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At our agency, we have the usual cadre of electronic equipment: copiers, servers, printers, computers, TVs, kitchen appliances, space heaters and even a Coke machine. But one little red box receives special treatment: the agency toaster. It’s the only device left unplugged when not in use. Automatically. Hey, we do the same thing at home. In the age of autonomous vehicles and discussions about “fear of the machine,” it’s the lowly toaster we’re afraid of. Given the wildfires in California, it makes perfect sense safety-wise. So why did I send this email today? The first episode of MTV Unplugged made its television debut on Sunday, November 26, 1989. Thirty years ago! The series would eventually feature many classic episodes and ...

Why do we herald plug-in cars that can’t even travel the length of Michigan and the inventor of the curved shower curtain rod goes largely unrecognized? When I first started in advertising, a business trip was exciting. Except, even at the nicest hotels, a hot shower often meant being attacked by the shower curtain. I’d spend 10 minutes trying to get those weighted curtain corners to stick to the bathtub so the mildewy curtain wouldn’t brush against me. It felt like a science experiment gone wrong to keep from being followed by the curtain and/or from flooding the bathroom. Most of the time it was a losing battle. Lo and behold one day about a dozen years ago at a nondescript Courtyard/Residence/Garden ...

This is it! We have shared the general tips of how to engage with social media as a business, and how to master writing on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We hope you  have enjoyed these tips and have much success because of them. But, before we end this series we want to share with you how social media is evolving. Keep these seven things in mind as you invest your time into developing your business’s social media strategy. Snapchat isn’t stopping Snapchat has really blazed the trail for in-the-moment user experiences. Snapchat’s revolution of live content has spurred on more mobile-centric app developments and has made other social platforms step up. Snapchat is even looking to develop glasses to help users experience ...

Instagram is all about the looks. This platform has the ability to show users who you are as a business in beautiful, simple squares. Although the picture is a huge part of being successful on Instagram, you also have to know how to build a relationship with your users to achieve viral success. Today we will talk about eight ways to engage your users on Instagram. Write several drafts first With Instagram you won’t post as frequently as Facebook and Twitter. So take your time and make sure your pictures and captions really count. Remember engagement is more important than timelines on Instagram. Front-load the important stuff With Instagram you really only have 3-4 lines before your caption cuts off. So make sure to lead ...

Twitter is built for speed and relevance. Almost more than any other social media platform, Twitter requires businesses to share with users exactly what is going on exactly when it is happening. Twitter is the platform of “now,” where businesses have to create engaging and creative tweets incredibly fast. Here are five tips to help businesses keep up with Twitter. Prepare in advance Events move fast in person but they move even faster on Twitter. Research your events before they happen, create image templates, and brainstorm copy ideas before you go. Be prepared but also be ready to tweet on the fly to stay active. Use the right hashtags Know what the official hashtags are before you tweet. This tiny execution can ...

Facebook played a huge role in paving the way of social media and it has stood the test of time. You can experience so many different things on Facebook from funny GIFs to serious world issues. It is one of the most important platforms for businesses to master because of its reach and variety. Here are seven tips to help you compose the most engaging Facebook posts possible. Experiment with post length Facebook allows you 63,206 characters in a single post. Please don’t use them all. Test your profile by making various posts less than 80 and less than 280. Depending on the reaction you are looking for you might use different lengths of copy. Ask questions In some cases good questions ...

The importance of social media cannot be denied. Businesses, both big and small, need to figure out how to make their stamp on the social platforms to compete for the attention of the vast social media audience. The way you craft each post is crucial to the success of your business’s social media. We are excited to share a five-part series on general tips for writing a good post, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and finally our predictions of the next wave of social media advertising. Top Nine Things to Remember Before You Post Your writing matters Your writing, no matter how brief or simple, reflects your brand. Not only does your writing need to match your brand, but it needs to ...

It seems all I hear and read is about the death of retail and the Amazon effect. So, what’s growing in retail? As agency for the Michigan Lottery, the answer isn’t surprising. Convenience Stores or C-stores. C-store in-store sales (merchandise and food service) are the fastest growing sector of the retail industry, with an annual growth rate of around 6 percent and a dramatic 18 percent growth since 2010. C-store sales increased from $190 billion to $600 billion in that period. There are now 154,535 C-stores in the country, with Texas housing the most at 15,671 units. A major contributor to the growth is an increase in fresh and healthier food offerings at c-stores – even Millennials are rolling in ...

For nearly 25 years I’ve been entering runs of various distances. Now I’m trying bike riding and swimming, too. Sometimes I enter an event with a plan just to finish. Sometimes without any plan. Often, I’m bitten by the bug and it becomes about racing: trying to shave off precious seconds to cross the finish line faster. I know where that line is and I work, grind, flow, sweat – whatever to get there. Recently I’ve been contemplating how different that is from work. Sure, at work we have deadlines. But in our careers and job function, the actual finish line keeps moving. Not in a way where you see someone inching the line ahead in a teasing manner. But simply where ...

Many in our industry (and all things tech) toss around the phrase “Move fast and break things.” And treat it like a new concept. But how new is the idea? Does it mean we’ve forgotten Evel Knievel? You remember: that crazy guy who rode a motorcycle fast and jumped over cars, buses, Pepsi trucks and the fountains at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. He even piloted a rocket-powered cycle over Idaho’s Snake River Canyon. As a result of his career exploits, Knievel became famous for his crashes and was recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records as surviving the most broken bones in a lifetime. Now what in white jumpsuits does this have to do with business today? I’d ...