Work v. Create
In a world where your value to your clients, your company, and your career is dependent on your ability to create, it’s essential to practice inventive thinking as an organization. Develop the new. Innovate. Delight, entertain, and surprise. see more
Add it up
As the role of marketing continues to evolve in business, one would suppose that the CMO or head of marketing is becoming more accountable to business objectives and corporate growth drivers. Yet most marketers still find their role relegated to traditional marketing functions. Why is that?
A large part of the answer is metrics. Too many companies today still see marketing as a cost center. They still measure its performance not based on goals or definable objectives, but rather on dollars spent year over year, using brute force methodologies like ad to sales ratio, total revenues and in some cases, headcount. The mentality of “hit your sales number at the lowest possible expense” is as far as it goes in many businesses. It is surprising in this day and age that while sales targets are provided to marketers, many of them do not have corresponding profitability and marketing ROI goals. Continue Reading…
How many brands can you really be a fan of?
To better understand social media, it helps to look at social relationships, through the eyes of an anthropologist. In his research, Robin Dunbar discovered that because of cognitive limits, we humans can maintain no more than 150 relationships. What does Dunbar’s Number mean in the age of Facebook fans and Twitter followers? And how does this number affect brands competing for fans? Continue Reading…
Insights from taking my holiday shopping mobile
I don’t know about you, but I dread the holiday shopping season. I’m overwhelmed by all of the choices in the stores, the crowds and the parking hassles. My typical approach is to order everything online at the very last minute. This of course means that I’ve often wrapped the ad for the gift that’s on the way, but not under the tree.
I’m Not Just Buying Your Product
Well, Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2011 have come and gone, and by all accounts retail sales are up over last year, signaling a great month of December holiday shopping.
Most of the successful retailers are well aware of the importance of collecting customer information as part of the transaction, offering bonuses, coupons and discounts in exchange for the opportunity to start a relationship with you for the long-haul. As a marketing professional, I am quite happy to provide an email address if the company has a good privacy policy and I am a fan of the product. Continue Reading…
What An Artist Can Teach Us About Marketing
Maurizio Cattelan is a contemporary sculptor and artist. Most people outside of the art scene are probably unaware of him. But his recent exhibition had lessons for marketers about media and message. Continue Reading…
PurseStrings Launches in the Land Down Under
I’m off to Sydney for a media tour and the launch of my new book, PurseStrings. New, proven ways of reaching the hearts and minds of female consumers, co-authored with Amanda Stevens, one of the premier experts in marketing to women.
The book is the result of a successful partnership between HY Connect and Amanda that dates back several months.
In April, Amanda joined HY Connect to lead our Marketing to Women division. While she was here, Amanda, Elissa Polston, HY Connect Director of Strategic Planning, and I gave the opening presentation at the National Marketing to Women Conference. We shared some of the proprietary research we conducted, as well as a few examples of which advertising strategies do and do not resonate with the female consumer. We were overwhelmed by the positive response from conference attendees, including comments from representatives of Meredith Publishing that told us we had “…the best content of the entire conference.” Continue Reading…
Definition of Design
Design in the creative world has commonly been equated to the aesthetics of an execution. We designed fliers, billboards, print ads and direct mail pieces by giving them an attractive appearance and infusing them with visual balance.
Then, when the web gave us more control with CSS, we started to design landing pages, portals, microsites and websites. And because we already had so much experience designing things we just kept following the same process – attractive layout, visual balance, clear communication, etc… Continue Reading…
Changing Behavior By Adding F-U-N.
Marketers often try to motivate consumers by saying something is the right thing to do. Or the smart thing to do. A recent campaign shows that you can get much better results by adding another element: the fun thing to do.
We’ll start by focusing on one case history: VW in Sweden. It’s a classic campaign that started in 2009 and continues to this day. If you’ve seen the work already, it’s worth re-visiting. If you haven’t been to Stockholm recently, this should be new to you. Continue Reading…
Harness the Content Butterfly Effect
In the “old” days of digital (as in just a year or two ago), I advised clients to use their website as the backstop to all their advertising, both traditional and digital. The idea was to use your website as the payoff for campaigns and as a source for deeper product information. The website was the ultimate “source of truth” about your brand.
Then came social media, and the level of direct control over brand messaging has diminished. Now smartphone penetration, along with the rapid rise of tablets, has finally achieved significant, meaningful numbers, and social media is evolving into social commerce, moving influential content closer and closer to the moment of purchase. Continue Reading…
LoMoSo: The Information Expectation
Let’s try a quick thought experiment.
Take a moment and think back 15 years ago, to 1996. In 1996 how did you: Find movie times? Learn about world news? Find sports stats? Learn about the best restaurants? Manage your finances? Pay your bills? Research a project? Learn a new skill? Share photos? Or Watch video?
How do you do all of these things today?
For most of you, the answer is online. The web has woven itself into everything we do and it’s not slowing down. Being able to get through the clutter and have the right information, at the right time, from the right sources is paramount.
A Connector Rocks the Green
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Stage at Rock the Green
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Kiss Me I’m Irish T-shirt repurposed for Rock the Green by Goodwill.
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Each person received a water pouch that could be filled for free at fresh water filling stations. No bottled water was sold.
HY Connectors on the HY-brid marketing team don’t just talk green, they walk it. Heck, sometimes they even rock it.
On September 18, 2011, a group of people passionate about sustainability (and good music) converged on Veteran’s Park to Rock the Green. It was the Midwest’s very first, near-zero-waste sustainable music festival, but you’d never have known it. Despite the weather, the festival ran like a well-oiled biodiesel machine.
- The lineup included big names like Ben Folds, The Fray, Michelle Branch and Fitz and the Tantrums.
- All of the food was organic and local.
- The price of a ticket included a BPA-free, reusable water pouch. There was no bottled water sold at the event. Rather, there were several fresh-water refilling stations.
- Cyclists generated part of the power for the event. They also used solar panels and 100% B20 biodiesel generators.
- Concert tees were provided by Goodwill, who in the ultimate act of recycling laundered hundreds of t-shirts from its inventory and printed the Rock the Green over whatever was already on the shirts. (My very-Irish niece received a Kiss Me I’m Irish t-shirt with Rock the Green printed over it.)
- The proceeds from ticket sales went to support to great local organizations—the Park People of Milwaukee and the Urban Ecology Center.
Every cup, plate, knife, fork and spoon was compostable. I know, because I was right there in the trenches—or rather, at a composting station—explaining to people how to separate their disposables. At times, it was a dirty job, but it was fulfilling and I was glad to be a part of such a well-thought-out experience. A lot of people were there just for the music, but as I explained to them how InSinkErator was grinding all the food waste into slurry that was being transported by Veolia to MMSD to make Milorganite (a locally produced organic fertilizer), you could see the proverbial light bulb (energy efficient, of course) turn on. People weren’t just having fun; they were learning. That was really cool to see. Continue Reading…
212 Branding Steps
It used to be considered a rite of passage for a newly graduated male to purchase his first pair of formal dress shoes in which to properly enter the business world. The loafers, khaki pants and blue blazer which used to stand in as your dress-up outfit were put aside and, usually with your father’s assistance, you acquired some nice cap-toe brogues or wingtip oxfords, and almost always in black. My father strongly recommended his own brand of dress shoe, Allen Edmonds. His experience with Allen Edmonds began in the War, when Allen Edmonds was traditional issue for dress uniform in the Armed Forces.
Why we no longer have advertising on our walls.
It seems that we have always had a gallery of ads adorning the walls of our offices. Carefully crafted ads are, indeed, works of art. It provides a chance to show the impressive work we do for our clients and give visitors a chance to experience the high creative standards we set for ourselves.see more
Where Good Ideas Come From
Steven Johnson is a popular science writer. For five years, he studied the history of innovation. He wondered whether there were recurring patterns of creativity that could be applied to our lives and our organizations. Johnson published his findings in a book,Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation. It was named one of the best books of 2010 by The Economist. Continue Reading…