Tulsa to Amarillo

The journey continues today through Oklahoma and into the state of Texas ...  With the ultimate goal of reaching Amarillo by the end of the day. 

In Oklahoma we've seen real long horns. Cattle with huge horns grazing on the plains. 

Random toll booths  in the middle of the highways  with giant signs that the tolls are coming, but there is no sign telling you what the cost of the tolls are... That is until you get within 5 feet of the toll booth ... Then you just scramble to find the right amount of money. Is it $2 bucks or $8 bucks ... Very different when you are searching in your stash for just the right bills. 

We came upon Walking Stick Ranch .. A great name for a ranch. And for real!

It was sort of boring and quiet and we pondered some of the realities of the world such as:  If Michigan City is in Indiana and Kansas City is in Missouri, why is Oklahoma City in Oklahoma?

We traveled through The Kickapoo Nation ... But we didn't see any signs selling Kickapoo juice. I think that may be folklore. 

On a more serious note, as we neared Oklahoma City, we were reminded of how one of our own leveled the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building On April 19th, 1995. 

All in all, it was uneventful.  Sort of ... Without Tom's skillful negotiation of the road, and the space between our car and the UPS truck, smashable might have had a new meaning for us.  Kudos to The Director of Transportation. 

We were finally in Texas. Lots of flat, nondescript land but that allows for a breathtaking 360 degree horizon.  Sometimes it's the unremarkable things that make the remarkable possible. 

Apparently in Texas, anything is possible.  We saw billboards all the way to Amarillo, announcing a Free 72 oz steak. Seriously? I hope they serve it with a crash cart and a few Lipitor. 

One of the exits on I 40 claimed a business district, but all we saw were more  cows although I might have seen one or two in a suit.

There is a Cleveland, Oklahoma ... Who knew?

But this might be the best of the entire trip: 

The Jesus Christ is Lord. Not a swear word Travel Center. I promise you this was plastered all over the place on this rest stop and gas station. 

We also went past The Happy Tracks Horse Motel ... Only in Texas. And The
Stuff It Taxidermy Shop. No comment. 

As we got closer to Amarillo with only about 280 miles to Albuquerque, we decide to gut it out ... Bypass Amarillo, which, from what I understand means we didn't miss much .... and get to the 505 today!!!  

So now we look forward to much better scenery in an hour or two.  We were curious to see how the landscape would change from Texas to New Mexico. Unfortunately it stayed the same until about 15 miles from the border and then ... all of a sudden ... it started to look familiar ... like home!  

We arrived about 6:00 p.m. Ready to find new opportunities!!  

Stay tuned as the adventure continues.  

The Open Road or the Friendly Skies?

We started out this morning in Vandalia, Illinois and drove through the very bustling hub of St. Louis, Missouri.  For the record the Arch is spectacular! As we wove through downtown St Louis construction zones (thank goodness it was Sunday morning) I snapped photos of the Arch and the Mighty Mississippi, and Tom suggested we stop a moment at Cardinal Stadium to pay homage to Albert Pujols. 

We cut diagonally across the state headed southwest toward Tulsa where we finally 'bunked' (you say that in Oklahoma) for the night. At the start of the day, we were pretty convinced that Missouri was Native American for boring, but once again, we discovered that there are many stories and interesting tidbits in our U.S. Of A.  

Apparently there is a feral hog problem in parts of Missouri  (pronounced Missourah ... for those of you who don't know), and it appears to be around the cities of Bourbon (no joke) and Sleeper (also no joke). We don't know if there really is bourbon in Bourbon, but we do know we didn't see any hotels or motels in Sleeper. 

Branson Park has a radio station devoted to getting the best deals at the park and if you are so inclined, you can visit the (supposedly) largest gift shop in the world somewhere around there.

As we continue on I-44 west into Oklahoma, we see the land is flat, in fact it looks a lot like Ohio but with more cows and no housing developments ... and maybe a little greener than neighboring Missouri, but there is no shortage of things that continually make the journey an interesting and educational one. 

There is a Miami, Oklahoma but there is no beach there.  This Miami has the restored Coleman Vaudeville Theatre, but as far as we can see not much else. 

The sign at Grove, Oklahoma says you can get "girls and beer" at a place called The Body Shop'... I have no comment on this one ... 

You can get gas here on the plains, but the name of the gas station is The Wood Shed.. To this I do say WTF???

Oil and water does mix, but we think it's only in Tulsa where both those industries have co-existed for years. 

You may have noticed that each place provides it's own surprises and Tulsa was no exception. We were shocked that the hotel's recommendation to try the Italian Restaurant, Tiamo's, located in a shopping center ... would turn out to be one of the best meals we've had on the road. Beautiful decor, genuine Northern Italian food, a great wine list and complimentary bruschetta with drinks. 

We will tell you, these are not things you experience when you step on a plane and arrive two hours later at your destination.  We've heard it said that it's the journey, not the destination that matters and we are going to graciously acquiesce to that fact after two days on the road. 

After all, we don't usually have this much fun on a plane. That is unless of course we are drinking. That may be the only argument for taking to the skies. 

Tomorrow's destination is Amarillo, Texas. Stay tuned. 

If You're Ever in Vandalia, Illinois, Get the Ribs.

As many of you know, we are headed to Albuquerque,NM to open a regional office of BTZ. 

Our trip started about 9 am on Saturday morning, as we began driving west, on what turns out to be unbelievably only four interstate highways: I 77 south to I 70 west to I 44 west to I 40 west. Today we were on two of those four. Stopped to get gas in Ashland Ohio and drove rather uneventfully to the west side of Columbus where we ran into a torrential downpour for about 100 miles. Flat land, gray skies and nothing to "write home about". Really?  Could this part of the US be that boring? 


As we entered Indiana, we surprisingly changed our tune.   Hoosier Passion. Let us explain. It turns out that Saturday, April 9th 2011 an  Indiana Fireman was bringing to Indiana from the World Trade Center destruction, I beam parts to build a memorial in downtown Indy to commemorate his fallen comrades, our country and its resilience.

As we entered Indiana in a driving rainstorm, the very first overpass we encountered, was filled with Fireman in uniform, fire trucks, American flags, families and police officers in what seemed to be the entire population of Richmond,Indiana. Proudly standing in as an honor guard waiting to welcome the flat bed truck with the I-beams to the their state.  But even more heartening was that the entire trip from the Indiana border to Indianapolis at every overpass and at every fence line and every farm, people stood and waited, flags waving, country proud. In the pouring rain.

It was a great moment for us and a sight to behold. Americans boring ... Never.  There is always something to be proud of in our country and this was a great example of it!

After that experience, the balance of the trip from the west side of Indy to Vandalia, Illinois was sunny and uneventful.  And the ribs?  Gallatin Street Grill. Make sure Courtney serves you and ask to meet Ken, the owner and the chef.  But a word of warning .. Ken likes his cayenne and when you order medium, your head will sweat and you may have wished for mild.

Tomorrow.  Tulsa here we come.

Branding or Brand Development ... You Choose

As one of the managing partners of The Brand Establishment, an organization who trains and certifies principals of Marketing, PR and Design firms as Brand Strategists, I'd like to clear up a long standing argument: Branding is NOT the same as Brand Development.

There is a HUGE difference between Brand Development and Branding:

1. A brand is: “A unique and deliverable claim of distinction supported by evidence of performance.”

2. Brand development, is the discovery of a brand’s claim of distinction, and branding is the tactical application of the brand’s distinction to communication vehicles.

3. Brand development is an organizational initiative, not just a marketing initiative — a unique brand distinction can only come from within and must be driven from the top. Once discovered and validated, it can then be handed off to marketing for effectively and dramatically communicating that differentiation.

So when you choose a company to help you develop your brand, make certain you are choosing a Brand Development firm, not just a branding company. Because practically every marketing firm and ad agency will tell you they can do ‘branding’ and they probably can. But unless you know who you are and what your company can promise … and deliver, any branding or tactics they are providing will be based on guesswork … yours and theirs.

Crazy Ones

Here is one of my favorite quotes. In this day and age, somehow this doesn't seem like such a 'crazy' notion.

Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The trouble-makers.
The round heads in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them.
But the only thing you can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world,
are the ones who do.
Jack Kerouac
American Novelist, Poet and Artist

Branding and PR: Question

The following post is an answer to a question on Linkedin: "As you are all Branding experts, I would really like to find out what your view is on the effectiveness of Public Relations in the branding process. I look forward to your answers!"


A strong brand is built by delivering on the brand promise every time the brand has the opportunity to interact with it's audiences ... both internal and external.

PR is a tactic or vehicle ... just like any other tactic that carries the communication of the promise. So, of course, PR plays a very important role in the process. But every tactic is important in communicating the promise, PR is just more visible to most of us.

As a Certified Brand Strategist, I can say from experience ... the most difficult piece of Brand Development is not how a company communicates its promise. It is identifying what that promise is. And that can only be unearthed in a process that focuses the C Suite on what their brand stands for, what differentiates their brand from their competitors and who is interested in what their company has to offer.

If a company doesn't lay that foundation first, everything that follows ... including and maybe especially PR, is wasted.

Are You Kidding Me?

"GOP senators say Obama off to bad start ..."

I just sat down to the computer and up comes the CNN Home Page with the above headline.

Bad start ... Bad start ... Are you kidding me? McCain said "the (bail out) bill is out of step with the vow of bipartisanship both men made after Obama beat out the Republican presidential nominee for the White House in November". Yet, in fact, Obama did go to Capitol Hill with the express purpose of meeting with the Republicans on their turf. Yet they complain. The Republicans sound like a bunch of teenage girls fighting over whose turn it is to drive to the mall.

He said they should have sat in a room and negotiated.... but also admitted: "Republicans were guilty of this kind of behavior. I'm not saying that we did things different. But Americans want us to do things differently, and they want us to work together."

Work together? Are you kidding me? ... This momentus "Bail-Out" party started because we were saddled with a president who did pretty much nothing to defend the middle class and gave too much leeway to big business ... for too long a time. And now, Obama is trying to reach across the aisle to fix it. Bipartisanship is a two-way street. McCain ... do you understand this at all?

None of us want to pay for the follies of Wall Street and the laizze faire attitude of the banks that we are bailing out. But we have to start somewhere and Obama has taken the first step. We should follow ...

It's time to play nice and support the one person who has taken it upon his shoulders to give the Americans back their dignity.