It seems that there are so many terms we as agencies use to describe our relationship with clients.  Are we a client’s partner?  A vendor?  Those have been the front runners for years.

However, since my early days at Thompson & Company, we used another term to describe the relationship we have with clients.  Marketing and communications firms are more like an "extension" of a company’s marketing team.  The key word is extension.  To explain why this term is most accurate, it's easier to look at the other two terms.  ...read the rest of this post»

The buzz about the iPad is ebbing, but the conversations are still heated.  Like a lot of categories that are highly competitive, you'll find loyalists that will fall on the sword for "their" brand.  Apple and Microsoft have battled for eons, but if you watched TV within the last few years, you know Apple's advertising has been aggressively comparative, to put it lightly.  ...read the rest of this post»

Hello, I'm an iPad.  You might have heard of me... I'm kind of a big deal (to quote the famous Ron Burgundy).  

"Kind of a big deal" is an understatement. If you could put a value on hype (actually you can), iPad would be the front runner for 2010 and would probably never be caught.  In the days and weeks leading up to the release of this product, rumors, rogue photographs and unofficial screen shots were flying.  Except for the name, iPad, had not been announced.  Some people rumored this new hybrid tablet-netbook-iPod Touch would be called iTablet, but if you look at Twitter trends from last Wednesday, January 27, you could figure out what the official product name is without ever reading a single news clip, article, etc. ...read the rest of this post»

If you've followed the brainwoo.com blog, you might have seen two previous posts about Dr. John Medina's book, Brain Rules.  In those posts, I reviewed rules 1-8.  For Rules 9 and 10, a video review seemed appropriate since those two rules are about Sensory Integration and Vision.  Hope you enjoy the change of pace and medium!

In a follow up to an earlier post, this post will dig deeper into rules 5-8 of Dr. John Medina's Brain Rules. Coincidentally, these four rules cover two specialties for me - two rules for branding and two rules for personal effectiveness.

...read the rest of this post»

Welcome to brainwoo.com - the online home for learning and sharing knowledge about winning others over.  If you're new here, check out these five most frequently asked questions and answers.

1. What is brainwoo?

    Verb:
    1. Win others over to a brand, product or service by getting into their brain.
    2. Get into a person’s brain (conscious or subconscious) by building trust through the communication vehicles and processes that are a part of their lives.
    3. Build a long-term relationship.

    Noun:
    1. A powerful idea upon which great marketing will grow.
    2. The foundational discovery and creative execution developed to win others over.
    3. The product of creative thinking achieved by a combination of learning, exploring and experience....read the rest of this post»

Two opposing forces are battling each and every minute of the day.

The need to be "connected" vs. the need to be effective.  Some of you are saying, "But I can do both." 

Technically you can't.  Check out Dr. John Medina's article how the brain actually "multitasks."

Clinical studies show that a person who is interrupted takes 50 percent longer to accomplish a task.  In addition, the error rate increases by 50 percent.

So what is an interruption and why is social media one?

It's important to note that social media impeding productivity is not a new problem, but rather a very old problem in a new suit.  That being said, interruptions of the 1.0 ilk are just as dangerous as interruptions of the 2.0 variety.

Here are a few of today's common workplace interruptions:

...read the rest of this post»