The Super Bowl: A quintessentially American spectacle celebrating the manly sport of football. Diehard football fans will cringe, but my favorite moments of the Super Bowl (even when the Bears or Cowboys are playing) are the commercials.

For the creative teams behind the campaigns (writers, art directors, producers), it’s their big game. It’s a chance to heckle the competition and compare notes on who got it right and who went down in flames.

My scorecard is slightly different. I give points for emotional resonance (humor, heartstrings) and clarity (always under valued). But I save the highest scores for spots that cut through the clutter. Spots likely to spike sales or build awareness. Let’s call it the “unforgettable quotient”.

You can learn a lot in a year. I sure did.

This week marks a year since I started blogging weekly (initial audience: 3.) Lessons learned are worth sharing, which I’ll do in a future update.

Instead, this week, I’d like to re-share my first post (with apologies to the much-appreciated initial 3) because I think the message still resonates a year later.

Click here to take a look.

Let me know what you think…….

AICP—a national association of advertising producers—held their stunning annual awards shows at LACMA and MOMA. Watching some breath-taking spots got me thinking. What do consultants and professional advisors have in common with award winning commercials?

Plenty, it turns out. Here are 3 spots that deliver my favorite lessons:

Lesson #1: Great ideas can—and perhaps should—be simple (Environmental Defense Fund)