Life spins around us pretty fast. It’s astounding that when we sit down to write, create, work, or whatever; the world comes to a screeching halt. Of course the distractions, the annoying emails, the tweets and post alerts seem to continue, but when creating really matters, you freeze. My last post talked about the need to conquer this writer’s block. If you don’t want to click back to read the whole post, here’s an excerpt:

It kills me every Wednesday night. While I’ve known all week that I have a personal deadline set to post every Thursday morning; I wait until Wednesday night (or later) to actually start writing. I take notes, jot ideas, scribble and doodle all week, but when it comes to Wednesday, I open TextEdit and just sit.

CRAP…

Suddenly, tonight, a voice in my head said “What the hell are you doing? Just start writing, you moron!” So I did. I wrote, “You’re going to die anyway.” and POW, the words started rolling.

So I challenged you to write the title of a future post for me – to kick-start some of the juices. And to my surprise, you stepped to the challenge (yay).

Now we – more to the point, YOU – get to vote on which title will be my next post! Read the entries below and vote for your favorite. You have until the end of the day (6:00 pm CST) Monday, June 21st to make your decision.

I will take the most popular title and interview the person that submitted it to get “the full story.” Who knows? It may reveal something about one of our fellow community of readers or it may just be cool to hear how they came up with the title. Any way we look at it, it’s going to prove to be interesting and challenging.

So, vote away! I look forward to seeing the results!

Keep Cooking! (free-flowing creative that saves the world!)

Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Feel that? It’s your life slipping away. Yep. Every second of every minute that you spend reading this post, you’re slowly dying. Breath by breath, each heartbeat with each syllable, you creep closer to the end.

oooooooooh….

Pretty ominous, huh? So, why the dark perspective? Well, this is what got me writing tonight. It’s what motivated me to pick one more juicy word from my mental nostril just to see what it looked like.

In other words, I had writer’s block.

It kills me every Wednesday night. While I’ve known all week that I have a personal deadline set to post every Thursday morning; I wait until Wednesday night (or later) to actually start writing. I take notes, jot ideas, scribble and doodle all week, but when it comes to Wednesday, I open TextEdit and just sit.

CRAP…

Suddenly, tonight, a voice in my head said “What the hell are you doing? Just start writing, you moron!” So I did. I wrote, “You’re going to die anyway.” and POW, the words started rolling.

Many (many) moons ago, I wrote a post about having writer’s block. More to the point, I wrote about the keys to getting the writing wheels out of neutral and making a connection with my readers. For me, it starts with a title. It can be anything – like free association. Eventually the words and images start connecting in my brain and the solution reveals itself.

I wrote:

“… All I want is a headline – a short sentence that would communicate something about YOU or about something you want to discuss… Below are a few examples…

‘Without feathers, I’d never…’
‘But I can’t feed my kids on your wisdom’
‘Forget the President, I want to eat Jell-O’
‘The importance of Balsa wood and Miller Lite.’
‘It’s not Rocky Science’

And so on… and so on…”

Unfortunately, the response was less than stellar…  maybe because I’d only just begun blogging and Drew McLellan was the only one that ever read my posts?  Who knows? But he was gracious enough to leave me a comment. And I dropped the ball… (sorry Drew)

So let’s try it again.

Send ‘em in. Post your headline and your name / contact info in the comments section below. Once I have enough (5-7 or more…) I’ll hold a contest to see who’s headline will be the start to a future blog post – AND THEY’LL BE VOTED ON BY YOU!

Maybe we’ll make a connection and create something the whole world will love. Maybe we won’t and it will be another piece of gravel on the shoulder of the information super highway. If anything, it will be a way for me to get to know some of you.

Hell, we’re all going to die, eventually. We might as well have fun while we’re here. I look forward to reading your headlines…

Keep Cooking (free-wheeling, fun ideas…)
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Music is part of my personal brand.  I’ve written about it before. But for the last six months I’ve created quite a significant illustration of that particular personal brand trait.

As a little joke/hat-tip to my friend, Terry Starbucker, I started tweeting about what was rolling off of my iPod.  Some times it was in the middle of the day.  Some times it was after lunch.  But after a few weeks, I realized most of my melodic tweets took place first thing in the morning.

Why?

Music DRIVES me.  I don’t care if it’s the classic William Tell Overture or a smooth George Michael track, or even the mind-bending, screaming Velvet Revolver; music is never far from my ears.  It’s part of my brand.

So, virtually every morning, from early September 2009, to this morning, I have turned on my iPod and the first song (sometimes the second or third – ’cause who wants to get going to The Wiggles or Raffi?) that rolls off the virtual turntable becomes my “Get-Going groove of the day.”

Music moves me.  And strange enough, I’ve found many of YOU have responded as well. Countless times, I’ve been asked to provide play-lists of my grooves.  I’ve burnt a quite a few of CDs for friends. And I realize The Get-Going groove of the day has touched more than my own personal brand.  Heck, I get emails and direct messages if I’ve forgotten, or the groovy tweet has been delayed even a half hour, so someone has been affected…

So here you go.  The first volume of The Brand Chef’s Get-going groove of the day is listed below. (Tracks/links and Tweets!)

ENJOY!

Piggies – The Beatles:
My Get-Going groove of the day (Saturday Edition): LINK – I’m not sure what’s more disturbing… the song or the video… WOW.

Brick House – The Commodores:
My Get-Going groove of the day: LINK – Lionel before he went to the dark side… WHAT A GROOVE FOR FRIDAY! Have a GREAT DAY!

It Hurts Me Too – Eric Clapton:
My Get-Going groove of the day: LINK – Great attitude tune for the gloomy day! Grrrrrrrr!

Jump Jive An’ Wail – Brian Setzer Orchestra:
My Get-Going groove of the day: LINK — came up on the iPod on the treadmill Sunday… So, I cranked the pace to 9! (dumb)

Carry on Wayward Son – Kansas:
My Get-Going groove of the day: LINK — great 70′s “rock your soul” motivation —> ’nuff said…

Soul Vaccination – Tower of Power:
My Get-Going groove of the day: LINK Since my arm STILL hurts from yesterday’s flu shot… Time to get FUNKY!

Here I Am – Lyle Lovett:
My Get-Going groove of the day: LINK – only album I’ve ever purchased that is remotely close to country… The guy has STYLE!

Life is Wonderful – Jason Mraz:
My Get-Going groove of the day: LINK – One of my new favorite songs… Something to remember EVERY DAY!

Battle of Who Could Care Less – Ben Folds Five:
My Get-Going groove of the day: LINK — Okay Monday, take that…

Pump It Up – Elvis Costello:
My Get-Going groove of the day: LINK – the week is almost over… Maybe Elvis can help us get there?

Rock and Roll is Dead – Lenny Kravitz:
My Get-Going groove of the day: LINK — A little gritty groove for the Monday blues… Get up and get moving!

Basket Case – Green Day:
My Get-Going groove of the day : LINK A little pop-punk in the hope that this will clear the gloom from the morning. And GO!

Working Man – Rush:
My Get-Going groove of the day: LINK … kind of appropriate on a day like today?

Bicycle Race – Queen:
My Get-Going groove of the day: LINK — so much innuendo for so early on a Monday morning… ?

Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m yours – Stevie Wonder:
My Get-Going groove of the day: LINK — Classic Stevie…

Something – Paul McCartney (Concert for George):
My Get-Going groove of the day: LINK – From the Concert for George … Watch the whole video… Heartbreaking & inspiring.

I’ll continue to post the Get-going groove of the day – every day possible – to my Twitter and Facebook accounts.  Why?  ‘Cause every day needs a little groove… So stay tuned (every day around 8am) for more!

Until next time…

Keep Cooking! (tasty tunes to tickle your tail lights…)
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Can you say your brand is unique?  Can you say you’re a pioneer?

It seems like a simple concept, but when it comes down to it, it takes a commitment to a TRUE brand.  Often times people ask what it takes to become “viral.”

My answer:

“You can’t  Being “viral” is entirely based on the community you’ve created…”

Here’s a great example:

(Facebookers and feed readers need to click here to see this great video.)

Okay, maybe they’re all stoned.  But they all seem to be “drinking the same Kool-Aid” – tainted or not.

This guy’s belief in his unique value inspired others to engage.  Can you say your brand is this infectious?  How can you make it so?

Keep Cooking (unique ways to engage your audience)
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

When it comes to a little friendly competition, I’m all game.  I love the challenge.  I love the strategy.  And obviously, my friends over at Lessing Flynn advertising agency, think the same way.

At the end of what was an extremely busy social media week for Central Iowa, we were made aware of a little competition brewing in the advertising agency social media ring.

The competition?

In short, there was a Michael Glass poll created asking, of 45 ad agencies listed, who had better social media reach?  Who had true social media skills? (click the image below to go to the poll)

As the poll started to grow legs, it was evident that the two overwhelming leaders in the group was an agency out of North Carolina by the name of Media Two and our own Ad Mavericks (Lessing Flynn) from little ol’ Iowa.

For me, it started Thursday afternoon when I saw a tweet…  innocuous at first, but in its tone was more of a challenge, thrown down to all central Iowa social media professionals, purveyors and hobbyists.  As I continued to monitor the conversation, the tone became, well, more of a battle royale. Here’s a sample…

You can check out Ad Maverick’s complete Twitter stream here.

The game was on.

Some of the contenders never had a chance, but as Mr. Glass’s poll grew from a couple hundred respondents to well over 600 (at the time of this post), the competition for “Social Media Agency of the Month” was obviously between Media Two and Ad Mavericks.  The two pulling away with double and triple the number of votes of other agencies.

What was driving the polls?  Well, social media, silly!

Both agencies had a reputation to define and defend.  So much so that Media Two, in typical, politicized, mud slinging fun, posted a (sightly) myopic commentary on the viability of social media surviving  in the Midwest, trying to discredit Ad Mavericks. (shame on you Media Two…)

With true, Midwestern grace and poise, Ad Mavericks responded with their own post, or should I say call-to-arms; making a great argument for their cause as well as some of the best examples of social media success one could think of for Iowa and the Midwest as a whole.  Iowans – social media savvy businesses, compulsively connected individuals, huge social media celebrities – have made the medium truly viable for the “fly-over” states.  In contradiction to Media Two’s tongue-in-cheek jab at Iowa, Ad Mavericks raised the flag of social media superiority for the state and solidified the reputation Iowans have taken pride in – humbly and honestly.

I encourage you to review the poll entries.  Weigh your thoughts on both Media Two and Ad Mavericks and vote your conscience.

With that, what a week it’s been in Iowa.

On top of the usual social media buzz Iowa generates, Iowa’s week started off with an astoundingly successful Highlight Midwest, where entrepreneurs, techies and the social media strong merged in downtown Des Moines to spread the good word, educate and perpetuate the great things that are happening with technology and social media throughout the Midwest.  Even more specific to advertising agencies, Love Scott & Associates just sponsored the DSMCVB Social Media Marketing Workshop where top Iowa businesses converged to discuss social media as it applies in marketing, public relations and human resources (more here).  And promotions for the upcoming I_Blog Conference started hitting the social media stratosphere in earnest to bring businesses and individuals together to create an even stronger force in Midwestern social media.

Competition is good.  Cooperation is better.

Social media fosters both competition and cooperation in a way that traditional media has never been able.  While the competition on Mr. Glass’s poll is fun and driven by silly jabs at the competitors; the nature of the poll is serious. Who does have true social media chops?  Is it a Midwest vs. East coast competition – Iowa vs. North Carolina?

Or what if we took this week’s experiences and made it social media driving the greater good through communication within and between our respective communities?

Food for thought…

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

P.S. As a side point, if there were a write-in option for the poll, this post would be solely about The Brand Chef and the silliness between Ad Mavericks and Media Two would be a moot point. I wish luck to both agencies.  They’re both great social media purveyors and advocates, providing great value to the medium.  May the best agency win.