What's Your Story?

An 18 Stories Experiment - "Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained"

We figured with the recession and the downturn in spending that we'd drop some money and open a retail shop.  With everyone ducking for cover, we just think it's a great time for anyone willing to see the opportunities around.  If our competition is going to hide - we want to be seen.  

The concept is simple:  Offer a bricks and mortar extension of our HatHead brand and offer incredible apparel and designs in limited edition runs.  Everything we offer is in limited edition so you don't run into 5 other people with the same shirt design or hat.  We'll feature our entire HatHead line-up at the store and even offer single runs (test hats) that never made a full production run for sale.  In addition we are going to carry a select run of apparel from a few of our partners.

The first benefit is to the consumer who wants high quality apparel that you simply can't get anywhere else.  Our headwear and apparel are incredible.  Secondly, our store will serve as an example of what can be done for any group, organization, business, band etc.  If you see a hat in our shop and LOVE the fabrics, design style and fit - all you have to do is ask a staff member and you'll be pointed to someone who can turn that exact garment into your very own.  

We've said for years that company and organizational branding doesn't have to be cheap and boring - and this will be our way of showing some incredible merchandise that, believe it or not, can be turned into branded merchandise all your own.

Opening day will be November 28th (TODAY)!!

We'd love to see you - so drop on by.  The coffee is on me.

Steve Gumm

---I'll have a post with pictures and the story of the birth of this experimental retail store.  It's been an incredible couple of weeks that could warrant a name change to 19 Stories.

Daily Monster with Stefan Bucher

My friends at Rule 29 brought Stefan Bucher to my attention about a year ago and I haven't been able to get enough since.  Stefan's "Daily Monster" enables you to view the creative mind in live action.  

I think Bucher hasn't even begun to recognize the potential of what he's created.  The monster's are incredible and lend themselves to brand extentions galore.  You can tell how much fun he's having and it simply becomes contagious as you watch the monster's come to life.

On this Monday morning I thought I'd bring you a creative mind who as turned a love of sketching into a one of a kind business and incredible blog.  

Go where your passion takes you.

Stefan's blog can be found here:  The Daily Monster

Here's a recent interview with Bucher for MIMOZINE posted on Youtube:

"Have a Good One"

I noticed yesterday that I have an automatic response built into my interactions with people.  Almost everytime I leave an encounter, be it a quick purchase at the gas station, picking up drycleaning, saying goodbye to a rep who just pitched us - I always say "have a good one".  I don't even know why. To be honest, I don't even notice.

Have you ever encountered someone and said to them, or had them say to you,  "have a nice day" or my very own "have a good one"?  Then you say "you too" almost before they finish.  That's called automatic - you don't even have to pay attention anymore because everything is so predictable.  If you're like me, you've had someone say "it was a pleasure" or "it's gonna be a good one" or something like that - and before they finish you spit out "you too".  It's only after the fact that you realize that mini-conversation made no sense.  It's hilarious how much of our lives are now on autopilot.  It' Americans have 

This has me looking at other automatic responses and mannerisms I have.  Digging deeper I began to think of any automatic mannerisms my company may have.

Being the owner of a business or a sales person within an organization, sometimes you have to take a very close look at what you are doing.  You may notice a few automatic responses in your actions.  Some are probably good, but many are most likely stale or simply make no sense at all.  Maybe it's the answer to "what do you do", how you answer the phone or your first reaction to meeting someone or leaving a meeting.  

It's difficult to take a step back and really analyze everything you are doing in order to point out those habits that can be broken, removed or improved.  In an age of fast changing business - the last thing you want to do is become stale and boring.  Even worse - you really don't want to become ignorable.....boring.  

You need to keep up with your customers and competition.   Today you may want to pay attention when you tell someone to "have a good one".  I think I'm going to switch it up today and tell people to "land a million dollar account" so when they say "you too" I'll stay on focus all day long.

Steve Gumm

Burger King Dropping Wallets All Over Chicago

Yet again, it's a big company getting all the FREE press and a huge ROI for what amounts to a fairly basic promotion.  I do like the creativity, although not in the top 100.  I'll give this thumbs up for simply doing something other than the expected and boring.  It's been a long time since McDonalds has done something beside Monopoly so I've giving kudos for Burger King for doing something that makes it on my "where's something fresh and new" radar.  By the way, the Monopoly game returns are so impressive for McDonald's that I wouldn't change either - but this type of guerilla marketing is so refreshing!

Check out the story here:  http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Finders-Keepers-Fast-Food-Chain-Loses-5000-Wallets.html#0avpDdd0gEisjQe5XMfeKse5oKvQTs8KNg5kMU3IybJfWAwMD

Now go drop your wallet, or a variation of it anyway.  Maybe it will be small businesses getting some big attention next time.  

Steve Gumm

10 Tips to Make Money in a Recession!

Cameron Herold posted a great video on YouTube titled "10 Tips to Make Money in a Recession!"  It's some great advice and a refreshing break from the "duck and cover" media reports being thrown down our throats on a daily basis.

Enjoy.  

SuperPoke! + 18 Stories = Super Cool SuperPoke! T-shirts!!!

http://shop.superpoke.com 

SuperPoke! T Shirts!  It's about time! The SuperPoke.com merchandise store is now live!  18 Stories is proud to be the merchandise partner of Slide.com and we are excited for the SuperPoke, SuperPoke!Pets and Slide.com fans.  As this grows so will the line-up of cool products to help you display your love for the characters, toss some to your friends who are fans, or simply pick up some really sweet gear.  Check out phase 1 here:  Shop SuperPoke

For all of you just crawling out from under a rock today - SuperPoke! and SuperPoke! Pets are the coolest applications on social networks like Facebook and MySpace.  155 million people interact with Slide's products every month.

         

More Great Information on Slide here:  http://www.crunchbase.com/company/slide

With incredible design, characters and an endless array of actionable events (I for one would like "shank" to come back.  People need to lighten up)- the SuperPoke! brand lends itself to some incredible merchandising.  Beginning with an initial launch today we envision incredible potential for the project.  The possibilitites have our heads spinning in the 18 Stories lab. This time next year we hope you will be able to purchase a wide variety of fun products featuring the entire cast of characters and actions in the SuperPoke! and SuperPoke! Pets line-up.

Check out round 1 and please show your support by buying one of these incredible shirts.  Now you can literally "Toss a sheep" at your friends. 

Want to toss something at me?  Go ahead - make my day: http://tinyurl.com/superpokeme

Buy SuperPoke! merch here:  (we put a lot of work into this people!!!)
shop.superpoke.com

Steve Gumm

Twittervotereport.com (Communication on steroids)

Twittervotereport.com - go see for yourself.  Communication is getting crazy!  This is truly watching innovation pushing into the future right now!

Tweet the vote with twittervotereport - wow.

Worth reviewing here:

C.R.A.P. From Richard St. John

Thanks to Guy Kawasaki for pointing me in the direction of this great video.  Guy is the type of entrepreneur who is full of big ideas and executes on them. The beauty of who he is rests in the fact that he's never too big to lend a helping hand to those small entrepreneurs trying to bust their asses to reach his level.  Check out his blog here too!  Guy Kawasaki Blog

Anyway - credit goes to Guy for passing this Richard St. John video along.  It's awesome.  You will LOVE the definition of CRAP.  Plus it's not even 4 minutes long.  Another example of getting a lot out of a little.

Happy Sunday Morning!

Steve Gumm

Evan Williams: Hilarious, and True, Post

                                                                                       (photo by Aaron Escobar)

Evan Williams, Twitter - nuff said, had a great post on his blog recently.  Even if you aren't starting your own business, the message could be applied to any new venture.  If you're a salesperson looking to take over a territory OR lead your company in #'s, an owner or anyone looking to make their mark in some area of their life.

Anyway, worth a quick read.  Hilarious.

http://tinyurl.com/evheadpost

Enjoy and have a great Saturday evening.  I'm done for the night people!

Steve Gumm

oh yeah, blog coming next week:  newest 18 Stories project rolling out with our friends at SuperPoke here:  shop.superpoke.com  Get Some!  We worked hard on this one.

Turning Trash Into Treasure (Part 2 of 2)

                        

To separate yourself, it's really as easy as looking at what you do and simply asking some questions like "is this something my competition would do?" "Is this something I see all the time?", "If it wasn't MINE, would I pay any attention to this?"

A lot of companies we consult with assume that if you are going way outside the box it means you have to spend a ton of money.  This simply isn't true.  If you're truly in a creative mode of thought - you can come up with a killer marketing piece with almost any budget. 

Here's one way to turn some trash into treasure.

18 Stories Freebie Idea - Run with it:
Here's a blatant - in your face way to stand out and get some attention.  We did this a few years ago and received a tremendous response.  We pissed off a few people, but give me a unique item that pisses off a few people over a safe idea no one pays attention to any day of the week.

Take a sheet of letterhead and write a compelling, but fun letter.  Crumple it up and stick the letter (and only the letter) in a small box.  Ship away.  Watch how many people read that one my friend!  I guarantee a killer response.  Prepare for some angry responses - it comes with the territory.  For anyone doing different things, there's a crowd that will always scream out in opposition.  The alternative is to be safe and be largely ignored.

Make sure you take an angle in your writing noting that you realize the majority of marketing pieces end up in the trash because they aren't worth paying attention to.  YOUR service, product, message demands attention and you're also "saving your clients time by preparing the letter for it's inevitable trip to the trash bin."  That's customer service!  The goal is always lead to get another customer touch due to the marketing, which is where you really drill in with information and turn that lead into a customer.

This little example shows you an inexpensive, but effective way to truly turn some trash into your own little treasure.

Enjoy.

Steve Gumm