Just New Ways Of Doing It

Free food always brings attention

My marketing / PR friend Adam Klein did an old PR event with a new spin on it.  In case you are not aware, October is National Pizza Month.  Adam’s client is Uno’s Chicago Grill.  Adam and his team spent last Thursday morning delivering pizzas to radio/TV personalities, celebrities, and politicians in the Boston area.  These were not just your typical deep dish pizzas, they were pizzas with pizzanility.  Uno’s created pizzas that fit the personalities of the recipients.   Check out the link above for a picture example.  The idea of delivering food for PR is not a new idea.  But as they always say “there are no new ideas, just new ways of doing it”.

If the movie industry does it, then so should we

There is an article on today’s Ad Age website about how the movie industry is using social network sites to market.  While social sites may not have taken over word of mouth yet, they are having an impact.  The article discusses how Sony Pictures used social media as part of the marketing mix. The results of their last three releases were impressive.  They also gave an example of social networks having a negative effect on the box office.  Many industry people believe that Twitter and other sites helped with the quick drop in tickets for Bruno.  People bitching on these sites is very contagious.  Negative breeds negative.

Ticketmaster scalped?

There is an article in today’s Wall Street Journal about TM being sued.  The article says that a ticket broker has filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster claiming that brokers were paid to sell tickets at premium prices.  This was part of a secret trial project from a couple of years ago called “Project Showtime”.  While I am not always known for defending TM, I do smell a rat with the timing of this lawsuit.  The merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation is close and ticket brokers are getting very nervous.

Change: Why Is It So Hated?

I was reading Ad Age Online this morning and saw an article on the reported mass exodus happening within the marketing department at Pepsi.  The article discusses that top and middle marketing execs are jumping ship due to changes being made from the new Pepsi America head Massimo d’Amore.  I don’t know anymore about this story then what I read so I can’t take sides.  But it got me thinking about what happens when change comes to a company, product or brand.

Cheryl Crow had a big hit a few years ago singing that “a change will do you good”.  Sometimes you do have to change.  When this happens, it seems everyone flips out except the person who suggested it.  I am not one who believes we should change something for the sake of change.  I believe in “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”.  However, if the product or marketing has issues then change it!

As event & entertainment marketers we need to be ready to change something when it is not working.  We always need a “Plan B”.  We create and plan events based on our knowledge and expertise.  Sometimes shit happens and we need to react to it. 

As a football fan, I get so frustrated when my team is having a “bad day” and the coach will not change the game plan.  Why won’t he make the change? 

Many times people hate change because it requires them to do more or different.  People take comfort in routine.  When change happens it messes up the routine.  What fun would our job be in the event & entertainment marketing business if everything was always the same?

How About A Harry Potter Type Newspaper?

I have been thinking about newspapers and their transition to online.  The other night I was listening to a discussion on talk radio about how can newspapers make money from posting on the net?  What popped in my head were the newspapers in the Harry Potter movies.  If you have seen any of these movies then you know what I am talking about.  The pictures move. The newspaper is interactive.

What if a newspaper created a digital newspaper that did the same thing?  The layout of the paper would look the same as the newsprint version but it would be on the net.  The pictures could be video.  Think about the ads.  I could see Macy’s running video ads for a sale.  They could have video of models showing off the dresses.  How cool could the classified section be if you could post video or pictures of what you are trying to sell?  Real estate could run virtual tours of a house.

If someone still likes to hold a newspaper in their hand then they could print out a hard copy.  Advertisers could still put coupons in the digital paper for readers to clip.

If newspapers could make the digital paper truly digital and exciting, people would want to read it, which will bring in more advertisers.

Put your ad dollars on digital marketing

There is a really great article in today’s Ad Age Online.  Josh Bernoff who works for Forrester Research has written about his companies 5 year interactive marketing projections.  The bottom line is that digital marketing is about to explode yet advertising budgets are not.  What does this mean for traditional media?

It means they need to shit or get off the pot.  Yesterday, we discussed how commercial radio is going in the wrong direction.  I compared it to newspapers.  Now we have research from a leading research company that claims the ad money is shifting big time.

The article mentions that this current recession has been good for digital advertising.  Marketers have had an opportunity to look at new forms of media to sell their products.  Ad budgets have been cut and the traditional players are still charging too much money. This gave the new digital players a better position.

According to the article, digital will make up about 12% of the ad budget for 2009.  Within 5 years this will increase to 21% but your budget will not!

Who Said Twitter Doesn’t Work For You?

As many of my daily readers know, I am a fan of Twitter.  I believe that if used correctly it can be a great PR and marketing tool.  Below are two examples where Twitter works.

There is an article in today’s Ad Age Online about Southwest Airlines using Twitter.  Last week you may recall Southwest had an incident with one of its planes.  To be exact, a hole opened up while it was several thousand feet up.  This is never a good thing!  As with our technology today, people on the plane started sending tweets out.  They were getting the news out before anybody.  Southwest is a very savvy digital marketer.  Their head Twitterer countered by getting out the company message on their Twitter page immediately.  She was able to get the correct message going before the issue hit the news.  Southwest has 290,000 followers on Twitter.

My wife is one of those out there who doesn’t get Twitter.  She saw no purpose for it.  She thinks collecting followers is like collecting Pokemon cards.  Our kids have been away at camp.  I found out that the camp director has a Twitter account.  He tweets everyday from camp.  As a parent, this is a great thing.  Kids are not always good at sending letters or communicating what they are doing at camp.  The camp’s Twitter page is updated daily and sometimes several times a day.  After showing this to my wife, she admittedly saw a purpose for Twitter.  We even know what the kids had for dinner on the opening day of camp. 

Have a great weekend!

Stop Looking Back At Marketing

As I read through all my morning newspapers and online sources today I find a very common thread. Marketing in the digital non-traditional way is hot, traditional (old school) advertising is not.

21st century online newspapers

Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke yesterday to newspaper executives at the Newspaper Association of America’s annual convention.  He told newspaper peeps that if they want to survive in the online world they need to push online advertising revenue and not charge readers.  He made a very good point.  People don’t need to pay for online news.  The way the internet is set up, you can find whatever news you want for free. Of course by using Google.  He suggested pushing more online advertising and maybe charging readers for niche articles.  For example the online paper is free but if you want to know more about wine, then you can buy this type of service.  He compared this to the TV business.  The broadcast networks started and continue to be funded by advertising.  Cable networks are niche and can charge. 

Maybe the traditional version of newspapers should charge less and gain more readers.  This in turn will bring back advertisers.  As I say this The Boston Globe has announced a price increase at the newsstand.  Yea, that will keep your readers.  “Our NYT owners want to close us so let’s charge more”!

Mobile marketing is slowly getting there

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that mobile advertising is gaining momentum slowly. The biggest issue I see facing mobile advertising is budgets.  As companies cut back on advertising, marketers tend to go into the “comfort zone”.  They look to traditional advertising methods which don’t have the ROI they once did.  Mobile marketing has a few different elements for use of advertising.  You can run banner type ads like internet websites. It has better data capture for an enhanced personal sell.  You can send text messages directly to a customer.  You have a better chance that a customer will read your advertising message on this personal small screen.  The article quotes Eran Hertzmann from Mobixell Networks ”it’s the last screen they look at when they go to bed, and the first one they look at in the morning”.

Ad Age today is full of digital marketing

Today’s online version of Ad Age is full of articles about marketing in the 21st century because they have been hosting a digital conference. 

There is an article about venture capitalist Fred Wilson telling marketers at the Ad Age Digital Conference to spend more dollars on Facebook and Twitter and less on TV.  He calls these sites “earned media”.  He gives examples such as the Burger King Whopper Sacrifice “killed friend” promotion on Facebook or Disney promoting the Jonas Brothers online instead of radio.  He also predicts that Twitter will have 50 million users by the end of 2009.  Check out today’s Ad Age online.  They have some really good stuff.

Things To Think About Over The Weekend

We have discussed in the past how “big ticket” luxury is not in right now.  Besides the financial facts of life affecting us all, no one wants to show off wealth.  I went holiday shopping yesterday to my local mall.  This mall has “regular” mall type stores and has a wing of “high end” stores.  The regular part of the mall was busy with holiday shoppers. The high end was like a ghost town.  I could have run through Neiman Marcus screaming and no one would hear it.  My wife went to Wal-Mart yesterday and it was packed!  I mentioned last week that I went to a Boston Bruins game.  While the seats in the upper balcony were full, the lower level (between the blue lines) seats were not.  This in includes the premium seats.  All of the empty seats were in the high price category.  Remember, the Bruins are the hottest team in the NHL right now. Think about all this when you planning your marketing and pricing for 2009.

Reacting To Negative Twitter Post

Yesterday I wrote about trying social network marketing.  I mentioned Twitter and dealing with possible negative posts.  Here is a link to a great article in today’s Ad Age Online: http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=133381.

What Are You Having Tonight?

Have you seen the new Arby’s TV spot that is airing nationally?  When it first starts I thought it was a Viagra commercial.  The spot gives a whole new meaning to the Arby’s logo.  Here is a link to the spot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaHDN3_X4QY.  This is a perfect example of the new ad thinking.  Put a “special” TV spot on the air and then watch in go viral.  It took me only 5 seconds to find it on YouTube. Just mentioning it in this blog is part of their viral goal.

Have a great weekend!