Josh Ginsberg��s Post

Last week, I had the incredible opportunity to see the Rolling Stones live in concert. After 62 years of touring(!!!), they still bring unparalleled energy and passion to the stage. Both Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are 80 years young and still ripping it up all over the stage. I have never seen anything like the audience they drive to their shows. It included every living generation from plenty of alphas running around and on parents shoulders to a heavy mix of Gen Z, millennials, X, Boomers and an impressive amount of post war/ silent generationers. This was also one of the most passionate fan bases I have ever witnessed with greater than 2/3 of the audience by the end of the night wearing the iconic Rolling Stones logo. Their performance was a powerful reminder of the importance of consistency, resilience, innovation, and staying connected with your team and your audience. Let's all channel our inner Mick as we start the second half of 2024 and passionately and consistently BRING it everyday for our families, friends and colleagues.

On a recent visit to a Walmart Neighborhood Market I was delighted to find this end cap featuring a wide variety of premium hot sauce mini bottles all for $1 or less. I love the partnership with some incredible purveyors in a category that is literally and figuratively on 🔥 including a few personal favorites in Yellowbird® and Marie Sharp's USA - Premium Hot Sauce & Condiments Imported from Belize. This approach puts the shopper first and allows for easy exploration at an extremely approachable entry points to explore new brands and flavors before commiting to larger packages. Well done, Walmart.

The power of video collaboration tools is amazing. But there is nothing like meeting, collaborating, and learning in person. Can't wait to be in Chicago next week and talk shop at the Path to Purchase Institute Retail Media Summit. I'll be in town starting Tues 6/25. Shoot me a note if you are around to catch up. Also, would LOVE any new restaurant reccos as it's been a couple of years.

All for one. And one for all. I know, I know, are we talking about another Boston championship? In this case we're talking about a story of a true TEAM. One that was built slowly from the ground up 10 years ago. One had many failures along the way. Doubt. Turmoil. Questions about the makeup of the team. But they kept on building. And growing. And evolving. There were shrewd moves that happened along the way to improve the makeup of the team and complement the core that was slowly built. They focused on the fundamentals, they used data to differentiate their approach, they mastered the modern game. And when the moment presented itself this team was all about sacrifice. Putting their own agendas, egos and accolades to the side for the greater good. And this all led to accomplishing their ultimate goal, a championship. These lessons can be applied to everyone building their businesses, their careers and their selves. It's not easy, it doesn't happen quickly, and we need to continually use the failures to drive our growth and to surround ourselves with people who lift us up and are willing to sacrifice. I know I can see an incredible amount of parallels between the journey of the Boston Celtics and the one we are on at Breaktime Media. And I'm as fired up as ever to continue building our championship contender. Make it count this week. Let's goooooo.

Billboarding. A tried and true packaging design technique across a brand portfolio using a consistent look and feel of colors and imagery. This was a tactic I was introduced to back in my days at The Boston Beer Company. From package design to on-shelf grouping, placement and execution this is a concept that Boston Beer continues to master across their brand portfolio. In a recent store walk, I was impressed with the below Samuel Adams set, while not in an ideal placement, still leveraging the power of grouping and the collective visual impact to grab shoppers attention. Next time you are in an off premise alcohol channel check out the shelf sets for Sam Adams, Truly and Twisted Tea and see how well Boston Beer executes this. What other brands in the CPG space do you see effectively utilizing billboarding?

Are your customers tired of the same old story? Take a page out of the playbook of the Savannah Bananas, an exhibition baseball team that sold out Fenway Park this past weekend. Yes, you read that right! But how'd they pull it off? It wasn't with massive ad budgets and the game's biggest names. Jesse and Emily Cole and their Bananas continue to win by reinventing and innovating America's greatest pastime with a focus on the experience of the fan and storytelling. Here's their pitch. They ditch tradition. Instead of scoring the game by total runs, walks and 3+ hour games. They built an entirely new game and continue to optimize it around fun and removing anything that is boring or takes away from the fan experience. They embrace authenticity. Jesse wears yellow tuxedos to every game, there are constant performances and antics from players and the experience channels the circus as they constantly push the boundaries of entertainment as we know it. They engage with their audience. They weave humor, local connections, and a genuine love for having fun with the game into their narrative. This creates loyal fans who become brand advocates and word of mouth like you wouldn't believe. What can we learn from the Bananas? Consumers crave experiences, not just products. Authenticity, product evolution and engagement are key to breaking through with your audience, telling your story and standing out from the crowd.

There is only one boss. The customer. And (t)he(y) can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else. -Sam Walton As we're almost at the midpoint of the year, let's all remember these words of wisdom from the great Walmart founder and channel his mindset to over deliver on customer needs and find a few unique ways to exceed our client's expectations in unexpected ways.

How do you stay focused and productive in a (mostly) remote working world? Its hard. We've been tinkering with different methodologies over the past few years at Breaktime Media and here are some of the things that are working well for us. 25 and 50 minute meetings. Our default meetings are 25 minutes and if you really need it we go with 50. The added 5 to 10 minutes allow everyone to reset, prep, send follow ups or do whatever they need to do. Meeting driver and agendas. The owner of the calendar invite runs the meeting and is responsible for determining the minimum amount of people necessary, setting the agenda in advance, kicking things off and keeping the meeting flowing and managing post meeting follow ups. Asynchronous meetings. Where possible, instead of group meetings, we encourage discussion to happen via slack at a pace that works for the collective group. This can be a very effective alternative to the standard impulse to book a meeting for a group when feedback is needed. No meeting half day. We have designated Wednesday afternoon for focus time and discourage the booking of internal meetings during this time. The goal is to promote deep work and allow everyone to work uninterrupted. Of course there are always exceptions to that and client meetings still get scheduled during that time but we've found it certainly increases team productivity. What have you found that works or doesn't work on your team?

Take me out to the ballgame. Buy me... A truly family friendly customer focused experience. How about an in stadium playground, an open blanket friendly outfield, a half dozen mascots roaming around taking pictures and all the snacks and drinks, including a better for you focused convenience store, a toddler could dream up? All of this and so much more while taking in the high quality AAA baseball product for $12.50 per ticket. The Worcester Red Sox understand the fan experience and have built a personalized game environment to meet the needs of all types of fans. As a parent, a marketer and a sports fan, I am impressed! I have been spreading the word ever since and will certainly be back. A great reminder to pay attention to the little details and of the impact of over delivering on the traditional customer experience.

Take the leap. You're capable of more than you know. It happened yesterday at the playground. My 4 year old loves the monkey bars. Up until yesterday she wouldn't do them without a boost and a bit of physical support throughout. But something changed. She walked right up to them, took a leap and let it rip with all the confidence in the world. She made it the entire way flawlessly. I'm honestly not sure whose smile was bigger. It's moments like these that you live for as a parent. As we get back to it today after a long weekend, channel your inner 4 year old and tackle something that makes you uncomfortable. You'll be happy that you took the leap.