I work out my mind so you can work out your arms!

My mind never stops working. I actually like it this way but sometimes it prevents me from sleeping.....so a long time ago I came up with a nighttime activity that I can do at bedtime to get me to relax so I can go night night.

My ritual starts by me slipping into something comfortable.....clearing my mind......letting my mind drift into a place where I can fantasize on how to innovate the current marketing for industries who I don't think are doing a very good job.

Yes I know that was a long way to travel for a simple masturbation joke.

Anyway I spent some time thinking up ways to re-invent the Sports Club/Fitness Club industry marketing because in my opinion this is an industry that could use some new ideas.

The goal of this post is not to "out" any one company and I am in no way pointing fingers or saying all fitness clubs employ these lazy practices but a bunch do and the perception of this industry is (in my opinion) is largely negative and that is why this was a fun little project for my brain.

To truly make a difference you need to change the way people think of a health club by making it a place people want to join, tell their friends, and hang out long after their work out is finished.

I would do this by changing all the direct mail pieces with the stock photography of frogs and generic people (a common practice with the local clubs in this area) and re work all the collateral to reflect the personalities of each unique club....the direct mail pieces should be targeted to the neighborhoods in and around the clubs and the collateral should reflect this. Make people feel they are hand selected and not a singular piece for the entire chain with multiple locations listed on the materials and drop all the questionable offers of $XX per month for the first 10 people who join only to have people show up and find out it is really three times that amount.

I see the key to making this great is by building a community.

If you create an environment where people look forward to coming and staying at your clubs you will empower the membership to boast about the clubs to the point where they are an extension of the sales team.

This is easy to type and not so easy to pull off but I see doing fun regular events like movie nights , Nintendo Wii Tennis Tournaments, Speed Dating, Surprise Birthday Parties for members on their B-Day and other member oriented events you create a feeling of club and community that will get members talking....and hopefully to non members.

Every marketing plan I dream up has a healthy dose of Guerrilla activity. I love Guerrilla stuff and done well is so over the top effective in getting people talking about your service and company....an example of a guerrilla campaign for a health club would be to have people doing barbell curls on the subway in rush hour...not saying anything or selling anything...just lifting/curling while wearing a club t-shirt.

I have an even better "WOM" idea but I am keeping it for myself since it can be used in a bunch of different ways.

.....and this is where I fell asleep........but to quickly finish the concept idea I think there are opportunities online like a Facebook Exercise Tracker App. and a whole whack of other lead generation tactics so they can dump the "win a free membership" ballot boxes that populate convenience stores all over the city.

Anyway if you are in a position to execute on these ideas I would be happy to share the rest of my ideas.......heck you could even hire me to be a consultant!

I await your call

Saul

Lets make shopping fun again!

Being the Smartest Man in the World is great but there is one drawback. I get ideas about everything and once my mind gets locked on something I think can be fixed I tend to work it through till I have a solution.

This brings me to a few days ago when I mentioned on Twitter that I had been thinking a lot of Department Stores. I was thinking about them because I had spent some time in a few and saw several ways to make them fun and cool again.

From the size alone, Department Stores should be larger than life places where you can find anything you are looking for. The pitch should be that Department Stores can offer you the world all in one location.....but instead it seems like they only offer private label clothing at a discount.

When I was a teenager my family made regular visits to New York City and I was always fascinated by Macy’s flagship store. They had boutiques in the store from major labels as well as the place had/has a real electricity that you could feel. The same just can’t be said for Canadian Department stores.

So here are a few ideas to change that......and by a few ideas I mean just a few. I have plenty more but I may keep them to myself until I get a call from one of these retailers asking me to help them out!

-Toy Departments should be places that parents can leave there kids while they shop. Toy Manufacturers can have “open” product for kids to play with in a supervised playground area. This would allow the parents to shop “Child Free” and the kids would not only develop a connection with the store but the parents would almost have to purchase something from the toy department since the child will have basically assumed ownership of the toy he/she had been playing with while his/her parents shopped!

-Electronic Departments can host events like Movie Nights in the store. This would be a sponsored, catered event where people can watch a movie (or TV show like a season premiere sponsored by a local network) on a certain brand television. Get caught up in the atmosphere and spectacle of the event. Meet people. Attend with friends and after the event they could receive a discount offer from whatever brand TV hosted the event.

-The Kitchen Ware department should team up with the Appliance department and host free lunches (all sponsored by the manufacturers) for the shoppers. Ovens, Pots, Pans, Dishes, Cutlery, Serving Pieces could all be showcased for people to see “in action” while enjoying a free meal.....and who doesn’t like a free meal?

I could keep going on and on but you will see that the main goals of my ideas are not only get people in the stores but to keep them in. The longer they stay, I assume the more they spend.

Department stores need to partner with their vendors to make changes because they (the stores and the vendors) have the same goals (sell product) and the stores certainly have the real estate to do some super cool events that would make people passionate about Department Stores again.

Let me know what you think of these ideas

-saul

The Smartest Man in the World

So it took me a few days but......

I gave figured out what this blog is going to be about!

The first handfull of posts were self congradulatory links about me and I gotta say that even I was getting bored by it so I have comeup with a few categories that will continue along throughout the blog from here on out.

The categories are as follows:

WWSD (WHAT WOULD SAUL DO) - will be an advice area where I will answer questions on any subject. I don't profess to have the correct answers but I will still give you my answer.

Stuff I Like - This will be a place where I can infect you with what I am digging at the moment. This will usually concentrate on the following categories....Music,Books,DVDS and TV

Lottery Fun - This will get its very own posting in the morning since this is going to take some explanation.

Observations - self explanitory

Free Marketing Ideas - This could be under observastions but I figured I would give it a category of its very own.

General Personal Stuff - self explanitory

So bookmark the site or add it to your RSS feed because I garentee you will find at least a few things interesting here!

oh ya and the site officially starts tomorrow with Lottery Fun!

saul