Read Between the Ps

Another 45-day hiatus... No reasons and no explanations. Priorities entailed a different orientation. Period. However, passion overwrites priorities once again, and here I am, working on another aspect of Marketing... Before I talk on something on Marketing per se, just noticed this wonderful set of Banners, at one of my favorite Banner-ads' site - Banner Blog - Excellent compilation of Banner Ads across the globe - a must see for anyone who can appreciate creativity ... Picture some of the classic ones - my top 3 favorites from the past month's collection - - one that displays the name of a coffee brand through beans ( Suplicy Coffee ), one that draws an interesting analogy to reinforce " stability " of a car on any sort of terrain ( Citroen C5 ) and the final one on Mach3 Turbo , that gives you an online experience of smooth shaving! Have a look at the website - great example of another form of advertising in the virtual universe...

Most of us would have felt most of the time that though we have the minimum possible free time with the maximum possible work , our CEO is the person who has the maximum possible free time with the minimum possible work . And that minimum possible work is also passed on in the least possible time! Well, for those of you who are humming with a nod in agreement, here is something that should keep him occupied finally – make him blog ! Today, when we talk of the CEO – he is the person who essentially drives the business or leads the drivers of the business, ensuring complete employee satisfaction and optimum utilization of the processes and resources . Naturally, he is at the helm of the organization, and therefore, his word, his inputs and his perspectives, would represent the orientation of his organization as well. So, a representation of the same in the online world – essentially blogging, would be of interest to anyone interested in the business of the organization as well! In an ar...

Recently came across the Power 150 list from Adage – Some of the Best Marketing Blogs in the world An excellent compilation by Todd Andrlik, listing down 393 top blogs of passionate marketers – something that I would keenly study, over the next few months. If you are a window-blogger and prefer to blog-browse rather than blog, this is the list you should start with!

Indian consumers are quickly moving out of the “ neighborhood kirana-stores ” mindset and getting acculturated to organized shopping malls. Be it the product availability, the experience, the ambience or simply, the lure of an air-conditioned hang-out place – consumers no longer want to spend time outside under the sun or shopping in sweaty shops! Talking of shopping malls – malls in India have evolved and are no longer just a shopping destination, but thanks to Martin Lindstrom and his work on Sensory Branding , ambience now plays a critical role in shopping. As a result, shoppers want to spend as much time as they can in the malls – shop, eat, drink, sleep, play around, flirt, and do everything else that is practically possible to do in broad daylight! As these mall-crazy shoppers become parents, they want their kids also to get more used to malls – maybe a bit more than their homes too!! So, what’s new being offered to them? Retailers, in order to tap this opportunity, want the ...

Found this nice piece of creativity at advertising for peanuts . A fine example of how simple concepts of design can communicate a strong social message. Made for CVV ( Suicide Prevention Center ) by Leo Burnett, Sao Paulo (Brazil), the campaign symbolizes how the best person to help you in your times of trouble is you yourself. Hence, the campaign “ Help Yourself ” Incidentally, found an interesting blog, Mer-chan , whose author, Katy, had identified a similar design piece created by Peter Callesen . Peter’s work - designs made by cutting sheets of paper – seems to have inspired the creators of this campaign. Katy mentioned in her post that the work of the artist from Denmark would have either designed the posters himself or would have inspired the admen….both in Brazil as well as in China Nonetheless, excellent pieces of design - in fact, I would recommend any aspiring designer to visit Peter's website and learn how he has created wonders out of simple sheets of paper. Comme...

Caution : Even though it may seem to have, and may provide additional incentives for window-blog-visitors , this post does not contain any Adult content . Have been watching some advertisements at YouTube lately. Out of the 50-odd I scanned through today, these are the best 10-minutes spent presented here.. What's common in all this pieces? Each of them ensures high recall value and strong humor association. However, what remains to be seen is, as I keep reiterating time and again, how much of this translates into sales and brand recall - ultimate objective for most of the sane marketers. An addition to this perspective, however, is the significance of recall value – If the ad ensures high recall and it’s a low involvement category, then this very recall drives in-store pick ups or impulse purchases at the POP . All said and done, a nice treat for the weekend – Kudos to the agencies and the contributors for these. :-) This is a series of four commercials that were banned, but ...

Guess the seemingly consistently inconsistent behavior of irregular blogging has been all the more apparent, and it has more or less been a norm for me to start my entry with this comment. Though I have been rationalizing this for some time now, I seem to have run out of reasons now…..traveling, work pressure, partying, net connection….anything else? Nonetheless, I am glad that finally, something goes out at this place once again….and hopefully this one should make sense for the customers…er..readers of this blog… :) Talking of customers , for every marketer, they are the source of bread and butter for him. He would do anything, and I mean anything, to keep them happy, to keep them coming, to keep them buying whatever he wants to sell…. Having said that, if that may be the case, are there a set of customers a marketer shouldn’t bother about, anymore? A set who you think you would not want to talk to anymore; if they need something, they would come themselves, and if they leave, so be i...

Boredstop had a nice billboard published sometime back. A strong way to communicate the "risks" involved in your life.....for Nationwide Insurance . Located in the north side of the Atlas Building in downtown Columbus Ohio, this billboard seems to be doing more rounds online than it would have attracted offline. Great execution - Just that one needs to see all the 3 billboards at the same time, and of course, in the right sequence! Incidentally, a closer look just made me think - is this an ad for Coop's paints as well? ;-) So, do you want to go and check the parking area once? ;-) [via Ilya of Billboardom ]

How many times have you hummed a tune, which you really liked, only to realize that it featured in one of the recent Ads you saw? How many times have you seen a product in a store, and suddenly remembered the cute song that plays in its Advertisement? How many times have you purchased a product, only because you remember its ad on the TV/radio, and believe in the promises it has made? Such is the power of a tune…a jingle in an advertisement. Any marketing 101 book would tell you that one of the key brand elements critical to any campaign is the jingle – a background tune that enables a strong brand association and recall . As a marketer, one would ideally want a tune that sticks to the consumer, such that it acts as a cue for her future purchases, and keeps his product high on recall. Wikipedia defines a jingle as “ a memorable slogan, set to an engaging melody, mainly broadcast on radio and..on television commercials. An effective jingle is constructed to stay in one's memory ...

How would you describe the relationship between Advertiser and the Consumer? A romantic couple flirting with each other or an irritated couple not getting along at all, ready to separate.. A recent campaign on this " Break up ” personifies this very relationship, and wonderfully articulates the differences cropping between them. Have a look .. So, what exactly is the issue? - Agencies don’t realize that there is a problem and consumers don’t think that there is a solution to this problem – so most of them don’t speak up. It simply reflects in the results! The campaign, titled “ Bring the love Back ” addresses the first part of the issue – the disconnect between the consumer and the advertiser – how they do not get along, how the advertiser does not understand the consumer, how he simply assumes that what he is and what he is doing is simply the best, and cannot figure out why the consumer does not like it….and how all this culminates into their separation – their break-up ! The...

I have earlier discussed about Engagement marketing and Media Engagement in detail . Another facet of Engagement Marketing is Brand Engagement , which I briefly mentioned earlier. Just to recap, Brand Engagement is the last step of Engagement Marketing (From Media Engagement to Ad Engagement to Engagement Marketing to finally, Brand Engagement). It ensures sustainability and loyalty towards the advertised Brand. This happens when the messages and experiences blend into a combination culminating into a strong association with the brand per se, and not only the communication [ previous post ] An article at Marketing Profs “ Brand Engagement: Teach Your Customers Well ” by Nick Wreden , published last week focuses on a specific component of Brand Engagement – Brand Education and its various forms and methods. According to the article , Brand Engagement and Wikification have replaced previous models like “positioning” and have emerged as the “two great trends reshaping branding today” (as...

If you want to connect to your consumer, you need to talk to them in their language, using the tools they use, the forums they visit and communicate your differentiating point where it hits the most to them - in their own conditioned environment . Thanks to Martina ( Rocco Stallvord , actually) , I could identify yet another conditioned view that we come across more than a few times daily – Error 404 – Cannot find server ! Basically, the website of West Wayne Agency , the page first seems like the same error 404, but then when you refresh, you notice that the same page communicates something different – just like the URL tries to connect to the server, the consumer tries to connect to the brand – and this is what happens when he cannot find the connect… and he disconnects!! Solution? Have a look to what West Wayne suggests - call them people not consumers, and build a relationship with them... Interestingly, one thing I noticed what worked in favor of West Wayne for such a creativ...

Jason, from Centric , a media agency, had given an interesting perspective on the essentials of B2B branding , and certain misconceptions that marketers have, with regards to the techniques that qualify as B2B. In his post, The Key Failure of B2B Branding , Jason believes that most of the marketers consider B2B as a microcosm of B2C branding , and attempt to incorporate B2C marketing components in the B2B space, too. His innuendoes on how consumer marketers, specifically, Procter & Gamble has some of the strongest brands, are worth mentioning… "..if you throw tens of millions of dollars at promoting a product over a period of decades, of course it’ll have a strong brand. It’s been seen so many times that it’s become part of the culture. So yes, when you look at the strongest brands, they’re going to be consumer brands ." But where most of the marketers go wrong is when they take this understanding of “ successful branding ” and use the same recipe for their industrial br...

The latest edition of Harvard Business Review ( June 2007 ) has a small note on how employees can leverage technology to learn and revisit their company details and how companies, in turn, can leverage the same technology for internal branding . The article, Employees get an Earful , by Anders Gronstedt , talks about how employees, particularly salesmen, can either listen to podcasts or watch vodcasts (video podcasts) to get latest updates on their company, just before their meetings and calls. "At companies that use internal podcasting or vodcasting, employees don’t have to stop working to learn, and they can make productive use of their downtime. People can listen while driving to client meetings or watch while waiting in airports. For those who don’t mind blurring the line between free time and work, podcasts enable constructive intrusions into commuting, walking the dog, or running on the treadmill" According to the article, “ Portable media players, including video-enab...

A powerful & provocative ad that reflects upon the condition of the refugees , who are forced out of their homes . According to Spluch , The United Nations refugee agency is running a provocative international advertising campaign that employs shock tactics to raise awareness about its work and drum up public support for those who have been forced to flee their homes. The pro bono TV campaign, launched in Canada earlier this month and also running in about a dozen countries in Europe, South America and Africa, was created by the Toronto office of the BBDO advertising agency, said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which hopes the drive will help raise $1.8 million for the agency this year. Using shock tactics , this seemingly animated piece draws an analogy to the process of pulling a snail out its shell - the pain and the cruelty associated with it, and the disturbing site that ensues. Something to reflect upon. Commendable execution of the creative, a fine piece ...

Found an interesting perspective on what should marketers looking for a long-term marketing career invest in, to ensure that their businesses are sustainable and successful. John Jantsch , author of Duct Tape Marketing , recommends 3 imperatives for Long-term marketing - the 3 essential marketing practices required for producing results - the 3 Cs: Content, Connection and Community . Content - self-growth and increasing self-worth and market credibility. This could be done through blogs, white papers, workshops, articles, etc. Connection - personal relationships need to be reinforced to be leveraged subsequently - through co-creating experiences with them, by way of stories, training and other brand elements Community - a social network, that moves beyond personal relationships and penetrates into the local communities, and social circles. This can be done by way of investing time & money in social projects, get-togethers planned with clients, initiating and maintaining forums,...

Found this creative at Brand Synario - a Pakistan-based advertising website. I have rarely come across ads produced in that region, and this one gives a fine sample of the level of creativity presented there. A nice piece for Geo TV, " Innocence under fire! " or " Jeeyo or jeene do " campaign that summarizes the kind of news being produced in the region these days. Through this campaign, it attempts to send out a social message to people to reduce the tensions amongst themselves - using the emotion-drivers...the kids! A nice way to position itself as a channel that does not show violence all the time, and a channel endorsed by kids. A key influencer for parents in recommending channels is the influence of those channels to their children - this ad leverages this pattern and gets the same kids to endorse the channel. Nice piece. Have a look . brandsynario.com is a project of Synergy ; the fastest growing Integrated Marketing & Communications Group in Pakistan...

With the changing behavior of the consumers, and newer channels evolving, companies are fighting for consumer mindspace . More than that, and a step before, in fact, is the battle for catching attention and a portion of the eye span of the consumers – of getting attention towards your products, out of the clutter of consumer goods shelved along with you! This is the reason most companies use tactical measures at the final touch point – the retail outlets, to drive sales. They attempt to plant “ traffic stoppers ” in a bid to make the consumers stand up and take notice of their offerings. What would you suggest to introduce such “traffic stoppers” at the POP? Follow the “P”s and you would recommend innovative packaging, advanced product technologies, sales promotions , etc etc. But what if these methods have been tried and tested, and failed , too! What next? A recent research at Mckinsey Quarterly discussed an innovative application of technology in in-store marketing. The article,...