In case you haven’t seen the new Virginia Zoo ads, you may want to pay a little more attention the next time one jumps in front of you. Meridian Group just launched the Zoo’s new campaign for Asia – Trail of the Tiger which opened the second of April.

The creative effort put forth by Dave Watson and the creative team at Meridian literally covered the world. “Meridian Group approached Artists for Conservation with the idea of putting a “Call to Artist” out to their members. We received feedback from more than 60 artists from which we chose five based on their experience with the particular species of wildlife,” said Watson. “The response from the wildlife art community was amazing from the sheer numbers of those who wanted to help.”

The results can be seen in six individual pieces of art created to showcase the newest residents of Norfolk in the Asia – Trail of the Tiger exhibit. They include Malayan tigers, orangutans, gibbons, tapirs, rhino hornbills, and small-clawed otters. The campaign will be seen on billboards, Zoo marketing materials and newspaper advertisements. Also, prints of the six specially designed artwork will also be available within the Zoo gift shop as postcards and prints. Proceeds will go to non-profit organizations dedicated to wildlife conservation within Southeast Asia.

Meridian Group commissioned puppeteer Stephen Mushin of Melbourne, Australia to create a story utilizing tigers and orangutans. The agency’s creative team used the traditional form of shadow puppetry from Southeast Asia, “Wayang Kulit” as inspiration. Meridian also produced traditional gamelan music to accompany the spot. Elements for the TV and cinema ads were produced and shot in Melbourne. You can check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIrP3xxiJ28.

Make sure you visit the Virginia Zoo to see the new animals in action in one of the area’s greatest attractions. All the work is a salute to the workmanship of many companies in Hampton Roads.

As we enter a new year, here are a few tips you might want to consider to improve your marketing effectiveness in 2011.

1) Stay true to your brand. Don’t allow short-lived trends or a dip in the economy to distract you from staying true to your brand and everything it stands for. If you are unsure of your brand’s core value or have others in your company taking it in another direction then gather the troops and get 100% buy-in before you invest the first dollar in marketing.

2) Focus on a single message. You cannot be all things to all people all the time. We are seeing marketers throwing everything including the proverbial kitchen sink at consumers to see what penetrates only to daze and confuse them into submission.

3) Get mobile. Smart phones are not a fad and if you are not accessible from a mobile device then your customers will find your competition – very quickly.

4) Listen. Listen. Listen. Your current and prospective customers are out there talking about you. Listen to what they are saying and create a dialogue with them. Social networks can be your friend. They can also be your enemy if you are not listening and responding appropriately.

5) PR baby! An investment in a strategically sound public relations plan will provide you more exposure than paid advertising program. But make sure they work in tandem by integrating all your messaging to sing the same tune. And it’s not just media relations, it’s community, industry and social relations as well.

6) Be bold. Don’t be afraid of doing something bold and different while staying true to your brand. “Purple Cows” get a lot more attention than the black and brown cows…so do pink llamas.

7) Shake it up. Shake up your media plan. If you have been using the same outlets with the same message for the past few years, mix it to reach new audiences who may have not even heard of you.

8) Go viral. Not every viral strategy takes off like a rocket but when they do they take on a life of their own. Don’t give up after one try. Keep at it but be willing to take some risk and look at all the possible scenarios before you blast into cyberspace.

9) Not dead yet. People are still consuming traditional media. Some old folks like me (52) still read traditional newspapers and magazines and we actually watch “live” television. It all depends on who your audience is.

10) Don’t quit. Fight through “the dip” as Seth Godin calls it. If you have a solid business plan and you’re willing to invest time, energy and dollars, you will see that on the other side of the mountain there is a sunny day.

11) Have fun! This is not brain surgery, it’s marketing. Happy New Year!

Joseph Takach, CEO

Check out some of this year’s most bizarre ads here. Many of them European. My faves are Hasselhoff’s and  Utah State Fair. What’s yours?

http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/30-freakiest-ads-of-2010.html

Ok, most of us first looked a Fb as a way to stay connected to our friends and the world and as a business opportunity as well. We also know that traditional media is losing share on a daily basis but half-heartily attempting to adjust to the digital age.

Here’s my real life experience with the two:

While visiting Eastern Pennsylvania for the holidays we knew it was critical for my wife to get back to Virginia Beach on Sunday evening, December 26, for a walk-through on Monday morning for a real estate closing scheduled for Tuesday. We also knew that a blizzard was headed to the Hampton Roads area on Sunday. We were constantly monitoring both Pilotonline.com and the local television station known for their accurate weather forecasting – WVEC13. Christmas night we were both checking these sites on our mobile devices, as well as others to determine our travel plans. We decided we would depart Pennsylvania no later than 6am on Sunday. I woke up at 4am to go to visit my Father in the hospital before we left. I checked both Virginian Pilot’s and WVEC’s mobile  sites around midnight; Pilotonline had a headline that there was no white Christmas for SE Virginia. Minutes before I went to bed I checked Fb and there was a picture of a snowman that was built in Virginia Beach at 12:07am. When I woke up at 4am, Pilotonline still had the same headline and WVEC’s last update was at midnight. Lucky for us, our friends were posting away about the weather conditions and snow. If traditional media is not going to wake up to the fact that 24/7 is 24/7, they are going to go the way of the dinosaurs sooner rather than later and Fb just might find themselves the leader in the news category as well. JT

Looking back just a decade ago, it may be hard to imagine what it was like taking a trip without having several social media outlets handy, making sure your vacation goes off without a hitch. However, it isn’t too hard to explain why the multibillion-dollar travel industry seems to be ahead of the curve when it comes to implementing social media into their current business models. It all boils down to communication with the customer, and once a dialogue is created, customer loyalty increases. A good way to initially get customers involved in your social media presence is to offer discounts and freebies only available through social media channels. The USA Today article Travel industry uses Facebook and Twitter to Reach Customers points out, “A key goal of staking a claim in the social media space is to build a base of devoted followers who will keep coming back.”

Carl Howe, director of a telecommunication market research firm is also quoted in the article saying, “Most travel organizations are actually looking for more than a transaction. They’re looking for loyalty, and that means a long-term engagement.”

So what exactly do I mean by a dialogue between the business and the traveler? What does Howe mean by a long-term engagement rather than a simple transaction? Think of it this way, every time you interact with a part of the travel industry through a social medium or vice versa, a conversation is taking place to better help you and other travelers with similar interests. Being a part of the conversation by giving feedback or participating in an exclusive deal through social media can lead to very loyal consumer followings. It all may seem a little abstract as of now, so let’s look at a few real world examples that demonstrate how social media can function and foster relationships in the travel industry between big companies and individuals.

• Facebook- Southwest Airlines keeps a regularly updated Facebook page to keep travelers updated on flight delays, cancellations etc. Staffers monitor the page full-time to answer all queries from customers about everything from baggage to weather conditions. Delta’s Facebook page actually allows clientele to purchase plane tickets directly at the “virtual ticket window”. Finally, Air Tran engages the 18-24 demographic through their “Air Tran U Creeper” contest. Air Tran U allows students to fly standby on Air Tran at discounted prices. The contest flashes photos submitted by student flyers users at midnight. If a student spots their picture and is the first to call the airline, they get a prize.
• Twitter- Hyatt Hotels & Resorts uses Twitter as a “virtual concierge” for their guests. If guests tweet them with questions or concerns, Hyatt guarantees a response within one hour. Interactions between the Hyatt Twitter feed and guests range from patrons alerting the hotel they will be late to check-in, driving directions to the location and inquiries about good restaurants in the area. Hyatt’s Twitter has grown to 12,000 followers in under 2 years.
• YouTube- Hilton uses their YouTube channel to emphasize their different Caribbean locations. Each Hilton hotel in the Caribbean region is very unique, and virtual tours and video advertisements are available on the channel for customers to watch while booking their vacation.
• Loopt/Poynt- Loopt and Poynt are both new social mapping mediums that are most commonly used on mobile phones. GPS allows them to direct users to hotels, dining and the best gas price wherever they are. Simply type in the zip code of where you are and you have instant access and directions to all attractions and amenities. Virgin America uses Loopt to step-up their dialogue with customers through promotions such as “Loopt Star”, which randomly gives Loopt users a location where they can get a deal. For example, patrons were eligible for two free tickets to cancun if they “checked in” at a Los Angeles taco truck stand. Only users of the application knew about the deal, and were, therefore, rewarded for being loyal followers of Virgin America’s social media portals. The “taco truck” promotion proved an advertising success with Virgin America reporting their 5th highest-grossing sales day of the year.
• Blogging- the travel industry also finds great advertising potential in influential bloggers. Many travel sights seek bloggers to “sing their praises” to the vacation community. Country Inn & Suites offered a unique deal for the opening of their 500th hotel in College Station, Texas. Families were offered seven free nights in Country Inn & Suites hotels if they agreed to put a Country Inn bumper sticker on their car, drive to College Station and blog about it. Bloggers had to stay in a different state each night of their journey and write about their stay in each location.
• Open Table/4 Square/Facebook Places- these social mediums, mainly used by restaurants, help to increase customer loyalty by offering deals to those who “check in” to a certain venue. Once checked in, a coupon for “free drinks” or “1/2 off an app” may be offered. This helps to promote business during off hours and spread the word about local restaurant specials. Open Table also allows those looking to make reservations a simple way to book their table online.

Photo Credit: “Wild Junket”

Us Meridian Groupies are still reeling from Sunday’s season 4 Mad Men finale. Without giving away any spoilers we can say that we’ve noticed every season, dark though certain episodes may be, ends on a hopeful note.

The last few seasons, we’ve seen Don Draper grow in the finale, from his baptismal moment in California to the exciting start of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce in a crowded hotel suite. This season, Don prepares for another fresh start – one with exciting possibilities.

Which reminds us – even when the economy is tough, even when clients come and go, there is always something to look forward to on the horizon. This year, Meridian Group is excited about some of the work we’ve produced for clients like Independent We Stand, Wounded Warrior Project, The Roosevelt NY and CI Travel and getting poised to make a few more big announcements. We’re ready for our next season!

KFC wants to penetrate college campuses with its “Double Down” campaign but they are getting down and dirty by paying young coeds to wear it across the back of their sweatpants. It’s bad enough we are subjected to rear ends emblazoned with terms like juicy and sexy, now we have to deal with this. I sure hope they are very selective with the “talent” that wears the sweats because most of the women I have seen wearing sweats with catch phrases on the back of their pants really shouldn’t be trying to attract ANY attention to that portion of their body.

What’s next — T-shirts emblazoned with “tender” or “crispy”? At the end of the day, KFC will end up being on the butt end of the joke. Would Colonel Sanders approve?

JT

The Meridian Groupies have been longtime supporters of Norfolk Admirals Hockey and this year is no exception. So get your butt to a game, grab a beer and enjoy the action. While you’re there look for the Meridian Group dasher boards on the ice, in the blog posts below you’ll find the answers to the questions we ask on those boards.

And if you’re out driving around Hampton Roads keep your eyes peeled for the billboards we produced for them, here are a few, Left Winger Mitch Fritz and Goalie Dustin Tokarski.

Meridian Group’s travel and leisure team seeks a motivated team player for an account coordinator internship. Responsibilities may include: assisting the client team with day-to-day account projects, monitoring trends, editing, writing/content development, presentation building, quantitative and qualitative client research, conducting and contributing to brainstorming sessions, in-depth ROI analysis and reporting, along with day-to-day administrative duties. Opportunity to learn about marketing, advertising and interactive disciplines and attend professional development seminars. Internship is unpaid but can be used for school credit.

Applicant qualifications should include:

• Excellent communications skills, writing ability and computer skills a MUST.
• Knowledge of social media preferred, but not required.
• Prior internship experience preferred, but not required.
• Must be available 15-20 hours per week during the semester.

Please contact us for more information on internships.
No phone calls please.

Check out this ad we just produced for The Roosevelt in NYC and let us know what you think.

The Roosevelt Hotel NYC shares brand equity with the famed city it resides in – authentic roots, rich history and strong name recognition. When The Roosevelt Hotel needed a fresh, modern and stylish ad for their newest placement in Gotham Magazine, we designed one (the first of a series) that lived-up to and reflected the brand’s adventurous yet classic style. For people who are wanting the very best NYC experience should look no further than 45th and Madison Avenue. We kept the brand accessible to everyone by creating a fill-in-the-blank feature that says: whatever it is you’re looking for in a New York experience, you should start or end with the classic original: The Roosevelt Hotel NY.