Today's the Day

I retired today after working professionally in radio and direct mail since I was a junior in college.

Here's what I did over the past 37 years:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddleiser

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Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

My wife and I celebrated our wedding anniversary last month in Charleston, SC attending the Southern Ground Music and Food Festival.  Now in it's 3rd year, this combines Grammy award-winning country music superstar Zac Brown's passion and appreciation of excellent musicians and great food.

The purpose of this post is not to recount our personal experience but to compliment the organizers and musicians and share just a little bit of the marketing magic that made me spend nearly $1000 for 2 two-day tickets.

If I were to write about this, it would likely be a ten-minute read, but luckily the organizers put my blog post in a 2 minute video.

Over 20 music acts, 2 stages, an up-close to the stage opportunity, a VIP Lounge with an open bar and dinner each night, air-conditioned clean bathrooms, phone-chargers and even a Ferris-wheel were just part of the experience.  As a marketer, I appreciated the sponsors they were able to incorporate.  Landshark Beer and Jack Daniels are two of Zac Brown Band's tour sponsors, but they also brought in Capital One and handful of other companies, some local to Charleston and Nashville (the other festival venue in September).

From the venue layout, the sponsor signage, the product activation, the merchandising, the pre-show patron communications, a mobile app, the stage theatrics/video wall, social media integration on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, plus the follow up videos and photos, it's inspiring to see an outstanding music artist surround himself with talented marketers!

While Zac and team are making a lot of money from this effort, they are giving back by building a camp for children with special needs.  Some of the proceeds from the event went to Camp Southern Ground

Good job!

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I have nothing to say...

I realized today that I haven't posted anything on this, my personal blog, is quite some time.  I hate seeing that my last post was mid-June.

Where did the summer go?

More importantly, how come I haven't had anything to post?

I did start a new blog for my role as Director of Franchise Sales at Valpak, and perhaps that's where my blogging focus has been.

I also wrote an article that will appear in the November issue of the International Franchise Association's "Franchising World" magazine.   I'll post it here too, once it's published.  It's on a topic I'm pretty passionate about and will likely write about again in the future - how we all are misusing our LinkedIn profiles.

So in the meantime, here's how I spent my summer (vacation):

NASCAR Race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Park

Picture I took in Chatham, Massachusetts

The Boston Bombing Memorial

Sonoma & Napa Valley 

9/11 Memorial New York City

It's also been fun watching the Tampa Bay Rays play "September" baseball ALL summer, helping old friends move out and new friends move in, making the annual trek to Washington DC to visit our Congressmen's offices discussing the franchising industry's key issues, and seeing our son continue to develop his personal and professional life.

I hope your summer was fruitful too.

I'll be back next when I DO have something to say.....

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