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As someone who commutes to downtown Cleveland from the south, I have the luxury of looking at the traffic snafus caused by the filming of Captain America a little differently. I don’t see gridlock. I see the opportunity to meet an unmet need. And, in this case, it’s a highly emotional need — which, when it comes to successful branding and business, is the best kind of need there is. Think about it. Right now, how much would westsiders pay to dump their cars in Rocky River to bypass the temporary Shoreway closure with a quick ferry ride to Voinovich park?

Granted, as an ongoing venture, the idea has issues, such as reliance on a thoroughfare that’s frozen and impassable for several months every year. That would really cut down on my annual volume of customers. I’m going to have to charge a lot!

But that’s not my point. This is my point. When launching a new product or service, developing a brand or embarking on a rebranding effort, never lose sight of the fact that your chances for success are greatly improved if its introduction will meet some unfulfilled need. There have been endless new brands dreamt up that boasted a neat feature or two, but they didn’t really satisfy any perceived need. So they failed.

A critical part of the branding process here at Melamed Riley is identifying the key emotional need that a brand satisfies. Because when you uncover that — and it’s a really good one — you can sell just about anything. Like $20 boat rides. One way.

Tomorrow is “Bike To Work Day” brought to you by Bike Cleveland. Leave the bumper-to-bumper traffic behind and feel the freedom beneath your feet. As an added incentive to push the pedal to the… ahem, mettle, the RTA is offering free rides for anyone with a bike tomorrow. And Bike Cleveland is offering a number of activities around town throughout the day.

To get your “motor” running, two Energizing stations will be set up.

1. Crank-Set Rides will be serving Phoenix Coffee on the East End of the Lorain/Carnegie Bridge.

2. Heights Bicycling Coalition will also be serving Phoenix Coffee at Edgehill & Overlook.

There will also be events set up in University Circle and Downtown.

1. University East Plaza
Phoenix Coffee will be providing coffee, Constantino’s Markets will be offering bananas and juice, plus pastries will be provided courtesy of Bon Appetit.

Activities include:
• Info on upcoming charity rides from Pan Ohio Hope Ride and MS Pedal to the Point
• 121 Fitness – raffles, smoothie discounts, free showers for cyclists
• Cleveland Yoga
• Bike shops, safety checks

2. Cleveland Bike Rack
Phoenix Coffee is providing coffee, Fresh Fork Market is offering savory breakfast items and Pocket’s Vegan Pastries is providing breakfast vegan cookies.

Activities include:
• Info on upcoming charity rides from Ride United and MS Pedal to the Point
• Bike gear showcased by Raleigh Bicycle
• Tours of the Bike Rack
• Bike shop, safety checks

There are also several evening activities after work.

1. One to One Fitness is offering free Happy Hour Yoga at 5:30 p.m. to anyone with a bike helmet.

2. The Cleveland Cinematheque is showing “The Kid With A Bike” at 7:30 p.m. Regular admission is $9 and it’s just $7 with a bike helmet.

There are plenty more events in the works. Keep up to date on “Bike To Work Day” activities throughout the day on Twitter by using the hashtag #BTWDcle. See you on the road!

If you have surfed any social network or used any type of electronic device connected to the internet over the last decade, you have probably witnessed at least one of the many photo crazes that have lit up the internet. Being quite entertained by the genre ourselves, we thought we’d recreate some of the most popular photo crazes to ever hit the internet for your viewing pleasure.

Photo Craze: Statue Attack

Photo Craze: Vadering

Photo Craze: Baby Mugging

Our own take on the Baby Mugging craze, we call it boozing:

Photo Craze: Tebowing

Photo Craze: Baguetting

Photo Craze: Hadokening

Photo Craze: Owling

Photo Craze: Eastwooding

Photo Craze: Duffnering

Photo Craze: Gargoyling

Photo Craze: Teapotting

Photo Craze: Koalaing

Photo Craze: Planking

What will be the next big snapshot shenanigans? Only time will tell, but we’re eagerly awaiting the challenge to recreate whatever it ends up being.

Which photo craze is your favorite? Have you ever taken part in a photo craze? If so, tweet us your picture @MelamedRiley to share in the photo craze madness.

Brian, John, Jim, Rick and Nicole all set to start the 2012 RideUNITED Cleveland to Akron event.

We had so much fun raising money and riding for the United Way of Cleveland last year, we thought we’d do it again! Come join our team and start training for RideUNITED Cleveland. It’s a fully supported ride designed for every cyclist with several route options ranging from a 12-mile ride all the way up to the 100-mile century. Some of us will be going 40 miles one way, while others will be taking the 80 mile round trip. It’s very scenic and very gratifying knowing that we are helping so many families in need.

To get involved, just go to the RideUNITED Cleveland site to join our team or get more info. If you would like to make a donation and sponsor our team, please click here. If you have any other questions, cycling or otherwise, you can get a hold of me.

Congratulations, you just got your first agency job and were just handed a shiny, new box of business cards. Even though you’ve already handed out a bunch and have put many more in “free lunch fishbowls” around town, here’s some real talk for you: Ignore your job title.

I’m not saying ignore what you’re being paid to do, but ignore what they’re calling you when you do it. Especially if your job title involves the words “ninja” or “rock star.” Here’s why: Job titles are artificial. They establish hierarchies and put people in nice, little boxes. But that’s just it, they’re limiting. If you’re a copywriter, you may feel restricted to writing. If you’re a designer, you may feel restricted to design. If you’re on the account side, you may feel restricted from creative work.

These are artificial labels and you’re doing yourself a disservice if you blindly adhere to them. If you spend your time trying to be the very best exemplar of your job title, you miss out on so many other opportunities. And if you wait until your job title matches exactly what you want out of your career, you’ve waited too long.

But when you ignore your job title, you ignore those restrictions and free yourself to grow your skill set. It’s up to you to forge your own path and begin building the kind of well-rounded portfolio that will always keep you employed, even when times are tough. So don’t be afraid to step outside your job description and show the passion to learn and try new things. It’s good for you. And your boss will notice.

These days, knowing the costs inherent in hiring employees and given the challenging economic climate, firms are trying hard to hire “mini-agencies” — talented people who are capable of delivering most (if not all) of an entire campaign themselves. With a little work and a lot of passion, you can become one of those people.

If you’d like to learn more about this and nine other ways you can become an indispensable part of your company’s team, register for Invaluable Isn’t Impossible, the second webinar in the Grad School online lecture series. I’ll be giving the talk and taking your questions on Wednesday, May 15. Interested? Click here to register.

We kicked off Melamed Riley’s Grad School web series last week! Our inaugural webinar featured the agency’s two principals, Sarah Melamed and Rick Riley. Both learned early on about having to sell themselves and their work before getting into advertising. Aptly titled “The Nightmare About Your Dream Job,” this webinar provides useful insights and tips to give you the edge when you launch your career in the advertising or marketing business.

Here are just five of the simple but critical suggestions Sarah and Rick shared:

Most people don’t realize how critical making great presentations will be in their career. Being able to sell yourself is crucial! #MRGrad

— Melamed Riley(@MelamedRiley) April 17, 2013

Be clear about the type of job you want when you are applying, don’t make the HR manager guess. #MRGrad

— Melamed Riley(@MelamedRiley) April 17, 2013

Don’t forget to snoop (the good kind). Put on your private eye hat and find out everything you can about the company. #MRGrad

— Melamed Riley(@MelamedRiley) April 17, 2013

Tease – give your audience a little taste of what to expect, but not so much that it steals your thunder. #MRGrad

— Melamed Riley(@MelamedRiley) April 17, 2013

Let them think everything you do is brilliant. Stick to just the strong stuff. #MRGrad

— Melamed Riley(@MelamedRiley) April 17, 2013

If you didn’t have a chance to tune in, don’t worry! We recorded the entire session so that you can listen to it on your own time. To access “The Nightmare About Your Dream Job” webinar, just click the link below and fill out the simple form.

Webinar Recording: Tips For Getting Into Advertising

Not sold yet? Here is a short video from Rick and Sarah on what to expect from the webinar:

Big thanks to everyone who did attend the live webinar, we hope you gleaned some takeaways you can use in the near future. Here are just a few tweets from some of the #MRGrad School attendees:

Just finished the 1st session of #MRGRAD web series! Awesome information! Thanks Sarah and Rick! @melamedriley

— David Oltmanns (@DavidOltmanns) April 17, 2013

Sitting through the @melamedriley #MRGrad webinar. Fabulous tips flying around.

— Kassey Sikora (@Kassey_S) April 17, 2013

@melamedriley great presentation, thanks for the invaluable tips. Can’t wait for the next #MRGrad webinar. Register! ow.ly/ka3QS

— Deek Design (@DeekDesign) April 17, 2013

If you have a question for Sarah and Rick about getting into advertising leave us a comment below, or tweet @MelamedRiley using the official #MRGrad hashtag.

The next Melamed Riley Grad School webinar is already on the books. Register now to hear Joseph Hughes’s talk, “Invaluable isn’t Impossible.” Just click the button below for more information on his webinar:

Today, March 26, is Global Epilepsy Awareness Day (or Purple Day), and we here at Melamed Riley are dressed appropriately to support the Cleveland Epilepsy Association. The Epilepsy Association is a not-for-profit organization that assists children, adults and families who are struggling to deal with the difficult challenges epilepsy presents. For more than 40 years, they have been offering a range of services in an 11-county area of Northeastern Ohio.

More than 3 million Americans have some form of epilepsy and, historically, epilepsy has been neglected, feared and misunderstood. A veil of secrecy surrounding the disease has resulted in myths, superstitions and a general lack of knowledge. This has hindered scientific progress toward finding answers to one of the oldest-known and most prevalent neurological diseases, leaving treatment and research efforts way behind other disorders. Epilepsy affects more people than Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy combined, yet of the major chronic medical conditions, it’s among the least funded. For many with the disease, seizures cannot be controlled with medications and other treatment options. Individuals with epilepsy are at risk of premature death as well as mental illness. This is why generating awareness through events like Purple Day is so vital.

Purple Day was conceived by Cassidy Megan, a young girl from Nova Scotia, Canada in 2008 when she was only 9 years old. Purple Day is now a global event celebrated in 130 countries and on every continent in the world. The name Purple Day was chosen for the international color of epilepsy, lavender. The Lavender Flower is associated with solitude, which is representative of the feelings of isolation many people affected by epilepsy and seizure disorders often feel. The Purple Day goal is for people with epilepsy everywhere to know they are not alone and to increase public awareness of epilepsy. Visit the official Purple Day website for more information and free resources.

Below are some ways you can still get involved:

• If you are wearing purple, share your photos with the Epilepsy Association on Twitter, and be sure to include the hash tag #PurpleDay, and on Facebook.
• Share information about Purple Day by posting updates to your Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts.
• Tweet this message or change your Facebook status to read: “On March 26, I’m wearing PURPLE to generate EPILEPSY AWARENESS. Help spread the word!”
• Join the Epilepsy Association at their first ever Purple Day Party fundraiser. It’s a wonderful opportunity to meet others from the Cleveland area who are raising awareness of epilepsy.
• Visit the Epilepsy Association website or blog for more information and ways to help raise awareness.

If you can’t do anything else for Purple Day, please share the following tweet: Today is Purple Day, let’s all work to fight the stigma and increase epilepsy awareness. [Click to Tweet]

Being comfortable is the key to making a great impression. So, when it comes to presentation tips, why has the adage of imagining your audience in their underwear survived for so long? Would that really work? Would that ease your nerves and help you make the presentation of your life?

I think not. Whether it’s an audience of fanatically fit folks or a room full of couch and cookie lovers, I’d find imagining them in their unmentionables rather distracting either way. While the scenarios are quite different aesthetically speaking, both would be just as unsettling. Certainly not the calming effect that the adage perpetuates. So my first piece of advice is to keep everyone’s clothes on.

Here are three presentation tips on how to relax.

Know your audience. Whether it’s a client or a prospective employer, do your homework. Know all you can about them and what they are looking for. Plus if you can find out something “personal” and less work related, something you may have in common, it will give you something to discuss at the outset that can help you and them feel more comfortable. It’s the pre-presentation banter—don’t underestimate its value.

Know your material. This is every bit as important as knowing your audience. Know your material inside and out. If you have five days to get ready, use four to come up with your presentation and use one to really absorb and internalize your whole show. The more comfortable you are making your presentation, the more comfortable your audience will be hearing it.

Know when to shut up. It’s way better to leave your audience wanting more than to have them fidgeting in their chairs praying for you to finish. That’s all I’m going to say on that point. (See, I’m practicing what I preach.)

So to make yourself more comfortable whenever you present, don’t strip your audience down to their imaginary Vic Secrets or Underoos. Just stick to these three simple presentation tips instead and everyone in the room will breathe a little easier.

For more helpful presentation tips on how to make lasting (positive) impressions—ranging from the ones you make to get your job to the ones that help you keep your job—register for The Nightmare About Your Dream Job, the first webinar in the Grad School online lecture series scheduled for April 17th. Just click here to register.

Warmer weather is on its way and so are the outdoor activities. My family and I, we love to camp. Is there anything better than spending quality time with family and friends around a campfire roasting marshmallows, chatting and drinking an occasional margarita, or two?

I think not. But unlike us who are well equipped with a permanent camping spot at an RV Resort, running water and a bathroom — some people enjoy “roughing it” (more power to those people).

Technology these days has made camping with your family a breeze, even for the least experienced campers, who just randomly walk into a Walmart one day and buy a tent thinking “my family will love this!” For starters, the following phone apps were created to help all of us looking to enjoy a little quality time with nature.

Camping List Pro was designed by a Camping Pro (hence the name) so you’ll never forget any of the essentials needed while out in the wilderness. Let’s face it, when you are trying to pack, especially with kids around, one is bound to forget something. Not anymore.

Oh, Ranger Parkfinder App will help you find the perfect place to set up camp. Just choose from 20 different category activities of what you want to do on your adventure and — just like that — it finds the parks in your area that offer all of them.

Okay, you have your list of everything you need, you have the perfect spot. Now all that’s left is to download the Coleman Camping Cookbook app which is a great source for recipes that are easily made over a campfire. Although, let’s face it, a hotdog cooked over an open flame just speaks summer, doesn’t it?

You can also check out numerous camping boards on Pinterest , like this one: Camp Connection.

So now you are all equipped with the technology to help make camping easier. So what’s stopping you? If you are a camper, where is your favorite place to set up?

This Thursday, Rick Riley and I will play host to more than a dozen AIGA Cleveland members, participating in an informal give-and-take about what it takes to prosper in the creative world and how to get a job in advertising. Think of the event, which AIGA calls Reverb, as a miniature, analog version of the forthcoming Grad School online series of webinars. Here’s how the organization is describing it:

Reverb is a changing monthly discussion among creatives. This month’s second Reverb is geared toward students and recently graduated professionals looking for advice on entering — and excelling within — the workforce. Led by Rick Riley and Joseph Hughes of Melamed Riley, one of Cleveland’s leading advertising agencies, the discussion will include: Tips on presenting your work, standing out in your job search, what professionals look for when hiring, and how to excel once you land the job.

Gather your questions and prepare for advice from those who were once in your shoes! Riley brings nearly 30 years of agency experience to the table, having written for brands ranging from beer to burgers to hardware to housewares to candy to colleges. And Hughes has forged a designer’s eye, journalist’s education, and one-time science geek’s curiosity into a multi-faceted career that’s brought him to all corners of the creative world. Together, they’ve (probably) seen it all — and have lived to tell about it.

As an AIGA member myself, I’m honored that AIGA Cleveland wants to hear from Melamed Riley in their ongoing conversation about the important issues facing the creative world. I’m looking forward, too, to some challenging questions from attendees. Can’t make it yourself but have a question for us about the business? Let us know in the comments! Interested in registering for the first Grad School online webinar, “The Nightmare About Your Dream Job”? Click the button below.