Blue Skies

Blue skies, smiling at me;

Nothing but blue skies do I see.

Blue birds, singing a song;

Nothing but blue birds all day long.

Never saw the sun shining so bright;

Never saw things looking so right.

Noticing the days, hurrying by;

When you’re in love, my how they fly.

Blue Days, all of them gone;

Nothing but Blue Skies from now on.

When I first heard this Frank Sinatra tune I wanted to remember it as a kind of toast. It is such a beautiful thing to wish for someone – blue skies and sunny days. Of course, life doesn’t work that way and true character is built on how we negotiate the squalls and dark clouds of adversity.   

My son Ben will be married later this year. Ben and Allison met in Miami as students at the “U.”  The Coral Gables campus is an especially beautiful place when the sky is blue and the sun is shining. In South Florida, if you spend enough time there, you really grow to love the feeling of being in paradise all the while knowing it cannot last. The Miami football team will win 57 home games in a row. The team will be declared a college football dynasty. Eventually, of course, they will be defeated. The Orange Bowl will be torn down. A spectacular baseball stadium will take its place. Tropical Storms will cause massive flooding, Category five Hurricanes will reach landfall and the Everglades will catch fire. But in spite of it all you will never forget the beauty and color of a casual walk through the Fairchild Tropical Gardens and remember just how fantastic things can be.  

Ben and Allison we love you. We wish you all the best that life has to offer. Still we are also painfully aware of the ebb and flow of things. You will be tested. You will see storms. You will have setbacks. But you will face them together and that will make a world of difference. I think you both understand this concept because I see how you both cherish every moment together. You took the time to preserve in a painting the profoundly mature thought: “Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful.” If you know that to be true, nothing can stop you from having a remarkable life together.  

While we cannot promise anything, we can still wish this for you both:

Blue Days, all of them gone;

Nothing but Blue Skies from now on. 

Remarkable Leadership

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting Kevin Eikenberry, the author of Remarkable Leadership. Kevin is a speaker and leadership trainer for a long list of clients including corporations and industry associations. He insists he is not a motivational speaker because that inspiration has to come from within an individual.  However, at the heart of his work is the challenge to “Be remarkable.” He believes strongly that everyone has the potential to be remarkable.

The day I met Kevin, he actually gave two presentations. The American Marketing Association Leadership Summit scheduled him for two sessions. I attended both. His morning session included interaction with a smaller group. It was clear that he made mental notes which added value and relevance to the keynote presentation to over 500 people that evening.  

Remarkable Leadership is a practical handbook written for anyone who wants to hone the skills they need to become a remarkable leader. This book outlines a framework and a mechanism for both learning new things and applying current knowledge in a thoughtful and practical way. It provides a guide through the most important leadership competencies, offers a proven method for learning leadership skills, and shows approaches for applying these skills in today’s multitasking and overloaded world of work. The book explores real-world concerns such as focus, limited time, incremental improvement, and how we learn.

Kevin is a true believer that leaders can be made. The book identifies behaviors that remarkable leaders exhibit. He gives practical ways to develop for those who aspire to be remarkable. After his keynote you could feel the motivation of chapter leaders starting to emerge. In my book, he is a motivational speaker if the mood in that room is any indicator. Thanks Kevin!  

Marketing and ROI

I’ve been pretty vocal about planning a marketing program and reviewing it at least annually. I have been  especially emphatic about the communications portion of that effort. You should have measurement goals. Measurement must be a consideration in the planning process up-front. The tricky part is that so much of what falls within a typical marketing budget is either not measureable or not marketing. Most marketers are terrible at defending themselves. When you consider the results of a recent survey of top marketing people you can see why. 

Advertising Age reported (March 12, 2012) that a survey of 243 Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) conducted in January and February of 2012 revealed that 57% don’t establish budgets according to return on investment (ROI). Furthermore, 68% said budgets are based on historical spending. 28% said they go on instinct. Finally 7% of respondents said most of their spending not based on metrics at all. 


This study by Columbia Business School Center on Global Brand Leadership and the American Advertising Association of NYC isn’t as surprising as it is evidence of our own death wish when it comes to earning the respect of other business leaders. Occasionally you will hear someone grip about wanting a place at the table in the C-suite, but I think we marketers rather relish our precarious place in the world.

What do you think? 

Commercial Art

Recently, I joined the docent ranks at the Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis. I have always been a fan of sculpture, particularly monumental contemporary art in public places. Laumeier is a public-private partnership and a free park for art lovers to enjoy. The training I have received over the past couple of months reminds me that sculpture can be transformative. I love it when sculpture is integrated into commercial building spaces and urban settings too. Sculpture makes a huge difference in city. It creates a sense of place. Consider public art like the magnificent Picasso at Daley Plaza in Chicago, Claes Oldenburg’s FREE Stamp sculpture in Cleveland and the wonderful collection at Citygarden in downtown St. Louis, which includes a Keith Harring, Mark di Suvero, Johnathan Clarke and a dozen others.

Later this year, the International Sculpture Conference will span three days, October 4-6, in Chicago where they will feature keynote speakers, panel discussions and comprehensive programs of mentoring sessions, workshops and tours. I hope this group along with patrons and artists everywhere can persuade and inspire designers and builders to make art part of their planning for the structures of the future. Sculpture, in particular, can be a magical part of the vision for commercial structures. The aesthetic, the provocative, the use of innovative materials, artistic techniques and even architectural details as part of a building become markers for special places.

If you love art and believe, like I do, that it enriches us all when it is shared with the world, I hope you will be a supporter of art in public places and commercial spaces.

Ad Biz - from the Corner Office in St. Louis

Charlie Claggett agreed to be the master of ceremonies for the long overdue panel presentation from leaders in advertising and marketing communications firms in St. Louis on April 19, 2012 presented by the American Marketing Association. The luncheon attracted a full house (nearly at room capacity of 120 people). Tom Townsend (Rodgers Townsend), Tim Leon (Geile-Leon), Angie Lawing (Mercury Labs and Ad Saint), Joe Leahy (Hughes Leahy Karlovic), Stacey Goldman (Cannonball), John Nickle (Switch), and Dan Curran (4orce) spoke for the marketing and advertising community in a robust, engaging and thought-provoking session.

Charlie, an advertising icon in St. Louis, was charming and efficient at moving though introductions and questions. Each of the panelists had meaningful morsels to offer as take always from the function. Here are some of the points I found particularly noteworthy. Note: I am paraphrasing.

Tim Leon: “We have found that our agency is helping clients in areas outside the marketing department – including IT and HR. In fact, we’ve invested in a merger that expanded our expertise in employee engagement”

Joe Leahy: “We also have clients that have a roster of agencies. (Asking them to stay in their respective swim lanes). Clients don’t seem to want generalists, they want specialists. At our shop, we aren’t trying to anticipate the future so much as we are chasing the present.”

Dan Curran: “What is great about digital is the amount of data. You can’t lie behind metrics. Clients are a little scared and confused. There are a lot of charlatans out there who present themselves as experts. Let’s face it, it is like drinking out of a fire hose.”

Angie Lawing: “Video has the capacity to produce great emotional depth. That can be a powerful thing. Ad Saint is a vehicle for connecting the marketing communications community in St. Louis. There isn’t anything marketers need that cannot be produced in St. Louis. We do great work in this town”

Stacey Goldman: “It’s about being a good listener. And sometimes you need to convince clients that 10 things is too much – you might be better off identifying two things that people are more likely to remember. And if they don’t remember those two points, at least they might recall the style and the way the information was presented.”

Tom Townsend: “We are big believers that there is more than one great idea. We know it can be disappointing for creative people to start over but it’s worth it. That’s why we like to showcase the work that made it.  Featuring work in award shows is important.  It is a way to get a kind of validation and celebration of quality work as judged by piers.”

John Nickel – “It might be an overused word but we think engagement is important and often it is accomplished through a combination of tactics. A sampling program, with radio and digital overlays might be a good combination for some brands.”

Thanks to all who participated in this event. I hope a few marketing decision-makers were influenced too. I also hope this in only part of a continuing dialogue.

Digital Design Train Wrecks

Commercial Art is what they used to call Graphic Design before computers became the primary tool of professionals engaged in the composition of marketing materials from concept through production. The good news is that design can be accomplished faster and with less training. The bad news is that so-called designers are less likely to be schooled in the subtleties of composition and the orchestration of layout, color, space, type etc. Computers and software allow designers to be “creative” beyond the boundaries of good sensible design. Here are a few examples of what can happen:

Car Dealer Ad – a designer in an effort to accommodate all the special interests the business shows a giant truck. Right behind the vehicle is dealer sign. The corner of the ad is dedicated to a photo of the top 10 sales people. This jumble is compounded by star bursts, prices and unreadable blocks of six point type carrying legal copy about financing and restrictions.

Restaurant Flyer – A plate of spaghetti with meatballs dominates a page with a special meal offer set in bold type. A photo of the restaurant storefront is cropped into the flyer to show the street address. The piece is designed like a collage of cut paper images several other offers competing for attention.

Builder’s Brag Piece – A residential contractor wants to let people know he can build decks, install windows and fix or repair roofing. The designer uses photos available to show this in a grid layout with captions. Unfortunately, the quality of the original photos is uneven - some are taken with a camera phone, others taken on a rainy day and the hero roof shot is an aerial taken by a professional. The result is peculiar with no clear message.

If you are an artist or an art director, you know what I mean. If you are a car dealer, a restaurant owner or a builder you might not. The world needs artists and marketing people to help improve the quality of communications. Maybe it makes sense to stick to what you do best and get help with the art direction, copy and creative strategy. I’m just saying…

Just Curious

It has been said that curiosity kills the cat.  Curiosity is also the trait that propels the children’s books about the Curious George with a recurring theme that seems to get the monkey George in trouble over and over again. My daughter loved those stories as a child. And I loved reading them to her. It makes me smile to remember how she would laugh. I would read up to the word in a sentence. George was always very…  (pause). Lindsey would finish the sentence and giggle. “Curious!” “That’s right Lindsey, George was always very curious.”

Recently I conducted my first tour as a docent at the Laumeier Sculpture Park with a group of Kindergarden kids. As expected, those kids are curious too. The place is a jewel, Laumeier is a wonderful place to introduce contemporary sculpture to people of all ages. But kids are so special and honest as they discover new things. The park is full of examples of world-renowned monumental works, but I bet these kids will be more inspired by the simple joy of seeing something for the first time.

By the way, both of my own kids are adults now. I am happy to report that they both remain curious. And in doing so, see things, enjoy art and seek new experiences. Lindsey and Ben have always been very (well you know) curious … Me too.