Marketing

Hollywood Alley’s advertising: no agency required

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Advertising is much more than a clever slogan tacked to the back of your truck. Branding is certainly more than a logo. I’ve regularly discussed this here and in my other writing –about experiential branding, and grass-roots marketing.

So I was glad to hear back from a company I had written about here on the blog. It’s a long comment, but fully worth a read. It’s about a form of “advertising” – a simple $12 dollar sign printed at Staples — people normally might dismiss as pre-Web 2.0.

Hollywood Alley is a family-owned restaurant in Mesa, (NE corner of Baseline Road and 101)  For weeks I had noticed the signs were getting really creative –or at least intriguing. Yesterday I heard from John Wincek, who gave me the scoop about how a restaurant with “a kitschy style, and an off-kilter outlook on life-but other than that, we’re actually totally and completely normal!” created its own brand personality. He doesn’t use ad jargon like that, but that’s just what it is: DIY branding. No agency required.

The restaurant’s sign connects with customers, flagging them down, getting them to even come up with ideas for the outdoor signature. “We were suggesting food, but without screaming it at them. better yet, we were connecting through a common interest,” said John. It was not just a sign, but a game, something that made people think about the  movie, the pun, and keep the restaurant in their minds.

But the sign can only get people in. The people and the product had better deliver. It is working. Check his story. It’s a great example of how to be creative to keep business humming in spite of the recession.

Forget MP3, here comes MP6

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

The lowly MP3 music format was quietly replaced by MP4. But this week, there’s news that a Chinese company has introduced the world’s first MP6.

The company is AIGO. We haven’t heard much of it here in the US. but we soon will. The device that plays the new format is the eMusicPlayer, using a wireless “reading-point pen.”

What’s interesting is how it blends the technology with a publishing concept. Aigo will publish a ‘music magazine’ periodically,  with about 200 to 300 songs. The pen is then used like a mouse, to point and select the music from the magazine.

I could see audio book publishers, and podcast aggregators putting this to great use. Of course any music player that can download a file wirelessly has a big advantage.

Quotes for the week ending 25 October, 2008

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“YouTube is a clip culture … But we saw that there was a demand for longer form.”

YouTube’s director of content partnerships, Jordan Hoffner, on its move to allow videos longer than  10-minutes.

“Start iterating– fast.”

Robert Scoble on what newspapers can learn from the technology industry.

“he displayed … intellectual vigor”

Colin Powell, on endorsing Barack Obama.

“What reality are you in?”

Alec Baldwin, responding to those who thought it was a mistake to put Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live, because it might sway voters.

“It is an acceptance mark.”

Antonio Lucio, the new CMO of Visa, on what the brand stands for, and his plans for moving a piece of plastic into the digital age. Quoted in Advertising Age.

“… we see that technology allows for new kinds of connectedness built around cell phones and the internet.”

Tracy Kennedy of the University of Toronto, commenting on the Pew Internet and American Life study on Networked Families, just out.

Wal-Mart is not afraid of negative reviews from customers.”

Josh Bernoff, on how Walmart has turned the supertanker around and is embracing social media.

“Be flexible, consider part-time work, take a paycut, work hard”

Annie Waite, at Internal Comms Hub, the Melcrum blog, quoting Lynn Hazan, about strategies for communicators to survive the down turn.

Quotes for the week ending 18 October, 2008

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“But let me tell you one thing straight away — I’m envious of plumbers.”

John Brown, of Georgetown University, in his Public Diplomacy and PR blog.

“social capitalists”

What NBC calls the target audience for its local ‘TV web destinations’ as reported by Mike Walsh, at Online Media Daily

“a mortadella sandwich”

Fabio Betti Salgado, an IABC member and blogger from Sao Paolo, quoting Brazil’s presidentLuis Inácio Lula da Silva on his definition of the financial crisis.

“If you look at it holistically, marketing is social media. It’s a two way exchange – value exchange.”

Mike Kujawski on the TwistImage podcast.

“Our little brains were never in a position to handle that much infomation.”

Fabrice Florin, or News Trust, quoted in a New York Times article on rumor in the digital age.

“This is a Google cache link, because the picture of the disgusting T-shirt…”

Article on misogyny aimed at Sarah Palin frm an Obama-Biden campaign web site.

“Oh wait. This is advertising. Reality is irrelevant. All that matters is cool art direction and great photography.”

AdRants, commenting on a inane Pepsi ad that involves a lifeguard and a woman on the beach.

“Copyright law is a mess …Complain to Dub-ya who signed another bill this week on copyright law.”

Steve Jones, commenting on Larry Lessig’s blog post about McCain-Palin campaign complaining to YouTube about meritless copyright claims that have a chilling effect on free speech.

“You don’t ask a cosmetic surgeon how many hours it will take. You don’t really care about the cost. It’s an abstraction, but your face is not …As a writer, you’re a sort of surgeon yourself-a word surgeon.”

Art Spikol, at Writers Digest, on Flat Fees vs Hourly Rates.

“The idea of online cannibalizing print is not just wrong, it’s the opposite”

John Ridding, CEO of Financial Times, whose newsstand sales rose 30 percent in the US, and 20 percent in Europe.

“True enough, it is a special rule. But isn’t it appropriate?”

Lawrence Lessig, on the McCain-Palin campaign asking YouTube to   give special consideration to video take-down complaints. Critics believe the politicians should stick by the free-market model!

“Bacteria, caffeine, the pain reliever acetaminophen, fertilizer, solvents, plastic-making chemicals and the radioactive element strontium.”

Ingredients found in brand-name bottled water, which, it turns out to show is no more pure than tap water!

Arizona PR practitioner ‘leases’ the sun

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Fellow IABC member and PR professional, Len Gutman, is one of the first people in the Valley of the Sun  to install solar panels on his roof. It’s an interesting tale of a PR practitioner getting involved in a word-of-mouth campaign with a sustainability edge to it.

SolarCity, the company with whom the Gutman family signed up, had suggested they hold a ‘solar party’ to tell friends and neighbors about the decision. “We thought that was a great idea and so we held one a few weeks ago and more than 50 people showed up,” says Len.

Sort of like a Tupperware party for the planet.

The investment was hard to beat – zero down!  Basically the panels are leased –the Gutman’s monthly lease payment practically offsets the cost they save on their electric bill.

And here’s the kicker. So far, seven of those who attended the party have also signed with SolarCity and the hosts will get a referral fee. Is this great PR for SolarCity, or what?

What happens when the 15-year lease is up? “We have several options – we can have them removed at no cost, we can re-lease them for five more years, we can upgrade to new technology and start a new lease, or we can buy them for the residual value,” says Len. “Just like leasing a car!”

The lengths people go for Google juice

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The dangerous line between SEO and tricking the algorithm to deliver more Google juice has been crossed before. People have warned about such dangerous practices.

But this one, revealed by Todd Defren stumbling onto a combination of social media and SEO practice is disheartening. Sickening, in fact. Basically it was an act of blog spam plus fake posts.

I don’t know if he is doing everyone a disservice by not revealing who the company was that resorted to this kind of fakery. Maybe Defren is bound by business constraints to not do so. I challenge someone to do some sleuth work and reveal the name of the company, if only to protect some other client from falling prey.

The innovation and value that social media and search engine optimization brings to everyone is far too important to let this one slide.

Quotes form the week ending 27 September, 2008

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“Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where – where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border…”

Governor Sarah Palin, in response to a question by Katie Couric of CBS about her experience in international relations.

“When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened.”

Barack Obama’s running mate, Joe Biden, displaying a poor sense of history, on the Today Show. Roosevelt was not in office at that time, and, radio, not television, was the medium used.

“In what respect, Charlie?”

Sarah Palin, in her first media interview given to ABC News. Charles Gibson asked her about her stance on the Bush Doctrine, about which she didn’t seem to have a clue.

“Turn off the rumor mills, pull down the mocked-up artwork, and say goodbye to the blogger speculation.”

Announcement of Google’s Gphone, launched in collaboration with TMobile. It is the first mobile device built around a Android, Google’s Linux application.

“He wants to socialize Wall Street and privatize Social Security. Talk about upside down.”

Reader or The Arizona Republic, Roy Otterbein or Phoenix, commenting on Bush’s approach to the financial crisis.

“Our 94-year history of leadership in the financial industry has been a source of confidence…”

Copy from a Merill Lynch full page ad, appearing in the September 20th issue of The Economist, whose cover featured a cyclone sucking up brand names Fannie Mae, AIG, Morgan Stanley, Washington Mutual, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers.

“Talks are breaking down, I think McCain’s move just proved how important it was to be in DC.”

Tweet by one James Eiden about legislators and the White House hustling over the $7 billion bail out.

“McCain’s bluff called! Un-suspends campaign and attending 1st debate, even though $700B agreement not reached yet”

Another tweet by one Presceile, revealing how the pendulum swung.

“The US President has been wrong about so much during his eight years in office that it is tempting to dismiss his warnings of the impending financial apocalypse as yet more hyperbole – the boy crying wolf.”

Economics editor Edmund Conway or The Telegraph, on the need for the British to act fast too, and stop trying to give paracetamol to someone with a heart attack.

“Gather Conservatives, lend me a hand..”

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

JibJab has come out with another classic ‘toon to relieve the dark mood about the economy and the sniping that passes for campaignin’.

What’s more interesting than the entertaining usual suspects, is that this time around, being a social media election and all that, you can insert yourself into the video! Then post it to your social networking site, or grab the link.

Watch this.