WWKD

I just finished writing a suite of marketing campaigns for one of my favorite clients recently—and I had so much fun. It was a 30^th anniversary nostalgia theme and it made me super nostalgic! Thinking about the good ole days when we’d watch Full House and hear Uncle Joey with his ‘cut it out’ line, Uncle Jessie’s ‘have mercy’ mantra, and Stephanie’s ‘how rude’ refrain gave me the nostalgic feels. 

Maybe it was because the show aired before I had either a car payment or a mortgage, but times seemed simpler then. The humor, innocent; the jokes, corny. Times were simpler. As kids we would play outside all day long in the summertime…ALL DAY LONG. The rule was that we had to be home when the streetlights came on and even then, we’d negotiate to play just a little bit longer. I remember well coming home hot and sweaty, lathering up in a hot bath, putting on cool PJ’s, and filling a Dixie cup with precisely counted M&M’s as our snack while we watched the Donny and Marie variety show—she was a little bit country, he was a little bit rock and roll.  We really knew how to squeeze every ounce of opportunity out of life before we started adulting. We lived life like it was a verb, because it was. 

I also recall spending far too many hours back-in-the-day playing Frogger. Does anyone remember that game? The object was to use the 4-direction joystick to navigate several frogs from one side of the road to either their homes or their death due to the heavy, fast-moving traffic. This game was not relaxing! The stress to get the frogs to their respective lily pads instead of straight-up roadkill was anxiety-inducing. But, with a pinch of practice, a smidgen of smarts, a dash of daring, and a tad bit of tenacity, you could rapidly approach George Costanza level scores on this classic game—if you were bold enough to leap. Standing on the shoulder and waiting for the traffic to clear or the barriers to be removed won’t get you to your destination. And in life, we’re not mere spectators, we’re active participants.  We must leap! ^Leap! 

No, 2023 is not a leap year. Or is it? If you’ve been reading this blog for a bit, you know each week I typically give you some left brain marketing methods with a dash of right brain marketing moxie that could help you leap to new levels of giving. But you have to leap. You have to verb it up and act on some of these ideas in order to make a bigger difference. Yes, this blog is a bit different than the others but only because it's important for me to remind you that reading these ideas is only the first step. Next, you have take action…^leap.

My favorite blogger, Seth Godin, reminds me all the time to take marketing leaps that I didn’t take last year or last month or last week. And more than that, he inspires me to remind everyone in my sphere of influence—hundreds of blog followers—to leap! No more status quo. ^Leap!  No more giving up!  ^Leap! No more ‘it’s always been done that way’. ^Leap!  Seth says, “If you want to make change happen, if you want to give others a chance to truly make a difference and to feel alive, it's essential that you encourage, cajole and otherwise spread the word about what it means to leap.”  Wow!  As my friend Jack always says, “That’ll preach!” Indeed, it will. Because it’s not just about remembering to leap ourselves; it’s also about inspiring others to ^leap along with us.

So, no, it’s not officially a ^leap year. But it can be your year to ^leap. In fact, around our office, we have what we call the Froggess Award. This award is given BY the teammate that received it last TO the teammate who they see has made major progress, FROGRESS,  on something at work. Frogs jump forward, so they are a perfect symbol of progress. Anyone on the team can get the Frogress Award and I don’t control when it’s given or who it’s given to. It happens authentically. The Frog is then proudly displayed in their office until they are ready to give it away once more! We encourage each other to move forward, to progress, to ^leap like it’s their job…because it is.The fact is, as silly as this is to say, four years from now you’ll be four years older.  And those four years can be used standing on the sidelines, dragging your feet from one Friday to the next, or intentionally ^leaping to a world of possibilities.  Ask yourself…WWKD…What Would Kermit Do? Kermy really does know a thing or two about ^leaping. How else would he score a hot chick like Miss Piggy? It’s not easy being green, but it doesn’t take an army of frogs to see that every time a frog ^leaps, they’re always moving forward. Make it a self-proclaimed Leap Year, my friend.

All My Best,

Dawn
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dawn brown creative, llc.