Blog

I suppose it’s incredibly self-serving to blog about one’s own birthday.

Usually I’m dead set against much celebratory activity. It’s not that I’m attempting some elaborate form of reverse psychology. Secretly desiring a marching band or fireworks in my honour. Hopefully I’m not coming across like one of those people who say “I’m not as smart as the people who work for me”, when you know they believe they are the greatest. Nope, usually I like my birthday to be low key, personal, and intimate.

But in clear violation of these assertions, I am disclosing to you here that it’s my birthday this week. This one seems a little different than the other forty-nine that preceded it. Here is why:

1. I don’t feel 50.
2. I really don’t think I look 50.
3. I am shocked that I am 50.
4. Most people tell me I don’t act 50.
5. What does it mean to act 50?
6. Somehow I still think I’m the punk who started his own business in his 20’s.
7. My wife beat me to 50 and it doesn’t look as bad as I thought it might.
8. Fifty years ago I was born as Richard Lane Zemans. It’s true.
9. I’m eternally grateful for being adopted by Ron & Ann Harrison nearly fifty years ago.
10. Not just because it would be awkward if my name was Dick and I ran a company called TrojanOne.
11.For fifty years they have unconditionally loved me more than any parents ever could.
12. I need to do a better job for the next fifty years telling them how much I appreciate them.
13. Turning 50 has surprisingly triggered an abundance of meaning of life thinking.
14. I have finished those thoughts in an incredibly happy place.
15. I have experienced way more than fifty years of blessings.
16. But I have also made more than fifty years of mistakes.
17. I have no regrets about any of them.
18. I’ve come to realize that my first fifty years on earth have been paving the way for first fifty years of our children’s path.
19. I’m happily steaming towards fifty years of being with Karen….actually it’s only twenty, but it feels like fifty…in a good way….I am now digging myself a fifty foot hole….I owe her fifty kisses!
20. Did I mention my wife is over fifty?
21. Can you still hear me from down in this fifty foot hole?
22. But I really have had fifty years of blessings.
23. Every year I make a personal list of the 10 Greatest Happenings Last Year… this year I intend to make a 50th special edition of 50 Greatest Happenings in My Life.
24. I can still remember when I started making more than $ 50,000 a year!
25. Which is amazing given I’ve only got fifty strands of hair left on my head.
26. I can also remember the pride when my agency exceeded 50 staff.
27. I look forward to the day when my agency turns 50.
28. I look forward to the day when my kids turn 50.
29. I didn’t write this blog to shamelessly plea for presents or platitudes.
30. Although my dog Prince has promised me a birthday kiss.
31. My cat Apollo will just ignore me like he does any other day.
32. Disappointed on my 50th that I will weigh in at around 206.
33. I have been on a 50 month tear to get under 200 pounds.
34. I can still do 50 push-ups.
35. I can’t do 50 chin-ups, but I never could.
36. I should do 50 situps.
37. I can run for fifty minutes.
38. I read more than fifty minutes a day.
39. I workout more than fifty minutes a day….every day!
40. I love to give fifty minute presentations at conferences.
41. My staff will tell you I can babble for more than fifty minutes In a meeting.
42. My staff will also tell you I’ve been known to order shooters in trays of fifty.
43. I plan to still do so if you’re coming to a TrojanOne event.
44. I have a feeling 2015 is going to be the best year ever for TrojanOne!
45. I have a feeling 2015 is going to be my best year ever.
46. I love what I do and wish everyday was 50 hours long!
47. Don’t ask me when I’m going to retire, the answer is never.
48. Don’t ask if I plan to sell my agency, the answer is never.
49. I plan on living at least another 50 years.
50. Promise not to blog about my birthday again until the second fifty arrives! (Will there be such a thing as a blog on January 16, 2065?)

Welcome to the Year of Sport in Canada.

In case you missed the announcement last Fall, our Governor General made this proclamation for 2015. It’s an announcement you should not have missed, as it could be the foundation for unrealized opportunity. Inspired by an unprecedented schedule of international sporting events to grace our land, this recognition is wildly appreciated by the sport community.

Opportunity often knocks in threes and you can maximize Year of Sport through a troika of approaches.

1. Engage Sport for a Healthier Country.
The statistics don’t lie. We are a fatter, rounder, softer, nation than we have ever been. Sport can help change that. Not just organized sport, but pickup and free play. Reducing barriers, accessibility issues, facility shortages, participation costs, parental pressures, municipal bylaws is essential. Push your politicians for a healthier Canada. Push your educators for a healthier curriculum. Push your organization to offer a healthier workplace.

2. Utilize Sport to Build Community.
For every story you hear of crazed hockey/soccer/figure skating parents, there are dozens of positive untold stories. We like to dwell on the negative, but few things build community like sport. Children build relationships beyond the brick walls of their own classroom or schoolhouse. Parents meet new friends that transcend culture, economics, or neighbourhoods. Coworkers engage in teamwork with colleagues they often only see in the lunchroom. Sport’s community building powers are ageless, boundless, and limitless. Tapping into them has to be on your 2015 resolutions list.

3. Leverage Sport to Create Opportunity.
Leading marketers recognize the power of sport to build their brands. Sponsorships, activations, special events all have been empirically proven to motivate customer channels and consumer purchase. Sport engages Canadians, connects with their passions, and builds corporate credibility. Leading municipalities recognize the power of sport to build their economies. Sport Tourism does more than fill hotel rooms. It also fills taxis, restaurants, shops, buses, trains, and planes. Leading charities recognize the power of sport to fill their coffers. Challenging events and competitions engage donors, participants, and sponsors. The gala dinner has been replaced by the epic contest. Organizations are constantly seeking unique strategies to create opportunity. Sport is a ubiquitous and powerful strategy you need to uniquely incorporate in your planning today.

The theme of the Governor General’s proclamation “Canada: A Leading Sport Nation” clearly provides the motivation for you to leverage Year of Sport in Canada.

Years ago, the titans of commerce established the tradition of the Holiday Bonus. Over time it took many forms. An envelope of cash, a Christmas turkey, a bonus cheque, bottles of wine, or a gift basket. Unfortunately the practice wasn’t always conducted altruistically, as often it was used to prevent staff defections or as a way to circumvent paying earned overtime. But it’s origins were pure and indeed many companies well understood the benefits of rewarding employees for a year’s solid performance.

When I was a young titan of newspaper delivery, the Christmas bonus was eagerly awaited. As an eleven year old paperboy I made about five or six dollars, a week, delivering to forty households. But come the week before Christmas, it was my chance to rack up some riches. Most of my client households slipped me a card which I couldn’t wait to open, though I rarely read them. The notes I was looking for were of the currency type. Namely the one and two dollar bills that flowed out of them. Sometimes the odd fiver showed up, to which I said a silent prayer of thanks. By the time I was done with my Holiday Haul, I easily had scored over a month’s extra pay. For me the Christmas Bonus was alive and well.

I still relish the gifts I get from clients.

Not that they are sending me cash bonuses!

No, my clients give me something much more valuable than money. They give me feedback, candour, collaboration, and opportunity. Those are things that money can’t buy. This of course is in addition to the financial renumeration they provide all year. Which allows me to employ a team of highly deserving, capable, and inspiring colleagues. This funding allows them to pursue their professional dreams and aspirations, while establishing their own personal ability to support the families they will someday create. Or in many cases have already started.

This week we are celebrating with our clients and industry friends. Together we will raise a glass to celebrate the season, to remember a year’s worth of business triumphs and challenges, and to give thanks for the support of one another. If you don’t (didn’t) make it to our Holiday Blast, I want to still thank you personally for all you mean to us.

I often tell my young interns that without clients, we wouldn’t have a business. In case I haven’t told you lately, that’s why I’m writing to you today.

Gracious, humble thanks to all our clients and patrons.

Happy Holidays.

I workout to lose weight.

I run to brainstorm.

I rehearse to do better presentations.

I read to stimulate creativity.

I draft plans to run better practices.

I take lessons to learn how to ski.

I don’t know how to train my sixth sense. I wonder if it’s possible to train something that there is no tangible evidence I have. What is a sixth sense? Paranoia? Anticipation? ESP?

Do you have a sixth sense? What do you call it? Spidy Sense? Little Voice? Inner Voice? Golden Angel? Personal Compass? Third Eye?

I usually refer to mine by my nickname. Herschel. As in Walker. As in a nickname I got a long time ago.

Seems to me recently my sixth sense is slipping. I’ve been caught off guard in a few situations. I don’t like when that happens. In fact, I hate it. It usually results in me creating a conversation with myself. Well actually with Herschel. You can probably imagine the dialogue. MH3, which is my professional nickname, giving grief to Herschel, my personal nickname. Wonder how Mark gets involved in all this. Not sure, third man in is usually a game misconduct penalty.

Having an active sixth sense is a good thing. In politics it can be anticipating what is bothering your consitutuents. In sport it can be anticipating where your opponents are headed. In life it can be feeling a loved one’s feelings before they are expressed.

Too much of a sixth sense can be a bad thing. You can end up second guessing yourself. Too much doubt creates inertia. A one man stalemate that will always stop you from succeeding. So a balance is needed.

That said, a sharp sixth sense is a saw that can be put to good use. Mine needs a bit of sharpening. I’m looking for ideas on how to fine tune it. Saying it out loud is the first step.

There was far too much chatter in Vancouver about the Grey Cup game not being a sellout.

No the game didn’t max out. But anytime you can put 50,000 people in a neutral site stadium, I think it’s pretty amazing.

But the best talk about tickets came to me from a friend of mine.

She works for a very large CFL sponsor and has access to VIP seats at almost any event you might want to attend. On her way to the stadium Sunday she was advised that her company had tickets that were going unused. She acted swiftly as she knew some VIP’s that could use them.

Randomly she started her search on the Vancouver streets around BC Place. It wasn’t long before she found exactly who she was looking for. Great CFL fans who were ready to celebrate but didn’t have tickets to the game. An innocent question to find out if they were attending often produced a real life answer such as the one she received from one young boy.

“There is no way my Mom could afford it.”

To his astonishment out came two free tickets. An eruption of disbelief, tears and hugs got them in the spirit of the big game.

Several more times she went into action. Most recipients didn’t believe her. One guy, in his mid 20’s, thought she was hitting on him. Maybe in his dreams! Almost all thought there was a catch, hidden camera, or a mischievous friend at work. But no, just a quick thinking marketing executive who couldn’t bear the thought of those ducats being wasted.

These random acts of kindness created the truest VIP’s at this year’s Grey Cup. The holders of those tickets will never know who their guardian angle was for the day. But they will never forget her.

Last night we held our second Canadian Football Hall of Fame Induction Party. Hall of Fame ED Mark DeNobile shared the seven names comprising the 2015 class. I was excited to hear the name Bob Obillovich called. Obie represents a special period in Argo history guiding the team to a 1983 Grey Cup victory that marked the Boatmem’s first crown in thirty years. Coach Obillovich, a Montana native, spent fifty years in the Canadian league as a player, coach, and executive. He came North for a job and would up with a career, a wife, a family, and a new country.

To me he represented all round class. He was famous but never acted it. He was tough but never mean. He was long winded, but with a purpose. Last night was no different. Obie told stories that humanized what Canadian football is all about. Really what all team sports are about. He’s about to be enshrined in 2015 in a special place. He will now be famous forever.

I have the happiest stewardess ever spotted on an Air Canada flight. She’s proudly violating the airline’s untouchable dress code by wearing her Tiger-Cats Eastern Final yellow towel over her company issued apron. These game day swag rags look suspiciously like the iconic Pittsburgh Steeler Terrible Towel and were out in full force last Sunday at Terrain-Tim Hortons-Field. That’s the official stadium name according to the signage all over it. I didn’t know the Francophone population in Hamilton was so large, but then again I don’t live there so how can I comment. Back to the towel sported by my anomaly of a stewardess. She proudly told me Sunday past was the best Ti-Cats game she had ever seen but was hoping Sunday approaching (Coupe Grey Cup 102) would relegate it to second best. She’s got three cross country 777 jaunts between now and kick-off but her seats are awaiting for her in BC Place..Row P on the 50 yard line. Just look for that yellow towel and mile high grin.

Boarded the 7:00 AM for Vancouver today and have to admit I was a bit surprised I didn’t see more CFL fans on the plane. That said I did witness a first. A guy wearing an Argos backpack with a Green Riders hat. Did he marry a Saskatchewan gal? Did he move to the 416 for work, but can’t betray his homeland. Can’t imagine he would jump on the Argo ship then. Perhaps I missed the fact he’s wearing Blue Bomber boxer shorts and Alouettes socks and he’s actually a coast to coast fan?

It’s the time of year when Canadian Football takes its moment in the spotlight.

High school football is in full city and provincial championship swing. Community leagues are nearing their final playoff games. The CIS is marching steadily towards the Telus Vanier Cup in Montreal and a milestone 50th anniversary. The annual nation-wide CFL party disguised as a football game is being marketed as Roar on the Shore this year. It’s a great theme for a Vancouver-hosted Grey Cup.

South of the border, eleven weeks of NFL madness has me praying for a Browns-Bengals-Ravens collapse and the NCAA Football Playoff race is more intriguing than even the selection of Condoleezza Rice to it’s selection committee.

But while the NCAA has landed on yet another winning formula, what holds for the future of collegiate ball in Canada? It was virtually impossible for me to find the Yates Cup OUA Football Championship on TV last Saturday. Apparently it was online on something called OUATV and also broadcast/fed/streamed across Rogers community cable. But if you were an alumnus of either school, or just a university football fan, how hard are you willing to work to find this game?

If you’re a diehard fan and have an interest in the Vanier Cup, but also want to go to the Grey Cup, you know need a transnational flight to whisk you from Montreal to Vancouver in two weeks. Of course it’s doable, but costly.

Why isn’t the Vanier Cup part of the Grey Cup anymore? Two of the most successful Vanier events were when the football titles were paired. I understand sponsor conflicts, and now broadcaster conflicts, but running head to head with the Grey Cup doesn’t make sense to me. Sponsors, media, broadcasters, donors, and football zealots are split.

The Grey Cup, under the polished eye of soon to be departing CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon, has grown amazingly in the past several years. I can remember attending games in the late 90’s that couldn’t sell out and barely inspired community involvement. Today it’s back to its glory of yesteryear and quite frankly gone far beyond. The festival, the parades, the parties, the half-time acts are all best in class. Last year I was awed by the in-stadium branding, which now has a consistent look on an annual basis.

Cohon and his team have built a machine. So if the Vanier Cup isn’t going to partner with them, I think there is a sizable need to build it’s own event, on it’s own weekend, and break the mold. I don’t mean the mold of a current pattern; I mean the mold growing on the Vanier Cup because pretty soon the brand will be tarnished.

I am not picking on the CIS. In fact this is the opposite. I love CIS football. I saw three live games this year at two different stadiums which probably puts me in the .00001% of Canadian sports fans. It’s an amazing product waiting for some corporate love.

Football at all levels in Canada is a wide-open opportunity. Too often marketers get caught up in the participation numbers. No it’s not soccer with a million kids running across this country. But it is a sport with a much deeper impact than it’s numbers. Football programs bring significance to a city, a university, a high school, and a community. This may be a hockey country, with some hoop mad cities (hello the “6”!), and soccer on the brain of every young girl right now. But football is right up there.

The CFL has proven the power of the sport. Look at the billions in construction it has recently attracted. There is more opportunity out there. Smart marketers should start drafting their playbook this November.

PS. If you’re going to be in Vancouver during Grey Cup weekend and I haven’t invited you to one of our Canadian Football Hall of Fame events drop me a line.

I have never had more conversations about the Canadian military than I have in the past weeks.

The recent murders of Cpl. Nathan Cirlillo and Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, along with the training death of Private Steven Allen have rung an extra somber note on this week’s Remembrance Day ceremonies. But they have also cast a deserving spotlight on the women and men who have and continue to serve our country.

I was in Hamilton on the weekend and it was impossible not to think of Cpl. Cirlillo and the mourning in that community. The mother of one of my young Peewee football players who took him to see Cpl. Cirlillo’s gravesite inspired me. It made me hope that perhaps these tragedies will help our next generations understand the sacrifices made in the Great War, that marked it’s 100th anniversary this week, and in subsequent global and regional conflicts.

Perhaps these tragedies will provide the political will to ensure we invest more in our services. I hope we never become the military-industrial complex of our southern neighbours, but decades of endless federal government budget cuts to our defence spending are putting our men and women at needless risk. These men and women, and those before them, are willing to sacrifice their way of life, and potentially even living, so we can live in a country like Canada.

Do we want to continue to be a country that fights terrorism or one that is strangled by terrorism? Do we want to be a country where rights and freedoms for all its inhabitants is paramount, or one with ethnic wars and where schoolgirls are sold into slavery? Do we want to live in a country where we can respond to natural disasters or one where we are a natural disaster?

As Canadians we need to do more than remember. We need to speak up. We need to educate our leaders. We need to educate our young. We need to educate ourselves.

Let’s inspire more bright women and men to serve. Let’s support them with our respect and our wallets. Let’s keep Canada Canada.

Let’s remember the smile of Cpl. Nathan Cirlillo. Let’s remember the photo of his dogs waiting for their master to come home. Let’s remember the funeral day pictures of his young son, handsomely sporting a regimental hat.

Let all of us remember that the sacrifice of his Dad for you, me, and our families means that this young man will grow up without the greatest hero a son can have.

A father.