Paul Merrill
Marketing these days seems to be in a rut. I am amazed at the ideas some companies use to represent their goods and services. Lexus, for example, has a new crossover vehicle that they are trying to sell with the slogan, “Go Beyond Utility.” Meh. The closing line of their ad says, “”Once you go beyond utility, there’s …
Life is short. I am happy this time to focus on something fun… Creativity. How great to have a soap dish like a little bathtub! The creator simply took something out of context – a soap dish – and made it into something related but entirely different than normal. May we all be infused with a …
For once, I will come out in favor of hoarding – as long as it’s in someone else’s attic. The Hill Top General Store in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado, is a very humble museum. They have everything from collections of old tools, a room of vinyl records (including the songs of Stevie Wonder, as performed by …
I don’t really want you to think about this box. I do want you to think about what it is. Fort Collins, Colorado is a college town that consistently ranks as one of the USA’s top twenty cities. One of the reasons why it’s such a cool place to live is the city government. They …
Creativity is elusive sometimes. When you reach the bottom of your cup, it can be hard to find inspiration. One new direction is to think the opposite of the way you would normally think. The designers of this brochure, circa 1995, used a red car and primary headline bar to illustrate Green – the complete …
A friend and I had a discussion about inspiration and blogging. Sometimes the spark of creativity has left. Sometimes I wait for the inspiration fairy to touch me, and sometimes that just doesn’t happen. My friend asked if my move from 5 posts a week to 2-3 had been good for my traffic and engagement. …
I hang out with a lot of entrepreneurs. In that circle, innovative ideas and creativity are highly valued, as well as a high tolerance for risk. But it also takes a lot of people working in little cubicles to keep the wheels of life moving forward. Both-and. It takes both ends of the spectrum for …
Jeepneys are the main way people get around in the Philippines. In East Africa, people ride in Matatus. I liked them so much I featured them a fair amount when I lived in Nairobi. So I came across this photo of a Jeepney in a missionary magazine* – and I was struck by how the …
Carrying the theme from yesterday (and leaving cars behind), the Willy Wonka Candy Company (part of the Nestlé empire) had the creativity to make this product’s bar code fun. Takeaway: What fun thing can you do today to add some life to something that would otherwise be boring?