May 31, 2005

Marfa, Indeed!

Wouldn't it just be terrific to have a Marfa, SC? What's so wonderful about Marfa is that it was created with the utmost integrity and absolutely no concern whatsoever as to whether anyone else would care.

There's a real marketing lesson there.

An artist - in this case, Donald Judd - happens upon a town in west Texas...well, hardly a town...it's not much more than a crossroads...the railroad passed through, and they filmed some of "Giant" there...that's about it. But Judd liked the space, the openness, the privacy of his own domain, and he darn near bought all of the town. He made art there, and encouraged a few others to make extraordinary installations...Oldenburg, Flavin, Chamberlain. It was a pure experiment...done entirely for its own sake. And, in the middle of nowhere....four hours from El Paso and four hours from Midland.

Today, several years later, Marfa is a destination. It's practically a pilgrimage for anyone genuinely interested in contemporary art. It's amazing...a totally thrilling experience.

What it says to me is that you don't need to have a feasibility study for integrity. And you don't need to get all wound up in inferiority-complex arguments such as "Gee, why would anyone come here...we're so far off the beaten track." What matters most is, Is it Authentic? Is it True? NOT, is it convenient (it's not); are there good hotels there (there aren't); can I go shopping (you can't).

Phony comes and goes. Marfa is the Real Thing. And that's what sticks. Yes, we need more Marfas.

In Memoriam

Over the weekend, I e-mailed Linda Christian. We hadn't communicated for some time. She worked with us some years ago, and then her husband Greg - a brilliant radiologist - got a great job in New York and then in London.

Linda had worked with Adam Hanft, one of my favorite people in the ad business...or any business. Adam's the guy who coined "Flick your Bic"and then went on to become a major guru in our industry. He's a prince.

When she moved to Charleston and I heard about her from Adam, I rushed to woo her to our firm. What a blast!

Linda was a great conceptual thinker. Give her a marketing challenge, and she would go to the conference room, close the door and scribble out all of these almost illegible legal pad pages deconstructing the problem and presenting an incredibly cogent solution.

She wrote fast and in many colors. She never typed. She didn't seem at all interested in computers or any other technology. Her brain was technology enough.

She never even wore a watch. On deadline, she might be heard to shout from her office, "What time is it?" Otherwise, she was just "taking care of business"...as well as being a great wife and mother to two beautiful children.

I loved the way she looked, although I'm not sure that she did. She didn't like to have her picture taken. She was self-effacing and prideful often at the same time. "I'm a hundred thousand dollar woman!" she would declare. Alas, not in Charleston!

In her spare time (how did she have any!), Linda created games. I had an idea for an interactive game and wanted her advice on it, which is why I e-mailed her. Greg wrote me back that she most certainly would have had a lot of ideas...but - oh, how tragic - she has died of ovarian cancer.

So bright, so zippy, so zestful, so insightful, so wonderfully quirky. Linda's presence was a great, great gift to us.

May 27, 2005

So, What's Wrong with Cleveland?

We interviewed an impressive woman today as a potential staff member. She lives and works in Cleveland, where she grew up...even though she went to Boston for college.

"Why do you want to leave your hometown?" I asked.

"Have you ever been to Cleveland?" was her answer. And then she added, "I want to move to a place that's got more of what I want...like Charleston."

Nice for Charleston, but kind of a bum rap for Cleveland, I thought to myself. And I started to ponder how places get their reputation and how very important those reputations can be.

Charleston is fortunate. Say "Charleston" somewhere else and people usually define it in terms of our beautiful historic area, the warm weather and beaches, Spoleto Festival USA, and a certain glamour that is associated with other destinations like Santa Fe or San Diego.

Charleston's national media has been generally very positive...laudatory stories of our Mayor and his accomplishments, praise for the city's leadership in historic preservation, stories on the area's beautiful homes, and - at this time of year - major coverage of Spoleto Festival USA.

The state of South Carolina has been less fortunate. It's had more of a "Cleveland factor" in the media: from Susan Smith killing her children, to the recent Pittman trial...from the flag flying atop the statehouse, to the Citadel's stubborn stand on women...from Bush discrediting McCain, to DeMint discrediting himself.

Like Cleveland, South Carolina gets a bum rap. And, while the state's individual agencies - such as the Department of Commerce and the Department of Parks Recreation and Tourism do a great job in positively communicating the state in their respective areas of responsibility, one wonders if there isn't a need for a more comprehensive marketing effort that captures and communicates an even broader range of what is distinctive about the state. There are so many pockets of excellence here, and yet they may not fall into any particular organization's area of responsibility to promote outside the state.

And what about IN-state? Aren't there tremendous opportunities to create greater pride among a state's own citizenry? Texas, for example, does this really well.

Should all of this be undertaken in some "uber" way, or is it possible to create a proactive communications culture thoughout a state?

Thoughts? Should we meet in Cleveland to discuss??

May 26, 2006

Claire, you looked great. And we loved seeing you.

Find Your Own Bark

Martine was telling Carol tonight about how she doesn't even go to the stationery show at the Javits Center anymore...because it's full of knock-offs of latest trends. Apparently, this year one popular trend is letterpress stationery.

Martine would rather go to special-invitation shows that have unique stationery lines from which she can choose (for her stationery store)... or hire designers to create things that directly reflects her own sensibility.

Result: she's got a tremendously successful business.

For 20 years, from its very inception, we marketed Spoleto Festival USA. The original Spoleto Festival (called Festival dei Due Mondi) was established in 1958 in the small Umbrian hill town of Spoleto Italy. But, when people used to ask me what "Spoleto" meant (when translated from Italian to English), I would say that it means "trust me." That is, "trust the Festival to provide you with something that will challenge, stimulate, and entertain you. Don't worry if you haven't heard of it before. We've seen it, and we think you'll like it."

I said this, because the Festival was seeking artists who had identified their own "bark," and there's simply no way of characterizing them adequately. You've got to see them for yourself. Who among us can ever adequately describe the impact of a unique work of art?!

Take, for example, the artist Savion Glover who performs at Spoleto this weekend. He is, I suppose, a "tap dancer." But to call Savion Glover a tap dancer is like calling Picasso a painter.

Savion Glover has done what every successful artist needs to do...and what every successful marketer MUST do...find his own bark.

If you see Savion Glover, you will see someone who does things that no one else can do.

"If you buy my product or service, you will get something you can get nowhere else."

THAT'S the challenge for us marketers.

So, Martine is looking for stationery that reflects her own special identity. She won't find it in a sea of sameness. She'll find it among a much more discreet array of purveyors AND within her own soul.

And that is where we must find that special sweet spot for our clients.

The legendary Ray Kroc said that if two people have the same opinion, one of them is extraneous.

Absent finding one's own bark, a product or service is condemned to the becoming a commodity. And that is marketing death.

May 25, 2005

Why Did the Subservient Chicken Cross the Road?

The brilliantly conceived Burger King Subservient Chicken has just won the uber Clio Award, a very high accolade in our industry. So, what's the message there?

Perhaps it's a shout...not a whisper...that the times they are a-changing.

The recent New York Times article on the changes in our business notes that over the past five years, ad spending has gone up, but its distribution is vastly different. While newspaper ad spending is down 18.8%, broadcast TV down 15.2%, and magazine ad spending down 9.9%, cable TV ad spending is up 79.1% and - get this! - Internet ad spending is up 203.9%.

It's just a totally different ad environment out there. And the Times points out that clients are pushing the change, not agencies.

I got a whiff of that this morning when we met with a client to whom we had promised a non-traditional approach to their challenge. While planning to do just that, we led off with a proposed mass media launch of the new brand position we had developed for them (and which they loved).

They recognized the value of the mass media effort, but they missed the non-traditional component that we had promised. They really wanted that too. They were pushing us. That was good. And they were willing to talk about it candidly and constructively. And that was very good.

My guess is that many clients and agencies are going through a similar exercise elsewhere. Fortunately, we are small enough and therefore facile enough to adapt to the massive changes that have occured over the past few years. We can respond quickly and well to a nudge from a client - like the one we got this morning. The big agencies have more trouble doing that; and their stock prices are reflecting those limitations.

The pendulum swings. Sometimes agencies drive clients. These days, clients are the aggressive ones. We've got to 'get with the program' and aim to meet in that sweet-spot middle, where each of us provides what we know and can do best, and we combine our complementary strengths to maximize the client's results.

May 24, 2005

Do You Want to Hear About the Steak or How Much it Cost?

I'm still thinking about that Saturday night restaurant, a new steakhouse in Charleston called Mo Sussman's. He features a center cut steak that is of such a quality that no one else in Charleston - maybe no one else in South Carolina - has it. And the taste is incredible, the essence of steak. You want a great steak? Go to Mo's.

The steak costs $29. But Mo doesn't say, "Hey, want to spend $29 on a steak? I can give you a great steak for that." No, he focuses on the benefit, not the cost. He focuses on the great steak. And, if you're into getting that great steak, the $29 is - and should be - inconsequential.

I was thinking about Mo's today when I was thinking about the challenge of marketing the Charleston County School District's proposed budget. The Superintendent was hired to turn things around. She developed a comprehensive plan to do just that. The Board enthusiastically supports her plan. With her proposed budget, she's saying (in effect) "You want a great steak? Here's how we get it...we choose only this cut from only this purveyor and we cook it only this way. And, if we do all of that, we can give you the best steak around."

Meanwhile, some Board members are saying, "Listen, I do want a good steak, but I only want to spend $9.95 tops for it. I spent $8.95 last year, but I'm willing to go up a dollar to $9.95."

They're focusing on the cost. She's focusing on the benefit.

Whenever the debate is about cost, it reduces the product or service to commodity status. Focus on benefits, and you transcend the issue of cost.

Put another way, which is more important, spending only $1 more than last year, or getting the best steak?

More relevant: Which is more important, holding the tax increase to "x" or providing the resources to implement a plan that is widely supported and represents the only hope to improve the education of 44,000 children?

Focus on the benefit, get people engaged in it, desirous for it, sold on it....and then the cost is insignificant.

Back to the Media

What I typed three times and kept getting lost in cyberspace yesterday was something like this.

The Newsweek gaff is only the latest in a string of media mistakes that have driven confidence in the media to an all-time low. About 12% of the public in this country has a high confidence in the media, according to a recent survey. That's half what it was in the post-Watergate era.

The problems are so obvious: everyone trying to keep up with the pressure of a 24/7 news environment...everyone trying to scoop everyone else...a higher premium paid for "first" rather than "factual"...news media ownership by mega-entertainment companies that have different goals and visions...budget cuts...bureau cuts...etc.

It's no joke that today's youth relies upon "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" for their news. (I think this is what producer Mark Burnett was reported to have said to Donald Trump: "This isn't real life. It's reality."...Ponder that!)

Maybe this all an opportunity for straight talk and truth and calm and taking the time to get it right. Maybe on both sides of the equation: among the media and among those of us in our business who communicate with the media. My own sense is that "smart" and "honest" have more currency today than ever before.

The "can-you-top-this" media circus that's out there now is imploding.

May 23, 2005

More Sense

No sooner had I posted my Friday entry about the importance of the senses in marketing than I read this quote from Brian Collins, executive creative director, Brand Integration Group, Ogilvy & Mather, New York:


"For years, I have kept a small refrigerator in my office stocked with freezing cold Coca-Cola - but only in the original glass contour bottle. I offer it to everyone when we meet in my office. Coca-Cola delivered this was activates so many positive emotional and sensorial cues - sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste - that it's always a great way to kick off a meeting. I have seen some people get crazy happy about it. And happy people are imaginative people."

He gets it, for sure.

As planned, I did my sensory check of all the places I went on Saturday and was especially disappointed that the restaurant - (which DID have very tasty food) - didn't woo me with distinctive smells or touches.

Later in the evening, I read a review of Moto, a hot new restaurant in Chicago. Moto features aromatherapeutic flatware threaded with sprigs of fresh herbs (and listed as a course on the menu). Now that may be taking this sensory thing too far! One reviewer of Moto describes servers approaching the table with six-inch syringes to inject a single rice ball with a sweet-and-sour sauce. Get a grip, Chicago!

But there IS a point here. And that is, marketing involves ALL the senses. My Saturday restaurant didn't get that. Moto gets it...but (from the sound of it) goes a bit overboard.

Can Marketing Change the Profile of a Disease?

Ever think about how some maladies are OK to talk about and are happily accepted and dealt with...while others are pretty much kept in the closet?

I'm thinking (in the closet category) of depression. Sure, celebs talk about it and maybe some even may capitalize off of it. But most folks stay quiet about it and don't even get help, when they know darn well they need it.

Yesterday, I read a review of Peter D. Kramer's latest book ("Against Depression"), and it points out that the World Health Organization calls depression the single most disabling disease. And studies put the annual workplace cost in this country alone at $40 billion - the equivalent of 3% of the gross national product.

I wonder if marketing could change this dynamic. I wonder if marketing could bring depression out from the closet and catalyze people getting help, employers helping those in need, and a great reduction in the cost that depression inflicts on our economy in addition to the toll it takes on its sufferers and their families.

I've typed a post on the reputation of the media three times and it keeps disappearing into cyberspace. Maybe it's not meant to be. Tomorrow. I'll try again tomorrow.

May 20, 2005

Makes Sense

I remember the first time I smelled the elevators at the Ritz in Boston. I thought I'd fallen into the true lap of luxury. That was years ago...when the marketing power of the senses was not fully appreciated. It's still undervalued in most quarters.

Sure, there's Starbucks with the rich aroma of coffee. And the smell of new cars (totally manufactured). But there's lots more opportunity to put the senses to work in marketing products.

ALL the senses. Not just smell.

Touch, for example. I read that a supermarket took toilet tissue out of its wrapping so customers could touch it. Sales went way up. Don't you love to touch fruits and vegetables, and doesn't it irritate you when they are already shrink-wrapped, or - as often happens in European countries - the vendor yells at you "Do not touch!"

Sound, too, is a potent sales tool. That sound of a car door closing (when we shop for cars, why do we ALL test the car door closing? What's the big deal??!)....that sound is manufactured too. We may know it, but we happily suspend disbelief and go along for the ride.

And consider the sound of music in stores, so carefully calibrated to make us stay, relax, and buy.

I'm going to spend tomorrow checking the senses in everything I do. At the shoe repair, there's a smell we all know...at the gym (ugh...but it COULD be wonderfully invigorating)...at a new restaurant. I'm going to make mental notes of how each place could enhance its sensory marketing. Fun exercise.

And speaking of touch...

The latest in file cabinets is unlocked with the touch of your fingertip. But it's got to be YOUR fingertip, because that's the key. You can choose to program some drawers to be accessible by others (provided that their fingertip patterns are keyed in), and some exclusively for your own use. Of course, if you have an accident and can't get to work, they'll need to cut off your finger to access your files.

May 19, 2005

Happy Anniversary Michele! - 19 Years on the 19th

Michele Crull came to Rawle Murdy exactly 19 years ago today. She has worked with me longer than anyone ever. And what a great job she has done!

Much of our reputation of undertaking the impossible - and succeeding - is a result of Michele's extraordinary work ethic, discipline, perseverance, positive spirit, intelligence, and ability to get others to share her zeal.

Tonight I attended events celebrating two of our clients who exemplify the idea of reaching beyond the norm to create something world-class.

First, a celebration of the American College of the Building Arts, an ambitious enterprise - our nation's newest college - that will teach building arts to students who come from an amazing array of backgrounds and age groups. Starting a college is no easy task. We've been proud to help promote this new college and have found the Internet to be a powerful way to identify potential students. Our news releases, for example, are loaded with key words that spiders easily pick up.

Next, a celebration of the South Carolina Aquarium, five years old today! Who would have thought that a state with roughly the population of Brooklyn could create an aquarium whose accreditation already puts it in the top 10% of all U.S. Aquariums?! Much of the work that got the Aquarium to where it is - battles to get the funding through referndums, launching the facility five years ago, and quickly establishing the Aquarium as Charleston's most visited attraction - is work that was led by Michele Crull. Almost three million visitors have already visited the Aquarium. Tens of thousands of students have participated in the Aquarium's educational programs. This is a major hit!

It's good to have Michele Crull on your side.

May 18, 2005

"Nuts to You!!"

Happy Birthday, Matt!

Ten years ago, you had the whacked out idea of selling boiled peanuts and other southern "delicacies" via a catalog sent to I-don't-know-who. Instead of a catalog that looks like anything anyone else sends out, you chose a itty bitty format with smudgy black type on yellowish paper and illustrations that look like they were drawn with your left foot (in the dark). You bound the catalogs by stitching them with an ancient sewing machine, and you made it reasonably difficult for anyone to know that they existed.

Lo and behold, your business rocks...because it has an incredible integrity, a faithfulness to who it is and a firm resolve never to be anything other than true to itself.

Would that there were more brands like that!

Look at GM. Who the heck IS that company any more? Where's the integrity in ANY of their brands. Now there are Chevrolets that act like Cadillacs, and Cadillacs that act like Chevrolets. No wonder GM is circling the drain.

Brand integrity is key.

GM doesn't have it. They should study Lee Bros. Boiled Peanuts.

PR Works...Creatively Targeted PR Works Better

My friend Gale Epstein has a company called Hanky Panky (great name!). She designs and sells women's underwear, and - over the past several years - steadily built up her company to more than $15 million in sales, thanks to great product (so says my wife!!) and solid press in appropriate publications like Vogue and In Style.

But ever since Hanky Panky was featured in an article in the Wall Street Journal (page one above the fold), featuring the company's most popular product - a thong - Hanky Panky's revenues have doubled to $30 million. Not because Gale's customers or potential customers saw the article (although many did), but because the Journal validated the importance of her business...and that made retailers take note, take her much more seriously, place bigger orders and promote her products more.

All too often, companies only promote to a single constituency, their ultimate consumer. But there are lots of links in the supply chain, and a creatively targeted PR effort will touch them all.

May 17, 2005

All that stuff about the importance of good people is true!

We won some new business today (yay!), and I'm thinking to myself how wonderfully fortunate I am to have such good people to work with. I remember that we were especially rushed to get this pitch done. There was lots going on. We met, agreed upon a strategic direction, and then divided up the responsibilities. Each person came back with great ideas that made the strategy come to life. The ideas were fresh and innovative. And it obviously paid off.

Ben Marino tells me that Jack Welch's new book "Winning" is really pretty good, and that Welch makes a big pitch for the importance of Human Resource leadership. He notes that HR gets short shrift in many companies, and says that's a big mistake. He's absolutely right. There's nothing better than getting "the right people on the bus," as Jim Collins says in "Good to Great." (There's a book worth referring to on a regular basis. What are some others?)

A Big Red Sign that Non-Traditional Media Rules

The Coca-Cola Company has said that in five years a third of its ad revenue will be spent in non-traditional forms of advertising.

We're building a list of non-traditional media ideas. Some we've done. Some we've heard about and are waiting for the opportunity to put to use. Seen some good ones lately? Pass them on!

More Wisdom from Rick Throckmorton

"Any country that depends on manpower and commodities will fail."

"Trust the People"

Alabama Governor George Wallace was a piece of work, but I always liked his campaign slogan: "Trust the people."

Reading more today about issues relating to marketing to children, I found it refreshing to learn about a recent national survey which shows that the public clearly prefers parental responsibility to government control. By a staggering eight-to-one ratio, respondents believe that "more parental involvement" is a better solution to keeping kids from seeing adult content than "increased government control."

Trust the people.

May 16, 2005

Accountability...Always a Challenge

Prospects and clients inevitably ask, "How will we know how effective our advertising is?" And, of course, - unless they're operating in a vacuum with no other communications, no product changes, no competitive landscape changes, and no consumer habit changes - the answer is they won't know...for sure.

Web activity, on the other hand, IS measurable. And, as Jay pointed out to me today, many companies are now spending big bucks analyzing their websites. Jupiter Research reports that spending on what is called "web analytics" will top $500 million by 2006. Some large companies already spend more than $50,000/year measuring site activity, including number of unique visitors, length of stay on a given page and the links a user clicks on.

What this enables you to do is tweak some aspect of your website marketing (such as home page info and navigation, order of pages, product offerings, prices, shipping fees, etc.) and see what generates the best response.

We Know that Kids are Too Fat, but How Fat are Their Wallets?

I've spent a lot of time today reading about marketing to kids, especially the pros and cons of marketing certain less nutritious foods and beverages to a generation that has an ever-increasing incidence of obesity.

The facts are not always clear or consistent. For example, the Center for Science in the Public Interest says that "children 4-12 spend and directly control at least $24 billion in purchases...and influence another $500 billion in spending by their families and others."

The New York Times says that "children under 12 will spend $35 billion of their own money and influence $200 billion in household spending."

Oh well, what's $300 billion one way or another.

Either way, the kids are doing pretty well.

What Beats Curiosity?

I've always thought that "curiousity" was about the best trait you could find in a child. Reading all this stuff about marketing to kids has concerned me, because so many special interest groups and well-intentioned legislators come to the conclusion that we should choose "a priori" the cable TV channels we want in our home and pay only for them. They call this "a la carte" cable. I call it a curiosity killer.

Don't you just love clicking through the channels and discovering something you had no idea was on...or that you had no idea might interest you? It can be substantive, or it can be just blissful escapism. (Nothing wrong with that.) And - at least for me - it's often on a channel that I have never thought about and probably would never order, were each channel sold separately.

It's like going to the library to get a book...but, on the way down the stacks you see several other books that interest you, and your curiosity is piqued. This is exactly why the book stores still exist, even though Amazon can get us books quicker and cheaper than most of the stores themselves. People like to browse. People are curious. Thank goodness.

"A la carte" is not only a curiosity killer, it's a cable programming killer. The economics are simple. Cable TV companies can give us such a breadth of good channels because we're taking them all, and they therefore can use the revenues from the most popular ones to help support those that appeal to more narrow segments of the audience.

The special interest groups are shouting loud, and we champions of curiosity need to get into this fray.

May 13, 2005

Why didn't Jeff Goldblum get a Tony nomination? Yesterday I was talking about stories; the Broadway play Goldblum is in - "The Pillowman" - is ALL about storytelling. What a trip!

Outsourcing - Get with the Program

Fredo says, "Let's talk more about outsourcing." Well, for me the most vivid outsourcing story in Thomas Friedman's latest best seller "The World is Flat" is about the McDonald's restaurants in Missouri that outsource their drive-through windows to a call center in Colorado.

That's right, you drive up and place your order in Missouri, and the order is taken by someone in Colorado. An electronic photo is taken of you, and the photo and order are sent back to the restaurant. AND your order is ready more quickly and more accurately.

Order time has been cut down by about 30 seconds, which means the restaurants can each handle about 30 more cars per hour. AND the accuracy of orders is twice what it was before.

That's the lesson of outsourcing today: The advantages go beyond price now to include speed AND productivity. So, if there's something we're doing that someone else can do better and cheaper, isn't that great?! It leaves time for us to focus on what WE can do better than anyone else. Don't know what that is? Well, time to figure out...'cause that's how we'll all be defined.

Who's Reading the Newspaper?

This week we got new numbers on newspaper circulation, and it's down. Again. There's been a 1.9% drop in daily circulation and a 2.3% decline on Sundays over the past six months, compared with the same period a year ago. For some papers, the decline is even greater. Circulation of the Los Angeles Times, for example, is down 7.9%

Obviously, there are a lot more outlets for information. And consumers are turning increasingly to the Internet for their up-to-the-minute news.

But, I think that one of the problems is that newspaper people are trying to solve newspapers' problems. As papers go through re-designs, they inevitably turn to people who specialize in - you guessed it - newspaper design. What if they turned to some of the bright new designers who have much broader experience and exposure and will bring a fresh perspective to the challenge of making every newspaper more relevant and indispensible? Newspapers are not designed for today's reader. It's that simple.

Of course, there's another marketing problem which is that newspapers have long relied upon telemarketing to generate subscriptions. And that's tougher to accomplish with the introduction of the "do not call" list in 2003. One antidote for that is to identify the Lifestyle Touchpoints of potential newspaper readers and intercept them there in new and creative ways.

Smartly marketed newspapers can not only survive, they can flourish.

More Stats on Online Advertising

We were talking earlier in the week about dramatic increases in online advertising. Forrester Research has recently released a new five-year forecast saying that online advertising will represent 8% of total advertising in 2010, which makes it competitive with spending on cable/satellite TV and radio.

The report says that online consumers spend about the same amount of time online as they do watching television. Yet marketers only spend 4% of their ad budgets online, vs. 25% on TV.

Online advertising spending is going to explode!

HR Wisdom

My friend Rick Throckmorton, a former wiz partner at Booz Allen Hamilton, has this wisdom about identifying good people:

"People who see patterns, rather than things, are the people who can do something significant."

May 12, 2005

Charlotte Wows Us

Advertising industry legend Charlotte Beers joined our staff meeting this morning and very generously shared great wisdom on branding, new business pitches, and the role of advertising agencies. She reminded us that agencies aren't like clients. Agencies are meant to ingest the knowledge that clients have and take it somewhere...somewhere that expresses the emotional essence of the client's product or service. That's how we add value.

She talked, too, about the power of storytelling. This came out of - yes - a story she told. In the middle of her agency's pitch to the Olympic Games, the fancy AV equipment broke down. Charlotte stood up and said [winging it], "This would be a good time to talk about three universal truths that are relevant to our presentation today. The first is the universal desire for peace and harmony. Everyone, no matter where they live, feels this need." She came up with a second universal truth and then couldn't think of a third. "I felt that I was breaking down, just like the projector," she told us. "And then, miraculously, one of the Olympic people said, 'I know what the third truth is. It's the universal need and affection for storytelling.'" Yes, indeed. And that insight led to the storytelling motif that we've seen in the Olympic Games presentations and coverage ever since.

Charlotte is writing a book, and we can't wait for it to come out.

The Brand Called You

That was a book, wasn't it? I'm not sure...I never read it. But listening to Charlotte talk about branding, I was thinking of ways in which we brand ourselves. Do we know ourselves well enough to be able to identify ourselves as brands?

How valuable and rare true self awareness really is!

A dear friend died suddenly and so very tragically in an automobile accident last month. There was a brief item in her journal that was found in her car. Here's what it said:

"What brings me joy...

Friendship
Family
Friends
Freda (her dog)
Working with children
Working with my hands
Building
Reading
Learning
French tapes
Eating great meals
Public radio
Astronomy
Feeling like I've touched another heart
Talking about ideas
Writing poetry
Righteous indignation
Stories that make me laugh"

Well, you've already got a pretty good picture of Rose now, don't you? Can we each paint as vivid a picture of ourselves? Can we each identify our own individual brand?

May 11, 2005

The Perils of Commoditization

There's probably no worse fate for a product than to be - or become - a commodity.

Consider the bundlers. To me, they are "bunglers." We all know who they are. They're offering phone, TV, and Internet services all bundled together. And what differentiates them? Nothing, other than price.

But the price keeps changing.

We pitched one of these guys. A really great company. They had a low-price bundle on the market doing well, and we recommended branding and bonding with consumers, rather than being prisoners of the price wars. "No," they said. "We're doing so well with our low-cost offer. We're gonna stick with it."

Not surprisingly, one month later their major competitor came along with a price that was 20% lower. Whoops!

The June issue of PCWorld has a good article on how folks sign up for bundled services thinking they'll cost "x." And then they end up costing more.

Boy oh boy, these providers are really missing the boat. They're going to be spending their lives wondering why their customers churn so fast, when they could and should be building bonds with their customers....bonds that go well beyond price.

What an irony that one of the hottest categories in marketing today is so blind to the basics of branding!

ADVERGAMING - A Hot New Category to Watch

It was inevitable. Advertisements on video games. After all, the video game industry is explosive.

Men now spend more on video games than on all forms of music combined. Annual video game sales top $10 billion, which is about the total amount of annual U.S. box office sales. More than 40% of U.S. households have some kind of system dedicated to game play.

Last year, ad sales on games totalled about $10 million. But the real action is Advergames, in which the game itself is the advertisement. Spending in this category? About $200 million...and expected to top $1 billion in the next five years.

All part of the ever-expanding world of Lifestyle Touchpoints where smart advertisers can intercept consumers. Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore.

The Public/Private Tightrope

Meeting with a public sector client today, I was reminded of how marketing decisions - like all decisions in the public sector - are different than they are in private enterprise. All those candidates and office holders who say, "Government should run more like business" don't get it. Government canNOT be run like business. It's the government...and there are political considerations and consequences that simply do not exist in the private sector. The challenge is to get as close as you can to the best practices of the private sector world while being ever-responsive to the dynamics of the public (political!) environment. It's a fascinating challenge. Has anyone written wisely about this?

May 10, 2005

Happy Birthday, Conley!

What Makes a Great Client

I asked Rutledge Young that question tonight. He's a very successful attorney, always on the "Best Lawyers in America" List. His answer: Someone who appreciates what you do...someone who respects you and values your opinion...someone who asks you tough questions, so that you are challenged into giving them your best thinking...someone who is willing to take a bold, brave and innovative position, even if there is risk associated with it.

I'd say that's the very same in our business. I'd add two other qualities, though. One is that our best clients are passionate about their business. They love what they do. And they practice "management by walking around." That is, they get out there and listen to their staff members AND their customers. They "kick the tires," shop the competition, and get as close to their customers as possible.

Can You Do Great Work with a Not-Great Client?

I didn't used to think so. But I think, now, that one can. It's just a lot harder. And, a lot less fun. Speaking of fun, I love Mike Veeck's "Fun is Good" book. Filled with wise observations. Veeck is such a sweetheart. Congratulate him on his book, and he dismisses the compliment saying, "Everyone has a book," as though it were as easy as waking up in the morning. His apparently casual air is wonderfully refreshing. But his "air" is certainly not thin. This is one of the most substantial human beings on the planet. And a marketing genius.

Thanks for the Comments

This is new to me. So, comments from pals - old and new - in cyberspace are so gratefully received. Thanks, MT, for checking out the site. I love the idea of being bi-coastal.

Jay, in response to your question, spending on Fathers Day exceeded spending on Mothers Day last year...so maybe that'll be the pattern again this year. Question is, why more spending for the Dads? My answer is that the women have the money...the women control the spending...the women rule! There are plenty of facts to support this. Some latest repercussions of are the new focus GM is putting on women (finally...while the company is circling the drain) and the new wines for women (since women make 70% of the wine buying decisions in this country).

More comments....please!!

May 9, 2005

Best Ad Over the Weekend

My pick is the full-page newspaper CBS ad for the Elvis Presley mini-series that premieres tonight. Nice big headline ("Elvis Lives on CBS) and then a 362-question cross-word puzzle with a subhead: "How well do you know Elvis?"

The crossword puzzle questions are all Elvis related. It's a real grabber...tough not to get involved. And, if you're stumped on any of the answers, you can go to cbs.com. A very clever way to involve consumers from the git-go.

I can't remember when I last saw an interactive newspaper ad (other than traditional sweepstakes). Can you?

Tapping in to Diverse Cultures

Rick Boyko, managing director of the VCU Adcenter (in Richmond), told me about an exercise he does with his graduate students in advertising. He asks them each to list their ten favorite movies. The students can't just list the movies. They must describe why they like them. He does the same thing. Then he watches some of their favorites, and they watch some of his. And they discuss. Simple idea. But a great way to learn more about where people from other generations and other backgrounds are coming from. Try it with your kids...or your spouse...or your boss...or your client.

When we mistakedly extrapolate our own cultural tastes and biases on others, our marketing and communications are likely to miss the mark.

On Listening

Warren Bennis, the brilliant business guru, has written a terrific essay on "Building a Culture of Candor - A Crucial Key to Leadership" for The Conference Board. He writes about the importance of having diverse and often contrarian views expressed - and listened to - within an organization. And he notes that George Washington (as depicted in David Hackett Fischer's Washington's Crossing) always listened carefully to the advice of others and generously gave others credit when he had successfully acted upon their ideas. In this morning-after-Mothers-Day, it's nice to hear a complimentary yarn about the Father of our Country.

May 8, 2005

Well, Jay, this is going to surprise you. I'm starting this thing, and you may be the only one out there who sees it. So listen up and give me your feedback. Same goes for anyone else.

Internet Advertising Tops the List

When the Small Business Television Network asked nearly 21,000 small-business owners, “Where will you spend the majority of your advertising dollars in 2005?” the Number One response was the Internet at 41%. (31% said print; 16%, TV/radio; and 12% direct mail.)

Internet advertising this year is booming. AOL just announced that its first-quarter advertising revenue was up 45%. And the increases are not just for traditional web ads. Full-motion online ads are growing fast too. They’re expected to grow nearly six fold in the next five years.

While these numbers remind us that it's vital to have an Interactive Strategy, I think the real key is to be certain that one's Interactive Strategy is fully integrated into one's Overall Marketing Strategy. Way too often, the Interactive side of things gets farmed out to folks who do nothing else, and their efforts dillute the Overall Marketing Strategy.

The Biggest Issue We Face

At the Four A's 2005 Management Conference this past week, Chairman Ron Berger challenged members to lead the way in changing their business model to reflect the major changes we all face in technology, demographics, and the way products are being sold to consumers.

Lots of advertisers are not adapting to the changing world. They're still not listening to customers. They're not recognizing the limitations of traditional media and traditional messages. They're not moving fast enough. And they're not fully appreciating how fully integrated the marketing process really needs to be.

Reading Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat" made me wonder, "How will these seminal changes in the way our world works today affect the business we're in?" Check it out and give me YOUR ideas.

We Love You, Mom!

OK, we all DO love our moms. But, you've got to admit that Mothers Day is one heck of a successful marketing package. The latest report I read says that 83% of U.S. Consumers planned to celebrate Mothers Day this year. The aerage person planned to spend $104.63 on Mothers Day. And total spending related to this "holiday" is estimated at $11.43 billion, up9.5% from last year. Wow!