I was conditioned to “going back to school” for 17 years. Friends of mine who are certified professionals like doctors and lawyers were conditioned for another ten.

Towards the end of my summers (in Toronto) the Canadian National Exhibition (a.k.a. CNE) would flare up for 10 days and then shut down again.To Torontonians the opening signals the end of summer”.

For all ages and brands “back to school” signals a change of season and a change of reason for positioning your products or services. Here are a few examples to consider:

• If you’re selling summer camps for kids, your season is over. But it’s the perfect time to sell empty nesters like me on a quiet yoga retreat in the now silent (and mosquito free) woods.
• If you’re selling schools supplies of any kind, this is your time. But remember who’s often paying the tab, and who wants to keep up with the younger generation. Speak to students and give the parents some cool tools to play with as well.
• Many businesses return to “regular hours”, and withdraw the sense of freedom that comes with “summer hours”. So help your customers with their transition into Fall with a few fun filled “Lunch ‘n Learn Sessions”.

The challenge for your business is to identify genuine intellectual, emotional or seasonal reasons to reach out to your customer base and ask them for their business.

• REASON: a “Back to School Event” makes sense for stores that sell schools supplies, computer equipment, clothing and dorm furniture.
• SEASON: an “End of Summer Inventory Clear out” makes sense for stores that sell their inventory by season.
• INTELLECT: Can you appeal to your customers’ ego with a “sneak preview” of the fall line of fashionable clothing, cars, or new performance enhancing services? Remember – while this is not a “Fall” event, it does lead into Fall.

 As you all know, I’m not a fan of sales per se because in an inelastic market they simple drive down the value of your product or service, give you tomorrow’s customer’s today (at a higher marketing cost and lower profit margin), and do nothing to increase market demand for your products or services.

I much prefer these techniques:

• Giving loyal customers, not strangers, the 1st chance to buy end of season products or services at a reduced rate justified by their loyalty.
• Giving loyal customers, not strangers, the 1st chance to see, examine, buy, order the new fall products or services.
• Giving additional time with the purchase of your service.
• Giving additional value with purchase of your products.

Remember:

Price is what you talk about when you have nothing else to say. Strong brands have lots of success stories to tell and lots of people that love them and refer them.

Among strong brands “price” is NEVER in the top 5-7 reasons to buy or decline the brand.

Except in Winnipeg.

These GMC motorhomes were produced by the GMC Truck & Coach Division of General Motors for the 1973 through 1978 model years in Pontiac, Michigan. It was the only complete motorhome built by a major manufacturer producing what GMC hoped would be their halo vehicle. Part of the reason this vehicle is so different from other motor homes of the era is that it was not conceived as just a "camper," but as a vehicle for comfortable travel as well. The design was radical for the day with front-wheel drive and a low profile, fully integrated body. We met this group of four motorhomes in the Upper Peninsula en-route from Vancouver to Texas via Newfoundland; a three month tour.

I’ve called this blog entry “Brand Love Management” because of the fellow laying under the 1^st coach. He’s far more than a mechanic. His knowledge and enthusiasm enables all the others in this group to travel across North America with confidence despite the fact that these four vehicles are between 34 and 39 years old (in 2012). With-out him the initial “love affairs” would have soured shortly after the vehicle’s short warranty period ended.

I'm 57 now and have been driving since I was 16. While I still love to drive I miss a lot when I do.

Take these two monsters marching towards Toronto with a giant storm in tow. I don't get to see this kind of stuff when I'm driving. As a creative director it's important that I do and the open road is the best place to open your eyes, mind and soul to let the universe in and all the stale old bull-shit out.

As a Manager you're into control and manipulation because you need to make your numbers.

As a Director you need to help your organization and the stakeholders see the big picture. 

Let go of the wheel hand it over to someone else and look down the road - or up into the sky.

Be still.   Listen.   Learn.

Nestor Falls is one of the many places I look forward to seeing when we drive to Winnipeg on business, to see family and friends. This old Beech is owned and operated by Northwestflying.com, a commercial air charter that has been in operation since the 60’s and offer a variety of short and longer terms fly-in camping and fishing trips from June to September. 1-800-461-2126

Obituary  ::  Enid Reiley

My very best friend Enid Reiley was born in Nottingham, England to Lois and Jack Reiley on May 4, 1937 and died in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand on April 22, 2012. In between she lived in a variety of places including England, Canada, the South Pacific and New Zealand. She raised two families, cared for three husbands, at least as many dogs, and devoted most of her career to medical office administration.

I met Enid on a hot Sunday afternoon in July 1988. I was between the pool and the lounge and she was between husbands. That Sunday was the start of a very unique, incredibly close and enduring friendship that was unaffected by time, age, gender or distance. Enid was the most considerate and least judgmental person in my life.

Early on she tried to teach me the difference between self-worth and other worth, and then spent the next 24 years encouraging me to focus on the former and to ignore the latter.

When my wife and I moved to Winnipeg to care for her dying father, Enid was the first to call me, from New Zealand, to find out how the move to Winnipeg went, and to lend me her moral support. Two years later when Michelle and I moved back to Toronto to restart our lives and careers here, and to care for my declining mother, Enid was the first to call, to find out how the trip back to Toronto went, and to lend me her moral support.

After Enid moved to New zealand, she and I would talk for an hour each week. Over the years the range of our conversations became epic - and maybe even theraputic. There was no personal nook or cranny that she did not explore with genuine curiosity, trust, care and respect. All that was found was seen as fundamental to the unique person I am and the friendship that we shared.

I am a much better man for having shared so much of myself with Enid.

Many years ago Enid shared this poem, by Rod McKuen (1967), with me. It became our anthem.

Clouds

Clouds are not the cheeks of angels you know,
they’re only clouds.
Friendly sometimes,
but you can never be sure.
If I had longer arms I’d push the clouds away
or make them hang above the water somewhere else.
but I’m just a man who needs and wants,
mostly things he’ll never have.
Looking for that thing that’s hardest to find.

I’ve been going a long time now
and along the way I’ve learned some things.
You have to make the good times yourself,
take the little times and make them into big times
and save the times that are all right
for the ones that aren’t so good.

I’ve never been able
to push the clouds away by myself.

Help me.

Please.

Enid's favorite lesson from her mother, Lois: “If you play too hard to get, you might not get got.”

And from her father, Jack: “Make the most of the high-holidays and vacation days because there are so many normal days in between.”

The last thing she asked me at the end of every visit or call was: “Who loves you baby?" She'd answer her own question with: "I do.”

Ditto Enid. Ditto.

Obituary  ::  Enid Reiley