Goose--before he started hanging out with Maverick
In case anyone missed it, today was “Square Root Day.” The holiday, celebrated by pocket protector-wearing math geeks–I mean–aficionados everywhere only comes nine times each century, about the same frequency as the KISS farewell tour.
In any case, the last one occured over five years ago and the next one won’t occur for another seven so I hope you had a great time. While it’s not quite up to par with “Talk like a Pirate Day,” it does offer the numerically inclined a chance to have a good chuckle at the rest of us who need a calcultor to figure out how many three cent stamps are in a dozen.
I thought this was a beautiful illustration of what they are trying to get across. They don’t have do do different versions for people that speak different languages. And since their message is a truly global one, it is possibly the best solution they could have come up with.
It’s simple really. The client wants to attract attention with something unconventional. We create that situation.
There are many tools in the PR arsenal: the press release, the fact sheet, the 700-pound giant inflatable crab. What, you don’t have a giant crustacean? Our client, McCormick & Schmick’s, does. The crab’s name is Jake and we use him every chance we get!
When we opened the downtown Sacramento restaurant in 2007, we had coordinated Jake’s presence on the lawn of our State Capitol building (just a couple of blocks away from the restaurant). His presence there attracted a LOT of positive attention and we still hear people talk about it on a regular basis. It’s like it lives in Sacramento lore or something.
With the opening of a new McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant in Roseville last week, we arranged for Jake to make a return visit to the area. He posted up on the McCormick & Schmick’s building for a few days , enjoying the view and posing for photos for passersby. The public reaction to Jake was - again - one of enthusiasm. His welcome by the people of Roseville was warm, and the media got on board to create some fun stories.
In every promotion or element of a PR program, we have to stand back and ask ourselves one question: Is this strategic? The strategy behind Jake is always to elicit the reaction of excitement and delight from the public. Of course, the media attention helps, too!
Jake the Crab on McCormick & Schmick’s, photo by our fav photographer, Tim Engle www.englephoto.com
O.K., so it’s been a while. B-Rad has been a little pre-occupied but wanted to spend a little time discussing this year’s Super Bowl. The “Best Ever” title gets thrown around a lot in sports–the best quarterback, team, coach, game–but is usually comes to mean the best “right now,” as we often lose perspective over time.
Was Super Bowl XLIII between the Steelers and Cardinals the best ever, like many have been saying? In short, no. The game was largely one-sided until the 4th quarter, plagued by turnovers and inconsistency. It featured two or three of the greatest elements ever (Harrison’s interception return, the Steelers final drive and Holmes’ final catch) but as a whole falls far short of the complete package.
In order for the game to be the greatest, it needs to have compelling storylines and great game play. Bonus points are given for historical significance, having a truly great team (or two) involved and error-free play.
Here, for your discussion is my list of pretenders and contenders to the title of “Best Ever” Super Bowl.
Our client, Lounge ON20, spent a little time at Merlot HQ today for some media training (which went very well, by the way). However, with them, they brought Merlot’s newest challenge: tequila. A challenge for three reasons.
First, one of us, who shall remain nameless, has earned herself the nickname “Shot Sipper,” for obvious reasons. I believe the shot took her 25 minutes to consume today. Second, another one of us (also nameless) would have done Patches O’Houlihan proud with all the dodging, dipping, ducking, diving and dodging she did to get out of that meeting just before the tequila was poured. And third, well, that’s me. I don’t really drink. Like, at all. So, after choking and dying on my first tequila shot, I have to say: Not bad. Actually quite excellent. Lounge ON20 doesn’t kid around. If you’re going to do a tequila shot, you’re going to do it right with them.
I’ll be interested to see what our challenge is for our next meeting…
Its been a long time since i have written a post about the end of the world, alas the great volume of amazing creative work going on here at Merlot has kept my idle brain from wandering into the sphere of cataclysm…
However, thanks to a science segment on one of my favorite radio shows i have a new postulation for the end of the world! The bad news, the earth is going to get destroyed by an asteroid whose path will cross ours April 13, 2036. The good news, Bruce Willis has WAY more time to prepare for this one…
So what is the deal with the “Ancient Egyptian Snake” part of the title you ask?? HAHA! That is the BEST PART of this cataclysmic prediction. The name of the asteroid is Apophis. Apophis is a greek translation of the Egyptian god Apep who was one of Ra’s opponents. EVEN BETTER, is the fact that Apophis/Apep was know as “The Uncreator” or if we were to just reverse the word “The Destroyer”! creepy huh?
Ok, enough pondering of the end of the world. Someone call Bruce Willis already…
I just want to call premature attention to Merlot’s Holiday Card because I am pretty sure everyone else is going to be talking about it and i wanted to make sure as many people as possible are already in the know…
The idea was simple enough. “Traditionally,” the Holidays are thought of as joyous and gleeful, with people enjoying time with friends and family. But most of us have stories of things going wrong, or maybe just pet peeves with this time of year. These probably happen for a number of reasons: we have such high expectations, we reach our limits of frustration, there is an unexpected occurrence, or some other unpredictable situation arises.
SO! In that spirit the team at Merlot has come up with HOLIDAY BOOT CAMP. An emergency guide for the myriad of situations that you may confront at this time of year. Spanning from pre-Thanksgiving to New Years Eve, we hope that this guide will help you avoid/survive this and every coming holiday season, or at the very least have a few laughs!
Just when I thought I was an expert Google searcher, Google develops an wikithat makes it even easier for me to customize my search to the things I want to see. Should be interesting to see how this will affect SEO.
Traditionally here at Merlot Marketing, we have kept to a straight diet of the business professional/business casual dress code over the years. And it’s served us well. However, some of us have strategically brought up valid points that challenged the norm and seemed to open doors to alter this code to allow for a more… creative style of dress. “Creative Chic,” if you will. Well, our points were heard and taken into consideration. So, today, for the first time, we are not held to that business professional/business casual code. Today is Merlot’s first-ever Creative Chic Friday.
You may ask yourself what this means, so as someone who’s lobbied to see this day for nearly five years, let me educate you. Creative Chic Fridays is not “casual Friday.” It is simply the day when we agency-types get to express ourselves through fashion. Creative Chic means modern, edgy and inspired dress. It is comfortable in a way that makes us comfortable with ourselves; and thus, more inclined to be creative. Wear what puts you in that clever mindset. For some, it’s jeans with a cute tops, for others it all boils down to the shoes. But we are a creative agency, so we’re embracing it.
Many have shared this vision over the years and to them I say, “THANK YOU!” Because, yes, I am wearing jeans today. And it’s totally awesome!!
Please note: The opinions and positions expressed within this blog are my own (or of those who contribute) and don't necessarily reflect those of Merlot Marketing, Inc.
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