No Fear! Four Tips for Getting Started with Twitter No Matter What.

Marketers don’t use Twitter for a lot of reasons but a nasty accident isn’t likely to be one of them. With any information technology, there’s a chance (even a likelihood) that “something” will come back to bite you. Emails à la Goldman Sachs that never ever get deleted, then turn up in some district attorney’s mailbox, for example. Revealing footage from a video camera you didn’t even know was there, high up on a warehouse wall.

Twitter has a few of these, it’s true. Joe Loong mentions some awful Twitter moments on his blog, here: “Twitter + Child’s Funeral = Bad Idea” is one; and the Memphis/FedEx/PR Guy mashup last year, here.

Twitter is ephemeral. Each tweet occupies a short time frame. And since employees and managers will always screw up, because they are human, only a very few people will care if you’ve stuck your thumb – or your company’s thumb – in the sausage grinder. Seriously, if it’s legally actionable, it’s one thing; if it’s temporarily embarrassing, you’ll get over it.

Don’t be afraid of mistakes. Use the new tech. Use Twitter as a marketing communications tool. You’ll be in good company; a short Brandweek article noted this week:

Twitter usage exploded in 2009. US site traffic, which is only a partial barometer of how many people used the service, grew from a few million unique monthly visitors early last year to over 20 million by June.

Searching the Internet will give you anywhere from 1 to 100 ways to use Twitter to benefit your brand or your company. Four of my best start-up thoughts come from Heidi Cohen writing on ClickZ:

1. Listen before you leap. Your stakeholders are ready and willing to share their views about your products, brands and company. So use multiple forums (in addition to Twitter) to hear what's being said about your firm, your competitors, your market.

2. Plan for relevant content. Unless your personal or corporate brand is based on random thoughts (maybe, maybe not), plan for tweets that customers, prospects and thought leaders will find useful – and related to your product or service.

3. Support your social media effort. Use classic marketing programs and tactics to sustain online efforts: offline advertising, retail outlets, live events and your product packaging. ‘Cause if all you are is tweets, your market’s going to find out about it pretty quick.

4. Remember the conversation is multidirectional. Despite the Type A people you work for or with, no message is genuinely controllable once it’s left your computer, phone, Blackberry, what-have-you. You will hear back. As you begin to stretch your marketing with Twitter and other “new media,” don’t be afraid and do consider what social-media visioneer Seth Godin wrote:

Online interactions are largely expected to be intentional. On purpose. Planned. People assume you did stuff for a reason. Be clear, be generous, be kind. Can’t hurt.

Amen.

 

“Someone Tweeted” by Brian Lane Winfield Moore. From WWIII Propaganda Poster Set, 2009. All rights reserved.

Advertising with A Bang: Marketing Big Boys’ Toys Keeps the Sass Up.

On April 2nd 2003, during the second Gulf war, a hundred or so Iraqi armoured vehicles approached a far smaller American reconnaissance unit south of Baghdad…A B-52 bomber attacked the first 30 or so vehicles in the column with a single, historic pass. It dropped two new CBU-105 bombs…

While falling, the CBU-105 bombs propped open, each releasing ten submunitions which were slowed by parachutes. Each one of these used mini rockets to spin and eject outward four discs the size of ice-hockey pucks…

The 80 free-falling discs from the pair of bombs then scanned the ground with lasers and heat-detecting sensors to locate armoured vehicles. Those discs that identified a target exploded dozens of metres up. The blast propelled a tangerine-sized slug of copper down into the target, destroying it with the impact and the accompanying shrapnel…

The soldiers in the 70 vehicles farther back in the column surrendered immediately.*

There was a time, after the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, when I thought the “good old days” of defense industry advertising were done. Game over. And weapon system advertising was a terrific game, with its own language, its own sense of swagger.

Beyond the opportunity to show things that go bang (in print, in video, etc.), there was the feeling on my part, and on the part of everyone I worked with in the defense industry over a period of several decades, that we were creating goods and services for the defense of the nation…of giving our soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen the best matériel with which to win a fight – and win a war.

As demonstrated by this 2006 post, I have been lucky. Even though the Cold War has been over for years, I’ve been able to keep up my involvement in defense industry advertising. Reading about the CBU-105 cluster bomb recently sent me looking to see what’s new in defense industry marketing communication.

You should look too – Textron Defense Systems is cooking. It’s true there’s no substitute of a sexy product whatever the category. Its CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapon and internal BLU-108 submunition are precisely the articles highlighted in The Economist article and they do work as described.

Textron has created a range of provocative marketing materials to convey not only the technical performance of its systems, but the emotion behind them. You can see video here, for example; and print advertising like those above here.

There is plenty of front-end attitude in headlines like:

Not just effective. Cost-effective. (Reversed out of photo of burning Iraqi tanks).

2 April 2003. The world’s first Smart Area Weapon proves itself in combat.

We’re the leader in force protection for one simple reason: We don’t believe in level playing fields.

The creative addresses its primary audience, but there’s more to it than sassy headlines. Responsible defense communications recognizes the benefits of effective weaponry in terms of protecting our combatants and minimizing casualties. In the Iraqi engagement, 30% of the tanks and their crews died. The other 70% surrendered – and lived.

In the case of Textron Defense Systems, advertising demonstrates product success. That means mission success. Can your advertising (and your product or service) make the same claim?

*From The Economist, January 30, 2010, p 88.

Waiting for the NyQuil to Work, Think About the Advertising.

Cold-sufferers of America know this brand: Vicks® NyQuil® cold and flu liquid from Proctor and Gamble. Over 40 years old and still going strong, “the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep you ever got with a cold...medicine” works a treat.

It’s my OTC weapon of choice when I need cold relief (which I do this week, seriously). I like it and buy it and use it even though it is one of America’s most commercial brands. Even though a 2007 article in Wired notes that it’s “fortified with powerful narcotics.” Or maybe because of those legal narco-substances.

NyQuil is strong medicine. You know just how strong it is when a comedian like Denis Leary riffed, “I took a NyQuil five years ago and I just came out of the coma tonight before the fucking show.” The brand has its own Facebook app, NyQuil Nation. Right now it’s showing actual photos of NyQuil users sleeping; more than 10,000 people have signed up for a chance as some swag.

The brand constantly re-invents itself through promotion and advertising. I’m particularly sensitive to the headline on the latest sleepers campaign – like the one called “Joe” above: For a Better-Looking Tomorrow. Publicis New York has the NyQuil advertising duties business these days and as far as I’m concerned the company nailed the human condition, whether the ads show Joe, Gary, Theo or Apolo Ohno (sure, the Olympic speed skater – it’s perfect!).

So contemplate the Publicis ad campaign credits: Chief Creative Officer: Rob Feakins; Executive Creative Director: Joe Johnson; Art Director: Dave Hermanas; Copywriter: Dafna Garber; Art Buyer: Samantha Jaffoni. Evocative advertising deserves a drink – of NyQuil.

For My Birthday, the 2010 Panamera Turbo. Whattaya Say?

Today’s a pretty special birthday for me, some of you might know. I’d like something special to go with it. (That’s what I said to Barbara, anyway.)

I could do a big riff – or a piercing whine – about how I deserve this. I could write endlessly about how cool this prospective birthday present is. After all, the car has just arrived in dealers’ showrooms after being introduced late last year: The Panamera Turbo by Porsche. I have even picked out my color, what the company’s calling mahogany metallic. Very utterly spectacular.

My new birthday-car-gift is a little pricey: $132,345 at the dealership over on I-10. But what are friends for? (That’s what I asked myself when I came up with the nifty solution.) Here’s the deal.

It just needs 132 of my closest colleagues, friends and relatives – that’s you!

Each of you chip in $1,000. Just send me a check or use PayPal – I’m setting up an account now. I’ll cover the taxes, title, license and so forth. Before you know it, I gonna be cruising down to Galveston. Or west to El Paso at 180+ mph. Or, hey, hey, I’ll drive it around to you guys in Dallas and New Prague, North Bergen and Chicago, let you take an up-close-and-personal at your lovely gift to…me!

Discuss it among yourselves, I’ll just sing along a bit here.

Happy birthday to me.
Happy birthday to me.
Happy birthday, dear me.
Happy birthday to me.

Okay – you deliver the buckos and I’ll buy the car. Why? Because it’ll be my precious. Preciousss. Or here is another approach: IwannitIwannitIwannit. After all I’m a real adult now.

God Bless Island Princess and All Who Sail in Her.

There will be follow-ups to the 2010 Signalwrite Panama Canal Cruise. This post, though, has less to do with marketing and advertising and more to do with giving thanks.

As I already wrote to Nathan Eisenberg, you would probable enjoy this 10-day cruise if [a] you like the sun (very nice, out there on the Lido deck); [b] can stand up to 24-hour-a-day eating (relentless) and [c] enjoy meeting and spending time with several thousand strangers (actually not so bad).

We wished there was much more “Panama Canal” in the Panama Canal Cruise. Nevertheless, this is a shout-out to Captain Nicolo Bommarco and the crew (ship side and passenger side) of MV Island Princess:

You have a beautiful cruise ship and operated it beautifully. We not only sailed 3300 miles in complete safety, thanks to you; all 890 of you worked very hard to ensure that almost all of the 2,300+ passengers had a good time. On board your ship, we did.

Good-bye. Smooth sailing to you all. Thank you very much. Sincerely…

BTW, the “Las Señoritas” shirt whipped up special for this cruise went over a treat: Lots of positive strokes. Love and thanks to Barbara again for making that happen.

Panama Canal as Advertised - A Post in Haste.

Getting access to the Internet aboard Island Princess is not hard unless, like me, you have an institutional prejudice against paying for the service. I figure very roughly that this single cruise ship pulls in $22 million a month in revenues. And yes, I realize it is expensive to operate the boat in this pretty swell manner.

So it probably evens out but I am sticking with my laidback, non-Internetting lifestyle. I have found a couple of Internet cafes, though, this one in Porto Limon, CR. So this will be a short note about a long subject: The Canal delivered its promises as far as I´m concerned. One lecturer keeps calling it, ¨the eighth wonder of the world.¨ It is even being enlarged.

Now I saw the Canal (some of it) in luxury, not among a crowd of sailors. It is possible I missed all the hands-on, walking-around swellness that comes from a land tour. Nevertheless, I am thrilled to have seen the Panama Canal at last. Next time you see it advertised, take a look at it for yourself. There is more to come on this subject; ta for the time being.

Just another cruising brand: Op is cool – says so right on the label.

Op also says it is “The Original California Lifestyle Brand.” When I realized that the brand on the swimsuit I bought at Walmart for the Panama Canal cruise comes from a familiar company, I felt, like, all mellow. Dude.

I closely non-resemble the brand demographic, representatives of which appear in the Op ad on this page. In fact, check out the Op brand site and you’ll see just how non-similar these happy youngsters are to moi.

That’s okay – there’s room for a lot of brands in the world. I’m just intrigued that Op is owned by Iconix Brands. The last time I wrote about one of this company’s brands, it was London Fog® trenchcoats.

This post’s about cool-dude-beachwear branding and I’m proud to have the chance to re-examine the brand-holder. Inconix bought the Op brand – Ocean Pacific – about four years ago for $54 million and has revived it rather nicely. But then, that’s what Iconix is famous for – being a licensing dynamo and all. The company has a whole bunch for great and busy retail marques, including the Joe Boxer®, Badgley Mischaka®, Mossimo® and Candie’s® brands – the current “Candie’s Girl” is Britney Spears.

The self-proclaimed Iconix biz-model is using licensing to generate predictable revenue streams (thanks to contractually guaranteed minimum royalty payments) combined with trendsetters in aggressive advertising and promotion. Good, bad or ugly, the beautiful people – Spears, Eva Longoria Parker, Madonna, etc. – do generate attention.

Iconix Brands also seems quite smart about keeping certain brands in strict channels and mindsets. Op is for Walmart. Mudd® apparel is available only at Kohl’s. Rocawear, per the website, “was established…off of the meteoric success of co-founder Shawn ‘Jay Z’ Carter…to fit the urban lifestyle and…street-savvy consumers.”

What happens in most all of the Iconix brand demographics hardly ever touches me and my life. And any suggestion that my Op swim trunks are too young for me will be met with knee-slapping, laugh-out-loud agreement.

For a marketer and advertiser, though, I applaud what Iconix Brands is doing at both wholesale and retail – you might want to look into just how brand-savvy the company really is. And cool or not, I’m running away to sea. Later, dudes…

On Friday, AMAHouston Seminar Shows Intangibles Strategies.

When it comes to marketing and advertising intangibles there are several flavors. Services is one - banking services or accounting services. There are intangible products too; employee healthcare insurance, for example. Your written policy is a form of physical proof that you are insured; you can’t buy insurance by the pound.

Marketers have spent years, decades, transforming intangibles into various forms of reality so that a wide variety of stakeholders can grasp them. In these cases, it’s not about the purchase but the buy: Stakeholders buy into these intangibles in a number of ways, accepting them into their businesses and their lives. There is a requirement for mental acceptance which is, or should be, brand-driven.

“Selling the Intangible: B2B Service Marketing Strategies” is quite tangible: Three hands-on experts are going to make everything real for you at Friday’s B2B Special Interest Group seminar, from our chapter of the American Marketing Association. Just click here to register if you haven’t already.

Join us at the House of Blues and get fresh insights about bank marketing from William Trout, BBVACompass Director of Internal Communications. Hear about thought leadership as a marketing tool for employee health benefits from Katrina Drake Hudson, Regional Marketing Leader at Humana. And see a first-hand how-to on rebranding accounting services from Christa Gerlovich, Practice Growth Manager for Weaver, LLP.

Oh - you can market insurance by the pound, sort of, with commodity futures contracts*. One particularly successful example (if I say so myself) is this three-dimensional direct mail program sent to hundreds of US ingredients buyers. The campaign promoted commodity contracts on the Chicago Board of Trade. Of course, a futures contract is only mostly intangible. If you screw up the “virtual” becomes intensely physical and you could enjoy 5,000 bushels of soybeans delivered to your driveway.

There’ll be no soybeans at the House of Blues’ Bronze Peacock Room this Friday morning. Just successful strategies from Trout, Hudson and Stranhoner. Since I will be the moderator, I hereby offer you tangible benefits (including a light breakfast) and say “Come on down!”

*Commodity futures are agreements of contracts that are used to purchase or sell a specified amount of a given commodity – in the case of this campaign, corn, rice, soybeans and soybean oil which are used as ingredients in various food products. The Chicago Board of Trade – CBOT – is now part of CME Group. Direct mail campaign created and produced “back in the day” by The Quest Business Agency, Houston, TX. Creative Director/copywriter: Yours truly. Art Director: Jim Prejean. Production Manager: Beth Palmer.

When the Consumer is an Individual, Travel Marketing Has More Moving Parts.

This Panama Canal cruise I’m taking, I never waited for Princess Cruises to market it to me. I reached out and selected the destination and the means of getting there.

Maybe it’s because I’m on the leading edge of the famous Baby Boomer generation. Or I’m one of the group that broadly wants to keep learning, connecting and engaging with the world. Maybe I’m an individual and not really part of a group at all (though I find this last bit hard to believe).

Nevertheless, taking the Princess cruise ship south and west to the Canal is a personal choice that’s years in the making. When I was growing up, the Panama Canal was heroic – in many ways it still is.

When President Jimmy Carter signed the 1977 treaty which agreed to return 60% of the Canal Zone to Panama two years later, I was against that action, not because Panamanians didn’t deserve to control their own territory but because the Canal was so much a part of my historical understanding of America’s manifest destiny. And after all, I wasn’t against it that much.

In the middle of that now-foggy set of events, in ’78, David McCullough published his superb study, The Path Between the Seas, about the creation of the Canal. I read it immediately and it’s been in my bookshelves ever since; I re-read it every couple of years: Such a very American story.

Traveling to the Panama Canal hasn’t been all that difficult in the past century. But mental barriers exist, or used to: Time, location, affordability. Mentally, the Canal has come more and more within my reach.

I’ve seen enough jungles. There’s a limit on the number of on-the-water adventures I want to have. But this event comes down to imagination. Pictures like those above, by Argentine photographer Edgardo Balduccio, mean far more to me than eco-tourism (a merely trendy appeal).

Look closely at the date on the Miraflores Locks Control House…1913. It’s the year President Howard Taft said the Canal would be completed, the year that the US started paying Panama for its lease of the Canal.  MV Island Princess is really a time machine. One with a lot of very moving parts.

Photographs © Edgardo Balduccio, 2008. All rights reserved.

Copywriting for Wellness: Turning Whimsical Makes a Winner for BP.

Few marketing copywriters ever get to write a line like “Listen to your inner asparagus.” Even fewer see the line in print. But I’m the lucky one thanks to an outstanding wellness marketing program at BP.

Among other projects, I was tasked to write the 2010 BP Wellness Calendar, in support of this year’s “Becoming a healthier you” employee benefits campaign.

The campaign itself is spearheaded by Janelle Ewing, who is Manager of Benefits Communication at BP America; and seconded by Bonnie Hargett, BP Benefits Communication Consultant. It’s been supported on the graphic design side by Prism Design – the Prismatics created the look for the internal campaign that includes this terrific 13-month calendar.

I created a “voice” for the calendar that went outside the lines a little – taking the month-after-month appeals from the pretty ordinary self-health advice column to the somewhat provocative, maybe-even-laugh-out-loud category. So, March, for example, starts off with “Get around to eating smarter” and continues:

Come on, you’re smarter than that pizza. Start cutting the intake of “stupid” foods while you build up your intake of smart foods like fruits and vegetables. Fact: Most women who eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day can cut their risk of developing cancer by up to 50% compared to those who only eat two or three servings a day. Fact: Men can use at least nine servings to reduce their risk of cancer, heart disease and other illnesses.

We backed up month-fulls of wellness tricks and tips with our sources for that data. We included appeals to participate in health advisory programs and earn reward points every month from the beginning of 2010 through the first month of next year. The calendar became a thorough compendium of wellness support, from the health benefits of working out to stress relief to back-to-school immunizations (“Invaders from inner space,” another great line.)

Look, wellness is a product: A proactive and preventive approach designed to provide optimum levels of health, emotional and social functioning. But selling wellness has been overlooked by common marketers. The “approved” definition of marketing itself leaves out a major group of stakeholders that’s hugely influential on each major corporation – the company’s employees.

In terms of their effect on revenue, profitability and long-term customer relationships, it has been proven that the improved physical and mental health of employees has substantial positive impact on both the cost of healthcare provided by the employer and the cost of doing business generally.

The BP benefits team fulfilled this marketing-inside function, along with the insight that a successful Employee Wellness Program has to be broad enough to meet the needs of all employees, regardless of their current level of health.

Ewing’s and Hargett’s more-than-ordinary communication effort has been crucial to getting employees to participate in greater numbers in the BP wellness program. The calendar is one component of a tight mixture of communications pieces and appeals – an internal marketing program which has been successful in generating high numbers of sign-ups.

Pretty cool that I got to participate in this, along with Prism designers Terry Teutsch and Stacy Allen. Thank you, BP, for the opportunity to deliver great work – with whimsy added.

Stand by, Panama. I’m Wearing “Las Señoritas” on the Island Princess Cruise.

Last year, Bill Barrett of Barrett-Wehlmann and his wife took the same Panama Canal cruise, on the same ship, that we’re taking end of March. After talking with him and seeing some of his photos, the need for a new modest (fashion) statement seemed evident to me.

I needed to go far beyond the mundane cruisewear of yesteryear (such as displayed in the ad, bottom right). After all, some agency CD might want to create a more vivid advertising campaign for Princess. I want to be ready for my close-up, Mr DeMille.

I was aided and abetted again this time by the Amazing Seamstress Herself, my traveling companion, Barbara. I got to select the fabric and it was something of a struggle, you know how timid I am about colors and patterns.

Fortunately, the Folkorico section of the Alexander Henry Fabric Collection (gots to be a California company!) yielded “Las Señoritas” in the right summer-cruising weight. The colors have the kind of understated approach you all know I favor. And even though this collection has similar patterns with island girls and aloha girls, these are pale by comparison.

Alexander Henry is the self-proclaimed industry leader in cutting-edge, conversational print design. It’s quite clear that “he” created this particular pattern for someone who carries on a conversation at the top of his lungs. Like yours truly.

“Las Señoritas” isn’t the only loud shirt I’m packing but it’s the newest and I’d like to thank the Members of the Academy for not hiding their eyes in shame as I travel to and from the Canal in a few weeks. If advertising is life, then self-promotion is…me!

Pattern: Simplicity #3852. Crafter: Barbara Nytes-Baron    . Thanks and much more to Frank White the Photographer for the excellent photo (top). Older travel photo (bottom) published on CreativePro.com by Gene Gable, February 19, 2010.

When a Brand Turns Bad: Nature Valley® in the Candy Biz.

Attention brand-foodies. General Mills is sampling (and couponing) its Nature Valley Sweet and Salty Nut Granola Bar. Since the sample and 75¢-off manufacturer’s coupon came with the morning paper, it caught my attention. The Nature Valley line is a long one with lots and lots of “wholesome and delicious” product line extensions. Says so right on the website.

Never had this particular granola bar before. But you know, it looks like a rip-off of the PAYDAY Peanut Caramel Bar, now a part of the Hershey’s® line-up. I am an unabashed partisan of PAYDAY candy. Have been since the 50s, as far as I can recall. That’d put my introduction about 20 years and a complete World War after Frank Martoccio produced the candy – he went on to found Hollywood Brands, which also manufactured and sold the great ZERO candy bar. Liquor may be quicker but when you’re a kid, candy is just dandy.

I don’t know how much Hershey’s spends on PAYDAY advertising. I do know that the General spends plenty on Nature Valley, which is today synonymous with granola, all-natural ingredients and healthy eating habits.

Except when it’s candy, too. Which this particular product from Nature Valley is. Just like PAYDAY. Honest. I compared the labels. I adjusted for the fact that the Sweet and Salty Nut Granola Bar sample is 1.2 ounces and a standard PAYDAY is 1.5 ounces. Considering the serving size difference, the Nature Valley product has more calories than the PAYDAY, slightly more total fat and 2.5 grams more saturated fat. Its sodium level is higher than a PAYDAY; it does have 3 grams less sugars, but also less protein.

Candy bar. Candy bar. Candy bar. The same or candier than PAYDAY, which straightforwardly claims “sweet caramel and tons of salty peanuts.”

These Nature Valley bars average about 50¢ each online, while PAYDAY’s running between 63¢ and 71¢. With the coupons (75¢ in the sampler, $1 online), you could do better money-wise with the supposedly “perfect heart-healthy” treat. And, given brand loyalty, maintain your right-thinking relationship with this granola-bar line at the same time.

It is just a candy bar. But a candy bar by any other name still tastes as sweet, no matter how you advertise it. Now, which brand is the most honest advertiser?

Can I Do Better for Kraken than Blogger Rachel? I Don’t Think So.

A brander’s delight, “...Kraken™ is imported black rum from the Caribbean and blended with over 11 secret spices.” You can watch the overheated commercial on the brand’s website.

Wish I could say something positive about the site’s functionality. But I couldn’t do better in the way of a whiz-bang-design reaction than blogger Rachel in Atlanta. Read her post to get the spirit of the thing.

Hundreds of booze-brands are introduced yearly - see what I wrote about Railean Texas Gulf Coast Rum. Fighting for shelf space would be an awful chore if it weren't for wonderful imagination and empathic design. The right combo can pay off on the shelf.

30 Days from Now, We’re Taking to the Water – Don’t Wait Up.

Those rumors you’ve heard, they’re true. We’re shipping out, cruising to the Panama Canal and back for 10 days. We sail on March 30 from Fort Lauderdale on a large and (sinfully) luxurious vessel, MV Island Princess. With 90% of its staterooms designated as “ocean-view,” there’s a wrap-around Promenade Deck and more more than 700 balconies. One of those – squint and maybe you can see it – is reserved under Baron.

I’ve been following cruise-ship advertising for years. But the decisions made about this particular 10-day adventure into Central American waters come from a chain of impulses and events that run from the overnight Baltic cruises Barbara and I took in Dialogue days through the enthusiastic endorsements of colleagues and friends.

Certainly it’s not because I feel deprived of cruise experience during my own military service… no Med Cruises, no WestPacs. All those service years were Naval Air. No real sea-time for this Airedale, except for the occasional Mike boats in Manila Bay.

Coming up, between the end of March and April 9, look for online posts about Caribbean adventures, cruise-related advertising and other marketing-related high points. Presuming we're not eating, drinking and doing other typical tourist things. It’s our own Panama Canal Cruise. We’re outahere end of the month.

Thank you, Stacy Allen of Prism Design, Inc., for the cruise poster - look for it on T-shirts and other swag, coming soon (or not).

I Propose “Welcome to Earth! Souvenirs” to Compete with Betty’s Attic.

Dear Mr Tatulli: I’m already a fan but I’m no cyber-squatter. Even though I think there’s a great opportunity for some e-tailer to compete with Betty’s Attic, you came up with the name.

So – in case you decide to expand your horizons –  www.welcometoearthsouvenirs.com is waiting for you, $12. Have a great week and thanks for the continuing entertainment.

Cartoon ©2010 by Mark Tatulli. Distributed by Universal Uclick.

Climate Change Has a Bad Week – Is New PR What’s Next?

Yesterday, the UN guy who’s been trying to guide climate talks to “a successful outcome” for almost four years resigned. Yvo de Boer said he’s quitting on July 1 to work in academia and business; he’s fed up to his necktie by “unrelenting bickering between rich and poor countries.” It’s just the latest PR hit.

Earlier this week, three major companies dropped their membership in the US Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) this week, announced in big, bold headlines from coast to coast. USCAP is a coalition that boasts “broad-based support for climate change legislation this year.”

BP, Caterpillar and ConocoPhillips have declined to renew their participation in a big-time lobbying campaign. USCAP assures its Washington audience, the main target of its efforts, that plenty of corporations support its positions. But the publicity surrounding the departure of three large companies raises a couple of points about a classic form of PR in action. (Readers, the climate change/global-warming issue does not admit of simple answers no matter how I turn it.)

No matter how effective a program, perhaps PR cannot fully overcome the fact that a proposed US cap-and-trade market would hurt the financial positions of large fossil fuel emitters. For example, the cost of carbon in the oil sector for the five largest oil companies — ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP and Royal Dutch Shell — is estimated to cost them from $247 million to $355 million.

(Call the median $300 million and say each company is equally burdened. That’s $60 million or so which would buy a whole lot of public relations to support other, more corporate-friendly initiatives, presuming that each of the oil companies spent it on PR instead of remediating refinery systems.)

USCAP touts the connection between cap-and-trade and innovation, but it appears that the climate change campaign no longer has quite the same compelling force. So, PR. Capital Research Center which asked and answered an key question in its “Organization Trends” newsletter: Who runs USCAP?

USCAP describes itself as a “business and NGO partnership,” but does not have its own staff. Like other DC-based coalitions that promote policy agendas, USCAP relies primarily on outside public relations and government consulting groups to conduct operations and coordinate the activities of members. It's how they earn their fees. Lighthouse Consulting, the Meridian Institute and the powerhouse PR and lobbying firm Powell Tate | Weber Shandwick are the wizards behind the USCAP curtain.

USCAP is quintessentially a public relations activity. And most recently, Outreach Strategies has been identified as the agency of record for USCAP (by the Potomac Flacks blog). This firm is composed of two agency vets from a completely different outfit, Tad Segal and Joe Clayton, who are supposed to focus on advocacy communications, issues management, stakeholder engagement and media relations. “Clayton recently served as CEO of Widmeyer Communications. Segal also recently left Widmeyer, having led the agency’s Public Affairs group.”

Following the currently twisty course of events, it is clear that USCAP and its PR operators still follow the definition set out by the PRSA almost 30 years ago: “Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.”

USCAP’s PR, like it or not, has been effective – at least for a while. I’m almost glad that the UN doesn’t have quite the same talent for mutual adaptation.

AMAHouston Wants You: Seriously Fun Healthcare Marketing Seminar.

Smell the coffee, taste the bagels. Hear how outstanding marketing campaigns are planned. And see great creative in action at AMAHouston’s Healthcare SIG winter seminar.

Coming Friday, February 26, to the Houston Technology Center: “Outside-the-Box: Creative Healthcare Marketing.” It starts at 7.30AM and you can register by clicking here.

Three presenters promise a how-to morning. Partha Krishnamurthy is the Director of Institute for Healthcare Marketing at the University of Houston; he’s going to set the stage by addressing the metrics challenges.

Next: MD Anderson’s Associate Director of Marketing, Cara Zorzi. She will lay out the best-ever Texas medical campaign, “Making Cancer History” (there’s a late example, top).

Batting clean-up will be Steve McKee, President of McKee Wallwork Cleveland from Albuquerque. He’ll present the vivid work done for Presbyterian Healthcare Services in New Mexico. (That’s the second outdoor execution above).

You may be familiar with Zorzi and McKee; a review of McKee’s latest book, BTW, appears below.

They are all public figures who are strong standard-bearers for breakthrough creative. At this event, you can learn how creative expressions of marketing messages affect a brand. You can learn how to use such campaigns to generate higher levels of brand awareness, patient traffic, employee involvement and community recognition.

Karen Kershner, principal and founder of Communications Plus (excellent fun website, too), is the moderator. But come for more than the…moderation. Come for the excitement.

Be one of those elite early risers. Come down to the excellent venue (the Houston Technology Center, 401 Pierce Street 77002). Click here for the map – the “committee” will have the coffee and bagels waiting for you.

McKee Comes Back for AMAHouston SIG and Dirkes Reviews His Book.

Laying pipe. It’s what this post does. Laying pipe for our February 26 Healthcare SIG seminar. Attendees will get plenty of advice and examples about “outside the box” marketing and ad campaigns – some from Steve McKee. Who has a book that’s more about management than marketing. Let’s start with this. (A later post will highlight the seminar itself.)

Aubrey Dirkes, who recommended McKee for this event, provided this review for Signalwriter.

Typically when the president of an advertising agency writes a book, the pages are filled with tales of glory about their special pixie dust. Hire their agency and you too will have memorable television ads. When Growth Stalls by Steve McKee, the president of McKee Wallwork Cleveland, isn’t that book. In fact he doesn’t mention a single ad by his agency, and the promotion “P” isn’t mentioned until the last 15 pages of the book. Luckily, he’ll be sharing his agency’s work at the Houston AMA Healthcare SIG meeting on February 26.

When Growth Stalls is really more like a series of executive coaching sessions for your management team. It is part “Good to Great,” part “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” and part personal diary all intertwined with recent editions of The Wall Street Journal. The result is a well-researched book that is timely and not only gives us the solace of knowing that every company stalls, but the hope that accompanies a step-by-step method to get growing again. Reading it reminded me of one of my favorite scenes from “The West Wing,” about the support a friend can provide.

The book acknowledges the reasons we blame for our company’s stall – the economic downturn, disasters, and other market forces that, in truth, our competitors face too. It then dives in to the real reasons that organizations of all sizes stall. This is a fitting discussion for the Healthcare SIG because of its direct correlation to the treatment of symptoms v. curing the patient’s problem. Both business and healthcare practice evidence-based approaches, and just as patient #1’s cancer is different from patient #2’s, the growth challenges of GE are different from those of Home Depot or Chrysler, and their treatment must take into account the individual or the result is disastrous.

The book identifies four reasons for stalling: A lack of consensus from leadership; a lack of focus; a loss of nerve; and inconsistent marketing. When the ground shakes, any one of these can cause an organization to stall. Worse, the failure of one can lead to the slippery slope that results in the failure of all four.

In the book there are great, real-world examples from different industries on how each can lead to stall. In your very real-world environment, where every aspect of the healthcare world is up for debate, I encourage you to give careful consideration to these factors before it is too late. (In my own experience I have had clients suffering from one or all with expensive repercussions.)

The subtitle of the book is How it happens, Why you’re stuck, and What to do about it. About half the book is dedicated to the last of these. It goes beyond the Mission/Vision/Values you all hang in your lobbies to define what success looks like, providing a measurable objective and a timetable that leadership can agree on, get behind and operationalize. After all, business, and healthcare, is about the acquisition and retention of customers. This will lead you to discussions about the importance of your people as the delivery devices for your brand and the compounding impact of your customers’ opinions and experiences. Then you are off to the races.

In reading this, you may say “obvious.”

I say “revolutionarily obvious” because the book will reaffirm the impact you can, and may need to, make within arms’ reach that will make all the difference.

Aubrey is a Philadelphia-based marketing consultant who creates successful customer acquisition and retention programs, brand experiences and award winning creative for hospitals and retailers nationwide. He plays 3x3 basketball in a barn built in the 1700s and refurbished in the 1870s. He interrupted shoveling 2,300 cubic feet of snow and helping four cars stuck in the snow on his street to send this book review to me. Steve, I hope you appreciate his sacrifice.

At Chipotle, the Wooden Nickel Lives On: These Days It’s Worth 6 Bucks.

At last month’s AMAHouston Interactive SIG event, Chipotle Mexican Grill was not only a sponsor. Iliana Rodriguez, the eatery’s Houston marketing consultant, handed out hefty metal coins – each one good for high-quality burrito.

This promotion has the class I’ve come to associate with the Denver-based fast-food chain which is, at the same time, one of the stars in the world of ethical food producers. The branding thread of Chipotle’s “Food with Integrity” manifesto weaves its way all through the company’s online presence; it’s also clearly marked right on the metal coin (which plays an active role on the landing page). Nice weight in the hand, too.

So I’m standing there at the sponsor’s table with Rodriguez and Freeman-Leonard’s Steven Leeper, who’s on the Interactive SIG’s steering committee, and I point out that there’s really nothing new under the sun: This promo-coin thing’s been around for years and years, starting with the old wooden nickel. I managed to cram that together with a (prayerfully) short tale about the “old days” and the 5-cent lunch offers by bars and taverns.

I screwed it up – though I’m hopeful Rodriguez and Leeper will forgive me. First glance, wooden nickels don’t have anything to do with old-timey bar lunches. It is true that some histories identify the wooden nickel with the bank failures of the 1930s; in ’33, Blaine, WA issued round wooden coins when its bank failed. Commemorative nickels are then supposed to be an outgrowth of these legitimate wooden nickels. More accurately, though, collectible wooden nickels have been mentioned in print since at least 1888.

The famous tracer of lost catchphrases, Eric Partridge, puts “Don’t take any wooden nickels” back at least as far as the early 1900s. It’s a warning to be watchful for shady practices or goods. (And for mature ad guys with faulty memories.)

To add to the confusion, I also mixed up the free-lunch-with-a-5¢-beer and the nickel lunch…two different but historically accurate things. The free lunch helped win the 1890s beer wars for Adolphus Busch: With beer at five cents a glass, it was a luxury within the reach of everyone, however humble. The nickel, moreover, included a free lunch.

The nickel lunch was itself a common saloon promotion and quite a wonderful deal depending, I note, on which bar or café you favored with your custom.

Can you believe it? I’ve come full circle. Mangled history can’t keep a good promotion idea down. Here’s Chipotle putting the “nickel lunch” idea back to work not with a paper coupon (too easy to ignore) but with a weighty coin. It not only weighs more than today’s nickel. It’s worth more* at Chipotle Mexican Grill.

Who says there’s no such thing as a free lunch?

*The “rare” 2001 Chipotle coin is selling for $20 on eBay. Thanks to Chipotle Mexican Grill and Iliana Rodriguez for participating in AMAHouston. “New York Bowery lunch counter c. 1910,” 8x10 glass negative, GG Bain Collection, see Shorpy for all the details.

Four Crowdsourcing Ways to Multiply Marketing Power – and Two Warnings.

Crowdsourcing may be the “new big thing on the leading edge” or a dressed-up golden oldie. Either way, you can leverage the power of the Internet as a force-multiplier. Here are four ideas to get you thinking but don’t ignore the warnings.

1. Get to new products faster, more cost-effectively. Maybe you’ve heard of Threadless, a community-based T-shirt outfit that uses its public to both source and then evaluate its shirt designs. Loyal crowdmembers log on to Threadless.com to vote for their favorites. The winning entries are then printed and presented for sale – which generates double-digit millions in annual revenues. An Entrepreneur.com article by Emma Johnson gives more detail about how Threadless uses the worldwide web and social networking to grow its revenues. Would it work for products and services with longer development cycles and heavy technical requirements? Sure it does. Procter and Gamble reportedly uses crowdsourcing (among 140,000+ freelance scientists and engineers from 170 countries) to help solve research and development problems with its products.

2. Get a survey online – get smart research data back in a hurry. Is any marketer not aware that the Internet is fundamentally altering how marketing research is done? Low-cost online survey tools like Survey Monkey make it simple for just about any company, institution or organization to design, and conduct survey research affordably. The use of social media for research is booming, too. This is where crowdsourcing ought to take off, especially if you want “smart” data – the stuff that you will be able to use to [a] impress company management and [b] actually use to adjust how you bring programs, products or services to your stakeholders. Aim for a combination of digital and analog answers and you can have your numbers and the psychology to back them up. All from sourcing to the right crowd.

3. Get users into your creative messaging process. You know that ad agencies pretty much hate the idea of “amateurs” making commercials and posting them on Youtube, right? But if there’s a mass market involved, crowdsourcing combines customer passion for your product or service with your prospect demographics and the new ways of distributing messages. Writing on BNET, Jennifer Alsever described how Chipotle Mexican Grill got its customers to make its TV commercials several years ago: Thanks to MySpace and YouTube, the 60 contest videos netted 17.3 million views in just three weeks in November, and one of the ads single-handedly garnered more than 8 million views.

4. Get total campaign production from anywhere in the world. A European crowdsourcing site called Eyeka.com lets big and little companies – even big ones like Canon, L’Oreal, Vivendi and Vodafone to name just a few – the chance to access and use the creative talents of 75,000 “creators.” This is a virtual assembly of semi-professionals in the fields of graphic design, photography and videography who compete for prizes. Right now, Honda in France is looking for a video touting its hybrid cars – this one’s worth €9,000 ($12,000+) to the winning crowdsourcer.

Yes, share success when you succeed. That’s Warning No. 1: Reward your crowd. Threadless design winners get cash and swag. Chipotle YouTube commercial winners earned $50k. Failure to acknowledge your collaborators will result in (virtually) instant outing online. You don’t want your lack of courtesy to show up on Facebook, do you?

Then there’s the time suck. Warning No. 2: Managing crowdsource projects requires a lot of time. One reason companies of all sizes use crowdsourcing is to save money on professional marketing support. But there’s a strong need to manage the crowdsourcing process properly and that could mean hours and days. If you’ve got ‘em to spend, super-duper.

If your work-time is as limited as your budget, well, don’t start something you can’t effectively manage to a conclusion. Go ahead and use your ad agency or design firm instead. Tell them Signalwriter sent you.