When I first started my online radio show, “Magnificent Time,” my first goal was to share my message of empowerment with a broader audience. What I didn’t realize at the time is that the power of a podcast goes well beyond broadcasting. That’s why I was thrilled to welcome to…
As a challenger brand in a highly competitive category, learn how Sprout Organic Foods differentiates itself through superior millennial shopper understanding and applies these learnings to retail excellence.
Momentum Worldwide’s SVP Shopper and Retail Marketing Practice Lead NA Laura Moser and VP Global Director Shaun Brown discussed new market dynamics and how stores can become innovation centers for the decision-making support shoppers want.
If you’re being disturbed day and night with unwanted robocalls, you’re certainly not alone. The YouMail National Robocall Index estimates that over 14 billion computer generated phone calls have been placed so far this year in the U.S. What can you do about them? Wall Street Journal tech reporter, Joanna Stern, has this piece of advice:
“When robots call, don’t answer. Experts from the FTC and Federal Communications Commission told me that letting the systems know you’re a real person may get your number placed on a more valuable list of confirmed live humans. If you don’t recognize an incoming number, let it go to voice mail. If you pick up then realize it’s a robocall, just hang up.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal 06/28/2016
The post How to Stop Robocalls… or at Least Fight Back appeared first on The Good For You Network.
Stop, look up from your phone, and look at the world around you: everyone is staring at theirs. And while Pokémon GO users are traversing cities to catch Pokémon, advertisers want to catch a little of that Pokémon magic. Brands and local businesses are already recognizing the consumer engagement potential associated with Pokémon GO. In this webinar, attendees discovered how the app uses real-time location data to create an augmented reality for users to catch Pokémon in their own homes and in public places like libraries, concert halls, gyms, parks and sidewalks.
Just as doctors are said to make the worst patients, so it can also be said of most advertising agencies, PR firms, and the like.
They are called upon to diagnose and prescribe the most effective marketing treatments for their clients, but will fail to recognize those same symptoms in themselves. It is one of the greatest ironies in the communications business: the masters of communication are, very often, poor communicators about their own businesses. And to make matters worse, the business they call home is in shark-infested waters rife with competitors.
Having swum in those waters for most of my career (and I’ve got the bite marks to prove it, mind you) I attest you can place most agency communication shortcomings into three buckets: Authenticity, Differentiation and Focus. Building a professional services brand is challenging enough, to be sure. But the ad agency business is on its own level of high resistance. Here’s a brief look at some of the hardest challenges for any agency, large or small, to overcome.
1. Agency Brand Authenticity
In a business that gets paid for only telling the positive things about its client’s brand (unless compelled to do otherwise by virtue of government mandate) this seems a little counter-intuitive. However, many agencies today have an authenticity problem. Yours does too if:
When you select a supplier for your agency; do you not expect authenticity from them? Many agency/client relationships, through mandatory audit as a contractual condition, are compelled to be truthful or risk losing the account. But in the vast majority of other agency/client dealings, bending the truth can occur, and makes clients suspicious, strains business relationships, and weakens the partnership bond over time. And for the ad agency’s own brand, habitual obfuscation, exaggeration, or misrepresentation is more than poor business form, it’s a grave threat when exposed.
2. Agency Brand Differentiation
We’ve all been there, waiting for our turn to pitch. Across the hall, the competition waits, too. And then there’s the team after that. Everyone looks more or less the same. The scene is symbolic of the challenge, in the broader sense, for your agency’s brand to differentiate, and thereby stand out, above and beyond, the other competitors in the marketplace. Ad agencies are great at emphasizing brand differentiation to clients, though many are ineffective at differentiating themselves. They seek to stress brand differentiation by virtue of their latest campaigns, awards, client wins, etc. They speak of process and systems for this or that. And finally, they wrap it all up in a very creative package…and then they lose the pitch.
True brand differentiation takes the shape of value only your agency can own. This value is strategically defined and then validated through this filter:
To be competitive, differentiation in an over-crowded industry is not optional. But it will most likely stay on our list because it’s easier to fall in line than to stand out.
3. Agency Brand Focus
Closely related to brand differentiation is brand focus; another common shortcoming for agencies. This is a niche brand strategy that many ad agencies have chosen to ignore for the sake of business expediency in the majority of cases. And once again, agencies ignore the advice they give their clients. A widespread example is when an ad agency adds other communication disciplines such as digital, public relations or package design to their menu. It is true we are in an age of “integrated communications,” and ad agencies are in a unique position to be the client’s “general contractor,” orchestrating and taking the lead for the team of marketing specialists on the account, without becoming a jack-of-all-trades themselves.
Lack of focus and specialization, whether by discipline, category or industry, dilutes the strength of the agency brand by diminishing its assumed leadership expertise. For ad agencies, shrinking media revenues and tighter commissions, among other factors, brought much of this about. With the “Mad Men” days (as well as those full commissions) long gone, agencies sought to diversify and to even distance themselves from the label “agency.” Nevertheless, “one stop shopping” may yield customer convenience, but not the expertise of a specialist – a requirement of client brands today.
Looking Beyond A Surface Remedy
Agency brand issues of authenticity, differentiation and focus can’t be addressed with a new logo or a website refresh. These are issues that are at the core of the agency’s integrity, its ability to secure new business, attract and retain talented creatives and to build its reputation. In short, it’s all about the brand. How often has it been said that “the cobbler’s children have no shoes,” yet there are many ad agencies that are struggling or failing to reach their full potential for that very reason. Authenticity, differentiation and focus are the starting point for a serious workshop about Brand Insistence for your agency. Email The Blake Project to find out more about how we help agencies differentiate.
Digging Deeper
See the following articles for additional insights on this topic.
The Blake Project can help you differentiate your agency brand. Email us to find out more.
Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education
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By Alice Korngold, Co-Editor, Giving Thoughts Blog, and Author, A Better World, Inc.: How Companies Profit By Solving Global Problems… Where Governments Cannot Building successful communities with high employment, quality education and healthcare for all, and vibrant social services and cultural offerings are in the best interest of society and business. This coming November, we […]
Yet another reminder of the vulnerability of our electric grid. Rebecca Smith, energy reporter for The Wall Street Journal:
writes:
“The U.S. electric system is in danger of widespread blackouts lasting days, weeks or longer through the destruction of sensitive hard-to-replace equipment; Yet records are so spotty that no government agency can offer an accurate tally of sub-station attacks, whether for vandalism, theft or more nefarious purposes.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal 07/14/2016
The post Grid Attack: How America Could Go Dark appeared first on The Good For You Network.
Learn about the latest technology and discover the new cutting-edge ways that brands and retailers are connecting and engaging with shoppers.
Bi-coastal production company m ss ng p eces brings a wide array of cultures to the table for Google Translate, illustrating that food is a universal language. Director Josh Nussbaum’s colorful and sensual short, #EveryoneSpeaksFood, captures the journey of Small World, Google Translate’s free pop up restaurant in New York.
m ss ng p eces conceived the pop up restaurant idea with Google, designed all branding components, and produced every aspect of the experience, telling the vibrant story of the experiential event in the #EveryoneSpeaksFood film. The project was helmed by PARTY Executive Creative Director Masa Kawamura, who had recently joined the m ss ng p eces roster. Executive Producer Kate Oppenheim explained the impetus for the campaign, “Everyone Speaks Food is an idea that celebrates the connections that we build over a meal and the richness of food cultures around in the world. We were inspired by the way that Google Translate creates functional and personal connects between people everywhere.”
When Google approached the production company, the brief was starkly simple: create an experience that celebrates Google Translate’s ability to bridge cultural divides. Cam Luby, head of the cultural activations for Google’s brand marketing explains, “There is something very unique in how Google Translate can break down cultural barriers. Behind best-in-class AI is a very simple product that addresses one of the biggest obstacles to universal understanding: language. We wanted to demonstrate this to people in a simple and relatable way. The culinary metaphor was the perfect stage to demonstrate the role of our technology”.
The resulting #EveryoneSpeaksFood campaign was a multi-faceted event experience which goes far beyond the tasks normally performed by a production company. Creativity was deployed on all elements of guest interactivity and engagement, and event details no matter how small, including the menu, decor, posters, the website and a globally inspired playlist. There was even a very special (and very popular) Small World donut cart, which distributed over 30,000 donuts to passing New Yorkers and prompted millions of organic social media impressions through Instagram, and custom Snapchat geo-filters.
Highlighting tasty dishes inspired by dozens of global cultures, artfully prepared by a cadre of 18 acclaimed chefs, the film piques interest in a pop up café featuring menus in multiple languages (necessitating diner’s use of Google Translate), and meals incorporating dishes from cuisines as far flung as Israel, Korea, Italy, Sweden and Ireland. The surprise and delight diners experience during this ‘very tasty experiment’ in New York City are all fodder for Nussbaum’s 2:44 film, which places the viewer right at the flavorful heart of the pop up.
Creative Credits:
Client: Google
Production Company: m ss ng p eces
Executive Producer, partner: Kate Oppenheim, Ari Kuschnir, Brian Latt
Director: Josh Nussbaum
Executive Creative Director, PARTY: Masahi Kamamura
Creative Director, PARTY: Jamie Carreiro
Head of production, partner: Dave Saltzman
Project Management Director: Brian Mitchell
Art Director: David Trumpf
Art Producer: Kari Anderson
Project Management Supervisor: Sara’o Berry, Kathryn Berk
Project Management Coordinator: Jonathan Figueroa, Zachary Kislevitz
Copywriter: Gideon Jacobs, Cassie Marketos
Designer: Jordan Bruner, Costa Damaskos, Stephane Rodriguez
Campaign Video Line Producer: Mike Prall
Campaign Video Production Manager: Jason Reif
Google
Head of Google Brand Creative: Michael Tabtabai
Head of Cultural activations: Cameron Luby
Marketing Manager, Google Brand: Ben Quesnel
Marketing Manager, Google Translate: Jesse Friedman
Head of Brand and Reputation, Events & Experiences: Michelle Rosen Sapir
Brand Marketing Manager: Kyle Gray
Marketing Manager, Social Lab: Jane Hall
Events Marketing Manager: Katrina Lau, Melissa Luu, Lorin Pollack
Brand Marketing Manager: Tracy Hepler
Communications Manager: Evan Barbour, Kara Berman
MP Shift
Co-Founder, The MP Shift: Amy Morris, Anna Polonsky
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*reSET is the only Connecticut organization to receive the U.S. Small Business Administration for the Growth Accelerator Competition Award, announced by President Obama on August 4th, 2015.
