Rumor Mill: Is IKEA Entering the Eco-Friendly Car Market?

We love a good April Fool's Day joke as much as anyone. So we're all wondering if IKEA is really about to unveil a new eco-friendly car or if it's all a big April Fool's joke. The release date is set for April 1st, after all.

Rumor Mill: Is IKEA Entering the Eco-Friendly Car Market? | Sustainability | Fast Company

Pepsi Logo Design Brief: Branding Lunacy to the Max

We previously blogged about how the new Pepsi logo reminded us of the Obama logo. What we didn't know then is how much time and money went into their new design. This article links to the leaked creative brief for the logo design. It's painful to read. Pompous and ridiculous and symbolic of what I hate about marketing. They are making way too much of this. A logo can't do everything. And it certainly isn't worth the lofty comparisons the agency makes.

Quote from the article:

The presentation, by the Arnell Group (also responsible for the botched design of the Tropicana orange juice carton) contains visual representations of and comparisons with the following: the golden ratio, the Mona Lisa, the Parthenon, the Gutenberg Bible, the earth and its magnetic fields, and the solar system/universe. None of these things have anything to do with soda.

Give me a break. Look, what we do is important, but it isn't rocket science. Our job is to help you (our client) sell more of what you make. Generally, we don't need to create the next Mona Lisa to do it.

Read more: Pepsi Logo Design Brief: Branding Lunacy to the Max | New Ideas | Fast Company

The Snuggie's a Success?

My husband and I mock this product every time we see the commercial. I joke that the guy looks like a monk and that the sleeves are surely fire hazards. Chris is thinking of getting me one for my birthday. So imagine my surprise when I learned that Snuggies are flying off the shelves. Four million sold and a waiting list for more. Normally, I'd comment on their marketing strategy, or how their success reflects current trends, but today, I have only one word: huh?

Update: one of my Twitter buddies just told me she wears her robe backwards and ta-da! Instant Snuggie. Hilarious!

Branding the New Government

Our new president is known for a lot of things -- hope, change and all that -- but the marketing community has long been impressed with his branding ability. He stuck with one slogan (more or less) throughout his campaign. He has a visual brand that is clear and easily identifiable. And now he's brought that design sensibility to the White House web site. To my eye, it's clean, modern (without being young/edgy), easy to navigate and interesting. There are interactive elements and multi-media. There is a blog, which is a nice start, but it's not very bloggy in practice. Looks more like press releases inserted as blog posts to me. I assume it's a work in progress.

Read more: Web Design You Can Believe In | Fast Company

And the Color of the Year is . . .

According to Pantone, the color of the year for 2009 is mimosa (what you and I might call a warm yellow). Pantone is the company that produces those expensive color chip books with formulations that designers use when selecting colors for your logo or printed materials. It's the way we tell printers what we want. (Still not an exact science, but that's a post for another day.)

This color has been showing up in women's fashions and interior design for a couple of years now; in fact, I painted my son's nursery this color. So I'm not sure if Pantone is a little late to the party, but at any rate, keep it in mind if you're trying to keep your brand current.

Pantone Selects Color of the Year for 2009: PANTONE 14-0848 Mimosa

Fun on a Friday : The Jingle Generator from Intuit QuickBooks

The makers of QuickBooks were looking for a fun way to increase trial usage of their software so they developed a tool for small businesses to create their own jingle: The Jingle Generator. This could be a nice little distraction on a Friday.

According to Marketing Profs, the Jingle Generator was promoted using a number of new media techniques, including:

• Blogger outreach: Intuit contacted bloggers with whom it already had working relationships to share the campaign story.
• Participation on forums and blogs: The company also joined in conversations on forums and blogs that relate to small-business issues, '80s music, social marketing, etc. Company representatives aim to add value to the conversation when posting responses and do not solely promote the site.
• Social-networking sites: The company posted a video on YouTube, and profile pages for Tommy Silk were established on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. Participating Intuit team members help build awareness by adding Tommy as a friend or follower to their personal networks and "re-tweeting" Tommy's posts.
• Shared examples: Early in the campaign, employees were encouraged to create their own custom jingles on the site and forward them to friends and family members, especially small-business owners, who might have an interest in the software.

*Source: MarketingProfs.com, "How Intuit Used Viral Marketing and an Interactive Web Site to Generate Small-Business Leads, Engage Customers" (paid registration required)

The Jingle Generator from Intuit QuickBooks

What's Your Difference?

I drove by a dentist's office yesterday that had a sign which read "Dentistry with a Difference." I smiled to myself and applauded their effort to differentiate themselves. In marketing, we work hard to come up with a U.S.P. (Unique Selling Proposition) or positioning strategy for our clients. We ask, "what is the one simple thing people know you for?" or "what do you want to be known for?". We tell folks that if you don't define yourself, your competition will.

The challenge is to come up with a meaningful differentiator. I could bill my company as the only marketing firm in Atlanta run by a red-headed woman who's half-Iranian. That's a difference, to be sure, but probably not a meaningful one if you're looking to hire a marketer.

Which brings me back to the dentist. "Dentistry with a Difference" means nothing. How are they different? How does that benefit me, the potential patient? They could be different, as in weird. (And when I first told Terri about their sign, that was her first reaction.) Not to pick on them; I do admire that they are at least trying to market themselves. Still, imagine if they described their difference in a memorable way. Tell me what makes you the best. Tell me why your customers come back.

Just don't tell me that you're "different."

The New York Times and LinkedIn

So I was reading a business article in the New York Times the other day and noticed a column to the right that said "News for Marketing Professionals." My little marketing brain went "How'd they know what I do?" I'm registered with NYTimes.com, but I don't think they asked for my profession. So I clicked on the link that says "what's this?" and it turns out that they have partnered with Linked In to provide more relevant content to the user. I'm not sure how they figured out who I was on LinkedIn; I don't recall giving them that info, either, but it's possible I did.

Most people won't even think about the behind-the-scenes technology that makes this possible. Heck, most people won't even think it's unusual to have relevent content seamlessly woven into their online experience. But I think it's pretty cool. Incidentally, the New York Times does a lot of things right as far as online news goes. They do way more than just put up their print text. Lots of photo galleries, videos, and more that make it a much more interactive and informative experience.

The New York Times and LinkedIn

Best Buy launches store for and by women

Gosh, about 18 years ago, I put together a presentation (pre-PowerPoint days; I painstakingly typed it in WordPerfect) on marketing to women. I was baffled then that more businesses weren't taking advantage of this lucrative market. Most of the stats I cited back then (women control 80% of consumer spending, buy 60% of all new cars and influence the purchase of most of the rest, represent nearly half or more of all investment decisions, etc.) are still true today and yet, marketers remain blissfully ignorant on how to target us. The situation has improved, of course, but I am still waiting for a car manufacturer to truly speak to me. I get so sick and tired of car commercials that focus on performance, speed, horsepower, and torque (what is torque anyhow?). The only time I've really seen a car commercial attempt to talk to women it was for a van and highlighted the remote control sliding doors. Well, it's a start I suppose.

And for the record, targeting women does not mean making your product pink.

Best Buy is trying to get in on the action. Since women represent 45% of all electronics purchases, they're looking at ways to appeal to us, starting with the design of their stores. They have one test store now. I hope it works and that more marketers consider their actual SHOPPERS (women!) in their store planning, merchandising, product choices, etc.

Read more here: Springwise: Best Buy launches store for and by women

Forrester: Social Web Now Mainstream

New Forrester research indicates widespread acceptance and adoption of social media, with up to 75% of respondents reporting some usage of social media in 2nd quarter of this year. What's included in social media? Well, a lot of the usage is among folks reading blogs. No mention in this brief article on whether or not Facebook and similar social networking sites are catching on with the over 35 crowd, but anecdotally, I can tell you that I'm getting lots more friend requests from old high school and college friends. I've even had a few ex-boyfriends track me down!

From a marketing standpoint, we always tell our clients that more and more of their customers are all over the web and there are some great ways to reach them. We almost always recommend search engine marketing first -- that's a must -- but depending on your customer set, we often look at blog outreach programs, social media press releases (basically, interactive press releases), and social networking. Studies like this simply affirm that more and more of your prospects are hanging out in the social media pool. It's time to start thinking about how to reach them there.

Read more here: Forrester: Social Web Now Mainstream

New Pepsi Logo -- huh?

Is it just me or does this new Pepsi logo look like the Obama logo turned sideways? Besides that, why are they changing their logo? They claim it's to infuse some excitement into the brand during a recession. Look, we do logo redesigns all the time -- usually for companies who never had a professionally designed logo in the first place. And changing logos can give you an excuse to reach out and touch your customers, or just fire up the troops internally. So I can't make a blanket statement and say this is a bad idea. What I can say, is how much did this cost? How much will it cost to re-brand the trucks, bottles, all the packaging, etc.? How else could they have spent the money? Maybe with some kick-ass contests (people love those any time, but especially in a recession). Or some big, attention-getting marketing stunts at cities throughout the country. Or college campuses.

What do you all think?

Read more here: TheDieline.com: The Leading Package Design Website: What is Pepsi thinking?

Corporate Gift Giving -- Food Edition

It's time to start planning for holiday greeting cards and gifts (if this is something your company likes to do). Tired of the fruit baskets, gourmet food baskets, or tubs of popcorn? Here are a few food ideas we love.

1. Looks like flowers, tastes like fruit. Yummy edible arrangement.
2. Looks like a greeting card. Tastes like a big 'ol cookie with buttercream frosting. (Thanks to my friend Lisa W. for the tip on this years ago.) These make great birthday cards for clients, too. (They have tons of designs for every occasion.)
   
3. With names like "Papa Don't Peach," and "Shofar So Good Apple Honey", this is not your average bread. This local Atlanta bakery has the yummiest sweet bread treats.
4. Another local Atlanta business, Pop!, makes frozen popcorn balls with fruit bits and drenched in chocolate. Terri -- a serious popcorn lover -- is salivating over these.
5. Gigantic fortune cookie with your own custom "fortune" message inside. These are the size of a football. Send it with a message to your customers wishing them "good fortune" in the coming year.

Food treats make great gifts any time of year; not just the holidays. In fact, many of these companies have Halloween-themed treats available now, and all are great to send for client birthdays. In the coming weeks, we'll post ideas for non-food related gifts. If you have any other suggestions, please post them in the comments section.

Marketing to Women—We've Come a Long Way Baby... (Maybe)

Women control 80% (or more) of consumer spending. As this article points out, we're the "Chief Purchasing Officers" in the household. If you've known me for any length of time, you know that I've long railed against the lack of good female-focused ads. When was the last time a car commercial talked to me? I mean, I could care less about rack and pinion steering (not even sure if I'm spelling that correctly) or torque or horsepower. I -- and most women -- want to know about safety, and yes, where the damn cup holder is. Marketers have gotten better over the years (I love what Dove is doing), but they're about to hit another wall: marketing to boomer women. These women were part of the women's revolution. Many worked outside of the home. They're entering their 50's, 60's, and 70's with an entirely different attitude than previous generations. And are those of us in advertising talking to them? Nope. Of course not. Cuz that would make too much sense.

read more: Marketing to Women—We've Come a Long Way Baby... (Maybe) - Articles by Marketing Profs

Go Green

If you haven't thought about a green marketing strategy, it might be time. Companies that promote their green strategies generate good will among their customers . . . and good will begets good word-of-mouth and word-of-mouth is the best marketing tool there is. But where to start? Maybe this list of green resources will help.

GREEN LIVING TOOLBOX: 80+ Green Sites: "http://mashable.com/2007/08/14/green-toolbox/"

'Multi' Is the Most Dangerous Word in the Dictionary

Every time a new medium arrives, older media players think, "What an opportunity to extend our franchise." So magazines and newspapers and radio and TV outlets are jumping all over themselves to digitize their brands. Al Ries says it doesn't work and it won't work. Remember Al Ries? He and Jack Trout coined the term "positioning" decades ago. . . their book was required reading at my university. He makes an interesting and compelling case in this article.

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What's the matter with Faith Hill? Well, since you asked . . .

Everybody knows (well most women know) that the women in ads and magazine spreads are seriously Photoshopped. Arms are made skinnier, moles are removed, wrinkles erased, etc. But we don't often get to see the "before" and "after" pics. Well, the folks at Jezebel thought we should see what the folks at Redbook were up to with a recent cover of Faith Hill. Once you get past the annoying animated "before" and "after," there is a link to a still photo of the before with notes on exactly what "improvements" were made. Ahem . . .

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