Lab Rats - The Packaged Deal

Consumers not only need simplicity, clarity, personal relevance, and emotional appeal, so do group/community members. If is often a task to generate creative ways to make someone feel a part of something larger than themselves and to feel 'invited.' I felt honored when receiving my package in the mail after accepting the invitation. Cabell Harris, founder of Work Labs, has unique gene in his DNA to develop the complete package.


Lab Rats is just one example of a unique way to package a program from top to bottom.

Lab Rats started recruiting “Alpha Rats,” in 2010, a group of well-known brand marketers and creative thinkers who are experienced in all facets of brand management and brand development, from account planning to brand strategy and from ad writing and art direction to the digital space. Beyond that group will be a much larger group of several hundred “Lab Rats,” the majority being graduates of the prestigious VCU Brandcenter, the number one advanced degree advertising program in the world. The core of the project will be made up of an army of disruptive thinkers contributing their thoughts and ideas to solve problems.

The innovative initiative is designed to reengineer the
concept of crowdsourcing to make it a pragmatic tool for focusing the
thinking of experts from many different disciplines on specific brand
problems. “The trouble with crowdsourcing, in a general sense, is the
quality of the crowds,” said Harris.
"This new effort, which I call ‘brandsourcing,' solves that problem by assembling a crowd of pedigreed ‘Lab Rats’ that can take on a client challenge, provide feedback and generate ideas that are on strategy and focused on tangible, bottom-line business results.”

In addition to addressing the crowd quality issues, Lab Rats has also
designed a unique compensation model. According to Harris, “Lab Rats
need ‘cheese’ to keep them fueled up and engaged, and we’ve designed a
compensation system that departs from the traditional model of paying
crowd participants. Briefly, the system serves up four basic types of
cheese. First, we are investing significant dollars in the Lab Rats
community website to give Lab Rats a place to meet their interests and
needs and to interact with other Rats. Second, they will get cheese
points whenever they give feedback on WORK Labs’ own work, points that
are ultimately redeemable for cash or merchandise. Third, when they
participate in a project, they are compensated for the ideas clients
accept and again if they agree to continue their participation in the
ongoing scope of work. And, finally, they will receive a 10% finder’s
fee if they are successful in finding a home for one of WORK Labs’
intellectual properties. So, active Lab Rats can get fat eating a lot
of cheese!”

One product that needs a home:

This Is Not a Tweet

Being able to distribute ideas and information where people, and more of them, are more likely to receive it and converse with others on the likes of Facebook and Twitter has funneled me away from the Blogosphere. Undoubtedly, blogs produce much more personal insight on a topic than a Facebook status or 'tweet.' But the simplicity of a two-click post on a phone generally wins every time over sitting down and typing a thoughtful post. I'm guilty of it myself.

A blog provides a platform that allows others to see what's inside your head. To understand why you found something interesting or why an idea you have is worth sharing. I'm naive enough to think someone stopped here to see what I'm currently thinking rather than posting thoughts of their own.

So what am I thinking... Much like how a blog provides a platform to share creative ideas, many corporations need a platform that provides a place for employees to share their creative ideas. To share ideas in-depth, without a character number restriction. I'm an advocate that creativity can be learned and can come from anywhere. Yes, an accountant can be creative. Have you tried telling a story using only numbers? I've seen it done.

Under Work, you can find a Keynote titled 'The Roundtable.' This idea was designed with a specific company in mind in order to accelerate engagement among future leaders that are hungry to do more. There are two components: (1) Educating - Building a knowledge base to be a more efficient employee will aid in frameworking ideas. (2) Innovation - Providing an experience to collaborate on ideas that employees have a vested interest in.

Two videos I grabbed clips from that are inspirational in making my case for 'The Roundtable':
David Logan - Tribal Leadership
Daniel Pink - Motivation

OptumHealth Performance Grand Opening

A group of aspiring creative athletes at The Carrot Agency were recently tasked with putting on the shoes of a triathlete. Not because we were about to run after swimming miles through a cold MN lake, but rather to envision in our minds how we would speak to an individual that was about to put their body through the ringer. How do you inspire someone who is dedicating their heart and soul to dedicate a little more?

After developing signage and collateral for the new facility in Eden Prairie, MN, the videos above highlight the aspiring tone that we used.

Check out more information at OptumHealth Performance.

Supporting Signage/Collateral:

"I BIKE MN"

Minnesotans are known to take full advantage of their summer free time outdoors after enduring the long winter months. For those that are not soaking in the rays on the lake, you may find them taking advantage of the 127 miles of bike trails (83 miles are off street trails) Minnesota has to offer.

Amongst all the trails that contribute to the healthy state and sustainable transportation, The Greenway Trail plays host to a vast variety of characters and cyclists. Many families and commuters can be found on The Greenway Trail that is 5.66 miles and ranges from Saint Louis Park to West River Parkway. Whether cyclists are using the Greenway for leisure, sport, or as a commuting alternative, they are all contributing to the Minnesota biking culture that is growing while becoming more popular and publicized.


“I Bike MN” t-shirts are becoming more apparent around Minneapolis after Bicycling Magazine named Minneapolis as America’s best bike city. And companies are taking notice. To capitalize on Minnesotans desire to get out and explore their city, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota donated $1 million to create the largest bike-sharing program in the country. The cultural shift has brought 700 bikes and 65 kiosks stations to Minneapolis and surrounding areas where individuals can rent bikes with the swipe of a credit card and peddle off with the blue and neon green bike that reads “Do.”

Having no connection to Nike’s slogan “Just Do It,” the Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s slogan “Do” does take on a similar attitude. The bike-sharing program, named Nice Ride Minnesota, plans to increase its numbers by adding another 300 bikes and 15 kiosks by next spring. More information can be found on where to rent your bike at Nice Ride Minnesota. If your looking to dump the banana seat and get serious about riding or want to view trail maps, check out the Twin Cities Bicycling Club.

Brand Maintenance

Does the partnership between KFC and the Susan G Komen Foundation make sense? For either brand? Such a partnership worked very well in the case of McDonald's and the Olympics. The fast-food chain's choice to partner with the Olympics- the epitome of an event and brand that symbolizes health- is just one of the many steps taken to maintain popularity among the increasingly healthy American population. Still, many question this campaign because it seems the only common denominator they share is the word breast.


In this case, I don't believe consumers will lose any affection for the Susan G Komen foundation for partnering with a large national chain that has the media budget to bring in the biggest donation ever for the foundation. KFC's "A bucket for the cure" campaign has a goal to raise over $8 million dollars by donating 50 cents for every bucket of chicken sold.

In this marriage, who is the parasite? Who is more in need of the other when each needs different things - one dollars and one a boost in brand identity? At first glance, the brand values do not align. KFC is just one contributor to the country's obesity problem where 1/3 of American adults are considered obese. On the other side, there is Susan G Komen who is most known for their Race for the Cure event, raising money and awareness for breast cancer. In my opinion, Susan G Komen is reaping more than she sows. The lending of her name will put millions in her pocket.

Whether it makes sense on the surface or not, I cannot deny that when first entertained by the campaign's commercial, I had positive thoughts about KFC. That is probably the first time I could say "positive" and "KFC" in the same sentence. It is a brand I did not find relevant to my lifestyle nor did I believe they were socially concerned. One campaign will not get me to change my complete perception of the brand or get me to start buying their product, but I do believe it is a good first step in revitalizing their brand identity.


Sometimes as a brand it's not about creating, but maintaining what you have already built and making changes around it.

Brand strategists can be guilty of jumping to solutions before truly uncovering the problem. No one will know the success of the campaign until brand tracking is done. My guess is this campaign was a result of KFC's last brand tracking results.

When brand tracking, we consider reporting on things such as awareness, usage, brand attitudes, perceptions, and purchase intent. But with a brand being an experience living at the intersection of promise and expectation, it would only make sense to track consumer experiences as well. KFC can't just say it, but must do it. The messaging must translate interally as well as externally. If employees call BS, so will the consumer.

KFC's brand maintenance attempt may take some additional clean up... the brand and the counters.