The Winning "FedEx Rainbow" Captions... It's So Intense!

Well, I had a pretty good time with the FedEx Caption Contest. I had a lot of great entries. Some of them really cracked me up. None of them were bad at all. It was a real treat and I laughed out loud at quite a few of them. Heck, Federal Express even tuned in and helped promote the contest! I've gotta give them props for using their Twitter account to engage the public in a very laid back way.

No matter how great they all were, I had to pick one to be the winner of the grand prize. Before anyone starts throwing me under the FedEx truck, remember that I'm a pretty heavy Thor fan from way back. When you understand that, then my choice makes perfect sense.

This caption just seemed to fit to me. I got a good chuckle out of it (I had to explain my reasoning to my wife and kids though) and I liked the way it brought the whole thing home with "We Deliver." It kinda made me thing that the truck could be driving towards the Rainbow Bridge, on it's way to Asgard to deliver another shipment of Uru metal. So, congratulations to Eric Scrogg's on winning the full set of Parker Brand ATC prints. I'll also be throwing in a quick Thor sketch as well. I think Eric will find that it'll fit in fine with his excellent caption.

I decided to pick second and third place winners as well. The first is by my pal Julie Fay, and it's was great as well. There were a couple of captions that hit on the "Rainbow Connection," but her caption really sold it for me.

I've decided to send Julie a sketch print from my collection and she'll be receiving a custom sketch of Kermit and Piggy. I hope she enjoys it.

Now, I had a whole different reason for picking the third caption. Honestly, there were some pretty good ones in the slew of entries I received, but when I read this one I laughed out loud because I could literally hear it being sung in my mind. The third prize goes to the mega-talented illustrator Matt Bors. 

I think I was a late to the party on the "Double Rainbow" video (which was shared with me by my good buddy Thom Trahan... thanks Thom!), but it's honestly one of the funniest and greatest things I've EVER seen on You Tube. Well, it got even better when I heard the "Double Rainbow Song." Ever since I've heard that thing it's been stuck in my brain on repeat. Matt's caption touched that nerve, so that's why he's gonna get a sketch (by me) of his Tea Bag character (I love that tea bag guy... he's pretty much nuts... and frighteningly accurate).

Here's the song that inspired Matt's caption (and makes me happy to no end).

If you're not following Matt, or following his blog then you should be. I like to think I serve the truth, but this guy is a truth gladiator and I'm honored that he stopped by this blog.

I'd be a real punk if I didn't share all of the other great captions with you. I usually do contests where winners are chosen at random, and not hand-picked by me. Things like this are all a matter of taste, so who knows which ones you folks might really like? 

THE FEDEX RAINBOW CAPTIONS

• I WANT TO KNOW WHERE THE GOLDS AT! so, can I get a tracking number please?
• Contents of the truck? Gold and Lucky Charms.
• Someday we'll find it, the Rainbow Connection. The lovers, The dreamers, and inexpensive overnight delivery options! Laa dee daa dee dee daa dooo
• Driver on cell phone: "I don't know what it is, but no matter where I deliver it, folks always seem to find my pot of gold!"
• On CB Radio: "Hurry! Hurry! BP's CEO has run out of Lucky Charms!"
• Miss Piggie's Butler: "We have tracking confirmation on the Frog."
• Skittles, deliver the rainbow
• Had your Breakfast today? Fed-Ex-tra Ground Rainbow! Have some.
• Fed-Ex: Dispersing a wide spectrum.
• It's a rough economy–Even leprechauns need day jobs!
• Color Our World. Ship Fed Ex.
• Speed up! FedEx is going to get there first!
• Ship Over the Rainbow with FedEx
• With FedEx Your Package is Good as Gold
• Fed Ex. Through the stormwinds of Midgard to the perilous Land of the Frost Giants of Asgard, via the mystical Rainbow Bridge. We deliver.
• Fed Ex. A Rainbow in the Dark.
• Fed Ex. We're so gay for you.
• 10 seconds after this photo was taken, this Fed Ex truck exploded with Skittles. Skittles...taste the explosion.
• Rainbows aren't the only good thing Fed Ex delivers. We deliver puppies, too. Fed Ex...taste the puppies.
• Fed Ex. We'll even go over the rainbow for you.
• FedEx: Guaranteed delivery of paired animal species to higher ground since Genesis 7:6 ...that's a promise.
• Fed Ex. We make your dreams come true.
• Fed Ex. In brightest day and blackest night.
• FedEx Ground: Now with inter-dimensional unicorn-horn positioning systems in all vehicles.
• Good God! He sent it Fed Ex!
• (to the tune of "Double Rainbow Song!!") Fed/Ex Rainbow all the way across the sky...Yeah! Yeeeeah! It's so intense! 

There you have it! Not sure if everyone will agree my picks. I appreciate all of you playing along. It was a great time. Keep tuning in to the Parker Brand Way (why not just add it to your Google Reader?). I promise to keep it interesting.

CONGRATS TO THE WINNERS!

A Gator Update

Not much to report. Watching the kids play, cooking Great Northern Beans, talking with Twitter pals about complete, double-rainbows and working on my "real" gumbo gator drawing. Still pecking at this thing in between other things. Oran out.

Posted via email from The Parker Brand Picture Post!

Social-Lite: An Introduction To Social Media For Small Businesses

I will be presenting Social-Lite: An Introduction To Social Media For Small Businesses to the West Calcasieu Association of Commerce at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 11.

This presentation was a bit challenging because social media is an extremely broad subject, and the time alloted for the presentation is only 30 minutes. I was told to assume that most of my audience would have little to no knowledge on the subject.

I tried to be as lean as I could on the slides because usually they are only there to support what I'm saying to the audience. I decided to add a bit more content to this presentation in the form of pro tips for the note-takers, or for those who may view it online after the event.

The presentation gives an overview of what social media is, how it's grown and what it means to small businesses in general. In trying to distill the content, I focused on 4 aspects of social media marketing; You Tube, Facebook, Twitter and Blogging.

My hope is that this presentation will stimulate business interest in social media marketing in Southwest Louisiana.

To view my other presentations, visit my Creative Services site.

Be Honest, Abe! (or "Why Being Authentic on Twitter is the Way to Go")

I was pretty stoked to get home from work and check the mail last night. You see, I was expecting a really cool Gama-go Yeti wallet and I couldn't wait to check it out. Honestly, it wasn't the wallet that got me stoked as much as it was what it represented.

You see, over a decade ago I pretty much laid down all of my hobbies, all of the cool things that I'd loved my whole life (comics, art, toys, sci-fi gizmos, etc.). I traded all that cool stuff to bury my head in the sand and become a "grown-up." I let some folks convince me that there was no time in the grown-up world for all those things. So, like a good little beat-bot, I did what I was told and sold my toys, my comic books, quit drawing and found a way to force my star-shaped life into a square hole and carry on. You know what? It wasn't all that great. Sure, it wasn't all bad, but during that time I'd get that little ping when I'd pass a comic book on the shelf, or walk down the toy isle at the department store. Something wasn't quite right, but I learned to ignore it.

The worst part was that I quit drawing, something I'd loved (and was decent at) since I was a small child. Somehow, all of that creativity was intertwined with my hobbies and interests. When I buried one, I buried them all.

REWIND to a couple of years ago...

Not to long ago I met a fella named Darren (@DarrenH1221, for all you Twitter-folk out there). We got to talking one night (for hours) about comic books, and MAN was it fun. That one conversation kinda rebooted my interest in comics, and reminded me of a part of myself that I'd turned my attention away from. It felt good, like coming back home. Not long after that conversation, I started frequenting the local comic book shop again, and damn if it didn't feel great!

Around the same time,  I stumbled on this really cool blog site called "Weirdo Toys" (seriously... they're really weird). What a great site! I dug around for quite a while. It was such a good time to see someone who really embraced their hobby, raising it to almost an art form (yes, collecting weirdo toys is an art form... just visit the site). Whoever was running that site wore their hobby on the outside for the world to see... proudly. That site, in particular, got me thinking about all of the toys I'd sold and given away, all in an attempt to "grow up" (blech!). I can't lie; I felt a lot of regret. The Weirdo Toys site helped me shake off some of that crazy, self-imposed brainwashing I'd been carrying around for so long.

FAST FORWARD to now...

I'm happy to say that today, I'm a full-grown man-child, that has a decent job in advertising and have raised two happy, healthy, creative children. I collect toys (I dug up that tiny Abe Lincoln at Goodwill this weekend; SCORE), read comics and spend at least 12 hours a week strengthening my illustration skills. I don't want to get all heavy (this whole post has been pretty heavy), but in a small way, Darren and Weirdo Toys changed my life (don't get the big head guys; I did some of the work myself).

BACK to my original point...

So, I was pretty stoked to get that wallet. Why? Well, the fella who created the Weirdo Toys website is a buddy of mine on Twitter and he was giving it away. He agreed to send it to me, and I thought that was a pretty cool thing. Considering how much I dig his site, I think it's mighty awesome to have something sitting on my shelf from the Weirdo Toys collection. I was also excited to get the wallet because it reaffirmed what my gut told me; Weirdo Toys was a trustworthy fella, honest & authentic. Have I ever met the guy face-to-face? Nope. Does it matter? Not one bit.

What I'm finding is that there is a whole world of trustworthy, authentic, honest folks out there in the online social networking world. They have interests similar to mine. They have lives that echo my own. Many of them put their true face out there each day. I appreciate the honesty. The truth is, I've met some folks through online social networking that I trust more than people I've been in face-to-face relationships with for years.

So, thanks Darren, Weirdo and all of the other honest folks I've met on Twitter. I count you folks as friends. Your authenticity is what makes that possible.

Measure...Then Measure Again.

via slideshare.net

You know, in the Southwest Louisiana market, social media is really only just taking hold. While there are businesses who have Facebook pages & Twitter accounts, I've yet to see any one business stand out as having a true, comprehensive plan, or method in place to measure return-on-investment...which brings me to the SlideShare presentation above. If you own a business or work for a company that's dabbling in social media, take a look at the presentation and read it word for word. Get your calendar. Get comfortable with analyzing online data. Start measuring and tracking today.

Posted via web from So, what does Oran Parker post?