Putting the Cow in the Ice Cream

A local ice cream shop on Siesta Key makes good, homemade ice cream, but everyone talks about the bubbles. Out front of their shop, up on a pole, runs an automatic soap bubble blowing machine. I don't know if it runs constantly, but it has been blowin' bubbles every time we visit. Last night my daughter and I sat outside and ate our ice cream. We heard one person after another comment on the bubbles.

This is a great example of Purple Cow marketing. If you haven't read Seth Godin's book yet, you should. In a nutshell, the book notes that cows are unremarkable. They're just cows. But purple cows are cows worth talking about. They are, quite literally, remarkable because they are rare. Businesses are cows, extraordinary businesses are purple cows.

I can't imagine walkers on Siesta Key saying aloud, "Look! An ice cream stand!" But many say, "Look! Bubbles!" and that's what makes this ice cream stand different.

From my perspective this is an example of marketing that goes one better by adding an element of play. Bubbles are fun. If a purple cow is remarkable, than a purple cow at play is utterly remarkable. (Sorry)

How could you make your business more remarkable?
How could you make it more remarkably fun?

The Mermaid's Cafe

As I write this, the bathroom off my office is no longer a bathroom. It has been reimagined by my 11-year old daughter as an establishment known as The Mermaid's Cafe. It should be noted that our house is on the market and that keeping it clean and presentable is a big, big challenge for us. When I first saw the bathroom I was not happy. I was not thinking of mermaids, I was thinking of using my fingernails to scrape the Scotch tape off the mirrors before the next showing.

It began last night when my wife called to me and her voice sounded odd and echoey. I discovered her sitting on a stool within the shower stall of my office bathroom. In front of her was an upside down laundry basket which was draped with a towel, on which stood a candlestick and a table setting. The shower doors were covered with watercolor signs that read "The Best Places in Life are Wet!" and "Now Selling Juice Pops!!" The mirror was covered with menus and signs that encouraged Manatees to wash their flippers. But all I saw was tape. Tons and tons of tape on every clean surface.

Then my wife smiled at me from within her Plexiglas enclosure and I felt my frustration fade. I love my wife and I love the creative atmosphere in which she has allowed our children to imagine and play. I pray that no matter where we live, our home will always be a place where "...adventure awaits you!"

Throw Paint

Imagine how hard life would be if you always had to blaze your own trail. That's why I love a good quote from someone older and wiser than I.

"Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint on it you can."
-- Danny Kaye

Lose the smock, let 'er fly, seize the play!

Labor Day Play

I headed to Naperville, Illinois on Thursday for some Labor Day weekend fun. I had a whirlwind of events across four days. The weather was a gorgeous 70 degrees with a good chance of flying dogs.

I got into town on Thursday and had a long, relaxing dinner with a dear friend (and creative genius), Peggy Brown. We ate good food and had good conversation. Peggy's the kind of friend I might not see for a year, but then we pick right up like were ever we left off. I showed her some footage from our documentary film, Toyland (in which she appears as a game designer) while we enjoyed a court side view of a beanbag toss tournament the pub had going on outside.

Friday I saw the sights around Naperville, including the DuPage Children's Museum and a Cat in the Hat siting, before heading over the Anderson's Bookshop on West Jefferson.

I had a great time playing Blurt for a few hours with the shoppers at Anderson's. Owner Becky Anderson "gets it" and she has a great staff who really made me feel welcome. It got boisterous (as it tends to with Blurt) and Gail, Katie, Charlie, Joe and Becky were playing right along with the streams of shoppers who came in wanting to know what all the commotion was about. It was a great event! I'm writing an article for next month's Playthings Magazine where I plan to encourage more toy stores and game manufacturers to utilize game designers the way bookstores and publishers utilize authors. Stay tuned for that.


Saturday I set up a tent with my WHAM-O Super-Book at the UFO Frisbee Dog Competition. The book has an extensive look at the Frisbee. What hoot. Here are some pics of these amazing Frisbee-loving canines.


Competitors came from all over to compete, including Alabama, Texas, Colorado, Georgia, and even The Netherlands. I watched the event all morning and thoroughly enjoyed it. Tom Wehrli and his crew really put on an awesome event.

I took a break from signing books and headed over to Naper Settlement to give a talk on the history of toy and game inventing in Chicago. I'm never surprised by the passion that people bring to a talk on Timeless Toys.

Next I zipped back to the UFO event to see another dear friend, marketing guru, Tracy Dudkiewicz, who came to town with her family to see me Frisbee dogs. Tracy, Steve and their kids are some of my favorite people in the world and it was really great to hang out with them and enjoy the end of summer together.

So many competitors came out to this UFO tournament that Tom was afraid he'd have to shine car headlights onto the field to get all the events in. But at dusk the last disc was caught and the award ceremonies wrapped the day in fine style. Afterward we all headed over to The Rockbottom Brewery where I had dinner with Disc Dog legend Alex Stein, Lori Knerr-Gregory and her son, Jeremiah. Lori helped me extensively in my research for the WHAM-O Super-Book. She is the daughter of WHAM-O co-founder Richard Knerr and an avid WHAM-O toy collector.


The next morning I grabbed breakfast with former Marvin Glass & Associates designer, Burt Meyer and screened our Toyland footage for him. Since it was the rough cut Marvin Glass section of the film, I was a bit anxious, but he loved it! Burt had a hand in designing many Marvin Glass hits like Lite-Brite, Toss Across, Inch Worm, Mr. Machine, Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots and many more, so his blessing was a biggie for us.

Today, we wrapped up this Labor Day weekend extravaganza with a volleyball tournament to help Young Life International support it's ministry to children in Haiti.

As I reflect on Labor Day and what I get to do for a living, I am so very grateful to God that I am blessed to play for my work.

RC Coola

When I was a kid, the only thing that "RC" conjured up was thirst. That's because RC Cola was a soft drink that was a cheaper/inferior version of Coca-cola. In the toy biz, RC stands for "radio control," or those toy vehicles that kids can drive on land, sea, air or even up walls, all from a distance.

Well, what I witnessed the other day was "The Real Thing" compared to the toy versions of the planes, cars and trucks you see at Wal-Mart. There's a RC Club at a park near us and we always wanted to go check it out. Last week, we did. Enjoy the pics and the take-off movie at the bottom of the post.