Sparking - Moving you forward

Narrate Newsletter


Do you want to show up more creatively for your clients and your colleagues, your family, and your friends?

Do you want to default to thinking about opportunity versus focusing just on problems?

Discovering Hope is full of proactive steps you can take right now, to achieve a more positive mindset or to help maintain the positivity you already have

Getting Positive reveals that more optimism is close at hand

Buy Books by Stuart Parkin at Amazon
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Soft Skills

Fancy a Laugh?

Peter Dabell (CEO, Ace Matric) tells us “Some form of humor is used in one in five commercials” and “most of the top Super Bowl ads of the last three years used humor”.

Why? Because funny advertising lowers our guard and our resistance to ‘being sold’, and we accept that in exchange for our attention we will be entertained. Yet, Nielsen research suggests there is “little correlation between humor and effectiveness”, and indeed, it carries a risk of alienating some consumers.

For humorous advertising to have a chance of working it must tap one of the ten humor archetypes (*) that connects with human emotions. And the advertising must be built on substance with humor used as a supplement; funny is pointless without a clear association with the brand.

Which brand do you think has most effectively harnessed humor? Let us know. If your answer is the same as Ivan Wicksteed, Chief Marketing Officer of Old Navy and is selected from ‘correct’ responses, you will win three free career planning sessions in 2014.

Enjoy.

Stuart

Articles and commentary that might be of interest…

 

The Age of a “Story Well Done”

A story is not just heard; it is experienced. And told well, they resonate  – audiences connect with the content and can act upon it. But stories often fail to resonate though lack of: Credibility, Relevance or  Impact.

Resonance is seldom achieved via mainstream media alone. Also needed today is third party referral by people who know you and your needs better than any corporate marketer. The consumers.

In his book ‘True Story’, Ty Montague introduces the idea of ‘story doing.’ It’s not a new idea, but Montague explains the concept well: a product or service succeeds today not simply by pushing a story, but by engaging and motivating the audience from the very early stages of development. Facebook executives say such product evolution is ‘social by design’, putting consumers at the center of building brands.

Mainstream is effective for generating awareness, but some ‘story doing’ brands have evolved without ever using it: Starbucks, Amazon and Red Bull come to mind.

What do you think is the one factor preventing your client from being more of a ‘story doer?’

Stuart

Articles and commentary that might be of interest…

Job Search – Keeping Motivated

Getting your next job ideally is a seamless experience, ideally stepping from one to the next challenge. But at some stage in our lives it might not work so smoothly and I know through talking with a number of you, there are some dark days of self doubt. Some uncertainty on the inexorable path to the next challenge, which isn’t happening fast enough for you. So note the following:

Remember, on a ‘challenging day when you are your less enthusiastic self, when the job hunt is grinding you down, or for that matter the unreasonable client, it is your energy last week/month that makes things happen for you; This is the reason for the phone call you get on the challenging day that brings about the great connection, thought, meeting or interview you really want.

Progression comes from your energy focused on pursuing new contacts, developing new ideas/solving business problems, writing a new blog, attending a meet up. It is when you drove yourself forward, perhaps apprehensively, somewhat lacking in confidence but you did anyway.

So even when you are feeling less than motivated, remember it is not about one off days but a general persistency and consistency of initiative on your part. It is about the totality of energy you put out. And, if you are energetic enough (albeit in a focused way) there will be a natural flow of activity and fewer challenging days.

Let me know what yu would advise individuals to do to keep themselves motivated. Thanks, S

One Key Question

When you are going for an interview, even better, before you go for a meeting, you are considering a job opportunity that you feel will be a great progression for you, or at least a limp in the right direction! One key question you should ask you headhunter or the HR person and/or the person interviewing you actually, everyone associated with the role. They all have perspectives, knowledge and biases that you need to be aware of upfront. The one thing you need to have answered and that will allow you to bail from the process before it got going or to ask the right follow up questions as the process continues, that one thing you need to be clear about is, ‘what makes the person coming in to this role a success within a year of starting.’ If you know this you know whether is a great progression for you or not.

Navigating Success

‘I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs but by how high he bounces when he hits bottom.’ George S. Patton.

I love what Patton’s comment reveals about having a ‘never say die attitude’ and responding to adversity as being key in our live. That said, I would rather mitigate the troughs people have to experience. One simple thing to do (and not so simple) is be clear about that part of the day, week or month where you LOVE your work. Be clear what this is and magnify this aspect of what you focus on for your agency or company. If you do this, you will deliver. And, while you may still be challenged, your success is less likely to be defined by how high you bounce.