A Selfie Moment Created with Just a Name
How powerful is a name brand? When does it become a photography moment or selfie-worthy? For this new selfie world, you cannot be understatedly elegant, you have to be loud and literal.
Recently I attended a healthcare conference in Chicago and on my way to an architectural tour boat trip on the Chicago river, I was taken aback by all the people stopping to grab a selfie or photo of the Trump building. The Trump name was emblazoned at just the right size and height; it had been optimized for photos and selfies—too high and you couldn’t see the name, too low and it would not fit in the photo frame. Given Mr. Trump’s high celebrity status, it didn’t surprise me that a few people were taking photos, but the volume of people, very old and very young equally, snapping photos did.
If it had been just a Trump building without the name, would people have stopped? I don’t think so. The selfie opportunity made it abundantly clear where you were and it provided instant proof of a brush with celebrity significance.
Selfie moments should be the motivation for experiential marketing – even when you are constructing a building or placing a monument sign. It is more than identification or directional. It is an opportunity for sharing a moment in time.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.