August 31, 2005

Nikki, you know what they say...Be your brand!....and you are. You're knocking people's socks off every day. We were in Asheville last weekend and saw their version of Skirt! If it were a man, I'd say it had penile dysfunction. (By the way...what's the female equivalent?) Worry not, you've got it ALL together.

But let's get to Topic A...

The Storm

Most of us in Charleston lived through Hurricane Hugo, and it was devastating on many levels. What kept this community going, what gave it hope, what enabled us to dig into our psychic reserves and get done what needed to be done, was the community's leadership...specifically Mayor Joe Riley. He kept communicating a message of strength, reason, courage, caring, and hope, while being 100% straight and honest and true.

I am appalled at the leaders of New Orleans fatalistically likening their city to Pompeii. (Only days ago, we passed the anniversary of the fall of Pompeii, that glorious city that disappeared one morning in 79 AD when the lava from Vesuvius engulfed it entirely.)

This is not 79 AD, and New Orleans is not Pompeii. It may FEEL like the end of the world, but it is not. In tragedies such as this horrible storm, people feel helpless. They have lost their belongings and their bearings. They feel as though they have no lifelines. They feel without hope.

Communications becomes more vital than ever. This the moment for leaders to be strong, courageous, and optimistic. The reserves and resources of this country are enormous. And we can not and will not let a storm - even one this horrendous - bury one of our great cities.

If I learned anything from Hugo, it was that leaders need to be out there with calm, consistent, constructive messages of strength and hope. At no time are the skills that we have in our business more relevant than they are in a crisis such as this. Let us hope that the elected officials who are so understandably overwhelmed by this great tragedy pull themselves together and earn the right to be called leaders.

Directors Cut

We watched a directors cut of "Dressed to Kill" the other night. It went on too long and too self-indulgently. Oh, it's still a brilliant movie, but the goodness was milked too much and too long.

And that made me think how important it is to have more than a director deciding what we ultimately see in the theater, and - in our business - why it is so very important to have teams of people working on projects so that they edit one another and make our end product the best it truly can be.

Daniel Goleman and others talk about the value of working in teams. And I always say I don't want to be the brightest person in the room...and neither do the great people with whom I work. The best ideas, the best work, and the best results are accomplished collaboratively.

Leave it to any one of us by ourselves and - even if we're brilliant (as director Brian de Palma most certainly is) - you'll end up with something less lean and focused and impactful than what you would have gotten from a team.

We say there are "no boundaries" in our company...that people collaborate across the board. They do. And that enables us to give our clients something much more resonant than a "directors cut."

August 29, 2005

I love all the chat about Gap. It reminds me that major companies like Disney and Microsoft encourage their employees to have blogs and to check other blogs to see what folks are saying about their company. I wonder the extent to which this is done...and whether companies ever take to heart the comments being made about them out here in blog-land. Seems to me that they could learn a lot from the comments we've been getting. "Double ugh" indeed!!

What's Next?

My "must see TV" of the day was a "Lifestyle of Celebrity Wives" segment on the five ex-wives who got the best deals from their husbands. Hands down winner (at Number One) was Rupert Murdoch's wife who walked away with $1.7 billion. According to the report, she was willing to settle for less, until Murdoch tried to oust her from his company's board. Then she got REALLY mad....and REALLY even.

Meanwhile in the land of billions, Google is buying up lots of the fiber optic cable available from the demise of so many dot-bombs. And what does Google have in store? Some speculation in Business 2.0:

Google Print - lets readers peruse and search the entire contents of public-domain books on the Web

Google Earth - uses satellite photos to explore landmarks and present geographic information at street-level views

Google Video Search - searches archived television content ranging from sports to documentaries to news shows

Google Music - might troll podcasts and other audio files so they'd show up in search results

Google TV - could let users share personal videos with friends and watch on-demand television programming

Google Talk - would use VOIP technology to dial phone numbers that appear in local search results

These innovations boggle the mind and challenge our imaginations. The implications are extraordinary, as we marketers are operating in a world of rapidly shifting sands. Staying fully informed is essential. And acting smart on the information is equally important.

Brand Ideation

We did another one of our Brand Ideation sessions today. These are typically 2-4 hours of intensive work with our clients, with the result that we develop a clear brand positioning that has client buy-in from the start. It's such a wonderfully rewarding exercise, because everyone bangs their foreheads and says, "Hey, this stuff really works!"

August 25, 2005

Good points, Melissa. Apparently, Forth & Towne will have three clothing "lines" that can be mixed and matched (an expression I do not like...why, I wonder). One line will be evocative of the traditional Gap clothes and be called Gap Edition. A second line, called Allegory, will have more structured clothes...good for business, I'm told. And a third line, Vocabulary, will be more like Chico's, with oversized knit sweaters etc. I imagine that they're hoping the three lines will carry them well across the wide threshhold of consumers over 35. Time will tell. And this first store (in Nyack, outside of New York City) will be very closely watched for sure.

Now, here's a stat I just happened upon. A study by Credit Suisse First Boston found that in the U.S. there are 7,700 clothing chains selling to the teen market, but only 1,800 targeting baby boomers. And yesterday we noted that baby boomers spend more than twice as much on apparel as do teens. That's exactly the trend dynamic that Gap is betting on.

Other Retail Trends

Some of the other retail trends I've been reading about lately include self service, cost polarization, blurring of segments, and high speed retail.

Self Service. Go to the airport, and who checks you in? You do! FedEx gives us a computer, so that WE can do THEIR work.

There are self-scanners in supermarkets, and - when RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Devices) really take off, we'll be going through the supermarket check out with automatic debit of our bank accounts.

All of this self service is designed to give customers more of that they value most: time.

Think about how YOUR business can do the same.

Cost Polarization. Cost polarization fascinates me. You can buy a men's dress shirt off the rack for $29 or $400. You can buy jeans for $30. And, there's a place in New York that provides custom jeans for $300. This is really a very refreshing trend. It means that people are not closed-minded when it comes to what they're willing to pay for a particular product or service. There are $6 haircuts...and $600 haircuts (Fekkai charges $750...yes, just for a haircut). It's a wide open world!

Blurring of Segments. When I was growing up, it absolutely never occured to me that one day they'd be selling coffee in book stores. Odd combination? Not at all, as it turns out.

Now, that's a trend: blurring of segments...Juxtaposing combinations of products and services. Think how that applies to your business. What are some combinations that haven't been tried that make lots of sense. I remember thinking years ago that airports needed healthclubs and spas. Now some have them. What else??

High Speed Retail. And high speed retail is simply a nod to the time starved world in which we live. I notice at the holidays that stores often have certain small gift items already gift wrapped and ready to go. Why don't they do that (even in a limited way) all year long? Every business needs to find new ways to save customers time. I had surgery in a New York hospital. Not only was the surgeon terrific, but on each of the four occasions when I've gone to see him, I've never waited long enough to get from the sign-in desk to the chairs in the waiting area. Top that!

Today, a Houstonian told me about the service at MD Anderson Cancer Center. As large and impressive as that remarkable place is, one person is assigned to every patient to stay with that patient through their entire visit, simply to comfort them, explain what's going on, and "be there" for them. That's just so wonderfully incredible.

Is it just about saving time? No, no. Much more important. It's about saving lives. Because study after study has shown that our mental disposition is a critical factor in our response to illness or disease.

August 24, 2005

Great ideas, Jay. I'm wondering if there is an online data bank of all these ideas to attract younger audiences to cultural organizations. Why don't you set one up? You could start with symphony orchestras. You could canvas them all and ask them to submit their ideas to the data bank. Then everyone would have access to the ideas...which would, in turn, spawn more ideas. And the respective orchestras could report back on the success of each initiative. Since orchestras are not competitive, this should be easy to put together. It's virtually a no-cost idea bank. Maybe it could be done under the auspices of whatever national league of orchestras exists.

Short Takes

The Hispanic online population grew 43% from 2003 to 2004, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.

Meanwhile, the non-Hispanic Internet population is flattening out.

Gamers are moving from TV to gaming. A recent survey shows a 4.5 hour DEcrease in the time hardcore gamers spent watching TV each week.

Meanwhile, those hardcore gamers spent 5.4 hours MORE per week playing video games.

And here's a gaming number that came as a surprise to me: It is women over 40 who spend the most time per week playing online games - 9.1 hours vs. 6.1 for men in that age group.

60 is the new 30

Earlier this week, Gap opened a new store concept called Forth & Towne, offering clothing for women over 35.

Forth & Towne joins Talbots, Ann Taylor, and Chico's in appealing to an older demographic. And the numbers certainly support this commitment by the folks at Gap.

Baby boomers - those born between 1946 and 1964 - are hitting 60 just about now. They've got serious money, lots of energy, and they're a significant market segment that is all-too-often overlooked.

Baby boomers spent $42.7 billion on apparel last year, compared with teenagers who spent $20 billion.

Households headed by someone aged 55-64 have a median net worth that's about 15 times greater than the median net worth of households of the under 35 age group.

As the boomers hit 60, their interests and needs are going to be very different than previous generations. There's a great opportunity for smart marketers to develop products and services specifically designed for this very lucrative market segment.

August 23, 2005

I'm with Chuck

Does anyone understand econometrics?

A continuing challenge in our industry is how to measure the effectiveness of an ad.

WPP boss Martin Sorrell swears that his company has come up with the answer, and it's something called econometrics.

I have read and re-read an article in the Wall Street Journal on the subject, and I still don't get it.

Here's their explanatory paragraph:

"Econometrics uses statistical analysis to measure the relationship between different sets of events, such as the effect of educational qualifications on wage levels. To determine an advertisement's effectiveness, econometricians write an equation to measure the effect on sales of different factors, including the weather, price cuts and advertising."

As Mike Meyers' Coffee Talk hostess would say, "Discuss among yourselves."

Can anyone decipher that 'explanation'?

Apparently, we are not alone. At an advertising conference in France, Sorrell did his bit on econometrics to which fellow panelist Chuck Porter responded, "I don't understand what we're talking about." The audience cheered and clapped.

I'm sure Sorrell is brilliant. However, my image of him comes from a friend who sat next to him at the Wimbeldon tennis finals. Sorrell spent the entire time communicating on his Blackberry. Get a grip, Sir Martin!

Capturing Youth

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art - with more than 5 million visitors annually - is the city's most popular visitor attraction. When I was there last week, I was struck - as always - by the wonderfully diverse group of visitors...all ages, all backgrounds.

The Met has succeeded where so many other arts organizations have failed...they successfully attract young people.

I'm not sure how they do it. But I was interested to read about some of the initiatives that other arts organizations - specifically symphonies - are trying.

For example, the New World Symphony in Miami Beach will play four 20-minute concers in one evening, each on the hour, from 7 to 10.

At the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra's "Classical Connections" series, you can speed date, take salsa lessons or exchange resumes before the performance...which consists of a shortened concert with onstage commentary and occasional video.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has a Thursday night series that provides free dinners.

Researchers have concluded, "Focus on what the audience wants, loosen the definition of classical music, pay more attention to social functions, and offer lots of visual stimulation."

I suppose some people would call these initiatives gimmicks. But maybe they're innovations.

Regardless, doing the same thing inevitably leads to getting the same results. If arts organizations don't shake it up, they'll die with their audiences.

August 22, 2005

Oh, great! Now we're getting SPAM stock tips in our comments! Does anyone really think they'll get some sucker to say, "Hey look honey, there's a great tip on an energy stock in the comments section of David Rawle's blog! Let's buy that one right away!!" Yeah, right.

On Target

But on to cheerier subjects...like the fact that Target bought out the entire August 22 issue of The New Yorker magazine. What a great way to make a statement. Every single ad in the magazine is a Target ad. They even got New Yorker cartoonists to do some of their ads.

What's so cool about it is that the impact goes so far beyond the presence in the magazine itself. Heck, we're talking about it, and so are people all over the country.

It's kind of like a Super Bowl ad. The ad is just one piece of the impact. The total impact includes all the contests to name the best ad, the reviews of the ads, the replay of several of them on news and infotainment programs, the endless online chat about the ads, and the online availability of the ads. It goes on and on. The ad placement itself isn't the end...it's the beginning.

And on the subject of Target...Claire wrote about the smart new prescription drug bottles that Target now has, and there was a nice little article about it in Fast Company. A 29-year-old graphic designer came up with the idea in 2001, when her grandmother accidentally took another family member's medicine. The new Target pill bottle has a flat surface, so you can read everything without twisting the bottle...and there's a color-coded ring so each family member can identify their own medicine.

This is just so smart. It's so customer-oriented, so responsive to today's needs. Making lives easier and safer!

More on Matisse

"I do not literally paint the table, but the emotion it produces in me," said Matisse. At the time, that was revolutionary. Cezanne made almost an identical comment about landscapes.

Great advertising focuses on the emotion the product or service produces in its customers. That's the toughest thing to capture...and the most important.

From An Expert

Fast Company also has a great exerpt from Phil Dusenberry's book Then We Set His Hair On Fire.

He talks about the power of insights. "Insights, not ideas. There's a difference. Ideas, valuable though they may be, are a dime a dozen in business...Insight is much rarer - and therefore more precious. In the advertising business, a good idea can inspire a great commercial. But a good insight can fuel a thousand ideas, a thousand commercials."

One of Dusenberry's examples of a solid insight was when his agency (BBDO) pitched HBO. They met with the HBO executives who explained their business. The BBDO folks recognized that HBO wasn't a little better than the competition...or even a little different. HBO was unlike anything else. That was an insight. It led to the line "It's not TV, it's HBO" (originally presented as "There's no place like HBO")...and it has led to all of HBO's advertising AND it reinforces the mandate to HBO that they darn well better keep coming up with totally fresh stuff. And they're doing a pretty good job of it!

Dusenberry's guidelines for building a foolproof insight-creation machine:

"Be really tough on the work. Never let them hear you bitch and moan. Judge an insight on its merits. Don't compete with your people. Protect insights from their enemies (i.e., compromise). Let your clients own your best insights."

Our client Piggly Wiggly is the hometown grocery store. It has the friendly atmosphere that makes people feel good. That's an insight. And that insight has been carried out in everything that Piggly Wiggly does, whether it's inside the stores themselves or in the external marketing.

I was in the store near the Isle of Palms on Saturday. I overhear someone say - with truly genuine feeling - "Well, that's great. And how is the rest of the family?" I assumed it was two old friends talking. I rounded the corner, and discovered that the person speaking was a Piggly Wiggly employee, inquiring of an elderly female customer. Then, as Carol and I were looking through the rack of Piggly Wiggly t-shirts, a woman (who was clearly a summertime visitor) told us that she buys a Pig t-shirt for her son every single year.

Think about that. Can you imagine another store where someone would have that kind of loyalty, that kind of affection, that kind of bond? That's the kind of relationship typically reserved for your friendly neighborhood store...and that's exactly the position - and the reality - of Piggly Wiggly.

As Dusenberry says, the insight is precious, and it produces thousands of ideas.

August 15, 2005

Ginny, I don't know how you do all the things you do already. But how do you EVER have time to read all the stuff that's on boingboing.net? Has Evelyn Wood moved to Sullivan's Island?

Say, whatever happened to Evelyn Wood? Did her system disappear with her? Or don't enough people read to make it relevant?

Time Starved

Most of us are time starved.

15% of all meals in this country are eaten in the car.

50% of all soup is eaten out of the home.

Food companies are looking for ways to make their products more portable. News channels are force-feeding us two of three messages simultaneously (image, super, and crawl are the typical combination).

Newspapers are summarizing the entire paper on page one and then summarizing other stories inside and running shorter and shorter stories. In Switzerland, there 's a newspaper called 20 Minuten, because it can be read in less than 20 minutes!

You can even buy pre-loaded iPods.

We've got a great client - West Ashley Toyota - who just keeps thinking of smart ways to meet the needs of their customers. Today they told us that they'll have a mobile service van that will go to people's homes and change their oil and conduct other maintenance without any interruption of their car buyer's life. Hey, that's smart!

What are some things you can do with your business to be more responsive to people's time pressure?

Here are some things we can do:

We can manage meeting time smarter...with clear agendas and decision-making, using the time for subjects that need to be discussed, rather than information that can be imparted some other way.

We can present choices and decisions more clearly to clients, so their time is spent more efficiently.

And we can think of the time consequences of our recommendations...will they help our clients and/or their customers save time or manage time more wisely?

Better yet, we can pro-actively think of ways to respond to consumers being so time starved.

We are currently switching to an even better information system in our company, and that will improve both the speed and the clarity of our communications.

And how 'bout marketing materials? Are they quick to read and understand?

And what about instructions? I've just read the instructions for a new camera. They seem to have been written by someone for whom English was a second language. I got so frustrated that I put the instructions and the camera into the closet.

Who's got the time??!!

How much smarter it would have been for the camera people to get a really smart designer and writer to make the instructions not only easy to follow, but fun!

Time. How precious it is. Help someone save it or manage it better and you've got a real leg up on the competition.

August 14, 2005

Getting Freaky

"Freakonomics" is lots of fun. Steven Levitt turns things upside down and sees relationships that most of us have not heretofore considered.

Much has been written about his attributing the decline in major crimes to the legalization of abortion. He also makes a compelling case that more children die in households with swimming pools than in households with guns.

What I liked about the book is that he is willing to see things differently.

And that's what we try to do in our business.

Because if we look at things the same way everyone else does, we're likely to come up with the same solutions....and then, where's the added value?

One of Levitt's most relevant points he actually attributes to the economist Richard Thaler whose 1985 study showed that a thirsty sunbather would pay $2.65 for a beer delivered from a resort hotel, but only $1.50 for the same beer if it came from a shabby grocery store.

People will pay different amounts for the same item depending upon who is providing it.

That is so applicable to most retail situations. Many products are the same at all major grocery stores. Which one you go to - and what you're willing to pay for the same product - really can be affected by how each grocery store presents itself in its communications and its shopping experience.

Similarly, where there are two or more car dealers in a community selling the same kind of car, one CAN create a more desirable environment and out-perform the other. And, it's not how much they spend, but HOW they spend it.

Some of Levitt's trivia is just plain fun. For example, we Americans complain about how much is spent on political campaigns in our country (about $1 billion/year). To put the amount in perspective, Levitt notes that it is the same amount of money that Americans annually spend on chewing gum.

Incidentally, Levitt dispels the notion that candidates who spend the most money always win. Of course if that were ever so, Nelson Rockefeller would have been President.

Lots of Levitt is about people's dishonesty. In Levitt's world, teachers cheat, white collar executives cheat, and crack dealers have a "corporate structure" that mirrors McDonald's.

That reminded me of a piece by Marshall Goldsmith, who writes a lot about leadership and coaching.

Walk the Walk

An important responsibility of corporate leadership is establishing and communicating a distinctive corporate culture. Goldsmith points out that many leaders "talk the talk." He says he visited Enron in its glory days, and they had a powerful presentation (very glitsy) about the company's corporate responsibility, etc., etc.

Only trouble was that they weren't "walking the walk."

Some years ago, we helped a client through a major downsizing of more than 3,000 employees. We opened up internal channels of communications that still exist today - more than a decade later - and are used regularly to convey that organization's corporate culture AND listen to employees' interests and concerns.

As Goldsmith notes, "Rather than wasting time on re-inventing words about desired leadership behavior, companies should ensure that leaders get (and act upon) feedback from employees - the people who actually observe this behavior."

Internal communications are every bit as important as external communications...perhaps even more so. Yet so many companies overlook them.

Trend of the Day

Cuddle Parties in New York. A group of strangers hug each other and then fall on the floor in what is known as a 'puppy pile.'

Bring back the squeegie guys!

August 10, 2005

The Future of Advergaming

We've written about advergaming... product placement and advertising in video games. It's a fast-growing medium, and it deserves serious consideration by appropriate advertisers.

The controversy over gaming is reminiscent of what went on with rock and roll when I was growing up. Young people love it. Older people don't.

76% of the video gamers are under 40. And, of course, most of their critics are much older...AND have never played a video game.

So, what the critics don't know is that video games are truly challenging and help people learn how to make decisions, solve problems. And, isn't that what life is all about?

A recent article in The Economist tells how video games are now also being used for corporate training. Companies like IBM and Nokia are using games to test workers' knowledge of rules and regulations. And PriceWaterhouseCoopers uses games to teach novice auditors about financial derivatives.

As two management consultants note, "gamers are skilled at multi-tasking, good at making decisions and evaluating risks, flexible in the face of change and inclined to treat setbacks as chances to try again."

Not a bad skill set!

I spoke with a potential staff member today and he said that one reason why he was considering looking elsewhere for employment is that the leadership of his present company only gives lip service to the new technologies. Underneath it all, according to this fellow, they are firmly wedded to the ways of the past.

What a shame. And what a shame that unknowing critics are dismissing the value of video games, or - worse - grossly mischaracterizing them to gain political favor.

How common it is for us to dismiss and denigrate that which is unfamiliar to us. It's a REAL shame when we're ignoring something that might serve our clients well.

Smart advertisers will seriously consider the exciting new medium of advergaming. And well they should.

Caught in the Rain

We wandered in to Bob Ellis on Saturday to buy Carol a pair of inexpensive sandals on sale.

Then it started to rain...really hard.

Six pairs of shoes later, we left the store.

Watching the grace with which the people at Bob Ellis serve their customers is like watching a great symphony orchestra. It appears to be an effortless exercise. Not the right size? Not the right color? No problem...they drift away to some inner sactum with no complaint, no rolling of eyes...and back they come with something new...usually what you asked for, plus something else that they - and you - simply could not resist.

Ever want to watch satisfied customers? Stand outside Bob Ellis and watch the women come out of that store. Want to know WHY they're satisfied. Stand inside and what what happens. There's a real lesson there for any retailer.

Two days later, I read in USAToday that women's fashion footwear sales are up nearly 5% to $16.4 billion for the 12 months ended in June. A chief industry analyst said that most women keep nearly two dozen pairs of shoes in their closet, with 14 pairs in rotation.

The article also talked about the chain DSW and their new ads focusing on the experience of buying shoes. The ads grew out of listening to women talk about their shopping experience.

Sounds pretty basic...listening to the customer...tapping in to their emotional experience. But maybe it's new for the shoe category. Who else has been living in the dark ages?

August 8, 2005

Ooops!

Ken Auletta tells the story of Katie Couric's debut as an on-air personality when she was at CNN. She filled in once for a correspondent. CNN's news chief saw her, said she looked and sounded like a 16-year-old, and said, "I never want to see her on the air again."

The Power of Communications

Auletta goes on to document the power of the Today franchise (it generates about $250 million annually for NBC), and - here's what's really impressive - the power of communicating issues effectively on television:

When Katie Couric did a weeklong series on colon cancer after her husband died of the disease in 1998, colonoscopy screenings increased by 20%.

That is really incredible.

Later in the article, Auletta quotes ABC News president David Westin as envisioning that morning news shows are the future of network news. That is, he thinks that evening newscasts will eventually look like morning news shows.

Among the consequences for advertisers would be that evening newscast audiences would be predominantly women. That might then drive the entire prime time line-up.

Among the consequences for TV watchers would be, "Where do I find out what's really happening in the world?"

Stop the Madness

As if copying GM's "employee prices" promotion wasn't demeaning enough for Chrysler, and then they came up with lame spots with Lee Iacocca and Jason Alexander (what was THAT all about)...NOW they're going to combine Iacocca with Snoop Dogg...spending $75 million on a campaign in which Snoop riffs on Iacocca's "famous" line "If you can find a better car, buy it" by turning it into "If the ride is more fly, then you must buy."

What about (a) coming up with an original idea, or (b) touting the many new benefits of Chrysler automobiles?

She's On Target

One of the smartest communicators in the Charleston area (or maybe any area) is Darcy Shankland, who has taken a throw-away city magazine and turned it into a fat, ad-filled, feature-rich, very popular magazine (way outselling every other popular magazine like Oprah et al in this market).

AND she has added Home and Wedding magazines to the stable; and they are equally successful.

Her formula? My sense is that she trusts her own gut, understands her market, and is true to her instincts. She seems, too, to have genuine respect and affection for the community. She certainly does a good job telling its story.

August 5, 2005

Congratulations to Sandy Corson, who has just been named Vice President of Rawle Murdy!! Sandy has worked with us for 19 years, responsibly managing the firm's financial operations. An inspiration for all of us, Sandy is a beacon of integrity, commitment, and compassion.

Philanthropy and Marketing

I've just been reading about the endless summer charity benefits going on in Long Island. And, there was another article a couple of days ago about the incredible amounts of money that hedge fund managers are making - and giving - to charity. Competition for their favor is fierce.

One evening event for the Robin Hood Foundation took in $32 million.

I remember going to a fund raiser for Bette Midler's park foundation, and Rosie O'Donnell auctioned off a dog for $22,000. I thought that was a big deal. But, among today's super-rich, that was chicken feed. At a recent fund raiser, Jamie Niven was asked to auction off "investments" in New York's public school libraries. He thought he would sell five. In 30 seconds, he sold 21 to people who raised their hand to make pledges of $250,000 each.

So there's a flush of funny money out there right now. It won't last. But, for the moment, it's there. And the non-profit sector is benefiting (in both senses of the word!).

I've always wondered why - (in general) - non-profits have strong commitments to development (fund raising) but not nearly commensurate commitments to marketing.

How often does a major non-profit truly brand itself and then live that brand position?

United Way does it well on a national level, because it has a first-rate ex-advertising industry wiz running that effort.

But how would you describe the brand of who the Red Cross is, or the Salvation Army, for example? Why aren't they trying to own a share of our minds by marketing themselves in as dynamic a way as the better for-profit products and services are marketed?

When the non-profit industry wakes up to this shortcoming, the benefits it sees will outshine anything that's happening in the Hamptons this summer.

August 3, 2004

What if there were a....

At lunch, we were talking about ideas for inventions. Kind of a "what-if-there-were-a..." moment.

Jamie said that his pregnant wife says it's very difficult to shave her legs. So she thinks there ought to be a razor with an extendable handle for pregnant women. Clever idea...why hasn't anyone done anything about that?

Joe said what if people could get a GPS-driven tour of Charleston. Kind of a 21st Century version of an acoustiguide. You'd get something at the Visitor Center that would download images and text or voice customized to wherever you were walking or driving throughout the city.

"What if" conversations don't need to lead to the laboratory. But they can certainly catalyze new marketing ideas.

I was thinking of Joe's idea when I read about the New York City taxicabs that have cab-top ads that change depending upon the neighborhood they're driving in (thanks to GPS).

That was noted in a great article on "Hot New Advertising Tools" in Inc. magazine.

There's a lot in the article about identifying the behavioral profile of your customers and then identifying where like-minded prospects are...and then marketing directly to them and converting them to customers. This is something we've been doing in partnership with Tom Blazer's e-site business intelligence firm.

The article notes that in a study, website visitors were, on average, 14 times more likely to click on an ad when it matched their profiles.

Furthermore, consumers appear to be willing to share personal information in hopes of getting advertising that is more relevant to them.

Better targeting isn't just limited to the Internet. The Nielsen people are more clearly identifying television audiences, and - of course - cable TV offers some very specific targeting opportunities.

I love the taxi story. And I'm thinking there must be a way to provide drivers with customized travel information (and advertising!) as they drive through our state (and other states, if they can't find everything anyone could ever want right here in South Carolina!).

In three Stop & Shop grocery stores in Massachusetts, customers can swipe their loyalty cards through a reader attached to their grocery carts and get a proposed shopping list (and tips) based upon their previous purchases. Creepy, in a way...but just think about the possibilities.

The possibilities. That's what it's all about. And it often starts with imagining "What if there were a......"

A Night at the Movies

Almost half as many people are going to the movies this summer as went to the movies five years ago.

There's all kinds of speculation about it, centering around the rise in home entertainment.

Me, I think it's simply that the summer movies aren't very appealing.

That said, can you imagine someone saying to you, "There's going to be a big hit movie in the summer of 2005. It will earn twice its cost on its opening weekend. There will not be one single human being in the movie, no fast editing, no special effects, no animation, and no violence."

What would you have said? Something like, "Who are you kidding??!!!"

Well, that movie is "The March of the Penguins." It's beguiling audiences of all ages, and it just shows that if you do something great and special and true and honest and from-your-heart, it's got a great shot at shining. Under those circumstances, trends be damned.

August 2, 2005

Lifestyle Touchpoints

Great interview in the Sunday Times with Kenneth J. Roberts, chief executive of Lippincott Mercer, a brand consulting firm.

First question: "Aside from basic advertising and marketing, what does building a brand entail?"

His response begins..."What it's all about is reaching your customer through touch points, or all the points where people interact with a product."

Well, we've been saying this - and doing it - for some time now. So it's nice to see the value confirmed by someone whose primary business is branding. We call them Lifestyle Touchpoints, and our study of customers' habits enables us to identify just the right places and points of contact to communicate most effectively.

Being the Brand

Roberts goes on to talk about the importance of brands that create a consistent experience for customers...like Virgin and Starbucks.

As an example of what isn't working, he cites Mercedes. Ten years ago, Mercedes made only three lines of cars. Now they sell cars at prices ranging from $27,000 to $150,000...and that means they're covering too broad a market segment and diluting the brand.

Mercedes is no longer "being the brand."

Virgin and Starbucks are always "being the brand."

I can't remember which Far East airline it is...maybe Singapore Airlines, but I'm not sure...anyway, they only hire female flight attendants who can wear one size uniform (so they have a very "uniform" look)...they serve scented hot towels and the air is lightly scented with the same aroma...they are "being the brand" throughout every amenity.

Is their service in fact any better than any other airline? The answer is "No."

But, by virtue of perception...by BEING the brand...that airline is consistently voted as having the best service of any airline in the world.

The domestic carriers have virtually abdicated any branding, and - therefore - any customer loyalty. Board a domestic flight and they tell you that it is operated by some other company you've never heard of. In-flight magazines are disappearing, along with any other amenities. Even first class food is inedible on domestic flights. You are in an anonymous vacuum. No wonder the airlines are all circling the drain. Except, of course, for a few smart ones like Southwest.

You can't SAY you're different or better or special. You've just gotta BE it.

What people want most in an elected official is honesty. But a candidate cannot SAY they are honest. They just need to BE it.

Brands, too. They've just got to BE it.

August 1,2005

Such great comments.

Claire's idea of making use of holding time on phones is brilliant. The longest waits are for tech help. Imagine how that time could be used.

And the comments about thinking time were terrific.

There is a real problem with the media trying to get things first, rather than get them right. They are responding to the rush to beat their competitors and the need to fill so much air time. We live in an Acting Culture instead of a Thinking Culture.

The irony, to me, is that thinking is the most valuable asset of all. It should be most honored, most revered, most cherished.

But no....we live in a "shoot first, ask questions later" culture. The Iraq War comes to mind. So does the poor fellow on the London subway.

If It's Superfluous, Can It Help Sales?

Yes.

People like choices. Not too many choices. (Too many choices can be confusing and lead to not buying anything.)

But people like to be able to compare the products they're buying.

I've just read a research paper on superfluous products. These are products that are often placed next to another product to make that product look more appealing. For example, you see a vacuum cleaner that does everything next to one that does nothing much and costs half as much...and one that does only a little bit more but costs twice as much.

Your choice is clear. And you're a happy customer.

This article said, for example, that Cherry Coke was a superfluous product...only there to encourage greater sales of Classic Coke.

Well, gee, I always liked Cherry Coke.

Blink!...Even Then

There's a fabulous article on Matisse in the New York Review of Books.

This episode could have been right out of Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink!"

In 1911, Matisse told the surgeon Rene Leriche that he dashed down his first impressions of any given subject in rapid sketches, "like flashes of revelation - the result of an analysis made initially without fully grasping the nature of the subject to be treated: a sort of meditation."

He never forgot the surgeon's response, which was that he made his own diagnoses in just the same way ("If anyone askes why I say that, I have to admit that I have no idea - but I'm certain of it, and I stick by it.")

Much later in Matisse's life, Dr. Leriche saved his life in an emergency operation.

Instincts work. Trust them.

The Best News of All...

...is that Melissa is home with her twin baby boys. Yippee!