Print Ads - Released January 2008

Client: Harley Davidson Clothes Collection

Agency: McCann Erickson
Location: Russia

Print Ads - Released January 2008

Client: BMW 5 Series
Agency: .sTaRt GMBH

Location: Munchen`

Print Ads - Jan 2008 Release

Client: DIESEL Fashion

Agency: Marcel

Location: Paris, France

Marketing Inspiration

Jingles 101 with Dinah Shore

If we said, "Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese," you wouldn't miss a beat before replying, "Pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun." Some jingles are that effective.

General Motors had its own catchy tune in the 1950s and 1960s, when crooners Dinah Shore and Pat Boone stroked patriotic pride and invited viewers to "See the U.S.A. in Your Chevrolet."

Here's a typical rendition of the classic song with lyrics that actually addressed a number of customer concerns and desires. Take, for instance, an extensive dealer network:

Traveling east, traveling west

Wherever you go Chevy service is best

Southward or North, near place or far

There's a Chevrolet dealer for your Chevrolet car

But Chevy didn't restrict itself to the signature song. This duet by Shore and Boone playfully teases the soon-to-come 1959 model with faux-subliminal peeks at the car's low, wide lines. And in this bluesy number, Shore touts the Chevrolet booth at the 1961 Detroit auto show.

Your Marketing Inspiration? "...it is nice to look back at messages and techniques that worked in eras gone by," The Dinah Shore Chevrolet jingle was legendary, and stayed in the public's mind for decades. Maybe looking back at this classic will ignite your creative juices."

E-Mail Marketing

Clicks-and-Mortar Mix-and-Match

Email campaigns can be effective tools to encourage multi-channel sales, leading customers to make online and in-store purchases. I've highlighted a number of steps you can take to heighten the all-around effectiveness of your online efforts:

Help subscribers find your stores. The greatest email offer in the world won't generate in-store sales if customers can't find a store locator on your Web site. Put a directory of your various locations where it's hard to miss. "Make sure they know you are there to serve them."

Encourage cross-channel behavior. "Make it easy for customers to engage with you whenever and wherever they are". I suggest sending out coupons that can be used either at the store or for online orders. I also recommend allowing flexible purchasing options—let a customer shop online and take delivery at the store, at home or at the office. In other words, at their convenience.

Don't sell all the time. Think like a newsletter. Offer some content that benefits the customer such as general advice and little-known facts. Or split the difference with testimonials or anecdotes about the interesting ways your product can be used. This strategy helps build a relationship that can yield sales through any channel.

The Po!nt: Online solicitations can encourage a cross-channel buying experience. It doesn't matter if you complete a sale with an online shopping cart, by phone or at the register—a sale is a sale

Get to the Po!nt

Who Are Your Secretaries?

No discussion of product development is complete without 3M's Post-it® Notes. When Dr. Spencer Silver first developed his low-tack, reusable adhesive, he couldn't persuade anyone within the company of its value. That is, until Art Fry devised the Post-it concept several years later. Still, company executives weren't interested.

Then Fry had a brainstorm. After making a batch of pads, he bypassed traditional channels and distributed them directly to secretaries at 3M. He correctly assumed they would use the product, become fans and share them with others. In no time at all, the secretaries—and their bosses—were using the handy notepads and calling for more. The initial product launch built on the same strategy when 3M sent samples to executive secretaries at many Fortune 500 companies.

• Ask your most loyal customers for testimonials and referrals.


• Look for people who call on your customers. If they truly see the benefit of your product or service, they will become evangelists for your brand.

A few caveats, however. Networking is a two-way street; you must be willing to reciprocate. Also, these relationships don't occur overnight—it takes time to turn a customer or strategic partner into a raving fan.

The Po!nt: "Everyone needs a great secretary... "You simply have to find your secretaries, people who understand your product and will share information with others."

Get to the Po!nt

A Challenge to Conventional Wisdom

We spend a lot of time oohing over the newest ideas and technology, but it never hurts to get a contrarian perspective. And, boy, does Gene Marks have one! In a column at BusinessWeek, the cost-conscious author takes aim at everything from RSS feeds to blogs and antivirus software.

Here's a sampling from his top 10 list of items a small business owner might find overrated and underwhelming:
Spam filters. They sound good, says Marks, but they often block the customer messages you actually want. "Or [they] require a sender to complete a Sudoku puzzle before 'allowing' their email to reach your in-box," he claims. "In the end, it's cheaper for your employees to just sort and delete spam as it comes in."

Online video. Why not post videos at YouTube? Because, Marks says, the cost and complexity of using this ostensibly free and easy service might be too high. "Videos require production companies," he writes. "Otherwise you'll have grainy, useless footage."

Web 2.0. Marks saves some if his most damning comments for the online darlings of forward-looking marketers. "I hear all these great predictions of earth-shaking developments to come. I hear words like 'mashup' and 'wiki,' and I'm still trying to figure out how these affect my business," he says.

The Po!nt: "My life as a small business owner has been littered with stuff that doesn't work as billed, particularly technology," writes Marks. "We business owners are subjected to an endless array of tools that never fail to disappoint. We're promised. We pay. And we're let down." It's a pessimistic viewpoint, to be sure, but one to ponder before spending lots of cash for technology that won't necessarily improve your bottom line.

Customer Behaviour

Where's the Best Place for Your Ad?

Before you place your next ad, think carefully about its location. Research at Northwestern University and the University of Iowa discovered that where and when your advertising appears may influence whether consumers react to it positively or negatively.

While some media buyers opt for space in a lower-key environment so that their ads stand out, others believe it's more effective to place their ads in an exciting medium, one in which consumers are engaged with the material. The study revealed that of these two schools of thought, the latter is more likely to be better received.

Consumers who are engrossed in what they are reading, seeing or hearing become irritated by ads that intrude on that immersion. Thus, the audience projects this negative sentiment onto the brand, thinking of it as an uninvited guest. Engaged readers, meanwhile, may be positively inclined toward relevant advertising that comes at the end of a story or program, since the ads enhance rather than disrupt.

The study found these results were particularly true for consumers to whom the brand is relevant.

The Po!nt: Perfect ad placement requires fine balance. Attract your target market by placing your ad in an engaging medium, but make sure that it does not disrupt the main content.

Marketing Inspiration

When Your Video Isn't Viral

Great content doesn't guarantee 100,000 hits at YouTube or the adoration of bloggers around the globe. So how do you promote your video, short of tearfully defending wayward pop stars or grossing people out with the unorthodox use of excrement?

Viral marketer Dan Ackerman Greenberg of The Comotion Group has some suggestions, which he details in a controversial post at TechCrunch. While we don't endorse his less savory methods, Greenberg claims an outstanding success rate for unnamed corporate clients—he says 20 million views—in campaigns for around 90 videos during a three-month period. Maybe it's true, maybe it isn't. Whatever the case, the upshot is that some of his ideas are worth considering. For example:

Keep it short. Greenberg says videos should be no longer than 15 to 30 seconds. "[B]reak down long stories into bite-sized clips," he writes.
Avoid overt advertising. If the video feels like an ad, viewers are less likely to share it with friends.

Post everything at once. "If someone sees our first video and is so intrigued that they want to watch more, why would we make them wait until we post the next one?" he asks. "If a user wants to watch all five of our videos right now, there's a much better chance that we'll be able to persuade them to click through to our Web site."

Optimize your thumbnail. "Two rules of thumb," Greenberg writes. "The thumbnail should be clear (suggesting high video quality) and ideally it should have a face or at least a person in it."

Your Marketing Inspiration: Though great content doesn't guarantee viral success, there are ways to enhance a video's contagious capabilities. (Avoid Greenberg's creepier advice.)

Get to the Po!nt

CUSTOMER SERVICE…The LEXUS way!

In a post at the Mavericks at Work blog, Bill Taylor discusses how Lexus follows through on the lofty ideals spelled out in its covenant, which asserts (1) Lexus will win the race because Lexus will do it right from the start; (2) Lexus will have the finest dealer network in the industry; and (3) Lexus will treat each customer as we would a guest in our home.

It's all well and good to have high-minded goals in a mission statement; follow-through is something different. Taylor illustrates how Lexus' commitment could be a standard for customer service:

• Shortly after launching the inaugural LS 400 sedan nearly 20 years ago, Lexus discovered that about 3,000 cars had minor technical problems. The company responded by sending small teams of executives to visit each customer at home. They apologized in person and offered a gift while a Lexus technician resolved the mechanical glitches right there in the customer's driveway.



• Last year, the automaker became aware that 700 ES 350 models had been delivered with problematic transmissions. Instead of installing a new gearbox, Lexus gave owners a brand new ES 350 as a replacement. "Based on surveys, the affected customers were more loyal to Lexus than buyers who didn't have the problem in the first place," says Taylor.

The Po!nt: Writes Taylor, "[W]hen you do go the extra mile, you earn the appreciation and loyalty of customers who have come to expect so little from the companies with whom they do business."