The Farce is Back!

Being able to laugh at the absurdity of extreme situations is healing, empowering, and provides a strong bond among us. It’s no wonder that companies all around the world re-emerged in 2022 to embrace humor to get through the pandemic and to communicate empathy, encouragement and cheerfulness to both internal and external audiences.

As humor returned to the stage in 2022, so did the global trend to leverage corporate April Fools campaigns to connect brands and businesses with all stakeholders. And Stand-Up Strategist was there to capture the excitement and the meaning behind it. Without further ado, in response to overwhelming worldwide anticipation, the SUS Top 23 Global Rankings of the best April Fools campaigns is now public! The quality and diversity of the campaigns (geographically and conceptionally) were excellent, especially given the circumstances.

At the top of the rankings is the humorous campaign by Westjet offering space travel, followed by T-Mobile’s tweaking of its signature magenta color, and Emirates Airlines’ venture into home food delivery. Witness and laugh with all the campaigns that made this year’s rankings here:

https://standupstrategist.com/2022-rankings/ 

Learn how the rankings were compiled and how you can leverage humor:

https://standupstrategist.com/#about

May your organization aspire to make this prestigious list in 2023, and may the farce be with you.

#humor #globalrankings #strategy #creativity #corporateculture #customerexperience #aprilfools

I am looking forward to be in Accra, Ghana next week, for the Africa Rising Conference.  The event is organized by the International Advertising Association, in partnership with Google, CNN, Nedbank, and MTN:

http://africarising.iaaglobal.org/

My presentation will be on the enticing topic of 'The Magical Bridge between Brands and People', and promises to be a highly interactive and thought-provoking session.  

Interesting Fact: Did you know that Ghana was the first African country below the Sahara to gain its independence? 

#innovation #leadership #transformation #smartstrategy #sustainability 

I am pleased to share my freshly published article in CEOWorld Magazine.

The piece highlights the market-driving innovation by IMC - the leading U.S. marine drayage company - and how their SmartStacks solution is a much needed, positive example of decongesting the supply chain for the benefit of all stakeholders as well as the environment.

As with a good number of transformative innovations, the inspiration for SmartStacks came from a source far removed from the industry: the game of JENGA.

But wait! Just what is drayage? Unless you are directly involved with the supply chain, you may not know, even though it impacts all international commerce. Well, this is your opportunity to find out. Read and learn:

https://ceoworld.biz/2022/09/13/playing-with-jenga-to-re-imagine-the-supply-chain/

#supplychain #innovation #markettransformation #leadership #smartstrategy #sustainability

I am looking forward to giving a keynote at this week’s SUN X Conference in Berlin – one of Europe’s top events for startups, entrepreneurs and tech innovators.

The conference, in partnership with Deutsche Telekom, brings together startups with investors, VCs, and corporates, and serves as a great forum to network and gain future-shaping insights. Last year’s event attracted over 5,000 participants.

Link to my session:

https://www.startupnight.net/program/2022/parts/sun-x-recruiting-stage/where-are-your-blue-waters-how-master-creative

#startup #innovation #berlin #tech #creativity #leadership

A really exciting event from this summer - buried amidst all the negative news - was the publication of the first space image from NASA’s James Webb telescope. President Biden personally released the photo on July 12^th during a White House press conference, showing the furthest image of space ever taken.

The picture displays a small, highly magnified portion of the Universe teeming with thousands of galaxies. To me, the most fascinating part of the story was how an article in Nature described the scale of the image:

“It shows thousands of distant galaxies in the constellation Volans, fainter than any galaxies seen before, in a patch of sky no larger than that covered by a grain of sand held at arm’s length.” https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01906-6

How amazing is that? Hold out your hand and picture a grain of sand on your finger. A speck that tiny contains thousands of galaxies in the sky. The comparison really provides a palpable sense of the enormity of our universe.  It's really mind- bending.  

Related Fun Fact: Did you know that our galaxy is moving through space at a blistering 1.3 million miles per hour (2.1 million km/hr). Just remember this when you are hesitant on embarking on a new adventure. Standing still is NOT an option!

#space #exploration #inspiration #future #technology