Lou Ouija's Restaurant

Sometimes... I feel like I can see the future. Building on my knowledge of the now, I see clearly the winding trails of possibility and fill in any gaps with my imagination.

Others though, see the future through the eyes of ghosts and spirits. This is for them.

People love theme restaurants. Even restaurants without blatant gimicky themes like Hooters, TGI Friday's, or Hard Rock Cafe still have themes. Sometimes the theme is as simple as the type of food. Indian, Ethiopian, or German, people go to restaurants wanting an experience.

Lou Ouija's would be a paranormal themed Mediterranean/Eastern European fusion restaurant, dimly lit and decorated like an opium den mixed with a gypsy camp and a Victorian library, curtains and tapestries, dark wood, and private booths enclosed in tents. The waiters and waitresses would be dressed like sexy gypsies. Most importantly, the tables would look like Ouija boards and customers, being guided by their server/medium, would choose what they want to eat using a Ouiji planchette or pointer.

The tables would either have the menu items on it or just a set of numbers that would correspond to various dishes, so that patrons would choose blindly. I know that the cartoon character I used for the graphic does not scream upscale, but I have to get your attention somehow. This would be a very upscale place.

Over 75% of the population of the United States believes in the paranormal in one form or another. Haunted houses, haunted attractions, psychic 900 numbers, Tarot card readers, and countless numbers of TV shows and movies tap into this bottomless market year after year without falter. Plus, Ouija boards are still popular, even among men with "bacne."

Let's talk marketing.

Sure there will be people not so happy about an occult restaurant opening in their neighborhood, but this is the best part of this idea. With Lou Ouija's, you will be opening a restaurant that will possibly get national news coverage right off the bat when some overly zealous christian group announces a boycott of it. Sure, you deny any and all satanic connections publicly, but you circulate rumors that the head chef was born to a woman with thirteen toes, and you have a destination restaurant built overnight! Open several locations around the world, always in cities, and always near sites of tragedies...

When you make a million dollars off this idea, please send me some money... or you might end up being haunted by my ghost. You wouldn't want that now would you?

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P.P.S. If you want to read a paranormal, erotic, mystery, thriller, comedy about Anna Nicole Smith's Ghost, click here.

P.P.P.S. I am still on Twitter. @ideasbychuck

P.P.P.P.S. If you see me in your living room, it's because I am a Hollywood Actor now, not because I am a ghost.

Fresh Chuck Of Bel-Air

People love a good rags to riches story. From Little Orphan Annie to Different Strokes, and all the Brewster's Millions in between, people love hearing about a downtrodden ragamuffins suddenly being lifted out of the gutter and put on a pedestal. Pretty Woman, King Ralph, Cinderella, and the list goes on.

Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air was a rags to riches story, and a huge hit show, and when Will Smith went back to the well with Pursuit of Happyness, it was an even bigger hit.

I feel like I am beating a dead horse, but I want to make sure we are all on the same page. You get it, right?

Here is the idea. Fresh Chuck Of Bel-Air: a reality show about me being adopted by a super rich family and going to live with them in their mansion, being taught how to be rich etc.





I know what you are thinking, "Chuck, you are a grown ass man. You look like you are homeless. You probably have bad breath. Why would anyone want to adopt you?"

First of all, I don't have bad breath. My oral hygiene is impeccable. Second of all, being a grown ass man has nothing to do with it. People love to see people of all ages stumble into fame and fortune. Third of all, me looking like a homeless person can only help make this show a hit. Just look at My Fair Lady, and don't be so careless as to forget Down And Out In Beverly Hills.

Still not convinced?

Really? Why not?

What you talkin' 'bout Willis?!

Fine! I'll try EVEN harder to see the stars from the gutter.


Look. Almost all reality shows center around this concept already. American Idol, The Apprentice (before they started hiring celebrities), Project Runway, Jersey Shore, all these shows are about getting plucked out of obscurity and being placed on a pedestal and or getting punched in the face. You know what I am saying.

Fresh Chuck Of Bel-Air would be Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air meets Down And Out In Beverly Hills meets Strangers With Candy. I wasn't a teen runaway and I have never really done hard drugs, but it would be funny like that, the part about me being adopted.

Take this show idea and run with it. Find me a rich family, and make it a big hit! Don't forget to give me some of the money you make off of me. I know I will be part of a rich family by then, but they will probably appreciate me pulling my weight none the less.

P.S. Subscribing to Ideas By Chuck has not, not been proven to cure blindness. Subscribe now HERE.

P.S.S. Dear Kardashian Family, this is your chance to have yet another TV show. Don't pass it up!

P.S.S.S. I am on Twitter... yes... still. @ideasbychuck

P.S.S.S.S. Feel free to tell your friend's mom about my blog. I know she might not be a big internet user, but if she has a computer and can get on the internet at all, she can probably figure out how to subscribe to my blog. Maybe you could help her out. Think about it.

Micro Spokespeople

A few weeks back, I ran a Facebook ad for myself, targeting only people who identified themselves with Tumblr, people that I might know already, inviting them to check out my Tumblr blog. Really, I was just testing to see how effective these ads are. I wanted to know if people completely ignore the ads on Facebook and or if they would respond to a familiar face.

Not only did I get more than a few click-throughs, I was also contacted by a number of people directly simply interested in how or why my face was showing up on their sidebar. A couple of the people who contacted me were online journalists thinking there might be some bigger reason behind the ads, like a book deal or a TV show.

This test cemented my belief in this concept, the concept of Micro Spokespeople, and no, I am not talking about the Micro Machines guy. Although, his super swift speech on how many marvelous Micro Machines there are, may never leave my head or heart.

Mirco Spokespeople would be fans of your product contacted and contracted to be used in Facebook and other similar pay per click ads on social networking sites to be targeted specifically at their possible IRL (In Real Life) friends and connections they might have through work, hobbies, and or location.

Spokespeople are chosen because they can come across as the guy's guy or the girl's girl or the old people's old person (see Wilford Brimley). Great spokesmen and women have broad appeal and often either come from greater things, or go on to greater things.

The problem with spokespeople these days is that there are just too many of them. There are just too many celebrities, period.

Marketing and advertising through online social networking has become so important because word of mouth has always been the most effective and most sought after form of advertising, because other online modes of messaging have proven to be totally unreliable, totally ineffective, or totally immeasurable. You like the lively alliteration in that sleek sentence?



Creating Micro Spokespeople would combine word of mouth with the celebrity spokesperson by turning kinda guy's guys and sorta girl's girls into a celebrities amongst their friends. Enticing their friends to ask how or why they are popping up on the sidebar, and if the new Low Fat Honey Italian Ranch from Hidden Valley is just as tasty as the original. Think of these Micro Spokespeople as ball-bearings instead of the monster truck tires of celebrity spokespeople. Ball-bearings are cheaper, more versatile, and nine times out of ten, more important.

I don't feel like this is the most brilliant idea I have ever had, but I don't see anyone doing it. I believe wholeheartedly that this could really be a game changer. So, if you or your advertising agency uses this concept to make millions of dollars, can you send me some, or maybe just give me a job.

P.S. Subscribing to Ideas By Chuck might be the smartest and sexiest thing you do today. Click here.

P.P.S. I am looking for a job as either a copywriter, social media manager, or celebrity image consultant. Let me know if you hear of anything. You can contact me via Twitter - @ideasbychuck

P.P.P.S. I think I have said this before, but I actually know what box the term, "Think outside the box," is referring to.

P.P.P.P.S. Hiring me might be the best idea you have ever had.

Super Supers

Over the last couple of months, I have worked on a few "viral video" campaigns. I acted in, produced, and directed (as much as one can direct something like this) a project to promote ADASport.com that involved a bunch of people going into an Apple store and playing with stuffed animals. If you want to check it out go here. I also acted in and worked in the production of a video featuring comedian/pundit Mo Rocca, promoting a global temporary housing company. You can see that one here. Yeah, I made the thumbnail.

I have also been working on developing a bunch of branded content concepts. Branded content is basically a return to the single sponsor TV show, like the good old days when Tide and other detergents sponsored "soap operas." This is the inevitable evolution of advertising in conjunction with online video content. As it becomes harder and harder for a video to "go viral" it is more and more important to build fan bases. One-off "viral videos" still have a place in the world, but branded content is where any major advertising investments should be made.

Wow. Boring! And don't think that I don't know what you are thinking. You are thinking that it seems like I have been way to productive for someone without the time or energy to do anything, but I never said that I didn't have the time, energy, or passion to do anything, just to make these ideas reality. Checkity check yourself!

What is Super Supers?

I started thinking about Super Supers right after I did the video for the global temporary housing company, and it is designed as branded content for either a global temporary housing company, or a hotel chain.

The basic concept is that a couple, some handsome youngsters, or a couple of hot chicks, travel around from apartment complex to apartment complex, or hotel to hotel, and check up on them. Yeah, like building supers. Get it?

It's basically a travel show, which people love (they do have their own channel), but a travel show that highlights the sponsor's locations and services. Did you know that the Millennium Hilton, Bangkok boasts sweeping city views (apparently also a perpetual puddle-see below)? Did you know that the Ritz Carlton, Berlin is an unforgettable 5-star hotel just steps from Potsdamer Platz. I wish I knew what Potsdamer Platz was, don't you? Think about it.

What's that? You think this idea needs a little twist?

Here is the twist. At every location visited, the hosts place a sticker with a special code on it in a secret place, someplace that no one would ever look without having seen the show (someone finding it without having seen the show won't know its importance anyway). The code will be redeemable online for sweet prizes, real prizes, not like a key chain or some 10% off coupon. This will encourage people who travel a lot for business to watch every episode and pressure the person who books their travel arrangements to book them rooms at the sponsor's hotels.

I know you can sell this to someone, so go make a pilot, and remember that even though I now have a real job (Brand X Group), I could still use some of that money, so please send me some.

P.S. There is still time to subscribe to Ideas By Chuck. It's quick and easy. Click here.

P.P.S. If you were scared to hire me to think for you before, back when I was a lone gun, but now you are thinking you would like to hire me, contact me at TheBrandXGroup.com

P.P.P.S. Have you bee keeping up with me on ChuckMcCarthy.com? Why not?

P.P.P.P.S. I did a guest writing stint on LiquidGeneration.com for the last couple of weeks.

P.P.P.P.P.S. I am still on Twitter. @ideasbychuck

Boy Meets Blogger

I am sure that all of you, my millions of fans, will remember that a while back I had an idea for a reality show staring me. Well, yeah, I know I have tons of ideas, so if you don't remember, you can click here.

Unfortunately for the viewing public, and all those would be reality show moguls nothing has come of this idea...yet.

But, since I let that idea float out into the world, like a Scooby Doo shaped mylar balloon spiraling to the heavens, I have been in contact with a bloggirl (that's pronounced blog-girl not blo-girl) named Molly McAleer or Molls. If you have been paying attention, you know she interviewed me for her web show, The Molls Show.

Now, I never met Kurt Vonnegut, but I can't imagine him not accusing me of having a brain to big for my own good. Thoughts started to swirl through my brain, thought of some sort of show about me and Molly hitting the mean streets of Hollywood like Laverne and Shirley, trying to make it our way, but in Hollywood, not Milwaukee. Well, these thoughts just kept swirling around in my brain until I finally told Molly about them...

YOU GUYS GOT LUCKY! She liked the idea, and together we came up with this:

Title: Boy Meets Blogger
Genre: Reality
Logline: The Hills meets Real World: Season 1 meets the Internet.

Back Story:

Molly McAleer and I were brought together by a plot line ripped from the pages of a terrible romantic comedy script.

Molly saw a flier for my website IdeasByChuck.com, took a picture of it, and made fun of me for it on her blog MollsSheWrote. She said that I was clearly just some guy trying to get a book deal by using budget fliers with quaint hand-drawn illustrations. My friend Mack saw her post and sent it to me along with this message, "This girl saw your ad. She is famous on the internet."


I found Molly on Twitter, and asked her if she had even looked at my website. She hadn't, so I bugged her until she checked it out.

When she finally really read my site and discovered that I am pretty famous on the internet too, she asked to interview me for her web show. I said yes, and made her a $5000 tshirt to show that there were no hard feelings.

We finally met in real life, hit it off, and discovered that we had a lot in common... way too much in common...


Synopsis:

Boy Meets Blogger would be about internet personalities, Chuck McCarthy and Molly McAleer teaming up to create new, high concept blogs (think stuffwhitepeoplelike.com) and other internet projects in an attempt to land a book deal or something even bigger...

Research for these new blogs would take them from the mean streets of LA to Hollywood clubs, dive bars, and car parks and everywhere in between, while revealing the day to day drama of their lives that will whip audiences into a frenzy of speculation over their relationship... Is there something more than friendship there?


Yeah? Yeah? Yeah, I know, pure gold right? This show has the two things that people are looking for these days, web ties and awesomeness.

Take this idea and run with it! Make it happen! If you need something to pass around to get people excited about this, you can send them BoyMeetsBlogger.com.

P.S. Subscribe to ideas by chuck before there are too many people on the internet and we stop letting people in.

P.P.S. Go Go Lucky Pants! You know what I am talking about.

P.P.P.S. Have you checked out decepticondoms.com?

P.P.P.P.S. I am on twitter now. @ideasbychuck. I promise that even my inane chatter is still fairly amusing.