Conformists Unite

I have to post this interview with Grant McCracken simply because it’s so nicely said.

For three years now, a couple of saints and all around good guys named Gavin & Drew have pulled together a crowdsourced book of marketing thoughts. This year it’s called: Age of Conversation III: It’s Time to Get Busy!

It features stories, ideas, strategies and observations from over 300 marketers, writers, thinkers and creative innovators.

It’s broken into a number of sections -I’m not sure what some of them mean but I’m sure that will make it interesting:

* At the coalface
* Conversational branding
* Influence
* Getting to work
* Corporate conversations
* Measurement
* In the boardroom
* Pitching social media
* Innovation and execution
* Identities, friends and trusted strangers (this is what I did my chapter on)

You can buy a copy over at: www.AgeofConversation.com

All profits from the sale of the book are donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Craig Wilson and his crew did the website design. And Chris Wilson did the cover design.

Here is a list of the authors:

I’m fascinated with the Obama brand. And not looking forward to seeing it get watered down and distorted over the years -as it will automatically do since it now stands for everything that the government does. Presidencies are the ultimate case study in brand over-extension. Only when a president is done can we all stand back again to see what made him unique.

(ps Yes, I gave the guy some money. It was very cold)

I flew Frontier last week and noticed they had put a friend for me on the wing:

Turns out each of their planes have a different animal, who they introduce on the way in:

Pretty cool.

Unfortunately, they’re also too cheap to play any movies or TV (unless you swipe a card) and had no qualms about cycling through advertising that you couldn’t turn off through the entire flight.

Here’s another nice touch from my local coffee shop. Regulars can have their own mugs. (My husband’s says ’snuggle butt’.)