Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Man of Steel + Gillette = Brilliant Product Tie-In

What do you get when you combine a highly anticipated superhero movie, the combined nerdiness of famous self-proclaimed comic book lovers, and one of the most pedestrian toiletries on the planet?

You get a brilliant viral marketing campaign, that's what.


Seemingly incongruous Gillette has hitched its wagon to the Man of Steel movie with a simple question: How does the Man of Steel shave?

Apparently this is subject of countless discussions among Superman fans the world over. At once Gillette has reached reached a huge demographic that 1) shaves, 2) enjoys superhero movies, and 3) probably reveres the personalities who provide their own theories in answer to the question.

This just goes to show that even the most apparently unrelated concepts can be combined to create super-traction for a brand. More marketing departments should be thinking along these lines.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Peregrine falcons are raising a family where I used to work

In 2010 I worked at Campbell Ewald in Warren, Michigan. That year it was discovered that our 10-story building housed not only several hundred employees, but also a pair of peregrine falcons . In the weeks and months following, it wasn't uncommon to see bird watchers and naturalists observing the birds from the parking lot far below. I even took a photo through one of their telescopes.

peregrine falcons nesting on CE building

Well, in the time since I left CE, the birds decided to make their house a home by laying some eggs on the roof. Right in front of a security camera.


CE has set up a Tumblr page to document the events. It will be fun to watch the feed and wait for the chicks to hatch.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

High Stress, High Enjoyment: Welcome to Utah.

I've just learned something new about my recently adopted home state: it's among the most stressful in the nation.

According to Gallup, Utah is the country's #4 most stressed-out state.



Which is interesting—because the same report lists Utah as the country's #3 most enjoyable state.



So stress...is enjoyable? I think this goes to show that there's positive stress and negative stress. Apparently, Utah has an abundance of the former.

And why not? It's becomes pretty clear when you see videos like these.





Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Firing up the old word forge...

I've decided it's time to bring this blog back to life. I write for a living, but it's time to add some variety back into the mix. Insightful/insipid thoughts incoming...