Primer for the new year

For me personally, this is the time of year when business takes center stage after many weeks of relative inaction. In my experience, strategic focus is essential at this moment in order to maximize the best opportunities while also understanding all the real imperatives of success and ensuring they are given top priority today and tomorrow.

Fortunately, I have many wise, experienced friends and counselors who have provided a virtual MBA of priceless information, motivation and inspiration over the past few weeks for free. Here are six links I feel are very likely to help your upcoming actions soar in the right directions. Some lead to articles, some to eBooks; each is highly recommended. Read more

Giving season: Heroes

Together with my family, I am sending my warmest thoughts to many friends and colleagues worldwide, and feeling a lot of gratitude. I truly appreciate your help in sending daily clicks to www.hungersite.com, where our simple mouseclicks can benefit a number of vital causes each and every day.

Giving season: Love

In the video above, in his own words, Narayanan Krishnan says, “I thought, what is the purpose of my life? What am I going to do? …And I quit my job and I started feeding all these people from 2002.” And later: “There are thousand and thousands and lots and lots of people suffering. What is the ultimate purpose of life? It’s to give. Start giving. See the joy of giving.“

I have done some research on homelessness over the years, and we all know that there are displaced people living on the city streets everywhere in America. The organizations and initiatives highlighted below represent just some of the many phenomenal community efforts supporting homeless people in the U.S. and elsewhere. I found many of them through JustGive.org, and I’m also proud to point you to this list JustGive publishes, entitled 35 Ways You Can Help the Homeless. They list as item 7, “give money,” and to that, I’ll add my plea to give whatever you have to spare (from loose change to your time), to those people you see in need.

Also, it’s the time of year when I invite you to join me in sending daily clicks to www.hungersite.com, where our simple mouseclicks can benefit a number of vital causes each and every day.

Thank you!

eBay’s give-a-toy stores

Starting last Friday and for the next month, shoppers in New York City and San Francisco can use their mobile phones to purchase toys for children in need at two new interactive storefronts presented by eBay and Toys for Tots. The initiative conceived and produced by advertising agency Venables Bell & Partners features interactive displays created by international production company and design studio Brand New School (BNS) and its School of Interactive Media.

As reported by TheInspirationRoom.com, all web-connected shoppers can experience the Give-A-Toy Store and make donations online by visiting www.eBay.com/GiveAToyStore and www.Facebook.com/eBay.

Forces for good: TONIC and YOU

TONIC is a platform for brands (consumers, celebrities and causes) to educate, interact and engage consumers around positive actions. Started as a destination for good news content, TONIC now generates its own news via the worlds of Silicon Valley, Madison Avenue, Philanthropy and Hollywood. This week they shared 10 thoughtful tips on ways to do good and be awesome this summer. As their social media marketing manager Alethia Austin writes, “Here at Tonic, we believe the things to do during summer that are the most fun are those that have a positive effect on you, the people around you and our beautiful planet. We’ve put together a few ideas for you to consider when you find yourself wondering what to do during these long, wonderful summer days.” I’ve summarized their suggestions below, but encourage you to check out the full article linked above for further ideas and inspiration. Thank you very much for your interest, and for doing your part to make our world better for us and generations to come. Read more

Game on for ATTIK in The Onion’s new iPad edition

Last week, global creative agency ATTIK proudly announced the debut of its original interactive in-app game for Scion inside the new iPad edition of The Onion, America’s Finest News Source (http://theonion.com). The Scion “College Rebate Rally” game appears as an interstitial ad in the June iPad edition of The Onion.

Download The Onion’s iPad edition from iTunes here: http://go.attik.com/2a1

Pause Fest 2011 call for creative submissions

Melbourne Australia’s pioneer digital festival Pause Fest is set to showcase the future of technology, art and ideas from 7 through 13 November, 2011. Since the event is being designed to foster sharing, networking and education, creative companies and agencies worldwide are being invited to submit projects for possible display. Read more

Play games, get lucky in Canada

At this very moment, and running on through Jan. 23, executives from Toyota Canada are hosting thousands of visitors at their impressive displays at this year’s Montreal International Auto Show. There, fans are simultaneously playing the Scion Canada Augmented Reality (AR) Racing Game developed for Scion by global creative agency ATTIK and its project partner, North Kingdom. In the addictive, award-winning game, fans virtually “take the wheel” of a Scion and navigate it through a menacing cityscape, for fun, bragging rights among their peers, and more importantly, a chance to win a 2011 Scion tC Urban Sports Coupe.

Promotions for the game will continue at shows in Toronto, Calgary, Québec City, Vancouver and Edmonton over the weeks to come, elsewhere at various lifestyle events across the country, and inside Scion’s 45 Canadian dealerships. For more specifics, please visit
Scion Canada’s official Events Calendar.

Meanwhile, for those Canadians who are snowed in or otherwise unable to catch these location-based promotions before the contest ends on April 25, the game is fully accessible online.

Read more

Forces for Good: Mike Corso

If I have my facts straight, publisher, writer and marketing consultant Mike Corso has personally been operating Cool Site of the Day for well over 13 years, and last year, he decided to take-up a very important initiative: On Fridays, the daily email he sends out showcasing a unique, innovative website is themed as the “Do Good, Feel Good” E-mail. For example, back in October, he used his Friday edition to report on General Electric’s Ecomagination initiative detailed in the video above, reminding us that for every photo readers uploaded, Ecomagination would donate 480 gallons of clean, safe drinking water to communities in need. For more information on Cool Site of the Day and to subscribe to Mike’s newsletters and social media outposts, please visit http://www.coolsiteoftheday.com.

Nathan Love gives thanks

Happy Thanksgiving from Nathan Love and NBC (and of course, yours truly!).

Many happy returns!