Marketing Works, Have you Tried it?

Ok, folks. Let's think for a second. Are you REALLY marketing your brand or are you just telling a designer to put words on a paper or your website, with some pretty pictures? Or even worse (sorry, but I feel strongly about this) Your spending hours on constant contact and putting words on little yellow, pink, blue and white screens that are so long and boring, I never want to read them. (newsflash, cheap doesnt equal that people will read it. Sorry again, constant contact is so boring and tacky. I admit I used it within the first 7 months of the start of my business, but once I realized the power of aligning with a company to instill mine and my clients' marketing messages right so people will read them and become interested, I walked away from constant contact like a cheap dress at Wallmart.)

OK, back to the story and the story is MARKETING WORKS, but make sure you know how to market, or hire someone to do it for you because it works and here's a great example.

Fancy Feast cat food. This gourmet cat food is ground and smooth, like pate offering taste and texture to please a cats palette of discriminating taste. Choose from 11 different flavors for complete 100% balanced nutrition everyday.

Did you know that cat's have discriminating palettes? When was the last time your cat starved? (I know mine doesn't and she gets fed pretty darn well and we actually love her so much here at the office) But seriously folks. It's pretty obvious who this cat food is for. It's expensive and it sells. One flavor is even "grilled"! Do the cats know there is gravy in the chicken or do they care about the pate-like texture?

If people, like my mom, can spend hours in the cat food aisle thinking about what flavors to buy their little princess, Fancy Feast has done something right. They distinquished themselves, positioned themselves and sell to the most tasteful adults who want the best for their felines.

What does your marketing say? Do you have a position?

(this blog is dedicated to Toonces)

Great Minds Think Alike

In Seth Godin's Book, "Small is the new Big" I read a blog about how Larry Light, McDonald Corp's chief marketing officer said, "Mass marketing no longer works and that no single ad tells the whole story." This was quoted at adage.com. He mentioned a strategy called "brand journalism" He went on to say that effective marketing should use many stories rather than employing one message to read everyone.

He also said, "Any single ad, commercial, or promotion is not a summary of our strategy. It's not representative of the brand message. We dont need one big execution of a big idea. We need one big idea that can be used in a multi-dimensional, milti-layered and multi-faceted way."

Hellooo??? Is anyone out there noticing that Elizabeth Barry & Associates has done this on their own? We've invented the ADVERSTORIAL in gendance and the minds of the most elite in the business are writing about this. This is amazing. If you haven't inquired yet about advertising in gendance, you better get on the band wagon. This strategy is built to become the NEXT BEST THING for advertisers and it already is working. I'm actually impressed with myself!

(pssst. the best opportunity isn't even the concept of the story, we actually do ALL The work for you and the design. Gosh, it's so good. I have to stop blogging right now and calm myself down, I'm so excited about it!)

Why Good Design Really Matters

I recently read a blog by my Marketing hero, Seth Godin. He talked about the fact that Hershey Park spends nothing on their signage on their rides at the park. They’re WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS, WITH TIGHT LINE SPACING AND AN UNATTRACTIVE, HARD-TO-READ FONT. The cost of making the signs is precisely zero, he commented. It should be common sense that you can make a profit if you make your product look better. PERFECT EXAMPLE, folks. Keep reading…

He even mentioned that on one of the signs, there are more than 100 different type faces used. It’s true! (if you don’t know, it’s bad if you use more than three different type faces in one sign, flyer, etc. Look at your ads. How many typefaces do they have on them at once?)

If more people read the signs at Hershey, (meaning that if they were more attractive and designed well for a purpose) there would be less injuries, lines would move faster and Hershey would make more money. (hence, they’ll never be a Disney).

He said, “This decentralized, disrespectful method of communication quickly turns into no communication. (ah-ha! Get it. Are you investing in your ad design and look as much as you should be for the investment of placing the ads???)

His book, The Purple Cow, talks about being remarkable. When you’re remarkable, it’s not about doing a good job, it’s about being amazing, outstanding, surprising, elegant and noteworthy. BUT, THERE’S NO STYLE at Hershey. They’re spending lots of money on million dollar rides, but barely ending up being ‘very good’. Hershey does NOT feel like Disney; you won’t remember it after you leave and you won’t talk about it.

Design isn’t expensive, it’s an investment for your remarkable experience. People remember experiences, they remember things that they like to look at. Today, the marketing clutter is non-stop. If you don’t stand out, you won’t be remembered and you probably will be passed by.

If you look at the way we designed gendance, or take a look at any of the websites or marketing pieces that we’ve invested in with our clients, you’ll notice the care, the time, the precise ideas and concepts that we’ve implemented to put a quality product out there that people will remember, will be proud of, will talk about and will share.

If you feel like your brand is ready for this move, call us. Every year, more than 200,000 brides have their weddings at Disney. (how many people do you think got married at Hershey?) Now, think about this for your brand. Go ahead. Look at it. If you advertise in print. Look at your ad, then scroll through about 10 pages. Did you remember it? If so, that’s great. If you didn’t, do you think your customers will?

Come, be a Disney with us. It IS the MAGIC kingdom. Let’s create magic for your brand. This is an exemplary opportunity to truly think about how to get ahead-and why good design REALLY MATTERS in the long run.

Still thirsty for more?

If you’ve been following my Coca Cola and Pepsi story below, you’ll realize that it’s beneficial to look at your brand and change it up. Take risks in pursuit of rewards. Risk takers are leaders.

Speaking of taking… let’s take another look at how Pepsi’s re-branding of its logo changes from scenery to scenery-just in the NYC area alone. Our first photo was taken from a billboard entering the Lincoln Tunnel. (you can see that in a post below)

To the left, you can see how Pepsi chose to adorn the 34th Street/7th Ave intersection near Madison Square Garden. POP, POP, POP. Very cool. If you look closely, you’ll see different versions of the logo even.

Moving on, see what they've done with a Pepsi billboard as we’re heading out of the Lincoln tunnel. TOGETHER, eh? Brilliant.

Take a great lesson from this. If you have the opportunity to tweak your logo, what would you do? What type of campaign would you want to run if you had the chance to redesign a new logo? What would it say? It could mean the same thing, look differently and still get your customers’ attention?

Now, that’s a mouthful… of soda. (which I don’t drink by the way, but I do like the ads.) In fact, here’s a classic commercial for you to view. MORAL of the STORY. Follow major brand leaders and implement their tricks into your campaigns. And if you can’t do it on your own, call us, we can. We do it everyday at EB & A.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzxHDqUz8Sk

2nd moral of the story: What can a brand icon do for you? Is there a Max Headroom that you can create for your company? Hint: We’ve done it for gendance and for JAM Cosmetics. Subtle characters create brand love.

The Lipstick Effect

During the depression, there was an increase in cosmetic sales, especially lipstick. It’s a relatively small and inexpensive purchase that cheers you up. A great way to lift a mood. In this economy stress levels are high and people are looking for instant gratification.

In the lipstick department, consumers are NOW interested in the ingredients in the product. When they learn that there’s little difference between an expensive department store item and a drugstore splurge, it makes them feel smart and picks up their spirits. They think, “I don’t have to spend $40 for Estee Lauder, I can get products just as good for half!” They feel rewarded for trading down. You’ll notice an increase in cosmetic kiosks due to this “effect”. It gives consumers a department store feel, but allowing them to pay a lower price.

Do large cosmetic companies still have something to offer? Well, that depends. Some consumers still want the satisfaction of showcasing their Chanel lipstick, but for other products such as nailpolish, they won’t splurge if no one will see what brand it is, or care. Do people actually care about what nailpolish brand you wear anymore. Not so much.

Consumers are getting a new pleasure out of price transparency and begin to think along the lines of: “I’m not going to let BIG BRAND X take advantage of me anymore, I’m going to get the best bang for my buck with this new cool brand.”

How can we relate this to our industry of dance? When you think about your spending or the amount of money that you pay for a full page 4 color ad in any of the industry publications, how much is it? Go ahead. Say it out loud. Now, think about what you get for that full page. What has it done for you…? Do people still read those things? I mean, really read them? They may skim them, but their value has dropped.

The gendance difference is the new way of thinking of online marketing. It lifts your mood and it can get you saying, “YES! I love this product. It costs so much less, gives me the same exposure and it’s just as good, maybe even better.” Think about how you can use gendance. You save time because we come up with your ad concept for you. We design the ad for you. (how much time and $ have you saved already?) One customer recently told me that “Time is the enemy.” I thought to myself, and THAT is the reason why gendance will continue to grow.

We’re giving clients back their time, energizing them with our 'showcasing of their brands in a new light' and designing their ads. Our readers buy, react, love and learn about gd advertised brands. Plus, with each ad having its very own link you can send it out to your lists, use it for press, and you can also re-use and promote our icon ads. (that look so good. No joke.) Plus, when your icon ads are located in articles that are forwarded to lists of 30,000 or more, their buyers will be clicking on your ad and reading your brand story every time. No useless banner clicking on and off to your website, it’s time to educate. (google analytics show that readers are READING each ad and article and spending about 4-6 minutes each with them)

So, my dear prospects… I guess that gendance is the NEW SHADE of gorgeous lipstick. Try it on and you’ll wear it all year; especially at the elite events.

EB

The Choice of a New Generation-EB & A (LOL)

Is it time to update your logo and tagline? Take a lesson from mega-moguls Pepsi and Coke who refresh their logos at imperial times to keep audiences interested and updated with new reasons to buy. Along with their logos, they update their taglines. The fact is folks, that we need to stop and think about how we can keep our brands fresh. At the moment, Pepsi has taken their logo and crafted it into a smiling logo, but yet it still looks the same. Its part of it’s agency’s positivity push which also includes a new tagline: “Every generation refreshes the world.”

Pepsi’s Competitor, Coke has done its fare share of invigorating its customers and fans every year by developing new taglines. I’ve taken the liberty of lining up some of their tagline changes over the past years to show you how important it is to position yourself in the market, with the changing times. It doesn’t necessarily mean changing your look or everything that you’ve put into your brand, it just means that you keep it fresh for your customers. EB & A consulting offers numerous ways for you to consider these updates. We think you’ll be pleased with our concepts. Here’s some inspiration.

1963: Coke: Things go better with Coke/Pepsi: Come Alive! You’re in the Pepsi Generation
1969: Coke: It’s the real thing/Pepsi: You’ve got a lot to live. Pepsi’s got a lot to give
1973: Pepsi: Join the Pepsi people, feelin’ free
1976: Coke: Coke adds life
1982: Coke: Coke is it
1984: Pepsi: Pepsi. The choice of a new generation
1993: Coke: Always Coca Cola
1995: Pepsi: Nothing else is a Pepsi
2001: Pepsi: Joy of Pepsi
2006: Coke: The Coke side of life
2009: Coke: Open happiness/Pepsi: Every generation refreshes the world

And as you can see to the left, as you enter the Lincoln Tunnel to go to NJ, you'll see the word "yo" branded so eloquently as we leave the city subliminally telling us, "Yo, when you get to Jerse, pick yourself up an ice cold can of Pepsi,"

What Recession?

Here's a tip. With the economy in the dark side, I encourage you to take the bull by the horns and embrace the recession. Differentiate yourself from the masses and take the time to make sure that when this down time is over, you come out of the gate running. Because, you know what...when it's over, it's going to be a RACE. You need to take this time to get the ideas to compete when that time happens.

How? Well, perhaps hiring a strategic marketing firm like ours might be a good idea at this time. We give you the energy, the ideas and enthusiasm to keep going. We say: THINK BIGGER, BETTER, BRIGHTER and SMARTER. We take you to that higher level that you're searching for. Come on...bring us your challenges, your frustrations and roadblocks and we'll help you consider new ways to expose yourselves. We can help you improve your business ideas to create.

STOP. Think about it. Before now, you might have been skipping along doing the same thing all the time; same ads, same direct mail, same ole, same ole. It's easy to do the same thing when things are going well. But now, what are you gonna do?

How about taking a different and powerful tranformation/Detour to a wonderful place to reinvent your business.

Does your marketing, PR or 'position in the market' need a boost? Now's the time to think about it. As Trump says, THINK BIG, KICK A$$. I like to follow the rules of the big guys. They know what they're doing and they certainly always come out on top, don't they?