The Art of Getting Attention

Pushing the Envelope for Consumer Attention: Guerrilla Advertising 2
Today's successful advertising campaign has evolved well beyond the simple television product spot or the full page fashion spread – formulas we're sometimes so familiar with they almost disappear.

As pointed out in Guerrilla Advertising: Unconventional Brand Communication, Gavin Lucas illustrated that current marketing tools span all mediums and are so artfully crafted for their target audience, it's difficult to sort out what is advertising and what is not. 

The concept of guerrilla marketing (the term was coined and defined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his book Guerrilla Marketing) was invented as an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget.

The Lucas book – yellow, shiny and nicely designed – took a creative tweak and a guerrilla marketing clue when published in Japan in 2008. The hardback cover extended beyond the pages of the book to include cut-out carrier-bag style handles.

The agency responsible took pictures of people of all age groups and walks of life carrying the book around in fashionable parts of Tokyo, such as Ginza, Aoyama and Shibuya – creating a record of a guerrilla style campaign for the book itself.

Lucas' follow-up book, Guerrilla Advertising 2, published this year, revisits the subject, showing how effective unconventional branding and communication can be since the introduction of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the iPhone.

Lucas also highlights how the sheer definition of advertising is constantly shifting, saying "It is not just impossible to come up with a new advertising formula – it is now completely appropriate."

Gavin Lucas began collecting works to feature in the second volume in 2009. The resulting publication features more than 60 unusual campaigns from around the world, such as a giant inflatable pig stuck between two city buildings (for dental floss), a flash mob of dancers in a train station (for a cellphone service provider), and full-scale, high-resolution prints of museum artwork hung around city streets (for London's National Gallery) – showcasing non-traditional advertising and marketing campaigns from recent years.

A clever campaign illustrated in the book features a German employment website, with posters specifically designed to go on the sides of particular machines. On each poster is an image of a worker in a cramped space delivering the actual product being purchased – a woman with a washboard inside a washing machine, a banker crouched inside an ATM, a musician inside a jukebox, and shown here, a frozen worker squeezing out ice cream. The headline? “Life’s too short for the wrong job.”

It’s not the Mad Men's advertising environment anymore, pretty clearly. Those ads with simple brand messaging, are a fading, nostalgic memory.

Considered to be the first successful guerrilla marketing campaign, the iconoclastic Burma-Shave phenomenom from the 1920s-1930s, gives us a Lessons Learned case study on how to engage and captured public attention.

The new age of ad creative is exciting. As much as we hear about newer and faster technology, it’s interesting and fun to watch the creative revolution that is also underway.

Today's advertising is increasingly about engagement and interactivity - proven by the time tested and ROI validated Burma-Shave campaign phenomenom from generations ago. 
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A look at brand communication in the tech-advanced 21st century, Guerrilla Advertising 2 is a fun read for advertisers and the public alike. The book is available from Laurence King for $40.


Sources:
1. Laurence King Publishing, Guerrilla Advertising 2: More Unconventional Brand Communications
2. Creative Review, "Guerrilla Advertising 2: Call for entries," November 19, 2009
3. Creative Review, "Guerrilla Advertising on the streets of Tokyo," January 28, 2008
4. Visualizer, "Guerrilla Advertising 2 - The Art of Getting Attention," The Wall Street Journal, August 27, 2011

Marketing and the Art of Suggestion

Why 5 for $5 or 10 for $10 Pricing Promotions Work
Pricing promotions for buying more items aren't new, but consumers probably will see more retailers using them - and dangling deals on higher multiples than they used to - in an effort to coax more spending amid higher prices and sluggish sales.

What may have started in the produce aisles, with grocers hawking better prices for those who bought more ears of corn, for instance, remains a popular strategy simply because it works, said pricing expert Stephen Hoch, marketing professor at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

In one experiment, a grocer offered canned goods in three different ways: "79 cents, no limit," "79 cents, limit 4," or "79 cents, limit 12."

When there was no limit, Hoch said, people bought three cans. When the limit was four, people bought an average of 3.6 cans, "and when we said 'Limit 12,' they bought seven."

"The bigger the number, the more people buy," he said.

"It's pretty clear that either people just kind of take the suggestion without thinking about it, or that people are under the impression that you have to buy X amount to get the deal."

In another case study, take a look at two stores advertising specials on cream cheese. At store A, the promotion was for 10 packages for $10. At store B, the promotional product was advertised for $1.29 a package. The fine print says you don't have to buy 10 packages to get the special price. Given those choices, you should shop at Store A to check off your shopping list, right?

Maybe not.

According to John T. Gourville, a professor of marketing at Harvard Business School, you're more likely to buy 10 packages at Store A whether you needed 10 packages or two, whereas at Store B, you would buy only the number of packages you really need.

"Many people buy the amount, or buy in increments, that are advertised - with five for $5, they end up buying five boxes," he told The New York Times. Even if you don't need - and won't use - the cream cheese before its expiration date, you might buy those five or ten packages based on the power of suggestion alone.

In negotiations class in business school, you learn how powerful suggestion can be when it comes to numbers and the subconscious recognition of value, so much so that the person who throws out the first number is seen to be at a disadvantage.

Advertising group pricing works the same way by setting a subconscious quantity benchmark. Five loaves of bread for $10? "I'll just get three," the shopper thinks, when in fact they only meant to buy one or two loaves.

It's all about the persuasive art of suggestion.

Sources:
1. Janet Cho, "Why Grocers like 10 for $10 and Other Multiple Promotions," The Plain Dealer, July 24, 2011
2. Sarah Gilbert, "Why 10 for $10 at the Grocery Store Might Bust Your Budget," Walletpop.com, July 22, 2011
3. Stephanie Clifford, "Making 5 for $5 a Bigger Draw Than One for $1," The New York Times, July 18, 2011

Lessons in Crisis Communications

Costly Missteps
As faulty brakes and data breaches plaster the headlines, people are starting to question crisis management, especially the PR practitioners behind it.

A classic example is the Toyota safety recall in 2009 over "runaway" vehicles due to stuck accellerator pedals. The issue launched a public relations nightmare for the iconic brand.

The company's initial approach of denying, minimizing and mitigating the problem only fanned the fires and created an environment where it was vilified by the American press and the government.

Details usually unworthy of public attention, such as internal memos disagreeing over public relations strategy, became smoking guns that convinced the press and the public that Toyota vehicles had electronic problems causing the situation — and that the company was hiding this from the public.

President Akio Toyoda, grandson of the founder, was MIA for weeks after the storm began. The company appeared less than forthcoming about critical safety issues, risking the trust of its customers world-wide, and contributing to a downward spiral of product sales.

Remaining Silent on Security Breaches
They make the news on a regular basis: incidents in which a company or a government agency's security is breached, leading to a loss of information, personal records, or other data.

There are many ways to measure the size or cost of a security breach. Some result in the loss of millions of data records, some affect millions of people, and some wind up costing the affected businesses a lot of money — and worst, their reputation. 

The recent hacker attack on the Sony PlayStation network provides a case study in crisis communications; consider the news headlines devoted to the data breach of over 100 million user records. This never-ending saga is a reminder that in today's networked world, there is an increased demand for open, honest, rapid, and ongoing communications. Failure to do so will result in lost brand equity and customers.

Given the fact that Sony is a multi billion dollar corporation, I’d venture a bold guess that it actually had a crisis communication plan stored away, collecting virtual dust on a server somewhere.  And I’m certain that remaining silent was not part of it.

Public Pressure for Disclosure Rising
The natural-gas industry, bowing to public concern over contaminated water sources, has agreed to disclose more information about the chemicals it uses in the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," as it's called.

Texas recently signed into law that will require companies to make public the chemicals they use on every hydraulic fracturing job in the state. Texas' law is significant because oil and gas drilling is a key industry in the state and the industry vocally supported the measure.

Until recently, much of the industry opposed providing detailed information about its chemicals, arguing that they are trade secrets. But in recent months, as drilling opponents have accused companies of secrecy, many industry leaders have come to view that position as untenable.

"I think the one thing hopefully that we all learned is you can't just say, 'Take our word for it,'" said Matt Pitzarella, a spokesman for gas producer Range Resources Corp.

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Public relations nightmares can come in varying degrees of severity — from a negative review on Yelp to a national or international scandal. As a business, it pays to be prepared for anything. The most important thing about surviving a public relations crisis is planning ahead.

The QR Code Invasion

 

Click here to see the complete 
graphic representation of QR code data
as designed by JumpStart and posted by Mashable

Physical and Digital Worlds Collide with QR Codes

We love infographics. But what are these crazy looking things that are showing up in more and more places? A confused crossword puzzle? A psychedelic postage stamp? A bar code gone wild?

This is how a QR code, or Quick Response code, may appear to some people. You may have noticed these black-and-white squares showing up in restaurants or in pages of magazines. Thanks to our growing addiction to our smart phones, you'll likely be seeing more of them.

How do QR codes work? A person with a cellphone with a QR enabled code-reader application takes a picture of a QR code. The app will recognize the code and automatically open the link, video or image in the phone's browser.

When you take a picture of the QR code you'll be brought to the specific cellphone-optimized web page that the company's web marketer wants you to see — usually where you'll find special promotional content. 

In retail, Ralph Lauren is using QR codes to direct their buyers to a website for taking clothing orders directly from their phones. A recent issue of Wired magazine included an ad by watchmaker Tag Heuer that contained a QR code that led users to images of its latest collection. Magazine ads are using QR codes to promote everything from hair-care products to sheepskin boots to diamonds.

Another retail example is the use of QR codes on billboards. Since Calvin Klein's controversial billboards are often met with requests for censorship, the company decided to censor itself for the Calvin Klein Jeans Fall 2010 campaign. 

Calvin Klein Jeans replaced three of its billboards — two in downtown New York and one on Sunset Boulevard in LA — not with another racy montage of scantily clad models, but with a bright red QR code under the words “Get It Uncensored.”

Passersby used their smart phones to snap a picture, pulled up an exclusive, racy and uncensored 40-second commercial featuring (relatively) busty model Lara Stone and a quartet of male models. After the spot plays, viewers can then share the code with their Facebook and Twitter networks. (see the commercial below)  



QR codes are increasingly appearing in advertisements as a way to increase engagement with consumers. Although already common in Japan (where they were originally invented), they do not appear in many advertisements in that country — much less take up an entire billboard.


A few fun facts from the invasion:

• 52% of mobile users have seen or heard of QR codes; of those, 28% have scanned one.
• iPhone users scan by far the most, at 68% (versus 26% of Android users and 4% of Blackberry users).
• QR code scanning rose a whopping 1,200% from July to December 2010.
• Starbucks started a scavenger hunt in partnership with Lady Gaga this week —"SRCH by Starbucks featuring Lady Gaga," as the initiative is called. When customers scan QR codes on in-store banners, magnetic chalkboards and posters, they'll see the first of many clues in the coffee retailer's seven-round scavenger hunt. Both Gaga and Starbucks will benefit — Gaga in album sales and exposure, and Starbucks in netting the allegiance of Gaga's almighty Little Monsters.

Sources:

1. Umike Pidaparthy, "Marketers Embracing QR Codes, For Better Or Worse," CNN, March 28, 2011

2. Katie Hintz-Zambrano, "Calvin Klein QR Code Billboards Mask Racy Ads - But You Can 'Get It Uncensored'," Stylelist, July 13, 2010.

3. Jolie O'Dell, "Who's Really Scanning All Those QR Codes?" Mashable, March 4, 2011
4. Jennifer Van Grove, "Starbucks & Lady Gaga Team Up On Scavenger Hunt," Mashable, May 19, 2011

Email Is Dead! Long Live Email!

How Email Marketing Helps Build Relationships and Increase Sales

Many social media gurus claim that email has had its day and it is now time to move over and let social media have the spotlight.

Let’s get right to it: Email is far from dead. If anything, it has proven more relevant and valuable to those in marketing and sales trying to establish and nurture a customer relationship. If you are in sales, you may have noticed nine out of ten calls go straight to voicemail.

MarketingSherpa -- possibly the best known brand for marketing research and email  -- has just released their 2011 Email Benchmark Report that disputes email marketing is dead. The executive summary alone is worth the visit.

Among the key findings from MarketingSherpa: The most significant challenge marketers face with email is not spam, or subject line length, or time of day to email, but creating highly relevant content in both the B2C (business to consumer) and B2B (business to business) channels. The most effective content strategy is segmenting email campaigns based on behavior. Over 65% stated that highly relevant content is the key to success and it is the greatest challenge to find and create that content.





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According to the report, “Today, 78% rate the use of email to “increase sales revenue” very important.” However, it is important to note that revenue isn’t the only goal: 90% stated that email is effective or somewhat effective for increasing website traffic and building brand awareness.

The report also states, “Email isn’t limited to top line objectives. The objective rated as very important second most often is improving customer relations/retention. Email is the communications channel of choice for customers and prospects who wish to be kept informed.” Despite the growth in social media, marketers are still spending on email marketing. The two marketing approaches work well together and will become further integrated over time.

 
 Mailchimp publishes great comparison and benchmark reports right on its blog and site. You can learn about rank by industry, by business size, how to segment your list, and comparing subject lines. The subject line research shows “best open rates” and “worst open rates.” Resources include:

● Email Marketing Benchmarks by Industry

● Email Marketing Benchmarks by Business Size

● Effects of List Segmentation on Email Marketing Stats

● Email Marketing Subject Line Comparison

Mailchimp gives you good home grown advice and candor in their research section. “So what's our advice for email subject lines? This is going to sound "stupid simple" to a lot of people, but here goes: Your subject line should (drum roll please): Describe the subject of your email. Yep, that's it.”

Social media is changing the landscape, that is certain. However, building a relationship, and a potential for a sale, is still the same. You have to nurture and grow a relationship. Email is still alive and kicking. It is the gardener you bring in to keep the yard landscape looking beautiful.

Sources:

1. TJ McCue (American Express Open | Forum), "How Email Marketing Helps Build Relationships and Increase Sales," March 31, 2011
2. MarketingSherpa, http://www.marketingsherpa.com/
3. MailChimps, http://www.mailchimp.com/resources/, http://www.mailchimp.com/resources/research/

Fonts as Fashion

More Than A Pretty Face

If fonts had feelings, this is how Carousel Medium would look. In its new poster series, Fontface, the Gijón, Spain, design firm Atipo created an interesting series of posters dedicated to four type designers.

For this great work they combined facial expressions and black-and-white make-up interpreting Caslon Italic, Clarendon Bold, Helvetica Bold and Carousel Medium.

Click image to enlarge

It was set up by Raúl García del Pomar and Ismael González in the beginning of 2010. After working in other graphic design, web design, and branding studios, the two partners wanted to start a more personal venture.

This new studio allows them to approach projects from different perspectives, freely combine all the disciplines they love, such as typography and type design, photography, illustration, video, and so on. Their project is a series of posters merging the expressiveness of manual gesture and type design in honor of the four outstanding typefaces.

Click image to enlarge

According to an interview with The FontFeed, “The series of posters features four typefaces designed by four outstanding designers. Through the combination of the expressiveness of manual gesture and type design, we made a brief journey through the history of typography.

"We started with an old style roman – the transitional face Caslon (William Caslon, 1725); passing via a slab serif – Clarendon (William Thorrowgood, 1845); a grotesque sans – Helvetica (Max Miedinger & Eduard Hoffmann, 1957); to a fat face didone – Carousel (Gary Gillot, 1966).

"We selected characters that show the main features of each typeface; and, most importantly, functioned well as a mask on the model’s face.”

“We believe that to create without limitations is only truly possible with a self-initiated project, and Fontface is one of them.

"This series of posters allowed us to bring together different disciplines we feel passionate about: typography, painting, photography, and video. Furthermore, we wanted to create a series of posters to decorate our studio.

"This turned out to be more successful than we expected, because we’ve had many reactions from people asking us where to get the posters. Now we are planning to sell them in a limited edition.”

Sources:
1. Atipo (http://www.atipo.es/)
2. Yves Peters, “Atipo Paints Characters on Face For Fontface,” The FontFeed, March 15, 2011
3. Design, "More than a Pretty Face, Time Magazine, April 11, 2011

AP Stylebook Finally Changes "e-mail" to "email"

Antiquated tech terms modified

The AP Stylebook, the de facto style and usage guide for much of the news media, announced today that the abbreviated term for “electronic mail” is losing a hyphen, and with it, a relic of a simpler time when Internet technology needed to be explained very carefully.

The move follows the unveiling of 42 new style guidelines for social media in the 2010 edition of its Stylebook, most notably re-classifying “website” as one word (it had previously suggested “Web site”).

The 2010 entries refer mostly to networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter, standardizing terms such as app, blogs, click-throughs, friend and unfriend, metadata, RSS, search engine optimization, trending, widget and wiki.

Other notable changes included separating out “smart phone” as two words, hyphenating “e-reader,” and allowing fan, friend and follow to be used both as nouns and verbs.

Additionally, the AP defined some acronyms that are commonly used in texting and instant messaging, including ROFL (rolling on floor laughing), BRB (be right back), G2G (good to go), and POS (parents over shoulder).

Today’s news, fittingly enough, was first announced on the AP Stylebook’s Twitter page, where they tweeted: “Language evolves. Today we change AP style from e-mail to email, no hyphen. Our editors will announce it at #ACES2011 today.”

Look for the change to be in effect immediately in the online version of the stylebook and in the 2011 print version.

Source:

AP Stylebook on Twitter, "Stylebook Online reflects the change to "email" today," March 18, 2011