Lessons from Freddie Roach

Freddie Roach is a tough son-of-a-bitch. Once a pro boxer, now a boxing trainer living with Parkinson's disease, his life is laid open on the riveting, critically acclaimed HBO series, "On Freddie Roach" (8:30 pm CST Fridays).

Sports documentaries on HBO are typically high caliber. With actor Liev Schreiber weaving together the narrative, viewers are entertained. "On Freddie Roach" is not not like that. There's no velvety, disembodied voice (sorry Liev) to move along the narrative.

"On Freddie Roach" isn't reality TV either. This series strives to be much more and achieves status as art because the pacing, grit, pathos and real-world experience shot cinema verite style can leave a viewer breathless in the span of just 30 minutes.

After experiencing the first two episodes I thought a long time about what makes "On Freddie Roach" worth seeing. Excuse my indulgence here as I look at this through a branding lens:

What makes the show work is it's real, pulls no punches (bad pun), offers insights, teaches me something new, makes me think and alters my perspective all while being unabashedly honest.

Wouldn't it be great if somebody could say the same thing about your brand?

Don't let lemons turn you sour

For years I've carped on my kids about how to deal best with tough situations:

"When life serves you lemons it's time to make lemonade!"

Branding guru Seth Godin has a new twist on this common tale in "The Lesson From Two Lemonade Stands." Given the ever-increasing importance in creating the best possible brand experience for our customers, I thought Seth's story deserves a second look:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/01/the-lesson-from-two-lemonade-stands.html

The Drumbeat Continues

PC Magazine has been a powerful publication, successfully chronicling the digital age. Effective this month, PC Magazine published its last print edition, signaling a significant change in direction since its inception in 1981.

Like others before it -- and many more to come -- PC Magazine is now an online-only play. Previously, the Christian Science Monitor and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, among others, announced the move to online-only editions.

The loss of conventional media outlets places ever-greater emphasis on companies and organizations to operate what used to be called "news bureaus" to get the word out to customers, prospects and other key audiences.

Luckily, advances in the Web -- and increased Internet literacy -- makes this easy to do. Clear, concise, credible communications via the Web, social networking media and directly to key audiences is needed for a company to create, maintain & enhance relationships.

It's easy to chop marketing in an economy like this. The best companies, though, recognize the importance of maintaining open lines of communications. Market leaders see in this era a great opportunity to differentiate themselves from the competition.

And differentiation is at the core of every terrific brand.

Social Networking in the B2B World

We had a great conversation earlier today about how social networking fits in a B2B world. Since much of our work these days focuses on B2B, we've been having more and more discussions with folks who assume that tools like LinkedIn, Plaxo & Facebook aren't for them.

Pay close attention, people ...

Social networking is a terrific way to cast a wider net for your messages. Plus, because these tools are transparent -- typically there are real people associated with user names, and businesses have the ability to pick 'n choose who sees what -- social networking amplifies your company website.

{Sorry for the run-on sentence, but I get excited about these sorts of things.}

Put differently, use social networks to drive traffic to your corporate website. When doing so, please be sure to appropriately brand your efforts. It can be as simple as re-purposing design or developing web banners based on your corporate identity.

Social networking -- it's not just for kids anymore!

So I Did It ...

Today I launched my blog. Big deal, huh? So I'm now one-in-a-bajillion.

Well, after years of helping clients and others figure out ways to create and maximize a web presence I'll no longer treat myself like the cobbler's child.

View from the Marsh will be a forum {most of the time} for practical communications, PR, branding and marketing ideas. I'll share my own ideas, and I'll shamelessly rip-off great ideas from others. Poke me in the ribs when I fail to give credit, okay?

This space also will be a bully pulpit {some of the time}. I'll rant on the things that bug me, but more often I hope to share stuff I think needs sharing.

We'll see where this goes, and I'll always encourage feedback, support, analysis and criticism.

Thanks, and see you soon!