“Are you standing out from the crowd – or getting lost in the crowd?” – Sam Horn, author of POP!

It’s that time of year again:-)

Time to pick the most intriguing business names, marketing slogans, ad campaigns and book titles that stood out and helped their company or cause get noticed, remembered, bought and/or funded.

The point? If you want to succeed, you need to POP! out of your pack.

And one of the best ways to POP! out is create a NURD (New Word or first-of-its-kind phrase) that gets everyone’s eyebrows up and turns them into a word-of-mouth ambassador who takes you viral.

What’s your favorite NURD (New Word) from 2011?

Nominate it by Dec. 10.

Current Quotes - Sam Horn

Take your message to the next level


If your entry is selected for our 2011 POP! Hall of Fame; you’ll receive a prize … your choice of the audio version or paperback version of my new book Current Quotes: Intriguing Quotes from Today’s Top Icons, Innovators and influeners.

What’s different about Current Quotes? You have to be ALIVE to be included.

Here at the Intrigue Institute, we like John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill and Eleanor Roosevelt as much as the next person.

However, as soon as most people hear, “I have a dream …” or “The only thing we have to fear …” their eyes roll.

It’s not that profound quotes from those respected thought leaders aren’t true; they’re just not new.

The purpose of POP! is to break through busy people’s preoccupation and “been there, heard that” skepticism and get their favorable attention.

Submit the brand, book, product or program title or tagline that got your favorable attention this year – and help it get even more of the attention it deserves.

As our gift to you for submitting an entry, we’ll email you the 20 Most Intriguing Quotes from 2011 to get YOUR eyebrows up. Now, that’s a win-win-win.

To jump-start your thinking, here are our favorite entries so far plus a few winners from previous years.

1. YOumanity: A creative corporate campaign by Aviva Life Insurance that proves companies can contribute via a “rising tide that raises all boats” outreach.

2. Snuba: It’s half SNorkel and half ScUBA. It’s SNUBA, a multi-million dollar sport that shows there ARE new things under the sun.

3. Info-besity. We’re stuffed with information and starving for insight.

4. Random Hacks of Kindness: A worldwide gathering of tech types who collaborate for the common good.

5. Stuffocating: This NURD was coined by TV channel TLC for a program on the stifling impact of w-a-y too much stuff.

6. MEtailing: Customers use these online options to customize their purchases.

7. Jeggings: Part jeans – part leggings. This innovative product generated $180 M in sales, proving that POP! is more than clever word play; it helps produce bottom line profits.

8. Snowmageddon: What it’s called when 30 inches of snow gets dumped on Wash DC. An excellent example of an Alphabetized Word (1 of 25 techniques for creating your own NURD in POP! – which has been featured on MSNBC, BusinessWeek.com and in NY Times)

9. See Something, Say Something: Want your campaign to stay top of mind instead of be out-of-sight, out-of-mind? Put your tagline in a beat that makes it easy to repeat.

10. Yappy Hour: A Virginia Holiday Inn scaled its visibility and profitability by coining this clever name for their Friday night petworking alternative to the bark park.

So, what’s YOUR nomination for our 2011 POP! Hall of Fame?

Submit it to us at Sam@SamHorn.com by Dec. 10 with “2011 POP! Hall of Fame” in the subject line and we’ll send you the 20 Most Intriguing Quotes from 2011 just for taking the time to nominate it.

We look forward to seeing your entry.