Mary, Amy and Yvonne at ALA Chicago 2009-Workshop Girls

I have just returned from vacation and I am back to my desk and my emails, but I keep thinking about the energy, excitement and participation at our Become Market Ready! workshop at ALA in DC.  Even though it was 8:30 AM in the morning, the vibe in the air was electric with curiosity. Mary and I are decidedly not morning people and were dreading the fact that we were placed in the 8AM workshop slot. There was so much interaction, Mary and I felt like we were not leading the workshop, but facilitating it!  Everyone was asking questions and generating ideas, there was laughter and activity; but what really caught my sleepy eye was that with all levels of experience in the room, there was support and respect amongst all of us and I thank all of you who participated in that workshop.

So I have to tell you about what happened right afterwards.  I was in the bathroom, because my Venti Americano had done its job, and a participant stopped me to tell me that the workshop was both “valuable and entertaining.”

“Thank you,” I said, “we had fun too.”

Mary and I look forward to facelifting this workshop many more times and if you want us to come to your organization write to Mary @ marye@fearless-future.com

The most iconic television show ever created about  marketing and advertising started with a scene where  Don Draper is asking the busboy in a restaurant what  kind of cigarettes he smokes and what would make him  change brands.

If you want to be a great marketer you must be curious.  You must keep your eyes out on the train, plane or bus for  what people are reading. You have to ask people what  they are listening to on their Ipods. You have to be aware  what people are wearing. What are they watching and  how are they watching it?

Everything in marketing is about  the customer or audience and not about you. It does not matter if you don’t like Lady Gaga ’cause everyone else does or that you don’t watch TV, ’cause  most people do.

If you are not interested in other people and their habits you will not be a good marketer. But if you are curious about this big gigantic world we live in and you love learning new things, well that is a good place to start.

I have resigned from my position in PA and I am currently in Washington, DC working with a variety of amazing Fearless Future clients. From here I will venture to Western PA.  to visit my extended family. Then I will make my way to my spiritual home-Tucson, AZ. I try to stay away from the sonoran desert but it pulls me back each time!

Jonathan and I knew when we started Fearless Future five years ago that sooner or later one of us would do it full time. We have grown from just hopes and dreams to working with amazing educational, environmental, wellness and social justice clients. These clients inspire us to create the best design and marketing to get the word out about the amazing work they do!

I will always be a librarian and I am grateful for the 12 years I spent in higher education. I love working with students on their research and have been deeply effected by many of my colleagues’ kindness. I have incredible friends from everywhere because of libraries.

We hope to continue to work with librarians all over the world to create exciting and fresh marketing. And of course I am always available for workshops and consultations.

The world of social marketing and design is so exciting right now that I feel that I just cant miss it. Witness the growth of magazines like ODE and groups like GOOD.

I feel like our society is right on the verge of realizing how to apply great marketing and design to solve some of the world’s largest problems.

Most of you know that I have always loved studying and making art and creating social design is my way of translating that skill to the world.

If you have a great non-profit or small business that you think makes the world more fearless for all of us please write me @ marye@fearless-future.com and tell me about them. We would love to connect with them and help them bring awareness to new audiences about  the amazing things they do!  Be fearless!

Mary and I will be signing our book, Bite-Sized Marketing, with our co-author Nancy Dowd at the Swap & Shop.
Come by and say hi!

Sunday, June 27, 12:30–1:30 p.m.
Swap & Shop Presents: PR X-change (Public Relations Exchange)
LLAMA—PRMS Washington Convention Center—Special Events, Hall C, Aisle 700

Also, at the Swap & Shop my colleague from American University Library and fellow Fearless Collaborator, Patricia West and I will be accepting our award for the Best of Show Annual Report we created together last year.
This annual report has also won two additional awards: The Graphic Design USA InHouse Design Award and the Award of Excellence from the Communicator Awards.

Internal marketing is really important to us at Fearless Future. It something we often talk about with people when we are conducting workshops around the country. Internal marketing is defined as everything you do to inform and include your internal staff in your marketing efforts. It is so important that we devote a chapter in our book to the topic.

Mary and her colleague and friend Amy Ward will conduct an interactive workshop on internal marketing as part of the Grassroots program called Become Market Ready!

Become Market Ready!
ALA Washington Convention Center -101 Staff Support Interests
Monday, June 28, 8–10 a.m

Libraries now understand the importance of articulating value deliberately and consistently; some call this marketing. Prepare for marketing to your users by sharing the why, how and when with your organization. This workshop will focus on making your institution “market ready.” Before your organization spends time and money on marketing, attend this workshop and discover the proven tools needed for staff buy in. Learn how to create and conduct a publication audit and open forums for the entire staff. Find out how to develop style sheets and templates that will bring professional consistency to your marketing.

Neither Mary or Amy are morning people so it will interesting to see them dargging their coffee in for this one. They are both skilled trainers and presenters, so this should not only be fun but also informative!

May 19th, Mary and I presented an introduction to Marketing to the Southern Pennsylvania Information Exchange Source (SPIES). Beth McGuire, one of the event’s organizers, applied our principles before we had even finished the workshop! Inspired by our introduction to style sheets, she immediately began creating one for the SPIES group. It felt fantastic to see such a strong, enthusiastic response to our message. We know that creating a solid style sheet and sticking with it will only make their marketing efforts stronger. Thanks, SPIES, for inviting Fearless Future to speak with your group of dedicated librarians.

If you are interested in having the Fearless Future crew come to your organization for a workshop on staff development day or any other day, please contact me directly: desiree@fearless-future.com.

This past month, Mary and I taught our first fully online synchronous workshop through Amigos Library Services.  Although, I have developed and taught online courses in asynchronous formats, both Mary and I learned a lot about the dynamics of teaching synchronously.

Transforming our in-person workshop to the online format took a considerable amount of time because we wanted to avoid the common pitfall of believing that what works in the classroom will work online. So, much of our time was spent in creative designing and brainstorming.  Our face-to-face workshops are fun, lively, and collaborative events where participants are constantly talking and bouncing ideas off each other. To replicate this online, when we  designed the online version of the workshop we stuck to the following:

• Short lectures:  We didn’t want to bore participants with long lectures, so we kept them short and sweet (we hope).
• Visuals:  Even short lectures can be boring, so we added life to our PowerPoint slides with engaging and thought-provoking images of the marketing campaigns to which we referred.
• Student interactions: We peppered our hourly workshops with multiple opportunities for students to chime in and show examples of their own work.

The result?  A great experience for instructors and participants alike.  Participants came up with the beginnings of some great campaigns.  I loved Kelly’s idea of promoting her Southfield Public Library’s homework help service by offering parents the reward of more quality supper time with the family.  Lanee’s idea of “Professor Approved” databases for University of Arkansas students also stands out as a favorite.  Frances from the University of Washington came up with some great ideas of images for her Veterinary Medicine students. And finally, Sarah from Yuma Public Library came up with some great ideas for getting parents to use the summer reading online sign-up service.

Mary and I learned a whole lot about delivering classes synchronously. I am not sure I will ever get accustomed to lecturing online, telling a joke, and then just silence; it can make one quite self-conscious.

I am fascinated with Martha Stewart’s love of rap in general and Ludacris specifically. I first discovered Martha’s passion while watching her daytime show last year; her guest of honor was none other than the famous performer Ludacris. Yes, Martha does host a variety of guests but the rapport which she shared with Ludacris astounded me!

I had forgotten the titillating episode until a few weeks ago when Martha was playing a rap video clip for her  audience. Listening to the TV casually from the next room, I recognized Ludacris’s voice immediately and ran into the living room. And there they were, happy as clams, with Luda flirting demurely with the Craft Queen. They discussed his upcoming album over a glass of his new cognac, Conjure!

I think what makes the pairing so intriguing is their distinctively different personal brands — and I mean distinct. There are a few brief definitions of personal branding on wikipedia. My favorite defines it as “the creation of an asset that pertains to a particular person or individual [that] includes but is not limited to the body, clothing, appearance and knowledge contained within, leading to an indelible impression that is uniquely distinguishable.”

Martha’s personal brand can clearly be defined by the “knowledge contained within” her. Whether it’s how to cook a complete Thanksgiving dinner, fold those tricky fitted sheets, or how and what color to paint your boudoir, Martha’s your girl. She has a line of crafting tools and materials sold in Wal-Mart that is branded simply as “Martha Stewart.” Her name alone is enough to convey quality to her customers. Her personal brand gives you a warm, fuzzy, grandmotherly, traditional feeling, which is why her affinity for rap and Ludacris is so scintillating!

Ludacris, on the other hand, is known for his raunchy (but hilarious) lyrics that describe his love of women. By appearing on Martha Stewart’s show, Ludacris has the opportunity, helped by Martha’s “endorsement,” to reach a new market of women — women who might have the impression that the rapper’s lyrics are disparaging to, rather than celebrating, women. I hope to see him again soon with the Domestic Diva!

While I haven’t had a chance to play the newest hack and slash, Dante’s Inferno, I’d be hard-pressed not to hear about the exciting marketing techniques they’ve implemented from big budget commercials to staged events.

Commercials for video games are common place, but Dante’s Inferno really made their mark when they purchased a prime-time 30 second spot for Super Bowl XLIV costing an estimated 3 million dollars and telling us to kindly “GO TO HELL”.

While this was sure to get the attention of the masses, their staged events were much more provocative. At the annual E3 Gaming Conference they hired a fake religious mob to “protest” the official announcement of Dante’s Inferno holding witty signs like, “CHEAT CODES WON’T SAVE YOUR SOUL!!”.

Their next event, modeled from the circle of hell for greed, sent $200 checks to mainstream reviewers tempting them. To top it all off they ran a contest called “Sin to Win” in which they asked individuals to submit pictures of themselves in acts of lust to win. The winner would be promised “a sinful night with two hot girls, a limo service, paparazzi and a chest full of booty.”

Each of these controversial moves generated an immense amount of buzz from blogs to major news networks. No press is bad press!

Yvonne & I  are reading an excellent book on Social Marketing that has many great examples of successful campaigns. Run to the library to borrow it or to amazon to order it—Social Marketing : Influencing Behaviors for Good. We at Fearless Future are committed to making great social marketing and design that works for non profits but what if we are the target audience of a social marketing campaign—does it work on us—for sure!

I have a dirty secret! For many years I have been a secret smoker. Just one every now and then. But still this ad from Washington State Anti-Litter Campaign makes me think every time I think about lighting up in my car. It is a brilliant piece of social marketing. It is witty- Want to Litter ? Fine. It is specific—If you throw a cigarette butt out of your car in Washington State you could be fined 1,025 dollars.

It has made me change my behavior. Every time I think about smoking in my car, I wonder if there is a fine in Pennsylvania, the state where I currently reside. I wonder how much that fine is?  By the time I have thought through these things, well the knee jerk react to smoke has usually passed.