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

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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

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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

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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”

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I was disappointed to read this morning that Havana Restaurant at Red Mill closed two weeks ago. This casual yet fine dining eatery was one of the best we had in Southern Virginia Beach. Obviously people just don’t think when they are making their purchasing decisions. Thousands drove past Havana every day on their way to Outback, Olive Garden and other national chains.

Please read the owners closing comments www.havanavb.com  then go to www.independentwestand.org  and think the next time you go to spend your hard earned money.

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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

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A hat trick in ice hockey has nothing to do with the headgear players wear during the game. When a player scores three goals in a single game, the accomplishment is referred to as a hat trick. It culminates with fans throwing hats onto the ice from the stands.

According to the Hockey Hall of Fame, the term hat trick gets its origin from an encounter between Chicago Black Hawks forward Alex Kaleta and Toronto businessman, Sammy Taft. As the legend goes, Kaleta visited Taft’s store to purchase a new hat but didn’t have enough money. Kaleta struck a deal instead… he got Taft to agree to give him the hat for free if he could score three goals that evening against the Toronto Maple Leafs. That night, on January 26, 1946, Kaleta scored three goals to get the free hat and scored an additional goal for good measure! Taft made good on the deal… and that’s why they call it a hat trick.

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For the past eight years I have hosted a barbecue cooking competition at my home for all of our employees. There are a lot of components of the competition including the development of a logo and T-Shirt design each year, how the teams are structured and even the categories which are unique each year. All in all the annual investment is approximately $3,000 including category and grand prize awards, production of T-shirts, food, a keg of beer and everyone’s favorite; the margarita machine.

So, why do we host this annual event and what is the true value to the agency and our employees? We are in a creative business that is very competitive and requires a great deal of teamwork. Everything about this event supports our core values as a company while allowing everyone to let their hair down a little.

CREATIVITY: This is not your run of the mill BBQ competition that you might see on Food Network. People use every creative cell in their body to win, place or show. Not everyone is a culinary genius so they use online resources to come up with something unique. Others really do have the talent and expertise to create unique and crowd pleasing dishes that people would pay good money to experience. At yesterday’s event the judges commented that if local restaurants served this level of cuisine they would never have to write a negative review. Who would think that these amateur chefs would create items like baby back ribs that were dry rubbed then finished off by tossing them in a buffalo sauce or scallop and bacon lollipops, tofu sliders and brussel sprouts with bacon and  cranberries. And how many people do you know that would stay up half the night infusing vodka with fresh bacon. These are all perfect examples of creativity and passion, the same talents we need to succeed in the marketing world.

COMPETITION: I often get negative feedback from some members of the agency that nine out of ten of our recreational events involve some sort of competition. Guess what? This is our life. If we want to succeed and keep moving the needle we must be prepared to compete at the highest level. That doesn’t mean we can’t have fun. Competition is fun if you put your heart and soul into it. For this year’s Q, I was told that some people didn’t like to present their dishes to the judges so we had the judges visit each station, which was fine but I feel like we compromised to a certain degree. It was kind of like doing a new business presentation and asking the prospect to come to us or e-mailing concepts instead of presenting them in person. We also take the competition to a new level by inviting some of the most respected food industry professionals in the area to judge. Lorraine Eaton and Judy Crowling from Virginian Pilot, Patrick Evans-Hylton from HR Monthly, Debi Gray from Johnson & Wales, Sam and Cindy McGann, Jennie Capps from CBWC, Yiannis and John Milleson. Every year the judges are blown away by the quality of the event and promise to steal or “borrow” a few nuggets to share with the world.

TEAMWORK: If you are going to take home any money from the Q, you better work as a team. We do not reveal the teams or the categories until late afternoon the day before the event. Each team is comprised of people from teams that they don’t necessarily work with every day. They have less than 24 hours to develop a menu, determine responsibilities and action plans and to execute the dishes in a four hour period the day of the event. Some people prefer to work in a vacuum but over my 30 years in this business they never reach the top unless they know how to play in the sandbox. This is typically the result at the Q as well.

So, call it what you will – an excuse not to work, a blatant waste of company money, a good excuse to imbibe in the middle of the afternoon. I call it an exercise in life that will help us be a better agency.

We will post many of the recipes and photos from this year’s event on Monday.

JT

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Somehow Crispin & Porter is able to convince conservative brands to take a leap of faith and break the mold in the category. This time with a brilliant campaign for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. Not only is it a great multi-media campaign but they have integrated the website with the new approach – as they should but often ignored by traditional brands. Maybe, just maybe, the success they are having with most of their clients will help open the eyes and minds of other marketing directors to kill the milk toast and get real. JT

By STUART ELLIOTT
Published: May 26, 2010

KRAFT FOODS wants grown-ups to get the blues in the night, and in the afternoon and at snack time, too.

The “blues” in this instance are the familiar blue boxes of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Dinner, a product that Kraft has long sold to adults as a meal to make for children. In a new campaign — the first work on the brand from a new creative agency — Kraft tells adults that its macaroni and cheese has, to quote ads for Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes, the taste adults have grown to love.

To underline that message, the macaroni campaign carries the playful theme, “You know you love it,” and continues in that vein with lines like “The most fun you can have with your stove on,” “Outgrow outgrowing it,” “Imported from your childhood” and “Parents need warm cheesy hugs.”

The campaign will sell the entire Kraft Macaroni and Cheese line, which in addition to the classic blue boxes includes varieties like Deluxe, Easy Mac and Homestyle. The campaign began on Wednesday with a commercial during the ninth-season finale of “American Idol.”

There will also be other television commercials; print ads; billboards; ads online; a Web site, youknowyouloveit.com; a presence in social media like Facebook and Twitter; and even “noodle art” — replicas of macaroni noodles, 20 feet long and 9 feet high — placed in and around landmarks like Fisherman’s Wharf and Wrigley Field.

Kraft executives say they intend to spend more than $50 million this year to promote the macaroni products, an increase of more than 30 percent from last year.

Most of the spending last year was devoted to ads that peddled the product to recession-weary consumers as a good value. For example, the headline of a magazine ad declared: “Small price. Big cheese-eating grin.”

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Kraft is changing pitches as the economy seems to be improving. But consumers are still dining more at home than they did two or three years ago, offering an opportunity for giant purveyors of consumer packaged goods to reintroduce shoppers to pantry staples.

Kraft joins mainstay marketers like Campbell, ConAgra, General Mills, Heinz, Hershey, Hormel, Kellogg and Smucker in increasing ad spending, bringing out new products and restaging old favorites.

Macaroni and cheese joins a lengthening list of Kraft products to benefit from new campaigns, among them Bull’s-Eye barbecue sauce, Chips Ahoy, Oscar Mayer, Miracle Whip and Philadelphia cream cheese.

“There’s no big project corporate-wide that says we must reinvent all these businesses,” said Chris Miles, director of advertising for the grocery business at Kraft in Northfield, Ill., but he says there is a goal of “raising the bar on creativity, taking more risks, be more arresting and engaging, maybe test a little bit less.”

“We’re realizing a lot of our brands have the right to play in a more emotional space than the rational territory we’ve mined in the past,” Mr. Miles said. In other words, fewer descriptions of how macaroni and cheese costs “about a dollar a box,” as one recent ad says, and more efforts to sell it as a fun food for adults who could use some fun in their lives.

“We’re excited about finding avenues of growth to tap into the full potential of the brand,” said Alberto Huerta, senior marketing director for the meals business at Kraft.

“Kids love us, but adults love us, too,” he added, “and there’s a lot of business to be had there.”

In the first commercial, a son suggests that his father had “put me in time out” during dinner so the father could “scarf down” macaroni from the child’s plate.

“Have you had enough?” the son, speaking like a grown-up, asks his father accusingly.

In another spot, a daughter gripes as her mother eats off her plate as if the child were not noticing the theft. “The crime wave continues,” the daughter says in an adult voice.

The creative agency for the campaign is the Boulder, Colo., office of Crispin Porter & Bogusky, the MDC Partners agency known for rule-breaking work for marketers like Burger King and Microsoft. Crispin Porter won the macaroni assignment in March from the longtime creative incumbent, DraftFCB in Chicago, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies.

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The assignment from Kraft was “to make the brand more of a family food,” said Rob Reilly, partner and chief creative officer at Crispin Porter, reflecting that although “it’s a favorite of kids, it’s not kid food.”

But “the amazing job Kraft did marketing it to kids” meant that “adults felt they couldn’t eat it without feeling they were eating kid food,” Mr. Reilly said. So the campaign will borrow a page from the Frosted Flakes playbook and use humor to “unleash a little bit of permission,” he added, and let adults “say they love it.”

“Sometimes, you’ve just got to enable it,” Mr. Reilly said, “and advertising is a great enabler.”

The other agencies on the campaign are the Chicago office of Landor Associates, part of the Young & Rubicam Brands division of WPP, for new packaging; the Chicago offices of two Publicis Groupe agencies, Digitas and Mediavest, for digital and media planning and buying; and Hunter Public Relations in New York.

A version of this article appeared in print on May 27, 2010, on page B3 of the New York edition.
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There’s nothing worse than a RSS feed that for one reason or the other never gets updated. Sometimes for weeks on end, the same topic appears. This has happened to me with a local television station, a luxury resort and now with Food Network who has featured Tilapia with Green Beans as the recipe of the day now for over a month. Get recent or get lost.

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