Starting next Monday, I’ll be releasing a new top 10 list every day through the 31st, covering a range of topics. Just to give you an idea of what I’ll be covering, here’s a 1/2 the list of topics:
Check back on Monday for the first list.
As I stated in my presentation on micro Interactions, we come in contact with hundreds, if not thousands of brands every day. I’m always fascinated by the brands we hold near and dear to our hearts. The brands that we’ll never switch away from. The brands we recommend unequivocally. The brands we are most passionate about. I’ve been taking a mental inventory of the brands and products I come across on a daily basis. Given my love for top 10 lists, I’ve compiled a list of the 10 brands/products I’m most passionate about.
This post could also be called, “10 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Graduated.” I’ve spoken at universities to college students, high school students, people just out of school, and to people I’ve encountered along the way in my career about how I’ve gotten where I am. The road I took wasn’t exactly traditional. I’ve made mistakes along the way. There are gambles I’ve taken that paid off and others that I’d like to forget.
While at my old high school I spoke with several freshman and sophomores about the future. They asked me several questions that really got me thinking and inspired me to write this post. So without further adieu here are 10 pieces of advice for people getting ready to graduate. These are nuggets of advice that I wish I had or that I should have listened to when I graduated.
First a shout-out to Brandie for finding this great write up from Sapient about what marketers want out of their agencies in the future. Brandie always offers up raw, honest, and opinionated feedback. Her commentary on the article is fantastic and worth a read, especially if you are on the agency side.
According to the article, Sapient, “…recently sponsored a national online digital marketing and interactive advertising survey to gain insight into what marketers want from their advertising and marketing agencies in the next 12 months. The survey polled more than 200 chief marketing officers (CMOs) and senior marketing professionals, all of whom are either directly or indirectly responsible for managing digital marketing budget allocation across multiple channels.”
Personally, I would have preferred it if they spoke with junior marketers as well. Remember it’s the junior marketers that are on the cutting edge of technology. That said, the write up is very telling of how agencies can position themselves for future success.
There were 4 items on the list that really stuck out to me:
This was a lot of fun. Thanks again to Brandie for finding the Sapient article and sharing it on her blog. As always, let’s hear what you have to say.
This is the second half of a post outlining my top 10 favorite movies. The first half of the post can be seen here.
5. Usual Suspects: If you haven’t seen it yet; too bad, I’m going to ruin it for you right now…Kevin Spacey is Keyser Soze. Ok with that out of the way. I was floored when that fact surfaces at the end. You spend the whole movie entranced with the mystery of Soze, only to find out he’s been on the screen for 75% of the movie. This movie is Brian Singer at his best. The tempo, use of flash backs, narration, and overall story is nearly flawless. Every time I watch The Usual Suspects I stumble across something new I didn’t catch before.
4. Field of Dreams: This is one of the 3 movies that can make me cry. If you’re a guy and you’ve played catch with your dad, how can you not cry? In this flick we have Costner playing one of his two best types of roles: sporting guy (the other one is a character in a western). Field of Dreams is actually a take off of a book and if you’ve ever read the book then you know how close to the mark the movie is. Whether you like baseball or not, the movie warms your heart, and almost makes you want to build your own baseball fiedl.
3. Godfather I: Brando, Pacino, Caan, Duvall, and the list goes on and on. From the opening scene to the final scene the movie delivers. Nino Rota’s score is masterful and the overall story has so many lessons that are applicable in real life. This blog does a GREAT job if outlining some of the key ones.
2. Airplane: So many quotes, so many quotes, so many quotes! I can watch this movie over and over and over. It just rocks. The laughs are big, the story completely unbelieveable, and the characters are just amazing. Plus, this gets bonus points for starring Kareem Abdul Jabar as an airline pilot. Let me say that again, Kareem, all 7 ft. of him is an airline pilot. Long story short; if you haven’t seen this movie you are missing out and if you have seen it then you know what I’m talking about.
1. Almost Famous: I just watched this movie the other night AGAIN; and it reminded me again why I love it: Beautiful story telling. Cameron Crowe does a great job of telling the story in a way the comes across as realistic and makes you feel like you are in each scene. The use of music elevates the movie to #1 status in my book; specifically, the Tiny Dancer scene. And it has one of my favorite all time life lesson scenes. At the end of the movie the band’s manager, Dennis Hope, played by Jimmy Fallon presents the band with a lighter in one hand a closed fist as the other. He ask’s them which they’d rather want…the known entity or the unknown. The band of course wants what’s in the fist even though they have no idea what’s in it. The point of course is we live for the unknown.
Other movies that I love, but that didn’t make the cut:
Braveheart
Legends of the Fall
V for Vendetta
Meet Joe Black
Good Will Hunting
High Fidelity
Heat
The Departed
The Matrix (Part I)
American Psycho
Kingdom of Heaven
The Good The Bad and The Ugly
Goodfellas
Sin City
The Wizard of Oz
American Beauty
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Casablanca
Back on the old blog I had post about my favorite movies; it generated a lot of discussion. So as I march forward with blog 2.0 I thought well let’s roll with another top 10 movie list. First, let’s get the criteria out of the way. This isn’t a list about the BEST movies of all time. The AFI already does that here. BTW, there list is complete horse shit; but that’s a topic for a different day. This list is purely my top 10 favorite movies. These would be the movies that I’d save if my house was burning down. I also reserve the right to change this list at will. As a matter of fact I do change this list about once a month.
10. Rocky IV: This is such a great “popcorn” flick. Only in a movie could James Brown sing Living in a America, Stallone single handedly end the cold war, convert a stadium full of Russians in Russia to be pro Rocky, climb a mountain, not spar, take more punishment than is humanly possible, and win on Christmas day. Rocky IV isn’t a better movie than the three before it…it doesn’t have Mr. T’s famous quote of “Prediction? Pain!”…it lacks the rawness of Rocky I, it doesn’t have Mick, and of course it has the proverbial scenes where Talia Shire (Adrian) tells Rocky he can’t win. But, what it does have is two of the greatest montage scenes ever in a movie. It makes you feel so damn good about being an American, gets your blood boiling, and makes you want to say “Stallone, stop now…don’t make Rocky V.” I can catch this movie at any point and still want to watch it.
9. Shawshank Redemption: This movied used to be so much higher up on the chart, but sadly the millions of times that TBS and TNT have ran it really tainted the movie for me. It’s like if you ate your favorite meal at your favorite place every single day for the next 100 days. At some point enough is enough. So let’s break it down…we’ve got Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins playing two convicts. Improbable to say the least; but they are clearly believable in their roles. The amazing thing about this movie is that it’s actually based on a short story by Stephen King. WTF? Yes, the guy who gave you Carrie gave you this movie. The acting is brilliant, the music OUTSTANDING (one of my favorite soundtracks), and features so many great quotes. My personal favorite being, “I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up DOES rejoice. Still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they’re gone.” The writing is just fantastic.
8. Love Actually: I admit I hate Hugh Grant. Generally I run in the opposite direction when I see him in a movie. It’s not that Hugh isn’t a nice guy. I’m sure he’s as nice as he is dumb (seriously who cheats on Liz Hurley?); but the guy has NO range. He plays the same guy in every movie. He’s often a mildly rich to rich guy who has a crisis of conscious that can only be solved by through the love of a woman. He played this role in 2 Weeks Notice, Bridget Jones Diary, Music and Lyrics, Nine Month, and the list goes on. He actually even plays this same role in Love Actually, but I forgive him for it, because the movie rocks. Look at the cast: Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, Elisha Cuthbert, Billy Bob Thornton, Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Shannon Elizabeth…and the list goes on and on. The story telling is top knotch. Given all th stories taking place at one time, it would be very easy to have the movie become a jumbled mess, but by the end of the movie everything comes together. Just love it. Thanks to my wife for introducing me to this movie.
7. Groundhog Day: Simply put, Bill Murray at his absolute best. The movie is flawless from start to finish. You have to love all the little characters in the movie. Chris Elliott and Andie McDowell are perfect complementary pieces. What I really dig though is that you end up thinking hard core about what day you’d want to live over and over and over. If you’ve never seen this movie; you’re missing out.
6. Star Wars: Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back: Dude…it’s Star Wars. You knew that one of these had to make it in here. I’m generally torn when it comes to picking a favorite Star Wars. I love the ending in Episode VI; the duel between Darth and Luke is nearly flawless. Episode has probably the best acting and cinematography. It probably goes without saying, but the prequels have the best special effects. All that said, Episode V combines the best of all the movies and gives you the famous twise; Darth is Luke’s dad. That blew my mind; I mean literally, it rocked my world. You got Yoda (for the first time), Obi, the droids, Han, Lando, etc. The cast is impressive to say the least. And the one thing that makes this movie work for me is that the BAD GUY WINS. I hate when the good guy wins all the time. In reality, the bad guy wins a lot of the time. You have to love how they brought reality into a movie about battles in outer space
Numbers 5 – 1 to be featured tomorrow.
Head of Social Media at Walgreens. Interactive marketer, innovator, boat rocker, continuous learner, movie lover, risk taker, dad and all around good guy.
