If you’ve heard this, and I bet you have, there’s a 95% chance you’ve heard it in reference to NFL teams turning to the wildcat formation on offense. You know the formation I’m talking about. The team’s usual QB either comes to the sidelines for a play or lines up at WR while a RB or WR steps in as the QB to receive a direct snap. I could probably right more than you’d ever want to read about the wildcat, but that’s not the point. The point is virtually every NFL broadcast this season has shared something like this: “You know, it’s really a copycat league. The Dolphins have had success with the wildcat and now half the other teams in the league are giving it a try.”

Play-by-play announcers and color commentators everywhere are acting as if the NFL is the only league where a success is attempted to be replicated. Newsflash! It’s a copycat world! Everywhere we turn, successful ventures are copied so that we may hope to achieve similar results.

Sure, the announcers will make the astute observations that copying the wildcat formation is due to coaches being terrified of losing their jobs if they don’t give it a try. But that’s the essence of copying in general. When failure is a possibility and people go in survival mode, people become copycats. Hunters have copied hunting techniques to find more food to survive. Students have learned to peek over at smart kids’ tests to copy and survive academically.

And even in non life or death scenarios like fashion, we see copycats. Why are certain accessories hot some seasons? Why do designers strive to have celebrities wearing their work? Because others will become copycats and want to wear the same things. Oh sure, people can put their own personal twist on fashion, but that’s true with anything. Arkansas didn’t run the wildcat. No, of course not. They ran the “wild hog.” You get the point.

We live in a copycat world and the fact that NFL teams try to run the same offensive formation that the Dolphins have found success with should be shocking to nobody. It does not make the NFL unique. It makes it a microcosm of society.

Summer of Change

2009 has been a crazy year for me. I’ve had some of the best days of my life and at the same time, I’ve found myself in a difficult place, unsure of where to go next. Near the end of June, I was laid off from my Brand Strategist position at b&a. I wouldn’t say it was a surprise, but losing my job was fairly difficult. But more on that in a moment.

On August 21, I married the love of my life, Janette, in front of all of our family and friends at St. Joan of Arc Church in Canton. All of the wedding planning had me pretty nervous about the big day, but I never doubted we were doing the right thing. And to my surprise, the wedding day was fairly stress free. We had a great time. Everyone seemed to have a blast. We are so greatful that so many people found time to share the day with us.

So now, I’m living with Janette in our new apartment in Columbus (goodbye Dublin mailing address) and trying to find room for all of her stuff and my stuff combined. It keeps me busy during the day, although unpacking boxes really hasn’t been as exciting as conducting consumer research and developing brand strategies.

Writer’s Block

I’ve had plenty going on lately, but I haven’t really written a thing? What’s the deal!? Well, I think part of the issue is that many of the things that have been on my mind are not really appropriate for the blog. No, not in the way of explicit language or anything, but I’ve learned some valuable lessons about business, about clients, about people, and many of these things really are best stored in the brain rather than put on the “world wide web.” <- Nobody uses that phrase enough anymore. But now that I’ve had some time to move on emotionally, I think I have some ideas for things to write about on a more regular basis, and I’m going to commit to writing.

My Career

At this time, I’m still a free agent. It’s more fun to say I’m a free agent than unemployed or jobless. It implies that I still have the skills to perform in my career of choice, and I’m just lacking a team at the moment. And that’s true. I’ve spent some time talking to friends I’ve met during my time in the advertising industry and even meeting new friends through this job search. I believe I can be a major addition to an employer’s team as a brand strategist/account planner, as a market research, or even as a strategic account executive. I have had some very positive talks with some people recently, and I hope to be back in the game sooner than later. But only time will tell.

Adults Kill Creativity

While in Virginia for our honeymoon, Janette and I found some time to visit the Shenandoah Caverns. The caverns were beautiful, but one small conversation between a little five-year-old girl and the tour guide caught my attention. The guide was pointing to a group of stalagmites and telling us that they resemble a city. Then, the little girl spoke up: “I think they look like a castle!” She was really excited to see a castle in the stone. Unfortunately, Mr. Tourguide squashed her dreams with, “No, really, if you look closely, it’s more of a city.”

Shopping Buddy Rental

Janette and I were birthday shopping for our nephew at Toys R Us last week and when we walked in the door, there was a kid standing right in the doorway. When he eventually moved, I had a thought. How cool would it be if you could rent out a shopping buddy at Toys R Us? “Hi, I’m shopping for a four-year-old and don’t know what’s hot right now.”  “No problem Mr. Laubacher. Here’s little Joey. He’s four and would love to help you find the perfect give. Please return him to the cashier at check out.”

Child labor laws aside, it’s not really a bad idea. And you could expand it to other industries. For example, at Victoria’s Secret: “Hello, ummmm, I’m trying to find my wife something for Christmas.” “Great. Denise is one of our many shopping models, and she’ll help you with all of your shopping needs.” At least I think this idea has legs.

Don’t Conduct Qualitative Research Like Sports Media

As someone with great interest in research methods, I always get a kick out of listening to sports reporters develop their stories by forcing quotes out of athletes. Hypothetical example, but something you’ve probably heard before: “Marcus, tell us about how you were feeling during the game. All of the hard work in the film room and on the field really paid off. Tell us exactly about how you were feeling prepared for the Cover 2 defense and nobody was going to stop your team tonight.”  “Ya, exactly, we put in the work and tonight it paid off. We knew the defense they were going to throw at us and we knew they couldn’t stop us.” “Thanks for allowing me to write this story through your, I mean my, words.”

Time with Pops

Having the chance to watch the best golfers on the planet is really cool. Having the chance to watch them while chatting with my dad out in the sun for almost seven hours was priceless. I never really imagined myself living in Columbus longterm, but now that I’ve been away from Massillon for almost a decade, I really value the time I spend with Dad.

Unemployment and Attendence

At one point, we were sitting in the grass, watching drives wizz by when a guy about 10 feet to my left says, “well I guess the economy can’t be too bad if all these people could take off work for a day to watch golf.”  Immediately, a gentleman behind my provided the obvious response. “They’re all laid off.”

What do Caddies Know Anyway?

My posse and I were hanging out near the green on the 12th hole. Vijay Singh had just played a shot out of the bunker, and his caddie took the rake into the sand to clean up the mess. This apparent Rory McIlroy super fan or unofficial caddy police lady next to me got all disgusted.  You see, McIlroy was placing his ball on the green, and to her, that meant he was in need of supreme concentration. He was a good 45 seconds from even dreaming of hitting the putt, but that didn’t stop this ambitious fan from shhhhh-ing Singh’s caddy while he raked the bunker. Really? You think the caddy needs you to tell him to get quiet and be still before the putt? Really? You think he cares that you are sending angry shhhhhh his way? Please.

Professionals are Human

You know what’s great about pro golfers? They are human. Yep. From about 10 feet away they look just like they do on TV. They also make real human mistakes on the course. I saw Tiger get stuck in the trees. And instead of just punching out, he really went for it, only to absolutley drill a tree and send it towards the other fairway. I saw Camilo Villegas hit a tree so hard off the left side of the fairway that it crossed the fairway and ended up in the rough to the right. I saw Ian Poulter toss a ball in the water after a disappointing hole. Heck, I even saw a drive bounce about 15 feet in front of me on a cart path and hop over my head.

Bad Business

We parked in a family’s yard, about a quarter mile from one of the entrances. It was an ideal location and they only charged $5. Good deal. The next house over, just a few feet closer to the entrance, was charging $10 per car to park. As we walked back to the car at around 4:30 pm, we took note that the $5 lot was packed with probably 150 cars. As for the $10 lot? 5 cars. Seriously. You do the math. Now it could be argued that maybe the people who pay $10 to park are the same people who watch Tiger play 4 holes and then head back to work or to a bar. But I think that’s only a minor factor. Maybe the $10 parking family should take note from gas stations. $4.99 might not be a bad idea.

Wow. Fast forward about 3 weeks and I’m still thinking about it. Let’s assume for the sake of conversation that the creature is not a bear, or a wolf, but rather a monster. Why? I don’t want any activists telling me that the proper thing to do is just play dead or something in the presence of the majestic animal. So no, it’s just some sort of monster. And it’s on a dead sprint to eat you. What club do you reach for?

I’ll give you my thoughts, but I really want your answer too. This is important stuff.

I immediately was aware of a dilemma. Do you go with a long club or a short club? If you grab the longest club possible, you can attempt to keep a safe distance between you and the beast. But with a long club comes a lack of agility. If you’ve ever watched an MMA fight you know that sometimes you just get bull rushed and you might need something you can use with quickness.

Then again, with a really long club, like a driver, the velocity at the head of the club is greater than with a shorter club, like the pitching wedge. So you might assume I’m confident enough to think I can connect with the monster with one blow and put myself out of danger with the driver. Not so fast. The head of the driver is big, but it isn’t very dense.  I’d prefer to use an iron. The iron head is more dense and therefore delivers the most bang for the buck at the point of impact. And depending on the nature of this beast, it might be just as likely to play jump rope with the flexible shaft of a driver as it is to be impaired by it.

So I’d think in the split second I have to grab a club from my bag to save my life, it’d definitely be an iron. But I would still want some of the advantage of a longer club so that the head travels at a high velocity. The 3-iron is just too long. I have to think the 5-iron is the winner. That’s my weapon of choice. Of course, there is the 4-iron, but I’m not as familiar with it and I wouldn’t want to attempt to become familiar at a moment like this.

For me, it’s got to be the 5-iron. I became even more confident in my answer when watching Entourage Season 5 on DVD the other day. Johnny Drama decides to attack a car windshield with a golf club, and he definitely asks Turtle for the 5-iron. So that settles it.

What do you think you’d do? I guess depending on the monster, maybe putting the golf cart in reverse and threatening it with that high pitch buzzing news might just do the trick. But I want to hear what club you’d reach for and why. And if you’re going to say the putter, please at least be ready to defend that weak answer.

With Sam Bradley, I had the opportunity to co-author Chapter 87, “Research in Advertising Campaign Design” in 21st Century Communication: A Reference Handbook. View the details on the SAGE Web site, or check it out on Amazon.

I’m so excited to have had the chance to include my thoughts in this reference handbook. You usually hear about movie stars and athletes talking about giving back. And although I’m certainly no pop icon, I feel good knowing that a student of communication may read my writing and have a more thorough understanding of how advertising research takes place and the value in it.

I’m grateful that William F. Eadie at San Diego St. University allowed me to be a part of this educational text.

This commercial

Travelers Insurance has created something awesome. Don’t believe me? Watch the video. Still don’t believe me? Here’s some anecdotal evidence for you. At at time when advertisers are worried about TV viewers using DVR to skip through commercials, over the weekend my dad said he loved this commercial so much he wants to record it with DVR.

This band

The Dead Weather. Have you heard of them? If not, check them out. You might recognize the drummer, Jack White.

*Honorable mention: Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UOJUbiWC5M

It’s been over a month since you last updated this blog. What’s going on?

Well, when I created this blog, the idea was for it to be a creative outlet. It’s a place where I can write things that are on my mind. And I did the majority of my branding and advertising related writing on the b&a blog. But recently, my situation has changed. As of mid-June, I’m no longer working at b&a. I’ve had plenty on my mind, but this blog just didn’t seem like the right forum, or maybe it just wasn’t the right time to write.

So what are you doing now?

Things didn’t work out at b&a, but I still have a passion for learning about how consumers are emotionally connected to brands. I’m searching for a new opportunity in brand strategy, market research, or brand management. I’m also entertaining thoughts about independently conducting consumer insights research.

Do you just sit around all day and apply for jobs?

I guess I don’t do that all day. I’m getting married August 21, so there’s plenty of wedding planning still going on. I’m also busy trying to get a paper published in a journal. I’ve also found a little time to work on my golf game. Oh ya, and I’ve played more tennis in the past month than I had in all of 2008.

You used to be more active on Twitter. Where have you been?

I had TweetDeck installed on my laptop. Unfortunately, it crashed (or more accurately died) and on my desktop I’ve gone back to logging in to Twitter.com to tweet. It’s just not the same. Today, I finally installed TweetDeck on this computer, and hopefully I’ll become part of the conversation again soon.

So are you going to get back to blogging on here or what?

That’s certainly the plan. I think getting this update post out there is a good first step, and now I can get back to writing about things that catch my attention. Maybe I’ll even start bringing branding thoughts to the blog now that I will no longer be writing on the b&a blog.

How do I contact you now that you’re unemployed?

I’d prefer to be considered a branding and market research “free agent.” And there are a few ways you can reach me.

email:         tim.laubacher@gmail.com
twitter:      @timlaubacher
LinkedIn:  http://www.linkedin.com/in/tlaubacher
phone:        330-806-3713

Yesterday, I heard the hilarious news that Major League Baseball has decided to fine Bobby Jenks for the intentional inside pitch (well, behind the hitter’s back). It’s sort of unbelievable to me that MLB is fining a player for not actually having hit someone. There are all sorts of stories about how the players used to be able to take care of matters on the field. That element seems long gone from the game.

What’s even funnier is the amount of the fine. Jenks has been fined $750. That’s correct, seven hundred and fifty dollars. Why even fine him at all if you’re going to only ask for that sort of chump change from a professional athlete? That’s not even a slap on the wrist. It’s more of an awkward stare in passing.

If this source is correct, Jenks is earning $5.6 million in 2009. If my calculator isn’t being foolish, that means Jenks essentially makes $34,568 for each of the 162 games played (please ignore the playoffs). And as a closer, he doesn’t really even pitch in every game, but let’s ignore that fact since he still has to go to work and sit in the bullpen chewing who knows what and soaking up sun. So that $750 fine represents only 2% of his salary for a single game. Bud Selig and Major League Baseball are in essence telling Jenks that he doesn’t deserve 2% of that day’s work for his misguided aggression. How weak is that?

So if Selig is going to fine a guy $750 for almost doing something wrong, that got me thinking about what comes next.

• First baseman to be fined $500 for telling inappropriate jokes to baserunner.
• Batter to mow Bud Selig’s lawn for wiping away back line of batter’s box with foot.
• Shortstop forced to take Bud Selig’s daughter on date for not asking permission to slap tag on sliding baserunner.
• Manager to do Bud Selig’s taxes for misspelling on line-up card.
• Batter to write apology on Twitter and blog for farting loudly in on deck circle. Yes, farting.

Please, add your own favorite upcoming penalty-worthy baseball acts.

* Note: I have no idea if Bud Selig actually has a daughter, or a lawn for that matter.