I'm reading a fantastic book on marketing called "Purple Cow" by Seth Godin. It was recommended to me by Jason Leon, our new head of Digital Publishing and it has one simple message that is targeted towards marketing, but I think it applies across the board: "Be Remarkable!" Godin has become a guru in marketing circles and he has put out a number of books but he is also a prolific blogger. His site is http://www.sethgodin.com and his books are short, sweet, poignant and right on the mark. I thought I was going to learn something about marketing but, again, I feel that his message can be applied to every area of our company. If we had cubicles, I can see "Be Remarkable!" pinned up on everyone's walls - it should be a mantra for all businesses and for everyone individually as well.
In Purple Cow, the anecdote that he leads with is about his family traveling the countryside of France when they spot an absolutely gorgeous cow in a pasture near the road. Shortly, they come upon another truly beautiful cow and then another and another, until they find that the large number of cows by the side of the road begin to blend in with the countryside and don't seem as incredible as the first one they viewed. To stand out in this now vast sea of cows, one would have to be purple to catch the attention of the family. The analogy is that in this mass media world we live in, the only way to have your marketing message heard above the cacophony is to be a Purple Cow.
I tend to hold onto pieces of gold when I come across them in books or articles I read, especially when they can apply to a variety of disciplines - I tend to make them my own wallboard pin-ups and I use them in staff meetings and in conversations about our business. This has become my mantra of the week: Be remarkable! I challenge you to embrace that mantra for one week - implement that in your powerpoint presentations and your emails and your blog entries and your phone conversations. If we all entered a conversation with the intention of being remarkable, amazing results will be produced! Imagine our world if every service provider, small business owner, corporation and government worked with that mandate. Holy Cow! er, Holy Purple Cow!
-Brian
Monday, February 11, 2008
Friday, February 01, 2008
Platinum begins trading under symbol PDOS
We begin a new era at Platinum Studios today: we received our stock ticker symbol from FINRA and start trading under PDOS on the OTC board today. This has been an exciting and exhausting process and the fun is just about to start. Dan Forcey, our VP of Content Development, has suggested that all of the execs in the company write entries for the Platinum Press pages in the back of our comic books - they're kind of like Letters FROM the Editor. Every month, a new Press page is inserted in all of the books released that month. Scott has been writing these for over a year and we are spreading the duties out, under the guise that he needs to be sequestered during this going-public process. Here is my entry (NOTE: this hasn't been edited by the content folks so you're seeing it in its raw form....):
"OK, so while we have Scott sequestered behind his 9-monitor computer system that resembles the main console at NASA’s headquarters, it’s my turn to wax poetic on the amazing place we’ve created here at Platinum Studios. I have wanted folks to know that Platinum was made up of a bunch of amazing, dedicated, creative and fun people but I think it was Dan’s idea to have us guest-write these press pages so our remarks will live on forever in print. Geez, now I have to sound eloquent. Hopefully, just using the word “eloquent” fulfilled that obligation….
To be honest, and I know this is going to come off as blasphemous but I was never a comic book fan. I grew up reading Archie comics, Richie Rich, Wendy, Casper and those hokey comics at Bob’s Big Boy restaurants that used to be all over Southern California. And that was about it. (OK, I also dug Adam West’s Batman.) I wasn’t even familiar with Malibu Comics and, yes, I told that to Scott when we first met and he still spoke to me. But during that very first conversation back in 2005, when I learned the story behind Platinum Studios, I was hooked. I was amazed by Scott’s creativity, his passion for this industry, his quirkiness, his drive to NEVER accept the status quo (about anything!), his 24/7 engine (that still exhausts all of us), and his love for outside-the-box thinking. I joined Platinum Studios because I love building businesses with creative geniuses. Our styles are as diametrically opposed as two styles could be but we share one thing: a driving passion to generate success and to share that success with as many people as possible!
I have spent many years of my career putting structure in place to support creative brilliance. I learned a valuable lesson that I have applied to a number of ventures: the height of a building is directly proportional to the depth of its foundation. To me, the success of a company is limited by the organizational depth and, vice versa, it is enhanced when that depth is made up of brilliant leaders. Scott has given me a lot of leeway to build the structure to make Platinum a huge success and we have assembled a group of all-stars. His vision, our execution. We’re not a huge team in terms of numbers, but every person on our team plays multiple positions so it seems like we have a bunch of Doc Ocks working for us (hey look, I made a comic-book reference!!) I always wanted to surround myself with people I’d want to hang out with, not just at a party on a Friday night, but also at brunch on Sunday morning – people who love to laugh, play, work hard, and have the drive to make everyone else around them better people.
I am passionate about the creative process and the contagious enthusiasm that creators bring to that process. I love our position at the nexus of an entertainment industry that distributes content in every form of media to every corner of the world. I have never been more challenged nor felt so rewarded in my professional life and I doubt I ever would anywhere else. I hope you agree that our hard work and dedication is coming through in our product and know that we are deeply committed to having an impact in this industry. I thank each of you for picking up this book, sharing it with your friends and joining us on this journey. We’re having a blast and we hope you are, too!"
I'm off to watch the opening bell on this first day of trading..... -Brian
"OK, so while we have Scott sequestered behind his 9-monitor computer system that resembles the main console at NASA’s headquarters, it’s my turn to wax poetic on the amazing place we’ve created here at Platinum Studios. I have wanted folks to know that Platinum was made up of a bunch of amazing, dedicated, creative and fun people but I think it was Dan’s idea to have us guest-write these press pages so our remarks will live on forever in print. Geez, now I have to sound eloquent. Hopefully, just using the word “eloquent” fulfilled that obligation….
To be honest, and I know this is going to come off as blasphemous but I was never a comic book fan. I grew up reading Archie comics, Richie Rich, Wendy, Casper and those hokey comics at Bob’s Big Boy restaurants that used to be all over Southern California. And that was about it. (OK, I also dug Adam West’s Batman.) I wasn’t even familiar with Malibu Comics and, yes, I told that to Scott when we first met and he still spoke to me. But during that very first conversation back in 2005, when I learned the story behind Platinum Studios, I was hooked. I was amazed by Scott’s creativity, his passion for this industry, his quirkiness, his drive to NEVER accept the status quo (about anything!), his 24/7 engine (that still exhausts all of us), and his love for outside-the-box thinking. I joined Platinum Studios because I love building businesses with creative geniuses. Our styles are as diametrically opposed as two styles could be but we share one thing: a driving passion to generate success and to share that success with as many people as possible!
I have spent many years of my career putting structure in place to support creative brilliance. I learned a valuable lesson that I have applied to a number of ventures: the height of a building is directly proportional to the depth of its foundation. To me, the success of a company is limited by the organizational depth and, vice versa, it is enhanced when that depth is made up of brilliant leaders. Scott has given me a lot of leeway to build the structure to make Platinum a huge success and we have assembled a group of all-stars. His vision, our execution. We’re not a huge team in terms of numbers, but every person on our team plays multiple positions so it seems like we have a bunch of Doc Ocks working for us (hey look, I made a comic-book reference!!) I always wanted to surround myself with people I’d want to hang out with, not just at a party on a Friday night, but also at brunch on Sunday morning – people who love to laugh, play, work hard, and have the drive to make everyone else around them better people.
I am passionate about the creative process and the contagious enthusiasm that creators bring to that process. I love our position at the nexus of an entertainment industry that distributes content in every form of media to every corner of the world. I have never been more challenged nor felt so rewarded in my professional life and I doubt I ever would anywhere else. I hope you agree that our hard work and dedication is coming through in our product and know that we are deeply committed to having an impact in this industry. I thank each of you for picking up this book, sharing it with your friends and joining us on this journey. We’re having a blast and we hope you are, too!"
I'm off to watch the opening bell on this first day of trading..... -Brian
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