Weekend Reading

From MarketingCharts.com:

Behind the Curve: Week Ended Jan. 15, 2010

Below are some links to recent research news, studies and lists from the collection of items that MarketingCharts didn’t get to writing up this week, but still may be worth a peek:

SMS Becoming Prevalent Among Older Generations

Ad Age Whitepaper Explores “The New Female” (pdf)

Babble’s Top 50 Mommy Bloggers

Mom 101’s Top Mommy Bloggers who Didn’t Make Babble’s Top-50 List

Harvard Names Top 100 CEOs

Netflix Movie Title Popularity Varies by Zip Code

Top 5 Recommendations For Local Online Advertising In 2010

Quality, Not Quantity, Key to App Success

Avatar Movie Raises 3DTV Interest

Social Media and Apps Overwhelm Latin American Mobile Operators

McKinsey: How Business Interacts with Government

Google’s Latest Research Shows Search Marketing’s Impact on Travel

Canadians Becoming Fatter, Sicker & Weaker

Divorce is Bad for Business

Superbowl Still Sells Despite Uncertain Economy

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Haiti & Social Media

from Mediapost yesterday:

The Red Cross Just Had A Marketing Breakthrough

This week has been a heart-wrenching week for many people around the world. Haiti, one of the poorest nations in the world, was practically destroyed by a series of severe earthquakes. One must search long and hard to find the silver lining in a tragedy such as this. Although, the silver lining in this tragedy already seems to be the world's response with money and aid. Nothing pulls a community (even the world community) closer during harsh economic times than working together to help our brothers and sisters in a vital time of need.

The opportunities to help the Haitian people are numerous, but one technique stands out to me as the "ultimate participation opportunity" for Gen Y. But before I reveal what this brilliance is, we must first identify the problem that existed in Gen Y's willingness to give (and I don't mean the earthquake).

The problem: how can a charity make itself easy to give to? The cause itself rarely is enough. And although Gen Y gets a bad rap as an apathetic generation, we are not. We have a better understanding than most generations when it comes to viewing the world as "one big community."

But, often times, charities aren't meeting the "needs" of those it asks from. No one writes checks, and even online giving isn't doing the job for Gen Y. The fast-paced, multi-tasking nature of Gen Y often is a hindrance when it comes to charitable giving.

The Red Cross figured it out (or at least I'm giving it credit for figuring it out). It is allowing mobile phone users to simply text the work "Haiti" to 90999. By doing this, it has cracked the code to Gen Y giving.

The good people of Gen Y average 740 texts per month, according to a study conducted by Participatory Marketing Network and Pace University. Now Gen Y (and everyone else) can type in 10 characters into their mobile devices and affect a tragic situation in another part of the world. That, my friend, is what technology, marketing, and ingenuity is all about.

As marketers we all know that Gen Y uses alternative forms of communication (although they really don't seem that alternative anymore). But the Red Cross should serve as an example of an organization that puts lightning in a bottle. The right process met the right generation at the right time.

Here's hoping that this program has continued success. God knows that Haiti needs it.

Peter Dunn is the Gen Y financial expert who created the successful financial education programs Green Candy and 60 Days to Change. His book, "60 Days to Change: A Day by Day Guide to Changing Your Financial Life in Just 60 Days," will be published in the fall of 2009. Peter appears regularly on Fox Business News and Studio B with Shepard Smith. He is also the host of the popular radio show "Skills Your Dad Never Taught You" on News Talk 1430 (WXNT). Peter blogs regularly at www.petetheplanner.com/blog. Email him or follow him on Twitter. Reach him here.

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Using Testimonials

from my email:

Daily Sales Tip: Use Loyal Customers as Leverage

Proven results are a major selling point, which is why so many salespeople rely on buyer testimonials to boost their credibility.

Used correctly, testimonials and case studies can create the type of urgency that compels a prospect to buy.

Case studies can also demonstrate how your products and services have helped some of the prospect's top competitors generate more revenue or branch out into new markets.

You may even want to take it a step further, by showing prospects how much revenue they stand to lose by stalling, or putting off the sale indefinitely.

Source: Sales consultant/speaker Kendra Lee (www.klagroup.com)

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Friday Night Marketing News from Mediapost

More updates all weekend long....

Telecom

Mobile Phones To Get A Little More Rock 'n' Roll

by Aaron Baar

Famed electric guitar maker Fender is partnering with T-Mobile and HTC to market a new Fender co-branded myTouch 3G wireless handset. The new phone, which will be available on Jan. 20, is designed to look like a Fender guitar with a sunburst-finish-inspired design. ...Read the whole story >>

Cause-related

Marketers Line Up To Speed Relief To Haiti

by Karl Greenberg

The queue of marketers pitching in money and products to help out in Haiti is getting a lot longer. And some companies that pitched in early are upping the ante. Aid organization World Vision says it is working a lot of U.S. corporations now and has 370 staff on the earthquake-ruined island. ...Read the whole story >>

Restaurants

Del Taco Creates Cross-Media Humor Platform

by Karlene Lukovitz

The series is set at a Del Taco "just up the street" and hosted by an actor playing a Del Taco employee named Wes. Sketches and vignettes feature both animated and live characters, including Wes's roommate Barry (a voracious Del Taco fan) and the "Hot Sauce Girls" (Dallas cheerleader types). ...Read the whole story >>

Retail

NRF: Holiday Sales Gained After All

by Sarah Mahoney

"With an eye on managing inventory and maintaining lower price points, retailers did a tremendous job of planning for the holiday season," NRF Chief Economist Rosalind Wells says. "While the consumer appears to be spending again, double-digit unemployment numbers will remain an impediment to maintaining this momentum." ...Read the whole story >>

Packaged Goods

Seventh Generation Debuts First National Campaign

by Tanya Irwin

"When people understand how long we've been at this, and that it's everything we do, not just select products, there's a lot of trust that comes with that," Deshaies tells Marketing Daily. The TV, print and online ads focus on Seventh Generation's role in helping people protect their families from hazardous chemicals. ...Read the whole story >>

Regulation

Under New Captain, FTC Trims Sails For Speed

by Karl Greenberg

Among the areas Gordon said the commission will revisit are advertising to kids, health claims for food and supplements, and privacy issues. And changes are definitely on the way around testimonial and endorsement. "You will have to disclose much more prominently that, say, for weight loss claims, results are not typical." ...Read the whole story >>

Beverages

Coke Gets Millions In Media Value From 'Idol'

by Wayne Friedman

Coca-Cola gets some big-star media value for its on-air, branded content on "American Idol" -- a sparkling $12 million just from the show's initial premiere episode. The beverage giant gets consistent on-air exposure with every episode because of its omnipresent logo-ed cups that appear regularly in shots on the judges' desks. ...Read the whole story >>

Zale Corp. Shakes Up Management

Bagel Chains Offer Freebie To Facebook Fans

Macy's Offers Casting Call To Designers

Beyonce To Reappear In Nintendo Ads

Northwestern Mutual Chooses Olson

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Another Free E-Book

So, you don't have time to read all the material you have?

Perhaps this will help.

From Jill Konrath:

FREE eBook to Increase Your Sales Productivity

Posted: 04 Jan 2010 08:29 AM PST

Make more calls. Set up more appointments. Do more demos. Write more proposals. There's only so much MORE you can do before you collapse under the sheer weight of it all.

That's why you need to get Increase Sales Productivity in 2010, a comprehensive new ebook by Nancy Nardin of Smart Selling Tools. You'll discover tools to help you:

• Manage opportunities
• Follow up with leads
• Identify contacts
• Uncover trigger events
• Collaborate with others
• and much more!

Only read this book if you want to win a whole lot more sales with a whole lot less effort. As a bonus, you'll also be seen as more relevant, savvy, concerned and credible.

Click here to get your FREE copy. Registration is required.

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The Melting Pot

Since I work in radio, I deal with statistics and numbers all the time. But you really have to go above and beyond the averages and mix in some real life examples of who we are.

My Dad's side of the family traced their history back 250 years and discovered they migrated to New England, (Maine, New Hampshire & Vermont) from... Canada!

We have more checking to do to find out how they got to North America.

On my Mom's side, it is easier. About 110-120 year ago my great grandparents arrived in the United States from Austria and Germany.

These days, the largest minority group is Hispanic. But before you lump all of them together, read this from Mediapost:

An Inside Look At Multiculturalism

When hiring for Captura Group, I am always on the look-out for people who combine an innate understanding of the Hispanic culture and digital medium. When I met Jennifer Manriquez a couple of years ago, I realized that she possessed both qualities and something more. She and her family represent a new multicultural general market and are an example of why, by 2050, minorities will be the majority in the United States.

What does that mean for us marketers?

We need to proactively address the demographic shift that's occurring right now.

Jennifer was born in North Tonawanda, N.Y., a community of 32,000 people, out of which 97.9% are Anglo, and where Kimmelweck rolls are hugely popular. Jennifer remembers her father asking her if her friend Adrian from high school was Puerto Rican. Jennifer did not know what he meant. She asked Adrian if he was Puerto Rican and that was the beginning of a journey that has transformed her into being what America is becoming, more and more multicultural.

North Tonawanda meets Mexicali

Jennifer ended up moving to San Diego, where she met Arnulfo Manriquez, or "Nufi," an immigrant from Mexicali, Mexico, and got married. She then became Jennifer Manriquez, and the country became a little bit more diverse.

Jennifer distinctly remembers her first experiences trying to fit in to the Manriquez family. At a family wedding, Jennifer was with Nufi's multiple sisters and aunts who didn't realize she spoke Spanish.

"Ella esta muy flacita, no es Latina para nada" ("She is too skinny, she is not a Latina"), they said in front of Jennifer, who played it cool. When her future cuñadas and tías realized she spoke Spanish, they were slightly embarrassed, but, more importantly, a bit more accepting of the skinny white girl from North Tonawanda.

It took a while for Nufi's mom to come around as well. At an early family dinner, la suegra cooked spicy chile rellenos for the family and a bland chicken dish just for Jennifer. Jennifer, who loves spicy food, immediately downed the chile rellenos, and her future mother-in-law said with a smile, "You really are a bit Mexican."

Tamales meet Kimmelweck Rolls

Today Jennifer and Nufi are happily married and have three kids. Although they mainly consume English media, they speak to their children only in Spanish at home. They celebrate Christmas on both Dec. 24 with tamales and salsa and the 25th with ham, scallop potatoes and Kimmelweck rolls.

When Judge Sonia Sotomayor was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, Jennifer's oldest daughter asked her, "What is a Latina, Mom?" Without hesitation, Jennifer answered, "You are." Her inquisitive daughter then asked, "What are you mom?" and Jennifer said, "I am white."

Jennifer's advice to marketers is to inject multiculturalism into advertising and messaging. "Advertising that reflects my family's multicultural reality is what resonates with me."

Lee Vann is founder and CEO of Captura Group Captura Group. For nine years he has led Hispanic interactive initiatives for clients including the U.S. government, Allstate Insurance Co., Century 21, PayPal and Ford Motor Co. Rea

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More than a Salesperson

from RainToday.com:

Stop Selling and Help Your Clients Buy: Become a Trusted Resource

By Steven Van Yoder

In the good old days, businesses could plan their marketing campaigns based on a fairly consistent economy and clients' willingness to spend. For decades, companies could conduct initial marketing planning and research, followed by money, time, and resources, and good results were often predictable.

No more.

The recession has profoundly altered buying behavior. Now, as home values plummet, stock portfolios shrink, and company profits erode, prospects are less likely to purchase services they perceive they can't afford and thrift is back in vogue.

"Some suggest the recession has endured so long and spread pain so broadly that it has seeped into the culture, downgrading expectations … and eroding the impulse to buy," reads a recent New York Times article Reluctance to Spend May Be Legacy of Recession. "The Great Depression imbued American life with an enduring spirit of thrift. The current recession has perhaps proven wrenching enough to alter consumer tastes, putting value in vogue."

How to Build Trust with Clients 17 Trust-Based Tips for Selling in a Recession How an Ebook Established One Firm as a Thought Leader, Differentiated It from Its Competitors You Had Me at Hello: 9 Ways to Quickly Gain Trust During the Sales Process

Before the downturn, many businesses and clients had come to assume that "affluence" was the norm and spent freely. As clients and businesses fear for the future, they are hardwired to say "no." This new psychology is driving prospects to impulsively slash spending and lend greater skepticism to your marketing claims.

Focus on Making a Difference, Not Getting a Sale

Thriving in these uncertain times requires a new mindset. Your prospects still have the same challenges, and your firm can still deliver value. But the recent shift in psychology requires new approaches for generating awareness and building a case for your services.

The Beryl Companies, a provider of outsourced customer service to the healthcare industry, implements a strategy based on educational marketing over self-promotion. The company recently created The Beryl Institute, a research and education arm for developing white papers, webinars, and benchmarking statistics that are disseminated free to healthcare providers nationwide.

"The richness of the information we have at our fingertips provides great insight into the behaviors, needs, and demographics of healthcare consumers across the U.S.," says Paul Spiegelman, founder and CEO of Beryl. "The Beryl Institute provides value to our target market and positions our firm as a thought leader by disseminating this valuable data."

The Beryl Institute's white paper, Understanding the Importance of Accountability for Hospital Marketing Investments (PDF), for example, helps hospital executives measure the return on investment of their marketing expenditures. Beryl's educational seminars and webinars about the value of customer relationship management are offered to directors and executives at client and prospect companies.

Beryl's educational efforts have helped a relatively small, privately held company develop a national reputation.

"Our thought-leadership initiatives give customers comparative data and case studies that improve their businesses," says Spiegelman. "Thought leadership positions us as a partner who puts our customer's needs first, rather than a vendor eager to sell more products and services. We've earned a reputation as a company that actively shapes our industry."

Position Your Firm as a Trusted Advisor

Today, prospects avoid, filter, and run around your well-crafted marketing tactics. They use the Internet to find companies on their own and verify services before committing their scarce purchasing dollars.

Yet, buyers want to do business with brands they trust. When your marketplace views your business as an advisor, rather than a self-serving salesperson, you'll experience lower sales resistance by putting prospects' needs first, helping them make sound, informed decisions rather than pushing for the sale at all costs.

"The Internet and global competition have completely changed the face of selling since the 1990s," says Mahan Khalsa, author of Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play: The Demise of Dysfunctional Selling and the Advent of Helping Clients Succeed. "Companies are no longer relying on a salesperson to get them information, because it's now readily available from a number of other sources. If you aren't directly helping the person in front of you by providing intelligence and insight that they can't get anywhere else, having a good relationship isn't going to get you sales anymore."

The secret to reaching today's buyers is delivering valuable, honest advice at each stage of the buying cycle. Giving away valuable information through thought-leadership marketing is a cost-effective way to position your business as a trusted resource, breaking through consumer marketing roadblocks with educational information they seek when it's increasingly difficult getting your foot in the door.

Now's the Time to Reevaluate and Focus

Whatever your opinion of the current economic crisis, on this we can probably agree: the rules of marketing and selling have changed. It's time to reconsider how to build and maintain a successful business in an age of uncertainty.

If you've been fairly broad and unfocused in your marketing efforts, it's time to stop. It pays to cultivate a reputation within specific target markets or industries. This approach is more cost-effective and ensures that your marketing is aimed at clients seeking maximum value from services customized to their particular needs.

If you're a B2B seller, you need to focus on industries where you have the potential to dominate the market. Trusted, industry-focused brands are especially valued and have a better shot at earning buyer trust and launching new services successfully.

Most important, trusted brands can quickly establish a reputation as a leading provider of services to a particular industry. Marketing is easier, and company principles can easily use public speaking, webinars, teleseminars, white papers, and other thought-leadership tactics to develop customized information to industry-specific needs.

Before taking action, talk to members of your marketplace, including prospects, clients and non-competing services providers, and explore how to tweak your existing offerings, or develop entirely new services tailored to unmet needs.

When you mold your business to very specific audiences, you give your marketing a sharp, natural focus while ensuring that all your efforts pull in a strategic, predetermined direction. Target marketing will help you allocate your marketing efforts and resources for maximum return and establish your brand in the most lucrative markets.

Marketers ignore the new economic realities at their peril. The recession has ushered in a wholesale reappraisal of brand loyalty. According to a recent article in The Economist, "The winners will be those that adapt intelligently to the new reality. The losers will be those who think they can win simply by telling consumers to 'Want It!' "

---

Steven Van Yoder is the author of Get Slightly Famous ™: Become a Celebrity in Your Field and Attract More Business with Less Effort. He also produces the free Get Slightly Famous Podcast and specializes in helping professional firms become recognized leaders in their industries. For more articles, audio interviews and free resources, visit the Get Slightly Famous Webzine.

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Thursday Night Marketing News from Mediapost

Last night I read that text messaging a donation raised over $1,000,000 within 24 hours.

Packaged Goods

Haiti in Rubble: Marketers, Aid Groups Rush To Help

by Karl Greenberg

Coca-Cola has pledged $1 million through the Coca-Cola Foundation to the American Red Cross for disaster-relief. The company says it is also providing bottled water and other products through its bottler in the adjacent Dominican Republic. ConAgra, GM and TD Bank have each donated $100,000 to the Red Cross. ...Read the whole story >>

Beverages

Pepsi's Pumped-Up 'Refresh' Initiative Kicks Off

by Karlene Lukovitz

As of today, the Pepsi Refresh site is open to submissions for the first round of awards. Pepsi Refresh is notable both for its scale and Pepsi's level of commitment to the concept. This year, for the first time in more than two decades, the brand is forgoing a Super Bowl ad in favor of shifting those funds to Pepsi Refresh. ...Read the whole story >>

Automotive

VW Is Back In Super Bowl After Nine Years

by Karl Greenberg

The company says the retail campaign, kicking off right after the Super Bowl, will include TV, online, outdoor, radio and newspaper elements as well as POP materials. A digital and social media program that touts the entire VW lineup will not feature Max the Beetle, who helped to establish "Das Auto" in the U.S. market in 2009. ...Read the whole story >>

Research

Get Rich? 70% Don't Think It's Possible

by Sarah Mahoney

"The implications for the economy and the country are not good," says Bankrate's Sheyna Steiner. "When people feel pinched economically, they stop spending, and stop taking risks with their money -- investing in themselves and starting businesses." ...Read the whole story >>

Telecom

Cox Launches Campaign Backing Wireless Intro

by Tanya Irwin

The creative features a faux wireless service provider, "Your Wireless," at a mall kiosk. Consumer reactions ranged from "You're going to charge me for not using all of my minutes?," to "That's horribly unfair." The mall shoppers react negatively when presented with the opportunity to buy these currently available plans. ...Read the whole story >>

Technology

KGB Playing With Big Brands At Super Bowl

by Aaron Baar

The company is currently mulling three commercials -- including one that would feature actors William and Stephen Baldwin -- to air during the third quarter of the game. The other two will likely run during pre-game coverage that day as part of a new campaign for the company. ...Read the whole story >>

Webroot Names Chris Benham First CMO

Sears Taps Former Wal-Mart Exec For Retail Post

Toyota, Honda Win Polk Loyalty Awards

Jamba Juice Launching Hot Beverages

Armani Inks Music Music Deal With ITunes

HSBC Expands Airport Branding to LAX

Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism: We're Open

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Sign, sign everywhere a sign...

And there's a reason for those signs....

From Villing & Company:

Long Live Outdoor: Why This Traditional Medium Will Be Around for the Long Haul

Jan. 13, 2010

Written by:
Scott Tingwald

As someone who came up through the marketing ranks via the traditional media outlets, it’s nice to see one of the old standbys, outdoor advertising (or out-of-home marketing as the genre is sometimes called), still as relevant today as it was twenty years ago - perhaps even more so.

I say more so because of outdoor’s ability to still capture a mass audience in a world of increasing fragmentation due to MP3s, satellite radio, DVRs and everything else out there that tend to restrict marketing messages to the masses.

As my colleague, Nathan DeSelm, so delicately admitted in a December blog boasting his imperviousness to marketing messages: “outdoor/environmental advertising are sometimes able to sneak through, basically because there doesn’t seem to be any way to avoid it short of gouging out my own eyes.”

And because most of us are (fortunately) unwilling to go to such extremes to avoid out-of-home messages, the outlook of the medium appears to be bright for many years.

Not only can outdoor still effectively reach a local or regional audience through a dedicated campaign of multiple billboards - its traditional intention - but it also has the unique potential to set off a virtual firestorm of awareness with the placement of one simple billboard - due in large part to the Internet and social media.

If you live around South Bend, remember the national attention that a bulletin above a local watering hole near the University of Notre Dame drew in September when it offered ”Best wishes to Charlie Weis in the fifth year of his college coaching internship.” The billboard was only up a short time (three days) before being taken down, but in that short period of time, that one 14’ x 48’ piece of vinyl garnered enough attention to be picked up by The New York Times and ESPN among dozens of other national outlets. All totaled, Google reports over 27,000 results when you search for “Charlie Weis billboard.”

Then there’s the publicity that coat-maker Weatherproof Garment Co. received from its recent Times Square ad featuring President Obama wearing one of the company’s coats while standing atop the Great Wall of China. Weatherproof had paid for the Associated Press image and highlighted it on a billboard in the Big Apple’s highest-profile spot. The company has since agreed to remove the ad at the urging of the White House.

Again, it was another short-lived campaign and one could question the integrity of the company’s tactics, but Weatherproof definitely got its money’s worth for their week in the spotlight.

I believe the real strength of out-of-home marketing over the next decade will be its ability to continually push the traditional boundaries to find new ways to reach people when they are out and about. A few years ago, Villing & Company attracted a great deal of local attention with a nearly 40-foot banner on the side of a downtown parking garage promoting the upcoming McDonald’s High School All-American Games in South Bend.

“experts say to expect more ads on public property as companies look to cut through the clutter of traditional advertising”

Speaking of fast-food, an excellent recent example is the news that KFC is giving Indianapolis and nearby Brazil, IN $7,500 so it can emblazon founder Colonel Sanders’ face on hydrants and fire extinguishers to promote new “fiery” chicken wings. KFC told the two cities that it wanted to improve their fire safety by helping pay for new hydrants and extinguishers in public buildings in exchange for ads on them.

A January 7th Associated Press article about the campaign added that “experts say to expect more ads on public property as companies look to cut through the clutter of traditional advertising. Cash-strapped governments have long sold space on mass-transit vehicles, benches, trash cans and other public property to help stretch budgets.”

If that is indeed the case, this is one traditional media outlet that, by adapting to the changing media environment and seizing emerging opportunities, is well on its way to securing its relevancy for at least another 20 years.

If you enjoyed this article or would like to receive your own personal "subscription" to Villing & Company’s News & Views, click here to get free updates by e-mail or RSS.

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New Ad Campaigns

I've seen 2 of these, how about you?


From Amy:

Fans make the music. Snowfall alerts. Threesomes. Let's launch!

The Recording Academy unveiled a great ad campaign for the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards, airing Jan. 31 on CBS. "We're All Fans" features fans' postings from YouTube, Twitter, Flickr and Facebook that pay homage to favorite musicians. Traditional components drive traffic to a Web site that's updated in real time with postings on GRAMMY-nominated artists. One TV ad is a collage of LL Cool J fans uploading videos of themselves lip-synching lyrics to "Rock the Bells," and tweets from fans and the rapper himself. Watch it here. I expected the song used throughout Lady Gaga's TV spot to be "Paparazzi," since it contains lyrics such as "I'm your biggest fan." But I was wrong. "Poker Face" is used instead. I like the ad's ending with fans belting out song lyrics. See it here. Print and outdoor ads create a collage of tweets and YouTube videos of the five artists nominated for Album Of The Year -- Beyoncé, the Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, Dave Matthews Band, and Taylor Swift. See the ads here, here, here, here and here, created by TBWA/Chiat/Day Los Angeles.

Three's not a crowd in a TV spot for Dolce & Gabbana's D&G Time -- but four, on the other hand... A young woman leads her paramour through a dimly lit hallway, stopping to kiss in front of a mirror. The viewer sees the reflection of a second man watching the two lovers. Tensions seem to fade fast as the lucky lady receives affection from both men on a nearby sofa. Everything is going smoothly until the woman's mother walks in and lets out a loud scream that is stifled by a hand wearing a stylish D&G watch. Watch the ad here. Cyril Guyot directed the ad, edited by Company X.

A teenage girl's father lets loose while on a Carnival Cruise Lines vacation. He wears shorts, goes offline for days and bursts her bubble, literally. The daughter comes across her father dancing wildly and the bubble she is blowing explodes. "Fun for all. All for fun," closes the ad, shown here. Arnold created the ad and MPG handled the media buy.

Interstate Batteries launched a TV spot illustrating the importance of a dependable car battery. "Pinball" begins with two friends watching a car slide down an icy road. A light bulb goes off in one friend's head: his car is parked at the bottom of the icy hill. Will the out-of-control car stop in time? Rather than wait and see, our friend bolts out of his apartment, runs down the icy hill and makes it to his car in plenty of time. Too bad his car won't start. "Shoulda had an Interstate," says the man from the runaway car. See the ad here, created by Firehouse.

Mammoth Mountain, a winter resort in California, is running a series of digital billboards in Los Angeles through Feb. 14 called "Mammoth Dump Alerts." Each ad links to a weather widget on MammothMountain.com, which reports new snowfall amounts within the last 24 hours. The real-time technology is programmed to show snowfalls of 12" or more. For those who love cold weather and skiing, this is a great billboard. Especially when you imagine the message being delivered in a warm climate. See the ads here and here, created by David&Goliath.

Online investing firm Scottrade launched a pair of TV spots using an updated logo and new tagline, "Get Invested." TV ads star Chad A. Ridgeway, a broker doing a poor job convincing his clients not to use Scottrade. In one ad, Chad is riding in the back of a limo en route to picking up his dry cleaning. I'm surprised he's doing it himself. See it here. Chad makes a call from his office in the next ad, shown here. Sadly, he's more interested in playing with his desk toys than he is with getting his client's name right and convincing them not to flee to Scottrade. The ads will run on USA, Travel, A&E, ESPN, Discovery and the NFL playoffs. Gearon Hoffman created the campaign and media buying was handled in-house.

Seventh Generation launched "Protect Planet Home," a TV, print and online campaign focusing on the brand's role in helping consumers keep their homes devoid of hazardous cleaning products. The spot follows a handful of people who are trashing their household cleaning products and replacing them with Seventh Generation merchandise. Thanks to Seventh Generation, the voiceover says, "the five-second rule is extended" and "no one holds their breath while they're cleaning." I'll probably still stick with the five-second rule, but that's just me. The ad closes with a house in the shape of Planet Earth. See it here. The campaign launched Monday and runs through April on Bravo, Food Network and USA, among others. Carmichael Lynch created the campaign.

"It's not science fiction. It's what we do every day," ends a pair of ads promoting the U.S. Air Force. Technology once thought to be light-years away is used in present-day situations by the U.S. Air Force. In one spot, a group of troops are rescued from a planet resembling Mars after an unmanned aircraft finds enemy snipers awaiting the troops. See it here. Another spot shows pieces of space debris colliding, putting debris in the pathway of a communication satellite. The U.S. Air Force shifts the satellite's position and a potential collision is diverted. Watch the ad here. GSD&M Idea City created the campaign and handled the media buy.

Random iPhone App of the week: Mozes launched a free app enabling fans to browse and participate in more than 15,000 promotions from 5,000 bands, brands, artists, sports teams, organizations and causes. Artists such as Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Lil' Wayne and Kelly Clarkson interact directly with fans via Mozes platform. Users can enter sweepstakes to win free tickets to upcoming shows, get exclusive news, updates and wallpapers from bands by joining their mobile fan list.

Amy Corr is managing editor, online newsletters for MediaPost. She can be reached at amyc@mediapost.com.

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Don't Let this Stop you...

from my email:

Daily Sales Tip: Overcoming Call Reluctance
Hesitation to make contact with prospective new clients causes more failures for salespeople than any other single factor. Why? Because if you don't approach enough people, it makes little difference how thorough your expertise is. Without a steady flow of prospects, your magnetic personality, credentials, product knowledge, and perfect presentations won't make much impact. Inactivity on the prospecting front nullifies your ability to engage these other strengths.

Successful selling usually involves five steps:

1. Identifying prospective clients (includes identifying referral sources).
2. Initiating contact with prospective clients and referral sources.
3. Introducing yourself, your products and your servicesj.
4. Informing prospective clients of how you can help (giving your sales presentation).
5. Influencing the prospect's decision to buy from you.

Many salespeople are uncomfortable with steps 2 and 3, initiating and introducing -- but without them, informing and influencing can't happen! Ultra-professional presentation skills, dazzling rapport-building, detailed product knowledge and clever closes cannot and will not return a penny of profit if you don't have enough prospects.

The math is simple: Successful salespeople consistently initiate contact with more prospects than their less-than-successful counterparts.

Source: Sales coach/trainer Connie Kadansky (www.exceptionalsales.com)

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Wednesday Night Marketing News from Mediapost

Papa's going to the BIG House!

Restaurants

Papa John's Becomes Super Bowl Sponsor

by Karl Greenberg

The deal gives Papa John's rights to use Super Bowl XLIV and NFL logos in all collateral material and advertising. "We plan on leveraging that with TV, local store programs, and digital elements between now and the Super Bowl," CMO Andrew Varga tells Marketing Daily. ...Read the whole story >>

Automotive

Detroit Show Focused On Tunnel's End

by Karl Greenberg

The Detroit Auto Show had some surprises this year, not the least of which was a more optimistic mood, with an overall theme of hope and recovery in terms of how much better the economic outlook is than last year. ...Read the whole story >>

Packaged Goods

Gillette Peeks Backstage In Targeting Young Men

by Aaron Baar

Trailers of the series, already running on a dedicated microsite, feature the musicians talking about the fears and thoughts they have before they go on stage. "My biggest fear is about losing touch," says will.i.am. The comments are interspersed with them walking up to the stage and shots of the crowds. ...Read the whole story >>

Restaurants

Outback, Tim McGraw Team For Loyalty Launch

by Karlene Lukovitz

"My Outback Rewards Program" will launch on Jan. 25. In addition to members-only Outback food/beverage offers, it will give members exclusive access to a variety of offers and events surrounding McGraw's 2010 Southern Voice Tour, with an added element of opportunities to contribute to local community causes. ...Read the whole story >>

Retail

BJ's Is Confident About Its Value Positioning

by Sarah Mahoney

CEO Laura J. Sen concedes that she was wrong in her assessments about how quickly consumer spending would recover. "Consumers are still being very careful," she says. "But once you're paying $2.29 for chicken, you're not going to go back to paying $2.99." ...Read the whole story >>

Financial Services

Fidelity Hosts 'Green Line' Video Contest

by Tanya Irwin

The contest, which runs through Feb. 19 via YouTube, links with Boston-based Fidelity's ad campaign, which broke in the spring. It features the tagline "Turn Here" and a prominent green line that underscores the firm's ability to help investors navigate all stages of life with financial guidance and appropriate investment options. ...Read the whole story >>

New Jersey Nets Partner With Rite Aid

L.L.Bean Still Tops In Customer Service

On Strong Holiday Sales, Tiffany Raises Forecast

Lego App Turns Photos Into Colored Bricks

R&B Star Nelly Gets A Mustang

RedBrick Pizza Supporting Operation Helping Hand

Disney Parks Exclusive Sponsor Of 'My Manny'

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Video Time: Cheese

I like this ad. It creates emotion, carries you through a mini drama, and if you watch it enough times, you'll remember the brand.

I wonder if/how they carry this theme into the store with a P.O.S. display?

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Pizza Police

from Laura Ries:

Domino's Should Apologize

Everybody knows the rule. When you do something wrong, you say you are sorry. As a society we love to scold but we also love to forgive. And the simple act of just “saying” sorry goes a long way in righting many wrongs.

But how, when and why you say you are sorry also matters.

Say it too often and nobody will believe you anymore. Detroit has been begging for forgiveness for decades.

Say it with advertising instead of PR and it looks phony. JetBlue ran full-page ads saying it was embarrassed and sorry for holding passengers over six hours with no water on runways during an ice storm. Yeah, right.

Say it when you don’t have to and you create guilt where it may not have existed before. Domino’s current ads do just that. Domino’s goes out of its way to portray its guilt and lack of action for decades. And in the process mocks the stupidity of its customer base.

At its site, Pizza Turnaround Domino’s proudly asks and answers: “Did we actually face our critics and reinvent our pizza from the crust up? OH YES WE DID.”

And I say, OH NO YOU DIDN’T! The lack of brand and customer respect is astonishing.

In a display of contradictions, Domino’s admits it has been producing a horrible product for the past 40 years, devoid of flavor, taste, aroma and even “real” ingredients. Yet, they also brag about the obvious success of the brand.

Domino’s is the world’s #2 pizza chain with sales of $1.4 billion and almost 9,000 locations in more than 60 countries (5,000 of which are in the United States.) It must be some kind of miracle that a company could sell $1.4 billion worth of such a disguising product given the stiff competition. Somebody obviously liked the pizza.

When a brand faces a crisis, there is no doubt that an immediate public apology is best. During a crisis the flood of negative stories need to be countered with the sincere voice of the brand giving an open, honest, direct apology. Tiger Woods should have immediately apologized to his fans, his sponsors, and his wife. His silence cemented his guilt and lack of remorse.

Currently Domino’s is facing no immediate crisis on taste. There are no cardboard pizza protests or processed cheese boycotts in the headlines.

Winning the “taste” battle isn’t always even important. Many leading brands don’t win any taste challenges. McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Starbucks to name a few.

Of course back in the spring of 2009, Domino’s did face a very real crisis when two idiots working in a North Carolina store posted vile and juvenile sandwich shenanigans on YouTube. Domino’s did the right thing by striking back with a message from CEO Patrick Doyle. It would have been better if his message was not pre-recorded, if Patrick had more television presence and if Domino’s had released it sooner. But hey, they tried.

But in this case, Domino’s took decades of customer criticism presented a federal case against itself creating its own media firestorm.

It reminds me of the commercials that launched New Coke. In the ads, Coca-Cola announced that the “Real Thing,” the most powerful brand in the world, wasn’t actually very tasty. So Coca-Cola was discontinuing it in favor of New Coke. Nobody said that the people running companies were always very smart. New Coke has gone down in history as one of the worst management decisions ever.

Well, “New” Domino’s might be a similar case. The worst thing you can do to an iconic brand is enact radical change. New Coke and the disastrous Tropicana repackaging show us that change (even positive change) is most often greeted with anger and resentment by the public and especially by loyal fans.

Consumers don’t want different. Customers don’t want to be surprised. As Holiday Inn used to say, “the best surprise is no surprise.” That is what strong brands deliver. No surprises. The same thing, the same look, time after time.

That doesn’t mean that a brand has to remain exactly the same forever. But it does mean that brands need to change very, very slowly and subtly. Coca-Cola has changed its original formula several times, but nobody notices. UPS has updated it logo several times, but nobody notices.

Sure, Domino’s needed to work on its quality, consistency, flavor and taste. But not all at once. Even worse than doing it all at once is the fact that Domino’s launched a massive television campaign and internet site to promote that the pizza has really sucked all these years.

Why was Domino’s successful in the first place? From watching the current ads, you would think it was because they got lucky and had stupid customers who had no taste in pizza and who were too lazy to look up another pizza place’s phone number. Wrong.

Domino’s was successful because it pioneered a new category in the mind. Domino’s focus on “delivery” allowed it to do delivery faster and cheaper than the competition. Domino’s burned its delivery focus into the mind with its simple and specific “30 minutes or its free” slogan.

The reality is that Domino’s real competition is not Pizza Hut or Papa John’s. The real competition of all the chains are the local pizzerias that still make up the bulk of the pizza market, only 35% of the market belongs to the big national brands. How are local brands different? Local brands emphasis local flavors and tastes.

You build a brand by being the opposite of the competition. To build an international chain, Domino’s pizza needed to a simple taste that everyone would enjoy. So Domino’s was rather bland on purpose.

And the truth is that many customers actually prefer a bland experience. It’s why kids like McDonald’s hamburgers, they are bland. And it’s why McDonald’s is the world’s largest restaurant chain.

What Domino’s is currently doing to one of the world’s greatest brands is criminal. Domino’s definitely owes us all an apology, but not for the taste of its pizza. Domino’s needs to apologize for its foolish brand strategy.

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