This week I read a report about students at Mundelein High School outside of Chicago who are experimenting with simplifying their lives. It’s part of an empathy exercise for teens to see and feel what it’s like to go without certain conveniences….in ABTeen terms it’s called “trading places”. These teens made a commitment to go [...]

[Read more →]

My post last week featured a company that came up with an inventive and creative ABT  approach to changing the way they dealt with job applicants in a market environment of contraction and layoffs. It was very encouraging to see my colleagues in the ad biz making the most of difficult situations with asset-based thinking [...]

[Read more →]

I came across a great example of smart, savvy and enlightened Asset-Based Thinking in action in Canada. In this economy advertising agencies have been forced to layoff some very talented creative people. The upside, if there is one, is that agencies are flooded with resumes of excellent talent….unfortunately even agencies that are doing well aren’t [...]

[Read more →]

In creating our next book, Change The way You See Everything - For teens, Kathy and I have become inspired and energized by the awesome power and potential of youth. Also, our work with teachers, educators and advocates has heightened our recognition and commitment to the importance of reading in their development. That’s one of [...]

[Read more →]

In some earlier posts we discussed Pepsi’s new marketing campaign. Project Optimism, as a good example of a strong research based program that utilized some sound asset-based thinking principles. Now, Pepsi has taken it to the next stage in its execution featuring a big push around this Tuesday’s Inauguration. The attached article, (Pepsi inauguration optimism [...]

[Read more →]

I subscribe to the Salon.com newsletter which has some interesting articles and takes on wide range of subjects. It delivers quick, interesting and  sometime controversial reads….not a place I usually go for a daily dose of Asset-Based Thinking. So, when I saw the headline of the feature article in today’s issue, “Fleeced By Madoff”, by [...]

[Read more →]

Last week I wrote about Pepsi’s new Millennial marketing initiative based on their “Optimism Project”.  It’s an interesting Asset-Based Thinking example of how a smart marketer is tapping into the “attitudinal assets” present in this target group and the power of optimism and potential in times of pessimism and problems. An excellent example of a [...]

[Read more →]

Last week I saw a great example of Asset-Based Thinking in action when I watched a VIDEO of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s press conference about a new Citywide initiative called “Pass It On”. The “Pass It On”  press release describes it as the first of its kind in the nation program specifically designed [...]

[Read more →]

This time of year it’s very easy to get caught up in all the hustle and bustle of the Holidays and sometimes we can get a little too concerned about the material aspects of gift giving and celebration. So, it’s not always easy to realize and recognize the abundance of ‘intangible” assets that we have [...]

[Read more →]

While I was at The Concept Farm last week I received a call from a New York Post reporter, Holly Sanders, who covers the business and marketing “beat” in NYC. Holly is a sharp reporter and she knows that she can always count on the “Farmers” for some creative insights and good ole’ NY savvy.
Like [...]

[Read more →]