Hit 'Em in the Mall

I love out of home advertising, but often, those of us who work with local clients have a hard time getting clients to appreciate the value in it.

The other day, I was finishing up my Christmas shopping, and was surprised to see a branded playground in the middle of the shopping center. Two advertisers- Community America Credit Union and Aristocrat Motors- had branded playground equipment. One was a bank (pictured) and the other was a car.

It was subtle, and didn't take away from the experience that the kids were having, but was a great way to get a brand name in front of their parents. Kudos!

Kind of Feels Like Stalking

Since we focus primarily on local and regional media planning and buying in the Kansas City area, there are not too many times my clients have needed me to monitor the blogosphere for them. But, I have heard about this phenomenon many times from folks who are concerned about their national buzz.

In my head, I have it envisioned as some solitary person, in a corner closet, hunched over their computer refreshing their Google Reader/Twitter, etc. every thirty seconds, waiting on that single mention of their corporate boss.

But, I have never experienced it until yesterday. I was having problems with some NING accounts- a site where smaller organizations can set up their own "social sites". So, I sent out a Twitter message- thinking that if someone else was having an issue, I would at least hear about it.

And, within a minute, I was being followed by a NING Customer Service person, and had a direct message from them inquiring me about my issue. Laura invited me to send her a message, detailing my problem and she would look into it. IMPRESSIVE. By the end of the day, she had responded, and although I haven't had a chance to see if her feedback was indeed the problem (user error I am sad to say), I was satisfied she was concerned enough to actually look into it.

It is amazing that customer service has evolved into an almost instantaneous process. Although it took Laura just 60 seconds, instead of the 30 I imagined, in my mind, I think I will still envision her hunched over the computer, waiting for that moment when she can leap to attention.

And, Laura, if you find this post in the Blogosphere--- HELLO!

Props to a Kansas City Original!

It's gift giving time, and I love looking through all the "hot" lists for inspiration for my loved ones.

Recently, I was browsing through Real Simple magazine, and found a Kansas City product featured, so thought I would throw out some props to them for getting such a tremendous hit.

Original Juan- a specialty foods company which carries various hot and barbeque sauces and more- can easily be identified on grocery shelves, because of the unique and eye-catching label. It has long been one of my favorite brands here in KC, and would encourage those who haven't tried it to give it a taste!

Great job Original Juan- and hope your warehouse has been buzzing after this feature!

The Flexability of Paper

All across the country, we hear about layoffs, and the media world is no different. Recently, our local paper has had several rounds, across all departments.

Many local media planners and buyers incorporate newspaper into their initiatives, and at Kazoo we are no different. We purchase newsprint across the region, and there are many things I have seen emerging over the last few years.

Newspapers often seem to be on the defense with marketers. Instead of working together to tailor an aggressive rate package, they continue to raise their rates every year, and spend most of their time defending their cost increase, instead of making themselves flexible.

Subscription numbers are down, the demographic is continually getting older, and now, with major layoffs across the board, the content is going to start to suffer.

More and more, it begs the question- if major changes are not made at the print level, what IS the future of newsprint?

Obama- Marketing Machine

On this historic day, I thought I would reflect back a little bit on the marketing efforts put forth by Barack Obama. He has been revolutionary in many ways, not the least bit of which is all the new mediums he has dabbled in.

Of course, traditional media has been used a lot, but on top of that, Obama has noted the importance of the youth vote, and therefore, has explored many areas others have not dreamed of. These, partnered up with more main stream targets might be what propels him to victory (it is 3:30pm, so still too early to tell.)

* Twitter- if you follow Obama, you not only got updates on his campaign stops, but you were also notified of his pick of Joe Biden as the Vice-Presidential nominee.
* Email Blasts- practically every day, email blasts were sent out from the Obamas or Bidens, touting milestones and events throughout the campaign.
* Video Games- Obama is the first candidate to run advertising in some popular video games.
* Infomercial- In an last effort to get his message out to the masses, Obama purchased a 30 minute commercial on several networks, drawing in 30+ million viewers.
* Social Groups on Facebook/ MySpace- fans were able to share their love of Obama through various ways, including "flair", etc.
* Banner Ads- targeted demographically and geographically, banner ads ran on many sites across the Internet.

I am sure there are more, but these are the ones that come to mind first. Obama, with his logo, message, advertising campaign, etc. created a brand for himself. This brand has infused a passion into his followers like I have never seen in my lifetime, but one that I hope to see again and again.

Getting What You DON'T Pay For

For the second time today, I had a conversation with someone about a website. And, for the second time today, the topic turned to the idea of going the "economic" route, and having someone internally putting the site together.

I cringe every time I hear someone say they have an accountant or a sales person who "dabbles" in web, or graphic design, or whatever it may be. Because 90% of the time, they make the decision to put that person in charge of the project, most of the time to save money.

I have an ex-client who did this not once, but from my count, 3 times. And, if they were to look back, and if they were honest with themselves, I am sure they would see that the cost and the heartache of this decision in the end was not worth it.

If you want to pay the neighborhood kid to do your website, that is fine. But, it will look like the work of a neighborhood kid did.

There are many great small agencies and freelancers out there, and I believe that it is worth doing it right the first time. Need some contacts- visit www.kcfreelanceexchange.com for starters (disclaimer- I am a member and the president). They have a lot of remarkable talent.

You do get what you pay for, and in this case, you get what you don't pay for.

The Lost Sale

I subscribe to a lot of random email newsletters- for both personal and business purposes. There is one I am particularly fond of, that feeds my shopping habit on a daily basis.

A variety of companies use this email blast to promote their sites, or new products they are coming out with. The other day, I received an email from them, with a new product that I just had to have. I clicked on the site, and all I got was a screen that said OUT OF STOCK. Now, I know that businesses can not keep an infinite number of items on hand. But, I checked the site within minutes of getting the email. I thought surely there was an error, so I checked back the next day. Same screen.

There have been other times when I have clicked through newsletters, only to get the error that the site is down, due to high traffic, etc. So, I delete the email, never to return.

This should be a reminder to all of us that online marketing is extremely affective, but you have to be prepared for it. Otherwise, the customer experience is frustrating, and I would wager, these potential clients will never find their way back to you.