GiftElephant.com is a Web site that allows you to create a calendar of special days, keep track of gifts you’ve given and even schedule cards and postcards to be sent on special occasions (the elephant takes care of remembering all of the important dates and gets your correspondence to the postman).  Here, you also can keep a log of gifts you’ve received and your elephant friend will remind you if you haven’t sent a thank you card.

Another resource allowing you to “outsource your memory” is task.fm.  The site claims to help you “be more productive, stop forgetting things and organize your life.”  It is a free service, however there is an option to upgrade your account, giving you access to a few more tools.  Task.fm allows you to send yourself email, sms or even phone call reminders about daily tasks such as paying bills, scheduling appointments, attending meetings and events, etc.  It understands natural language so you can say things like “dentist tomorrow at 9 a.m.” and it  knows when to send or call you with a reminder.

Finally, you can find coffee shops and other cozy places to meet conveniently located between you and a friend by using a.placebetween.us. After typing in the addresses of the attending parties, the free service provides a recommendation as close to the middle as possible and provides directions from each location.

Do you use any Web sites to keep life organized?  If so, we’d love to hear which ones work best.

Twitter this Post Share this on Facebook

John Reinan chat with Lynn Hillen at MIMA09 from Gage Group on Vimeo.

But with admiration. Really (at the 1:30 mark).

Twitter this Post Share this on Facebook

Some kids want to be doctors when they grow up.  Others want to be astronauts or firefighters or ballerinas or inventors.  But me?  I spent the better part of my childhood dreaming of becoming a sports broadcaster on ESPN.  Hi, my name is Katie Grien, and in addition to being one of the newest members of the Fast Horse team, I am addicted to sports. 

I was born and raised in Atlanta during the Braves’ unprecedented run of 14 consecutive division championships (and oh-by-the-way, I still have my ticket to game 6 of the 1995 World Series), then moved up I-85 a few hundred miles to Duke University in Durham, N.C., where I majored in Public Policy and Duke Basketball.  I’m perfectly happy to spend my entire Sunday watching football on the couch, and come March Madness, I probably won’t sleep very much. In fact, I’m so much of a sports fan that I’ve already been to three Minnesota Timberwolves game – talk about devotion, and they aren’t even my team! 

Although my love of sports may be the thing that defines me most, I’d like to think I’m a little more complicated than that (girls always are).  So, in addition to bringing my competitive spirit and trash talk to 240 Ninth Ave. North, I’ll also bring baked goods, southern hospitality, shopping tips and a healthy appreciation for celebrity gossip.  Oh, and the complete series of FRIENDS on DVD.  You know the scene in the series finale where Rachel tells Ross that she got off the plane?  Makes me cry every time.  See, I told you I was about more than just sports.

Now that you know what makes me … me, don’t be a stranger.  If you drive past our building and see a girl through the window wrapped in a blanket and three coats trying desperately to keep warm, it’s probably me.  Minneapolis is a lot colder than Atlanta!

Twitter this Post Share this on Facebook

via tailgateapproved.com

If you’ve watched any NFL this fall, you’ve met Bud Light’s enthusiastic pitchman, Jimmy Football. Paying homage to Billy Mays, Jimmy hawks tailgating fusion products such as the “Grooler®,”—a combination cooler and grill, and the “Foozie®” —a giant foam finger with a built-in koozie.  I think Jimmy can us teach a few lessons about our industry and ourselves, regardless of whether you’re in the market for a pack that converts your golden retriever into a condiment sherpa. But before we get too far, I should say that my name is Ben Matheson and I’m a new intern at Fast Horse.

Jimmy’s products show us how we love to remake the objects and environments that surround us.  We have a deeply ingrained desire to reinterpret, remix and generally hack the objects and ideas in our lives.  We do this to create objects and experiences that are greater than the sum of their individual parts.

We create our lives by the same mashup process.   For example, because I love cycling and brewing beer, I am planning a trip in 2010 to visit all of the breweries in Minnesota by bike.  I hope to make a career out of this someday.  I’ve spent time in Scandinavia and I enjoy cooking, so I was fortunate enough to spend three summers cooking Norwegian cod and meatballs at a Norwegian language camp.  At its core, cooking is a mashup process.  We are able to create delicious foods and rich experiences that improve upon their individual ingredients in isolation.  Ingredients are limited, but our recipe potential is infinite. Although now that I think about it, most of my food is based on combinations of bacon and fried onions.

Successful partnerships do not need to be complex, but they may require salted pork.  Malcolm Gladwell has said that “two mildly good stories put together sometimes equal one really good story.” I try to apply this idea to my work and life.  One of my all-time favorite combinations may have been the week in college when I rocked a mullet and wore wolf T-shirts to the gym.  No one messes with you when you’re looking that good.

As marketers and storytellers, our success depends on our ability to bring together communities, narratives and companies to create opportunities for powerful experiences. Great companies know that their products are not ends in themselves; instead, they are characters in individuals’  independently created experiences.  I think Jimmy Football would agree that much of the best advertising and PR helps us to engage our gears for imagination and co-creation.

I’m really excited about my latest combination: Fast Horse and me.  The ideas and people floating around here make for some incredible results and experiences.  I’m thrilled to tap into the creative energy here.  I think it could even top the mullet!

Twitter this Post Share this on Facebook

I was just reminiscing with friends the other day about how Thanksgiving used to mark the start of the holiday season and how it used to be a big one itself in the retail world, so it was a timely run-in with the ornaments. Thanksgiving and the weekend following used to mean more than just being the first in line to get a deal, but a celebration unto itself. It seems we’ve since skipped Thanksgiving completely in honor of Holiday Preparation. 

I just can’t get behind all the hoopla.

What I can get excited about, however, is National Chocolate Covered Anything Day. That’s right- a day devoted to nothing but anything chocolate covered happens on December 16. I can also get excited about American Chocolate Week (March 14-20), National Milk Chocolate Day (October 28), and National Chocolate Chip Day (May 15). You get the drift.

I was excited to find that there are months, weeks and days that are devoted to honoring everything under the sun. Did you know that during the month of November alone, we’ll celebrate Aviation History Month, Child Safety Protection Month, International Drum Month, National Adoption Awareness Month, National Epilepsy Month, National Model Railroad Month, Native American Heritage Month, Peanut Butter Lovers Month, Real Jewelry Month and National Sleep Comfort Month? And in addition to All Saints Day, we’ll celebrate Look for Circles Day (11/2), Sandwich Day (11/3), King Tut Day (11/4) and Chaos Never Dies Day (11/9). I may need to call in sick that day, or perhaps I’ll save up for November 30, otherwise known as Stay at Home Because You Are Well Day (11/30). That just happens to fall on the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend. Coincidence? Or just a much needed reprieve for those who elected to get up at 3 a.m. for Black Friday (November 27)?

Of course only a few of these are official holidays according to U.S. Congress mandate, and I don’t get half of them (Look for Circles Day??), but each provides a fun excuse to celebrate sans the stress, hustle and bustle of the bigger and more commercial holidays. Not that we should ever need an excuse to celebrate, but all of this time and energy and money spent on one holiday just seems out of whack. Perhaps we should spread it out a bit and focus on celebrating something each and every day.

So, in honor of National King Tut Day (which was actually yesterday, November 4, but I couldn’t resist), please enjoy this clip featuring Steve Martin on Saturday Night Live. Good times, free of charge.

Twitter this Post Share this on Facebook

These sure beat cubes…

Twitter this Post Share this on Facebook

Twitter this Post Share this on Facebook

Editor’s note: This is John Reinan’s weekly marketing column for MinnPost.com. To view the original, go to http://bit.ly/22n7ok.

You get the idea that Phil Roberts loves nothing more than devising new ways to mess with people.

The delight that spreads across his face as he describes his latest assault on Midwestern propriety brings to mind a third-grader who’s just launched a surprise spitball attack from the back row.

For the creator of Chino Latino, Manny’s, Oceanaire and a half-dozen more of the Twin Cities’ most popular restaurants, success is served with a side order of fun. Roberts may sell hundreds of thousands of meals a year, but he never forgets that he’s in the entertainment business.

“Dining is about more than the food,” said Roberts, founding partner of Parasole Restaurant Holdings. “Have fun. Know who you are and what you stand for.”

What Roberts stands for is innovation and agitation. With a 30-year record of consistent scores in the unpredictable restaurant business, Roberts is recognized for his creative thinking. He’s just as well known for the way he markets his creations.

“We can’t outspend Olive Garden,” Roberts said. “We have to have a message that penetrates. We get the word out by creating penetrating, often politically incorrect messages.”

That’s led to notorious billboard campaigns, like this one for Chino Latino: “Ah, Phuket, Let’s Get Take-Out.” Another Chino billboard, “Wok the Dog,” generated protests and picketers from what Roberts calls “the Birkenstock crowd.” He notes gleefully that several TV stations showed up to cover the protests, garnering him “about $150,000 worth” of free airtime.

“Complaints are like shooting a battleship with a BB gun,” he said. “It doesn’t bother me a bit.” Parasole’s irreverent billboards and other marketing material are the work of the Minneapolis shop Intercom Agency.

Recently, Parasole has been shaking up some of its long-established properties. A few weeks ago, Roberts closed Figlio — an Uptown institution for more than 25 years at the corner of Hennepin and Lake. Opening in the same space on Nov. 21 will be il Gatto: Uptown Italian.

Roberts says the new restaurant will be more emphatically Italian than Figlio, but with a harder edge.

“We’re taking a break from the pastoral clichés: the Tuscany, the Umbria,” he said. “This will be more industrial, more Milan. It will have the character of a locomotive, not a farmhouse.”

Last year, Manny’s Steakhouse moved out of the downtown Hyatt Regency and into the Foshay Tower. After 20 years in the Hyatt, Roberts said, Manny’s ran the risk of “becoming your father’s restaurant.” At its new location, he said, “we’ve captured a whole younger crowd, yet we managed to keep the elements that pleased the 60-year-old group.”

The formula is working. Sales at the new location are up about 35 percent, Roberts said, and last week Manny’s was named Restaurant of the Year by the Minnesota Restaurant Association.

Parasole is actively using social media. Roberts himself tweeted the announcement of il Gatto’s name, and within seven minutes had gotten a call from a local reporter. The company encourages its managers, many of whom are twenty- and thirtysomethings, to put out messages on Twitter, Facebook and other social media.

“Social media isn’t about putting free coupons out there,” said Kip Clayton, Parasole’s vice president of business development. “It’s reaching out with things that younger people might find interesting.”

At the W hotel in downtown Minneapolis, Parasole was looking for a way to boost bar business on slow Monday nights. They came up with a “Martinis and Manicures” promotion aimed at women who worked downtown, and spread word through social media.

It caught on — and when men realized that women were congregating at the W on Mondays, they started showing up, too.

“Times like this cause people to reinvent themselves,” Roberts said. True — but here’s betting that Roberts never takes his own advice. When you’re having as much fun as he is, why change?

Twitter this Post Share this on Facebook

via jatinmahindra.com

Sure, there are detractors who say Chad Ochocinco (formerly Chad Johnson) is brash, a diva and needs to shut up – I just happen to not be one of those people. I have him on my fantasy football squads and even if he wasn’t playing well – which is not the case - I wouldn’t trade him just for the fact that his swagger and marketing savvy are so great. The often-fined, trash-talking wideout for the surprising Cincinnati Bengals may be a lot of things, but one thing that no one can deny him of not being is this – a new media star.

If there was ever a lesson to athletes on personal marketing and how to prepare yourself for life after playing days - it’s what Chad, who refers to himself as “Esteban,” is doing right now. He just announced OCNN, or the “Ocho Cinco News Network,” which is a partnership with Motorola with the slogan, “If I break it, you might as well believe it.” A lot of the details are still to be revealed, but its plan seems to be that Chad will break NFL news before the major media outlets can. It’s similar to what a lot of brands are thinking right now – “why can’t I just tell the story myself?” So we’ll see how that unfolds – I can’t imagine the NFL really being very happy about this - but even if it fails, it was still an ambitious idea and is just the latest in his many social media marketing splashes.

He regularly interacts with fans on Twitter, where he invites fans to meet him out for a movie and have dinner at his house, has contests to fly fans to games and funny exchanges with other media figures and celebs. He also has “The Ocho Cinco Show” on Ustream where fans can candidly ask him live questions. Then there’s the iPhone app (photo above). For $5.00, you can get Chad’s app that has his Twitter stream, stats, favorite songs, exclusive video and photos of him and a feature that allows you to upload tailgating pictures.

Before this season, Chad had a laundry list of antics that he became known for (raced a horse and won, claimed he could out-swim Michael Phelps, TD celebrations, his last name, mohawks, etc.), but he has now embraced social media and is setting himself up nicely for marketing endorsements and a career after football. Goodness – he even has a doll that says his catchphrases “child please” and “kiss da baby.” You can get an explanation of the quotes on YouTube here, but this imagined exchange should explain one of them: “Is there a more interactive athlete site than www.ochocinco.com?” Ocho: “Child please.. “

Twitter this Post Share this on Facebook

Artist: Liz Lemon Swindle

They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression. I beg to differ…

This month, I re-joined the Fast Horse stable after a nearly two-year hiatus. During my first run, I had the pleasure of working on a few Coca-Cola projects, a little bit of Nationwide Insurance and a whole lot of Northern Tool + Equipment. I worked with fantastic people like Charley and Tim and Betsy and Emalie, and it was great.

Then I “went corporate,” spending some time in the communications department at Target. It was a lot of fun to try a new challenge after 10 years of agency life. But the longer I was away, the more I missed the exciting work that was coming out of Fast Horse.

So now I’m back … and very happy about it. I traded a tiny cube for the open air goodness that is 240 N. 9th Ave. I traded a quiet environment for a lot of noisy chaos. And I traded lots of speech writing and acting as a media spokesman for a Montgomery Gentry concert in Atlanta and a Steelers/Bengals game in November.

Don’t get me wrong – I really enjoyed Target. But this has been a good lesson in thinking the grass is greener somewhere else.

Not a lot has changed at the Pony, but there are a few new faces that have replaced some of the old. Suffice it to say, I got a chance to make a first impression with people like Mike and George and Hillary and Sandra (hope I didn’t blow it!). They seem like a damn good crew. I can already tell round two is going to be even better than my first go-round at this place, and I’m excited to dig in. Now back to work …

Twitter this Post Share this on Facebook