Overcoming Obstacles « BrandTwist

Top 5 Creativity “Rut Busters”

Posted by Julie | May 19th, 2010

What do you do when the well runs dry?

I mean the creativity spring, the idea river, the fountain of wit…

Maybe you are one of the few lucky ones and this never happens to you (liar!).

Fortunately, this doesn’t happen too often to me…but it does happen.

And it’s often when I am physically tired or mentally pre-occupied (usually with kids, home, etc.).

I know it will pass, after all, it always does.

But even though I know it’s temporary, when it does happen, I seem to lose sight of this right away and I go right to…I WILL NEVER HAVE ANOTHER CREATIVE IDEA AS LONG AS I LIVE.

And naturally this makes me panic, and of course this panic blocks my creativity even more and so on, and so on…

So what’s a girl (of guy) to do?

Well once you climb down from the ledge, you might want to try one of these tips…none of them are ground-breaking, but maybe they are worth remembering. And of course, what I really loved to hear is your ideas.

Keep reading »

Category: Creativity, Generating Ideas, Inspiration, Overcoming Obstacles, Problem Solving

7 Comments»

Is it Too Late for Toyota?

Posted by Julie | February 1st, 2010

This article in Today’s New York Times about Toyota’s slow response to a deadly problem literally made me sick to my stomach.

The terror that Highway patrol man must have felt as his car careened at 120 miles an hour is unthinkable.

Many brands go through a crisis at one point or another in their history. And it’s not so much what happens but how they react that the public remembers.

The stakes seem pretty high here and the reaction to such a deadly problem too slow.

Will this blow over with a bit of clever PR back tracking or is this just too much for Toyota to recover from?

I am interested in your twist.

Category: Overcoming Obstacles

6 Comments»

What Would Make Women Happier?

Posted by Julie | January 19th, 2010

Real Simple Magazine recently did a survey among 2,600 women and men about what would make them happier.

Here are the top results for the women. Click on the above to see the list for the men.

TOP TEN THINGS THAT WOULD MAKE WOMEN HAPPIER:

1. A permanently clean home.

2. A luxury trip.

3. A big house.

4. Losing 10 pounds.

5. A great body.

Keep reading »

Category: Inspiration, Overcoming Obstacles

5 Comments»

Do You Get Your Best Ideas in the Shower?

Posted by Julie | January 13th, 2010

A while back a wrote a post Lather, Rinse, Repeat about how I often get my best ideas in the shower (I think it’s something about turning your brain off) that allows the ideas to flow.

But I lamented the fact that I couldn’t find a place to write them down (all wet and soggy) when the inspiration struck.

Well know thanks to a BrandTwist reader I just found out that one company, Aqua Notes, offers a solution to this.

Keep reading »

Category: Innovation, Inspiration, Overcoming Obstacles, Problem Solving, Uncategorized

2 Comments»

Is Domino’s the “New Coke”?

Posted by Julie | January 12th, 2010

Many of you probably remember the Domino’s fiasco of last April when two employees made a rogue video pretending to put disgusting things in the pizza.

The employees were fired, the video was removed from You Tube and the company issued a statement reassuring people on the quality of their food (and their employees).

If you missed the incident, it’s summarized in this video from the Today Show.

Well, a quick 8 months later, Domino’s is creating it’s own viral campaign with this video called “The Pizza Turnaround”.

My question is whether this effort is an effective authentic response, or whether it goes too far in it’s apologetic tone.

Keep reading »

Category: Advertising, Brand Strategy, Overcoming Obstacles, Product Branding, Viral Campaigns

7 Comments»

Death by Chocolate

Posted by Julie | January 6th, 2010

My name is Julie and I am a Chocaholic.

Not to belitte anyone else’s addiction, but this is a serious problem for me.

And it’s become virtually impossible to control, because I am not sure if you’ve noticed, but right now chocolate is EVERYWHERE!!

In Holiday gift boxes sent to my office, from well-meaning friends bringing over hostess gifts and perhaps most importantly and most surprisingly in EVERY SINGLE DRUG STORE AISLE IN THE FORM OF VALENTINE’S GIFTS.

What did I miss?

Since when does Valentine’s Day start on January 4th?

Hello. We should at least have a 2 week grace period until January 15th. Right?

I know retailer’s are hard up…but trust me there is just not that much love to celebrate.
Keep reading »

Category: Creativity, Finding Balance, Overcoming Obstacles, Problem Solving

4 Comments»

QuickBite

Posted by Julie | December 23rd, 2009

“God, I’m 51 years old and I spent 30 years of my life doing things I didn’t want to do. The things you do to please other people! I said to myself, Well now I’m just going to have a good time. That was the most freeing thing.”

-Alec Baldwin in this month’s Wired Magazine in an article titled “Stay in the Game: The Fall and Rise of Alec Baldwin” where he speaks about his failures, his TV comeback, and how he looks forward to failing again.

I am a big fan of Wired and this month’s issue does not disappoint.

There’s a picture of Alec Baldwin on the cover in a fighting pose and a big black box that says “Fail. Why Losing Big Can Be a Winning Strategy”.

Along with Mr. Baldwin-Mike Tyson, Meg Whitman, and Bill Clinton talk candidly about some of their biggest failures and most importantly what they’ve learned from them.

As I mentioned in my earlier post Fail Harder, I’m also a big fan of failure. Not that I enjoy falling on my face. But I do think true innovation takes risk. And failure is a sure sign that you are taking risks.

What have you learned from failure?

Category: Celebrity Branding, Overcoming Obstacles, QuickBite

1 Comment»