It’s the funniest thing, companies (and even associations) think that corporate events are only about communicating information. They might also believe that events are about networking or about selling stuff. Wow, if this is their perspective, they are missing 90% of the real value of a company event. The real value of an event is to give every attendee a massive shot of full-throttle brand adrenaline.

Our reputation for injecting brand adrenaline right into the heart through corporate events is hard-earned. We’ve made mistakes and learned from them. We’ve shunned the typical and taken risks to achieve the extraordinary — without breaking the bank. We’ve earned our clients’ trust in our vision and in our ability to produce exceptional results.  The payoff is big in terms of every metric you can think of.

Heart & Mind® Branding is the key to creating true, lasting brand adrenaline, and here’s how you can make it happen through your corporate events:

10 Keys to Injecting Heart & Mind Branding Adrenaline into Your Corporate Events

1. Go for the emotional connection first - When you connect with people’s hearts, they will let you into their minds.
2. Make your theme heart-based, not mind-based – If you don’t feel it, no one else will either. Thinking has nothing to do with theming.
3. Throw out any themes that don’t have legs - If you or your CEO can’t get up and talk about the theme for hours, then it’s not a good theme.
4. Produce videos that aren’t “talking head” parades – Those are so 1990s. Today’s videos are not about telling; they are about entertaining and through entertainment, inspiring.
5. Be demanding – Don’t settle for ordinary or just okay in anything you do at an event. Your show is a showcase of the behavior you want to inspire in others. If you want excellence in others, you must demonstrate it yourself.
6. Make an impact – Your corporate event should literally make people laugh and cry, as well as learn. You can achieve these results through what we at HEASLEY&PARTNERS call Moments.
7. Spend less money on plants and more on production – Seems obvious, but instead of spending money on flowers and ficus trees, focus your spending on your stage and show. Do what wows!
8. Plan a unified program – Make sure your speakers’ presentations aren’t repetitive. They should build on each other. Unity of message at a corporate event is critical.
9. Build an ideal world – Your corporate event should be your attendees’ world. Make it high-service and unforgettable. If attendees leave the world you’ve created, you’ve missed an opportunity.
10. Don’t cheap out - You’re spending a lot of money, for sure, but if you cheap out — even on seemingly insignificant details — that’s what attendees will notice and that’s what they’ll remember.

Corporate events are a significant investment, so instead of plowing your resources into the same old exercise, instead of merely conveying information, you should look at your corporate events as an outstanding opportunity to inject Heart & Mind Branding adrenaline.

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding.

In our very abbreviated world of soundbites, you’d better have “a line.” That one thing that you can say in no seconds flat that is just second nature. For HEASLEY&PARTNERS, that’s easy. We shape businesses into brands. TM. Done.  It’s that simple. But it is not simple to come up with taglines for companies, movies, people, books or anything else that needs to be recognized and remembered.

So many marketing execs and CEOs sit down and say, “Okay, let’s come up with our tagline.” If I’m in the room, believe me, I’m not afraid to say, “Hold up. That’s the last thing that gets created when developing brand messaging, not the first.” In the old days, they’d often look at me and keep up with their futility (nothing ever came of the effort, not even once). But now when the need arises, I speak up. Knowing the HEASLEY&PARTNERS track record and what we can do, they take heed. They put their effort into things that will bear some actual results.

Sure, you might think you have “the line” and on rare occasions, you might be right. But great brand messaging doesn’t come from just some fun lines and some clever statements that you dream up in the shower.  There’s more to it than that. Like, for example, will your clever line hold up when you really start creating your company’s “movie” or will it crumble and turn to dust like the countless ghouls in The Mummy?

When you check out these great movie taglines, ask yourself not what your tagline is, but rather, “What is my company’s movie?” If you don’t know that, if you can’t feel that, you’re not ready for the tagline. Job one is to write your brand screenplay, then start promoting it. Not the other way around.

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding.

You can have your own Heart & Mind Brand, let HEASLEY&PARTNERS help.

Since the release of the video, Invisible Children has received a lot of backlash regarding their finances, the legitimacy of their organization, and the detainment of co-creator Jason Russell. All opinions aside, there’s no denying this video’s power to capture the attention of millions overnight. As a college student, I see peers trying to bring different problems, news stories, and politics to people’s attention all the time. Usually their Facebook post about saving dolphins receives a few likes—and then it’s over and done with. Their hearts are with the cause, they are just not fully revealing them, so they don’t getting traction. That’s where Heart & Mind Branding’s concept of “Moments” comes in—those small instances of time that touch our hearts. Kony effectively created a “Moment.” My peers posting on Facebook never create “Moments,” they post. Moments go viral. Posts don’t.

Within hours, several Facebook friends had posted about Kony 2012, shared the video, or changed their Facebook profile picture to the ad in support of the cause.

The Kony craze didn’t stop at Facebook, it took over other social networking sites such as Twitter and Instagram. I thought that by the next day the hype would have dwindled, but I was wrong. The hype was still going strong—and continued for days.

What made this video so popular? Why did it have the power to attract so many people? It’s because the creators of Invisible Children made a video, a “Moment,” that captured the world’s heart. They also used their minds to develop a plan of action that was structured and effective. This video turned everyone into a social activist. Their heart and mind mindset, is what made their video so widespread. Normally, how many people would sit to watch a 30-minute video, the whole way through? I sure wouldn’t! Most YouTube videos over 5 minutes generally aren’t worth watching for the first 3 minutes, let alone the entire time.

Regardless of whether or not you think Invisible Children promoted this world-wide issue the wrong way, or if you think Jason Russell has a serious PR problem, the video accomplished the seemingly impossible goal of going viral. When you use your heart and your mind and create “Moments” you can win people over. Invisible Children did just that and won 80 million people over in just two weeks.

The San Diego non-profit organization is not a new company, it’s been fighting the issue in Uganda for nine years. Joseph Kony is not a new criminal either. He has been using children for his soldiers and “wives” since about 1986, with an estimated 66,000 children abducted. Obama deployed 100 soldiers to central Africa in fall 2011 to help remove Kony from the battlefield. Invisible Children is fighting to find Kony this year, before the troops are removed form Africa. They have raised awareness through their heart-and-mind based viral video like no news report ever could.

This post is by Melissa Fittro, an Arizona State University Student and intern at HEASLEY&PARTNERS. Through her projects including writing this blog, Melissa is learning about business, gaining an introduction to Heart & Mind Branding and working hands on with the tools of marketing and communications.

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding. Get started NOW!

Is this commercial shocking? Maybe compared to the typical “cute baby ads” of the diaper category. Is it funny? I challenge you not to laugh. Is it surprising? My mouth was agape watching it. Is it memorable? I just recounted the entire ad. Does it generate buzz? The proof is we’re talking about it.

But what is most important about the Luvs ad is it made my husband who runs the TV in our house to actually remove his finger from the FF button and watch this spot–not once but twice. He watched it, then he made me watch it. You can watch it here.

After I laughed, then said, “Ewww,” I thought FF isn’t just on our TVs. FF happens daily as we rush by plenty of things well worth noticing but that fail to engage us. We all live FF lives.

Branding can stop us in our FF tracks. Are you, your company and your brand doing anything to make people stop and notice you, not once but twice? Three times, four or more? Are people talking about you? That would be even better. You may say, “Well we don’t advertise on TV.” I’m not really talking about commercials here. I’m talking about taking the risk to make yourself stand out. Luvs sure did it, boldly and bravely. I’m sure they are getting some nasty comments online–that is to be expected when you break tradition and put yourself out there. It takes immense bravery to not be swayed by the few, even though they can sound quite loud. It’s impossible to be different and not get criticized.

A friend of mine told me, “No one ever erected a statue to a critic. If you walk through the park and look at the statues of heroes, you’ll notice they have been crapped on a lot.” Those heroes were risk takers and they took their lumps then as they are still taking the dirt now.

It’s never been more important to take risks than it is today if you want to get anywhere. Just sitting there, saying the safe thing and using safe stock images, stifling creativity, being too stodgy or patrician to find a relevant connection to popular culture, or just being too chicken to be different, you automatically lose. The reason is you haven’t forced us customers to slow down our FF lives and notice you. Do you have to wear a raw meat dress like Lady Gaga did a while back? Most likely in your world, no. In hers, yes.

Understand, most of us operate our businesses in an environment of blasé sameness. It isn’t hard to stand out. I’m not talking to the creative folks with this blog. I’m talking to the CEOs who are afraid of what their stockholders might think. Start moving that stock price up and they’ll get over it. I’m talking to the CMOs who don’t want to lose their jobs. Maybe the reason the average CMO lasts less than three years in any one post is because they are afraid of losing their jobs. I’m talking to the CFOs who can’t understand why different sometimes costs more money. To them I say, if being different was easy or cheap everyone would be doing it, and being really different would cost even more money, so count your blessings!

Take your finger off your FF button right now and watch the Luvs commercial. Let your jaw drop and then think about how you can in your business connect with some aspect of humanity, rather than just “promote your business.” That’s the power of Heart & Mind® Branding. If you can pull it off with diapers, believe me you can do it with anything.

What is branding? Heart & Mind Branding.

• For making every football Saturday during my four years at Penn State unforgettable, whether we won or lost, and we mostly won.
• For all he did for the “kids” who towered over him as his Penn State players.
• For  his selfless contributions to support excellence at Penn State.
• For his commitment to academics and the achievement of his players.
• For the way he ran on the field with the team.
• For the thrill of winning a national championship my senior year.
• For giving me a sense of pride in my school that began at age 18 and is still with me today.
• For scaring the crap out of me when I walked down my dad’s basement and glimpsed from the corner of my eye a life-size “pop-up Joe” in the shadows.
• For being a fellow Italian who made my dad proud.
• For being a role model of perseverance.
• For the way 50,000 people in Beaver Stadium would shout “Jopa” and the other 50,000 would shout “Terno.”
• For his rolled up pants, white socks and black shoes.
• For the way he screamed at players who taunted the opponent or celebrated too much.
• For being carried on the shoulders of his team more than once, and the joy on his face.
• For being strong while being humble.
• For his fight and his unwavering loyalty to white and blue.

Thanks for the moments. We’ll miss you, Joe.

What is branding?  Heart & Mind® Branding.

The Promise... a cactus 14" x 17" in a 6" pot with a bow.

Because it is the holiday’s we’ll give the national flower network and the local delivering florist the gift of not mentioning their names.

After about an hour of calling customer service at the national flower network and the local florist who delivered the plant, I got them to agree to send out something that is worth the $40, plus tax my sister paid for a cactus that we could have bought from Home Depot for about a buck-ninety-eight. She’ll be visiting in just a few days and the whole thing would be embarrassing for everyone. Who needs more stress around the holidays?

When you think of a brand, please, keep it simple and use our definition. Just two simple words: The Promise and the Experience. When you think in terms of this, the Promises you put out there and the Experiences you deliver should be equal. In other words, what you promise, you simply should deliver. As I have said many times in this blog, the Experiences we have with a brand do far more to make or break it than any Promise we put out there. Paying attention to the experience your customers have with your brand is the most critical aspect of brand and business building.

The Experience…a cactus 2" x 4" in a 6" pot with no bow.

This is the point that too many people miss. An Experience with your brand is more than just an opportunity to deliver what you promised, and it is more than just an opportunity to wow. It is a “moment” with your brand. That “moment” can be stellar, or it can be horrible–which this one was. Did I really need to spend an hour of my time dealing with a bum flower delivery? Of course not. Will I ever buy from either of these companies? You’ve got to be kidding!

This is the kind of brand experience that gets you blazed on Yelp!, flamed on Twitter, and blasted on Facebook. And it sure demonstrates the importance of enlightening everyone in your company to the higher purpose, the true heart of your brand. I’m sure the CEO of the flower network and the flower shop owner would both be shocked by all this. In all our businesses, it only takes one person who doesn’t care, doesn’t get it and who doesn’t understand the true business you’re in to mess things up. Before you start firing people, it’s not their fault in most cases. It’s the leader’s fault for not enlightening and inspiring them.  Do your employees know what business you are really in? Do you?

As we approach the New Year, make a resolution to not just think of branding as a logo or an ad or the hook that you put out there to snag customers. Think instead of the experience you deliver. When you deliver on your promises you’ll be shocked at how many customers you will attract and how quickly your brand and your business will blossom…just like a Christmas Cactus.

What is branding?  Heart & Mind® Branding.

The reason service plays such a huge role in brand building can be best answered by starting with the basics. First my definition of a brand is simply two words:  the Promise and the Experience.  The Promise is everything you use to telegraph who you are, what you do, how you do it and how much the people you serve will love what you offer. It’s your website, social media; advertising; public relations; business cards; even you and your team’s attire, grooming, attitude etc. These things and the many others that precede you leave impressions whether you know it or not. One question worth asking is, are they leaving the impressions you want? If they aren’t then some Promise work is in order.

The Experience is the follow through on that promise. It’s your product or service, it’s the sales process, the customer service process, the technical support process, the billing process, along with the attitude, the tone the personality of the people you employ. It’s every interaction you and the others in your company have with the people you serve or wish to serve. If you are promising the moon and the sky, but delivering something short of that, then Experience work is in order.

Experiences can happen anywhere and everywhere. Cold Stone Creamery was my client for many years and based on the brand platform, the company was in the “Making People Happy Business.” I would often travel visiting franchisees as part our branding work. I would carry a Cold Stone Creamery briefcase and invariably someone would see it and say, “Hey, Cold Stone! I love Cold Stone!” In those days we encouraged everyone associated with the brand to give people who “showed the love” a Free Creation certificate right on the spot.

So I’d say, “Thanks!” or “Cold Stone loves you too!” and give the fan a free creation. It was a little thing, but imagine what a big thing it is to an airport security check-point worker who mostly deals with people at their worst. Imagine the unexpected surprise and the inevitable conversations that took place about this one little act of generosity.What I just described is a “moment,” a small instance of time, unexpected, that makes someone feel special. Moments generally don’t cost much, they just take understanding and creativity to first discover the company’s genuine brand, and how it is meaningful to the people the company serves and then how to make it different from the competitors. These three words: genuine, meaningful and different are the key to great brand moments that are unforgettable and get people talking. And it’s all that talk that creates buzz and buzz is what builds what we call breakthrough brands.

During the session, I showed attendees how to use our proprietary tool called Moments™ Maps. When HEASLEY&PARTNERS works with a company to build the Experience side of the branding equation, we develop Moments Maps to identify the right moments and infuse them into the sales, service, support, or whatever processes a company wants to bring to life. For most companies, that’s all of them.

The foundation for all of this is HEASLEY&PARTNERS’ Heart & Mind^® Branding, a five-stage process that takes a company from brand creation to brand planning to full execution. Through this process, businesses and people can finally connect heart-to-heart with the people they wish to serve. The heart is where buying decisions are made, after all. We put the “why” behind the “what” and systematize it so companies win through more engaged workforce, less employee turnover, increased productivity, more leads, happier customers, more referrals and increased sales and profits. This is the closest thing I know to a silver bullet in business and it took me decades to bring it to life. Lucky for you, it’s here now.

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding.

For some of you the term “higher purpose” may be a foreign one. What I mean by this is “a reason for being greater than yourself.” In the workplace, it’s feeling like you can’t wait to get to work in the morning to start your day and make a difference. It’s feeling like you want to work harder, contribute more, and challenge yourself to become a better you because it matters.  

My father was a high school industrial arts teacher for 32 years.  He went into teaching to share his knowledge of craftsmanship. He was a man who took great pride in creating something by hand, and he believed teaching a trade that students could use throughout their entire lives was a noble mission.  He didn’t become a teacher to make a lot of money, gain status or feed his ego.  My dad went to work every day with a higher purpose and a responsibility to teach and inspire young people and change their lives forever. In his life, he accomplished his mission.

Everyone talks about living a purpose-driven life, but what about a purpose-driven career? Everyone has gifts, something they do well, something they are really good at—such as art, writing, programming, public speaking, people skills—the list goes on and on. Once you identify the gift in yourself, how does that translate into a career that allows you to do what you love and love what your do? Into a business that brings out the best in you and your employees?

Now, I know some of you might be asking,  “Is a workplace like that possible? Aren’t these exceptions?”

To that I answer, “Yes, it is possible and it should be the rule!”  A work environment that inspires employees to want to do more, to contribute to a greater good, pushing them beyond their own limits—where work isn’t just a job, it becomes your life’s work—something we all should experience.  Life is too short to have it any other way.

After 25 years of working in a variety of companies, I finally found one where I can fully use my gifts to contribute and add value with purpose.  It’s a work environment that lends itself to inspiring people and letting them soar beyond their own abilities.  I’m happy to say, at last I have found my place and a company that not only inspires me to a higher purpose, but it teaches other companies to achieve the same kind of power and the same level of success.

At HEASLEY&PARTNERS, we practice what we preach. We work with companies to help build their brands; and one of the ways we do that is by creating work environments that inspire people to want to do more, where employees like to come and work every day and are moved by a higher purpose.  Unless your brand is happening inside your building it can’t happen outside it. When you have employees who are inspired, they work harder, stay longer and you know what…they sell more stuff. Your company becomes more successful.  Here through the work we do, I’ve realized the secret to creating a strong brand, a strong company, and to making life a whole lot easier.

Does your company inspire you to a higher purpose?  As a business owner or leader, what are you doing to instill higher purpose in your business? Let us know.

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding.

People are quick to say Steve Jobs’ mind was his strength. That his genius made him great. I say it was his heart. That’s what pushed him to share his genius with all of us. To push through the obstacles of his business and physical ills and to give the world everything he had in him.

Much will be written about Steve Jobs today and for generations to come. He won’t be forgotten ever. But I know how I’ll remember him. I’ll remember him as a man with heart first and a masterful mind second.

Thank you Steve Jobs for giving your heart to all of us for so many years. Let his legacy be a lasting guide to how all of us can do great things.

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding.

I belong to two movie club sites (gofobo and txtmovieclub) so I get the inside track on free local movie screenings.  Last week I went to a screening at the newly remodeled AMC Esplanade where I had the unforgettable “brand” experience of seeing a movie in a soft leather chair that reclined while eating a prime rib sandwich and parmesan fries both of which melted in my mouth.  When I was finished eating, my server brought me a hot, moist towelette to wipe my hands and a side of popcorn drizzled with what I think was white chocolate.  It was dark and all I knew was it was tasty.  As I exited the theatre the attendants wished me a nice day and offered me Ghiradelli wrapped chocolates from their silver platters.  I walked away with my  jaw literally on the ground.

After my AMC Dine-In Theater experience, you can imagine my excitement to learn about their “Free Movies for a Year” Giveaway to kickoff their grand opening.  I read about it on the movie club’s Facebook page; but, I also noticed this incredible offer was posted a number of places online. You can bet I was not going to miss out on this opportunity.  All I had to do was be one of the first 100 guests who dressed up as their favorite movie star or celebrity and they’d give me 24 free admission tickets and 12 free appetizers!  Check-in was at 6am, tickets at 8am, right in time for the morning news coverage.

I set my alarm for 5 am praying that a 30-minute lead time before check-in would be enough.  Well, as if it was the night before Christmas, I woke up repeatedly with excitement and nervousness. “What if I miss out?” “What if I get there too late?”  At 1:15am I decided to just give in and head to the theatre.

Understand, I have spent hours camped out in lines…Big REI member-only sales and iPhone & iPad launches, so you might say I am an experienced “waiter.” I have the drill down: Camping chair?  Check. Laptop? Check. iPhone, iPad and water? Check, check, check.  Oh, and let’s not forget the costume…

Not that Mary Lou Retton is my favorite celebrity, but I had some criteria and some advantages for making that choice. First I needed something comfortable and cool since it was after all, 2 am and believe it or not, still 90 degrees in Phoenix. I had the perfect blue & white lightweight comfort-wear and I’m built for the part–I stand a towering 5 feet.  With anxiousness I arrived at the theatre parking deck and noticed a few cars but certainly not 100, so I was hopeful.  I gathered my goods and headed to the theatre.

When I arrived I was SHOCKED! I was number 11 in line!  How could this be?  Didn’t the other moviegoers and lovers of awesome FREE things see this offer?  By 6 am we were moved downstairs where we were greeted by the press who of course were hoping for a larger turnout for their TV segments.  By 7:30 only 60 people waited in line.  I actually felt sad for AMC and for the people who missed out on this great opportunity. I texted everyone I knew and screamed on Facebook, “GET DOWN HERE!”

When I got to work, treasure in hand, I shared my story with the HEASLEY&PARTNERS team and of course we discussed how this whole episode fit with Heart & Mind^® Branding.  Here was a company that offered up a great movie experience and they staged a worthy promotion to build business. The problem was, unless you already knew how great the experience was the likelihood of you using your “treasure” also known as “sleep time,” to get some FREE tickets was pretty slim. Without the Experience, the Promise of FREE had little value.

At HEASLEY&PARTNERS, we define a brand as the Promise + The Experience. My story shows how important it is, as marketers, to make sure they work together.  I knew how great the experience was at this theatre, so I valued the FREE promise.  The theatre got news coverage out of the promotion and certainly that was an objective, so they scored there. But if their mission was to gain more trial, they did hit their 100 mark–eventually more people showed up once the news aired the story. But the point is, “the experience” is critical to brand success, even when you’re giving stuff away for FREE.  AMC won my heart with the experience first…then the promise. So there’s your answer!

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding.