Of course I had heard about it, of course I knew it was good, but I still hadn’t had the chance to see it. Too occupied, no more tickets, no one willing to go, no show near. But then, my chance came, it was what should be considered an offer you cannot refuse. No plans, good friends and just a few steps from home! So I went, and it actually was awesome!

The secret of the show? Simplicity and tightness. Tightness of course because when you repeat the same jokes for the 2 600 time, you most surely know them all but mostly because the actors still seem to have fun doing it. They are still giving their 100%, even if they are aging and probably aren’t challenged anymore by the show. It has become part of them.

And simplicity. The jokes are just timeless, nothing on actuality, no politics, no famous person caricatured. Simply an exaggerated image of ordinary people we could all identify. The punches, we could probably have guessed 75% of them. But again, this is the strength of this mythical production. It gives you just what you want! Those easy gags you would be ashamed to say or ask for are there on stage. It does not try to shake you up, surprise you or win originality prizes. It just gives you what you expect and want to see. What I wanted to see? A good show. What I expected? A good night. I did have both. Long live to Broue! (been there, done that, I know!)

As I may have already told many, I went to Europe not long ago and, for a marketing guy, that was simply frantic. Brands are everywhere! I mean the big ones, they seem to own every European capital and most of all, while you are there, you want them to! They are just bigger than life but at the same time they get to be so welcoming! Why? Because they seem to put all their efforts to reach customers, to touch them, not to attract them coldly like they usually do in here. Brands are hot, they’re welcoming, almost romantic! They use those old buildings and adapt to them, they do not just rape their surface, they keep the authenticity of the place and people like it, they come naturally. Now, that’s participative marketing!

I will now highlight two campaigns I saw in Berlin. They’re from brands I had absolutely no attraction to at first but that I now love: Adidas and Puma.

First I have to give a little setting, I went there during the Athleticism world tournament so, obviously those brands were all going upfront. First, let’s talk about Puma’s guerrilla marketing. It was just so simple! Puma sponsors the Jamaican national team and there comes the concept; right in the middle of Alexanderplatz, they put that hut, serving drinks (ok alcohol is legal in public places, which makes it all easier...) but, with a little reggae music, it gave a whole new feel to that cold Eastern Berlin place. But the center of attention wasn’t the hut, still, simple, right beside it was a 50m race track with a speedometer. Nothing more. And people were lining up to see how fast they could go and to beat their personal records. The whole thing was, of course fully branded; but it was not the center of attention, you had to look for the brand; and we did! We wanted to know who had organised that cool thing! People who did not like it did not go for the brand and all recognition was therefore positive! Isn’t that cool? Moreover, they gave some nice Jamaican bandanas to the runners who did run fast enough, and to the kids (I have to confess I did the race just to see what they were giving away). So, people went back home after a drink in a cool Puma atmosphere or with a bandana symbolizing a nice Saturday afternoon running experience. Now, that was cool festive guerrilla marketing. They did not force the brand to us, they seduced us and we went happily looking for them.

Now, Adidas. I have to confess I had heard a bit about that marketing effort and was therefore eager to see if it really was worth it. It was! In Kuffurdemstrasse’s Adidas store was some kind of a performance zone. There were a few futuristic looking machines made to tell you how strong you were at different skills (reflexes, jumping, those kinds of things). At the entrance, they had little manuals helping people to use the machines. Now, that zone may first look like some, dump your kids here while you spend, area. It was not. It was not some cheap secondary attraction It was a cool, professional looking, experience. People were curious to try it and they did, I did too.

Now, the place was in the center of the store so, unconsciously you were looking at all the products. And, in the area was the marketing part: some cool looking sofas and computers. On those screens, you could make your own customised pair of running shoes. Sounds cheesy? It was not. Unlike some other similar thing I saw in Berlin, it was no cheap customisation. You really did make your own shoes. You chose the shape, width, length, model, colors, laces, etc... You could also write your name and do all other fun things. And, you had a wall of shoes behind you for sizes and inspiration. The computer also gave a lot of information on the different models, the advantages of their shape, sports they were made for... it was complete. And people were not pushed to use it, they looked at it first, curious, and all went for a try. Whether they did buy the shoes they made or not (I didn’t) they had a nice feel of making a brand resembling them. And for those who bought it, the shoes were shipped to them a few days later, giving a real impression of taking the time to make them custom. It is hard to describe what made this store come out of the bunch but, lets just say it had a feeling, it was welcoming, it arose curiosity without that final pull we North Americans are so tempted to add. They were not worried about losing a sale if they did not push people to try the equipment. They offered it freely, left it there and waited for you to request their help (they were happily coming to us if asked to). There was simply no pressure, it was not a marketing effort, it was some curious thing we wanted to try. And it sold.

Now that’s what we have to learn. We should not focus on return on investment that much. We should not worry about the fact that an idea which we know is good may not pay of. If we like it, others will and if they like it enough, they will buy (or influence others to). Good ideas, inspiring ones do not need to be pushed that much. And people like to be invited, teased, entertained not pulled to you and rushed. It is just like if you are too aggressive, you will simply waste more energy for lesser or equal results.

A few days ago, someone was teasing me about those midnight jogging runs I like to do. I came back saying it may not have been that crazy as I had found someone to come with me on some night.

Then a friend came to me and said he was willing to come and run during the following week. And so, I called him and, surprisingly, he was very motivated at doing it. So we went and, when we got tired and started walking, he told me he usually trained doing yoga and that he would like me to try it sometime. Then came the reply: why not try it on the spot? Here and now. And WoW, he grounded himself in the middle of the road and showed me the basics. We were doing yoga; well I was mostly making a fool of myself, in the middle of University Boulevard at midnight!

And, there it is, Sherby moment! I call it like that because I have not found any place yet where people are as willing to try anything at any time as Sherbrooke. I think that explains the leadership and innovation we are known for: inspiration and spontaneity. When something looks fun, we do not bother at trying not to look too awkward or to do it a little more conventional just to please people around. We just do it, like we want to.

Those moments, based on crazy ideas are what make it so fun in here. We just follow our hearts without thinking too much and often it happens to lead to quite brilliant ideas!

Now, I know I am not renowned to be the most spontaneous in here, there are other people that have been contributing a lot more than myself lately at creating those moments. But that yoga session got me back to it. Back to when we arrived in here, to the time we decided to throw a tropical party in the middle of February. Back to when I drove 8 hours to wakeboard with friends. Back to when I decided to throw a BBQ party, inside. Back to when we woke up and, just seeing the storm decided to leave town and ski all day. Back to when we decided to wash the dishes in a bath. Back to... Ok enough going backwards, the point now is to bring it all back, to stop staging everything, to stop trying to make everything a clean and perfect event, and just keep it a nice, friendly and awkward Sherby Moment!

I am sure that is a good idea, but do not think too much about it, live it! Now!

WoW I just realised something great! And moreover, it touches every single one of the fields discussed on the blog!

As I went for a little midnight jogging, it came across my mind as something mostly evident. Unlike what many people seem to think, WINNING IS IN FACT WAY EASIER THAT LOOSING, and that, in every single possible situation. Isn’t that great? Okay, I already hear people saying that they are very good at loosing or that it often takes no effort at all or bla bla bla. NO! I will give them that one single thing: Loosing takes only one thing: Giving up! As long as you do not make the choice of giving away your chances of success by the simple fact of acknowledging your loss, victory is still at your doorstep! And here, understand that I talk of victory as the accomplishment of every single little thing you want to reach.

So, winning takes two things, an open mind and a shitload of rightful motivation. First, the open mind. Stubborn people, which I am probably one of the worst cases, will always have to put twice the efforts to reach their goals. You need to let go, take a breath and look around. There often is an easier path opening up for you and of which you would have never thought at first, take it! By looking around you, you will see those opportunities rising and awaiting only for you to take action.

If we talk of marketing, do not stay in your basement trying to create the best product ever, go out, talk to people and see what they do need. In fact, they’ll probably be glad to tell you!

If we talk of love, same thing. Do not try to create all those incredible special moments you can imagine. Look around, listen and those moments will come to you, then, as you’ll know your loved one better than anyone else, you will (not should or might, it WILL happen) spontaneously add your touch to it, adapt it and, in a smile, make it your magical moment. In fact, it may be that simple smile which will be the key.

One last example of this would be personal happiness. We too often want things unattainable; we think there lays our own happiness. Take a break, look at where you are standing and of all there is offered to you. I promise, if you do look carefully and with an open mind, you’ll find a lot of those! Your happiness is probably way closer that you think!

Segundo, rightful motivation. Of course achievement is easiER than loosing but, it takes efforts, or should I say energy. If you do not put your heart to it, you may not achieve anything. But if you do, than WoW! The best thing with motivation is that it opens doors by itself. Motivation brings confidence and confidence gets people’s attention and support. With it, you will see people joining in your projects and helping you, often freely, because they believe in you! And as they do, you will believe also and then you will start to achieve what you want! But remember, motivation has got to be right and legitimate, otherwise, people won’t follow and you will not be able yourself to put all your guts in something you know to be bad.

And for loosing, I am not saying it is hard. All I am saying is that it is easier not to lose than not to win because YOU can control it, every time. People may try to influence you to think you are done but, as long as you believe in your project, you can still revive it and it can still succeed. However, as soon as you DECIDE to give up on it, all chances are gone. So, the only trick guarantying you to never lose is simply not to choose to do so! Should have thought of it before ein? But here again, giving up on something may not be a real defeat, you may sometimes have to give up on lesser things in order to change your way and to get to achieve more important things, which, when accomplished, is a greater victory!

Finally, as you can see, winning and achieving is not that hard at all, as long as you do believe and invest yourself in something you really do care about, you will get to it. Whatever what you are thinking of while reading this, you will get to achieve if you only choose to do so. I’m telling you, it works simply because I believe it does...

Ok, I just decided to revive this old blog. Why? Because I wanted to get back to it and I liked the Just Wow name. However, I won’t use it as I did. It will not be a sarcastic WoW anymore.

I realised, and thanks to a marketing book I just read, that we should stop criticizing and being cynical all the time. In fact, we should just take all those negative things aside and focus on all the good ones surrounding us.

So, this blog will now be on real WoWs. Whether they are simple things around us or international events everyone are already talking about. It will be about finding positive and inspiring things that we just used to overlook because they were not sensational enough.

That will be it, positive and simple, nothing more, just...WoW...