Posts Tagged “marketing”

The following is a true story. The names have been changed, not to protect the innocent, but because the guilty are litigeous weasels that would like nothing better than to sue me for telling the truth.

Some time ago, I was the Creative Director of an in-house agency for a software publisher. We’ll call them…um…”MacroGraphics.” I ran a group of creatives known internally as the Creative Services Group.  As the company grew, internal politics reared it’s ugly head. As in many companies, when sales don’t meet projections or expectations, the first people to get blamed are the marketing guys. At MacroGraphics, this took the form of certain people in the sales department suggesting that the company hire an external agency. (I say this with absolute certainty, because one of the directors of sales was a golfing buddy of Stan Richards – head of the Richards Group – and had them come in to do a dog and pony show for the company…without giving me any advanced warning.)  After the Richards Group pitched us, I suggested that if we were really interested in outside help for Creative Services, that we shop around for the best shop to work with. I brought in Seth Werner (the guy that came up with the California Raisins Claymation spots) who was running the Dallas office of Bloom. (Might as well start at the top, right?) While I was busy setting up other meetings, the CEO of MacroGraphics asked me to interview a guy they’d worked with before, who ran a very small Dallas agency. We’ll call him “Jonathan Ricotta.” Read the rest of this entry »

As a marketing guy facing the New Reality or New Economy or whatever term you want to use to define the ever-changing world in which we live in, I’m always looking for ways to do more with less. I’ve yet to be fortunate enough to find a customer who’s idea of a marketing/advertising budget was “money is not a problem.” (Then again, I’ve never met a leprechaun or a unicorn, either.)

As such, I’ve been trying some ideas on my own (in the spirit of “eating my own dog food”), to see what works – and what doesn’t – under the current economic conditions. One thing that I recommend to all my clients is to setup a blog. That sounds simple – but in fact, I’ve found some results that might surprise you. Read the rest of this entry »

Noticed a couple of new Glade spots in rotation, featuring the enigmatic Dori Kelly. I mention this for a couple of reasons – first, the product they are pushing – an air freshener with a motion detector that prevents wasting a lot of scent when nobody is there to appreciate it – is pretty cool. Second, I’ve been keeping an eye on my blog stats, and they are waaaaaay up, in no small part due to people hitting my site looking for information on the afore-mentioned Ms. Kelly. I’m not too proud to pander, in order to boost readership. Third (and more germane to this blog) I’m curious as to why SC Johnson (owners of the Glade brand) are not attempting to parlay interest in Dori Kelly into more publicity for their product. Read the rest of this entry »

My Dad used to joke that he ran a non-profit business…because he didn’t make a profit from it. (Ba-dum DUM. Thank you…I’ll be here through Thursday…try the veal…and please tip your waitperson.) I’ve had a lot of experience with marketing for non-profits, and I’ve found they fit solidly into two camps – groups that think big, and groups that think small. The big-thinkers are usually (but not always) big charities – you know…March of Dimes, Susan G. Kommen…that kind of organization. They are well funded and do some pretty sophisticated marketing. Then there’s the little guys – who generally think small – and get similar results. As a marketer, I’ve found the trick to be getting small non-profits to try and think big. That doesn’t mean spending a lot…it just means resetting their frame of reference, and using marketing to make them appear to be bigger, more organized, and more successful than they really are. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m struck, this morning, by the behavior of lame duck Presidents in their final months in office. Today, President Bush gave the American auto industry a bailout, enabling the Big Three automakers to continue their unsustainable business practices for three more months, rather than actually doing anything that would help solve the problem. He said that he’d imagined what it would be like if he were going into office in January, and stated that he didn’t think it was fair to burden the incoming Obama administration with a crisis right off the bat.

Hogwash. Read the rest of this entry »

Back when Comedy Central first went on the air, the Smothers Brothers hosted a Young Comedians show. They did bits in-between the new comics. One running gag throughout was Tom’s (presumed) lack of understanding of the idea of a rhetorical question. Dick asked, “How many man-hours do you think it took to build the railroad that opened up the West?” Tom tried to come up with an answer, until Dick explained, “It was a rhetorical question…you don’t answer it…you just think about it.”

At the end of the show, Dick pulled out a 35mm camera, ostensibly to take pictures of all the young commedians. After snapping a few pics, he opened up the back of the camera and pulled film out of the canister, exposing it, as if it was a Polaroid instant-film camera. Dick sighed, and told Tommy that he’d ruined the film, explaining that 35mm camera film has to be developed, and if exposed to light, it ruins the pictures.

Tommy smiled, and said, “No…it’s a rhetorical camera…you don’t need pictures.”

It was a funny bit, and it points out the dilemma here – the title of this post is – and isn’t – a rhetorical question. Read the rest of this entry »

I am a sucker. Or at least I have been. And may be sometime again in the future. You probably have been, too. Let me explain…

Let’s say you’re in the market for a car. You lust after a new one. Doesn’t matter what brand or what model. You buy it. As you drive it off the lot, it automagically loses about 20% of it’s value, simply by moving from the “new” to “currently owned/technically used” column. Say your new vehicle costs $30K, not an unusual amount for a new whip. You’ve put down 20% of the cost of the vehicle, either by trade in, down payment, or both. You plan to finance $24K. Fair enough, but when you drove it off the lot, it lost 20% of it’s value. At this point, you’ve paid $6K for the privilege of driving some new wheels. Hope you’re happy. If you’re not, let me acquaint you with a new term to add to your lexicon: under water. This is the phrase lenders use when you owe more than the item you financed is worth. If you go to trade it in on something you like better, you’ll pay for that mistake for, oh, let’s say the next ten years or so. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m curious…Are you seeing any of your customers cancelling or delaying plans for marketing efforts, in light of the current economic reality?

So far (cross my fingers) I’ve not seen any cancellations, but today I was told that one of my clients was delaying plans to start a new marketing push, at least until the new year.

That’s not unexpected, but it is a little scary.

So…rather than expound on the economy, and how I believe we’d all be better off to just take our medicines, let the companies fail that are unsound, pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and get the economy moving again…I’d rather hear what YOU have to say. If you’d rather not have your remarks exposed on the blog, write me (bkozak@grokmedia.com) and I’ll keep your comments anonymous. I’m particularly interested in personal stories regarding how the economic downturn is affecting your company – and your marketing.

More details soon.

Are you hip to “framing”? If not, let me give you a crash course in the latest marketing jargon:

Framing is the term used to describe the coining of phrases and the spin used to focus the discussion on a specific issue from the point of view of a partisan position.

Framing is a term born from the idea of “framing a discussion,” or using subtle words and phrases to cast a discussion in a particular light. Think about the ongoing argument over gun rights in this country. Those that want to ban possession of certain types of guns (or for that matter, all guns)  by all save the police and military want to frame the discussion in their own terms: “assault weapons,” “gun control,” “Saturday Night Specials,” “Cop Killer bullets” and the like. These terms have helped the Left set the terms of the discussion on their turf, forcing the NRA and those that seek to preserve the rights of individuals to own guns to play defense.

Well, campers, the Episcopal Church has been framed – and those that disagree with that framing are fighting back. Read the rest of this entry »