Monthly Archive for July, 2007

The Big Duh

Published
by
Matt
on Jul 27, 2007
in Analysis and New Marketing
. 2 Comments

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I think it’s great when a company decides not to take itself too seriously. Enter Hyundai’s “Big Duh Sales Event”

All to often big businesses, especially car companies, can act very high and mighty. With this campaign, Hyundai explains that The Big Duh is the “biggest no-brainer you can have when purchasing a new car this summer”. What got me was the the surprise. Usually when an auto company runs a sale it’s called “The Semi-Annual Sales Event” or “The Model Year End Clearance”, Hyundai chose to go with “The Big Duh Sales Event” and offer “Duh Cash” back. That got my attention and got me laughing.

They’ve even made an accompanying interactive website that allows you to listen to some classical songs “Duh” remixed, and to make your own Duh Tracks. Definitely worth at least a quick look. The Hyundai Big Duh Sales Event.

With “The Big Duh”, I really like what Hyundai is going for, and hopefully it’s lighthearted approach will be well-received by their target audience. Maybe we could all learn a lesson from Hyundai and just take a step back and laugh a little bit.

One Line Marketing Wisdom

Published
by
Matt
on Jul 25, 2007
in Marketers and New Marketing
. 20 Comments

It’s amazing how much insight and information can be packed into one line. So I emailed the bloggers I read, and asked them to submit one line about marketing. The following are the responses I received (in the order received with mine last). I encourage you to add your own One Line Marketing Wisdom to the post.

Seth Godin
“Tell a story, keep your promises, surprise me.”

Susan Gunelius of Brandcurve
“Your product or service is far less important than its ability to fulfill your customers’ needs.”

Travis of Young Go Getter
“Strategy without execution is a document. Execution without strategy is art.”

Muhammed Saleem of Pronet Advertising
“Use social media, don’t abuse social media.”

Andrew Barbaccia of A Young Entrepreneurs Blog
“Marketing is selling opportunities to those not informed enough to seek them on their own.”

Sean Moffitt of Buzz Canuck
“Marketing is for lovers - everybody may think they can do it well, but it’s only the passionate, edgy and open that make it worthwhile.”

Ian of Conversation Marketing
“Use the whole internet. Online marketing doesn’t stop at your web site.”

John of Marketing-Works!
“Marketing failures can be more valuable that the successes assuming you learn the lesson for next time.”

Galba Bright of Tune Up Your EQ
“A marketing vision without passion is merely a dream.”

Drew McLellan of Drew’s Marketing Minute
“Make the investment to clearly understand and articulate your brand promise (both internally and externally) and then behave from that place 100% of the time.”

Guy Kawasaki
“Never ask people to do something you wouldn’t do.”

Matt J McDonald of A New Marketing
“Forget everything else - marketing is about making a connection.”

Branding? Ask a riot cop.

Published
by
Matt
on Jul 23, 2007
in Advertising and Branding
. 0 Comments

Riot Cops

“Don’t mess with me. Seriously.”

Few people/organizations in the world broadcast their message as clearly as riot police.

The two branding lessons that you can take away from them are -Be focused and -Be consistent . Without those two, it becomes impossible to distinguish yourself from the masses.

Being focused is important because it defines the message and identity that you’re trying to establish. If you’re trying to show that you’re X, then anything that portrays you as anything other than X is a branding failure. Looking at the riot cops, you can see their aim is to convey the seriousness of their presence. Shields, face masks, horses, boots, and teargas all say,“Don’t mess with me.”

Being consistent is important because without it, your message will never be fully understood. If you’re broadcasting one thing, and people are starting to take hold of that idea, the worst thing you can do is switch things up. If you’re trying to be X then always be X, no matter what. If you’re not consistent in your portrayal of yourself, how are you ever supposed to achieve consistency in the minds of others? Have you ever seen an on-duty riot cop smile or joke around? My guess is no, - “Don’t mess with me.”

Branding is a tricky thing, and there are no guarantees, so we have to do the best we can, and that means putting out a consistent, focused message.

Benefits > Features

Published
by
Matt
on Jul 18, 2007
in Advertising, Marketers, New Marketing and Products
. 1 Comment

Unless you’re in the computing or automotive industries, highlighting features is a bad way to sell your product.

Features tell us what a product has, what it’s made up of, or how it’s made. The only problem is, most people don’t care about that at all. The thing people want to know is, “What can it do for me?”. Explaining the benefits will get you much farther.

If features are the only thing provided, people mentally convert them to benefits anyway. It’s a natural progression that we’ll call The Derived Benefits Model:
See feature listing >> Think about features (in relation to self) >> Figure out derived benefit from features

For example:
The TV is capable of 1080i resoultion >> The picture will be sharper >> I can enjoy my favorite shows more because of the clearer image

So why let people go through that entire process when you could just explain the benefits right away? If you cut out the middleman and get right to the benefits, it cuts down on the work people have to do to understand your offering.

Instead of advertising the 100gb hard drive on that DVR, let people know that they can save entire seasons of Lost, 24, and Grey’s Anatomy. Instead of talking about a carbon fiber frame on your sunglasses, tell people that they’re so light they can wear them all day. Instead of explaining the depth of the spikes on your cleats, let them know they’ll get a great jump stealing second base.

So the next time you’re writing copy, giving a speech, putting together materials, blogging, or talking to a customer - just remember Benefits > Features.

What They Don’t Know, Won’t Brand You.

Published
by
Matt
on Jul 17, 2007
in Advertising, Branding and Marketers
. 7 Comments

Sometimes a big factor in branding is a lack of information.

By now, many people are familiar with Blue Moon Belgian White Ale.
103907s.jpg
This particular beverage, which was founded in 1995, has captured the attention of many beer enthusiasts - and increasingly the general public - because of it’s unique, compelling taste, and it’s down-home, handcrafted image.

What most people don’t know however, is that Blue Moon is brewed by the Molson Coors Brewing Company, the world’s fifth largest brewer by volume. People don’t know about this, because they don’t advertise it. Blue Moon does well because of it’s micro-brew image, and connecting it to Molson Coors would disrupt that.

Or take Radio 104.5, the newest rock station in Philadelphia.
radio1045.jpg

On the air only a few months ago, Radio 104.5 bills itself as an anti-establishment radio station, and the way they do things on-air is different than most. They don’t have DJ’s that talk all the time, they don’t have stupid contests or other useless stuff, they just have music. And lots of it. Sure it’s interrupted every once in a while, but that’s to be expected with free radio. But before returning to the music, Radio 104.5 runs short quips about how they’re different and thanking you for listening.

Radio 104.5’s omitted info? They’re owned by Clear Channel Communications - the largest radio station owner in the United States. Many have taken to 104.5’s rebellious image, and liken it to “sticking it to the man”, but really, “the man” is just “sticking it to” himself.

These two instances highlight the importance of focus in branding. Neither of the facts above are secrets, nor are they even hard to figure out (Blue Moon says Coors right on the box and 104.5 mentions CC every now and then) but they’re not stressed.

Sometimes in branding, what you leave out is just as important as what you put in.

A Marketing Lesson from Captain Jack Sparrow

Published
by
Matt
on Jul 11, 2007
in Advertising, Marketers and New Marketing
. 3 Comments

Cap’n Jack

“The only rules that really matter are these: what a man CAN do and what a man CAN’T do.”

This wise words from the Cap’n are equally true for marketing.

You CAN create a product that people love and want to talk about. You CAN’T force people to care through excessive advertising or in-your-face PR.

-You CAN make yourself a part of the community with honesty and openness. You CAN’T try to force your way in or ignore it all together.

-You CAN study demographics, psychographics, and any other statistics you want. You CAN’T substitute them for real human insight and interaction.

You CAN come up with new, clever, and inventive ways of marketing. You CAN’T get away with simply tricking people.

You CAN choose to change, adapt, and evolve with the market. You CAN’T win if you don’t.

Attention MySpace - You are hideous.

Published
by
Matt
on Jul 9, 2007
in Communication, New Marketing, Web 2.0 and Web Sites
. 2 Comments

I must have missed the boat on MySpace.

I know the network is huge, but it’s full of spam, fake friend invites, and bad ads. Plus it’s really, really ugly. If you’re an organization trying to establish a consistent brand or image, there are much better options when it comes to social networking. To illustrate this point, Let’s look at two key factors in social networks and some MySpace alternatives.

Building a Brand
If you’re looking for a cool way to present your brand, AND connect with people, look no further than Virb. (www.virb.com). Virb is a new network with a clean, easy interface that’s extremely customizable. If you want to see some of the possibilities for Virb profile pages, check out Naive Clothing on Virb, or the page for designer/artist Garrett Miller (also awsome - Adam Morse). Compare them to one of the better MySpace pages I’ve seen - Nixon Watches.

Establishing A Network
If you’re looking to connect with a large number of people in the most meaningful way, Facebook (www.facebook.com) is the way to go. What started as a networking site for college kids (I’m a 3 year veteran, so if you have any questions feel free to ask) has now opened it’s doors, and it’s API, to everyone. Facebook’s interface and GUI are much cleaner than MySpace and the ads are much less obtrusive. Now that the API is open, applications are starting to emerge that expand Facebooks functionality to equal or surpass MySpace.

What then?

Published
by
Matt
on Jul 6, 2007
in Marketers, New Marketing and Web 2.0
. 0 Comments

If major engines like Google, Yahoo!, and MSN don’t alter their search algorithms drastically, won’t we reach a point where every website is search engine optimized? What happens then? Does an entire industry fade out or will SEO’s adapt and offer new and different services?

If you work in SEO, that might be something to think about.