Car #1- Ryan Nicholson ponders where on Earth the last boxes will fit

Car#2- Christine Mortensen (me) finds the last nook and cranny

All of this was a coordinated effort on behalf of the organization Ten Thousand Blankets founded by Jeff Leitner for Blanket Week, a crazy ambitious, campaign to collect and donate new blankets to those that need them.

But our Operation didn’t end there. From the store we caravaned to our final destination, The Pacific Garden Mission on the Near south side of Chicago. Since 1877, Pacific Garden Mission has been a refuge for those in the area seeking food, shelter, clothing, medical, and dental care. It’s a great and facility and we’re proud to have done something positive for this community.

You can make a donation to Ten Thousand Blankets as well! Next Week in fact is Blanket Week where they’re looking to donate as many blankets as possible between Monday, March 15 and Sunday March 21, 2010. So you can have that warm and fuzzy feeling too.

To see all of our photos check out the Manifest Facebook Fan Page.

Liz Metz is an excellent blanket holder!

Chris and Myself unloading at The Pacific Garden Mission

You can’t just take all of your content and throw it together like it’s a salad. To continue the food metaphor, your social marketing should be more of a well planned and organized buffet. You choose what to serve and where based on what your guests might like; they decide what to put on their plate.

Check out the Chase Blueprint Facebook Fan Page for yourselves and let me know what you think.

This afternoon my fabulous co-worker Kevin Malone and I finalized the initial topics we’ll cover in a Manifest Digital employee podcast we’re calling imMEDIAte. We’ll strive to keep it casual and conversational as the topics will relate to what’s new in marketing, design, and technology. The plan is that it’ll give listeners an inside peek into what we think about the changing world around us, from an “in the trenches” perspective. Employee guest appearances should really keep this interesting as we have quite a cast of (exceptionally smart) characters here.

Stay tuned for an official release announcement in early February as official recording starts next week!

Here’s our test recording with subsequent Garage Band editing. Warning…it’s a little creepy.

HELLO!!!!!!

If I save $250 per month for 5 years on my OWN that’s $15,000. Add my original $10,000 and I’m at $25,000.

So basically Capital One, you’re saying in a perfect world (of a sad 1.2% interest rate) I’ll earn $1,070 in interest over the course of 5 years? Hmmmm no thanks. I can think of better ways to invest my money.

What do you think?

Don’t even get me started on the headline of “Trust. Worthy. Banking. Results.” Why not put that all in one sentence instead of four? Oh right, because you’re a bank and you’re full of crap. Ok, I’m done now. Thanks for reading

‘Tis the season for giving after all!

There are 2 sizes, 1024 x 768 (top 4) and 1600 x 1200 (bottom 4)

1024 x 768

Well stocked before the Holiday Sweater Jubilee

After the Holiday Sweater Jubilee

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holidays to you and yours! Thanks for reading.

“Success will be found at the intersection of Time and Money.”
— Jennifer Conklin and Howell Malham, Manifest Digital

What Success Looks Like

LIFE OUT LOUD

If I just use the initials it’s also LOL. This is going to be fun to work with over the next couple of weeks (hopefully only a couple weeks!).

It only took me 3 years. Ever notice how it’s always more difficult to do things for yourself than it is for others, e.g., a site design, your own identity, the name of your BLOG! Sigh…such is life.

What do you guys think? Yay? Nay?

No. Not a crack dealer but you’re close! Nike.

This year I was convinced that by buying something related to the Chicago Marathon I’d somehow jinx myself and not finish the race. So this time around I made sure I waited until my happy (and sore) ass was sitting at home recovering from the race before I even LOOKED at the gear. I bought 3 items, a hoodie, a running shirt and new shoes since I’d been running in the same shoes all training season. The latter is a no-no by the way. You should change your running shoes about every 300 miles or 6 months if you run consistently.

So I made my purchase via their recently (and beautifully) re-designed Nike Store. About 2 weeks later I get an email asking “How’s your new Nike gear?”

What I thought in my head…”It’s GREAT, I’m glad you asked!”

Nike asks you to "Speak Your Mind"

Here’s what the high-level Nike customer cycle looks like:

1. Get customers to the store
2. Provide a flawless shopping experience
3. Provide prompt service (returns are painless)
4. Ensure that products meet or exceed expectatio
5. Follow up and request for feedback

Now THAT’s customer service and a great brand experience. This is what all brands should be striving for. The end result, at least in my case, is a loyal customer (I have more Nike gear than I know what to do with).

What’s that you say?

“But I’m not NIke. I don’t have a BAZILLION dollars to spend on marketing.”

Hogwash. Nothing I listed above mandates an insane marketing budget. It’s just good business. And if you can’t afford that, well then my friend I have a question for you. What are you doing in business? I will admit however, that the “getting people to the store” part will likely require more investment but that’s another post for another day.

The other thing that Nike prove here is that no one is perfect…the three “Review Product” buttons didn’t properly link to the items I purchased, nor did my search via product number, although a search for “Chicago Marathon” eventually worked. So, major negative points for this simply NOT working but it did get me back to the store none the less and it did plant that tiny seed in my head that says Nike cares what I think. Pile on a couple more of those tiny seeds and you’ve quickly got yourself quite a harvest