CNotes

Central Park

Arrived late yesterday afternoon for a tri-purpose work trip to NYC this week. Busy day & a half of meetings with magazine editors (Hey! check out October's Southern Living Magazine - Whitney English is featured -Yay!), the a meeting to debrief Limeades for Learning with our partner DonorsChoose.org and a symposium on Wednesday. Whew.

Checked into my hotel by 5 and what a beautiful Sunday!  68 degrees - sunny. Time for a run.  I've run around & through Central Park many times, but always during an early morning with the rest o' the runners out there. I've never been to Central Park on a day like Sunday ... people filled the park, just like they do in the movies.  Sunbathing, reading and relaxing. Loads o' runners & bikers. Dogs galore having a wheee! of a time. Apparently it was very, very cold last week and everyone turned out for a beautiful day.

And, then enjoyed a lovely dinner with a close friend and past colleague who is also in town for biz.  Hope she has great meetings this week. More runs to come, maybe through Chelsea or maybe back up to the park. We'll see.

Central Park

Arrived late yesterday afternoon for a tri-purpose work trip to NYC this week. Busy day & a half of meetings with magazine editors (Hey! check out October's Southern Living Magazine - Whitney English is featured -Yay!), the a meeting to debrief Limeades for Learning with our partner DonorsChoose.org and a symposium on Wednesday. Whew.

Checked into my hotel by 5 and what a beautiful Sunday!  68 degrees - sunny. Time for a run.  I've run around & through Central Park many times, but always during an early morning with the rest o' the runners out there. I've never been to Central Park on a day like Sunday ... people filled the park, just like they do in the movies.  Sunbathing, reading and relaxing. Loads o' runners & bikers. Dogs galore having a wheee! of a time. Apparently it was very, very cold last week and everyone turned out for a beautiful day.

And, then enjoyed a lovely dinner with a close friend and past colleague who is also in town for biz.  Hope she has great meetings this week. More runs to come, maybe through Chelsea or maybe back up to the park. We'll see.

Convention

Last week was Sonic's National Convention.  The Corporate Communications team at Sonic (my team) is responsible for planning, production, logistics ... essentially the whole shooting match. By all accounts to date, Convention was very successful. We'll know more when survey results come in over the next week.

My role with Convention is basically moving, housing & feeding attendees.  From that perspective the Mandalay Bay did a nice job.  We had a few issues here & there, but none that were visible to attendees, always the goal. 

My colleague, Lee Ann, did an outstanding job on the production side - speakers were well-received and staging looked great. General & Breakout sessions were well-planned & executed.

Now, it's time for the formal debrief. Wading through the details, reviewing the survey results and beginning the planning process for next year.

I have to say, though, I had been skeptical about our entertainment for our final night event ... Huey Lewis & the News. They put on a GREAT show and were fantastic with our crowd.  So, if you're booking talent for an event ... I recommend them.

A few personal faves from the week -

• The Killers- they are local Las Vegans, who knew? Great show at Mandalay Bay
• Chef Hubert Keller- his restaurant Fleur d' Lys was delish & he came by our table to say hello. What a wonderful, wonderful man. And, such delicious food. The steak tartare was to do die for; probably the best I've had in the U.S. (doesn't beat Belgium or France) And, even more handsome in person. When he found out I was from OK, he mentioned that perhaps I would glad Rick Bayless won TCM? Yes, but I let him know that I loved the chocolate mice he made for those girl scouts & that I always hoped it would come down to Keller v. Bayless for the win.
• Dancing next to Flavor Flav after the whole show was over. Seriously. No, he's not a Sonic franchisee but was partying at MB. He's short. The clock is stuck a 4:30.  Buy a battery.

So, good show. I'm still recovering from the overall exhaustion. And, I'll be ready for next year.

Cups for Classrooms

It's finally here.  Limeades for Learning.  Sonic's new grant making initiative to put more than half a million dollars in public school classrooms across the country. Starting today, when you visit a Sonic, your drink will be delivered with a sticker that has a unique code (yep, there's more than 80 million codes out there in Sonicland).  You can use the code to find & vote for a public school teacher's learning project.

I've voted for projects at my neighborhood school and at the school Sonic has partnered with for more than 15 years.  Any friends who are public school teachers? Let me know your project name and I'll cast a vote or two for you, too. 

Professionally, this initiative has been incredibly rewarding. I've co-led the day to day management of Limeades for Learning with a colleague from Sonic's marketing department.  And, what a great job the marketing team has done ... Check out the Limeades for Learning spot now running on a cable network on your TV:

 

This work is really different from our two people in a car campaign. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this campaign. Our agency partner, Barkley, has done a great job supporting this initiative and I think they are enjoying the work as well.

On Monday, we kicked off the campaign by surprising teachers at six schools in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Dallas/Fort Worth.  At all-school assemblies and classroom visits coordinated with the school principals, Sonic fully funded teachers project requests.  It was really, really fun and media covered the events as well. Here's Cliff Hudson, Sonic's CEO on KWTV-News9 in Oklahoma City talking about Limeades for Learning:

 

 

Our partner, DonorsChoose.org has supported public school teachers for years now, by giving regular folks like you & me the opportunity to be citizen philanthropists and for a few hundred dollars, make a real difference in a classroom. 

So, it's simple.  Go to Sonic & buy any drink, sized small-Route 44. Peel the sticker off the cup. Go to LimeadesforLearning.com and find a project & vote. Repeat. All month long. You sip. Kids learn.

CroisSONIC

So, you can expect from time to time I'll mention a new product at Sonic.  This month we've introduced a CroisSONIC breakfast sandwich.  We sampled them this morning at the office and I have to admit, it was yummy.  You have a choice of sausage or bacon with egg & cheese on a croissant.  Good stuff ~ and, remember, you can get it any time of the day at Sonic.

I know, shameless work plug. But, hey, it's good. Just not as good as Jr Fritos Chili Cheese Wrap.

Carhops

Within the past two weeks, two people have been brought to Sonic's attention through media who either currently work or formerly worked as Carhops for Sonic Drive-In. These stories are truly indicative of the character of the men and women, young and less young, who make & serve tasty treats to more than a million customers every day.  Enjoy reading about these two young people.

1. Tiffany Clay - currently works as a skating Carhop in Heath, Ohio and also serves as concertmaster for her high school sinfonia orchestra. First story was front page New York Times http://tinyurl.com/sonictiffanyclay

2. Evander "Ziggy" Hood - drafted my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers & newest fold in the Steel Curtain.  Worked as a crew member including cook & skating Carhop at a Sonic in Amarillo, Tex. and went on to graduate from University of Missouri in 3.5 years. http://tinyurl.com/sonicziggyhood

Don't lose faith in our young people - I'm proud to work on behalf of people like Tiffany Clay & Ziggy Hood every day.