Advertising Fuelosophy 101

Cool Things You May Not Know About Thanksgiving

Most of us know that Thanksgiving is a special holiday in the United States. But have we ever stopped to wonder why? This morning as I sit at my desk this curiosity hit me and I did a little research. Here's some pretty interesting things about Thanksgiving:

1. In 1621, the first Thanksgiving was to give thanks and recognize the help the Indians had given to the pilgrims. The food included turkeys, geese, ducks, venison, cod, bass, corn, barley, and corn bread. From what is known from popular Thanksgiving history, there were games, races and demonstrations of skills with bows, arrows, and muskets. This celebration was a one-time event (it wasn’t repeated a year later).
2. The first Thanksgiving lasted for three days.
3. Several people wanted to have an official day of thanksgiving, including George Washington, who proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789. Several people did not want it including President Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson thought the concept of Thanksgiving was "the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard."
4. Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor, campaigned to make Thanksgiving a National Holiday in 1827. Her strong and obsessive efforts paid off, and around the end of 1863, President Lincoln, proclaimed a “day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father” – the last Thursday in November.
5. In 1939, President Roosevelt moved the date a week later. He wanted to make a longer Christmas season for the retail industry (there were those who were against the break of tradition; this change was thought to give merchants more time to sell goods before Christmas, and as Roosevelt hoped would help bring the country out of the Depression).
6. In 1941, Congress changed the holiday permanently to the 4th Thursday of November.
7. Turkey is the traditional dish for the Thanksgiving feast. In the US, about 280 million turkeys are sold for the Thanksgiving celebrations. There is no official reason or declaration for the use of turkey. They just happened to be the most plentiful meat available at the time of the first Thanksgiving in 1621, starting the tradition.
8. Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be our national bird.
9. According the Guinness Book of World Records the heaviest turkey ever raised weighed in at 86 pounds – about the size of a German Shepherd.
10. The Pilgrims didn’t serve Pumpkin Pie in 1621 … it is a fairly modern addition to the tradition of Thanksgiving.
11. The Detroit Lions started the traditional Thanksgiving Day Football game in 1934.
12. Last but not least, the average person consumes 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving Day.

To all, please enjoy Thanksgiving with your loved ones. In spite, of all the difficulty the economic climate has brought in 2009, there are small victories and opportunities to be thankful. Remember, during the harsh winter of 1621, almost half of the original colonists lost their lives. Yet in the Fall, they celebrated survival! That's my thought, what's yours?

Much thanks to the following sites for the above facts: http://www.coolest-holiday-parties.com/thanksgiving-history.html and http://www.thanksgivingnovember.com/thanksgiving-facts.html

Hey Friend, Did You Just Tweet Me an Ad?

In an article published today in the New York Times, I read about a whole new wave of opportunity for those on Twitter who have larger followings ... send your friends and followers an advertisement. Yes, you can now make a little money sending tweets to your followers that is actually an ad from an advertiser.

It appears that a growing group of celebrities, bloggers and regular Internet users are allowing advertisers to send commercial messages to their personal contacts. As the article reported, "It is perhaps the last frontier in advertising — getting regular people to send a sentence or two of text, on behalf of paying advertisers, to their friends and admirers. The idea, according to the entrepreneurs who are developing such services for Twitter and other Web networks, is that people trust recommendations from those they know and respect, while they increasingly ignore nearly ever other kind of ad message in print, on television and online."

Some of the brand new companies propping up to take advantage of this next wave of advertising distribution are Ad.ly, Izea, Likes.com (set to launch on December 8, 2009) and Peer2. In addition, the article reported, "Even the Internet giants are warming to the idea of harnessing informal chats between friends to promote their products and services. This month, Amazon.com said it would start paying commissions to individuals who refer buyers to the site via Twitter messages."

The goal of each of these companies is to get regular people who have a following to become spokespeople, without feeling like one. As Joey Caroni (co-founder of Peer2) states, “We don’t want to create an army of spammers, and we are not trying to turn Facebook and Twitter into one giant spam network. All we are trying to do is get consumers to become marketers for us.” I don't know how you feel, but it sure sounds a little like spam to me.

What really gets these new companies excited is the opportunity to connect less notable Internet personalities with the huge pool of smaller advertisers. The example given in the article was an expert on cycling, with 1,000 Twitter followers, might agree to send an ad about a new bike helmet — a message that might well be implicitly trusted by his followers. In a recent Google ad, Ad.ly is soliciting people to "tweet cool stuff and get paid."

For me this push by advertisers and this new crop of advertising companies takes away the authenticity of a product or service you really do like and want the world to know about. When you are solicited to tweet and get paid, it is very difficult to know that product, use that product, love that product and write about it. This new stream of advertising perpetuates the traditional way of doing business -- volume of intrusion (send out an advertising message to lots of people and most likely some of it will stick) -- except it now wears the latest wave of technology. Instead I like the idea of an product or service provider really earning their value and endorsement.

Unfortunately, now I wonder if I can trust my friends and those I'm following when it comes to telling me about the newest, latest, coolest thing? That's my thought, what's yours?

Where Do Americans Find Comfort in a Recession?

It appears that in these tough economic times Americans are finding comfort in some simple pleasures. According to the latest American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) released November 17, 2009, we like our candy and beer. I guess it is either drown or eat away our sorrows.

The quarterly report, which measures customer satisfaction across 10 economic sectors, found that satisfaction was particularly high among beer and candy companies.

The report uses a 100 point scale to indicate overall satisfaction people have with companies and their products. In a press release from ACSI, overall satisfaction with food companies remains unchanged at 83. Chocolate makers Mars, Hershey and Nestle are in the top 10 for customer satisfaction. And each company increased their satisfaction index: Hershey (87) and Nestle (85) increased 2% from last year’s totals, and Mars (87) gained 1%. The top food brand is Heinz (89), with Quaker (87), Kellogg’s (85) and Sara Lee (85) scoring well. Nothing like a little snack food, especially chocolate, to make us feel better.

In addition, Americans gave beer manufacturers the highest satisfaction rankings in ACSI history. The beer manufacturers reached a score of 84 improving over 1% from 2008 rankings. The top companies include Anheuser-Busch (85) and Miller (83), which grew 4% and 1% respectively. So, is beer now considered a comfort food or should I say drink?

Well, I wish we could find more than food and drink to make us feel better, but simple pleasures do make life enjoyable for a fleeting moment. I just keep hoping for comfort that doesn't make me gain weight, crave more or feel guilty when done. That's my thought, what's yours.

If you would like to see a complete listing of companies and their scores in the American Consumer Satisfaction Index click here.

You Can Laugh at Your Unemployment Worries If You Follow These Guidelines

When it comes to this post you need to know I didn't write the headline or the content that is about to follow. In fact, I'm posting this content because of the friends and colleagues who are unemployed or under-employed. When I read through the article on the American Express Small Business website, I felt it contained some great food-for-thought to help in shape a new-me mentality.

The synopsis of the article contains five guidelines:

1. Action is the engine of credibility.
2. Attitude is the nucleus of achievement.
3. Conformity is the stop sign of genius.
4. Consistency is the curriculum of greatness.
5. Discomfort is the oxygen of growth.

Click here and you can read the article in its entirety with an explanation of each guideline. I trust there is a little something to be gained for those who choose to read. That's my thought, what's yours?

Who Can We Trust?

When I was growing up life sure seemed a lot easier. I could watch three main channels, newspapers were the main source of news, we wrote letters or made telephone calls from our homes/business lines, and we could spend vacations undisturbed. We gathered our information about companies and anything else through the tried and true providers of information like television, newspaper, radio, magazines, etc. It was truly a broadcast and print world where companies published, reporters reported, and we trusted.

Oh, how things have changed today, it seems the trust factor has really taken a hit. Companies still publish, reporters still report, but we no longer trust. At least, that's the conclusion of a study conducted by Edelman Public Relations and their research firm StrategyOne, titled "The 2009 Edelman Trust Barometer."

According to their study, there has been a major fall from grace for business. And to make matters worse, the CEO as a reliable purveyor of information has hit an all time low. It's a double whammy. We don't trust companies to do what is right and we don't believe CEO's are reliable communicators. You can read the full study here.

As a business person my first thought is, "what can business do to regain trust?" As I read through the study one piece of information stood out to me, which was the listing of credibility, in other words, who can you trust to put out truthful information. The top three answers are industry reports, business articles and a network of friends and peers. To my surprise in this age of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others I was expecting the personal/social networks to get the top spot.

The study suggested that people today need multiple methods/sources of information. And the more sources, the more credible. The statistics cited claim we need to hear information about a company three to five times before we believe it to be credible. The take-away is that a company needs to utilize multiple channels and spokespersons to improve its chances for believability and acceptance.

In the end the conclusion of the study made a broad-based statement that the essence of rebuilding trust was for companies to "say--and do as they say." Now that's an interesting idea and it I think I've heard this before ... let me see ... oh, right ... "but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation." Now this study was written in the first century (several hundred years ago) and I guess it still holds true, truth is the best possible source of credibility. Well, the more things change, the more things stay the same. That's my thought, what's yours.

The Top Ten Most-Liked Ads This Month

The following chart was published by Advertising Age listing the top 10 new ads that people like. It is interesting to see what type of ads are making an impact on people right now. From my perspective, many of these ads don't hit the like-ability scale. But, hey, the Toyota spot pushed a button for me ... well done on the not-so-subliminal messaging ... it makes a point without saying it. Any thoughts from your perspective on this list? That's my thought, what's yours.

NIELSEN IAG TOP 10 MOST-LIKED NEW ADS Sept. 21 to Oct. 18, 2009
TOP MOST-LIKED SPOT Actress and uber-sports-fan Alyssa Milano is also a clothing designer of team-branded sportswear for female fans. The spot for the NFL Touch Women's Fashion Collection starring its designer was the commercial most liked by viewers during the last month.
Rank	Brand	Description	Index
1	NFL	NFL Touch Women's Fashion Collection--Alyssa Milano wears team apparel and is shown flipping hair in slow motion.	181
2	Toyota	Little boy disapproves using basic car wash; father chooses ultimate wash instead; some day, this Camry could be his.	173
3	McDonald's	Every October, real people win real money playing Monopoly; woman shown playing on laptop.	145
4	Wendy's	Bacon Deluxe--Coworkers leap, run, and crash through window to get to a burger an employee just left.	144
5	Wonderful Pistachios	Beauty pageant contestant endorses cracking pistachio shells to help Americans build a better future.	144
6	Samsung	DualView Camera--British Royal Guard takes camera from woman and snaps a photo, before a gorilla takes the camera.	142
7	Disney Parks	Miss Piggy dreams about a date with man at a Disney park; give a day of service and get a one-day ticket.	141
8	Michelin	Michelin Man throws fuel efficient tires at an evil gas pump to save town; save up to 109 gallons of fuel.	140
9	Disney Parks	Muppets help out at a construction site; Miss Piggy bumps her head and another gets an electrical shock.	140
10	MasterCard	Little girl reads books while eating cereal before spilling milk; remembering to take it one day at a time: priceless.	130
Source: Nielsen IAG (NielsenIAG.com) Only new ad executions considered, airing weeks of September 21, 2009 to October 18, 2009. The Likeability Score is the percentage of TV viewers who report to like "a lot" an ad they were exposed to during the normal course of viewing TV (among those recalling the brand of the ad). These scores are then indexed against the mean score for all new ads during the period (Likeability Index). 100 equals average. For example, with a Likeability index of 181 the top ranked NFL spot has proven to be 80% better-liked than the average new commercial during the past four-week period.

Looking for Holiday Deals Online ... Try These Sites

As Black Friday and Cyber Monday draw near, there are a number of new online websites and tools to help you locate bargains this Holiday season. According to MarketingVox the following are some examples of sites ready to help you find the best deals:

1. Dealnews.com -- also offers an iPhone App to track Black Friday offers and includes deals that have both been leaked and confirmed.
2. BlackFriday.org -- this site tracks rumored deals, tips from other shoppers and Twitter.
3. BlackFriday.GottaDeal.Com -- also posts advance copies of holiday sales circulars, online deals and in-store specials.
4. CheapTweet.com -- focuses specifically on mining deals posted on Twitter and offers ongoing, updated lists of national retailers' offers.
5. RetailMeNot.com -- serves up coupons, discounts and promotional codes for merchandise, groceries, travel and services and launched a page for this holiday shopping season that will aggregate Black-Friday and Cyber Monday coupons, deals and promotions. It also features a live Twitter feed.

Well, happy hunting bargain shoppers and let the clicking begin. That's my thought, what's yours?

Does My Opinion Really Matter?

Recently, I received a request to review a new book on marketing. The request was short, polite and to the point. The author would like to share a copy of his latest book and then have me consider writing a review about it on this blog.

The request came with no strings attached ... no commitment to write a blog on it ... no leading to write only if I like the book or have a positive opinion ... just consider it. Now I knew once I said "sure send me the book" it had a built in commitment. The effect of human nature always seems to kick in, give us something free then our guilt says we need to comply with what is expected. The minute I said yes, was the minute the guilt of commitment association became true. My human nature says, "I took the book, now write the blog." This has been an effective marketing tactic for as long as the art of human persuasion has existed. And who can go against the power of human nature.

I guess the previous paragraph is a long introduction into the fact that in the next few weeks I will be posting a book review. And the ironic thing is that I don't do book reviews very often. I prefer to stay within my comfort zone of passing on relevant marketing/advertising information or commenting on the latest advertising or just having a little fun in this evolving world of communication.

I'm in the process of reading the book right now and hope to finish in the next couple of weeks. And to be true to myself, if I think the book is mere words without any real substance or if it is truly an evolutionary book in thought leadership for the future of advertising, I'll write it appropriately. However, in the end I wonder if my opinion really matters, but if you ask, I'll give you a truthful perspective.

By the way, the title of the book is "The Next Evolution of Marketing: Connect with your Customers by Marketing with Meaning." And kudos to the publicity team for using the old trick of give them something free and they'll do what you want. But perhaps that old trick is now called "connecting." That's my thought, what's yours?

New Site ... It's Hulu for Children

Cookie Jar Entertainment launched a new website called Jaroo on November 3, 2009 as a Hulu-type site for children. Jaroo launches with 50 TV series and 500 episodes, though it is digitizing its library of 6,000 episodes to ensure fairly rapid growth, said Ken Locker, svp, digital media.

Like Hulu, the Web site features TV shows that can be watched for free. Each 22-minute episode contains up to 90 seconds of commercials that cannot be skipped. The site's content including the commercials, is aimed at children ages 4-12.

All Jaroo programming is available on-demand 24/7. Programming schedules are updated weekly. For a complete listing of shows available click here.

Jaroo's shows include the animated 1980s series Inspector Gadget, featuring the voice of Don Adams, along with Johnny Test, Madeline, Cake and Ripley's Believe It or Not! Plus, Jaroo will be the U.S. home of Mona the Vampire, a cartoon that has been popular in Canada and Great Britain but hasn't aired stateside.

"With kids ages 2 to 11 spending 63% more time online than they did just four years ago (from 7 to 11 hours per month) according to Nielsen NetView, Jaroo.com was created to be a fun online destination committed to providing kids, parents and fans with safe quality programming without the worry of unwholesome content or unsightly ads," Locker added.

I don't have children in the target age group any longer, but I'm curious on the viability of the site. I would love to hear the thoughts of parents regarding Jaroo. That's my thought, what's yours?

Want a Deal this Holiday Season ... Go Social.

The uncertainty of the economy is affecting more than just the American consumer's mindset, it's affecting how retailers are reaching out to fickle consumers. This is especially true for online retailers. And, guess what, we win, but you might want to shop early!

According to Shop.org’s eHoliday Study, released on October 22, 2009, conducted by BIGresearch, shoppers will see changes in retail marketing and promotions this holiday season

With an understanding that many of today’s shoppers use Facebook and Twitter regularly, and because these tools are more cost-effective than traditional advertising, 47.1 percent of retailers surveyed will be increasing their use of social media this holiday season. More than half of retailers said they have added or improved their Facebook page (60.3%) and Twitter pages (58.7%) this year, while two-thirds (65.6%) have added or enhanced blogs and RSS feeds. In addition, to provide consumers with an extra incentive to start shopping, one-third of retailers (34.3%) say they will offer holiday deals earlier this year.

The social media sites give the consumer a valuable source of information regarding price comparisons, product reviews and other information to find great gifts at great deals.

In addition, free shipping offers will abound this holiday season:

• 79.4% of online retailers will offer free shipping with conditions sometime during the holiday season
• 57.4% also plan to offer free shipping without conditions
• 35.7% said their budgets for free shipping are higher than last year
• 30.0% said free shipping offers will start earlier than a year ago.

Scott Silverman, Executive Director of Shop.org, says "Retailers... have created promotions and incentives to help Americans save money this holiday season... combining new initiatives with tried-and-true tactics to make their companies stand out."

Finally, online retailers are also compensating for the economy by making operational changes to help them protect their profits. According to the survey, 41.4% of retailers have scaled back on inventory levels and 22.9% have hired fewer people in their stores.

Here's the lowdown based on this study, deals won't be hard to find ... people want the deal because they plan to spend less overall ... inventories are lower ... many are already shopping/comparing ... when the deal is done, it's really done. So Mr./Ms. Gift Giver this is the year of the early bird because you still get the deal and don't lose the gift that someone special really wants. That's my thought, what's yours?

Steal Your Own Identity!

I recently read in Fortune Small Business (November 2009 edition) about a software that sniffs out personal information before hackers can get to it. It's called Identity Finder and self-hacks your computer for sensitive information. Once it sniffs out this sensitive information, the software lets you decide whether to eliminate it or encrypt it to protect yourself.

This software application was developed by Todd Feinman, the former director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, who was paid to test corporate security systems. His success rate in breaching employee computers was 80%. And each time, he found the same gold mine of data -- social security and credit card numbers, direct deposit bank account data, addresses and passwords. Feinman states, "No matter which computers we broke into, there was an unbelievable amount of personal information on them."

In their 2009 Identity Fraud Survey Report, Javelin Strategy (a research firm that conducts in-depth studies regarding risk and opportunities for financial services companies) reported the number of identity fraud victims has increased 22 percent to 9.9 million adults in the United States. It is expected that the total value of stolen personal data will hit $1.6 billion. It is numbers like these that inspired Feinman to create a software that lets you hack into your own computer, mimicking what identity thieves would do and alert you to the presence of vulnerable data on your hard drive.

Identity Finder is available for both the Mac and PC platforms for home and personal use as well as business and enterprise use. The business and enterprise version complies with 201 CMR 17, FERPA, HIPPAA, Red Flag Rules and other privacy regulatory requirements.

For the individual user the PC version has a Free Edition. However the Mac version costs $9.99 per license (each license allows you to install Identity Finder on one single personal computer and use it for a single year.)

It's a bummer that the Mac version comes with a price tag since all of my home computers are Mac. I would like to hear what the PC users think since you have the opportunity for a free trial. It sure seems that Identity Finder is a valuable addition to the security of any computer system. Let me know what you think.

iPhone versus Droid ... Does Anyone Really Care?

In my last post, "Do You Love Your iPhone?" a mention was made about the recent advertising campaign for the new Motorola Droid and its direct attack on the iPhone. If you are one of the few who hasn't seen the commercial, here it is...

As you might expect united Apple iPhone users responded in kind. And just in case you haven't seen it, here's their response...

Finally, the aficionado's of iPhone have been busy at work measuring the validity of the Droid advertising. Here's a glimpse of what I found on another site:

What Verizon put together contains blatant inaccuracies:

• iDon’t have a real keyboard: Er, it does. Not to get all Spock, but nothing unreal exists, the iPhone’s keyboard exists, therefore it’s real. Sure, it’s soft/virtual (like the Verizon BlackBerry Storm2’s) rather than hard, but it’s certainly not imaginary.
• iDon’t run simultaneous apps: Again, it does. The iPhone can run iPod, Email, Phone, Messages, App Store/iTunes downloads, Quicktime streams, and other functions in the background with full multitasking. Apple restricts two or more 3rd party apps from running at the same time, but that’s obviously too subtle a difference for Verizon.
• iDon’t take night shots: Well, we guess they mean the camera’s ISO doesn’t produce good results in low light. Fair point. Arguably nothing short of a really good DSLR sensor does, tiny LED flash included. Though 5 megapixels is still nice.
• iDon’t allow open development. Really, Verizon, with your history, you want to play that card? Android is an about face for you, not a two-face. We’ll wait and see on this one.
• iDon’t customize. Okay, fair point. One out of how many so far? UPDATE: Shawn Roberts points out it remains to be seen how customizable the Droid is. If it’s just re-arranging icons, the iPhone can do that too.
• iDon’t run widgets. What’s a widget? Arguably iPhone Stocks and Weather are widgets not far removed from Mac OS X’s Dashboard counter-parts. We’re guessing they mean little, persistent on-screen information snippets. We’ll give them a second point for that.
• iDon’t have a removable battery. Third point. Apple’s driven away from that entire concept towards longer life, built-in batteries and external charging packs. If that’s something you can’t stand, fair enough.

Do you think the Droid will be the first iPhone killer? Verizon is putting all of its muscle behind this phone and to the best of my knowledge they are the largest wireless carrier to support an Android-based phone (Google must be smiling). Any prophets among us? I'm interested in your feedback. That's my thought, what's yours?

Do You Love Your iPhone?

Love your iPhone? You’re not alone. The iPhone has the most loyal customers of any brand according to the Brand Keys 2009 Loyalty Leader rankings.

In fact, six wireless handset brands in all fell within the top 30 of the Loyalty Leader rankings. The findings were culled from a poll of 26,000 people via the phone and in-person in September. The rankings were based on whether consumers felt the brands they used met or exceeded their expectations. For handsets, those criteria were connectivity and performance, product design, good value for the money, and applications and features.

If you're wondering why consumers have become so fiercely loyal to their mobile phones, Roger Entner, head of telecom research at The Nielsen Co., offered the following thought, “They are an integral part of us by now. Like underwear, people always have their wireless devices with them, plus, they are personalized and are not a commodity by any stretch of the imagination like a hotel room."

I must admit, I really do love my iPhone. I made the switch in 2008 and haven't look back. I've tried other pda mobile phones, but nothing compares to the enjoyment of my iPhone. It has made my life so much easier with its features, functionality and ease of use. I can honestly agree with Mr. Entner it's always with me just like my underwear ... sorry tmi.

So this has been a great year so far for Apple. While many companies are still feeling the effects of the "Great Recession," Apple has reached record sales in both computers and iPhones. Their stock prices soared. It's kudos to a company whose share of market is less than 10% in both computers and mobile phones. From all the telltale signs, this company has a fantastic upside in its future.

Finally, I guess that's why Motorola and its new Droid are taking a direct aim at the iPhone (sorry, Blackberry and Samsung you don't rank). I'll save my take on that advertising for my next post. Well ... iPhone lovers take heart, your brand is way cooler than an Aston Martin. That's my thought, what's yours.

Does Twitter Help You Stay Connected and Current?

Recently the research firm, Chitika released a study on what links are Twitterers actually clicking on. The firm recently broke down a sample of users from their network to see what Twitter users want.

By categorizing the sites that get links from Twitter, Chitika determined that the thing that Twitterers want the most is news, with over 28% of all traffic going to news sites. Movie sites took second place with 22.56% of Twitter traffic, followed by tech and gadget sites with 13.39%. Medical sites rounded out the top 4 with 7.98%. Other sites included video games (4.64%), celebrity (3.94%) and how-to (2.88%).

Daniel Ruby, research director, online insights, Chitika said, "I think you get a bit of an insight into the psychology of the different users of social networks. Twitterers want to be the first to know. They want to be the source of new news and new information, whether that's a new product being released, or something that's happening in the Middle East, or the latest crazy thing that Kanye West has done."

The sample Chitika used consisted of over 973,000 impressions collected from September 1 through 7.

Based on my experience, I don't find these results surprising, but I do wonder if this is your experience. I've included a simple poll to see if Twitter helps you stay connected and current with news or do you use it for a different purpose. So please take this simple poll and let's see how the readers of this blog compare to what Chitika found.

Wendy's ... Is It "Real" Enough?

The new Wendy's advertising campaign launched just last week emphatically states, "You Know When Its Real." And as the Wall Street Journal reported this campaign follows five different campaigns in almost as many years. So now the question becomes, is this campaign the real deal? Will it last? Will the company fulfill the promise of being authentic ... being real?

In an interview with Brand Week, Wendy’s CMO Ken Calwell explained their target consumer as more than just young males, but soccer Moms and stated, "they are label readers, they do care where the food comes from, they are smart shoppers, they’re going to places like Whole Foods and they care about where their food is sourced. They attract real, they desire real, they are looking for real in their lives and I think real is a very powerful idea. I say to people, “You’re not just looking for a job. You’re looking for a real job.” “You’re not just looking for a friend in tough times, you’re looking for a real friend.” The same thing goes here. It’s a powerful concept we feel we’ve leveraged off of."

Then Calwell added "Consumers themselves know when it’s real and they know when it’s not.” We wanted to give them that credibility, so [in the advertising] we don’t have to tell them: “We’re Wendy’s. We’re the real ones.” This challenges them to ask questions and look at [the issue deeper] because the more questions you ask, the more you know. So, when they ask questions about where we source our beef, how we cook or serve it, the better we look as brand and the better we look versus our competitors."

Now when it comes to eating a fast food hamburger, I must admit Wendy's is not my first choice and it may not even be my second choice. But every once in a while I will try one.

However, I was intrigued by this newest advertising campaign and actually enjoyed the "real versus fake" vignettes. They were clever and engaging from my perspective. In addition, it did make me stop and think about quality/freshness, which I'm sure is exactly the response Wendy's desired.

But ... and there's a big but ... here's another company climbing onto freshness/quality bandwagon and in the end for me its taste. I want to know if it tastes great or even better because of being real. Quite frankly my last burger at Wendy's left me with no thought of returning anytime soon. Does the Wendy's burger taste better than McDonald's or Burger King? For me, fresh never frozen, didn't titillate my taste buds quite like some of their competitors.

But according to Ken Calwell that's all about to change and I applaud Wendy's for taking the initiative, "So we went back and built a whole new discipline in the process and restructured the entire R&D team, which reports to me, and the marketing team, and we restructured them around innovation—not just any innovation, but innovation that lined up with the “real” positioning. So we’ve been working day and night to restructure and develop new products and build and [help develop] the team, and they’ve responded with an unbelievable pipeline. As of now, between May and November, we will be testing more new products in market than at any other time in Wendy’s history."

My final thought is that the advertising is much better than previous attempts and I'm looking forward to see if Wendy's becomes really real, not fake real. In fact, I may even go try a Wendy's burger instead of one of my favorite hockey pucks. That's my thought, what's yours? 

Is Twitter Nothing More than Pointless Babble?

I just became aware of a report that Pear Analytics published in August of 2009. Many of you may have already found it, read it, logged it and moved on. But if was new reading for me and one that held my interest since I'm a Twitter fan, but still consider myself a neophyte.

So here's the synopsis of Pear Analytics research and resulting white paper. First, they analyzed 2,000 tweets from the public time line over a two-week period from 11am to 5 pm, capturing tweets in half-hour increments. Then they categorized the tweets into six buckets (their words):

1. News;
2. Spam;
3. Self-Promotion;
4. Pointless Babble;
5. Conversational;
6. Pass-Along Value.

The results were interesting: Pointless Babble won with 40.55% of the total tweets captured; however, Conversational was a very close second at 37.55%, and Pass-Along Value was third (albeit a distant third) at 8.7% of the tweets captured.

Some of the other results Pear Analytics felt notable:

• 11:30a and Monday’s have the most frequent tweets with Pass-Along Value.  If you want something re-tweeted, try it at 11:30 in the morning, or try it on a Monday.
• Spam seemed pretty consistent all day, everyday, but luckily was second-to-last on frequency.
• News seemed heavier at 2:00p and on Tuesday’s.  Note that we did not collect any tweets during the Michael Jackson news, in order not to skew the results.
• Conversational tweets were high between 2:00 and 4:00p throughout the study, and heaviest on Tuesdays.  Most people are busy on Monday catching up with work, so perhaps it takes until Tuesday to get into the swing of Twittering again.

In addition, the above findings, Pear Analytics is planning to conduct a followup study addressing many of the criticisms of the first study. One of the major criticisms was the subjectivity of what went into the Pointless Babble bucket. They are in the process now of refining the study, part two. Here's a link to their blog outlining the next study with changes.

As the industry and individuals are continuining to put strategic intent behind Twitter, I look forward to the learning. The question becomes as everyone is doing it, how will evolve ... an IM for friends, a trustworthy news source, continuing education, a community to mine for sales, an expertise builder, etc. Time will tell, that's my thought, what's yours?

Of the World's Most Valuable Brands, Who's Most Engaged?

In July of 2009 an interesting report, titled The world's most valuable brands. Who's most engaged? was published regarding the true financial value of social media for the world's 100 most valuable brands (based on Interbrand Best Global Brands 2008 rankings). The purpose of the research was to evaluate how well these best brands are engaging their customers using social media and how that engagement correlates with their revenue and profit.

The conclusion of the research found that the most valuable brands in the world are experiencing a direct correlation between top financial performance and deep social media engagement. As the report states, "The relationship is apparent and significant: socially engaged companies are in fact more financially successful." The research was conducted by Wetpaint/Altimeter Group.

However, did you notice a vitally key word in this report's conclusion -- deep? The financially successful companies have a deep engagement, not merely a presence in the social media world. As I read deeper into the report, the return on investment comes only when you are extremely active and participating in the social media realm with your customers.

The definition the report gives to "deep social engagement" is as follows: resembling any in-person exchange, socializing requires more than just being there — you have to interact with others, instigate discussions, and respond during conversations. So there it is, a company can't dabble in social media and expect a return on investment — the plunge into social media requires a strategic intent and outcome, allocating the proper amount of resources and a commitment to stay engaged.

I was impressed by the four profiles the report presented regarding the level of engagement:

1. Mavens — engaged in seven or more channels and have an above average engagement score (think Starbucks or Dell).
2. Butterflies — engaged in seven or more channels, but have a below average engagement score (think American Express or Hyundai).
3. Selectives — engaged in six or fewer channels and have a higher than average engagement score (think H&M or Philips).
4. Wallflowers — engaged in six or fewer channels and have a lower than average engagement score (think McDonalds or BP).

The report goes on to outline why companies fall into these profiles, i.e., a Maven has a robust strategy and a dedicated team, and it's a core value for their go-to-market; while a Wallflower is slow to get started, testing a few channels, cautious about the risks and uncertain about the benefits so they engage only lightly in the channels.

Finally, click here for the link to the engagement scores for the world's top brands. There's much to be gleaned from this report so happy reading. The challenge still exists to move from being "I need to do this" and blinding jumping on the bandwagon to "Let's get it right" and develop the right direction to experience financial success. That's my thought, what's yours?

16 Easy Word-of-Mouth Marketing Tactics

I came across a blog posting that had a list of 16 easy word-of-mouth marketing tactics and it has been tweeted many, many times but I felt it was worth posting here. In our current economic climate and the state of our state (Michigan), these tactics may be able to help a business generate some favorable word-of-mouth.

The tactics come from a book titled, Word-of-Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking and was written by Andy Sernovitz. It was originally published in 2006, but a revised edition has been recently published.

Personally, I have not read either book, so I can't offer comment, but here's the listing for your review:

1. Search the web for people talking about you.
2. Assign someone to join those conversations.
3. Create a blog.
4. Make a new rule: Ask “Is this buzzworthy?” in every meeting.
5. Come up with one buzzworthy topic. Keep it simple.
6. Put something on your front door (if you have one) that reminds people to tell their friends about you.
7. Let your “talkers” sign up for a private newsletter.
8. Pick one easy way to track word of mouth.
9. Put a “tell-a-friend” form on every page of your website.
10. Put a special offer in easily forwardable mail.
11. Add a small gift and a word of mouth tool to every package you sell.
12. Hire a private sale for your talkers.
13. Apologize for mistakes and solve problems fast.
14. Partner with a charity.
15. Do something unexpected.
16. Be nice.

I'm curious are there other tactics you have tried or do on a regular basis? Do you agree with these tactics? Do you have your own list? I would love to know what you think. That's my thought, what's yours?

12 Causes for Advertising Failure

As I like to do from time-to-time, I was reviewing articles, materials and information from the past just to gauge the relevancy of the information in today's advertising world. We all know there are fundamental truths that can't be violated without effecting results.

So in my recent trek down memory lane reading, I came across a presentation that contained an adaptation from Roy Williams' The Wizard of Ads book, circa 1998. The title was Biggest Blunders, 12 Causes of Advertising Failure. I thought it would be interesting to post their list of 12 causes:

1. Desire for instant gratification
2. Attempting to reach more than the budget allows
3. Assuming the client knows best
4. Unsubstantiated claims
5. Improper use of passive media
6. Creating ads instead of campaigns
7. Obedience to unwritten laws
8. Late week schedules
9. Overconfidence in qualitative targeting
10. Event-driven marketing
11. Great production without great copy
12. Confusing response with results

The presentation went on to report that reasons #1, #2 and #10 are abused the most. And the conclusion in the presentation stated, "The lessons are three-fold: take a long-term approach versus the quick fix, focus efforts on fewer media and dominate, and establish brand marketing versus event only marketing."

As I reviewed and contemplated this presentation, one thought would not leave my mind, today's economy puts a tremendous amount of pressure on response that leads to results to meet business objectives. And just thinking out loud, why can't a company desire for instant gratification (#1- results) and establish their brand?

In my opinion, you don't have to exclude one from the other, it is possible to build your brand and build your sales at the same time. The key is combining a brand message with a brand offer. That is retail at its best. You still build consistency of message to influence perception of your brand and offer people the value they need to give it a trial. Once you have accomplished trial, the rest is in the hands of the company and consumer, but the advertising has done its job.

Well, there is definitely more depth to the understanding of a branded message with a branded offer, but I'll leave that for another day. However, I would enjoy getting feedback on your thoughts regarding the 12 Causes of Adverting Failure. Do you agree, disagree or even have your own list? That's my thought, what's yours?

The Aging of Social Media

Many of you will remember the advertising slogan from Oldsmobile before their demise, "This isn't your father's Oldsmobile." Well perhaps there is a new slogan for the rapid rise of social media sites, "This isn't your child's Facebook or YouTube or MySpace."

A report released today from Forrester Research indicates that more than four out of five U.S. adults (ages 18 and up) use social media at least once a month. In the report Forrester also developed an interesting set of groupings to indicate the level of engagement/activity of the U.S. Population. I've included a picture of their groupings called a behavior ladder. Here's their definition of the behavior ladder, "The profile puts online people into overlapping groups based on their participation (at least once a month) in the behaviors shown in the ladder. We've kept the ladder categories consistent to allow us to make comparisons year-to-year, across ages and genders, and across geographies. This provides something that's often sorely lacking in analysis of online social phenomena: perspective."

The implications of this report are huge for both consumers and marketers. The trend is and will continue to be for the foreseeable future -- if you're online, you're using social media, no matter the age. Forrester reports that the over 55 demographic has about two-thirds participation and the 35 and under crowd is over 90% participation. In total for U.S. adults only 18% don't use social media technologies (last year the number was 25% so participation continues to grow). These newest statistics shout to all of us in the marketing industry that a new paradigm exists to reach and connect with customers. And the strategic adopters (notice I didn't say early) will gain an advantage over the less enthused members in their competitive space.

Actually , I thought that Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research states it well in his blog, "In my travels, I've found that marketers have a variety of attitudes about social technologies, ranging from "it's obvious that they're growing" to "it's a flash in the pan". The point of data like this is to provide a real, solid, objective basis for planning and discussion that goes beyond personal experience. No matter who you market to, and in what country, you need to know what your customers are doing."

Last, but not least, the folks at Forrester have developed a widget based on their data and the behavior profile. I've included both the widget to try here and a link to download it on your own site. Have fun!