It just so happens that I am a fan of book clubs. The whole idea of sitting around with friends and some wine and cheese is just fun. But, being able to talk with them about something that doesn’t typically enter into the conversion, such as great/strange/interesting book is amazing. They force you to read books you might not have chosen on your own and think of them from a different point of view. Now what if you could do this on a global scale? That would be really cool.
One Book, One Twitter launched last week. This club is the social media version of the One Book, One City programs that have been very popular in many communities. The aim of this club is to get as many people reading and discussing/tweeting about the same book.
Readers have been voting on the book over the last month and the winning book is a fantasy “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman.
I have to admit I will miss the wine, cheese and occasional gossip, but I’m going to give this book club a try.
Our trusty integrated leader speaks out on how TAXI is pushing to make production a boundary free space.
Boulder Digital works is a great resource for people getting into digital, their promo video alone makes you think about what people are doing now to facilitate change.
I’ve been following the antics of one Johnny Cupcakes for a few years now. This guy impresses like no other, his passion for what he does rivals only Gary Vaynerchuk in my book, and that’s a good thing.
Recently Johnny did something you never see from the face of a company, a throwback to his early days of hustling t-shirts out of his suitcase while on tour with his band. Johnny along with his crew of people have embarked on a “Suitcase Tour” visiting bake shops, galleries and toy stores nation wide. Check the video below for the full story.
So what? Some guy you’ve probably never heard of decides to pack up some t-shirts into an old suitcase and document their antics of all the tour stops along their journey. Why is this important at all? Why take the time? The effort? Proof of how awesome this whole concept is for the JC brand is immediately evident if you watch any of the tour stop videos. The lineups alone show the dedication of people to the cupcakes brand, their love for Johnny and his shirts. But it extends further. People tell their stories about how they first found out about Johnny, how they randomly connected with somebody over a brand of t-shirt. Like VW owners giving each other the friendly nod when they drive past. This brand has captured its fanbase and is actively participating with it, seamlessly, honestly and transparently. Even before the tour you might find Johnny tweeting out and posting to the Facebook page that if you just showed up to a spot that night with a cupcakes shirt on you could get a free icecream sandwich. (see below)
All of this does wonders for the people that love Johnny Cupcakes. The fans are rallied together to create a memorable experience that they’ll share with their friends and family for years to come. That kind of experience is seemingly simple to accomplish with a little bit of planning and the desire to meet with your fans, interact with them and give a part of yourself back. How much is that worth in the end? Johnny success relies heavily on his dedication to his fans. He lives out his brand to everybody doing that requires guts and persistence and you have to admit that seeing what hes accomplished is nothing short of awesome.
Skip on over to the JC blog and watch some videos, get inspired and figure out how this type of thing can be incorporated into the work your doing now. Yet another example of brands who understand their fans.
If you’re a New Yorker, odds are you’ve held one of Leslie Buck’s designs in your hands. Buck — who died earlier this week at the age of 87 — was the man behind the iconic blue, white, and gold coffee cups that you can still find at many bodegas and food carts around the city. Its proper name: the Anthora. (As his son explained to the New York Times, the name derives from the amphora vases flanking the cup’s exterior; in his father’s Eastern European accent, it sounded more like “anthora.”)
Buck — who had no formal training in art — opted for a Grecian-looking cup because so many of the city’s diners and coffee shops were owned by Greeks back in the ’60s. The cup’s friendly inscription (“WE ARE HAPPY TO SERVE YOU”) in Classical script is perhaps its most identifying trait. He made no royalties on his design for the Sherri Cup company, where he was a director of marketing at the time, but he did profit off of the increase in sales.
I took my kids to see ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ this weekend and am pretty sure that the grown ups were more blown away than the kids. (This is not to say that the kids didn’t love it too.) This Dreamworks film is a winning combo of strong characters, a charming story, and wondrous 3D affects that at times make you jump in your seat.
If you’re embarassed going to animated films without kids in tow, you’ll want to borrow some to go to this. And if you don’t know any you can take mine. They’d love to see it again.
