Tag Archives: Thought

One Year Ago…

Posted: by Filed under: Marketing

It’s been almost a year since I worked on the PR team for the Harley-Davidson Museum launch.  As I enjoy the start of summer, I can’t help but think back to the interaction I had with my team, the client and the client’s customers around the world.

Having the opportunity to get face-to-face with Harley-Davidson enthusiasts was a memorable experience I’m not likely to forget anytime soon. Everyone always had a story to share and an affinity for the brand that is unlike anything else I’ve seen.  I’m a pretty passionate person and have my specific likes, but I can’t say I’ve gone so far as to tattoo a brand name or image to my body.  These people are hardcore!

Passion can go a long way in marketing.  I love that here at L/C, I’m surrounded by people who bring that passion to work, helping to make our clients stand out amongst the media clutter out there and really make an impact on consumers.

This week, we launched an ad campaign that highlights our accomplishment in garnering more than 279 million impressions for the Museum’s opening.  This is definitely something I’m proud of; but to me, working with the Harley-Davidson Museum was more than a number, it was an adventure.  From working on a satellite media tour at 3 a.m. to months of building relationships with travel writers across the country to late night team meetings, it may have been a long journey, but it was quite the ride.

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Casey Flanagan

Lies, Damn Lies and Click-Through Rates

Posted: by Filed under: Digital / Interactive, Planning / Research

Lies_damn_liesStatistics are good. No, statistics are great. The ability to quantify actions and reactions? Powerful stuff. Especially in the world of marketing. But as the amount of data at our disposal grows daily, understanding its context is becoming even more essential.

Our latest reminder comes from iProspect. Theyʼve been studying the relationship between display advertising and search engine marketing. Spoiler alert: When done well, they both work. But the statistic that caught my eye
was:

While 52% of consumers report actively responding to display advertising, only
31% do so by clicking on the ad itself.

Thatʼs 31%. Thirty. One. Percent.

What are the “other” actions taken? 27% reported searching for the product, brand or company using a search engine. Another 21% reported typing the web address into their browser and navigating to the site. There are many implications from this single graph. But letʼs start here.

We have often said that display advertising gets you more than click-through rates. Brand awareness, for starters. But, if these numbers are to be believed, click-through rates only tell about half the story. Or, more accurately, about a third.

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Steve Laughlin

All The News That’s Fit To Digitize

Posted: by Filed under: Branding, Media

I work back and forth between our Chicago and Milwaukee offices, so I pay close attention to three local major daily newspapers. One’s in bankruptcy, another’s stock is trading for $.59 and the third’s stock is trading for $.03. The daily paper’s themselves cost more than a share of their stock. Last time I checked a package of Cottonelle toilet tissue was selling for $3.59, just to put additional perspective on the value of newsprint.

There’s no mystery to what the problem is.  I can go online and get the same or more up to the minute content for free, so why pay?  But, this doesn’t seem like a sustainable business model either.

It’s pretty clear that people are as hungry for news as they ever were. Yet most of the online links still serve content that is funded by an old school print or broadcast brand. If they go away who exactly will pay the people who write the news? This is where advertising always comes in. If the newspapers are lucky, they’ll monetize their websites before all their reporters and columnists drift off into the blogosphere. The survivors will make money. They always do.

After all, brands are a short cut to understanding. So the online brands that gain awareness will grow and prosper. It’s interesting that bloggers are now migrating into branded websites so they can become sponsored content. Maybe the future won’t be neatly divided into main news, local news, sports, lifestyle and business. But don’t bet against it. How many different websites do we want to bookmark after all?  One thing’s for sure, the need to know what’s going on won’t go away.

Maybe the new normal will begin to look like the old normal. Only with fewer trees and dirty fingers involved.

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Joyce O'Brien

Performance Evaluations – employees don’t hate them this year!

Posted: by Filed under: HR, News

This year, more than ever, employees are asking their HR teams, “What can I do to improve my work performance?” I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re hearing this question around your office too. It appears to have replaced the “I hate performance evaluations” comments from years gone by. And it remains an important question, especially during these changing times.

Inside many companies, more and more employees are pro-actively seeking timely and meaningful feedback. They are looking for ways to improve their skill sets and level of knowledge. They are discussing their jobs, their careers and their futures with their co-workers, supervisors and HR teams.

Performance management is a topic that’s important to most of us. Kudos to all employees that come forth on their own and open the discussion! Now, more than ever, the quality of our people may determine our future. And we’re thankful the question is on the table.

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Steve Laughlin

Chicken or Eggonomics

Posted: by Filed under: Advertising, Trends

The most predictable thing about the economy right now is its unpredictability. The only growth area is the noise level of speculation about when it will start growing again.

The majority of my friends who make a living predicting these sorts of things feel things will get worse before they get better. Most believe 2009 will be worse than 2008. From what I can tell, the people who use numbers to divine the future see darkness.

My world is less well defined by statistics. Brands are about how people feel. Perception is reality here. Our chicken or egg economic questions are: Do economic conditions drive human behavior? Or, does human behavior drive economics?

The answer to both questions has to be yes, but if consumer spending is the sign of a healthy economy, perceptions will lead reality. In that regard, I believe the economy will get better before the numbers say it will. In all likelihood, things might be better already.

How can I say that? Well, we have a new president. That fact in and of itself produces optimism. On top of that, we’re just weeks removed from a process that saw our candidates for president spend $300,000,000 in advertising that reminded every voter how bad things are and how important it is to elect the only person who could possibly make things better. The election itself took a lot of air out of the bad news balloon. As far as new bad news, we’re becoming inured to it. So we’re now at a point where good news has more potential to create more good news than bad news can generate bad.

We can also look at human nature. We’re essentially optimistic by nature. We have a constitutional right to “pursue happiness.” We play slots and buy lottery tickets in the belief that we’ll win in spite of the odds.

Maybe that’s why busts don’t last as long as booms. This once-in-a-lifetime bust may have some life left in it, but there’s no doubt in this professional optimist’s mind that 2009 will end much more optimistically than 2008 did.

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Steve Laughlin

The Idea Killing Department

Posted: by Filed under: Advertising, Branding, Marketing, News

Famous creative people have fewer ideas than the generic creative people. The Coen brothers walk in with a story idea and the first words out of your mouth aren’t, “what else have you got?”  So you ask yourself, what would their track record be like if they had to pitch concepts by the dozens and then go through a vetting process with focus groups?  Fargo becomes Mayberry.

You can’t run an organization without process.  But, procedure is the enemy of originality.

Most companies have a department dedicated to idea killing. Ironically, it’s called marketing. Now these bright, enthusiastic people don’t want to kill ideas, because they were put on this earth to bring ideas to life that will engage consumers and increase profits. Yet they are miscast in the role of professional filters eliminating anything that might embarrass the CEO or activate the legal department and public affairs. No wonder CMOs have such a short tenure. Their marching orders are to help win the war, but don’t get anyone shot at.

So if the corporate objective is to avoid risk first and get attention second, ideas get killed.

A healthier mind-set would be to treat every creative person as the next incarnation of Lee Clow, Alex Bogusky, or Jeff Goodby.  Looking for the brilliance in an idea is a much healthier orientation than the mental metal detector scanning for the flaw. There should be a universal no idea left behind rule. After all, a little combustibility might be just what a brand needs most.

So am I actually suggesting companies should lead with their chins and embrace controversy?

No. What is needed, though, is a little more aggression and a little less caution. Self-confident companies take bolder positions and defy conventions.

Years ago when Mastadons walked the earth and young people drank wine coolers, Hal Riney had the audacity to use geezers playing the roles of Bartels and Jaymes to sell cocktails to twenty somethings. These guys were seriously old, wore plaid shirts and suspenders and completely defied conventional wisdom. All they did was sell so much product that no one can remember any other wine cooler brand.

Today in Australia, Kotex brand is running a campaign with a beaver. Yeah, you read it right, a beaver.  It’s controversial to be sure. But no one’s getting hurt and a lot of women are buying Kotex.

I can’t know for sure that this idea didn’t come out of a stack of thirty storyboards. But wherever it started, there’s a famous creative person and famous client attached to it now. Somehow their process didn’t kill their profits.

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Casey Flanagan

In praise of execution. Or, what to focus on when you can’t use your marketing plan as the ad.

Posted: by Filed under: Advertising, Branding, Marketing

This just in. No matter how pithy your PowerPoint, no matter how diversified your media matrix, consumers don’t see marketing plans.

The 18-34 male with a household income of $40,000 per year can’t see how you’ve broadened your reach or your frequency. He doesn’t know that the reason his direct mail piece is printed on really thin paper is because you are also supporting a spot cable buy and a new, viral online initiative.

That’s the thing. In an effort to impress your bosses, your stockholders and your coworkers, it’s easy to forget the person you need to impress most: the consumer.

Every brand touchpoint matters. Because it’s likely that of the finite contacts you’re able to make with your prospect, they’ll remember only very good and very bad. So which is it going to be?

By cutting a corner here or a nicety there, you may be able to stretch your dollar. That’s a good thing. But by doing so, the consumer’s experience with the brand is fundamentally changed. And that’s not.

It’s a balancing act, to be sure. But the next time you’re weighing the weight of the paper, the speed of the load time or whether it’s worth it to pay more for a really killer song, remember who you are really trying to impress.

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Steve Laughlin

Old Media’s not a Bad Idea or a Good Idea.
New Media’s Not a New Idea. Ideas are the Idea.

Posted: by Filed under: Branding, How To, Ideas

In the debate between new or old media, viral or traditional advertising, push or pull
marketing, PR or product placement, one question comes out of the clutter, virtual or real. Is
there an idea in there? What are the words in the word-of-mouth campaign going to say?
What grand design will drive the digital?

You have to admire an industry that keeps finding ways to invade people’s privacy with new
technologies. I’m sure you can’t wait for your phone to start offering you Viagra when you
can’t get it up, or Tums when you can’t keep it down.

Maybe that’s why the best marketing was never an interruption. It was always a discovery.
The message never confused itself with the medium.

If you and the brand you’re working for are going to survive the next technology shift, realize
that it’s your ideas that will get you through. Artificial intelligence suggests that ideas can be
programmed. Well, not to worry, so can you. And yours will be better, or we’re all headed for
CareerBuilder.com.

Ideas occur in four steps. (It’s the third and easiest step that’ll get you down.)

Step one. Know what it is you’re trying to have an idea about. Seems obvious, but it isn’t.
Clever headlines, visuals, or publicity stunts aren’t ideas if they’re just there to get noticed.
Mixing plaids will get you noticed, too. If you can state your brand strategy in one simple,
declarative statement, you’re on your way to having an idea.

Step two. Absorb everything there is to know about the brand. It’s competitors. It’s
consumers. It’s selling channel. This is a good time to read that segmentation study.

Step three. Incubate. This is the secret step few know about, appreciate, or have the patience
to wait through. Your brain needs time to sort the data dump from step two and actually work
on the problem. It can’t produce an idea without some time off. This phenomenon is
commonly known as writer’s block. It’s shortened more careers than Donald Trump. The
antidote is relaxing. Thinking about something else doesn’t just help, it’s required.

Step four. Epiphany. The cliché is that the idea hits you in the middle of the night, or in the
shower when you least expect it. It’s true. And it’s a proven neurological fact.

James Webb Young, a copywriter at J. Walter Thompson in the early 20th century, wrote a great
little book called “A Technique For Producing Ideas.” He makes the idea process simple and
understandable.

Creative people take these steps instinctively, but knowing how ideas get made should give
anyone the confidence to work on them. Anyone except the client’s spouse or children that is.
Years of study have shown that’s where ideas go to die.

The sooner the rest of us get engaged in ideas, the sooner consumers will get engaged with
our brands no matter where they encounter them.

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