Friday Night Marketing News from Mediapost

There will be 6 more updates this weekend including a Classic Ad on Saturday night and Seth Godin post on Sunday night (6pm eastern time).

In the mean time, Click & Read:

Electronics

So Kodak: Updating The Idea Of The 'Kodak Moment'

by Aaron Baar

In addition to the television commercials (which will run on national and Spanish-language television networks), the campaign will include print and online advertising, as well as extensive local promotional marketing, such as exclusive events, in some of the country's largest urban markets. ...Read the whole story >>

Financial Services

AmEx Helps Moms Talk To Teens About Money

by Tanya Irwin

American Express has partnered with iVillage to launch "The Talk," a multiplatform program designed to help moms teach their teen and young adult children about financial responsibility. The program promotes Pass, a prepaid and reloadable card that parents can give to their kids. ...Read the whole story >>

Automotive

Hyundai, Corona Hit It Big On Interbrand's List

by Karl Greenberg

For now, Hyundai is downplaying the Hyundai nameplate on Equus. "We have been in the industry for a relatively brief amount of time, so we need some more time to build brand equity. That's the biggest challenge we have," W.J. Cho, EVP of the company's marketing division, tells Marketing Daily. "But the biggest increase we saw in terms of brand valuation was when we launched Genesis." ...Read the whole story >>

Beverages

Genesis Today Juices Take On OJ

by Karlene Lukovitz

The company, based in Austin, Tex., is also introducing new labels with more prominent graphics of the fruits used in the juices, and a new bottle design featuring a "sleeker" look and an embossed Genesis Today signature on the top of its front and back. The new design will debut with the 64-ounce size, and be expanded to other sizes next year. ...Read the whole story >>

Automotive

Ford Gets Behind Super-Driver Block For Fiesta

by Karl Greenberg

Central to its efforts is rally racer and Internet phenom and businessman Ken Block, whose rally-tuned Fiestas co-star in a series of record-breaking YouTube videos called "Gymkhana," referring to the hyperactive racing form that mixes drifting with autocross and is popular overseas and only recently in the U.S. ...Read the whole story >>

Korey Kay To Relaunch Commodore Computer

Hardee's Pulls Out Stops For 50th Birthday

Southwest Airlines Opens Skyline Porch

Green Lantern, The Roller Coaster

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Just a little Bit

Drew's been on a roll lately:

Marketing tip #26: Be brave enough not to tell the whole story

by Drew McLellan

When you are creating content -- be it marketing copy for a brochure, an e-book, a radio script or even leaving a sales call voicemail -- you need to know when to shut up. We're so eager to tell the customers/prospects all about our widget, service or knowledge -- we try to cram it all into one message.

Which is satisfying to us, but miserable for the audience. Like a firehose -- we've flooded them with facts, features and benefits. And in the end, they can't remember any of it.

Next time -- be brave. Tell them the most important thing. And then, shut up. Too many words clog the brain and never allow you to connect with their heart. And that's where the buying decision happens. In their heart.

Nissan's new TV spot for their LEAF vehicle gets it. Watch this spot and then identify the single most important fact about this car. I will bet you a dozen donuts -- you won't forget it. (You can also click here to view.)

Would someone react the same way (emotionally charged AND remembering the key point) if they looked at whatever you wrote last?

If not...how could you turn that around?

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Peaks

and Valleys.

Do you know yours?

Daily Sales Tip: Know Your 'Peak' Time

Most salespeople have a 2-4-hour block of time when they operate at peak efficiency.

Their concentration is keen, their creative powers are acute, and their ability to do more than one thing at a time is sharper.

Try to pinpoint your "peak" time and schedule your most important activities within this block of time.

Source: Adapted from The New Science of Selling and Persuasion, by William T. Brooks

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Thursday Night Marketing News from Mediapost

Click & Read:

Beverages

New Corona Efforts Redefine 'Beach'

by Karlene Lukovitz

"We're not changing our strategy," says Crown Imports' EVP/Marketing Jim Sabia. "This is a new execution of the same basic campaign, designed to show occasional Corona Extra drinkers where our core brand users enjoy our beer -- which is everywhere. The ads encourage fans to find their beach, wherever it may be -- expanding that Corona state of mind beyond sun, sand and surf." ...Read the whole story >>

Retail

Under Armour To Unleash Basketball Shoes

by Sarah Mahoney

For the year, the company recently raised its total revenue forecast to $1 billion. "We believe we are the biggest, baddest apparel brand on the planet, and we've taken that swagger from our men's to our women's," says CEO Kevin Plank. "We've said we think we can make our women's apparel sales bigger than men's, and I believe we can." ...Read the whole story >>

Retail

Wal-Mart Chief: We Are Beefing Up Assortment

by Sarah Mahoney

The chain's error, says Bill Simon, CEO of its U.S. division, was focusing on the value of a single product rather than the savings achieved in the entire shopping trip. "When you reduce the assortment, which we did, and focus on the item, which we did, it is really hard to win -- our competitors can match us on items. Our promise needs to be around the entire basket. No one can beat us on breadth." ...Read the whole story >>

Conference

ANA: Clients, Agencies Have A 'Shared Purpose'

by Karl Greenberg

"You have to wrestle to the ground what is your shared purpose," said Kimberly-Clark's Clive Sirkin. "There must be a clear, articulate point of view from the client and the agency and both must be able to deliver on that. Agencies say 'our goal is creativity,' and in our view creativity is only valuable if it drives business. Creativity doesn't mean a department or execution, but collective creativity on both sides of equation." ...Read the whole story >>

Financial Services

Scottrade 'Welcomes' Investors In Ad Campaign

by Tanya Irwin

Scottrade is launching a multi-media marketing campaign which the company says is "unlike any other" in its 30-year history. The effort highlights the resources and support the St. Louis-based online investing firm can provide to investors to help them make better decisions. ...Read the whole story >>

Automotive

GM's OnStar To Relaunch With 'Live On' Theme

by Karl Greenberg

OnStar will be a lifestyle program that goes beyond safety and emergencies -- as well as a pure subscription model -- to social media, entertainment, apps, Bluetooth, phone interfacing and remote diagnostics, among other things. To get the word out, the company is relaunching with a new campaign, "Live On" with the theme line, "Safely connecting you in ways you never thought possible." ...Read the whole story >>

Hyundai To Build New Headquarters In Calif.

CiCi's Pizza To Add 500 Locations

Honda Will Pitch New Odyssey As Un-Minivan

Ben & Jerry's To Co-Sponsor White House Rally

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New Ad Campaigns

from Amy:

Corona Extra wants consumers to find their beach. Nissan Leaf replaces Lance Armstrong with a grateful polar bear. Let's launch!

ESPN launched "A Short Time Ago," the latest TV ad for the network's "It's not crazy, it's sports" brand campaign. The campaign exposes strange occurrences taking place in the sports world. Of course, these events are only strange to non-sports fans. In "A Short Time Ago," viewers learn about students at the University of Mississippi who recently tried to elect Admiral Ackbar, a Supreme Commander of the Rebel Alliance Fleet in "Star Wars," as their on-field mascot. Crazy but true. The university hasn't had an on-field mascot since 2003, and, sadly, Ackbar won't be the one. LucasFilm informed Ole Miss that Ackbar is busy "fighting evil forces in another galaxy." Watch it here. Earlier ads included footage of Apollo 14 astronauts in 1971 playing golf on the moon. I especially loved the Chi-Chi Rodriguez shout-out at the close of "Miles and Miles." See it here. "Hauler Race" pays homage to "Smokey and the Bandit," with a race between big-rig trucks hauling NASCAR vehicles. Watch it here. In "Jocks," baseball stats make everyone a bit nerdy, jocks included. The school math nerds take note. See it here. Wieden+Kennedy New York created the campaign.

The Royal Bank of Canada is sponsoring this year's Toronto International Film Festival, running through Sept. 19. Three TV spots promote the festival's theme to "see something original." In "Western," a boy watches a cowboy ride off into the sunset. The second, more original, take features the boy saying goodbye to a Centaur. See it here. A young woman brushes her teeth during a thunderstorm, and then sees a man with a scarred face and a hook for a hand in "Mirror." In the second half, we find the hooked man is brushing his teeth and being reminded by his girlfriend to clean his hook. Watch it here. Two men working in a golf store need "$50,000" and fast. They can either enter a golf tournament that day or use their golf clubs to beat a man covered head-to-toe in $100 bills. See it here. BBDO Toronto created the campaign, directed by Scott Corbett of Holiday Films.

What did Saturn ever do to you, Ray Lewis? Old Spice launched its latest TV and print campaign, starring NFL linebacker Ray Lewis. While Isaiah Mustafa was smooth and spoke to the ladies -- check out his video to me here -- Ray Lewis is hard, angry and clearly speaking to men. I miss my gentle Isaiah. In the ad, seen here, Lewis is covered in bubbles, has no time to play fantasy football, but has time to wear Swagger and hop on a raven, whose black eyes become lasers that destroy Saturn. Lewis plays for the Baltimore Ravens, for all you non-football fans. Print ads, seen here, here, and here, show Lewis releasing his rage... and still covered in bubbles. Wieden+Kennedy Portland created the campaign.

Google has yet to disappoint me with its online videos. The company previously told stories of love, having a baby and sibling rivalry. This time around, the brand uses Bob Dylan's song "Subterranean Homesick Blues" to promote Google Instant, its real-time, predictive search results. As Dylan sings, Google Instant demonstrates how quickly search results appear. A user types "Subterranean Homesick Blues" lyrics and Google Instant finishes his search query. Watch the ad here, created by Google Creative Lab and Johannes Leonardo.

FedEx launched four TV spots last weekend under its "We Understand" umbrella. A businessman poses as an "exchange student" in China, hoping to land international clients. The family housing him overhears a business conversation and realizes they've been duped. The exchange student does a poor job pretending he's youthful, spouting terms like "for reals, player" and rushing off to soccer rehersal wearing khakis and carrying a briefcase. He does respect curfew, however. See it here. A man can't enjoy his retirement party because his boss is singing about unfinished tasks to the tune of "For he's a jolly good fellow." Watch it here. Two co-workers passing through airport security have their business presentation critiqued by airport security: "Never kick off with sales figures." See it here. A boss who has a hard time remembering "Names" incorporates his employees names into memorable phrases such as heavens to Betsy and magic Wanda. The group tells Dan fool not to take his name to heart. Watch the ad here. BBDO New York created the campaign.

Nissan LEAF has replaced Lance Armstrong with a "Polar Bear" spokesanimal in the latest TV ad promoting the zero-emission, 100% electric vehicle. The ad begins in the polar bear's Arctic home, where he sits atop a floating chunk of ice. The bear sets off on a journey that takes him through a forest, walking on a train track, highways, through city streets and lastly the 'burbs, where he finds an owner of a Nissan Leaf and hugs him. Watch it here. The ad has a few similarities to this 2008 ad for National Grid, namely the polar bear traipsing through city and family lives. TBWA/Chiat/Day Los Angeles created the campaign.

Corona Extra launched "Moments," a TV spot that encourages consumers to find their beach. In other words: your happy place doesn't have to be drinking Coronas in the sand. It can be on a golf course, a city rooftop or snowy mountainside. The spot closes with a couple clinking Corona bottles on a beach. Watch the ad here, created by Cramer-Krasselt.

Keeping with the happiness theme, BMW launched its "Story of Joy" campaign earlier this year with a TV and print campaign that illustrated the definition of joy using three words. "Story of Joy" features snapshots, both old and new, of people experiencing happy moments of life behind the wheel of their BMWs. "Joy is inspiring" is paired with a BMW making art from a blank canvas, while the phrase "Joy is collectable" shows a young boy playing with his collection of toy cars. Watch the ad here. Print ads stick with the three-word copy, highlighting the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Concept Vehicle using the tag line "Joy Is Futureproof," or coupling an older man with his BMW and the tag line, "Joy is youthful." See creative here and here. GSD&M Idea City created the campaign and Universal McCann handled the media buy.

Random iPhone App of the week: Crush and sister company Lollipop created an app for the production community, called Crush Tools. The app helps clients frame their commercials in multiple formats. For example, an ad might be filmed for television and wind up playing in movie theatres. The app allows the director, cinematographer, art director or producer to upload a pre-existing photo so they can visualize the framing for both TV and theatre formats. The app can be downloaded for free in the App Store.

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

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Silence

from a local advertising/marketing agency, Labov & Beyond:

Silence can sell better than words sometimes

Sometimes you have to let the customer answer his or her own questions, especially when he or she is expressing an objection. “This costs more than I expected,” says the customer. Count to ten to let the customer consider the objection a little. Chances are pretty good that the customer will resolve his or her objection without you having to say a word.

–Byron

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Wednesday Night Marketing News from Mediapost

Click and Read:

Retail

Lowe's Steps Up DIY, Energy Efforts

by Sarah Mahoney

"They are looking at things like painting and recarpeting to change the look and feel," says Robert Niblock, CEO. Instead of major projects, "we're trying to show them what they can do to improve a bathroom in a weekend, for example, and on a limited budget. And we are certainly looking at this move back to DIY -- in painting and lawn care, especially." ...Read the whole story >>

Beverages

Southern Comfort Returns To TV After 2 Years

by Karlene Lukovitz

The 15-second TV spot, which debuted Sept. 13 on "SportsCenter" on ESPN2, will run through December on leading sports, entertainment and comedy channels, including ESPN, ESPN2, Comedy Central, E!, USA Network, TBS, Discovery, FX and Spike. The TV exposure will complement digital/social media, in-store, and public relations efforts. ...Read the whole story >>

Retail

Kohler Makes A Splash With 'Built Green'

by Aaron Baar

The series profiles projects ranging from the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco to The Solaire apartment building in New York City to the Jiminy Peak Mountain ski resort in the Berkshires. Each of the two- to-five-minute episodes (there are nine slated) profiles the architects and designers behind the projects, as well as information from Kohler designers and planners about how their products were put to use in them. ...Read the whole story >>

Pharma

Merck Sponsors HIV Education Campaign

by Tanya Irwin

In addition to combating the stigma associated with HIV, the campaign also encourages people living with HIV to work with their doctor on an ongoing basis to select a treatment regimen that keeps their viral load at an undetectable level. The campaign includes the Web site: www.LivingPositiveByDesign.com. ...Read the whole story >>

Research

Report Finds Affluent Shop At Walmart, Too

by Karl Greenberg

Forget golf, tennis, power boating and jaunts to St. Tropez. Affluent Americans -- those who live in households making $100,000 or more per year -- actually behave like non-affluent consumers. They watch TV and shop at big-box stores. They just plain do it more. ...Read the whole story >>

Sports

UFL Launches Campaign For Football Diehards

by Karl Greenberg

The effort uses the conceit that with UFL broadcast on Versus, HDNet and NESN, viewers get taken behind the scenes, into the locker rooms right up to the sidelines and next to the players during games. Ads show fans who are painted to literally blend perfectly into the background. One guy is nearly invisible in front of a bucket of Gatorade. ...Read the whole story >>

Febreze Hits Road With National Football League

Restaurant Visits Down, Though Decline Slows

Go Daddy's Newest Girl: Jillian Michaels

Walmart Launches Branded Cell Plan

British Retailer Puts Wheelchairs In Window Ads

Equinox Taps Pepsi Ex Nicholson For CMO

Thomson Reuters Launches Global Campaign

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Does E-Mail Marketing still work?

Only if you understand how to do it.

I handled the email, direct mail and website promotion for our local advertising federation chapter for a year and by applying human behavior tendencies to my email campaigns, was able to kick in some impressive response numbers.

At the radio stations I work with we were discussing how our 20-something targeted station listeners are more into Facebook and texting than emails, but for the rest of the world, email can be effective...

How Miracle-Gro Uses Email to Grow Offline Sales

"One click between email message and e-commerce is so ingrained for all of us—as both buyers and marketers—that it's almost nostalgic to think of using email solely to promote offline purchases," writes Stephanie Miller in an article at MarketingProfs.

But that's exactly how Scotts Miracle-Gro—a company with no direct online sales channel—uses its email-marketing program. During the registration process, subscribers provide their grass type and postal code; then, once each month during their region's growing season, they receive a Scotts Lawn Care Update newsletter with content tailored to their needs.

According to Kip Edwardson, the senior manager of Interactive Marketing at Scotts, the company's newsletter has a clear mission: to take the guesswork out of product selection for any lawn in any season in any location.

"We've learned that knowledge equals revenue," Edwardson tells Miller in the article. "We are guiding them through the lawn-care lifecycle, and that education encourages them to not only buy more product but to feel confident and gratified by their purchase. We take very seriously that customers gave us a permission grant, and we want to provide something of value."

Subscribers can also register for Consumer Information Alerts that offer advice on coping with adverse weather conditions or anything else that might harm their lawns.

"We cull through our call center, retail feedback, and website for spikes in activity—say, a freeze in Florida or heavy moss in the Midwest," Edwardson explains. "We then proactively alert subscribers and the retail-store managers in those regions with tips on how to address the issue."

The Po!nt: A good email program can grow more than subscriptions. Scotts gives its in-store sales a significant boost by offering real help to customers via its email messaging.

Source: MarketingProfs. Read the full article.

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4 ways to Convert Prospects

From an email from Bnet:

By Geoffrey James

Converting prospects into opportunities (and eventually customers) is the key to building your pipeline. According to Thomas Ray Crowel, author of Simple Selling, there are four key strategies to improve your conversion rate:

• Strategy #1: Improve your prospecting list. The more that the list is “pre-qualified” the more likely you are to convert prospects into opportunities. Ideally, your marketing group should be doing as much pre-qualification as possible, either by purchasing high-quality, better-targeted lists or by doing the first level of winnowing themselves. Hint: the absolute best lists are referrals from existing customers.
• Strategy #2: Improve your selling attitude. Working upon your attitude and motivation will pay off big time; your effectiveness as a communicator is highly dependent upon these “soft” skills. Also, there may be times of the day or week when cold calling is more productive - both for you and for the suspects. Hint: Here’s a post that teaches you EXACTLY when you should be cold calling: The Best Time to Cold Call.
• Strategy #3: Improve your phone skills. The more effective you are at getting the right people on the phone and finding out whether they’re qualified to be prospects, the less time you’ll need to spend doing it. As you reduce that time, you’ll either be able to spend less time prospecting or generate more prospects in the same amount of time. Experiment with different scripts. Keep a record of what works best for you. Do a mental debriefing after each call to decide what you could do better next call.
• Strategy #4: Improve your close rate. If you become a more effective presenter and closer, you won’t need to generate as many opportunities in order to make your quota. Failing to pay attention to your ability to close is good news for your competitors, because if you don’t close yourself, your sales efforts will create the exact conditions that your competitor needs to close. Remember: an opportunity means that prospect is ready to buy and will probably buy. Make sure it’s from you.

BTW, when all four improvements are done in parallel they create a geometrical increase in the number of prospects generated. This allows you to dedicate less time to prospecting and more time to selling and closing… or more time to play golf, if that’s how you’d rather spend the time.

Here are some posts to help you out:

• What’s the Best Time to Cold Call?
• The Ultimate Cold Calling Tool
• The Ultimate Prospect Qualification Tool

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Tuesday Night Marketing News from Mediapost

Click & Read:

Automotive

Scion Launches First NFL Ads to Tout New TC

by Karl Greenberg

The effort also includes movie theater lobby posters paired with 3D ads for the tC creatively mirroring the digital game and running prior to the dystopic horror film, "Resident Evil: Afterlife." There are also double-spread print ads in October issues of outré art magazines like Juxtapoz and Blue Canvas, as well as billboards in 24 cities starting this week. ...Read the whole story >>

Food

Sara Lee Deli Intros Lunch Challenges Contest

by Karlene Lukovitz

"What's Your Lunchtime Challenge?" asks moms to submit a short essay and a photo of their children that together capture the essence of the challenge, by Oct. 3. The 25 finalists will be chosen by popular voting through the brand's Facebook presence (Oct. 4-13), and the judged winner will be announced on Nov. 3, National Sandwich Day. ...Read the whole story >>

Telecom

AT&T Campaign Gets To The Root Of Search

by Aaron Baar

"No one's really connecting themselves to that emotional reason for why we use search in the first place," says Erick Soderstrom, vice president of brand management and advertising at AT&T, of the television, print, online and out-of-home campaign. "Wanting to make dinner reservations is more than just [looking for a place] to eat -- you're looking for some emotional return for it." ...Read the whole story >>

Financial Services

Study: Chase Best Engages Small Biz Online

by Tanya Irwin

The most remarkable thing that the study turned up was how much better a job the top performers are doing at making their case to small business prospects, says Steve Ellis, one of the report's authors. "They use their sites to clearly demonstrate that they have a business focus, and they give prospects a clear idea of what it is like to be a customer of the bank through the site." ...Read the whole story >>

Retail

Grocery Shoppers Still Fighting Impulse Buys

by Sarah Mahoney

"No matter what stores and marketers tend to believe, consumers aren't walking into stores with a blank slate," Ann Hanson, executive director of product development and author of the report, tells Marketing Daily. "They have an agenda. And for marketers, that means it's all about how to get on the list." ...Read the whole story >>

Automotive

UPS 'Hearts' Logistics In First Global Campaign

by Karl Greenberg

The first ads begin Monday in the U.S., China and the U.K. with creative in Mexico scheduled to start on Sept. 20. The campaign includes print, TV, digital, social and outdoor. The company is taking out full-page ads in leading papers this week to explain "why logistics is the most powerful force in business today, and why you should understand it." ...Read the whole story >>

Sports

Bank Group Signs Partnership Deal With NBA

by Karl Greenberg

The company says U.S. marketing activity will focus on its BBVA Compass division and that it will use its Compass retail locations to run NBA-themed promotions around the NBA's own events and programs. BBVA Compass will have a presence on NBA national game telecasts on ABC, ESPN, and TNT, and on NBA TV and NBA.com. ...Read the whole story >>

Motorola Debuts Defy Phone on 'Oprah'

Morgans Hotels Add IPads For Fashion Week

Post-Jacoby, VW Promotes Browning To CEO in U.S.

Citibank Launches Checking Promotion

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Is There a Formula for Advertising Success?

I say....

Yes.

And I wrote about it last week on one of my other blogs.

Collective Wisdom, the blog you are readying right now, is updated 3 times a day with wisdom from others besides myself.

A few years ago, I was asked to write a book on Advertising and Marketing and instead I decided to start another blog, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo. Not very humble, I admit.

It's updated weekly, currently on Tuesdays.

Here is last weeks entry and my answer to the headline question:

The Formula for Advertising Success

Last month I was consulting with a gentleman who had a couple of marketing/advertising ideas.

He said marketing, I saw them as advertising.

Advertising is a paid form of marketing usually involving ads or commercials.

After hearing his ideas I realized that he was unaware of a basic formula that I've known and preached for years.

There really is a formula for Success in Advertising. Unfortunately a minority of people know it, and even less follow it.

Some do it be accident, but imagine how much more successful you could be if you consciously followed a formula.

Here it is:

Reach + Frequency + Message.

Put the word Right in front of each of those three words.

Reach is the number of different people that you ad will be exposed to.
Frequency is the number of times one person will be exposed to your ad.
Message is, well it IS your ad.

Every single form of advertising, from Billboards, to website banner ads, to radio ads, every form of advertising relies on this formula for success.

Before you agree to spend another nickle on advertising, consider these three elements.

Contact me if you need help. Scott @ ScLoHo.net

I'll dig deeper into each of these in the future.

As you were reading this, I updated the Not-So Secret Writings of ScLoHo with an insiders look at the first factor of that formula. Click here to read it now.

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Think WHAT Over?

from my email:

Daily Sales Tip: Identifying the Real Objection

When customers say they want to "think over" their buying decision, it's often safe to assume that they have an objection they're not sharing.

Asking "What do you want to think over?" can seem intimidating, and probably won't help you uncover the real problem. Instead, ask, "Is it a question of price?" Then quietly wait for a response.

By guessing a specific objection, you'll encourage prospects to correct you by stating their true concern. If your suggestion is correct, you probably found out what's making your buyer hesitate. You might be surprised at how much this strategy improves your closing ratio.

Source: 123 Super Sales Tips

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Monday Night Marketing News from Mediapost

Click and Read:

Automotive

Jaguar's Marketing VP Dishes On Strategy

by Karl Greenberg

"The whole premise was to go into the markets and be big. We are a small brand with a limited budget so we are really focusing on our three top markets. The thing about Los Angeles, New York and Miami is they are also travel markets, so a big part of our campaigns there has been a heavy billboard presence in airports -- so even by concentrating on those three markets we have been able to influence other markets. And a lot of people in Miami and South Florida are snowbirds with strong connections in New York." ...Read the whole story >>

Retail

Restoration Hardware Reinvents Itself

by Tanya Irwin

If the company is trying to get away from competition with the likes of Pottery Barn, they might be heading in the right direction, says an analyst. "The reality is that in the middle of this recession, they were this aspirational brand, and they had a lot of products there that were frankly the same quality as you'd get anywhere else," she says. Competing with Pottery Barn, which ultimately means competing with lower-end retailers such as Target, was not working. ...Read the whole story >>

Food

Kraft Testing Interactive Vending Machines

by Karlene Lukovitz

The machines feature a 46" Samsung LCD touchscreen panel in place of the usual glass facing, an embedded networked computer, and Bluetooth capabilities for mobile downloads. Banner ads stream across the top of the screen, and full-screen ads display when the machine is not in use. ...Read the whole story >>

Financial Services

'Happy' Bank Customers Consider Switching

by Aaron Baar

The most common reasons cited for switching banks: dissatisfied with the service (32%) and that the bank implemented new fees (30%). The two factors go hand in hand, according to the research. While half of the consumers surveyed said they felt their bank was the best available in their area and would recommend it to others, 68% said they would consider switching if higher fees are not offset by better service. (Better returns for money was cited only 27% of the time.) ...Read the whole story >>

Automotive

Toyota Talks Tiny Football In Corporate NFL Push

by Karl Greenberg

The broadcast, Web and social media use tongue-in-cheek features on Pee Wee games to connect the virtues of youth football to spotlight Toyota's corporate image. In addition to content on network broadcasts, the effort includes Web videos and digital kiosks on Facebook and Toyota.com meant to give youth football teams across the country an online hub to show highlights of their season. ...Read the whole story >>

Retail

Toys"R"Temp: Chain To Double Size With Pop-Ups

by Sarah Mahoney

"It's an opportunity, and they are capitalizing on the 9% vacancy rate in shopping malls," says Retail Prophet Consulting's Doug Stephens. "But more important, this shows the way big retail is beginning to fragment. For 25 to 30 years, we've lived with the idea that we need toy stores that are 125,000 square feet. There is just an absolute recalibration of consumer demand happening right now." ...Read the whole story >>

Stanziale Named Diageo-Guinness USA President

Royal Bank Launches Campaign Tied to Film Fest

GMC Promotion Says 'Never Say Never'

FedEx Is A 'Proud Partner' In New Ad Push

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Customize it?

There's a guy on our sales staff who is a real go getter.  

His cube is right outside my office.

Give him something to sell, keep it clean and simple, and he'll hit the streets with it.

However, if there are any questions, or options involved, he is in trouble.

He made a good living for 20+ years as a door to door sales guy where the only answer was yes or no.  But customizing was a skill he never learned because he never had to.

And as a result, he never learned how to use a computer.  Ouch.

Now, in the radio advertising world, we can sell "packages", or we can customize a program based on the needs of our clients.

In your business, you need to know how to customize, or you will most likely struggle.

This is not the world of Henry Ford and "you can have it in any color as long as it's black".

Drew wrote about this too:

Do you want your jerky naked or hot and smoky?

Posted: 11 Sep 2010 05:12 AM PDT

For the last decade, marketers have been talking about customization.  

We've acknowledged that the Baby Boomers had both the personality and disposable income to generate enough market pressure that companies big and small started adding options and choices to their offerings.  

Often, the options were window dressing. Sprinkles versus nuts.  Companies were trying to meet the demand without going out of business.

The challenge in the early days was finding enough customers to make the customization profitable. Somehow, you had to have enough demand for each version so you could still apply some principles of mass production to manage costs.

But today...the mass adoption of the web has answered that question.  How do you find enough customers?  Go online, of course.

The New York Times reports that the marriage of the worldwide customer base on the internet and customization hunger are a match made in heaven.  Check out these stats.

"Zazzle, CafePress and Scrapblog, a site that lets people create and print digital scrapbooks, have each reported 80 percent increases in sales this holiday season compared with last year. Orders at Spreadshirt, where people can customize shirts, bags, umbrellas and even underwear, have doubled. At Blurb, where people create their own photo or art books, sales are up 43 percent.

Meanwhile, overall e-commerce sales have grown only 4 percent this season, according to comScore, and offline retail sales have barely grown at all."

And now...even your beef jerky can be built to order. New Jersey's Slant Shack's jerky offers customers numerous choices.

• Traditional USDA choice or organic grass-fed beef?
• An original or a “hot & smoky” marinade?
• A rub of four tantalizing options or the “naked” approach.
• Finally, brown sugar or spicy pepper glaze.

(No doubt my friends David Armano and Connie Reece are going to order some today!)

Why am I telling you all this?  Because it matters to your business, whether you are a CPA firm or a bakery.  The Boomers created the demand.  But today's digital natives have grown up surrounded by it.  They don't know anything else.

So you can't go the sprinkles versus nuts routine.  You need to actually offer real choices that matter to your consumers.  Cookie cutter won't cut it anymore.

The good news is...you can build customization into many aspects of your business:

• Your products or services
• Delivery speeds/methods
• Packaging
• Billing options

So....how are you going to give your customers real choices that matter to them, feel significant but don't break your business model?

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Scared of Social Media?

A friend of mine bought his first computer about a year ago.

He sells advertising. He's been doing this for 40 years.

I cannot imagine how difficult it was for him before he bought the computer.

If my 68 year old friend can do something new, you can too.

Here's some hints on how to get started with Social Media from MarketingProfs.com:

How to Connect With Customers on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter

In today's marketplace, the customer is in control and companies are being held to a whole new level of accountability, Paul Chaney notes in an on-demand seminar at the MarketingProfs site. Today's skeptical consumers are downright resistant to advertisers—and "the pressure is on to improve targeting to achieve relevance and minimize waste," he says.

What's the best way to connect with today's picky consumers? Through social media, Chaney says—even if it's the last thing on earth you want to do!

In the seminar, Social Media Slowpokes: It's Not too Late to Connect With Your Customers Online, Chaney offers great guidance for social-wary marketers, including step-by-step tips for engaging customers on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Among his practical instructions:

Facebook: Set up a personal Profile; develop a Fan Page to pull supportive customers in; create and advertise Events; form Groups to engage in ongoing conversations; move into creating and running ads; effectively use the "Like" button.

LinkedIn: Create that all-important Profile first; import contacts to find existing LinkedIn members among them; use LinkedIn Answers to demonstrate your expertise; pull in your Twitter and blog feeds.

Twitter: Monitor what is being said about your company, products, services, industry and competition; gather valuable feedback about products or services; offer proactive customer service; promote events; drive traffic to your website or blog.

By following step-by-step how-to's, even the most reluctant among us can develop an effective social-media presence, Chaney argues. And in today's digital marketplace, staying anti-social is not an option, he concludes.

The Po!nt: Slow and steady wins the race. "Be easy on yourself," Chaney advises reluctant social-media marketers. Take one step at a time—and, to get off to a great start, "buy a state-of-the-art mobile device."

Source: MarketingProfs. View the full On-Demand Seminar (free for Pro members).

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Ideas and Critics

They both change the world.

From Seth Godin this week:

Interpreting criticism

Heartfelt criticism of your idea or your art is usually right (except when it isn't...)

Check out this letter from the publisher of a magazine you've never heard of to the founder of a little magazine called Readers Digest:

But, personally, I don't see how you will be able to get enough subscribers to support it. It is expensive for its size. It isn't illustrated... I have my doubts about the undertaking as a publishing venture.

Of course, he was right--given his assumptions. And that's the except part.

Criticism of your idea is usually based on assumptions about the world as it is. Jackson Pollock could never have made it as an painter in the world as it was. And Harry Potter was rejected by just about everyone because for it to succeed the way kids read would have to change.

The useful element of this sort of criticism isn't that the fact that people in the status quo don't like your idea. Of course they don't. The interesting question is: what about the world as it is would have to change for your idea to be important?

In the case of Readers Digest, the key thing that changed was the makeup of who was reading magazines. Most of the people (and it was a lot of people) who subscribed to the Digest didn't read other magazines. And so comparing to other magazines made no sense, except to say, "this is so different from other magazines, the only way you're going to succeed is by selling it to millions of people who don't read those magazines." And Starbucks had no chance if they were going to focus on the sort of person who bought coffee at Dunkin Donuts or a diner, and the iPad couldn't possibly succeed if people were content to use computers the way they were already using them.

Keep that in mind the next time a gatekeeper or successful tastemaker explains why you're going to fail.

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Better Response from your Website

Earlier this year, I ditched my website homepage for a simpler design.

I "Google-fied" it, is what I told my friends.

Google's home page has a lot of white space. Compare it to Yahoo and you'll see one of the reasons Google won converts to their search engine.

Everyday on one of my other blogs, I feature a "Fort Wayne site of the day" at 6am.

There are some pretty bad websites in my town, along with many decent ones too.

Take a look at yours. Is it stuck in 2005, 2001, or (shudder) the 1990's?

Here's a few tips from MarketingProfs:

Improve Your Website by Removing These Four Things

Marketing experts often tell you which features your website absolutely must have. But for a post at the HubSpot blog, Kipp Bodnar created a list of items you should delete as soon as possible from your site. Here are a few items that deserve immediate elimination:

Complicated animation. There's little upside to Flash-based wizardry that hinders the visitor experience and impedes search engine optimization. "Perform a test," he advises. "Remove your animation for a set period of time and see how it impacts metrics like lead conversion and time-on-site."

Industry jargon. Whatever your specialization, you start to assume everyone understands industry-specific language. This is a mistake. "Look through your website and highlight terms that are not commonly used outside of industry circles," Bodnar says. "Delete the highlighted words and replace them with more common explanations."

Images. Every website needs images—but you might have too many. Excessive images slow download speed when visitors click on a page, and search engines consider this a negative factor in page rankings. "Websites that have been around for a while can often collect lots of images, and some of them no longer go with the content of the site," he explains. "Keep some images, but go through and remove all images from your website that don’t help tell your company's story."

"Contact Us" forms. While you must provide contact information, Bodnar believes a generic contact form is more likely to attract spam than qualified leads. He suggests landing pages with dedicated forms for specific offers: "For example, if you have a form connected to a free assessment, you clearly know that submissions from that form are related to potential customers who want a free assessment."

The Po!nt: Sometimes less at your website is more—both for your customers' user experience and search engine optimization.

Source: HubSpot. Click here for the full post.

By the way, I kept my old website up too. I just moved it to a different domain. ScLoHo.net has been my domain since I started with my own site, but I also own ScLoHo.com.

Which do you like better?

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Why Not?

from my email:

Daily Sales Tip: Why Sales Don't Go Through

Closing sales is an art, not a science. Everything we do from our communication style, our dress, to our understanding of the customers' wants and needs can affect our success or failure in closing sales. The way you close a sale depends as much on the product/service you're selling as it does the customer you're dealing with. There are many reasons why sales don't close. Here are 7 of the most common mistakes:

Not Asking Questions
Too many times we pre-judge or jump to conclusions about what our customers want or need. By asking open-ended questions to determine such things as lifestyle, hobbies, spending limits and previous experiences we can get a true picture of what our customer really wants. By understanding the customer we can then focus on the right products and services to offer.

Not Communicating in the Communication Style Important to the Customer
If we communicate to everyone in our primary communication style then we will lose about 75% of our sales. In other words, everyone is different and therefore everyone needs to be treated differently. For example, some people just want the facts and details about a product or service while others may be more comfortable if you tell stories or anecdotes. So, to persuade, motivate and influence others, communicate in the ingredients they find important.

Interrupting the Prospect
Whenever you interrupt someone, sensitivity, commitment, closeness and rapport are lost. In addition, by interrupting we may miss what benefits the customer is really seeking.

Not Paying Attention to the Prospect
To develop the like and trust that are essential in developing any relationship, we must give our full attention to the prospect. Taking calls, talking to other customers, looking bored or uninterested can detract from the relationship we develop with our potential customer.

Showing No Empathy or Sympathy
Empathy means putting yourself in the other person's shoes. For example, if a potential customer wants to go on an adventure trip we offer, but has had bad experiences in the past, we must first understand those experiences before we can discuss why our trips are a best buy.

Not Selling Benefits...Only Features
Understanding the difference between features and benefits is crucial to your success. Features are about you, your product and service. Benefits are the specific results your product or service offer to your client or prospect. When meeting with a prospect we need to address the buyer's critical self-interest questions such as, "So what?", "Who cares?" or "What's in it for me?" You see, people don't buy things, they buy results like happiness, making and saving money, saving time, comfort, safety, security and easier ways to do things.

Pressuring Prospects
People don't like to be pressured. They like to buy but they don't like to be sold. By planning your presentation carefully and understanding the wants and needs of the potential customer, you'll make more than your share of sales.

Source: Sales speaker/author Arnold Sanow

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