Saturday salute-Red Bull’s Flugtag

By Karen Post, on October 8, 2011

Every Saturday I salute someone or a group that deserves a little extra attention for his or her good deeds, super branding, achievements, creative solutions, witty comments or meaningful acts of customer love.

This week my hat goes off to Red Bull, their amazing branding and the Flugtag celebrations they hosted in Tampa, Florida.

What’s Flugtag?
Red Bull Flugtag challenges teams of everyday people to build homemade, human-powered flying machines and pilot them off a 30-foot high deck in hopes of achieving flight! Flugtag may mean “flying day” in German, but all these crafts ultimately splash into the waters below. They are judged not only on their flight’s distance, but creativity and showmanship as well.

How did I stumble upon this week’s hero?
The Red Bull event was outside my doorstep. I live in downtown Tampa on the water. (Got to have water for this event.) I ventured out for my Saturday walk with my good friend Nancy Walker of Walker Brands, and noticed the street was shut down and there were hundreds of joggers running through the race’s finish line which was a giant Red Bull branded blow-up arch. And that was just the beginning, this day long event attracts nearly 100,000 people, lots of media attention and most importantly the event makes a lasting, high-octane, emotional connection with consumers who buy beverages.

Two salutes are warranted this week.

1) For Red Bull’s brand leadership that consistently communicates the essence of their brand and product in an edgy, big, fun and sport-spirited fashion. From their metaphoric name to the brain tattooing they do with their bold red and black logo and imagery on every single touch point possible. Here a few of the branded touch points I saw, I know there were many more if I just kept walking.

2) For Red Bull’s brand logistics, behind the scene production folks and the first impression teams who danced with Red Bull backpacks on and greeted the all guests. It’s pretty darn astonishing how  my street can transform into such a memorable major event in 24 hours. Just yesterday it was a simple street.  I met some of the guys who made all this happen. They set up huge video screens every where, installed booths, hung banners and took care of the details and conveniences that make this event a WOW experience.

Congratulations Red Bull and team, we can all learn a few things about creating and maintaining a high energy brand from you.

Brand bold!
Brand Big!
Be relevant!
Live the personality of the brand!

Brand on!

A holiday not required to celebrate when you’re an entrepreneur

By Karen Post, on September 3, 2011

This weekend is Labor Day. Many start the count down on Monday, seven days before the official day, as the long weekend nears. It’s  a day off, the banks are closed and your dinner menu will likely include beer and barbeque.

Most don’t have a clue to the significance of the original Federal Celebration, which stemmed from President Cleveland’s reconciliation with labor unions after the deadly Pullman Strike of 1894, where a number of workers lost their lives.  A lot of folks view Labor Day as the final travel weekend before school begins, football season starts, and others think of it as the last weekend to wear white without risking getting a major citation from the fashion police.

And then there are many entrepreneurs that see that first Monday in September as just another great day to work or play, because you’re the boss and every day is a holiday and celebration. I share the last sediment.

I do have friends that can’t really relate to my opinion that Hallmark or Federal holidays are overrated. Not the significance of the day, but that they are more special than other days. Especially when I tell them I may work on Monday, their instant reply is “you work too much, you need to enjoy life”, which I really hate when people say that. Because my amount of joy, relaxation and celebration likely  exceeds theirs twenty fold, it may just not fall on a  holiday.

Sure being an entrepreneur can be scary and complicated. I was reminded of this today when I watched 10 episodes of Leap-Year, an on-line comedy series about the highs and lows of small business with 5 budding entrepreneurs. If you have not seen this, you’ve got to check it out. The storyline is creative and inspiring. And what I found really cool was that it was produced by PR and digital shop CJPcom.com for Hiscox, a small business insurance expert . Hiscox provides online business insurance to companies with less than 10 employees. And beyond the great reality small biz flicks, that you can watch anytime, there are business resources and a series of awesome interviews with very notable entrepreneurs like Mashable’s Editor in Chief Adam Ostrow, Guy Kawasaki (Alltop.com, Enchanted) and Gary Vaynerchuk (Daily Grape, The Thank You Economy). It’s brilliant marketing! They leveraged social media and streaming video, produced something relevant and entertaining and then associated their brand with it, and offered a great product. BINGO everyone wins!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAZeUzFsSkg

So my Labor day holiday weekend may not be conventional. I will write a lot. I will do some planning and think about many things that are important to me. I may eat barbeque. I don’t drink beer, but do drink wine and may hang with some friends. I will play tennis and get a massage. But most of all, when I hear people chatting about dreading going back to work on Tues., to that job—I will rejoice and celebrate that I’m an independent entrepreneur who loves the labor of my business.