Interactive, Flash-based animations have been around for years. Turning them into viral marketing fun and having a creative idea explode onto the world of the consumer is a recent thing.

This past holiday season we had Office Max’s “Go Elf Yourself” video (sadly, no longer available). And, now we have the Guinness Beer “A Short Film Called Hands“. VERY soon the quirky fun of these little ditties will wear off and we’ll all need to take it up a notch. Until then, let your hands fiddle.

Marketing tip: Can YOU think of a viral idea that can be spun into a cute little interactive game like this? If so, you’d better do it SOON before the wave passes you by.

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A good friend told me about a 12 week study course called The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron. I’ve just started it and I can already tell it’s going to be one of those life-changing, earth moving, mind-bending, paradigm altering affairs.

Friday evening I read a little tid-bit in the book’s early pages how you should focus your efforts on things you’re drawn to AS WELL AS those things you find you’re shying away from. The “neutral” things in life, you’ve likely got covered. The ones that you’re attracted to indicate where your passions lie and the one’s you’re avoiding are likely things you need to address. Simple idea … BIG impact.

In just two days, I’m amazed at how relevant this one idea is to being productive and keeping me focused on the important tasks in my schedule.

Are YOU resisting anything in your business development? … in your marketing plan? If so, take it as a sign that these things need to be done first! Simply dive in … the water’s warm.

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It’s a quarter to one IN THE A.M. and I just got home from work. Do I relish having to get up in just a few hours to head on back to the grind? Nope. So WHY in the HECK am I up blogging at this early hour?!?! Let me explain…

I just completed a marathon session of audio recording with Content Strategist Allen Voivod of Epiphanies, Inc. We’re co-authoring a series of products to assist business owners in a number of aspects of their marketing. Cooooool. What’s amazing to me …€“ in this exact moment …€“ is how inspired and UN-tired I am right now. Creating a new and exciting product is totally energizing!

This is what Allen and his business partner (and lovely wife) teach to all of their clients. How to create “bold insight and joy-filled action” in your business! They call it “A-Ha-ing” yourself.

If this is how a business owner can feel after a 17 hour day, then COUNT ME IN EVERY DAY. Well, not for the 17 hour part. You know what I mean! Have you A-Ha’d yourself lately??

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While reading “Eat That Frog” last night, I committed to doing a better job of putting my goals in writing. I’ve always valued the act of doing so but have typically fallen short on the task. This commitment is not necessarily based on a “New Years Resolution” per se, but there are A LOT of people out there in the middle of trying to stick to new resolutions made in the past week. Because 2007 is going to be THE year for a social networking expolsion (it began a while ago), I thought I’d pass this tip along…

Put your goals in writing and make your commitment to the rest of the world. Don’t do this anonymously, however, make sure somebody you know sees it!

Check out 43 Things. It’s a social networking site where you can interact with others who are trying to attain the same goals as you. Cooool.

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Here’s a press release from Acorn Creative and Epiphanies, Inc………

Local Companies Partner to Help Small Businesses and Service Professionals Sharpen Their Marketing in 2007

The New Year offers small businesses a chance to refresh their focus, correct past mistakes, and set a bold new course to improve their performance. Two local companies, Acorn Creative of Laconia and Epiphanies, Inc. of Gilford, recently partnered up to help businesses start 2007 on the right track.

The result of their collaboration debuted Tuesday, December 19th. “The Secret to Making Your Business Go Nuts in 2007″ is a free special report offered by the two companies as a PDF download from their website, www.gonutsin2007.com.

“A lot of small businesses told us 2006 didn’t go as well as they’d hoped,” said Lani Voivod of Epiphanies, Inc. “Now that 2007’s right on top of us, we wanted to help business owners and solo professionals get off to a great start.”

Acorn and Epiphanies combined their complementary skills and service offerings to create the special report. Acorn performs brand consulting, graphic design, and website development. Epiphanies specializes in idea generation, information product creation, and integrated marketing strategies.

“When businesses come to us for a new website, a new brochure, or a new direct mail piece, we like to step back and look at the bigger picture,” said Kevin Skarritt of Acorn Creative. “If the company isn’t making a real connection with their target market, it doesn’t matter how well-designed their new website or print piece is, or how many more people hear about the company because of a new marketing element.

“If the company fails to build a consistent identity over time, the company is bound to fail. We don’t want that to happen. That’s why we step back and make sure the foundation is in place, and that’s what the ‘Go Nuts’ special report is really about.”

“We’re not exactly ‘quick fix’ people,” added Allen Voivod, also with Epiphanies, Inc. “Great business stories have three success factors in common: Building audience relationships, expert reputations, and client bases. None of that happens overnight.”

Because of their similar approaches to business development, Acorn and Epiphanies chose to focus on tactics for improving those success factors in their report. At the same time, they also lay out the underlying strategy behind Acorn’s design process …€“ a strategy that’s helped Acorn win “Best of the Web” honors from Forbes magazine for the last six years.

“The Secret to Making Your Business Go Nuts in 2007″ free special report, which explains the fundamental ideas behind Acorn’s business development strategy and seven ways a business can put those ideas into action for themselves, is available online through January 31st, 2007.

To access the report, and for instructions on how to secure one of 60 free consultations being offered by Acorn Creative in January 2007, go to www.gonutsin2007.com.

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I’m not one to jump on a band wagon but just about everyone who is someone in the brand and marketing space is sharing this ever growing list of blogs. It started with The Viral Garden last week and has made its way through to people like Seth Godin and Tom Peters. Seth even started a Zlist Plexo on Squidoo. Go ahead … grab the list, add your blog link and pass it on!

Seth’s Blog
Branding Strategy Insider
Nuts and Bolts of Branding
Epiphanies, Inc.
Creative Think
Soloride
Movie Marketing Madness
Blog Till You Drop!
Get Shouty!
One Reader at a Time
Critical Fluff
The New PR
Own Your Brand!
OTOInsights
bizandbuzz
Work, in Plain English
Buzz Canuck
New Millenium PR
Pardon My French
Troy Worman…€™s Blog
The Instigator Blog
AENDirect
Diva Marketing
Marketing Hipster
The Marketing Minute
Funny Business
Mindblob
Open The Dialogue
Word Sell
Note to CMO:
That…€™s Great Marketing!
Shotgun Marketing Blog
BrandSizzle
bizsolutionsplus
Customers Rock!
Being Peter Kim
Pow! Right Between The Eyes!
Billions With Zero Knowledge
Working at Home on the Internet
MapleLeaf 2.0
Two Hat Marketing
The Engaging Brand
The Branding Blog
Drew…€™s Marketing Minute
Golden Practices
Viaspire
Tell Ten Friends
Flooring the Consumer
Kinetic Ideas
Unconventional Thinking
Buzzoodle
Conversation Agent
The Copywriting Maven
Hee-Haw Marketing
Scott Burkett…€™s Pothole on the Infobahn
Multi-Cult Classics
Logic + Emotion
Branding & Marketing
Popcorn n Roses
On Influence & Automation
Bullshitobserver
converstations
eSoup
Presentation Zen
Dmitry Linkov
John Wagner
Nick Rice
CKs Blog
Design Sojourn
Frozen Puck
The Sartorialist
Small Surfaces
Africa Unchained
Perspective
gDiapers
Marketing Nirvana
Bob Sutton
Shut Up and Drink the Kool-Aid!
Women, Art, Life: Weaving It All Together
Community Guy
Social Media on the fly
Jeremy Latham…€™s Blog
SMogger Social Media Blog
Masey.com

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A U.S. Census Bureau 2007 Statistical Abstract of the United States says that Americans are FAT! OH MY, WHAT A SURPRISE! We’re heavier than Mexicans, Australians, Greeks, New Zealanders and the British — combined! OK, I added in that “combined” bit, but you get the point.

So what does this have to do with brand? Consider the purchasing process for most people and the influences at work that get them to buy one food over another:

• Desire for fast and convenient (pre-processed, pre-packaged, canned, wrapped)
• Desire for something filling (SUPER SIZE IT!)
• Desire for something that tastes good (mmmmm, bacon)
• Desire for value (processed is cheaper than fresh)
• Desire for control (customized burgers, selection of meals, selection of size, etc.)

Restaurants aren’t big on promoting “slow, labor intensive, light, health food”. Worse yet, the general public’s buying decisions aren’t based on this latter concept either. If the emotions of health conciousness could beat out the above list every time, we’d have a nation of svelt, buff, super-studs.

Certainly Subway Sandwiches is giving this a go (You GO Jared!), but we’re a long way off from turning this epidemic of obesity and diabetes around. An interesting note is that Subway was voted the #1 Franchise of 2006 by Entrepreneur Magazine. Hmmmm

If you’re in the food industry, consider the world changing, differentiating strategy that YOU could be making by shifting your brand’s emotional connection from “fast and fat” to “hip and healthy”. It’s different but it could help lift you above the other lard brokers out there … and the world would be better for it.

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