The Tipping Point vs Jumping The Shark

The Tipping Point, and Jumping The Shark. Gotta love pop culture, don't you. Explaining why things turn good or go bad is the oldest thing in the book, but its often such an interesting topic. I find The Tipping Point to be Malcolm Gladwell's best work, a thought that I know many people share. Plus, who doesn't jokingly know the exact moment when their favorite tv show or movie series jumped the shark?

The interesting thing is that as different as these ideas are, they're both the same. They're both created to show the exact point when a specific instance happens. Yeah, Tipping Point is a good instance, and for the most part Jumping The Shark is a bad instance, but they really do come about the same way. Often times, these two things can be indentical, or very close in timing. Some people have said that they are one in the same - the instant something tips and becomes popular, it has jumped the shark, and will never be better than it was previous to that moment.

The thing that links these two ideas is unpredictability. The examples given in The Tipping Point are some of the most random things I have ever seen, and there is no way I could have, or just about anyone could have predicted it. Jumping The Shark is rather unpredictable as well. Maybe you can see it coming, for instance if your television show hired Ted McGinley, but I digress.

Unpredictability. Its the bane of many a businessman's existence. How else can you explain the Pet Rock? Beanie Babies? Real Men Of Genius? Reality Television? Its a wonder all people who work in marketing or advertising haven't gone insane by now!

To do this kind of thing, you need to thrive on the unpredictable. Take everything you do as the biggest damn thing in the world, because you know what? It might be. You won't know unless you go for it.

Thanks for reading!

Unbroken Chain

This post's title shares its title with a great song by Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead. Hopefully this post will not be as out there as a 69 Dark Star...

Anyhow - the title fits a lot of things, but being a marketing geek, I see an unbroken chain as a perfect metaphor for a company that has every department working all at once, and in the same mindset - and creating a product and marketing plan that blow the public away.


Something that enters pop culture, or alters the way future ads are done would be a great unbroken chain...comment about your favorites...

Thanks for reading!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Return! Business Cards

I've been gone for way too long. I have plenty of ideas to write about, since I was thinking things up the entire time I wasn't writing. But for my first post back after such a break, I thought I would talk about business cards.

Business cards have become another very important tool in marketing and promotion. In many cases, gone are the days of plain white cardstock with black printing and a logo in the top left corner. Business cards are no longer an afterthought only used as a simple way to leave your contact information with a client or friend. For many freelancers, artists, and other types of designers, a business card is more like a small advertisement. There are dozens of blogs and individual articles on the web about innovative and interesting business cards, everything from die cut cards in hundreds of different shapes, to cards on clear plastic, wood, even beef jerky.

Even non design based industries can benefit from a unique business card - a dentist's office with cards shaped like a tooth, or with dental floss embedded in the card, for instance. I've seen divorce lawyers with cards that are perforated in the middle and have the information on both halves of the card. Just about anyone can be creative with their business cards these days.

Of course, being creative just to be creative will shine through - overly gaudy or complicated cards will be ignored or discarded without a second thought. A neon green business card with purple lettering for anyone other than a graphic designer would probably be a bad idea. A business card that looks like a child designed and wrote it would be a bad idea for anyone other than a daycare provider.

With all of the blogs out there about business cards, good cards, bad cards, interesting cards, and everything else, its easy to get caught up in the storm of having unnecessarily customized cards. A font color change, or something as simple as a new graphic or text rewrite may be all that you needed. Especially if you're starting to follow the trend of using your email signature as a business card, or doing it any other electronic way.

Simple can be just as eye catching as complicated, provided either one is done right.

Looking For A Blog Sponsor? Try Uprinting.com

A little while ago, I was able to run a contest on my blog for a custom poster print. I became aware of uprinting.com because I myself won a contest on someone else's blog that was also sponsored by uprinting. I decided to join the team after checking out their products and seeing some of the things they do for the blogging community, regardless of who the blogger is, or the content of their blog.

Not only do bloggers get to give away things like posters, business cards, brochures and other printed items, but the bloggers themselves are often entered into contests for cash, free printed items, or other things. I have seen some of the finished products that Uprinting produces, and I am happy to have them as a sponsor of my blog. I am pleased to be able to give away products that meet my personal quality standards for use.

Uprinting itself can describe some of the things it does a lot better than I can, so they have produced the message below.

Why UPrinting.com isn't your average printing company:

Blog Sponsorships:
If you are looking to find a sponsor for your blog, UPrinting.com is definitely interested. We offer giveaways, advertising and more for qualified bloggers.

Non-Profit Sponsorships:
The U-Community Program sponsors hundreds of non-profits and education to improve our local communities.

Social Justice Projects:
The UPrinting Kiva account promotes small business growth in developing countries.

Green Printing:
UPrinting supports a sustainable future by recycling, using non-toxic inks, and offering eco-friendly recycled paper stocks for business cards and postcard printing.

Planned Obsolescense Is Not A Marketing Technique!

I've never really been inspired to write a blog entry so quickly after I hear something, but the newly released info on the new iPhone has inspired the heck out of me.

When I was in computer sales, I really was at a disadvantage - I knew too much. I knew that the printer that I sold that customer wouldn't be around in a couple years and stuff would have changed so much they would need to buy another one. I knew that the laptop that I sold the other customer would be in need of several upgrades, both internal and external within the next year or so. Mind you, I'm not stupid, I didn't turn any customers away, but I was honest with them, and many of them appreciated it.

What's that got to do with the iPhone? Technically, nothing. But a lot, at the same time. Its nothing in relation to the products themselves, even though an iphone is pretty much a computer in itself.

I hate that companies will make a product, knowing full well that within 6 months to a year or so, they'll be putting out another one that's bigger, smaller, faster, lighter, whatever, as long as its better. I hate that they'll make a huge deal out of it, like they made some sort of gigantor discovery that made the new one necessary. Its like you're calling your current customers suckers for daring to buy your product. "hey, remember that cool thingy you paid $499 for six months ago? You can now get it for $99, and this new one that's so much better than yours is now $399!!!! Don't you want to buy it? You know you do! Come buy it!!"

And people do. Just like people pay all the overcharges for concert tickets, and every other thing that the market will put out.

Look - I'm all for making money, shit, its what I do, I'm in sales. But the joy over making something new so quickly after making it in the first place has got to go. I'm all for letting me know that this or that product now does something else, or does what it did but better. But its not worth a major event.

I'm not going to tell you not to buy anything new, because that's not my point, and I'm not here to tell you what to do. Unless I end up working for AT&T, Cingular, or Apple, I'm not gonna fall for it. If you want to buy the new one, cool, do that. If you want to buy the new one and you just got the last one, just think about it, that's all.

Think.

Comment, too...I like comments.

In The Palm Of Your Hands

side note - the winner of the contest in my previous post will be revealed tomorrow.

Now, onto the main attraction. As a music fan, and a guy who will hit a live concert at just about any opportunity, I am fascinated by the rare breed of artist that can take the audience and put it in the palm of their hand, and basically play with it because they can. It really is a very small percentage of people that have that level of charisma and talent. It's scarily small when you take into consideration the millions of musicians and singers and such out there.

Is the same true for marketing/advertising, etc? Are there a very very small percentage of people that can take control of their audience and pretty much make them do as they please?

Yes.

The same kind of person that is a rarity in the entertainment world is just as rare in the marketing/advertising world. Sure, there are plenty of people who can do it good enough to get the job done, and people that are good enough at it to be among the top in the industry. But just like in the music industry, there is that extremely small percentage that transcend the marketing industry.

Is there an exact formula to it? I have no idea, if I did, I'd be rich as shit from selling said formula, and I'd be among the elite myself.

What do YOU think?

Thanks for reading...

Oddball Or Interesting Places For Promotional Material

I've always been a fan of finding new and interesting places to put advertising or marketing materials or logos and such. In fact, it was one of my duties when I interned for my local ampitheatre several years back - to assist the corporate sales team in coming up with ways to take advantage of unused space for advertising purposes.

I haven't seen much that really caught my eye or surprised me in quite some time, other than those that you see in articles around the internet that were for contests or what have you. Until this morning. I was depositing my unemployment check (yes, I'm unemployed. I'm not the only one) at my Webster Bank near my house. On the back of my receipt was an advertisement for discount tickets to a professional golf tournament that has been in Cromwell, CT for decades now, the former Greater Hartford Open, formerly sponsored by Canon, and most recently Buick.

All the needed information was present...the tournament name, dates and location, and the website to buy the tickets, along with the discount code, and a short bit of advertising copy.

Why had noone (that I am aware of) thought of this yet? Its freakin' brilliant! You have a captive audience, because everyone needs to use a bank for something or other fairly often these days. Why is it that only banks seem to advertise on their ATM slips? There's got to be plenty of related things that could be on the backs of those....fer chrissakes, grocery stores have advertisements on their receipts, that probably one person has ever used, especially since they have the seperate coupon printers nowadays.

What's your favorite random place you have ever seen an advertisement?

Thanks for reading.

Advertising within java/flash games

No, not product placement, that would be a huge waste of time. Nobody needs to see the Bloons monkey drinking a Coca Cola, or the tilty motorcycle actually be a Harley Davidson. I mean companies actually producing java games with their stuff in them.

I know a while back that Nabisco did a whole lot of childrens' style games with very little going on in any of them, and a large amount of product placement. This is a really unexplored thing, I believe. We're so concerned with viral videos, and getting our customer service departments on Twitter, that something like this is being left behind, for the most part.

With the one possible exception of Comedy Central, I suppose. Take a look at their website sometime. If you're at all familiar with any of their programming beyond the standup comedy specials, you will recognize a ton of stuff if you wander into their game section of their website.

Small companies...find a game developer that can do a java/flash game for you....even something as simple as a choose your own adventure or a madlib, if done well will bring you lots of traffic, and people will have fun, and remember you.

Thanks for reading...

Trust Only In Yourself

Especially in freelance work.

But, in general as well. Don't take someone's word over yours about something you've created just because they're more experienced than you, or a higher level than you, or any reason. If you have to strike out on your own, then do it, if its feasible. You are the one that knows what's best for you, what's best for your projects, and so on.

You are responsible for what goes out with your name on it, not anyone else...YOU. If you weren't, your name wouldn't be on the project. If you aren't happy with it, nobody is. Be prepared to defend yourself, even over the smallest things if necessary. If you develop a reputation as a pushover, you'll never make it where you want to make it to. You've got to be the one that's comfortable at the plate if you're going to get anywhere.

If this seems like obvious advice, it is. But so many people overlook the obvious, looking for the little things.

Thanks for reading!

No.

You're not good enough.

There, I said it. I'm not saying it to myself, I'm saying it to YOU. Hearing the word "no" sucks, because that's exactly what it means, in just about any situation in our marketing and advertising world...heck, in most of the world in general.

Does it make you mad that I just told you you aren't good enough? Yes? Good, now calm down and prove me wrong. No? Both good and bad; Good, because you don't take things that may be out of your control personally. Bad, because you may just not care. I'm going to assume you care for the rest of this post. You're welcome to stop reading if you don't care about hearing no, because chances are that you don't particularly want to hear what I have to say to begin with. Lets take a moment and let those people take off.

...


...


Okay, everybody that wants to be here, are you still reading? Good.

Let me start by taking what I said earlier back. You are good enough. You wouldn't be doing what you are doing if you weren't. Hearing "no" from a client you're trying to sell to, or from a client that asked you to design something, or from your boss who asked you to do a task for them is not the end of the world. Hearing "no" basically means "try again, do it better" for the most part. If you learn to not take "no" personally or learn how to harness your anger into productivity when you hear "no", you will be much better off than most.

The biggest effect that "no" can have on a person will actually extend OUT of the current project. If you only ever learn one thing from reading my blog, this is what you need to learn. A "no" on project 1 CANNOT affect project 2. You cannot let yourself be gun shy, or be hesitant to step out of the box on a separate project or idea because you were told "no" on something else. Separate projects may as well be in separate worlds, even if they are both to be presented to the same person! Someone who would hold something from one project over you during a completely separate project doesn't deserve to be in the place they are in, in the first place.

I'll admit it...sometimes a "no" can really hurt. There is not a universal cure or workaround for a "no". I wish there was, and I honestly wish someone was making a crapload of money selling that cure, because never having to even consider fearing rejection would be amazing.

Please don't attempt to avoid "no", because that will be even worse for you. Do what you have to do to be able to UNDERSTAND "no" and you're on your way to greatness, I promise.

Anyone have a good story about overcoming a "no"??

Thanks for reading...

Web 2.0 = Marketing 2.0??

For some reason, lately the need to classify things has been bouncing around in my head. Not trying to classify my own stuff in my house, but why its done. Of course, general classification is obviously and correctly used to differentiate things that for the most part are blatantly different, with small variation.

Animal. Vegetable. Mineral. Mammal. Fish. Arachnid. Whatever, they're for the most part useful.

But what is Web 2.0? What is new marketing? For that matter, what compromised Web 1.0? What exactly is included within traditional marketing? Who's traditions? Mine? Yours? Nostradamus? Bill Clinton? Dave Chappelle? Where do you draw the lines...is it really necessary to draw them?

No.

To concentrate on marketing for a moment...how do you know when to draw the line? Was it when the first spam email went out? Was it when the first banner ad was clicked on? Was it the first television commercial? Was it the first magazine ad? The line is useless....marketing is marketing is marketing. The music industry is full of the same bullshit...everything has to have a label to make it digestable to the latest and the greatest of whatever. Fuck it. Music is music is music. Its all music....leave it at the general classifications that you see in a record store. I don't need new this, or post that, or cross genre classifications. Its music. Get over it. Its marketing. ITS ALL THE SAME! The method of delivery is the difference. Since day one, marketing has been about getting your product or service in front of as many of the right people as often and as cheaply as possible without pissing them off. Thats what it is, thats what its been, and thats what it will always be.

Same with the internet. If you really want to get technical, Web 1.0 was the millitary defense network before any of the concepts of the internet beyond BBSs was even a thought in Al Gore's mind. Which would mean by classification of evolutionary ideas, we'd be on like Web 9.2 at this point. So why aren't we? Because the classification doesn't mean a damn thing. Its subjective, its made up to pigeonhole stuff, much like what I spoke about above. Its the internet. It has a wide variety of uses and has gone through a wide variety of generations...but its still the internet. No need to call it anything else...no more classifications needed. Just leave it alone.

What are your favorite useless classifications?

Thanks for reading...

Blast From The Past - Local Advertising

When I was younger, my favorite commercials were the local ones. You know, the ones with horrible production values, lousy scripts, and the store owner from down the street making an ass out of himself on camera in the name of another dollar. As a kid, I had a really odd sense of humor, and stuff like everyone's favorite liquor store owner, Connecticut's own Crazy Bruce, made me laugh my little head off. How can you not find this funny?



and we cannot forget the Tires Plus Wheels guy, another local legend.



There's always Bob of Bob's Discount Furniture, the guy that did the Ruby Vine Railroad Discount warehouse, or something like that...even today, Connecticut has Stephen Barbarino car dealers doing the low budget thing.

When I was little, they would make me laugh, and not knowing anything at all about advertising or marketing, had no idea that over twenty years later, I would still remember them and be writing a blog post about them. Looking back on them, it was very obvious that local businesses were willing to do just about anything they could to stand out from the national advertisers that got 99% of the advertising time on television. If they had to sing a stupid song, or a funny dance, or just make an idiot of themselves on TV to get noticed, they would do it.

There's really nothing like those ads on TV these days. There are very few businesses willing to do what it takes anymore, and that's a huge problem.

Where are you from and what were your favorite old horrible local commercials? I know you have some.

Thanks for reading...

When You Fail

It will happen. Everyone fails. Everyone drops the ball.

Obviously recovering will depend on what exactly failed, whether it was an entire campaign, or just a particular part of one. It may not even be your fault, or even your company or your product's fault. That failure may even lead to something good....revolutionary, even.

Think of how many things in marketing, advertising and even product packaging have evolved over the past.

The saying goes, that for every warning label you see, some idiot did what it says not to do. I hope you're not that idiot, but maybe we should thank those idiots.

What are your favorite failures and/or recoveries in marketing or advertising?

Thanks for reading...

Consumer Reaction

So.

I just saw the new commercial starring the Sham-Wow guy. The slap-chop.

I know the goal in advertising and marketing is to get a reaction from the customer and get them to remember your product. Sometimes it does seem like we remember the stupid commercials more than good ones, though. Commercials by their mere existance are annoying and interrupting what we tuned in for, but why is it that purposely annoying commercials get more of a reaction from consumers?

Although, if the commercial is so horrible that so many people remember how horrible it was and what product it was for...was it really a horrible commercial?

Thanks for reading...

What Do You Want?

That's what it's all about.

What do you want? It's that simple. There's too much emphasis these days on the opposite. I don't need to be told what I want, I know what it is. More marketing firms or individual advertisers would be doing a lot better if they took even a moment and asked their customers what they wanted.

Thanks for reading...

The Skill Of Luck

Do you think that every successful marketing or advertising campaign was the result of skill?

I don't. It's not possible.

Luck is a huge factor. HUGE. As an example, the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie...promotion went fine for months, and was relatively quiet...then they got lucky, and one town thought their blinking ads were bombs...and then EVERYONE knew about it.

Viral marketing...completely based on luck. Well, maybe not completely. Think about it. How stupid was Subservient Chicken? Completely. But by luck or by some other random factor, it caught on.

Got Milk? Lucky again. In the beginning it failed, miserably. But one endorser caught on, and they're still going today.

Luck is a huge factor in everything. Can you learn to be lucky? No. You can learn all kinds of things, but you cannot learn luck.

Think about your favorite commercial, or advertisement. Then take a moment and ask yourself if you honestly think that everybody that worked on it thought it was a good idea.

Thanks for reading...

Do The Opposite

An alternate title for this was "Do Your Worst", but it didn't really seem right to make it seem like I was going to deliberately tell you that sucking is a good idea.

Do the opposite, start from the end, reverse engineer...these all mean the same thing. These ideas are usually used in cases of failure, so you can see what it was in the chain that caused the failure. Its also a good way to figure out your competitors and how they do what they do. Have you ever seen something that's made you say "How'd they do that?" That is a case that you should take on in reverse, see what they did that got them to the end.

Another way to use reverse engineering is to start at the end of a project you haven't even started yet.

Wait, what? Start at the end, when I don't even have a beginning?

Yes. You already have an end...your client has told you what they want. Take what they want and work backwards. You know how things are supposed to turn out in the end...see how you can take the end and trace backwards to the beginning. It will help you gain a fresh perspective on everything.

Objectivity

One of the hardest things to do in marketing is to remain objective. You cannot only have projects that are targeted to people who are the same as you. You will have to create campaigns or individual advertisements that you do not personally like. Chances are you aren't supposed to like them, because they aren't aimed towards you. You can and should be proud that you created it, but that doesn't mean the advertisement will work on you.

The Importance Of Being First

In athletics and in other kinds of competitions, when something is first, it is generally declared "best". Gold Medal winners, Super Bowl Champions, World Series Champions, etc. They did what they do better than anyone else, came in first, and were declared best.

The business world is nothing like that. First does not automatically mean best. Honestly, it rarely means best. Being first can get you the notoriety, but it won't necessarily be because you are the best. In our world, first and best are mutually exclusive. In fact, since people have no attention span anymore, the best is constantly changing, and needs to be quantified any number of ways at any given time.

I'm not even sure that marketers or advertisers really care about being "first". R&D or Product Management obviously has a different idea, and in the mind of positions like that, first on the market (possibly even ONLY) can automatically determine "best". Marketing strategy rarely takes into account being "first" unless the person creating the strategy is instructed that they must do so. This is really more relevant in packaging design, in my opinion.

Why not publicize or be proud of being first. When I interned for the head of Corporate Sales for a Clear Channel concert venue, one of the things she was responsible for was coming up with new ideas for advertising space in or around the venue. When she/I/we/anyone came up with a new idea, we were proud of that idea, even if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Why aren't the first people to come up with a new way of marketing or advertising something blatantly proud of that? Why don't I know the name of the guy who perfected banner ads...or the guy at Google who perfected googleads...or something like that. If I wanted to, I could probably find the first person to do just about anything, and maybe even the person who is best at that same activity. Why not marketing or advertising?

Thanks for listening...