Brains on Fire Blog - Latest Comments

Re: Is All of That ‘Noise’ a Bad Thing?

Eric Dodds — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:44:17 -0000

Well said, and great point on perspective.

Re: Is All of That ‘Noise’ a Bad Thing?

Elizabeth Smithson — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:12:22 -0000

I'm with you ... all the jabbering about noise being a huge deterrent is really just a battle against perspective. Yes, if you are overwhelmed by the Internet and the idea of marketing against EVERY other company that exists in your space across the globe because of Google ... that might get a little intimidating ... but that's not the case. People do business with people they like who solve their problems. It's not you vs. the world.

Re: Hello (and some photos) From Chicago

Robbin — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:22:22 -0000

Oh Rob, Thanks for so much for that great quote. I was writing fast this morning and hate that I didn't give you and your wife credit for that. Lovely to meet you as well!

Re: Hello (and some photos) From Chicago

Rob Parker — Wed, 09 May 2012 11:43:10 -0000

Hey Robin, Carey-Jo and I really enjoyed the Zombie presentation last night! Thanks for the quote - here's the whole thing..

"If you want to be loved, be loveable. If you want to be adored, be adorable."

I can't take credit for it, it comes from a very wise woman, but I really believe it applies to brands as much as people. Because what are brands if they're not about people first? We're all in this together.

Lovely to meet you!

Cheers,

Rob Parker
RewardStream
Rob.parker@rewardstream.con

Re: This is your life.

Contextual Link Building — Tue, 08 May 2012 00:15:03 -0000

Really great work,I would like to join yoi think that this post is very goodr blog anyway.

Re: The things that make us happy. And human.

KennyB — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:39:12 -0000

I don't imagine that dead animals would be involved in any way, shape or form.

Re: A Culture of the Little Things

Hal — Thu, 03 May 2012 01:31:58 -0000

Great article! I submitted my resume, cover & PDF Portfolio to you all a few days ago after calling about design positions offered. I love how the person I spoke with asked me relevant questions and tried to get to know me a bit more instead of just saying "oh, send that stuff to [insert name here]" (then saying bye before you have time to thank them and wish them a good day).
Emails, or any work that you do multiple times in a row can get a little daunting — most interns can vouch for that — but thank you for having this rule. It means a lot to people with burdens of anticipated answers on their hearts.

Re: Dreaming Cow: Great Story, Great Brand, Great Packaging, Great Yogurt

Anneliz Hannan — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:49:34 -0000

I am not a yogurt fan but you have convinced me to give it a try. Love the packaging.

Re: Dreaming Cow: Great Story, Great Brand, Great Packaging, Great Yogurt

Eric B. Whitlock — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:55:23 -0000

Very cool. This should be on http://lovelypackage.com/

Re: Bringing Back Recess

Rebecca — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 22:03:52 -0000

Lovely post. We all need to take a break, it's true twitter,facebook and other networking still there. haha love it!

Re: Do you make your customers feel at home?

Robbin — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:37:57 -0000

Michael,

That is just awesome. Thank you for sharing it with me.

Re: Do you make your customers feel at home?

Michael Gibbons — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:04:28 -0000

Robbin I think you'd love this - hope you haven't seen it yet REM poignant & gorgeous
We All Go Back To Where We Belong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Re: This is your life.

Clairvoyant — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 07:53:40 -0000

A Clairvoyant will tune into the spirit world or just their own intuition and give you information about your self and your life. You may ask your clairvoyant any questions you wish about any area of your life.

Re: We could all use a little pixie dust.

Jamie Wallace — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 11:02:07 -0000

Life without magic would be pretty dull. All of nature is full of magic. Children are full of magic. Stories are full of magic. Art and music are full of magic. These are all my favorite things. I'll take magic every day of the week and nights, too.
:)

PS - My daughter had a dragon pen pal for quite a while. She, too, often wondered if she might be able to convince her scaly friend to come and live with us. Unfortunately, our house is too small and we thought she (the dragon's name was Inga) might frighten the neighbors.

Re: Do you make your customers feel at home?

miguelggarcia — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:48:10 -0000

I think that a brand can connect deeply with a person.
One of such places for me would be Menchie's; this frozen-yogurt place feels just right. Their colors, logos and all make it feel like it's talking to a 10 year old. But you know? I like it. I feel like this brand talks to my inner child and just "allows me to be". How?

Starting with the sincere-feeling greeting of the employees everytime I walk in (and good-bye when walking out), the "try-as-many-flavors-as-you-want-before-deciding" and the freedom to make flavor combinations as crazy as you imagine. Funny enough, when I go I don't see a lot of kids there, it's mostly people around my age -twenty-thirty somethings- and older just smiling and having a good time. I love going to that little place.

Interestingly enough, I don't follow Menchie's on Twitter/Facebook or any social network; I don't need to read their tweets to "experience the brand" when I can simply walk in an play with the yogurt machines.

Can other brands do it? Of course, but it would entail that employees are given the freedom to be themselves, not act like instruction manual-fed robots with no emotions; and also when the company walks out of their "glass walls" and starts to realy talk with their clients to understand them (us) and see what we really want.

Re: Do you make your customers feel at home?

Ann Marquette — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:47:46 -0000

Greenville is where I feel at HOME, feel the real and better me shining through, where I have embraced the place and the people, and feel embraced in return by the place and people.

Re: Do you make your customers feel at home?

Heather — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:06:13 -0000

Very thought provoking.

I think it's definitely possible to help others feel at home and encourage them to feel connected to a brand on an emotional level. And if successful, I would count this as one of the highest achievements branding wise. But either way it's such a positive aim for a business to have.
:)

Re: We could all use a little pixie dust.

Kat White — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 08:45:24 -0000

Magic is one of my favorite words.

And I adore everything about this post.

Re: Storytelling and Wonder.

Zoe Alexander — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:28:12 -0000

Hi Robbin! Not only is a story moving in itself, but didn't you find the week's detachment from the normal frantic pace of life a tonic? We have recently launched a new on-line designer maternity brand and in the last year and a half had no real time off! So much to do yet in our hearts we know we need a break. But timing is critical post launch! Catch 22!

Re: Start Something.

Robbin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:19:51 -0000

hello Tracy, so great to see you here. I love NEW first too. Great addition to this post. You've inspired me.

Re: We could all use a little pixie dust.

Julia Stewart — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:25:16 -0000

Me, I keep a magic wand on my desk. I think it's the nature of creative people.

Re: Touchpoints Matter

Buahaha — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:32:34 -0000

one word
Bizzaro alternate spiderman crossover comic chapter..bleh you get the idea

Re: Start Something.

tracy — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:42:14 -0000

Robbin. I had the good fortunte to read this blog post just about 1 minute and 30 seconds before going into a difficult meeting. I had prepared for the meeting, written out a game plan, considered my options and - frankly - fretted endlessly about the meeting. Despite all that, I still didn't feel like I knew how to handle the meeting, other than to be candid and honest. Reading the post took me into the meeting thinking, okay, let's forget the first meeting - which went really badly - and make this the New First Meeting. If I do that - maybe it will help. I did declare it a New First Meeting - part of my internal dialogue - and it did help. Thank you! New Firsts are magical too.

Re: Being an Outsider

Kat White — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:46:18 -0000

That shot of Florence in early morning is beautiful, Geno.

Re: Storytelling and Wonder.

Günter Soydanbay — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:01:59 -0000

Thanks for the article Robbin.

I am glad to see that storytelling is regaining its importance. In a nutshell, Stanton is referring to, but not explicitly stating, archetypes and the archetypal story line. Storytelling is actually pretty straightforward. Great stories of all times, including the ones the speaker mentioned, are popular story lines -mythical ones. Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Face and Carol Pearson's Awakening the Hero Within are great resources. Cheers!