leisure time. Oh the wonderful times that lay ahead.

So far we have experienced cooking a meal for a teenage safe house on Monday evening. And then we had to spend some time on the phone and on the Internet trying to rustle up some additional players for our daughter's soccer team for this fall since they were very short of players. So the first night of leisure time slipped away very quickly.

Last night we did sneak in a nice dinner at Kozy's in Edina. But then after that we had birthday shopping to do for Anders. Barnes & Noble, Old Navy and Target. My Foursquare account was hitting the jackpot with all these new places in Edina. We were then trapped in the Target given the torrential downpour that occurred last night. We eventually got home and had to deal with water seepage in one of our windows.

The grand plans really haven't taken the initial shape that we had. So after two evenings at home with no kids we haven't really relaxed. And tonight we need to do some major cleaning and prepping for an out of town wedding.

So our one week as "empty nesters" has really turned out to be quite busy and not so relaxing. And yes we miss the kids. They bring a level of excitement and energy to our house each and every day. We feel blessed to have them. Quiet peaceful nights at home can wait, at least for me.

What a great Ballpark

Our family recently took a trip to Washington D.C. While we of course took in all the sights of D.C. we also took in a game at the Nationals Stadium. Every summer trip usually means a stop in a MLB stadium or a Minor League park somewhere.

We were totally impressed with the game experience at the Nationals Stadium. From the minute we ordered tickets on-line to the game to the post game email asking us about our experience this was customer service as it should be. If all sports venue treated their fans like this we would all go to more events.

The staff at the stadium was attentive and all the stuff going on before the game on their center field plaza from bands playing, having the four Presidents from Mount Rushmore in costume and dancing on the party plaza - it was a party atmosphere. The Philadelphia Phillies were in town and they brought a lot of fans with which created almost a play-off like atmosphere.

Our kids got their pictures taken with all the Presidents and Screech the Nationals mascot and we even got a free bobble head of Nyjer Morgan as the game giveaway.

I had a "Half-Smoke" from Ben's Chili Bowl a D.C. legendary eatery and it was tasty.

The stadium is laid out perfectly with a huge entry point in center field and this is only one block from the Metro (their subway). Easy to get to and love the accessibility.

Oh yes and it was a great game as the Nationals won 7-5 with a 3 run walk off home run by Ryan Zimmerman. A perfect summer night watching baseball at the perfect baseball park. Great job by the Nationals. If you're a baseball fan you will love this park.

Back in the late 1990's I worked on a very fun account the Polaris Recreational Vehicles (snowmobies, ATV's, motorcycles and personal watercrafts) account at Martin Williams. I had the opportunity to help launch a new brand positioning platform for the brand and it was a lot of fun and a great experience.

We proposed a brand video to help ground all Polaris employees in our new brand position and brand theme line "The Way Out". In the opening scenes of the video our Executive Creative Director Lyle W. wrote an incredible piece of copy that pretty much summed up the experience of riding a Polaris vehicle.

It went something like this: "The feeling I get when I go out on a ride is like the feeling you have when you wake up on a Saturday morning the first day of your vacation - a sense of freedom and excitement and the feeling of getting away from it all."

The line of copy from a very powerful video has always stuck with me and tomorrow morning I will have that feeling again when I wake up as I'm off on vacation.

Vacations are very important tools to help us re-charge our batteries whether we go and experience new things or go back to familiar places. The trip that our family is about to embark upon is one of a bunch of new experiences. I'll post more when we are back - but right now I'm thinking of the great feeling I'll have when I wake up tomorrow and I'll remember to thank Lyle for penning such a wonderful thought.

It's a long race

Last night I had the chance to visit Target Field again and saw one of the two World Series trophy that the Minnesota Twins have.

It's always a cool thing to see a World Championship trophy and to think about how hard the people associated with the team worked to win it. It also reminded me that any success professional is usually a long race. Wins are usually not secured in a short period of time, but rather it is a long distance race.

To win over the long haul you need have a goal and be prepared to stay on your strategic course. You may get some early results that indicate you are right on target. And then you may hit some bumps on the road and you veer slightly off course. Pretty much like a typical MLB season for most teams. You win some, you lose some and then you have some close games and if you win a majority of them - you end up having a successful season.

So while you are managing a brand for your client you need to have this stick-to-it-tiveness also. You will have some great sales days and you might have some days that do not perform up to your goals. But you take away learning from that and keep executing to the strategies that you laid as the foundation for your plan.

When you are managing your brand - just make sure you keep your eyes on the prize. It's a long way to the finish line and you need to stick with your plan - make some slight tweaks to keep you on task. It's a long race - just be prepared to stay focused on your goals and good things tend to happen.

Great Customer Service by Apple

When I get great customer service it strikes a chord with me. Apple has continually delivered terrific customer service across many touch points that I've had with them.



My current example is that I needed to set up my voice mail account on my new iPhone4 and to do that I needed to recall the password that I set up once back almost 3 years ago. Well I didn't remember so I started to look for ways to talk to a live customer service person for Apple.



Found the number and in under 90 seconds was talking live to a very pleasant sales rep. Everything worked out great and he got my new voice message box set up.



So when I got the email survey today to fill out I was more than happy to provide some very positive feedback. It was at the conclusion of the survey that once again Apple over delivered. A very simple "thank you" page in many different languages. This is so smart and so Apple.



Thanks again Apple for another great customer service experience.

Old Spice = Wildfire

Wow, this campaign is on fire. Everywhere you turn people are talking about the recent launch of the newest Old Spice campaign. Yesterday I saw some of the videos in my Facebook stream. And then last night I saw the brilliant TV spot during the MLB All-Star Game which reminded me to look at their Facebook page and Twitter pages this morning.

If W & K is producing these videos in real time and using Twitter posts and other posts to make the spots they have broken some new ground in the new marketing world.

This is the campaign of the future and it's fun to see it evolve over time - or the last 48 hours or so. Put a comment up on Twitter and then have the brand respond back to you with not just a comment but a video answering your question. Would love to have been in the room as this concept took hold. How cool must it have been to present and sell this to P & G?

Hats off to W & K for the idea and P & G for the foresight to say move forward.

Although Old Spice has been smartly re-positioning the brand over the past couple of years I really think this campaign will provide the rocket fuel to change every one's perception of this brand that has been around for a long time. I grew up with the Old Spice "whistle" campaign and frankly it was a yawner.

This new campaign totally takes the brand to much more modern and hip place and is a brand that now appeals to the young male audience. Good idea to grab them young and create a lifetime customer.

It's campaigns and work like this that make this an exciting business.

So who's next? What brand is going to do something so spectacular that the next wildfire is lit.