We were looking for a way to branch out in the community and bring our product to new customers. We came up with the idea of doing pop-ups. Broadacre would partner with local businesses to open a small “cart” style coffeebar for a day or a weekend. We simplified our operation and modified a workbench (for $99), packed up some brewing equipment and coffee, and hit the streets. This gave us the opportunity to introduce ourselves and our product to other parts of town and to cross promote with other local businesses. Win Win.
Clever Marketing is an ongoing series cataloging some of the best and most interesting marketing I have come across. Enjoy.
Look in the sky! Its a bird, its a plane, nope its thinkmodo. The crew at thinkmodo has created some cool videos in the past including headblade, ipad head girl, and limitless, but what they turned out for promoting the new movie Chronicle was some serious clever marketing. Remote control planes that look like people, brilliant.
Often I get confused looks when I tell people my age and that I own a business. I get even more confused looks when I tell them I have started 3 businesses at the age of 21. I’m not a genius, I’m not rich, I never went to college, and yet somehow it’s possible. I thank Method and other people like them who crack open their minds and pour them out on the internet (for free). The people at Method and many people around the world are geniuses, rich, went to college, and are willing to share all of that with you. All you have to do is look, absorb, and put it to use.
Method produced a brilliant series called 10X10. If you want a wealth of knowledge and mind blowing perspectives on the changing world of business then read them . They may not directly apply to what you do, but they are incredibly valuable.
Method’s diverse and talented individuals are shaping the future of products, services, and entire industries. Written by our own leaders, 10×10 is a series of thought pieces which highlights new approaches and ways of thinking about varying industry challenges, needs, and trends.
Clever Marketing is an ongoing series cataloging some of the best and most interesting marketing I have come across. Enjoy.
“Tastes Great” is a line you don’t always associate with photographers, but that didn’t stop Kareem Black. Kareem created some intriguing and eye catching stickers and posted them all around New York with the hopes to drive a little traffic to his website. You can hear him talk about his ideas on “abstract marketing” and his sticker campaign below.
I have a love for the Eames. Their design work is beautiful, simple, and timeless. Their minds are brilliant and endlessly creative. They had a wonderful ability to communicate ideas in fascinating ways. But one of the values that I enjoyed most is summed up in a single quote:
Life was fun, was work was fun, was life.
We often try and separate our work life and our personal life. I hear people say “someday when I retire I will do all the things I’ve always wanted to do.” This mentality kills me. I want a life like the Eames. A life where work is weaved in to the fabric of life and enjoyment is the result of daily living.
American Masters has a great documentary on the Eames that I enjoyed watching. You can watch the entire documentary online so check it out below.
A new window display for Broadacre Coffee. Broadacre made a change recently to brewing every cup of coffee to order, something no other coffee shop in Sacramento does. We wanted to make sure every potential patron walking by took note with this window display.
Side note: This was designed & built for less than $10. Thats crafty.
Consultants have it pretty good. They get paid (usually a lot) to be valuable. Consultants get paid those big bucks to move projects forward, problem solve, provide expertise, and sometimes just to be available. I would love it if someone paid me to be valuable (I am available). But am I valuable? I find myself asking that often. What makes me valuable? I know I have some value, but how much and to who? I want to increase my value. Maybe I want to feel important or maybe I just want to contribute to the world, but I am actively trying to increase my value. I think 3 things can help you learn how to be valuable or increase your value.
Who you know:
Your network, your connections, and your relationships have a lot of value. Being able to connect people and peoples ideas with other people and other peoples ideas can produce great things. You want to have a deep bench to call on when you need something. When you need money, who do you call? When you have a new idea, who do you call? You want to be like the God Father, he has a “guy” for everything.
Increase your value by building your network, making new connections, connecting others, following up, and staying connected. Connect across many disciplines, you want to be just as wide as you are deep. James Altucher has a great blog post about becoming a Super Connector, read it.
What you know:
Your insight, your expertise, and your knowledge have value. Your ability to express what you know, communicate it, and have people understand it can spread your value. A lot of people can BS their way through it, but are not actually valuable. Don’t just BS it. Learn it, know it, and share it.
Increase your value by learning, reading, studying, questioning, and exploring. Don’t be narrow in your knowledge but expand and learn new skills, subjects, and disciplines. Be a jack of all trades and a master of everything.
Work ethic:
Who you know and what you know can be grown, but your work ethic is the foundation of both. Your willingness to work hard, put in the time and energy, and to having a good attitude has value. Someone who is willing to work hard is more valuable than any well networked expert. No one wants someone who is only giving 80%, people are valuable when they are giving 100% or more.
Increase your value by being available, flexible, and having a good attitude. Be willing to get your hands dirty. Be willing to learn what you don’t know. Be willing to go the extra mile. Just be willing. If you work hard people notice. And if you work hard at being valuable, with just a little luck, maybe you will be.
Ai Weiwei has a new installation at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in Taiwan that is incredible. I love the idea of taking something you see everyday and making it in to something new and amazing. The scale is massive, but it makes me think, what other common things can I repurpose to make something new and exciting?
Ai’s most recent work, created specifically for TFAM, “Forever Bicycles.” This installation piece is made up of more than 1,000 bicycles and will be shown in a display area that is 10m high. Its layered labyrinthine space creates what appears to be a moving abstract shape that symbolizes the way in which the social environment in China is changing.
Tomorrow is our first Coffee Bike Tour at Broadacre. We will be doing a series of short videos called Coffee & Bikes to promote the coffee bike tours and this was our first one. This is the first real video project I have created, shot, and edited. I am really happy with end result and can’t wait to do the next one. Let me know what you think.
