To the new, improved and reincarnated Dunn's Den. This blog is about marketing, advertising, Town Planner Calendar and the goings on in my local community...from MY VIEW.
Please enjoy it and feel free to comment on anything and everything. If you would like to start a conversation, feel free to call me at 305-851-5978.
To go back to MY website, please click Town Planner Calendar located below.
Despite reports of advertising’s imminent demise, it still does work, under the ideal circumstance.
The proof.I was comfortably vegetating on my couch watching my third NFL game of the day, when a TV commercial interrupted my peace. I sprang into action, put on my Nikes, ran to my car, and raced to the nearest place where I could buy the product that alerted me to its existence.
I completed the transaction, drove expectantly homeward, and enjoyed the satisfaction of a purchase well made.
Are you longing to know what it was that awoke my latent need or instilled the urgency of my frenetic action? Or what irresistible force overcame the immovable object?
It was Arby’s.The TV situation depicted a man who couldn’t find a living soul until he found a live one. The discoveree was stuffing his mouth and explained that everybody is at Arby’s, where they are selling five Roast Beef and Cheddar Sandwiches for five bucks. That triggered me.
Why did it work for me?
I was hungry
I could get there quickly
I am of their targeted audience—older, a roast beef lover
I was a lapsed user—-hadn’t had an Arby’s in five years
I identified with the characters. Average looking guys.
So, is this the proof that you needed that advertising can work? Yes. All you need is a product that works, the right audience, a brand that is acceptable, and an incentive. It’s obvious that timing is essential.
Technology hasn’t made advertising as we knew it passé, but it has made it tougher. Competition is fiercer, and consumer patience is thinner.
Arby’s connected with me on a late Sunday afternoon.How many commercials sped through my head, unnoticed and uncared for?
Attached is a press release from a client, Emory Johns Creek Hospital (EJCH), who just won the E-HEALTHCARE LEADERSHIP AWARD.
We at Town Planner Calendar are both proud and honored to have been chosen to develop this project with Emory Johns Creek Hospital. I appreciate EJCH’s leap of faith in choosing our agency to help them in launching their first social media site. We at Town Planner Calendar are very passionate about Social Media and its limitless roles in procuring tangible results for our clients.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Johnel Reid November 18, 2008
EMORY JOHNS CREEK HOSPITAL WINS E-HEALTHCARE LEADERSHIP AWARD FOR VIDEO BLOG
JOHNS CREEK, GA – Emory Johns Creek Hospital was recognized for its outstanding website at a special presentation in Orlando on November 11 during the Twelfth Annual Healthcare Internet Conference.The EJCH blog and video blog sites earned the Award of Distinction, the number one award among hospitals of 200 beds or less, in the category of Best Web 2.0/Rich Media category.“It is an honor to be recognized for our considerable efforts this past year,” said Johnel Reid, Director of Marketing for the hospital.“What began as an experiment for us, has gained momentum and produced significant results,” she added.
Emory Johns Creek Hospital’s site was chosen from among 1,100 entries by a panel of 114 judges familiar with healthcare and the Internet. “A growing number of healthcare organizations are clearly embracing the Web and emerging technologies,” says Mark Gothberg, eHealthcare Leadership Awards chairman.Gothberg notes that many organizations have invested in new sites or made significant improvements in their existing sites.“Such rich media forms as video, audio, blogs, and discussion groups are changing the landscape of Web sites,” he says.
The hospital launched its blog and video health library with the help and video production of Scott Dunn, of Town Planner Calendar.“We know that people are changing the way they receive their news and information and we know the Internet plays a significant role,” said Reid.The team videotaped interviews with their medical staff about a variety of health related issues and then posted the videos to the Internet.“In less than four months, the 150 videos we have posted have received more than 11,000 views,” Reid said.
“Our audience can expect to see our blog continue to evolve,” said Reid.“We are finding ways to become more interactive and build relationships with our patients and the community.Healthcare marketing, at its core, is about relationships — building trust among physicians, hospitals and patients,” she said.“Traditionally, healthcare marketing has been fairly conservative.We are fortunate to have leadership that embraces this experiment ,” Reid added.“We have exciting plans for 2009 that will include improving the quality, server response and using more social media elements.”
“It’s rewarding to work with clients to help them find ways to reach their markets in new ways.The Internet is changing how people get their news, their information, even their entertainment.It is changing how people connect with each other and with the companies they choose to do business with,” said Dunn.“In the case of Emory Johns Creek, we found a way for doctors to reach their target audiences in a very personal, non-traditional way.It’s a win-win situation for everyone – the doctors get the value of knowing their messages are being heard, the audience gets the information they were looking for, and the hospital builds relationships with the communities they serve.
Emory Johns Creek Hospital is known for its state-of-the-art technology in a luxurious, hotel-like setting. Services include advanced orthopaedic surgery, joint replacement, spine surgery, 24/7 emergency care, state-of-the-art all digital imaging including a 64 slice CT, The Birth Place with Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, 24-hour anesthesiologists, intensive care, advanced cardiac care, rehabilitation services and women’s services. Emory Johns Creek Hospital is home to the Atlanta Bariatric Center, designated a Center of Excellence by the American Society of Bariatric Surgeons.
For more information, please visit emoryjohnscreek.com. To find a physician close to where you live or work, call 678.474.8200
For those of you who missed my first blog about Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company, that blog can be found here: Joffery’s Coffee & Tea. In a nutshell, Joffrey’s sent out a free packet of coffee to anyone who would blog about them. I found out about it from a couple of other bloggers who found out about it from a couple of other bloggers, and so on and so on. Viral advertising at its finest!
A couple of days ago I checked my mail and found another package from Joffrey’s. This package contained Coffee 2.0, which was a great surprise. Thanks, Joffrey’s, for sending the package my way and for keeping me caffeinated.
Why am I taking the time to blog about this? Simple. Joffrey’s does not leave their success to viral advertising alone. Rather they use viral advertising as one way to touch their target market and gain exposure. Coupled with their viral marketing is their product. They do not rely on the internet alone. Instead they use the internet to connect with people, and in turn then send people their product. This allows Joffery’s the ability to measure their advertising. As most of you know, I am not a huge fan of viral marketing by itself. This is a great example of how to use viral marketing while getting your product in the hands of people who use it.
The other reason that I am blogging about this is that Joffrey’s does a GREAT job telling me a story. Let’s face it. You can buy coffee pretty much anywhere. Coffee is not a new concept and Joffrey’s understands this. They know that I will not buy their coffee because it is coffee; rather I will buy their coffee because of how their story makes me feel while I drink/purchase their coffee. They tailor their story to their target market.
Below you will see the contents of the package Joffery’s sent out. Playing off the Internet 2.0, they have Coffee 2.0, complete with UPDATES and info on HOW TO INSTALL (where do you usually see updates and info on how to install?).
Joffrey’s - all I can say is keep up the good work. Continue to grow your business virally while putting your product in the hands of your target market. Thanks for connecting with me and I look forward to your next product.
Please click on the images below and they will open up for you to read the information on the paper and on the bag. Use your browser back button to come back to this page!
Any good manufacturer would deep-six a brand that has a 17% approval rating.
Any good retailer would show it the door.
Any good consumer would return it and demand a refund.
Unfortunately, congress is a brand that has tenure. We can’t get rid of it.We can only change its members every two or six years.
The current economic bail-out mess has been described as:
A failed administration, and a failed congress,
bailing out failed businesses that have failed the country,
yet we are assured that it cannot fail!
Our constitution guarantees legislative continuity, but it is silent about competence.
The market is brutal for brands that fail.Over ninety percent of new products and new stores are gone after two years. Here are some reasons why brands fail.One could only wish that our leaders would pay attention:
They don’t stand for anything in particular
They don’t listen
They don’t keep up-to-date
They think they are bullet-proof
They think they are above the laws (of marketing that is)
Ithink that politicians should take Marketing#101. (They obviously skipped Economics and History.) Good marketers live by these rules:
We exist because of our customers and survive at their pleasure
We offer a promise and we keep it
We aren’t the boss
We are trustworthy
We are accountable, right now, every day
We have term limits for our president, for good reason. Why not for congress? Sure, we would give up some experience, but we would gain more from fresh air.
I tell my students that if they want to succeed in marketing they should first go out and sell something. That is a humbling experience.They would learn how to fail—graciously. They would have to experience the real world. Politicians—likewise?
“Public Service” is a noble calling. But where has it gone wrong?
An opponent called Lincoln a baboon and a senator hit another with his cane.Not too long ago we saw legislators duke it out in Japan, and Google reports statesmen’s physical bashings in Jakarta, Taiwan, and the Czech Republic.
Are those good ole days gone forever? The worst I’ve seen lately is, “My opponent’s campaign has reached a new low with his lies and half-truths.” Really—how about really low blows with the gloves off?
I’d favor capital punishment for attacks on anyone’s family. Otherwise, let it rip.
Aren’t you sick of hearing, “My distinguished opponent, with whom I have the highest personal regard, is somewhat misguided on this issue.”That is a non-Freudian slip. What he was thinking was, “He is a bumbling fool and I question his ancestry and the circumstances of his birth.”
We need a police force that enforces non-civility in all political ads. No gentility, only verbal body slams are allowed. Politeness is very boring. Good ads are intrusive.Old-fashioned boxing (under the Marques of Queensbury rules) is being swamped by Ultimate Fights, where the only thing it seems you can’t do is disembowel. Hockey fans want fistfights, Nascar thrives on wrecks. Gladiators win with blood, toreadors earn ears.Americans want a (fair?) fight.
I want to hear what they really think about issues, and what they know about the other guy’s deficiencies (read dirt). Here’s a format that will work for any televised debates:
In an isolation booth with one mike
Just the two of them, seated facing each other, three feet apart
They take turns asking any question they choose
The other one has one minute to answer, then the first one can shout over
After five minutes a bell rings and the other guy asks his question
Two hour limit
All’s fair in love and war.Why not in elections?Let’s fight!
What are your favorite current ads? A lot of my young students answered that question with the Chic-fil-A “Eat More Chikin” campaign. (Others chose products and ads that I’m not familiar with. I guess those advertisers know who their target is not.)
I had to suggest my choice, and here it is, and why:
In case you are one of the few who hadn’t seen it—
Yogi Berra is in the chair and admonishes the barber not to cut it too close—“Do you think I got that insurance?”
The barber asks, “What insurance is that, Yogi?” A dialogue ensues between Yogi and the Aflac duck, thatincludes the memorable lines “The one that you need when you don’t need it,” and “And it gives you cash, which is as good as money.”
The duck leaves the shop, with a trail of mystified customers.
I think this is a classic, because:
It uses a recognizable and likeable celebrity. (It’s risky to use famous people, because they sometimes they fall from fame, some consumer groups don’t like them, or the connection with the product is vague.)
The central point is the benefit of the product.
The conversation is low key and short.
It is funny. Why do I think it’s funny?Because I’ve seen people laugh.
It lasts.This is at the least its third year.
Back to the “Eat More Chiken” ads. It has legs—tt lends itself to other related materials. It is centered on the benefit of eating chicken.It has a memorable charm.
We ask you to nominate the best of the current ads. (Or, if you prefer, What makes them click, what makes them timeless?)
Oh, before we forget.The Aflac/Yogi and the “More Chikin” ads have the most important attribute: they (at least apparently) have sold a lot of insurance and chicken sandwiches.
“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” French Proverb
“The fundamental things apply, as time goes by.” Composer Herman Hupfeld
In every election time, the “out” candidates call for change. Changes in policy and ethics, but mostly for the people in charge—them replaced by us. (And often with favorable result—good riddance!)
Before we throw the baby out with the bathwater we should consider—
Where exactly are we headed, and as far as we can tell,
What are the unintended consequences?
Students in my advertising classes are certain that my generation (Mad Men) is obsolete. The internet and the ubiquity of social media wipes out all the old beliefs, and the old “rules” are silly. But when the cyber dust settles, what will remain?—
The wreckage of brands with no equity, and Innumerable files of failed ads with no benefits, no reason–why, no human contact.
No matter where technology leads us next, the fundamental things of marketing (and life) will still apply.
The dot-com boom of the ’90s convinced most of us that there is a new ball game in investing—the substance and longevity of new issues were irrelevant. Yes, it changed, to our regret.Now we’re back to sanity.
In marketing we should view change as incremental, not revolutionary. Technology is a tool, not an end.What is the (hidden) worth of a product, and how can technology make it easier to use?
Hamlet said it best— “And makes us rather bear the ills we have. Than fly to others we know not of.”
Students are masters of dazzling power point presentations. Sometimes, somewhere in them is a germ of an insight, a telling fact. But most of the dazzle is blowing in the wind.
I say, beware of change merchants. What are they really selling? If they say, “Hey, buy this product because it is something different, not like the old stuff.”Shouldn’t your reaction be, “All well and good.Now show me why I should believe it.”
Stride Gum has a YouTube four-and-a-half minute world-wide dance routine that has achieved over 20 million viewers.It makes you smile and want to get up and dance.
How many sticks of gum has it sold?Don’t know.
I think that it’s now very important for advertising to be liked.Not like the old show-and-tell days, when all you needed was a benefit and a reason-why.
But how do the marketers of Stride Gum hope it works?I guess the sequence is—
I identify with (like) this brand, because
It makes me want to dance, and that is true because
It makes a lot of people want to dance, therefore
I will buy Stride Gum.
Maybe that’s all implied, but I am so old-fashioned that I think it has to be stated, it must be true, and that the brand name must somehow be linked to the benefit.
What’s the buzz, and where’s the beef?
Small budget advertisers must make their dollars stretch far. Once it awhile a Stride may be a stride ahead (intended), but all froth must fizzle. “It’s not creative unless it sells” and “Advertising is salesmanship” are good words to live by.
Viral Advertising of course is Word of Mouth gone bonkers. It works short term— like an endorsement from a friend. How many times have heard this conversation—
“Hey, have you seen the ad about—-”
“No.Who’s it from?”
“I forget.”
Does Viral Advertising have the seeds (germs?) of its own demise? Its unfortunate connotations are about disease, spreading destruction and death.
Branding is based on a substantial benefit and a continual delivery of that promise. Healthy brands are self-nourishing, growing, and vibrant. Lawyers are advised if your argument is weak, shout louder.If your brand is weak, make noises and hope it spreads.
Are you giving away the farm when you give away some of your product? Are you giving away your secrets, and not protecting your family’s jewels?
Assuming you are a believer in your product and are proud of it, sampling is the most potent arrow in your marketing quiver.
If a picture is worth a hundred words, then a taste is worth a thousand pictures. One definition of a sample is, “A representative part from a larger whole presented for inspection as evidence of quality.” How could there be a smarter prelude to winning marketing?
Some of the greatest food chains are Wegman’s (Rochester, NY) and Whole Foods.
You can’t get out of one of their stores hungry, because the have fed you with delicious samples.And it’s hard to leave without spending a bundle.
There are many ways, other than eating, to sample your goods:
Barnes Noble wants you to read books, so they make that inviting and easy. They don’t care if you mess up their displays or spill coffee.You will ultimately buy books.
A good car dealer lets you take a car home for the weekend.
A masseuse gives you a free neck rub.
The “spritzer” in Macy’s cosmetics aisle gives you a breath of alluring air.
A financial planner or a marketing consultant gives you a free hour of advice.
A stand-up comedian starts with a chuckle, and preacher invokes hope.
It’s important to note that sampling should not be a preview of the price. It’s a demonstration of the confidence in your product. Don’t compete on price: only Wal*Mart can succeed in that game. Don’t give away too much.
Suppose that you are in a play-off with two others for a new customer, and you are each given thirty seconds.The first two gave good, succinct “elevator speeches.” Then it’s your turn. You announce your name, your brand’s main benefit, and bestow a sample.Guess who wins.
As most of you know who read my blog, I am not a huge fan of viral marketing. It is not that I do not believe in the concept, it is that companies tend to follow in love with the process and forget about the true goal…the RESULTS! Also, companies tend to put to much emphasise on the viral campaign and let other parts suffer. (You know, like the call to action part.)
Every once in a while, I see a viral campaign that works very, very, very well. The campaign below is in the form of a video and it rocks. Why does it work so well? Simple: It is entertaining, fun and DIFFERENT. It begs me to forward it out to everyone I know.
This was sent to me by someone who attended Pod Camp Boston. You know the video must be good to be shown at a Pod Camp. With over 20 million views on You Tube, that alone should tell you about the video.
On a side note, I would like to give a HUGE kudos to Stride Gum. You truly understand what it means to take a brand global. Think of the fortune 500 companies that could have come up with this or sponsored Matt. Companies with nearly unlimited resources, yet an obscure chewing gum company is the winning brand.
Let me know what you think! Would you like your brand associated with this video?
Matt if you are ever back in Atlanta, please give me a call. I would like to dance with you! Also, just to let you know, the next time I am in the store I will search out Stride Gum and give it a try.
Who ever says advertising does not work, obviously does not understand how to advertise.
