10 trends in logo design

I know my creative partner in crime Rich is working on some logos tonight. This video I found showcasing the 10 trends in logo design is quite neat and may provide some inspiration for him while he is burning the midnight oil -- and great insight to all of us who get to see and be part of brand development.

Youth Are Willing Companions to Online Advertisers

From a blog posting by Fred Aun, The ClickZ Network

As any visit to a school full of Hollister- and Abercrombie-adorned students reveals, young people are brand-conscious.

A new study shows that many young adults not only buy brands but also talk about them and add brand content to their instant messenger services, Web homepages and social networking sites.

The global survey, conducted by Synovate in conjunction with Microsoft, was designed to find out how much young adults will interact and engage online with brands on a daily basis. The survey revealed that 28 percent say they talked about a brand on a discussion forum, 23 percent added brand-related content to their IM service and 19 percent added branded content to their homepage or favorite social sites.

The research, called the 'Young Adults Revealed' survey, included 12,603 people 18 to 24 years old from 26 countries, according to Synovate, an arm of Aegis Group plc that conducts market research into consumer behavior. The researchers found the survey respondents spent an average of 2.5 hours online daily in non-work-related activity.

Nearly half of the surveyed people said they click on banner or online ads. Some 18 percent said they accessed brand and product information via portals. But, as Synovate noted in a statement, "they are also interacting in a more engaged way," with 24 percent reporting they uploaded ad or marketing clips to social networking or video sites in the last month.

Synovate's global manager of syndicated research, Julian Rolfe, believes the research shows young people are not only "totally comfortable with the idea of branded content and branded entertainment," but also reveals they are "openly willing and eager to engage" online with brands.

"They clearly feel their opinions about brands are important, they want to associate themselves with brands they see as 'cool' and this is why we see them uploading clips to their social networking sites and IM services," said Rolfe in a statement.

Among the study's other findings: 94 percent of young people regularly read e-mails, 80 percent get news online, 76 percent use the Web to read about movies, music and games, and a similar percentage chat on IM.

Synovate found that nearly three quarters of the survey respondents watched online video clips and about one in ten said they passed along viral ad and marketing clips

$2000 bride or great customer service?

From the Convince & Convert blog comes the story of an unexpected parcel from FedEx and an even more unexpected message inside. Seems earlier in the year, blogger Jason Baer purchased an Infiniti EX. The letter in the FedEx package was from Infiniti and it explained that when Baer purchased the vehicle the window sticker listed a “rollover sensor” as standard equipment.

Apparently they did NOT include the rollover sensor in the car, and in fact had never planned to do so. However, because it was listed as included on the window sticker, Infiniti informed Baer that they would immediately write a check for $2000 or BUY THE CAR BACK.

Wow. That's impressive. No doubt some customer caught the mistake and kicked up a stink and instead of hiding and hoping no one else would notice, they tired to do the right thing and come clean.

I can't imagine any of the Big 3 doing that. Nice job Infiniti.

Read the original blog post and Baer's take on it here.

Extract from Outliers: The Story Of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell

Thanks to the Guardian, we can read an edited extract from Outliers: The Story Of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell, to be published on November 27

We look at outrageously talented and successful people - the Beatles, Mozart, Rockefeller, Bill Gates - and assume there is such a thing as pure genius. Not necessarily, argues Malcolm Gladwell...

Read it here.

Is Your Marketing Too Safe?

From the Fresh Fuel Blog:

Let's recount some of the recent events of the past couple of days ... the economy is in trouble, Congress votes to not help troubled Wall Street, Americans lose trillions in the stock market and the economy is now in deep trouble. With all this trouble who even wants to think of risk ... instead let's do whatever is safe.

Is this how we should think, does playing it safe keep us from trouble? Perhaps the answer is yes when it comes to high-risk, shaky mortgages and investments, but what about your marketing? Is the norm of the day to do what you have always done and yet expect a better outcome? I don't know, but this sure sounds like a definition for something ... could it be -- insanity?

Here's the interesting part of the question, is your marketing too safe: nobody really likes it. You read me right, nobody really likes it. Marketing executives from large companies think they play it too safe; advertising executives from some of the largest advertising agencies think that they don't do enough risk taking. Yet, many continue to do what is expected, play it safe, hope it does better. And if you need a little support to the thought nobody really likes safe marketing, The Creative Group, released a survey that suggests companies may need to take more chances when developing new advertising and marketing campaigns. You can read about this survey on the Creative Group website.

From my perspective, it's time to take a risk with marketing. It's time to see if a bold idea will work. Hey, it may even be time to dump the way you've always marketed your business and feel the freedom of taking a risk, when everyone is so risk-averse. Who knows, you may even find that this liberated thinking gives you a competitive advantage.

Six Steps To Becoming The Social Media Champion At Work

Great article from Jason Falls - Social Media Explorer - on How To Be The Social Media Champion At Your Office. According to Falls: "It’s not easy being the social media champion in the building. If very few people in the business world understand social media, it’s only logical very few at your place of work would, too. So how do you help make them understand social media isn’t just about posting personal journals on MySpace or blowing 30 minute chunks of your day watching the skateboarding dog on YouTube?"

Falls provides his thoughts with his : Six Steps To Becoming The Social Media Champion At Work

1. Illustrate The Benefits
2. Make Yourself Available
3. Target The Right Co-Workers
4. Get To The Professional Through The Personal
5. Operate Within The Rules
6. Solve Business Problems With Social Media Tools

Read the whole post here.

Great Corporate Blogs: Best Western

If you're a hotel chain and want a corporate blog - what do you do that's not too self serving? Well, if you are Best Western you hire some one to travel and blog about their experiences. "On the go with Amy" is about Amy Graff who travels with her kids, husband, and girlfriends and offers up travel tips, tricks, and tales. According to her profile:

"For me, traveling is not about luxury. It's about getting out there and experiencing new things. Best Western signed me up because, like me, they want to get people talking about travel. So let's talk! Tell me your travel tales, teach me your tips, and, when the airline loses your luggage, feel free to throw a temper tantrum. Believe me, I understand."


Some recent topics include:

Disney theme parks offer wait times by cell phone

'Family lanes' take off at airports

San Francisco's new Carriage Inn (a Best Western)

A child learns the meaning of democracy in D.C.

On the actual Best Western site, some of the information is repurposed to fit that format, so Best Western are really making good use of the content and strategy.

The blog is a nice mix of useful information, reviews, and tips for traveling. There's Best Western information and reviews of course, but its not over done. After reading "On the go with Amy" you are left with a "feel good" about the brand and at the end of the day, isn't that what it's really all about.

Are your FAQs really NAQs (never asked questions)?

Came across this article a while ago on the Conceptual Trends and Currents Topics blog by Kevin Kelley. (Stored in my trusty Evernote account).

The premise is FAQs on many sites are really NAQs or Never Asked Questions. It's true. How many times have you gone to an FAQ section only to be faced with more marketing information and not actual questions people want answers to. That's what many company FAQs really are. Easily answered questions that no one has ever asked.

I agree with Kelley that "These fake FAQs are useless. They are a turnoff to potential customers looking for reasons to buy, and an insult to existing customers troubleshooting."

The purpose of FAQs is to reduce the number of emails and phone calls and provide consumers with easy access to questions many consumers have. If you are in charge of writing or compiling the FAQ section for your site - and don't know what they are - it's easy. Just ask the receptionist or person who answers the phone in customer service. Or find the individual that receives the "info@yourcompany.com" email. I'm sure they have a long list.

Here's another idea. Actually answer those questions in your site so you don't need an FAQ section.

Here's the entire Conceptual Trends and Currents Topics blog entry here.

Give better presentations

Want to know how to make a presentation and not to bore your audience to death? Watch this fantastic presentation for tips and advice on how not cause Death by Powerpoint.

Death by PowerPoint

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: tips powerpoint)

Find more great presentations on Slideshare.net

Kohl's Inspires Colorful Mom-to-Mom Conversation on CafeMom

From the Word of Mouth Marketing Association Case Study Library

For Kohl’s Spring 2008 brand campaign, “Connect With Color”, the retailer wanted to develop a program that naturally wove its brand into the everyday conversation of its target customers, women between the ages of 25-54. The team decided a social network would provide the best platform to become part of the conversation online and offline.

Kohl’s and Universal McCann chose to partner with CafeMom, the leading social-networking/community site for Moms. The CafeMom team identified 20 top “member-influencers” based on site and social activity (group/forum participation, number of website friends, visit frequency) and gave each of them a $250 gift card. In exchange for the gift card, each mom was asked to “explore her personal color,” blog about her color driven shopping experience, and upload photos of the items purchased. To amplify program awareness, custom co-branded media featuring the influencer moms ran across CafeMom and drove to the Kohl’s Brand Profile page on CafeMom. This page aggregated all the Kohl’s related blog posts from the influencer moms and provided a platform for other moms to comment and participate in the conversation.

The program performed exceptionally well on standard web metrics as well as in a market research study. Hundreds of thousands of moms viewed the custom created influencer media, and tens of thousands of moms visited the CafeMom Kohl’s Brand Profile page to read about the influencer moms shopping experiences. The color focused shopping program and Kohl's in general were also featured in numerous mom member comments during the campaign. A market research study, comparing moms exposed to the program versus a control group, showed that this program moved the needle (at a 90% confidence level) on brand awareness, brand association, and purchase intent.

Client: Kohl's
Agency: Universal McCann
Budget: Undisclosed
Date of Campaign: March - May 2008

See more case studies here

Want more new customers... or more repeat business?

Who doesn't?

Found this interesting site called ReferNow.com which is designed to help business do both. By making it easy to reward and provide incentive for existing customers to refer others ... and give real reasons for existing customers to come back, this smartly designed site seems to have it figured out. Customers can track their rewards online and the site gives plenty of options and ideas for rewards.





The site offers a 14 day free trial. Check it out and let me know what you think.

How Obama's Brand Helped Him To Win The Election

Was reading the Influential Marketing Blog by Rohit Bhargava the other day and he developed interesting graphics and thoughts on how the Obama Brand contributed to the win. The key was in its consistency and flexibility.

"Obama's logo and brand identity were consistently used across all his communications, but also treated with a flexibility that would drive many holders of a brand identity completely mad. Instead of taking a closed approach to his brand identity, the Obama campaign let people remix the brand for their own uses."

To illustrate his point, he developed these two telling and powerful graphics:




Just another in a long list of lessons we can learn from this ground-breaking campaign.

Read the whole blog entry here.

Should your company be using Twitter?

Many of you have no doubt heard of Twitter, a service initially designed for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? Also known as micro blogging, users have up to 140 characters to communicate. Some of you may even be using it to keep connect with friends, family or follow people of interest to you.

But did you know many businesses are using it as well.

Here's a few examples I found (via wikipedia):

Large Businesses such as Cisco Systems, Jet Blue, and Whole Foods Market use Twitter to provide product or service information

The Los Angeles Fire Department put the technology to use during the October 2007 California wildfires.

NASA used Twitter to break the news of the discovery of what appeared to be water ice on Mars by the Phoenix Mars Lander. Other NASA projects, such as Space Shuttle missions and the International Space Station, also provide updates via Twitter.

News outlets such as the BBC have also started using Twitter to disseminate breaking news or provide information feeds for sporting events.

Several 2008 U.S. presidential campaigns used Twitter as a publicity mechanism, including that of Democratic Party nominee and eventual winner Barack Obama. The Nader/Gonzalez campaign updated their ballot access teams in real-time with Twitter and Google Maps. Twitter use increased 43% on election day.

The Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing is using Twitter to relay information to students.

The University of Texas at San Antonio College of Engineering is using Twitter to relay information to students.

Westwinds Church in Jackson, Michigan uses Twitter as a part of its weekend worship services and introduced the concept of Twitter Church. Westwinds runs training classes for Twitter and encourages members to bring laptops and mobile devices to church. On occasion, the Twitter feed will be live on the screens in the auditorium and everyone is encouraged to give their input, make observations, and ask questions in an interactive worship format.

Activists used Twitter networks to co-ordinate street protest at the 2008 Republican Convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

10 Downing Street, the website of the British Prime Minister, has started using Twitter.

Personally I followed all the major political party leaders during the last Canadian election (all the leaders had an account). I also watch for specials from Home Depot Canada posted regularly.

For interest I also follow companies like Tyson Food and Molson, Britney Spears (yes her - I said it was for fun), the social media director for Ford and the Flyers, and many others in the advertising Social Media fields in addition to friends and associates.

But does it make sense for your business? The short answer is -- if you have a customer base -- then YES. Twitter is an excellent way to build a relationship and communicate with your customers, your community and stakeholders. As the above examples illustrate there are countless uses for Twitter - organizing, customer service, getting information out, and most of all engaging your audience. If you have a retail outlet - use it for sales or special events, if you are a club or group - use it to help organize events and keep people informed, if you are a service-based company - use it to keep people informed about what you are up to and latest trends and information... and the list goes on.

It's all very helpful as I mentioned earlier to follow and keep in touch with what is going on in your industry.

Still not sure? There's no harm (or cost) to get an account and give it a try.

Oh yeah, if you want to follow me, click here.

Adspeak -- and how to avoid it.

I saw Roy H. Williams AKA the Wizard of Ads not long ago at the Taking Flight HR conference here in Moncton. I'm not the first to say the man is a genius - but he is. His Monday Morning Memo is always full of wisdom, insight and thought-provoking ideas. This morning's edition is no exception.

I strongly suggest you subscribe to it - here's the link.

This morning he talked about "The New Language of Effective Ads"

Basically he talks about the old way (ad speak) vs. the new way (Intimacy) of communicating as a business.

Adspeak is

“Here's an example of how wonderful I am...”
“Let me tell you what I can do...”
“...and that's what makes me special.”

“At [name of company,] we…”
“Voted the number one…”
“Why settle for second best?”

Sound familiar? As a writer I know I have been guilty of this in the past for sure. It's an easy trap.

Williams suggests: "The new language of marketing is the language of Intimacy. Connectedness. Shared values. The sound of one friend talking to another. Intimate ads are believable because they confirm what the customer already knows. The fact that the advertiser knows it as well – and is willing to admit it – is what surprises and impresses the customer."

He goes on to explain How to Avoid “AdSpeak” in Your Ads.

1. Limit self-reference. Reduce the number of times you refer to your company or your product in your ads.

2. Don’t say it. Lead the customer to say it. Instead of saying, “We’re honest,” say something that only an honest person would say. Let the customer respond, “Wow. That’s honest.”

3. Admit the downside. It makes the upside easier to believe. Imagine the impact of a jeweler saying, “A diamond is just a symbol. The important thing is not to forget what it symbolizes.”

Great advice for all of us.

Click here to read his blog entry

How to come up with a new idea.

Lets say you are trying to come up with a concept for an ad, a solution to a problem or just a different way of doing things. Begin by writing the first five things you can think of. Got them? Good, now throw them away… that’s right, throw them out because chances are the first five things you can think up are the same five things almost everyone else can too.

Now start again. Write five more ideas… not as easy is it? Now write five more… getting harder right? It’s only when you keep pushing yourself beyond where most people tend to go is when you can truly come up with something new.

Still need some inspiration? Watch this video about ideas brought to you by IdeaBlob.com



Now that you have that original idea, submit it to IdeaBlob.com It's a place where you can not only submit ideas, but have people vote on them, provide advice, even have a chance to win 10 grand. It's worth a look, among the lame ideas (Salsa Spaghetti Sauce- a salsa you can put on spaghetti and also dip your chips into!) there are good ones too, like open source policy making.



Visit the site here.

Social Media Release

A press release on paper is so 2007. Now companies have the option of developing a Social Media Release. A good example is what is provided by CNW. It's doesn't replace the traditonal release, rather it's an add-on and provides the online audience with a place to go for multimedia content and conversation about your message.

According to the CNW Group a Social Media Release allows you to:

Communicate with your audience:
• Incorporate all the text of your regular news release and more!
• Distribute your release via CNW's newswire, RSS feeds and portfolio email services.
• Include key quotes attributable to company spokespeople.
• Reach news consumers on the go with the CNW Group and Viigo Inc. tool for Blackberry and Windows Mobile Devices.

Add Content to your message:
• Provide multimedia to both the online and traditional audience.
• Uploading your video content to YouTube allows it to be easily viewed, shared and embedded.
• Provide greater options to viewers and journalists by adding both web-friendly, smaller images and print-ready high-resolution images.
• Including links and important documents and files gives audiences more background about your release.

Be part of the Community:
• Opt-in comments enable your audience to have a conversation on your release, giving you a chance to be part of the community.
• An up-to-date Technorati listing of blogs linking to your release.
• A sharing button allows users to easily share your release on a number of different social networks


They even had a video produced to explain it:




Read more about it on the CNW Group Site

See an example of a Social Media release for SCION

US Coast Guard on Social Media

U.S. Coast Guard Commandant, Adm. Thad Allen introduces his social media initiative

Change-and Positioning-You Can Believe in

Here's a wonderful article from Advertising Age that talks about staying on message and how Obama did it through the campaign while others did not. It's a great reminder for all of us about sticking with a tag line /positioning over the long run.

The best local example I can think of is for Keith's beer - Those who like it, like it a lot. For as long as I can remember that's been the line. Good for them.

So resist changing your theme. You (as a company) may be tired of it but your customers are likely just getting used to it.

Here's the article.

It's voting day in the US

There has already been a lot written about the historic election taking place today in the US. And no doubt much more will be written the days, weeks and years to come. Politics aside, I think it is fair to say that the way elections and campaigns in the future will be run have changed forever.

The Obama side has broken new ground in the use of social media - organizing volunteers, raising money, swaying voters, dispelling rumors, getting support and creating a following - Obama has established the template and bench mark that has caused politicians all over the world to take notice.

Yes he is a tremendous speaker and an inspiration to many, but it's what has happened online that has truly changed the game.

I'm sure some one will write a comprehensive book (or blog) that will become the utlimate how-to guide. Seth Goden's blog post today about Marketing lessons from the US election is an excellent read and points to many game changers in the election. You can read the entire post here.

While campaigning has changed, how the US actually votes is still plagued with problems. This TIME magazine article illustrates what could go wrong today on voting day. It's scary how something so important could potentially so wrong. But this clip from the Simpsons tells it all.



So if you are in the US - get out and vote. If you are anywhere else in the world... get ready for local, regional and national politicians and parties to rethink what they do as they try to follow the Obama example.