A filmmaker buddy of ours here in Columbus sent us this great pic of his daughter rocking the IM Summer Surprise. Happy holiday weekend everyone!

Step 1: Include an adorable baby picture like this one of our sweet nephew playing with one of our custom beachballs.

Of course, not everyone has a nephew as cute as ours, so there must be other ways to stand out from the noise of mass media, smart-devices, and our content-rich lives.  

If you look closely, you'll see that Nephew is showing off our latest effort at getting noticed - beachballs.  

We thought back to our major touchpoints with our future clients, and we wondered why it was that we only took one opportunity each year to reach out via a mass-mailing, and we did so at the same time everyone else on the planet is reaching out - the holidays.  That's when we had the idea to do a mid-year mailing - no one else does it (that we know of), which automatically puts us miles ahead in the quest to be noticed.  Timed to conincide with the official start of summer - Memorial Day - we designed custom branded beachballs bearing the message "Have a Ball This Summer", then inflated them, placed them in boxes, and sent them off.  No notes.  No hard sell.  Just nice.

As I write this blog post, the beachballs are landing at their summer homes, and I'm virtually certain a few of them will show up in some Facebook photos from the upcoming holiday weekend's summertime celebrations.  Will they have an impact on our bottom line?  We don't know, but we hope so.

I can hear you now - "You said this blog post was about getting noticed.  How am I supposed to listen to you if you aren't even sure that you are getting noticed?"

Getting noticed is an ART, not a science.  Like most other things in life, there are no absolutes.  Moreover, the moment something does become absolute, everyone and their brother will pile on attempting to recreate what was once an original idea but is now merely derivative.  

Getting noticed is an act of leading, not following.  It requires calculation, nontraditional thinking, and a willingness to fail.  People notice truly novel ideas, and people notice those who have the confidence and courage to take a risk.  Oftentimes, it isn't necessarily the act itself that gets noticed, but the thought process and unashamed hubris that it takes to stand up and demand attention.

So does getting noticed take balls?  Nope.  But that's what we're trying this summer.  We'll keep you posted on what the results are, but we can guarantee that if this effort doesn't achieve the desired results, we'll come up with idea after idea after idea to try and get noticed, and that kind of commitment really does take... creativity.

What excites us about this isn't necessarily the technology used - it's only mildly impressive, and will soon feel like the cultural equivalent of the 8 track.  However, what Bombay has done is to create a groundswell for their brand that is grounded in a live, emotional experience for visitors that can gain viral traction in other media.  The purpose of a live event isn't just to move the people in the room.  Its to create an energy in the room that can extend beyond it through the repurposing of the content created at the live experience.  In the social marketing age, that's incredibly valuable, strategic, and in many cases, exceedingly affordable.  Take the flash mob we did with UPS a few years ago, when flash mobs were still cool.  For a fraction of what a traditional advertising buy would be, we created both a volume and a price for impressions that exceeds anything they'd previously done.  

Live events can be a strategic marketing tool that creates content for other platforms, and if your advertising agency or PR firm isn't taking them into account when constructing campaigns, you are missing out on an entire universe of engagement.  

Check out some video of the Bombay Sapphire Sky Pavilion below:

Coolness.

This is why we so often ask our clients what they plan to wear when presenting at an event.  Just like lights, or sound, or video, wardrobe has an effect on the overall resonance your message has with attendees.  Like it or not, we are acculturated to judge people based on their aesthetic presentation.  Wardrobe is a key part of that presentation.  To not address your wardrobe when presenting on stage at a live event is to give up. 

When addressing your wardrobe, think about it in terms of your message.  If your message is to convey the innovation of your brand, your pleated khakis aren't going to give that message.  If you seek to convey luxury, leave the Old Navy at home.  

Here are a couple other key tips from us for your wardrobe at a live event:

- Avoid prints, especially on ties or blouses, and go for solid sportcoats - not herringbone or tweed.

- If working in the round, remember that your back is as important as your front.

- Shoes matter - when you're 2-4 feet off the floor, everyone sees them.

- Wear appropriate socks, remembering that it is customary to match them to your pant color, not your shoe color.

- Especially for women, be sure to test your garment in show-light conditions to ensure you don't inadvertantly show more than you meant to.

- Do not wear brand new shoes on show day. 

- When choosing your outfit, consider what type/cut of garment will make it easy to attach a microphone and  conceal a battery pack.  

- Go easy on the jewelry - especially necklaces that can interfere with your mic.  Don't wear watches or rings that can cause blinding reflections in the eyes of your attendees.

- Avoid white garments.

- Be bold, and try and stay away from the standard khaki and navy uniforms of the business world.

- Consider the effect your nerves and the hot lights will have on you and your garments, and plan accordingly.

But above all, the cardinal rule for show attire - be CONFIDENT and COMFORTABLE in what you're wearing.... but avoid the sweat pants.  No one should ever be THAT comfortable.

Roxanne, the three year-old Great Dane pictured at left, and Toby, the five year-old puggle whose behind is in the upper right, are our office dogs. While they live at Scott and Shannon's house, they very often make the trek to the office to help aid everyone's process.  

"How on earth do having dogs around help your process?"

Spontenaiety.

So very often, we check in at the office at 9am and check out at 6pm having gone through the ritualistic choreography of our day.  Those patterns become so set in us that sometimes we do things without thinking about them.  Have you ever been driving somewhere and get lost in a thought for a bit, then you look up and ask yourself "Who's been driving my car?  Why did I get off the highway here?".  That's the result of a psychological pattern.  

Don't get me wrong, patterns can be useful things - they keep us safe, they allow us to multi-task, and they sometimes optimize our work.  But breaking patterns can be just as valuable.  A pattern is a way of doing something without thinking.  That's not how we roll.   We must always be thinking about how and why we are doing something, lest we miss an opportunity for improvement.

Moreover, the creation of a profound live experience is the result of a series of expectations that we meet for an audience, and then break free from.  Establishing a pattern and then breaking it is the quickest way to grab an audience's attention.  

With Roxie and Toby at the office, there is an element of entropy.  Is Roxie going to bark in the middle of a conference call?  Is Toby going to pee on the floor?  Maybe.  We dunno.  Are we going to find the joy that only an animal companion can bring when one of the pups saunters in to our office, tail wagging with glee at just seeing us?  Yup.  Does that joy, entropy, and emotion find its way into our work?  You betcha.  

Dogs at the office keep us on our toes, keep us connected, and keep us emotionally centered to do the work we set out to do - move people.  They break our patterns, make us smile, and remain connected to the emotion of what we're doing.  Our live events rarely change the world, but they do change the way people see the world.  Sometimes that new perspective is best achieved through the eyes of a dog.

"What more could I have done?" "More staff at registration."

No. You don't got this.

After a very busy first quarter at IM Creative, the last week or two has been filled with follow-up meetings for clients to engage in a post-mortem on the events we recently concluded with them. While I've been reasonably happy with the extent to which they have been love-fests with us, they are an integral exercise in conveying to our client our critical thinking skills and our ability to self-correct. As our client UPS recently discussed at an event honoring their founder, Jim Casey, an environment of "constructive dissatisfaction" is essential to building an effective business. That's what a post-mortem should be - not simply a chance to pat one another on the back, but an exercise in expressing constructive dissatisfaction with the work you have just completed, and in doing so ensure that your trajectory is an upward one.

When we beat a client to the punch in defining what we think could be better about our own work, it may admit the occasional imperfection, but it also conveys a larger sense of self-awareness that is essential in our line of work. In a live experience, you get ONE SHOT. If you believe that every shot you take is a swish, you're deluding yourself, and that's how live event companies get stale. It's rarely, if ever, a swish. By taking the bull by the horns and admitting the opportunities to improve our own work at an event, it becomes clearer to the client the way in which we can make their event even better. Then, when our clients come to a post-mortem prepared to sing our praises while we seem focused on what can be improved upon, the message gets delivered loud and clear that we aren't just resting on our laurels and looking to create a facimile of the event next year. We want to perpetually do better, and anyone who doesn't isn't merely resting on their laurels - they are making their own business and that of their clients rest in peace... dead on arrival.

Photo of Nina West by The Columbus Dispatch

This year, they asked IM Creative to come in and help spice up their meeting a bit. Ohio has the erroneous reputation of being stodgy and bland, so we worked overtime to make certain this meeting was anything BUT stodgy and bland.

To us, one of the main things we were able to achieve with this event was the inclusion of lots of different aspects of the Columbus community through the live experience. We firmly believe that the experience of actually BEING THERE creates magic that you just can't get from video. That's why we created the NOW TRENDING RUNWAY SHOW, a fashion-show style program that didn't just showcase fashion, it showcased what is *in* fashion right now in Columbus.

Thankfully, the smart and open Columbus community was all in - we had representation in the show from all parts of the city, including mascots and/or representatives from all four of our professional sports teams (The Crew, The Blue Jackets, The Clippers & The Machine), live animals from the #1 Zoo in America, and a crazy menagerie of costumed, bedazzled, and fashion forward finds you can only get here in Columbus.

The show was a huge hit, and not only were we able to showcase many of the unique offerings Columbus has for visitors, we were able to convey our strength in people power. Over 40 individuals donated their time and efforts to help highlight the trends and diversity of our fair city, and we did it LIVE and IN PERSON. That energy is why we gather people together, and we're proud to have been able to bring that energy to the Experience Columbus Annual Event this year - so come and visit us soon!

Over the past few months, we've been meeting with numerous collaborators around the city to help conceive and plan the fall future event, and things are really coming together on it.  What I can tell you is that it celebrates Columbus' unique place in the worlds of innovation and design, and promotes the further development of those ideas in Columbus.  Titled idUS, the event will help galvanize the pockets of innivation and design excellence from many parts of our community and unite them in an experience only Columbus could present.  

Yesterday, we were fortunate enough to be present at a luncheon where Mayor Michael B. Coleman spoke about the direction our city is headed in over the next 200 years.  There were some great ideas discussed, and we wanted to share with you a few of our favorites, the essence of which will undoubtly be present in idUS.  

"We are who we say we are."

"Unless you tell your story, no one else will."

idUS seeks to be a celebration of all things innovative and designed - a chance for the forward thinkers of the world to sprint forth to Columbus and see what's next.  We can't wait to help bring this event to our community.  Happy Birthday Columbus!