(TrendHunter.com) In a world a freelancers (yup the recession sure did increase their number…), business cards have become a great tool for self promotion. As one of the first impressions on possible future clients, your…
Rebeldia, originalidade e autenticidade são os três valores que a Converse quer transmitir aos jovens, principal target da marca de calçados que no ano passado celebrou seu centenário. A campanha deste ano, que está rolando na Espanha, centrada em diversos modelos de calçados de skate e basquete, prioriza o marketing de guerrilha, eventos e ações pouco convencionais.
Centenas de calçados da Converse foram pendurados em cabos elétricos de Madri e Barcelona, uma prática muito habitual em algumas capitais do mundo e que se conhece como ‘Shoefitti‘. Essa iniciativa serve para mostrar ao público os diversos modelos dos calçados de uma maneira rebelde e original.
Indo mais além, a marca grafitou com uma tinta especial (de fácil remoção) desenhos dos novos modelos da marca, em alguns pavimentos de ruas, avenidas e espaços públicos próprios para a prática esportiva.
A internet e as mídias sociais também foram utilizadas para “chamar” o maior número de casais a participarem de corridas com os pés presos por cadarços. As hilariantes corridas foram realizadas em parques públicos da Espanha.
Assista um vídeo que está circulando na internet e que introduz a nova campanha da Converse:
A forte personalidade da marca faz com que a Converse potencialize a sua conexão com o público mais jovem.
Ela é sem dúvida uma marca que carrega um posicionamento invejável.
:: Dica do Emil Sahyoun via PRMarketing
Do console para a televisão. A Nintendo chegou a um acordo com a emissora Channel 5, do Reino Unido, para a estréia do “Britain’s Best Brain“, um programa de televisão que vai entreter os espectadores com competições, bem como promover a sua enorme gama de jogos para “raciocinar”, informou o The Guardian e algumas celebridades, como Nicole Kidman (garota propaganda da Nintendo).
Este é o primeiro caso que um anunciante cria um programa de televisão no Reino Unido, ao estilo Branded Content. A transmissão da atração será em outubro e a produtora responsável para colocar o programa de pé é a Group M Entertainment (propriedade da WPP).
Os participantes irão disputar várias provas diferentes, mas cada uma com um foco em alguma função cerebral: coordenação, memória ou matemática. E as habilidades dos participantes deverá ser mostrada através de jogos da marca, tanto no Nintendo DS quanto no Nintendo Wii.
Muito se fala nas formas de como estreitar o relacionamento com os clientes. No nosso mercado de marketing e publicidade as sugestões são intermináveis. Só que tem uma agência de propaganda espanhola, chamada Dommo, que saiu na frente e criou um novo espaço inusitado para receber seus clientes e prospects. Abandonou as tradicionais salas de reuniões “frias” de sua sede, e decidiu abrir um restaurante com o nome de Dommo Kitchen, em endereço próprio e uma identidade visual única. O restaurante tem apenas uma mesa, que não só serve para se sentar em volta e discutir as questões de trabalho, mas também para que os executivos da agência e do cliente possam preparar seus quitutes.
O restaurante é popularmente conhecido como “El 1º restaurante del mundo sólo para anunciantes” e regularmente convida chefs de cozinha famosos para preparar comidas especiais também para clientes especiais.
Em maio deste ano, a Dommo foi indicada a agência número 1 em excelência de serviços prestados para os clientes, em pesquisa realizada pelo Grupo Consultores da Espanha.
:: Via Brand Life
Advertising and marketing have taken new directions with the recent integration of social media and consumer advocacy. Agencies have been forced to rethink their ideas and strategies to reach their consumers. One such agency, 22squared, has done just that with the help of its SVP Director of Brand Marketing, Brandon Murphy.
I had the opportunity to catch Mr. Murphy on the phone this past Friday and ask him about the company’s model, The Friendship Model: How to Build Brand Advocacy in a Consumer-Driven World.
“I think that basically it’s an approach for brands to build advocacy. When we first introduced this thing, it was mostly an internal thing, and actually still is. In essence it was an internal way to focus the agency on what marketing was about today, what a person does to make and maintain a friendship, earn enough respect, and I guess enough attractiveness for a consumer to advocate for them like a friend would advocate for a friend,” Murphy said.
Murphy says one of the hardest questions companies face when creating campaigns is the question, “How do we build advocacy?”
“A lot of times it comes down to not what you say but what you do,” he said. “How can we get the customer to interact with us. Your next customer could turn into your next 10 customers. It’s a pretty simple idea.”
Griffin Farley, senior brand planner from 22squared, has a great saying for this: “Don’t plan for the ones you reach, plan for the ones they reach.”
How can this model help an entire agency? I listed those questions and responses below:
Megan Green: For people now looking for work in progressive ad agencies, why is it important for them to know about advocacy, social media and word of mouth?
Brandon Murphy: The simple reason is because that is how brands are growing now. Brands aren’t growing by increased awareness, they are growing with people talking about them…that’s how people are choosing products and what brand to use.
MG: Media Planners are specialists at reach and frequency. Are those still important skills to know when advocacy is the end goal?
BM: I think there is always going to be a critical mass of people you have to reach to keep your brand afloat. You look at our agency, it’s not like we don’t do media plans, it’s just that we’ve changed how we do our media plans and how we engage the customer. For media planners, the one thing is that it is no longer about buying space and just calculating reach or frequency, it’s about getting opportunities for the customer to talk. Media planning has gotten to get more strategic and inventive to get messages to customers.
MG: When you brief Creative Teams, does the Friendship Model help them get to a better creative deliverable?
BM: The Friendship Model does a few things. First, it gives a sense of direction in work and strategy. We always still do the right things in understanding a customer and how a brand can fit into a customer’s life. The key thing is to think entirely around a problem and all different ways to solve it. Sometimes it’s something really cool or something simple. We’ve looked back and told a client, “it’s not a TV campaign you need, but it’s an associate campaign,” like we told Buffalo Wild Wings and Lincoln Financial. Second, [the model is] something else that makes them work better, it forces you to figure out what the brand’s purpose is. If a brand has a purpose beyond just selling something, as a customer you’re more likely to invest in it.
MG: Has the Friendship Model helped your New Business Team win accounts or peak interest among search consultants? What feedback do you hear from them?
BM: Well the good thing about the Friendship Model is that it really does help filter out clients that are right for you and clients that aren’t right for you. The client typically hates it [the model] or loves it. It’s a nice screener for us and prospective clients. It really puts ourselves out there and we’re really passionate about building advocacy. Also, search consultants really like it. Search consultants are tasked with bringing agencies that bring in business. With this model we can focus on the things that bring in sales. We can tell them how much they can expect to increase sales given an increase in advocacy or reach of other people. That’s really been super attractive to some consultants.
MG: Does the Friendship Model help Account Service strengthen the relationship with the clients? Do clients value the philosophy?
BM: In two ways. One, it’s kind of a gut check for us. The way we act and the people in our agency – it creates a pretty high road for us to walk in terms of being passionate and doing the right thing. You know, it’s interesting if you think about the relationship between friends, it’s not all nicey-nicey and how can I serve you. It’s real. It gives us a nice path to travel on how we build relationships with clients. Two, it most importantly gives our clients something to circle into. Clients always have business goals, but doing it through a filter of building relationships and advocacy gives the client a way to lead that they hadn’t had before. Most of the Friendship Model is based on what we currently do for our clients. It feeds the development on how to win over customers and act differently than other brands, like Publix Super Markets, Inc.
MG: Finally, as Director of Brand Planning, what skills do you look for when you hire Account Planners that want to work for 22squared?
BM: Planners have to be insatiably curious and really, really good at writing and getting ideas across to people. Those two things are core building blocks for planners. Something else we look at is planners who are always able to take a different look at things than most people. Whenever I hire a planner, I make sure they are not only smart, but smart strategically and creatively. Our planners are much more active in participating in the creative. We look for planners that understand how to engage a customer and not just about bringing a message but about where we engage, how we engage, and the content and value of the brand. Planners are provocateurs by nature. At least we want them to be. We want them to cause people to look at things differently. They need to be the glue that holds people together.
Want more information on The Friendship Model and what it means? Check out this video that 22squared put together, “I Love Blank”, or Brandon’s white papers.
Megan Green is an advertising and marketing professional published on PR News Wire, as well as many other outlets. She specializes in social media and is currently looking for a full-time advertising position. Contact her on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or at megankategreen@gmail.com.
Getting in the middle of a conversation that’s already going on, versus creating a conversation and asking consumers to come in is the key to effective advertising.
Doing the latter is as silly as the following conversation:
Person 1: Hey, did you hear about Michael Jackson?
Person 2: Yeah, I loved him. I already miss him!
Brand: Hey, you over there! Did you know most of insecticides have nerve poison that causes a cockroach to have muscular spasms that make it flip on its back? Without muscular coordination the cockroach cannot right itself and eventually dies in its upside down-position. Wanna buy some bug spray?
Irrelevant.
But take interactive shop Deca (Digital Entertainment Corp. of America) for example, which inked a sponsorship deal with Target for its Momversation show (above). This content is uniquely relevant to the target audience that the brand fits comfortably into. Plus, it utilizes bloggers that already have influence within market.
Now that’s relevant!
What conversation can your brand butt into today?
Jinean Robinson is a CCIO (Chief Creative Infections Officer) in this industry for 8+ years, specializing in creative strategy and implementation, 360 branding, and brand development. Join her @twitter or her firm Germ, LLC.
Ditar uma moda não se restringe apenas ao mundo fashion. A marca de roupas britânica, Harvey Nichols, sempre promoveu campanhas super criativas e não convencionais, se comparadas às demais campanhas de varejo de moda. Seus anúncios sempre sugerem “lutas” entre mulheres por causa de suas liquidações. É basicamente essa a moda na comunicação da marca. Os últimos anúncios formam uma paródia ao game “Mortal Kombat“. Mas o que difere realmente a comunicação da Harvey Nichols, além de seu visual e conceito inovador, é a sua proposta como um todo. Dificilmente é colocado preço nos anúncios. E todos eles contam alguma história, lúdica geralmente. É assim que a marca acredita chamar atenção do público-alvo.
As peças vistas na sequência formam a campanha CatFight criada para eles em 2007. De lá pra cá, a agência DDB de Londres vêm fazendo todo esse trabalho criativo se tornar referência no todo mundo.
:: Via NotCot e Nostars.biz
It’s one of those tough predicaments: your client wants to be the spokesperson for your new TV spots…well, his new spots. He’s the man driving the company-the brand-no matter how much time you’ve put into it.
A very charismatic and charming man, unfortunately he’s “got a face for radio,” standing 5′ 5″ tall with wispy hair that seems to start in his ears and wind it’s away around the back of his bald head. From the looks of it, the ears have never seen a trim. (Yummy…)
CEO's Melon
You weigh the options; he’s definitely not stupid, so the whole “we need a perfect fit for the brand persona” BS angle is dead. In his mind he’s part of the brand’s image, and he is to an extent, just not the TV extent. If you tell him that, the account won’t be in jeopardy, but the relationship will be strained. Then again, saying that he’s the perfect fit is a straight-out lie. Plus, you’ll pay for it in terms of reputation and credibility. Slinky’s will start showing up in your office…to remind you of your backbone. So, what to do?
If you are thinking correctly, you’ll head down to Media and see if they can dig up research on the effects of CEO’s in TV commercials. (That’s what I’d do.) They won’t have the information, but they’ll have an idea on where, and how, to get it. Remember to always love your media department…
In this case, they provide you an Ad Week poll done on LinkedIn. According to the Ad Week article:
When a company uses the CEO in its advertising, do you find the message more credible, less credible, or does it make no difference? Overall, “makes no difference” won a plurality, with 49 percent of the vote. But “more credible” beat “less credible” by a wide margin, 36 percent to 14 percent.
The poll addresses other CEO characteristics such as age, company size, gender, etc, and is available on LinkedIn.
So, unless there’s another way out of it, it looks like your spots will revolve around the CEO. Yet, it could be worse…you could be working with kids and goats…
Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Account Coordinator. His passion is writing. If you would like to get in touch with Jeff, please leave a reply or follow the links: www.linkedin.com or www.twitter.com.
O Cross Marketing é uma ferramenta cada vez mais utilizada pelas marcas. Acontece quando duas ou mais marcas trabalham em parceria para atrair clientes. São produtos e serviços complementares que juntos tem mais força para causar um desejo maior no consumidor. Uma marca que costuma se apropriar bastante desta ferramenta é a Fiat – vide o lançamento de sua edição limitada do Fiat 500 by Diesel. Alguns meses depois, pensando agora um pouco mais no público jovem, antenado e conectado, a montadora lança na Europa o Fiat Bravo MSN Edition, em parceria com a Microsoft (detentora do serviço online MSN). Uma campanha está rolando no velho continente para promover a nova edição que tem um conjunto de novidades tecnológicas, como o sistema Blue&Me (EcoDrive) e o Instant Nav (sistema inovador de rádio navegação). A campanha ainda vai contar com competição entre internautas. Durante e após a campanha, tanto a Fiat quanto a Microsoft sairão ganhadoras tendo em vista que ambas ganharão uma ampla visibilidade.
:: Via Meios & Publicidade
I have been around the marketing and advertising block a time or two and I’ve seen some changes – some great and some not-so-great. However, with the advent of social media, I have seen a series of trends that I find truly disturbing: over- or underestimating social media’s importance. So, as a public service, here are three trends to avoid.
Scary Trend #1 – Not Giving Social Media Enough Credit.
While I think it’s great that many companies are jumping into the social media fray, there are some who think that social media is “for the kids,” so they underestimate its importance as a communication tool. They hand over the social media reigns to an intern in order to give him/her some “busy work,” rather than realizing the ramifications of a social media strategy that is not carefully planned. If you’re going to incorporate social media into your marketing campaign, do so deliberately. Don’t blow it off or do it halfway.
Scary Trend #2 – Giving Social Media Entirely Too Much Credit.
Some companies (and I’m not naming names!) have decided that since social media is so popular, it should take the place of an integrated communications strategy. They eliminate the rest of their marketing plan and hire a social media guru to do what an entire marketing department has not been able to do, thus setting up said guru for failure. Social media is merely one tool in your arsenal, but it does not take the place of an integrated strategy.
Scary Trend #3 – Too Much To Soon
If you’re at all active in social media, you know this scenario all too well: you start following a company on a social media site because you like the brand. Next thing you know, you’re bombarded with promotional messages, product information, and generic messages, much like getting stuck in the corner at a party, talking to some blowhard who only wants to talk about himself. If you don’t want to engage your customers in a dialog, then skip social media and buy some spots, already.
Sara Barton is a copywriter, social media strategist, and avid blogger who is in search of her next opportunity. Contact her via twitter, LinkedIn, or her blog.
I couldn’t help but to express my utter annoyance of brands that put all their hard earned money into sponsorship options without that sponsorship/product placement being truly relavent.
Key example: Watching the NBA Finals you have Gatorade’s “G-thing” plastered all over the bottom of the screen and courtside. I wonder, how much did they pay for that lil’ splish splash?
What was there? Oh, just the logo no deeper relavance to the finals than that. Yeah, yeah, I know your saying well Gatorade’s a “sports” drink and it’s a “sports” playoff, it should be there. I totally agree but that’s Marketing 101, it’s time for brands to go deeper.
Like EA Sports for instance is present during these same finals but they integrated their brand in a smooth, non-”G”akward way. The commentator was placed virtually onto a court while a computer EA Sports generated Kobe Bryant was playing against commentator as he shows how to play defense against Kobe , gives pointers, things to watch for, etc–all in this virtual world–NOW THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN’ BOUT!!! Woohooo imagine that, complete relevance, showing the brand goods, and not pandering to me–it’s no dream world, that’s real branding baby!
This is the way to integrate brands beyond the mind numbing (in frankenstein voice) “we will repeat…repeat…repeat…repeat…and you will buy…buy…buy !”
——–
Jinean Robinson is a CCIO (Chief Creative Infections Officer) who has been in the communications industry for over 8 years, specializing in creative strategy and implementation, 360 branding communications, and brand development. Join her at http://twitter.com/germllc or her firm’s website at http://germonline.com/
(TrendHunter.com) These photos are brought to you by the alternative beauty group known as the Suicide Girls. These chicks are an edgy sight, covered in tattoos with metallic colored hair but still pretty as pie.
There…
Com a liberdade e os espaços cada vez mais restritos aos fumantes, as marcas de cigarro precisam fazer malabarismo para contornar as radicais (e pertinentes) leis anti-fumo.
Olha só a decisão que Camel tomou após as autoridades alemãs limitarem ainda mais o espaço para publicidade das marcas deste segmento. No aeroporto de Munique, existe o que eles chamam de Camel Smoking Zone: uma cabine especial e super popular para fumantes que, por várias razões, são proibidos de fumar na área pública do aeroporto. O cara pode até não ser consumidor de Camel, mas pode ter certeza que ele vai pegar uma forte empatia pela marca, e dificilmente vai esquecer dessa “benfeitoria” feita por eles.
:: Via PSFK
Olha só mais um ótimo exemplo de marca se associando à música.
A Mazda, no Canadá, está lançando um aplicativo para iPhone e iPod Touch que coincide com a chegada do novo modelo 2010 do Mazda3. O aplicativo fornece aos utilizadores encontrar concertos, shows de música e até a possibilidade de comprar ingressos para estes eventos musicais (a qualquer hora, em qualquer lugar).
O aplicativo “Concert Quest” também permite buscar dicas por gênero musical, artista, nome ou local do evento e, em seguida, ele mostra um ícone para se fazer a compra do ingresso e até mesmo te dá a possibilidade de saber onde estão estacionamentos mais próximos do local onde o concerto/show irá acontecer.
Naturalmente, a tecnologia veio para facilitar a nossa vida. Só que agora, as marcas estão cada vez mais utilizando ela para colaborar com as coisas que fazem parte do dia a dia das pessoas.
O hotsite do “Concert Quest” vai entrar no ar dia 1 de junho. Ele será lançado especialmente para ajudar aqueles que gostariam de utilizar o serviço, mas não possuem iPhone nem iPod Touch.
:: A criação é da agência canadense Marketing Solutions
:: Via Media in Canada
Um dos reports do Trendwatching que eu mais gostei até agora é aquele que fala sobre “Generation G” (Geração Generosa). O termo também foi instituído para ressaltar o posicionamento e o espírito mais generoso e bondoso de algumas marcas, como por exemplo: Ikea, Diesel e Kraft Foods. Agora, navegando pela internet, descobri um novo case que se encaixaria perfeitamente nessa tendência.
A marca de detergentes e derivados de limpeza, Tide, colocou um caminhão itinerante, lotado de máquinas de lavar, circulando por algumas regiões, dos Estados Unidos, afetadas por catástrofes naturais: furações, enchentes e etc. As pessoas que sofreram com estas catástrofes e que, provavelmente, podem ter perdido alguns de seus eletrodomésticos, contam com a chance de lavar suas roupas gratuitamente. A campanha “Loads of Hope” ainda tem o apoio da mídia online para disseminar as ações sociais realizadas pela Tide. Veja algumas fotos da ação que eu retirei do Flickr:
:: Tide | Loads of Hope (Website):
www.tide.com/en-US/loads-of-hope/index.jspx
:: Tide | Loads of Hope (Twitter):
http://twitter.com/tideloadsofhope
:: Tide | Loads of Hope (Flickr)
Em uma parceria entre o Myspace e a Toyota, foi anunciado que a procura por uma nova estrela musical dos Estados Unidos está em jogo. O concurso se chama “Rock the Space“, onde está havendo uma concorrência entre bandas e artistas solo que são encorajados a apresentar canções originais. O vencedor, que também será escolhido pelo público, receberá um contrato exclusivo com o MySpace Records para gravar suas músicas.
As inscrições estarão abertas até o dia 1º de julho, deste ano. E para entrar na competição, os artistas devem submeter um demo de suas músicas em arquivo mp3, na página da Toyota Music. O mais legal é que todos os participantes terão a oportunidade de criar widgets com suas músicas e viralizar por toda a web.
Sempre tive um apreço bem grande por estratégias como essa, tendo marcas se associando à música para se aproximar das pessoas. Quem mais já fez esse tipo de coisa? Coca Cola, Mc Donald’s, Heineken, Chevrolet, Fiat, Vespa, Air France, Ford, entre muitas outras.
:: Toyota Music | Rock the Space
:: www.myspace.com/toyotamusic
A primeira rede social brasileira focada no relacionamento entre pessoas e marcas acaba de ser aberta ao público. Participei agora há pouco do evento de lançamento do site, que contou com a presença dos idealizadores da startup e de alguns blogueiros, convidados pela Polvora! Comunicação.
A Drimio, cujo nome vem do inglês Dream – é a realização de um sonho de alguns empreendedores que decidiram criar um espaço na internet onde os consumidores pudessem encontrar todo o conteúdo disponível sobre suas marcas preferidas, saber o que os fabricantes estão falando e trocar informações sobre produtos e serviços com outros consumidores.
Logo de cara pensei no quão importante a Drimio pode se tornar como sendo uma ferramenta de pesquisa para agências e clientes. Em tempos onde o monitoramento frenético em busca do que se diz sobre você e sua empresa, a Drimio chega mostrando que tem um grande potencial nesse mundo, e promete trazer grandes soluções pra quem busca novas ferramentas colaborativas.
Conheça a Drimio
:: www.drimio.com
(TrendHunter.com) Progressive action sports apparel company Unit Riders has made a series of swine flu parodies to what they are calling ‘The Age of Panic.’ They have produced a range of flat face masks and respirators…
Miller Park in Milwaukee Makes Sense
The list of failed companies which have placed their names on stadiums and arenas reads like a who’s who. Enron, Pacific Bell, PSI.net, Bank One, Network Associates, Citi Group, etc. Are ad execs so star struck when it comes to sports that they are willing to spend a significant chunk of their budget on a tactic that has often led to failure? Unless you’re a brewery with your name on a basball park you can probably find better ways to spend your money.
Paul Hirsch has been practicing communications since 1983. He now owns his own marketing/pr firm in Northern California. Paul specializes in media relations, marketing collateral, website copy development and ad design. You can learn more about him on Facebook or by visiting www.nowville.com/paulhirsch.
(TrendHunter.com) Justin Pape of We Kill You has created some innovative art that features his signature monsters covered by melted bands of colored resin. The company name stems from the expression “You kill me,” which…
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
