Kawasaki Krush

I have a pretend crush on Guy Kawasaki. After reading a couple of his books, I was smitten. I'd turn each page and could almost hear him whispering sweet nothings (oooh, resume building…yea, parchment colored stock paper…umm hmm, building networks, baby…) into my ear. He's just kinda brilliant and if he didn't seem so down-to-Earth, I'd probably ask for a refund on my brain. Hey, God, I think mine's defected. Kawasaki is clearly someone who can handle being smart, and, well, I'm still trying to figure out why Barney Rubble has eight toes.

In his book, The Art of the Start, Kawasaki discusses the use of a business mantra (p.8), which became the rubric in which we measured the contest entries against. A few of the elements which we felt the winner achieved (and these were taken directly from Kawasaki) were:
*It should be short and sweet.
*It requires no enforcement or explanation (if you have to explain how a string of adjectives applies to your business, it's not a strong mantra).
*It could describe your business in one sentence (if a person can't tell what your business is from the mantra, it's not very strong).
An example of a awesome mantra is Nike: “Authentic Athletic Performance”. In a single sentence, we know what Nike does and who it's for. Now, that's just darn cool.

There were so many AMAZING entries, but we felt the winner upheld Kawasaki's principles with her own flair. I couldn't choose the winner, so I narrowed the field and enlisted help from a few people much smarter than me. You know, since I'm still perplexed about the whole Barney Rubble thing.

The winner of the FREE Showit Site for an entire year is: Jessica with With a Flourish Event Management Company – Celebrate. We'll take care of the rest

A HUGE thank you goes to all of you who participated and I am truly impressed with the caliber of business people in the industry!

And because pictureless posts are so 2001, here's one of my favorite branded companies…

Sprinkles Cupcakes does a fabulous job producing sweet confections and their mantra describes them perfectly: Sprinkles Cupcakes are a deliciously sophisticated update on an American classic. Word to your mom.

Happy Friday!