If your brand is creativity, and you are looking to sell creativity you better sell it creatively. That sums up Dian Thomas. She is true to her own brand.

Dian’s national media career was launched when she spent 17 minutes with Johnny Carson on NBC’s Tonight Show back in 1975.

“As I stood waiting backstage, I heard Ed McMahon announce, “Hereeee’s Johnny!” The show was off and running. I was the first guest on that night. Right off the top, I showed Johnny how to start a fire with two batteries and a fine grade of steel wool. I gave him the batteries and he put them together like they go into a flashlight. Then he placed the fine-grade steel wool on the bottom and brushed it across the top of the batteries. The steel wool burst into flames. This ignited the next 17 minutes with idea after idea.

I showed him how to cook eggs and bacon in a paper sack, how to boil water in a paper cup, how to cook meatloaf in an onion, and how to bake a cake in an orange. I also baked a pineapple upside-down cake in a box with a see-through oven bag wrap window over the top.

As the segment came to an end, Johnny reached down for the paper bag and put his hand on the bottom. He began jumping around on the stage saying words I cannot repeat. He then laughed and said, “Look at this!” He showed the audience the eggs and bacon, now cooked on the bottom of the bag.

When the segment ended he turned to me and said, “Great Job! I will go back and plug your book.” With an opportunity like this, my book Roughing it Easy took off and climbed quickly to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list, where it stayed all summer, only to be beat out by The Joy of Sex. I have said the only way that I can be number 1 again is to write a book called Sex in the Woods.”

Fast forward a few decades following her illustrious career with her creative approach to “Roughing it Easy.” Dian and I met at the international toy fair in New York only to learn we lived just a few miles from each other in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Dian had wanted to reach out to Food companies and their PR firms to become a spokesperson for their brands. She had long determined that if she were to do so she would have to maintain her brand of creativity to be of any interest to them. With my track record of creative influence, I became her teammate. To work with a bigger-than-life personality was a treat for me. Together we crafted one of her signature “creative food ideas” and turned it into an irresistible direct mail package.

We created this mailer with Kick-the-Can Ice Cream as a demonstration of her creative prowess. The package included everything but the ice to make homemade Ice Cream right in the office. It was sent to the marketing and publicity directors of some of the nation’s large food companies and their respective public relations firms. The campaign was so well received that it landed Dian several national PR tours and a regular position on NBC’s “Home Show” every Monday.

Though Dian’s Kick-the-Can Ice Cream campaign would seem to be a winner at first glance, it succeeded because it followed the precise formulas required to make any communication effort work. Mostly it did so while staying true to Dian’s own brand. It is a great example of creative influence. Learn more about Dian, her books, her speaking opportunities, and her pure energy by visiting her site at www.dianthomas.com or contact her directly at info@dianthomas.com or more directly by calling (801) 277-4332 or (801) 414-9541.