Citizen Brand

Paul Newman

Let's take a break from the chaos that is our political scene this week and pay homage to an authentic American, Paul Newman.  Newman , one of the finest actors and humanitarians of any generation, died today at the age of 83.

If Paul Newman was in a movie, you knew it would be good.  And he kept it real for decade after decade performing a wide range of characters, each of them memorable in their own right.  He wasn't one of those actors who succeeded because he played the same character each movie.  He could play the good guy, the bad guy, the sentimental guy or the tough one.  Every one was believable.  And he made everyone else in the movie with him better.

If all he had accomplished in his life was his movie career, we would still be honoring him.  But he accomplished so much more.  He and his wife, Joanne Woodward, were married for 50 years plus.  Woodward is a fantastic actress in her own right.  He loved fast cars and was in racing for a time.  But I believe he would tell us his most important achievement was Newman's Own.  

The food company he started as "a lark" with a friend has turned into perhaps the greatest example of cause branding by a company ever.  100 percent of the proceeds from the more than 150 food items manufactured and sold by Newman's Own goes to charity.  100 percent.

Paul Newman may have died, but he left a legacy that will live forever through his movies and through his philanthropy.  Here's looking at you, kid.  Thanks.

Blockbusted

Leave it to The Onion to cleverly throw dirt on the grave of a business model that is past its prime.  Click here and be ready to laugh out loud. 

The sad news is that Blockbuster is a brand that could have owned the movie at home market if they had thought about what their customers wanted instead of thinking they were in the business of renting movies to go.  Their customers want at home entertainment and they want it as convenient as possible on their terms, not on Blockbuster's terms.

Reminds me of the analogy that our founder at Barkley told many times to demonstrate that a company needs to think about its business through the eyes of its customers and act accordingly.  The analogy - a person wants to buy a drill because they need to drill a hole, not because they want to own a drill.

Like I said, leave it to The Onion to put another nail in the Blockbuster coffin.

La Vie En Rose

Let's end the suspense early for the Oscar for Best Actress next year.  If Marion Cotillard  is not delivering an acceptance speech in Hollywood in 2008, then it will be a crime.  Her performance as the legendary French singer, Edith Piaf, in the incredible film La Vie En Rose, is honestly one of the greatest performances I have ever seen.  My wife has always been a huge fan of Edith Piaf, so we thoroughly enjoyed this great film by Olivier Dahan.

There have been a lot of bio-pics, particularly of singers, recently.  But this is not an actress doing an impression of someone famous.  Marion Cotillard truly lives the tortured yet beautiful life of Edith Piaf.  Of course, the music is amazing and makes the movie even more enjoyable.  Piaf's voice is haunting, inspiring and reassuring all at once.  If you have not ever heard her sing, listen here or here and most especially listen here to one of her final performances.  This last song is one that inspired her to perform one last time toward the end of her life.  As she said, if she could not sing, she would not want to live.

As is usually the case with a film like this, it is being shown on a limited number of screens so you may have to hunt around for it.  It's worth the hunt.  Edith Piaf ended her life with an anthem called "No Regrets."  Her life was a full one and through this film, we have a chance to better understand her and her music.

And the Oscar goes to.....

I doubt I have much to add to the hundreds of thousands of words being written and broadcast about the Oscars, but here goes.  I do love movies and have to admit that I'm a sucker for award shows.  I had the incredible pleasure, along with my wife, to actually attend the Screen Actors Guild awards earlier this month.  The SAG Awards have always been billed as the best party among all the awards shows and Char and I can now attest to it.  Of course, we have no pictures since they are pretty picky about taking cameras in to these awards gatherings.

We had a wonderful weekend and want to thank our great host, Lisa Paulsen, president of one of our Barkley clients, the Entertainment Industry Foundation.  It was amazing to see hundreds of familiar faces, none of which you knew personally of course.  The fun part was seeing all those character actors that you recognize at a drop of a hat, but couldn't name them if your life depended on it.

So now back to the Oscars.  I think it was a great year for movies.  Helen Mirren and Forest Whitaker turned in world class acting performances and are sweeping every award in site.  And perhaps Martin Scorsese will finally win the Oscar for his masterful direction of The Departed.  Of course he should have won for Raging Bull, Goodfellas, or Taxi Driver just to name three.  When you look at Scorsese's entire body of work, it makes you wonder why he hasn't won two lifetime achievement awards already.  He has to win this time.

Best film?  What a diverse and wonderful category it is this year.  I loved The Departed and have already made my case for Martin Scorsese for best director, but I have to say that my vote for best picture this year has to go to Babel.  This was simply one of the most intense and interesting films I have seen in a long time.  It is a movie I look forward to watching again and again because it was so intricate, that I know there will be things I missed the first time.

My second best picture vote would go to Little Miss Sunshine.  It was unique, funny, poignant and satirical all at once.  That isn't easy to do.  Plus Alan Arkin is simply one of the finest actors ever.  If you have never seen the original movie - The In-Laws - with Arkin and Peter Falk, you are missing one of the all time classic comedies.  Burn the remake that Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks did a few years ago.  And I think the world of both of them, but that is another remake that should have never happened.

There is my take on the 79th annual Oscars.  But as an added bonus this year - please enjoy this jog down memory lane.  It was the 61st annual Oscars and the opening of the show is one for the ages.  Enjoy this.  If it doesn't make you laugh, nothing will.  And watch to the end.  It's worth it.

RFK

I have been a lifelong Democrat.  My family, dating back to my grandfather, Ross Swenson, have always been Democrats.  I am also a fourth generation Kansan.  Kansas is considered a Republican state, but has had a unique history of electing Democrats as Governor, to Congress and a few other statewide offices.  So the election of 2006 is very interesting to me right now as the Democratic Party seems to have found its voice again.  We shall see.

Regardless of how you tend to vote, if you are a political junkie as I am, you will likely view the release of the movie, Bobby, as something to anticipate.  It is the story of a night when you can truly say history was changed.

It was June 4, 1968 and Robert F. Kennedy had just won the California presidential primary giving him the momentum he needed to capture the Democratic nomination for President and a date in November against the Republican nominee, Richard Nixon.  RFK's was a candidacy of destiny.  He was in part fulfilling the unfinished Presidency of his brother John.  But he had his own agenda and his own voice that was finally being heard.  And as he spoke from the podium of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles that late spring evening, his voice was sure and his destiny seemed certain.

But it was 1968.  We were just weeks removed from the assassination of Martin Luther King.  It was Bobby Kennedy's voice that terrible night that tried to calm the nation.  We were a nation in turmoil.  We were in a war that had lasted too long.  We had internal strife over that war in Vietnam.  We had internal strife over racial issues that had been going on since the Civil War more than a hundred years before.  It was a time we needed a voice of reason and calm to help guide us through the confusion.

I was 12 years old the night Bobby Kennedy was killed in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.  I went to sleep that night after hearing part of his victory speech claiming the California primary.  I awoke the next morning to the news that he had been shot and was near death.

Just two months before that, Bobby Kennedy shook my hand.  In 1968, at the age of 12, when an iconic figure such as Robert F. Kennedy shakes your hand, you do not ever forget it.  I remember that moment right now as if it were yesterday.

I wonder how a 12 year old thinks about our political leaders in 2006.  I fear that they don't have the same feelings that I had for Bobby Kennedy in 1968.  He was my first, and still, greatest political hero.  I believe to this day that our country and our world would have been different had he been elected President in 1968.

I will watch the movie Bobby when it comes out with a mixture of sadness and wonder.  It's a movie about the night RFK was killed which is sad.  But it will allow me the time to think about what might have been.  And it will reinforce to me how important it is for all of us to stay involved in our electoral process and vote for the people we think can make a difference.

Bobby Kennedy was shot on June 4, 1968 and history was forever altered.  But it also forever made me politically active.  For that, I have him to thank.

Shoot a video - fight hunger

Thanks to Britt over at Have Fun/Do Good for telling us about a great opportunity for all you aspiring movie producers out there.  Enter the Walk The World Viral Video Contest being put on by FightHunger.org.

They are looking for the best video that can be distributed virally to help in the global fight against hunger - the problem that may be the root cause for so many of our problems we face in the world today.

This is all part of the U.N.'s World Food Programme, an organization which is no stranger to the use of video.  Here is their video collection on YouTube.

Also on their site is a compelling link that takes us to Darfur.  I spent some time with this link and listened to the people who live there and to others who are working their to help one of the most troubled regions on our planet.  Spend a few minutes here when you can.

Other links to learn more about hunger and what we can do about it:

HungerWeb

The Hunger Site

WorldHunger.org

SecondHarvest.org

Harvesters

Fighting hunger is a never ending battle.  Try to find a way to do something to fight hunger throughout the year.

Little Miss Sunshine

If you have not taken a break and gone to see the movie, Little Miss Sunshine, do it right away.  It is the best laugh out loud movie since The Full Monty.

While we are discussing movies, another one worth seeing is Woody Allen's latest offering, The Scoop.

There are some good movies coming out this fall.  The Departed looks like a great drama with a killer cast - Matt Damon; Leonardo DiCaprio; Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin and Jack Nicholson.  It is a Martin Scorsese film and perhaps this will be the one for which he finally earns his Oscar.  I believe it might be time.

A better role than 007

I reported to you a few weeks ago that our client, Lee Jeans, has named a new beneficiary to begin its second decade of fighting breast cancer.  And today, one of the first benefits of that new partnership with the Entertainment Industry Foundation was announced.

Pierce Brosnan, one of Hollywood's biggest stars, will be the lead ambassador for Lee National Denim Day in 2006.  One of the things that is great about this is that Brosnan is currently the Honorary Chair of EIF, so his willingness to be spokesperson this year is a great way to kick off the new partnership between Lee Jeans and EIF.

If you or your organization have participated in Lee National Denim Day over the past ten years, we offer our thanks.  If you have never participated before, we invite you to check it out and consider coming on board in 2006.

For more details, go to DenimDay.com.

Creative Capital

There are so many causes to support that sometimes it seems impossible to believe enough support can be found for all of them.  The needs are great in so many basic areas from health to housing to education to food.  And yet, we also need to remember the arts.

Audeamus.com points us to an incredible idea launched in New York seven years ago to support artists of all types working in all mediums.  The program is called Creative Capital and this paragraph from their website says it all:

Creative Capital supports work with the potential for significant artistic and cultural impact. We seek to act as a catalyst for the development of adventurous and imaginative ideas. We are interested in artists who are deeply engaged with their art forms and exhibit a rigorous commitment to their craft, as well as projects that transcend discipline boundaries. In particular, we look for artists who are articulate about their work and who have an understanding of the professional landscape. Creative Capital is committed to diversity in all its forms.

The Creative Capital website is also one of the best and most useful I have seen in a while.  One link takes you to the Creative Capital Channel where you can learn about many of the artists who have received grants and the work they have done.  It ranges from art exhibits at leading galleries to films that have been award winners at film festivals worldwide.  Yet another link gives artists access to professional development programs to help them in all phases of their projects.

Arts education in our schools always suffers most when budgets are cut.  If there is no support for arts as our children are growing, where will we get the next generation of artists?  We need to find ways to support programs like Creative Capital and figure out how to create more of them as soon as possible.

Picasso, Jazz & Hans Solo

It's been a long stretch these past couple of weeks so it's time to set the serious issues aside for a moment and see what we can find floating around in cyberspace that's fun....

Let's see, a Picasso went for a near record $95.21 million.  That is some serious money for a piece of art.  The London Telegraph described this painting of one of his mistresses, Dora Maar:

Picasso painted his strong-willed and temperamental mistress at the height of their always fiery relationship and once described her as having the allure of an exotic cat.

In art history the pairing of cats and women is usually an allusion to feminine wiles and sexual aggression, and this may have been the reason for the animal by her right shoulder. As Dora Maar is known to have disliked cats, Picasso may also have been trying to annoy her.

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is in full swing.  Rolling Stone gives us a great description of the first weekend where hundreds of local jazz, blues and gospel artists made it clear New Orleans will be back.  And there supporting the reemergence of the real heart and soul of New Orleans, its music, were Dylan, Springsteen and Costello.  Paul Simon and Fats Domino kick off the second weekend.

This Festival had to happen.  And once you understand the force behind this Festival, you know there wasn't a chance it would not take place.  George Wein is the music impresario that knew from the day Katrina hit last year, that he and his company would make sure there was a Jazz & Heritage Festival this year.  I had a rare opportunity earlier this year to meet George Wein.  He is an incredibly intelligent and gracious man who loves music and loves to help people enjoy music. 

And finally, George Lucas has relented.  The original Star Wars trilogy will finally be released on DVD -- but not until September 12.  (For those who want to take note, that is my birthday.)

At the time, there may never have been a bigger movie than the first Star Wars.  And I can imagine that this September, some of that magic we all felt in 1977 will return.  I know some have been upset it has taken so long, but it will be worth it.