5 Holiday Thoughts
December 23, 2011 by Peter van Aartrijk · Leave a Comment
Admit it. You tried to cram four weeks’ worth of work into the first two weeks in December.
Doesn’t matter if you were successful—the holidays now are here. It’s a great time to unwind, although you may have to work at it. Here are five ideas to do that:
Idea #1: Get to know the family again. Unplug the technology schmutz, turn off the cell phone, close that flap on the iPad—even move away from the TV. The family is the only thing you have that’s permanent in life.
Idea #2: For half a day before January 3, get out the office, get out of the house, and get out of the box you’re in. Take a pad of paper and pen with you. Jot down some ideas about where you’d like to go in life and business. Big ideas, big ideals, big things. You might sketch out some pictures of where you’d like to be with your firm, your job, or yourself. You might come up with a to-do list (tactics) after you think big (strategy).
Idea #3: This holiday season, make an effort to actually talk with people—in person! (I posted about that amazing concept earlier this year.) Read more
What’s Your Brand Anatomy?
December 12, 2011 by Peter van Aartrijk · Leave a Comment
“If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings.’”
—Dave Barry
That’s an excerpt from Dave’s birthday message to fans a few years back, in which he announced the “Sixteen things it took me 50 years to learn”. There are some other real gems in there.
I agree with Mr. Barry on meetings, so why in the world would Aartrijk pile on with yet another meeting—our Brand Camp? Don’t insurance and financial services pros meet enough? Of course, and that’s why we’re aiming to alter and improve the very essence of what we call a “meeting,” or for that matter, a conference, seminar, workshop, speech, etc.
If Aartrijk can contribute to changing the rules of the game, perhaps we can show how the future of face-to-face meetings could be in our industry. Because, let’s admit it, as human beings we need to meet—and we like to meet, especially if it’s fun. Read more
Thanks for the Thoughts
October 17, 2011 by Peter van Aartrijk · Leave a Comment
As I look at it, blogs aren’t supposed to be about me, me, me. They should be more about the reader.
Well, forgive me folks. I appear to be stuck in the recent past. Why? Because there are eloquent and wonderful friends in the insurance trade media who keep reminding me of Maureen Wall Bentley, Aartrijk’s executive vice president of brand strategy, who passed away in July at the way-too-early age of 47. (Here’s Meaux with her husband, Mark Bentley, on their wedding day Oct. 18, 2008.)
Clearly, Meaux had many friends around the business—and some have solid platforms on which they can comment on thoughts and news of the day.
I thought I’d share a few remarks about our Meaux that were printed recently. (Laura’s last two sentences below resonate loudly for me.) Thank you, all, for your thoughtful musings.
Dave Evans, Publisher, Independent Agent:
“She was one of those people who you enjoyed being with—in a meeting, in the hallway or at a convention. She was smart and funny, using her keen Irish charm and wit to accomplish her considerable responsibilities…. Who would have expected that someone coming from Conde Nast in 1991 would turn out to be such an impressive advocate for independent insurance agents…” Read more
The Joke’s On Us
September 20, 2011 by Peter van Aartrijk · Leave a Comment
Someone once said, or at least I’ve heard it said, “There’s no such thing as a joke.”
Which is why a story called “Got Regional?” in a recent issue of Insurance Journal apparently struck a cord with insurance folks out there. I wrote it with Chris Amrhein, my partner in crime at Insurance is Fun!
The piece points out the nuances of navigating the carrier marketplace. Apparently you agents all forget to laugh every day at this stuff, so it took this article to identify the funny material all around us. Kudos to Insurance Journal for having the courage to publish an entire “Satire Issue”; I’m told there were only two complaints—among tens of thousands of readers—about the material.
Chris and I were on the receiving end of many comments on our article, including:
- Agent: I spent the noon hour today reading the latest issue of the Insurance Journal. I have to admit I haven’t laughed so hard reading an insurance magazine in my life!
- Industry Consultant: Now that right there was funny, I don’t care who y’are!
- Regional Company CEO: Never thought about giving agents a sand wedge; I appreciate the suggestion. I thought your article was hilarious. We do like being a thorn in the national carriers’ side, and we certainly throw better parties, but the real key is we still have people who agents can talk to. We call them underwriters. Read more
Fun Times
August 14, 2011 by Peter van Aartrijk · Leave a Comment
Unless you were fortunate to be born with a deep and abiding love of crunching numbers (accountants, all rise!) the guts of the financial services business can appear, ahem, boring.
I know, what a revelation.
But is it really boring? It doesn’t have to be. Turn on your humor meter if you’re responsible for branding in financial services. If you can’t have some fun in the branding business, maybe you’re in the wrong business. It’s a big sandbox—just look at some humor types:
Belly Laugh Funny. Face it, folks, the really laugh-out-loud funny message, ad, website etc. is pretty rare. Why? It’s hard to pull off. A reference that is intended to make people go “BAH-hah-hah-haaah!” can easily fall flat. And that’s just wrong.
Cute Funny. Think about advertising featuring kids and/or dogs. It’s pretty hard to mess that up. These are the ads—like Etrade—where you find yourself going, “Awwww!” (Actually, I amend that comment. I think the Etrade ads belong in the Belly Laugh Funny category.)
Wise Guy Funny. Geico’s characters: Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they’re smartass funny. And they’re certainly effective. Sarcasm as a tool is alive and well in American advertising. Read more
Tribute to a Mentor & Friend
July 12, 2011 by Peter van Aartrijk · 21 Comments
Death leaves a heartache no one can heal;
Love leaves a memory no one can steal.
—From an Irish Headstone
Maureen Wall Bentley, Aartrijk’s executive vice president of Brand Strategy, passed away a few days ago at the age of 47.
Words can’t possibly describe how we all are feeling for her friends and family. Our sympathies go to her husband, Mark; her mom, Betty; and the many close relatives of Meaux’s extended family who she loved so much. And it is a loss to the family here at Aartrijk—our employees, our consultants, our clients, our friends.
Speaking of words, that was Maureen’s original true love. When I first met her 20 years ago, she was editor of IA magazine, which to this day is still an Aartrijk client.
She was meant to be an editor, and she was outstanding. Editors take a written word—individually and in groups that create sentences and paragraphs—and work some magic on them. Whatever her pen touched just got better. It wasn’t only a matter of correcting mistakes. Meaux saw what was missing in the words, ultimately shaping them, improving them, providing context and meaning, and enhancing and enriching them. Read more
I LUV SWA
July 4, 2011 by Peter van Aartrijk · Leave a Comment
What is the core strength of the Southwest Airlines brand? People. They’re in a fun-loving, people business that also happens to fly planes.
“Love” is what Southwest aims to shower on you with every brand touch point. The ad copy poking fun at competitors’ nickel-and-diming you on fees. The tone of the website copy. The cute birthday cards. The peanuts. The LUV stock symbol. The little heart-shaped coffee stirrers on the planes.
And the flight attendants—where DO they find these people?
I’ll bet 95% of the flight attendants I’ve seen in 15 years of flying SWA truly are way more fun, caring, interesting, and talented (many sing PA announcements to passengers with impressive voices) than the flight attendants on competing airlines. They also are folks you’d probably have as friends.
Unfortunately, the flight attendants on United, US Airways, etc. seem to have gone in the wrong direction. And I’ve been flying those airlines for even longer—30 years. Blame what you like—job stress, cranky passengers, demanding bosses—but many of those flight attendants aren’t fun. In fact, they can be downright surly. They’re partly the reason why people say flying isn’t fun anymore. Read more
Geeks Tweet Up
June 6, 2011 by Peter van Aartrijk · 1 Comment
Picture this: A conference room of 1,500 technology geeks, and onto the stage walks “Geek of the Year,” as voted recently by GQ magazine. Woo-hoo, it’s a geek-apalooza. But even though I’m not generally considered a geek—at least not about technology—I too was intrigued to hear from Twitter co-founder Biz Stone.
What ensued from the mild-mannered, uncannily entertaining Biz at the ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum in San Diego was a series of life stories and pithy ditties—almost Twitter style—that could have been revelations for many folks slugging it out in the corporate world. For me, it seemed like neatly organized common sense for life and leadership in that world. Which is exactly the point: Sometimes we get so caught up in complex and digressive thought that we can forget that if you keep things simple—and Twitter certainly is simple—you can enjoy some elegant progress.
And speaking of progress, Biz said this: “Don’t be afraid to fail. If you want to succeed spectacularly you have to be ready to fail spectacularly.” Read more
Say What You Mean to Say
May 24, 2011 by Peter van Aartrijk · Leave a Comment
In 30 years of business travel I’m sure I’ve said the same phrase a thousand times to a thousand strangers.
This time the response was different:
• Pete (to a New York City hotel doorman as he loads my high-maintenance self into a cab in the pouring rain): “Have a good day.”
• Doorman: “They’re all good days. Some are just better than others.”
As I think about it now, I probably nodded and smiled thinly as he shut the taxi door after me. His smile, on the other hand, was authentic and far and wide—exactly, actually, like the hotel character Dick Halloran played awesomely by Scatman Crothers in the 1980 movie The Shining.
And since I was preoccupied as usual with catching a train or plane, it took me a while—maybe several minutes—before I truly heard the gent’s comment.
[Permit me a quick diversion to again recall something from the late and great George Carlin, who had a bit about hating when people said, “Have a nice day.” He ranted: “Maybe I don’t want a nice day. Maybe—just maybe—I’ve had 300 nice days in a row, and I’m ready for a really crappy day. It’s easy to have a crappy day—all you gotta do is get up!”] Read more
You from Joizey?
April 26, 2011 by Peter van Aartrijk · 7 Comments
Good old New Jersey. I miss it, even 16 years after we moved to the DC area. I already wrote about my house there.
Besides family, of course, there is one huge thing I miss: food.
I love food. I get jazzed about expansive menus with elaborate descriptions—except I don’t like when they write ‘em in French. I ask the servers to outline the specials several times, with particular emphasis on the sauces. I even root for other people’s food when they order. And don’t even get me started on the wine list.
What, you say, they don’t have food in Virginia, Pete? Sure, but they don’t have real Jersey food. (By the way, Jersey is the only “new” state where you don’t need the “new.” For instance, you don’t say “Hampshire.”)
Everyone who sells food down here in DC is a pretender—not a contender—for that authentic deli or Italian restaurant taste.