In search of leadership

I’m in favor of strong leadership for our country. Leadership has nothing to do with politics or policies, it has everything to do with strength and character. Unfortunately our President didn’t display either of those things in a public speech this weekend when he swerved off his prepared remarks to manipulate his audience with a poor metaphor. Self pity has no place in the life of the most powerful man on the planet. I would vote that he keeps his personal feelings and frustrations to himself and focus on the task at hand — helping our country out of a bad swing so we can be a strong contributor in the global economy.

Some powerful interests who had been dominating the agenda in Washington for a very long time and they’re not always happy with me. They talk about me like a dog. That’s not in my prepared remarks, but it’s true.

Ads I wish I’d Done 6

My posts titled “Ads I wish I’d done” are ads that I think are really good and are just that, I wish I’d done them. I’m breaking the rule by placing this ad in that category. I don’t wish I made this ad, however, it’s a very good ad. I guess it’s an ad that I wish nobody had made, even though it’s one that needed to be done. I’ve had a front row seat to this addiction and it’s very unattractive, just as the ad depicts. It’s simultaneously 15 years late and right on time.

Advertising Agency: Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco
Client: Partnership for a Drug-Free America and Office of National Drug Control Policy

Sometimes I make stuff.

So we return from a great vacation in Durango, Colorado. It was a week full of white-water rafting, jeep tours, hiking, naked hackey sack in the shower and dodge ball. Good times, right?

I walked in the door to see problem number one: the front of one of our kitchen drawers had been ripped off. So, the usual interrogation began. I focus my attention on the two boys. The questions started easy enough. “Who ripped off the face of the drawer?” I got a couple “i dunno” answers and then blank stares. So I asked the question in a little different way so they might understand it better. “Who ripped off the face of the drawer?” Man, you would’ve thought I was speaking Spanish. Nothing.

There were only two other free loaders at home that day while we were on our way home. My sweet daughter and Luke, the four year old bundle of energy. Pretty sure it was neither of them. But I went ahead and asked my daughter Franki, “Did you rip off the front of the drawer?” And I could tell she did it as soon as I asked the question. Her brother, Jake, had made her so mad that she slammed the drawer with so much velocity that it blew the face right off.

So, $15 of cabinet-grade lumber, two hours at Lowe’s (I get distracted) and 2 hours for construction and assembly and we have a complete kitchen again. If you’re not counting the broken dishwasher and broken ice maker.

I want to be President some day.

An email that showed up in my inbox. Amusing.

I recently asked my friend’s little girl what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, ‘If you were President, what would be the first thing you would do?’ She replied, ‘I’d give food and houses to all the homeless people.’

Her parents beamed. “Wow…what a worthy goal.” I told her, “But you don’t have to wait until you’re President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds and sweep my sidewalk and I’ll pay you $50. Then I’ll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house.”

She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, “Why doesn’t the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?”

I said, “Welcome to the Republican Party”.

The Square Forest

To communicate Menasha’s sustainability leadership, we developed an industry print advertisement to illustrate an ideal sustainable environment.

Innovative packaging expert Menasha Corporation wanted to build self-awareness as a sustainability innovator. While multitudes of corporations nationally were touting green efforts, Menasha had been a sustainability leader since the beginning with innovative and proven solutions throughout the entire consumer goods supply chain. However, the supply chain was not fully aware of Menasha’s capabilities.

In order to communicate Menasha’s leadership, strategy focused on demonstrating environmental perfection. Menasha’s sustainable solutions were compared with square trees – an imaginary, ideal Mother Nature solution to environmental waste.

www.jajo.net

It’s Vegas, Baby!

The American Advertising Federation of Wichita’s annual district awards show honors the best in advertising. Jajo based this year’s theme on the glitz and glamour of advertising: Vegas style, baby! We developed a microsite, as well as collateral that included an invitation, poster, program, certificates and video. Lounge singers crooned through the sound system while a showgirl presented awards to the winners.