It was Wisconsin buddy Jay Filter’s annual stopover in the city, so our dinner Saturday night was savored with lively conversation of the year’s most exciting people and events.

Exhilaration over the Green Bay Packers’ thrilling Super Bowl win naturally segued to Aaron-Rogers-as-hero talk. Then the topic switched to disappointment over the lack of memorable television commercials aired during the game. Maybe it was our shared decades in the wild world of advertising, but we remembered when more people watched the Super Bowl for its commercials.

We agreed that Volkswagen’s pint-sized Darth Vader and animated black-beetle ads were Super Bowl Sunday’s best. I was critical of GoDaddy.com’s commercial that, at first blush, I thought was as ad for Hooter’s. And Jay admitted his first thought after the game was, “Doesn’t anybody get embarrassed anymore?”

We reminisced about Apple’s forever famous “1984” ad introducing the Macintosh computer that aired only once ever during that year’s Super Bowl. Now that was a commercial that changed people’s lives. A decade later, Apple continued to inspire with the debut of its “Think Different” mantra.

So I’ve been thinking about the companies today that stand for innovation. For ideas that improve people’s lives and change the world for the better. Companies that use marketing to communicate their “what,” and also their “why.”

Here are my two top winners currently in “the why” category, whose campaign themes and messages, like Apple’s, also show leadership and inspire.

Toyota’s “Ideas for Good”

Toyota asked companies how they would use their technology for good. For example the Pittsburgh-based engineering firm Deeplocal created a model disaster-relief tent that uses the Prius’ solar-powered ventilation system technology to help keep workers and those they serve more comfortable in the field.

AT&T’s “Rethink Possible”

“Expand your boundaries of Can. See what’s on the other side of too far. Play the angel’s advocate. Outsmart can’t. Put a restriction on your limits and expect to be wowed. Explore, try, do. Because before it could be done, it couldn’t. These are indeed amazing times. Rethink possible.”

Okay, dreamers. Please, assert yourself. Unleash your imagination. Organize your thoughts. Be constructive. Succeed.

Tags: achievement, beliefs, human energy, leadership, managing yourself, personal effectiveness, success

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