3
Feb

Does a 5-year-old understand your brandmark?


This made the rounds on the intertubes a few days ago, but it was too great not to post here. I love any kind of feedback from little kids regarding marketing and advertising, because they aren’t susceptible to the same traps of bizspeak and buzzwords that we are. Some notable moments:

  • How deeply-ingrained is Starbucks in our culture that even a 5-year-old can identify their logo as “the coffee place”? I literally couldn’t articulate what coffee even was at that age, let alone tell you where to get some. The fact that this little girl both knows what Starbucks is and what they sell speaks volumes about its ubiquity in our lives.
  • Even more impressive: correctly identifying the pretty-abstract BP logo. Wonder if the Gulf Coast spill coverage actually cemented BP into the minds of America’s youth, setting the stage for massive growth once they all start driving?
  • The Bank of America logo “looks like a flag.” Mission accomplished, gentlemen.
  • The McDonald’s logo looks like it’s made of french fries. This blew my mind. Have I been missing this connection the entire time? Again— the mind of a child providing clarity and connecting visuals in a way I never thought of myself.
  • All of those large cat logos really need to start differentiating themselves better.

I loved this, and would love to see more. Marketing folks with kids: can we make these videos the new “Shit ____ People Say”?

3 notes marketing / logos / children / branding / brands / advertising / videos /
21
Nov
“It’s a known fact in advertising circles that only idiots click on ads — and yet advertisers still think that click-through rates mean something, and that a higher click-through rate means a better ad.” - Wired’s Felix Salmon, “The Future of Online Advertising” That picture above is how I’ve trained myself to see Google search results over the years, and I know I’m not alone. My selective visual filter carries over to most websites, too. The upper edges and right-side columns of content-heavy sites are almost always just piles of useless ads, moving or dancing or automatically playing audio meant to distract me from the real reason I’m on the site in the first place. Classic paid online ads are at best unengaging and easily-ignored. They are at worst severely irritating and intrusive on my reading experience (you know those ones that start out normal sized then unexpectedly grow to engulf the entire page? Great strategy, guys). But as Felix Salmon’s excellent article above points out, they’re still the most-frequently used gadget in the online advertising toolbox. Why? Okay, it’s true. They’re fast, easy, relatively cheap, and easily measured. Paid online ads are a great way for a brand to feel like its doing “something” online, without having to commit too much time or too many resources to the endeavor. But you reap what you sow. Like I mentioned before, consumers have trained their online eyes to ignore what they know to be of no use to them, and they’ve gotten really good at it. So what do brands do online now that paid ads are losing their luster? Simple. Social media. Yes, the go-to. But there’s a reason for that. It’s not costly, it’s a direct pipeline to consumer feedback, and it’s still new enough that it can provide a real edge when done right. For more information on the uses of social media in marketing, see every blog online anywhere. Third party content. In his article, Salmon mentions the ad he places for his site Counterparties. It’s not a moving picture, antiquated call to action, or dancing alien. It’s a simple widget that provides links to related content on other sites. He provides a useful service to the reader, manages to not annoy him or her, and still gets to make a good impression and track click-throughs for measurement. Example: You’re reading an article about some new feature in Photoshop. There’s a box with a Counterparties logo in the column, but it’s just displaying links to relevant creativity/software/photo-editing content elsewhere online. Micropayments. Early in the internet’s existence, it was determined that most content would be free to access, but revenues would be derived from ads where possible. Hence the rise of the paid online ad. But we’ve since seen a different system of content support that could work: paying for good stuff in small, bite-size chunks. Look at the relatively new world off apps. It’s been proven that people are willing to pay a few dollars for something useful or fun, or download something for free and then pay to improve it (just ask Zynga). This method is beginning to leak onto the internet as a whole, with Hulu Plus and Netflix and periodical paywalls like that of the New York Times’. I think we’ll be seeing more of this in the future, as traditional online ads continue to lose effectiveness. Online is still fairly new as an advertising medium, especially when compared to TV or print. But just as those channels have changed and evolved significantly over the years, the internet will evolve and grow and require new approaches. There’s no permanent, silver bullet, eternal solution to effective advertising. This is why branders and marketers need to constantly be driving, experimenting with, and exploring the latest innovations. Wait, I remembered one silver bullet marketing solution: be damn good, all the time. 30-Day Challenge #17

“It’s a known fact in advertising circles that only idiots click on ads — and yet advertisers still think that click-through rates mean something, and that a higher click-through rate means a better ad.”

- Wired’s Felix Salmon, “The Future of Online Advertising”

That picture above is how I’ve trained myself to see Google search results over the years, and I know I’m not alone. My selective visual filter carries over to most websites, too. The upper edges and right-side columns of content-heavy sites are almost always just piles of useless ads, moving or dancing or automatically playing audio meant to distract me from the real reason I’m on the site in the first place.

Classic paid online ads are at best unengaging and easily-ignored. They are at worst severely irritating and intrusive on my reading experience (you know those ones that start out normal sized then unexpectedly grow to engulf the entire page? Great strategy, guys). But as Felix Salmon’s excellent article above points out, they’re still the most-frequently used gadget in the online advertising toolbox. Why?

Okay, it’s true. They’re fast, easy, relatively cheap, and easily measured. Paid online ads are a great way for a brand to feel like its doing “something” online, without having to commit too much time or too many resources to the endeavor. But you reap what you sow. Like I mentioned before, consumers have trained their online eyes to ignore what they know to be of no use to them, and they’ve gotten really good at it. So what do brands do online now that paid ads are losing their luster? Simple.

Social media. Yes, the go-to. But there’s a reason for that. It’s not costly, it’s a direct pipeline to consumer feedback, and it’s still new enough that it can provide a real edge when done right. For more information on the uses of social media in marketing, see every blog online anywhere.

Third party content. In his article, Salmon mentions the ad he places for his site Counterparties. It’s not a moving picture, antiquated call to action, or dancing alien. It’s a simple widget that provides links to related content on other sites. He provides a useful service to the reader, manages to not annoy him or her, and still gets to make a good impression and track click-throughs for measurement. Example: You’re reading an article about some new feature in Photoshop. There’s a box with a Counterparties logo in the column, but it’s just displaying links to relevant creativity/software/photo-editing content elsewhere online.

Micropayments. Early in the internet’s existence, it was determined that most content would be free to access, but revenues would be derived from ads where possible. Hence the rise of the paid online ad. But we’ve since seen a different system of content support that could work: paying for good stuff in small, bite-size chunks. Look at the relatively new world off apps. It’s been proven that people are willing to pay a few dollars for something useful or fun, or download something for free and then pay to improve it (just ask Zynga). This method is beginning to leak onto the internet as a whole, with Hulu Plus and Netflix and periodical paywalls like that of the New York Times’. I think we’ll be seeing more of this in the future, as traditional online ads continue to lose effectiveness.

Online is still fairly new as an advertising medium, especially when compared to TV or print. But just as those channels have changed and evolved significantly over the years, the internet will evolve and grow and require new approaches. There’s no permanent, silver bullet, eternal solution to effective advertising. This is why branders and marketers need to constantly be driving, experimenting with, and exploring the latest innovations.

Wait, I remembered one silver bullet marketing solution: be damn good, all the time.

30-Day Challenge #17

5 notes online advertising / marketing / ads / branding / business / wired / felix salmon / micropayments / social media /
19
Nov
The Creative Agency as a Supplier (and what it means for Supply Chain Management) In many large firms, the supply chain management function spends an enormous amount of time managing suppliers. This includes things like negotiating contracts for raw materials, maintaining inventory and order timelines, and measuring efficiency and costs. Keeping such a close on the supply side of the business is proven to pay big dividends. For companies with manufactured products, the cost savings created by an efficient supply chain can often contribute more to the health of bottom line than increases in revenue yielded by marketing efforts. These meticulously-designed supplier management processes have proven to be incredibly valuable to the firms that implement them, increasing efficiency while lowering total costs in essential areas of the business. But which department is most often labeled “inefficient,” frequently has its effectiveness called into question, and is first on the chopping block when it comes to cutting costs? Marketing. Which is why we need to start treating marketing providers like suppliers. Manufacturing-heavy companies should take the same supplier management concepts applied to the back end of their supply chains and apply them forward to creative suppliers like internal marketing departments, creative consultants, and advertising agencies. Here’s why: Supply chain as a marketable advantage. The sourcing function within a given supply chain management team can work with creative suppliers to highlight back-end benefits and supply chain advantages that are unfamiliar to the marketing functions. Advertising campaigns are often based on a unique component of the production process that separates the product from its competition. This difference is then highlighted as a benefit or a “reason to believe” in marketing communications. Budweiser’s beer is “beachwood aged,” and other beers aren’t. Who knows what it means, but it’s a unique aspect of Budweiser’s production. Wendy’s burgers use ”fresh, never frozen beef patties.” This tagline emphasizes a success of the restaurant’s supply chain, while also implying that other restaurants do freeze their meat.  What gets measured, gets done. Supply chain management teams evaluate all suppliers using scorecards with standardized metrics for success, costs, efficiency, and more. Marketing suppliers can be evaluated on these same principles, which can help to alleviate the long-standing grievance that it’s almost impossible to ever tell if the marketing team is doing anything. The creative scorecard could include a number of relevant metrics: •Number of staff members/hours/other resources devoted to account •Awards won by agency / “creativity” metric •Increases in revenue thanks to marketing efforts (difficult to measure, but becoming easier if promotions and sales are tracked online)  Applying supply chain management principles to creative suppliers can clearly help to better measure effectiveness and manage costs. There is one major problem, however: Marketing doesn’t like it.   Members of the marketing team, advertising agencies, and other creative suppliers will almost always resist being treated like another node in the supply chain. “You can’t rush the creative process, it’s about the work, etc.” These are valid complaints, but they are only self-defeating in the end.  Creating a good ad campaign is really different than providing raw wheat gluten for processing. But if creative suppliers want to stand up for themselves, demonstrate their value, and stay off the table the next time budget cuts come around, they need to be willing to join the supply chain and prove their worth.  30-Day Challenge #15

The Creative Agency as a Supplier (and what it means for Supply Chain Management)

In many large firms, the supply chain management function spends an enormous amount of time managing suppliers. This includes things like negotiating contracts for raw materials, maintaining inventory and order timelines, and measuring efficiency and costs. Keeping such a close on the supply side of the business is proven to pay big dividends.

For companies with manufactured products, the cost savings created by an efficient supply chain can often contribute more to the health of bottom line than increases in revenue yielded by marketing efforts.

These meticulously-designed supplier management processes have proven to be incredibly valuable to the firms that implement them, increasing efficiency while lowering total costs in essential areas of the business. But which department is most often labeled “inefficient,” frequently has its effectiveness called into question, and is first on the chopping block when it comes to cutting costs? Marketing. Which is why we need to start treating marketing providers like suppliers.

Manufacturing-heavy companies should take the same supplier management concepts applied to the back end of their supply chains and apply them forward to creative suppliers like internal marketing departments, creative consultants, and advertising agencies. Here’s why:

Supply chain as a marketable advantage. The sourcing function within a given supply chain management team can work with creative suppliers to highlight back-end benefits and supply chain advantages that are unfamiliar to the marketing functions.

Advertising campaigns are often based on a unique component of the production process that separates the product from its competition. This difference is then highlighted as a benefit or a “reason to believe” in marketing communications. Budweiser’s beer is “beachwood aged,” and other beers aren’t. Who knows what it means, but it’s a unique aspect of Budweiser’s production. Wendy’s burgers use ”fresh, never frozen beef patties.” This tagline emphasizes a success of the restaurant’s supply chain, while also implying that other restaurants do freeze their meat. 

What gets measured, gets done. Supply chain management teams evaluate all suppliers using scorecards with standardized metrics for success, costs, efficiency, and more. Marketing suppliers can be evaluated on these same principles, which can help to alleviate the long-standing grievance that it’s almost impossible to ever tell if the marketing team is doing anything. The creative scorecard could include a number of relevant metrics:
 
•Number of staff members/hours/other resources devoted to account
 
•Awards won by agency / “creativity” metric
 
•Increases in revenue thanks to marketing efforts (difficult to measure, but becoming easier if promotions and sales are tracked online)
 
Applying supply chain management principles to creative suppliers can clearly help to better measure effectiveness and manage costs. There is one major problem, however: Marketing doesn’t like it. 
 
Members of the marketing team, advertising agencies, and other creative suppliers will almost always resist being treated like another node in the supply chain. “You can’t rush the creative process, it’s about the work, etc.” These are valid complaints, but they are only self-defeating in the end.
 
Creating a good ad campaign is really different than providing raw wheat gluten for processing. But if creative suppliers want to stand up for themselves, demonstrate their value, and stay off the table the next time budget cuts come around, they need to be willing to join the supply chain and prove their worth.
 
30-Day Challenge #15

2 notes marketing / supply chain management / branding / advertising / creative / business / supplier management /
15
Nov
Consume of the Day: 7-11 Coffee (aka Energy Nectar of the Gods). I’ve always had a soft spot for 7-11. Sure, it doesn’t have the epileptic, flashy WALL-E style future motif of Sheetz. It doesn’t inspire the fervent hometown passion of Wawa (Fact: Wawa has provided out-of-state college students from Jersey with over 500,000 hours of first-week-of-the-semester bonding conversation). The staff isn’t forced to yell “See you next time!” when you leave like they do at Quiktrip. BUT— I grew up with 7-11 as my regional convenience store of choice, and the affection has stayed with me. In recent years, though, I’ve come to discover that 7-11 truly has something the other chains don’t: the best roadside coffee known to man. Things I love about 7-11 coffee: Flavors that taste like flavors. You can actually taste the hazelnut in their hazelnut brew without adding in gross syrups or un-refrigerated mini-cups of flavored creamer. They have a chocolate raspberry brew that, even without milk or sugar, tastes better than any fancy mocha-full-whip-half-caf-machiccino Starbucks can make you for $5.89 a pop. Taste always wins, and 7-11 wins. It’s cheap. At the 7-11 near my apartment an extra large coffee costs exactly $2, and will last you all morning. That’s a damn good deal, end of story. “The brew is strong in this one.” 7-11 coffee is a force to be reckoned with. It’s not necessarily on the level of the jet fuel you might custom brew at home for an all-nighter (although they do have an “energy fusion” flavor that features the same herbal wakey-wakeys found in energy drinks), but it’s stronger than your average cup of watery convenience store sludge. You can be a coffee chemist. You get to pour your own coffee from all the flavors 7-11 offers, so the possibilities for experimentation are endless. My personal go-to brew? Fill the cup 3/4 with the french vanilla roast, then top it off with a few hits from the automatic cappuccino dispenser. Add nothing else. It’s a little creamy and a little sweet with the same kick as a standard cup. Note: I have recently amended my current go-to to include the seasonal pumpkin spice flavors. My god are they good. It’s like Charlie Brown summoned the Great Pumpkin himself to come and personally infuse my beverage with his gourdy goodness each morning. Chuck, you glorious blockhead. I can’t explain why 7-11’s coffee stirs such feelings within me. They don’t go overboard in advertising it, and when they do they pretty much just hype up the fact that it’s a good value. I’ve never seen the brand hold taste tests or make claims on how 7-11’s coffee stands up against competitors’. Surely brands can’t inspire passion in their people without a concerted effort, so why do I love it so much? I sort of discovered 7-11 coffee on my own. Once I found out I liked it, I would get some whenever I had a chance. Eventually, I began making trips to 7-11 specifically for coffee. Then I started telling others about it, as my recently-indoctrinated friend Vibha can attest. Now I’m writing about it on here. And they never even asked me to! My affinity for the brand grew completely organically, without 7-11 forcing it in any way. They provide me with a great product at a great value, every single time I go there. It takes hard work, commitment to quality, and flawless consistency in delivery… but that is truly how one inspires brand loyalty. It’s the oldest, ultimate, purest form of branding, and it will never be unseated or replaced. Damn I want some coffee. 30-Day Challenge #11

Consume of the Day: 7-11 Coffee (aka Energy Nectar of the Gods).

I’ve always had a soft spot for 7-11. Sure, it doesn’t have the epileptic, flashy WALL-E style future motif of Sheetz. It doesn’t inspire the fervent hometown passion of Wawa (Fact: Wawa has provided out-of-state college students from Jersey with over 500,000 hours of first-week-of-the-semester bonding conversation). The staff isn’t forced to yell “See you next time!” when you leave like they do at Quiktrip.

BUT— I grew up with 7-11 as my regional convenience store of choice, and the affection has stayed with me. In recent years, though, I’ve come to discover that 7-11 truly has something the other chains don’t: the best roadside coffee known to man.

Things I love about 7-11 coffee:

  • Flavors that taste like flavors. You can actually taste the hazelnut in their hazelnut brew without adding in gross syrups or un-refrigerated mini-cups of flavored creamer. They have a chocolate raspberry brew that, even without milk or sugar, tastes better than any fancy mocha-full-whip-half-caf-machiccino Starbucks can make you for $5.89 a pop. Taste always wins, and 7-11 wins.
  • It’s cheap. At the 7-11 near my apartment an extra large coffee costs exactly $2, and will last you all morning. That’s a damn good deal, end of story.
  • “The brew is strong in this one.” 7-11 coffee is a force to be reckoned with. It’s not necessarily on the level of the jet fuel you might custom brew at home for an all-nighter (although they do have an “energy fusion” flavor that features the same herbal wakey-wakeys found in energy drinks), but it’s stronger than your average cup of watery convenience store sludge.
  • You can be a coffee chemist. You get to pour your own coffee from all the flavors 7-11 offers, so the possibilities for experimentation are endless. My personal go-to brew? Fill the cup 3/4 with the french vanilla roast, then top it off with a few hits from the automatic cappuccino dispenser. Add nothing else. It’s a little creamy and a little sweet with the same kick as a standard cup. Note: I have recently amended my current go-to to include the seasonal pumpkin spice flavors. My god are they good. It’s like Charlie Brown summoned the Great Pumpkin himself to come and personally infuse my beverage with his gourdy goodness each morning. Chuck, you glorious blockhead.

I can’t explain why 7-11’s coffee stirs such feelings within me. They don’t go overboard in advertising it, and when they do they pretty much just hype up the fact that it’s a good value. I’ve never seen the brand hold taste tests or make claims on how 7-11’s coffee stands up against competitors’. Surely brands can’t inspire passion in their people without a concerted effort, so why do I love it so much?

I sort of discovered 7-11 coffee on my own. Once I found out I liked it, I would get some whenever I had a chance. Eventually, I began making trips to 7-11 specifically for coffee. Then I started telling others about it, as my recently-indoctrinated friend Vibha can attest. Now I’m writing about it on here. And they never even asked me to!

My affinity for the brand grew completely organically, without 7-11 forcing it in any way. They provide me with a great product at a great value, every single time I go there. It takes hard work, commitment to quality, and flawless consistency in delivery… but that is truly how one inspires brand loyalty. It’s the oldest, ultimate, purest form of branding, and it will never be unseated or replaced.

Damn I want some coffee.

30-Day Challenge #11

6 notes coffee / 7-11 / branding / brand / loyalty / marketing /
14
Nov
Incredible reference infographic (via I’m Not Social) on which factors influence your page’s SEO ranking, and by how much. This should be taped to every digital marketer’s desk! My one criticism is that some of the most important factors are a little bit nebulous— for example, I think everyone wants to produce quality content, but how do we really measure that? However, as a general guide of “things to keep in mind” when creating content online, this chart rocks. You can see that content and sharing/linking are just about the most influential variables when it comes to SEO. More evidence that the internet rewards two things above all else: quality content and engagement. There’s no fast lane to success. Those two pieces of your overall online strategy are essential and they take time and dedication to build. Here are a few other “elements” that I personally enjoy, and think deserve some more attention: Hd (Description): The meta tags in your site’s HTML are one of the easiest and most effective ways to help ensure that your content gets found for the right reasons. Many content creators don’t know about much meta tags because it begins to get into the “code-y” part of digital marketing, and they’re missing out on tons of opportunities for improving search traffic. Including a meta tag on each of your pages helps search engines know what they’re looking at when they see your content. For example, “Online library of taco recipes, Mexican dishes, and meal ideas” would help your page be identified as a good match for searches like “taco meals” or “Mexican recipe library.” Meta tags aren’t a guaranteed ticket to the top of The Google, but they are way useful in tandem with other elements! Lq (Quality): This element measures the quality of the incoming links to your site. Which pages are linking to your content, and how are they each ranked by search engines? If you’re getting linked to by high-quality, high-traffic outlets like CNN, Mashable, or other popular sites, you’re golden. The tough thing is getting those links. That can really only be done through the production AND promotion of high-quality content. Be good and be loud, and you’ll be found! Vs (Stuffing): Don’t you dare do this in your digital marketing or branding content! This is when digital marketers “stuff” tons of desired branding keywords into their digital marketing and/or branding content in order to artificially inflate their search rankings! They think it’s a cheap and fast way to increase effectiveness of their digital marketing and branding efforts, but it really pisses off the digital marketing and branding communities! Digital marketing. Branding. If you’re new to SEO and online content creation, check out the chart and get acquainted with a few of modern marketing’s closest friends. If SEO is your bread and butter, leave a tip or two and teach me the ways of the Force!  30-Day Challenge #10

Incredible reference infographic (via I’m Not Social) on which factors influence your page’s SEO ranking, and by how much. This should be taped to every digital marketer’s desk!

My one criticism is that some of the most important factors are a little bit nebulous— for example, I think everyone wants to produce quality content, but how do we really measure that? However, as a general guide of “things to keep in mind” when creating content online, this chart rocks.

You can see that content and sharing/linking are just about the most influential variables when it comes to SEO. More evidence that the internet rewards two things above all else: quality content and engagement. There’s no fast lane to success. Those two pieces of your overall online strategy are essential and they take time and dedication to build.

Here are a few other “elements” that I personally enjoy, and think deserve some more attention:

  • Hd (Description): The meta tags in your site’s HTML are one of the easiest and most effective ways to help ensure that your content gets found for the right reasons. Many content creators don’t know about much meta tags because it begins to get into the “code-y” part of digital marketing, and they’re missing out on tons of opportunities for improving search traffic. Including a meta tag on each of your pages helps search engines know what they’re looking at when they see your content. For example, “Online library of taco recipes, Mexican dishes, and meal ideas” would help your page be identified as a good match for searches like “taco meals” or “Mexican recipe library.” Meta tags aren’t a guaranteed ticket to the top of The Google, but they are way useful in tandem with other elements!
  • Lq (Quality): This element measures the quality of the incoming links to your site. Which pages are linking to your content, and how are they each ranked by search engines? If you’re getting linked to by high-quality, high-traffic outlets like CNN, Mashable, or other popular sites, you’re golden. The tough thing is getting those links. That can really only be done through the production AND promotion of high-quality content. Be good and be loud, and you’ll be found!
  • Vs (Stuffing): Don’t you dare do this in your digital marketing or branding content! This is when digital marketers “stuff” tons of desired branding keywords into their digital marketing and/or branding content in order to artificially inflate their search rankings! They think it’s a cheap and fast way to increase effectiveness of their digital marketing and branding efforts, but it really pisses off the digital marketing and branding communities! Digital marketing. Branding.

If you’re new to SEO and online content creation, check out the chart and get acquainted with a few of modern marketing’s closest friends. If SEO is your bread and butter, leave a tip or two and teach me the ways of the Force! 

30-Day Challenge #10

(Source: futureranking.com, via gracearreza)

digital marketing / branding / seo / digital / marketing / search / ranking / content /
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