Rizen Creative Ideas, advertising & design for underdog brands

It’s a very simple concept: whatever you do, you need to kick ass at it. And by kick ass, we mean treat it like it’s art. Not work. Art.
Beautiful. Meaningful. Fun. Inspiring. Unique. Engaging. Valuable. Art.
Seth Godin’s latest book, “Linchpin,” lays out a very compelling case why we all need to become indispensable. It’s great, [...]

Malcolm Gladwell, a staff writer for The New Yorker and author of “The Tipping Point” and “Blink”, has done it again. “What the Dog Saw” is a collection of his pieces from the magazine. For those of us who don’t regularly read The New Yorker, it’s a treat to get access to some of his [...]

Kickstand, a local organization dedicated exclusively to helping Idaho’s entrepreneurs and innovators, hosted “Launch After Reading!,” a panel discussion on favorite business books. Rizen’s Jeff Reynolds joined Steve Nipper, Rochelle Delong, Bill Meade and Brandon Wright to discuss their favorite business books.
Goofy business book talk ensued.
While we don’t have a record of the many books [...]

The first edition of this book inspired our focus on underdog brands. Though some may disagree, we use the terms “underdog” and “challenger brands” interchangeably.
The new edition of “Eating the Big Fish” add some more details on the types of challenger brands and exercises to help you uncover your inner-underdog. Check it out.

Well, not only is Jennifer reading it, she drug (ok, we were willing) the rest of us into it. As part of our twice monthly Lunch, Lounge and Learn team meeting Jennifer discussed the book and had everyone participate in an exercise or two to help us break habits and see the world differently.
A cool [...]

Just finished up Buyology by Martin Lindstrom. It’s a look at how our neurology affects why we buy and how marketers can use that knowledge to sway consumers.
Lindstrom is clearly a smart guy (something he makes sure you know throughout the book) and Buyology is a good read filled with some good anecdotal and quantitative [...]

How Starbucks Save My Life chronicles one mans journey from wealthy New York ad man to unemployed consultant to Starbucks barrista. The book covers everything being forced into this transition helped him learn. If you’re into reflections about life’s lessons, this easy read could be for you.

This book could change your life if you’d let it. More than a business book, more than a “creativity” book, in many ways work is a manifesto about a life philosophy that advocates freedom: from expectations, money, self-imposed limits, failure and more.
It’s a great read. And filled with actionable advice. Two favorites:

Don’t try to stand [...]

Found this book up in the airport on a recent trip. The author, Rob Walker, writes a very good column in New York Times Magazine. This book picks up where his column leaves off, exploring how brands, despite the constant reports of their demise, are becoming more important than ever; how customers are doing their [...]

Don’t know Kevin Carroll? You should. We just picked up his latest, Red Rubber Ball at Work. It’s a compendium of stories of how marketers (and others) put the power of play to work at, well, work.
Kevin’s former Katalyst (whatever that is) at Nike, a translator for the military and an all around pretty impressive [...]