An Idea That Hits Home

This is not a post about marketing or social media. This is a post about someone with an idea, who then executed on the idea - and completely changed the way I look at how a simple idea can be so impactful.

My father passed away at 10:05am on Sept 6th. He went peacefully with my mother, myself and my brothers and sister there. At his wishes, we scheduled a Celebration of Life Party for him 3 weeks later at the local golf course he regularly played at. (To read more about my father - click here)

My parents live on a small residential street in Sunnyvale, CA. They have lived there for about 40 years. My father did landscaping, concrete work, plumbing ,electrical and just about any sort of renovation work. Over the decades he  worked on 80% of the house on our street is some fashion. So of course, most of my neighbors had the opportunity to become friends with my father. Two of our neighbors, Sam and Kren, had my father do a great deal of work on their house. Their house is beautiful inside and out. Beautiful in a magazine-type way with impeccable design. Sam and Kren were the men with the idea.

The party was set for Saturday October 1. The Thursday afternoon before the party, I needed to get something at store, so I went outside and got in the car. As I drove down the street I noticed at the end of the street there were flags in a couple yards. As I got closer, I saw that they were Hawaiian flags being put in the ground on each house on the street by two men.

The Idea
The idea was to show my family how much the people on the street cared for my dad and mourned his passing. The idea was to do something that would demonstrate to us that they shared our grief.

Click on the image to see it full size.

The idea was to buy full size Hawaiian flags and install them in the front yards on my parents street (my father was born in Hawaii and had one quarter Hawaiian blood in him). The visual was emotionally overwhelming and heart warming. Words cannot convey what the image does. My family was so grateful. In a world where things sometimes are bleak, a simple idea or gesture can change everything.

How does this apply to marketing ? To me it is the simplicity and boldness of the gesture that is so phenomenal.  As a marketer, the idea and it’s execution challenges me to be creative, sincere and bold. Sometimes we need to be shown an amazing idea just to prove to us what is possible.

Thank you Sam and Kren for showing us what is possible and how an idea can mean so much.

Tagged as: advertising, Marketing, troy ahyo