WAG on Marketing

Designing the Identity for a Gastropub

2011-11-11T17:56:00.000-08:00

Identity for a new Gastropub? Sure. And just what is a Gastropub? According to British food writer Diana Henry in The Gastropub Cookbook, it’s a “a place in which you can have a drink, but which also serves great food.” Which is exactly the concept behind Handles Gastropub in Pleasanton, California. WAG was approached by a trusted marketing professional and a 16-year WAG client, Dave Ritterbush, to design identity for a new restaurant he was opening with a few partners in downtown Pleasanton in the old historic Pleasanton Hotel. They wanted a Northern California feel to their identity, along with touting the great food and drink. After the creative brief was digested, we went online to see what other gastropubs in the area, the State, the Country and ‘across the pond’ had going on. I’ve got to say, for something I’d never heard of before, there was a ton to research.

Our first presentation leaned on the NorCal and pub references, even down to the fonts–some of which were pulled from the London Underground signage for that authentic “pub” feel. We liked our initial designs and so did our clients, but with every discussion there arises a new consideration... After seeing the “Northern California look” on paper (or computer screen), our clients decided the design focused too much on a “place” which might be a future problem if the concept was extended outside of the Northern California. What did attract them was the tap handle shown on one of the comps. But it needed refinement. And we refined the hell out of it. While in retrospect we may have gone a bit too far, the ‘red’ concept did give us the logotype which endured to the finish.

Add in some more refining, and it quietly began to dawn on us what we had in hand was an extraordinarily handsome beer label...

OK, no problem. Keep it for later. There could be beer bottled sometime in the future at Handles.

So what was still working hard for us? Well, the original tap handle idea, the logotype and the color scheme. The barley references were dropped because Handles was also going to be serving several wines (not to mention cocktails). Everyone agreed that the color palette was spot on so we went back and worked out several black-and-white concepts for discussion. Happily, two of the designs grabbed everyone immediately.

Dave liked the poster feel of the large handle, but was really taken with the horizontal version in particular. When Dave asked our opinion (and we were totally with him on the logomark), I told him he had “a kick-ass logo” that he was going to love. He agreed. Of course, there were a few changes to the final. We wanted to make the logotype unique, so we extended some of the horizontal lines (lowering it in the “H” and “E”). And that was about it–the Handles logo was complete. Or so we thought. Dave really really really liked another logomark and didn’t want to walk away from it. Being the exceptional marketing person that he is, Dave knew that any brand could have secondary logos and most do, thus a secondary mark, Handles on Main, was launched. This secondary mark was so well received that it was used on glassware, coasters, t-shirts, hats, and some signage. In fact, when you visit Handles, this is the logomark that will greet you inside. That is, unless Dave or one of his partners Brian Hampton, Brent Schwager, or Chris Hampton, greet you personally as Handles is sure to be a neighborhood favorite very soon.

All in all, a very satisfying project for WAG. Time for a drink and a bite of food. At Handles, of course.

www.handlesgastropub.com

2011-06-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, June 18^th, the first ever nationwide fundraiser benefitting the Young Faces of ALS was held in 14 cities across the country. All over the US, people of all ages were playing the classic tailgate game, cornhole. Not only was everyone having a great time, they were getting the ALS Therapy Development Institute (TDI) one step closer to finding a cure, or at least an effective treatment, for ALS.

As mentioned in a previous post (http://wagshoppermarketing.blogspot.com/2010/09/why-volunteer-why-not.html), WAG became involved with ALS TDI and the Young Faces of ALS campaign over a year ago when I started working here. The volunteer spirit must be contagious, as everyone here at WAG has contributed their skills in someway to help raise awareness and money for this disease. As soon as it was determined that the national fundraiser would be a cornhole tournament, WAG set to work designing logos, posters, flyers, e-mailers, banners, etc.

Planning this event was no small task. I worked with my friend’s family to put on the local event in San Francisco, as well as working with the people at ALS TDI to figure out the logistics of the event on a national scale. The San Francisco tournament was held at the amazing Great Meadow at Fort Mason. We took a gamble with June weather in the city, but we were so lucky that it paid off.

The event in San Francisco was nothing short of amazing. About 150 two-person teams played in the tournament, and at least 100 spectators spent the day at Fort Mason enjoying the competition, beer, music, food and raffle. The Aidells sausages were hot off the BBQ, bags of PopChips were being opened left and right, Gordon Beirsch beer was flowing, and DJ Leethalmix kept the energy high. What is most amazing…all of these things were donated. Companies recognized a good cause and gave willingly of what they had that we could use. Seeing all the people that showed up to work as volunteers was another amazing sight. Some people found our event on Volunteer Match, others were just random sign-ups, and then there was Simply Hired that brought 15+ volunteers as part of their volunteer day program. Everyone was hustling to make the event run smoothly, and did so with a smile…all day.

If a day comes where my faith in humanity needs to be restored, I will think back to June 18^th, 2011. It was great to see all the people that love and support my friend there, but greater than that was seeing all the people there that don’t know my friend from a hole in the wall. People that saw a poster hanging in a bar, an ad on Facebook, or through word of mouth and decided to devote their Saturday to playing cornhole for a cause. The highlight of my day, was meeting a group of men who came after seeing the WAG designed poster hanging in the window of a dive bar on Polk St. I specifically remember hanging that poster too, and thinking that this particular bar just was not our demographic, but what the heck. One of these men saw the poster and recognized ALS as the same disease that had killed his friend’s mom two years ago. Not only did he round up his friends, but he brought TEN TEAMS, and wants to get his company involved with the Young Faces of ALS! He promised to bring 50 teams next year. Just when I felt that maybe all the hitting of the pavement we did with posters and flyers may not have paid off, it did so ten-fold.

Across the country, we met and then exceeded our $100,000 fundraising goal. But maybe even more importantly, we brought awareness of ALS to thousands; and unlike money, that is something that can’t run out.

Immediately after the event, I went home and thought of the improvements I would want to make for next year: #1- MAKE IT BIGGER! Next year, not only do I believe that all of this years participants will come back to challenge the 70+ year old Mr. Sagali and his son for the San Francisco title, but I’m confident that the spirit of fundraising (and simply a good time) will spread to those around them- just as I am grateful that it did here at WAG.

Meandering Thoughts on Plastic Wrap

2011-05-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

I use plastic wrap for my sandwich that I take to work for lunch. You’d think after all these years that the manufacturers would have figured out how to dispense this product without having it become hopelessly stuck together on its roll in the box. Much less get it to tear evenly once you’ve managed to get it unrolled. So I started to wonder: Just how long HAVE they had to get this under control?

I searched online and read that Saran polyvinylidene chloride or Saran resins and films have been wrapping products for more than 50 years. Saran works by polymerizing vinylide chloride with monomers such as acrylic esters and unsaturated carboxyl groups, forming long chains of vinylide chloride–this copolymerization produces a film with molecules bound so tightly together that very little gas or water can get through.

Got all that? I started to fade a bit at “copolymerization”. I was an art major in college, and the only science classes I took were under duress. In a high school science class I once answered an involved test question about the differences between plant and animal life with the smart-ass answer of “One has a root, the other a foot”. That answer got a shocked look and a stifled laugh from the girl sitting next to me, and my teacher was only mildly amused.

As often seems to happen, the discovery of plastic wrap came about inadvertently. In 1933, Ralph Wiley, a college student who cleaned glassware in a Dow Chemical lab, accidentally discovered polyvinylidene chloride–only because he couldn’t wash it out of the beakers he was trying to scrub clean.

Dow researchers managed to make Ralph's discovery into a greasy, dark green film, which Dow trade named "Saran". Why “Saran”? According to someone on the web, “The Turkish word 'sarmak' mean 'to wrap'. 'Saran' is the present participle of 'sarmak'. In other words, saran = wrapping in Turkish.” Someone at Dow was a Turkish scholar? Another explanation for the name is that Wiley's two daughters were named Sara and Ann. Hence the polymer he created was named "Saran." Take your pick.

However the name came about, the product was only a middling success initially. The military sprayed Saran on fighter planes to guard against salty sea spray, and carmakers used it on upholstery to protect the seats against the elements (and the mishaps of small children). Dow continued to refine Saran, eliminating its original green hue, and ridding it of its offensive odor. Hey, it’s always been hard to market products with offensive odor. Even in the name of progress in the “go-go” post World War II era, when an optimistic America believed that science could solve any problem, deal with any issue.

Dow finally got their Saran film out to the consumer in the form of Saran Wrap, the first cling wrap designed first for commercial use (1949) and then into households in 1953. Over the years, it’s been discovered that the plasticizers in PVC can migrate to some foods such as cheese, fatty fish and even meat. It's caused enough concern that several countries around the world have banned it. Today, most plastic wrap for home use no longer contains PVC’s; instead they are made of low density polyethylene (LDPE). It doesn’t cling quite as well, but it’s probably better for your leftovers.

I visited the Saran Wrap site and learned that I am not alone in my mishaps with plastic wrap. Here are a couple of gripes consumers have posted:

“What can I do to prevent losing the end of my Saran Plastic Wrap and keep it from tearing when I unroll it?”

“My Saran Wrap keeps popping out of the box when I use it. How can I prevent this?”

Not to mention the numerous complaints about the wrap not sticking, or sticking too much–generally to itself. On the roll. Seems there are a lot of people who are plastic wrap challenged.

I discovered there’ are several alternative uses for plastic wrap aside from the intended. To wit: prevent ice crystals from forming on ice cream in the freezer. Completely wrap the ice cream container in plastic wrap before returning it to the freezer. Oh, right. And while you’re at it, wrap the dog so you don’t have to vacuum up pet hair ever again...

I did like this one: Clean the top of your refrigerator for the last time! Clean it, then cover it with overlapping layers of plastic wrap. When it gets dirty again, merely pull off the wrap and put down a new layer. For those of you that think it would be tacky and ugly to cover the top of your refrigerator in plastic wrap, I’ve got to ask you–how often do you look up there? It’s already tacky and ugly.

So now I know more about plastic wrap than I will ever need to know in my lifetime. And though I have been told that with knowledge comes power, I know that in my daily battle with the wrap, the wrap shall triumph more than I. And probably draw blood, too, just to show it can.

Jules Verne's Birthday, Oh What a Journey!

2011-02-08T12:31:00.000-08:00

Today is February 8, 2011 and it is the 183rd Birthday of Jules Verne! Yippee, who's Jules Verne?

Jules Verne is the mastermind author of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and may very well have been the first creative writer of exploration! Jules was able to take us Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (28,272 miles!),* Around the World in 80 Days (24,901 miles!) and on a Journey to the Center of the Earth (3,959 miles) taking us a total of 57,132 creative miles in three books!!

In review of the mileage, I became puzzled . How can you go 28,000+ miles under the ocean, but to get to the center of the earth it¹s only about 4,000 miles? It was a question that needed Google research! In my research, I found LOTS and LOTS of creative material centered around "Twenty Thousand Leagues", but hard as I looked, I couldn't find an explanation for Jules' math. However, I did find a Saturday Night Live skit that ponders this very same question:

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/93/93qleagues.phtml

But really, who cares if Jules was accurate? It was 1869 when he wrote the book! Jules took readers to places they had never even ventured to think about, let alone imagine themselves going! He used creativity to capture his audience by introducing visuals of historic proportions! By bringing to life the Nautilus, Captain Nemo's famous Œfish-like' submarine, he introduced another world to his readers and brought them the experience of walking on the bottom of the ocean (which could have never happened the way Jules described it. They would have been crushed by the water pressure but that¹s
another story!)

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea has been made into a radio show, a play, a TV show, several movies and a ride at Disney World. There is even a soundtrack with the macho man himself, Kirk Douglas, singing! Google has continued this legacy by honoring the creative genius with a special Google logo today in honor of his 183rd birthday. The logo is super fun, and definitely creative as it's interactive. If you move the handle to the left of the logo, you can peek through the submarine's portholes to take a look at the ocean, and then move the level around to look at different ocean
views.

Jules pushed the creative limit by writing a book that not only fascinated people of the nineteenth century, but is still fascinating people today as evidenced by Google's logo! Here's to creativity, all the way around, which makes for a better, more interesting world.

*A "league" is an ancient unit derived from the Gauls and introduced into England by the Normans. It was estimated by the Romans to be equal to 1,500 paces‹a pace, or passus, in Roman measure being nearly 5 feet.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Preserve!!

2011-01-14T14:21:00.000-08:00

The Preserve toothbrush isn’t anything special in itself. It’s got a nice shape and the bristles are soft enough nylon, some good colors too (dark blue!) but there are so many other reasons to love about my Preserve Toothbrush.

A toothbrush, you may ask? How can you love your toothbrush? Well, let me state the ways.

There are many reasons why I love it but lets start with their ‘green’ sustainable packaging!! The Preserve Toothbrush packaging that sits on-shelf at my Whole Foods is the exact packaging that, following my 3-month use, I utilize as a ‘mailer’ to send back the toothbrush to Preserve. BACK? Did she say, “BACK?” Yes, I said back because the packaging that you purchase your toothbrush in is the same package that you use to return the brush to Preserve for recycling!

Isn’t that dynamic? Preserve Toothbrush is not only sustainable in that they are made from 100% recycled yogurt cups, they may very well be the only product that is returned for recycling via US MAIL - how cool is that? They are leveraging the energy expended already by the US Mail, an organization that comes to each of our homes daily, to reduce the environmental impact of transportation retrieving their product for recycling!

See the 'BUSINESS REPLY LABEL'? no postage necessary!!

Lets recap the main reasons I love Preserve:

1. Love that they actually recycle toothbrushes!! They are the only toothbrushes on the market that’s recyclable!

2. Love the ‘on-shelf/return mailer’ package!

3. Love the use of recycled Yogurt cups!

4. Love their utilization of transportation that’s already in use- our own US Postal service!

5. Love that they actually use the recycled toothbrushes for park benches!

Now the minor reasons why I love Preserve:

1. Prefer their on-shelf package to a toothbrush that has a ‘carrying case’!

2. I still love my Sonic-Care toothbrush too but I need to use a ‘manual’ brush to rinse anyway so Preserve is perfect for the rinse cycle!

And, one other great product benefit I forgot to mention: My dog Taiga LOVES them and uses them to brush his teeth. I give Taiga my toothbrush after 3 months use and he loves it! He brushes his teeth, and then leaves the Preserve on the floor ready for me to recycle! I’m certain the Preserve people wonder why my toothbrushes are so ‘chewed up’!! Want to see The Taig in action with my Preserve? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqIjbBh5d5k

Thank you Preserve. Thanks for the great product, thanks for thinking about the environment and a big thanks from Taiga! Ruff, ruff!! I hope more consumer product companies follow your lead!

Starbucks are you GREEN? OR are you capitalizing on your SLIPPAGE?

2011-01-13T10:58:00.000-08:00

Starbuck's latest mailer.

I have to admit, I have a latte problem- I just don’t feel comfortable at my desk in the morning unless I have a latte in hand. I’m not brand loyal to coffee, but I do enjoy a good cup IF I don’t have to go out of my way. A few weeks ago I got a $55. Parking ticket as I talked to a baby at my local coffee shop (World Grounds, Oakland) and I didn’t want that to happen again so my local Oakland shop loses so I can drive where the parking is free…Starbucks!

Knowing that I planned to go to Starbucks at least 4x a week, I signed up for their ‘Gold Card’. Unlike their other membership card (the one I paid $25. for and liked better!!), Starbucks changed to the ‘Gold Card’ – personalized with your name- for loyal consumers like me! The Gold Card allows me to get free soy milk, free coffee refills, a free drink on my birthday and a free drink after I’ve collected 15 stars. Makes me happy, I think.

I’m not enamored by the ‘buy 15, get one free’ offer. Fifteen is a LOT of lattes, but it’s Starbucks so it’s expected that the reward threshold would be high. What really bothers me and the sole reason I’m even writing this blog post is this: when you qualify for your FREE drink from your 15 ‘buy’s, you get a postcard in the mail. The postcard explains that you must have this printed postcard in hand at Starbucks to get the free drink!! AND there is an expiration date on the postcard so you must use it quick!

HUH?? Why is this? Starbucks knows who I am, they know my name in every store, and they know what I drink everyday. I have their App telling me my ‘Gold Card’ balance in real time, my drink recipe, locations of the closest Starbucks based on my GPS, so why do I need a printed card to redeem my free ‘reward’ drink or my free ‘birthday’ drink? Why doesn’t Starbucks Reward program electronically add my ‘free reward’ onto my ‘Gold Card’ to make it simple and easy to redeem? My little local Coffee shop gives you a card with a bar code that they scan to register your purchases to offer free beverages too. They don’t send you a postcard. They scan and then tell you your eligible. So, why doesn’t the largest coffee company in the world offer the same customer convenience as the small mom and pop shop? Slippage, people, slippage.

Slippage is when retailers offer consumers something for free during a promotion but the consumer doesn’t redeem. This is the ultimate little coup. The company offers you benefits to purchase but if you don’t redeem the reward, the company doesn't have to pay out! They win double!! They got you to take advantage of their offer (purchase) but when you fail to use their ‘postcard’ to redeem, they won again. Pretty smart, eh?

But, so what if Starbucks wins twice. Its not the end of my world and will not alter my life, however, its not their ridiculous offer of one free latte after 15 latte purchases (that offer is almost laughable, certainly gratuitous), what really frustrates me is that Starbucks would rather print and send out thousands of these postcards just to gain slippage then go the easy, direct, most green method of reward transfer and the method I’m sure a majority of their customers prefer, electronic transfer. I’m not happy that Starbucks prefers to cut down trees and expend energy just so they don’t have to redeem their lowly consumer offer so I took a further look at their policies.

I visited the Starbucks website and viewed their ‘responsibility page’ where they tout their ‘goals and progress’, http://www.starbucks.com/responsibility/learn-more/goals-and-progress. On this site they claim commitment to doing business responsibly for forty years. They even have a scorecard you can download. They have all kinds of community involvement projects, environment stewardship and ethical sourcing. What they don’t have and what they don’t claim, is they don’t activate minor actions that could immediately make a difference. Things like electronic rewards instead of postcards, compostable cups, (been to NYC at 5:30? Seen all those bags of trash? How many bags of trash a day is Starbucks generating everyday on this planet??!!), recycling bins in all stores, to name a few. These things seem so easy to do and if Starbucks were committed, as they claim they are, they would be doing EVERYTHING they can to be environmentally friendly.

Big changes can come from lots of small efforts. Starbucks, stop wasting the postcards and start providing your rewards electronically. Then, maybe, just maybe, Howard Schultz’s Great Great Great Grandchildren will have trees too!

Socialnomics is a Great Entry Book for Social Media Marketing

2011-01-05T16:07:00.000-08:00

But don't take my word for it:

"Most people with a pulse can tell you that Facebook and Twitter are all the rage, but Socialnomics drives it home with detailed examples from organizations that have embraced social media and found huge success (Obama’s campaign detailed in Chapter 4), to companies that have missed the boat (see Hasbro’s Scrabble incident in Chapter 7). It’s interesting stories like these that really drive home how powerful social media can be when taken seriously." www.jasonyormark.com

"In Socialnomics, the book, Erik goes into how social media has allowed the average person to have a say with regard to products or services he or she may be interested in, or critical of. More importantly, he goes into how businesses can use social media to become more relevant.

Businesses that do not engage their customers and ignore them online will do so at their own peril. Prior to Internet search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing, the only way to reach potential customers were though mediums that interrupted them — billboard, radio commercials, TV, and direct mail. Consumers are not paying attention to these mediums and are giving much more credence to what other consumers are saying about products and services." blogcritics.org writer Laura Betterly

"Erik puts it all in context in the first 3 chapters and explains how social media is not a “time suck” or an insane distraction – as some of us initially thought, myself included – but rather a more efficient and deeper way to communicate.
I found myself nodding along the whole way, and really seeing the bigger picture – outside of online business and internet marketing. How social media is changing the way we talk, shop, learn, share… and even vote." clicknewz.com writer Lynn Terry

Why Ingrid Betancourt is a Haagen-Dazs lover for life!!

2010-11-29T10:22:00.000-08:00

I lay in my comfy cozy bed with my 9000 thread count sheets. I feel uneasy if the slightest bit of light is shining through my bedroom curtains. My husband must cover the blue of his alarm clock and the room must be completely silent, then, and only then, can sleep come to me. Oh, and the room must not be too hot and my feet must not be covered. These are my prerequisites to a good night sleep.

Sleep is important. Sleep is part of being healthy. Good sleep, good food, good exercise, good hygiene, we all know the mantra and we try to practice it every day. But what if there are no comfy cozy beds, no warm food, no exercise and no hygiene? As I go through my everyday life worrying about the most mundane of matters, like where I can find the cheapest Greenies (Dog treats!) for the Dog, I realize not everyone has my life. Some people have real life dramas happening right now- things that movies are made of. I realize that in this big world there is a LOT happening so anything that isn’t going right for me is probably miniscule in the scheme of things. And that’s the way I look at life everyday now that I met Ingrid Betancourt and read her book “"Even Silence Has an End: My Six Years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle".

Ingrid Betancourt was running for President of Colombia when the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) kidnapped her in February 2002. She was warned not to go into a rebel-controlled area, but in her own words, the President of Colombia was venturing forward into this area, so she thought she was safe. At a roadblock, she looked down at the boots of the soldiers. She knew that if the boots were rubber these were the guerillas, but if the boots were leather, these were the feet of Colombian soldier. By the time Ingrid could recognize the rubber boots and demand that her driver immediately turn around, the rebels had surrounded her car and she was captive. Thus began her long journey into hell on earth.

The rebels knew Ingrid Betancourt and they were happy to have her. They knew with Ingrid they would have a bargaining chip with the Colombian government, as she was well known and well supported by both the Colombian and the French Government with her dual citizenship. Ingrid was a ‘well-known’ prisoner. This was a good, and a bad, thing.

She spent many of these years side-by-side with her publicist, Clara Rojas, who was also captured with Ingrid. Clara and Ingrid spent the first year as each other’s only company. They shared a 6’x4’ living space where they slept, spent their day, exercised and ate their meals. If they had to use the bathroom, they went together.

The Bathroom? When I leave my comfy cozy bed, I often think of Ingrid’s ‘bathroom’. Her bathroom was several holes in the ground. When they got ‘full’ they were simply covered. When Ingrid first used the ‘holes’ she asked her escort where the generator was as she heard a loud and consistent buzz of machinery. Her escort laughed, and then shined her light on the ‘hole’s’ where thousands of bugs swarmed making the incessant noise of Ingrid’s ‘generator’.

She attempts escape. She runs out in the middle of the jungle in the dark, dark night with Clara. They run as fast as they cannot see a single thing, as the jungle is black; they know the rebels are close behind. They stop to catch their breath as their hearts pound out of their chests. Ingrid can feel heat so close to her she could reach out and touch it. They stand in the dark knowing that they are so close to being captured. Movement. An animal brushes past Ingrid’s leg. She will never know what it was. In the jungle, it could have been a panther, a wild boar or something else. They keep running. The next day Clara leaves the backpack on the side of the road as the women walk down to a stream for drinking water. As they climb back up to the road, there is a rebel waiting. He smiles and shoots his gun alerting the others that he has found the prisoners. He won.

They chain Ingrid around the neck and walk her back to the compound chained like a dog. They tie the chain to a tree near her sleeping compound. She can move but if she moves too much, the chain cuts into her neck. To use the bathroom, they remove the chains and for this, she is very grateful.

As the Colombian militia moved closer into the jungle to look for Ingrid and the other kidnapped victims, FARC moved the prisoners. Each time they are moved, first by main roads to minor roads to pathways, they move further up into the jungle. They were sometimes lead by mules and sometimes were put in boats, small and large, to float up the river. After a 40-mile march, they were finally sent to a prisoner’s camp with a group of hostages and lived in a prison like environment.

As hostages they fought for everything that meant anything- food, space, favors from the guards. They learned that while they had no influence with each other, they could influence the guards who used their vulnerability against them. When you are captive and fighting for everything in your life, you become aggressive towards those that have something you don’t. The guards knew this and used intimidation whenever possible. To scare them from trying to escape into the river, the Guards showed them a giant anaconda. They were constantly using intimidation techniques to harness the prisoners.

What inspires me most about Ingrid is that through it all, she hung on to the one thing the rebels could not take- her identity. The Rebels had given each prisoner a number and in a roll call style wanted each prisoner to say their number when called. When they got to Ingrid, she replied “Ingrid Betancourt’. Her fellow prisoners thought she was making trouble but she held on. It was important for her to make sure her captors knew she was a person, not a number! The guards carried guns and could shoot her or any of the prisoners at anytime for any reason. Ingrid felt it was easy to shoot a number. She wanted the guards to have awareness that the prisoners they guarded were people.

Ingrid Betancourt was freed on July 2, 2008 when FARC soldiers landed helicopters and told the camp commander that the prisoners were to be taken to a different location. Once the helicopters were airborne, Ingrid was informed that the FARC soldiers moving them were actually the Colombian military by saying “We are the national army. You are Free’.

Following her freedom, Ingrid spent 18 months in Wyoming writing of her experience with FARC. When asked how she remembered her ordeal in such vivid detail, she replied ‘I will never forget any of it- every detail, every smell, every sound, every color. I live the jungle every day of my life’.

And how has her life changed now that she’s free? She’s a Mom to her daughter and son (who were 16 and 13 when she was kidnapped), she’s her Mother’s best friend again and she’s a friend with her ex-husband. She talks daily to her fellow-captors (although some have been critical of her) and she has been able to keep the promises she made to herself in prison: To cook for her loved ones and to always have flowers in the room, wear perfume and eat ice cream and cakes- That’s Ingrid’s world now.

So, when the light has wakened me from my perfect sleep and the dog is begging to go outside, I will roll out of bed, think of Ingrid and all those still in bondage and move forward through the miniscule details of my life knowing the one thing for sure that Ingrid herself wanted me, and all of us, to know- Peace. Go in Peace- be peaceful, share peace.

Want to see more of my meeting with Ingrid?

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2097335&id=1293966030&l=da098baa3b

2010-10-29T13:08:00.000-07:00

October 6th and 7th, WAG exhibited at the Shopper Marketing Expo in Chicago. The Shopper Marketing Expo is a tradeshow designed to bring all segments of the shopper marketing world together in one room. From there, it is a great place to network and find out what is up-and-coming in the field in which we work. The Expo is put on by the In-Store Marketing Institute; a world-wide network that brings together retailers, brands, agencies, P-O-P firms, research organizations and other solution providers along the path to purchase.

First of all, Chicago was a great city to have the chance to explore while attending the expo. The architecture is amazing from the skyscrapers to the brownstones that were the foundation of the city. Lake Michigan and the Magnificent Mile are definite must-sees. It’s impossible to miss all the great bars and restaurants; the deep-dish pizza of course is a staple of the city.

The show took place in the enormous Festival Hall at the landmark Navy Pier and we had our WAG’s booth set up among fellow exhibitors. QR Codes were definitely the ‘in’ thing at the expo, and WAG was proud to be ahead of the curve in shopper marketing technology. The expo itself featured a scavenger hunt of sorts, where codes were hidden at various booths, and attendees were challenged to find and scan all of them to win a prize. WAG’s booth featured a Saintsbury wine raffle entry, and we also were handing out giant QR Codes. Most booths had items related to their business to give away, WAG instead gave away information about the future of marketing and how it could have an impact on just about anyone in attendance. It was great how many curious attendees, as well as other exhibitors, approached us to ask about QR codes, how we were using them and how we predicted their use in the future. It was something we could give away to spread information about ourselves, and the codes also served as a great icebreaker that often led into other shopper marketing related conversations.

The expo, and the city, stimulated our creative thinking. Both offered a mix of new people and ideas, deep dish and design, strategy and audience that we have taken back to California with us, inspiring an enriched view of marketing and ways to reach the shopper. The multitudes of people we met gave us new ideas, got us thinking in new directions, and are connections that will mutually beneficial in the future as we move down the new road that marketing is heading.

What Americans do online: Nielsen reveals some surprising facts

2010-10-28T10:30:00.000-07:00

I was recently doing some research for a project that I am working on and I came across an article posted on the Nielsen blog that delivered some very interesting information.

To see the article, click here!

"Americans spend nearly a quarter of their time online on social networking sites and blogs, up from 15.8 percent just a year ago (43 percent increase) according to new research released today from The Nielsen Company. The research revealed that Americans spend a third their online time (36 percent) communicating and networking across social networks, blogs, personal email and instant messaging."

Now, there are millions of things to do online that take up plenty of time. Checking email, playing games, visiting websites, watching movies and checking out pictures of adorable cats with funny caption (icanhascheezburger.com) are just a few, but 22.7 percent of US internet time is spent on Social Networks.

Other interesting tidbits:

"Online games overtook personal email to become the second most heavily used activity behind social networks – accounting for 10 percent of all U.S. Internet time. Email dropped from 11.5 percent of time to 8.3 percent."

"Despite some predictions otherwise, the rise of social networking hasn’t pushed email and instant messaging into obscurity just yet. Although both saw double-digit declines in share of time, email remains as the third heaviest activity online (8.3 percent share of time) while instant messaging is fifth, accounting for four percent of Americans online time."

So what does this all mean?

1. Spending High $$ Amounts on a Website = Bad Idea
2. Spending $$ Developing Your Social Media Program = Good Idea

Justin Noland
Email: justin@wag.com

The Jonas Brothers Meet Our WAG Intern!!

2010-09-21T14:56:00.000-07:00

WAG had to post this! When young people get this excited there is reason to celebrate! Yeah to our intern Lauren, who a week after interning with us, had the best day of her life, read on....

Jonas Day, Sept. first <33333
by Lauren Marie Pereny
Friday, September 3, 2010 at 10:12am

So yesterday I met the Jonas Brothers. It may have been the craziest and most surreal thing that has ever happened to me. I was nervous all day. It hadn’t really hit me until that morning, and then I started freaking. It’s crazy when you dream and wish for stuff and then it really happens. I’ve been waiting three years for yesterday.

I’ll start in the morning. So I found out at like 5:30 in the morning about some thing they were having at walmart when I was up with a stomach ache. So I text my friends and go back to sleep and long story short, we went. So when we got there at 11, there were 1,500 people already there, and they only gave away 500 wristbands. So we thought it would be a waste if we stood in the hot sun so we went inside and talked to some people and gave us a hint on where to go. So I wander off and I see a big group of people so I ask them what’s going on and I call my friends over and we waited for like, 45 minutes and then they - the Jonas Brothers!- walked through like ten feet away from us. There were only 30 of us, so it was crazy.

Moving on, I had no idea what was going on with my meet and greet until 5:30. I asked just about everyone in the whole venue where I needed to be and where were meeting and no one knew anything. It was bad. But I don’t want to dwell on that. It was all worth it. (:

So we’re waiting in line and the most wonderful thing happened. It started raining. Yes. Raining while I was waiting to meet the Jonas Brothers. But I met some super cool people in line and we kept each other sane.

But I’ll skip ahead. So we walk down the stairs and there’s the backdrop, and they’re right behind it. I feel like I’m going to puke all over someone, and I was just so excited it was crazy. So we walk up and I pushed the girls behind me to go first. So they go and I saw kevin’s hand and head and I was freaking. The guard asked me if I was going to pass out, I was like, uhhh, I’m meeting the Jonas brothers! So they tell me to go up and I shake my head and I’m like, I can’t do this. But I tiptoe around the corner and I see Kevin and I’m like, Kevin, omg!

I pretty much give him the biggest hug ever and just throw my arms around his neck. And he’s all like, thank you so much for coming, thank you for all your support and I’m like, mentally freaking out. So I see Nick, and omg, he’s so freaking gorgeous, omg omg omg. He had his headband in and I was all unffff. I hug him and he’s all hey, and then I see Joe and I looked into his eyes and I wanted to melt right there. I hug him and then I took a step back and I was like, what do you want me to say? You’re the Jonas brothers. I wanted to say something memorable and cool, but, you’ve heard it all. And Nick goes, just be like hey, what’s up. And Joe said, that’s lame Nick. LMAO. And Nick goes, so…how are you? How was your day? AND AT THIS MOMENT I AM FREAKING OUT BECAUSE IM TALKING TO THE JONAS BROTHERS AND NICK JONAS JUST ASKED HOW MY DAY WAS. I was all cool on the outside though. :P

So i was like, umm, you have no idea what it took me to get here. I had no idea what was going on and it was supposed to start at six and I didn’t want to miss it…and Joe was like, woah, that’s crazy, but you’re here now, so that’s good. I replied, yea, it was all worth it. And then I remembered the picture and I said to them, either we’re doing a cute pose or we’re all smiling. And I pointed at Nick and I was like you especially. And you too Joe. But Kevin’s always happy. And he laughed. KEVIN JONAS LAUGHED AT ME. So Nick was like we can all just smile. So I get in between Joe and Nick and the guy takes like 15 seconds to fix his camera, so I’m dying and then we smile and the security was like, alright keep moving. And I looked at Joe and hugged him again. Like a crazy tight intense hug and my face was all in his chest and I was like, ahshslfnslamjajala. He probably thought I was crazy. So I walk out and I’m like, bye, thank you for everything, I love you, sorry for freaking out, I’m just so excited. And they’re like, no you’re fine. And I walked up the stairs and started bawling and I felt retarded but the tears wouldn’t stop. I was sobbing. It was horrible. Lol.

But yes, most amazing thing ever. Sorry it’s so long.

PS, NICK JONAS SMELLS LIKE HEAVEN.

Why Volunteer? WHY NOT?!!

2010-09-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

We all have such busy lives- professional lives, family lives, and friends. It’s sometimes hard to find a minute in the day to touch base with those you love and when you do, its mundane conversation like ‘whats for dinner’ or ‘can you pick up Matthew?’ We have such minimal time left for things that really matter- like the love and friendship of strangers, who may or may not, have similar life experiences.

How do you become involved with something that has absolutely nothing to do with you? Why would you bother? How can something that you never thought about ever in your life become a major life force that not only changes your life, but also drives your behavior? What entity can give you so much energy in the middle of your busy, busy life?

Volunteering. When you volunteer you expect nothing in return. You are giving your time, energy and efforts to something you know you won’t gain anything tangible but you will gain something that money can’t buy… a full heart. Volunteering is a way to share with the world your interests or talents that are unique to you.

A few months ago, WAG volunteered to assist in an invitation for a local fund raising event. The group, Corey’s Crusade, is a Piedmont, California group dedicated to raising funds to help find medicine and a cure for ALS. WAG assisted by creating the artwork for the invitation- a small task for a design firm. As every design project requires some insight, (we don’t design in a vacuum!) we had to do some research to see exactly what the cause was for, who the target audience was and the best way to communicate the message. As WAG began to ask these questions, WAG saw a need to further offer assistance to Corey’s Crusade and their battle with ALS.

Ted, Wendy, Corey and Claire Reich lead Corey’s Crusade. Together, they have raised over $1 million for research and are leading a national campaign to create a ‘Young Faces of ALS’ (YFALS) group. As Corey was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 21, the Reich Family has vested much of their time to bringing awareness and funding to this under-researched disease. Corey say’s it best on the YFALS Facebook page:

"For 70 years Lou Gehrig has been the face of ALS. Sadly, in that time, not a single effective therapeutic has been discovered and most Americans know little to nothing about the disease. It is time to put a new, younger, face on the disease. I hope to be that face, and raise not only awareness, but also the funding necessary to put an end to ALS."

How can that be?! How can the infamous speech of Lou Gehrig on the 4^th of July 1939 have gone unheard? One of the most famous speeches in American history?! Lou Gehrig didn’t mention he was sick with a disease that would kill him in less than 3 short years – he died June 2, 1941. American’s loved Lou but they didn’t realize nor did they understand the full impact of his retirement; no momentum was born to assist others with the same disease that took the beloved New York Yankee’s first baseman. Not until now!

The Reich family, along with other families across America, are vigilant in working for a cure and they need help! They need research and research costs money! Who will contribute? How can we build awareness of this horrible disease? How do you get others to care? Why would anyone volunteer to help if they weren’t personally affected? This is a big challenge.

I can only think of one reason anyone would volunteer and that only reason is love: love for each other, love for mankind, love for people who have been given a diagnosis that one wouldn’t wish on their worst enemy. Can a design firm share this ‘love’? Can a design firm spread the ‘love’? WAG said YES we can! So WAG started a Facebook page for YFALS and in less then a month, the page had over 1000 fans but we didn’t stop there!

WAG designed the YFALS logo, awareness button, powerpoint template, letterhead, a restaurant promotion (thank you Adesso, Oakland!), t-shirt and we’re planning a Pub Crawl in Walnut Creek, CA in December. It wasn’t hard to get involved- we just utilized what we had- our design and promotion expertise! Everyone has an expertise and every expertise can be utilized by any group of volunteers.

You can volunteer too! You don’t need to have the disease or know someone with the disease – you only have to want to share your expertise with a group that really, really needs your help. You won’t get a paycheck or a free lunch, but your heart will fill with contentment knowing you are working to help others and that is something money can’t buy.

Please help WAG to bring awareness and funding to YFALS. Support the YFALS Facebook page by becoming a ‘fan’ or contact us to offer your expertise. WAG can assure you you’ll be glad you did, we are.

Click here to see more of WAG’s work for YFALS!

Click here to become a ‘fan’ of the YFALS Facebook page!

Wedding Bells

2010-09-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

On August 7, 2010, after a year long engagement (and 10 years of dating), I got married. It was a perfect day full of friends, family, love, and dancing!

I loved every minute I spent in the year planning my wedding. Honestly, I never got to the point of horrible stress and frantic meltdowns. Part of that is due to my Type-A nature and love of events and planning, but the other part is owed 100% to my work. Most brides are able to plan their weddings in spite of their job, I however, could not have executed my wedding without the help of mine. The day after the wedding, a friend asked “what is the greatest tip you would give another bride after planning your wedding?” My reply “…get a job at a graphic design firm.”

Our wedding took place in my dad’s backyard in Sonoma, CA, and despite what many people initially think, a wedding at home takes MORE planning and logistics (and is no more cost effective) than renting an established venue. Nothing is provided, nothing is included, every single item needs to be created and brought in. We rented chairs, tables, a bar, benches, glassware, flatware, etc. So once I had figured out all the big items to accommodate our 130 guests, it was time to think about the little details that give every event their own unique personality.

The wedding invitations were clean and simple; moss green ink on ivory paper, mounted on thick, moss green paper. Our wedding ceremony took place under a big oak tree, so our invitation featured a faded out oak tree with a quote on the bottom that read “Every oak tree started out as a couple of nuts who decided to stand their ground”. I designed the stamp on zazzle.com to match the invitation, with two connected acorns and our initials, M+C, on the top. Thus, without even meaning to, a theme was born.

So why, you may ask, would my best advice for other brides be to get a job at a design firm? All the little details; the things that people barely notice, but that pull everything together and make an event look complete and well thought out, that no detail was spared. WAG designed ten coordinating pieces for me; table numbers, a giant seating chart, menu cards, stickers for the favor boxes, photo sharing cards, programs (attached to paper fans, they were adorable!), and signs to direct guests in the right direction. They also designed a map, an information card and a closure sticker, all for the welcome bag given to guests staying for the weekend at The Lodge at Sonoma. These were the types of details that I simply could not have done on my own, or that would have cost me thousands of dollars to have a stationery company design and print for me. Even though WAG did not design my invitations everything still coordinated with the invitation, matched its clean and simple aesthetic, and played with the oak tree and acorn theme.

I am confident that having a job at a graphic design firm saved my sanity. It’s tiny little details, like all of these things, that I would have wanted to do and had a picture of in my mind, but that even with my rather savvy Microsoft Word and Excel skills, never would have come out looking as perfect as they did. I was able to have even the smallest detail (like the photo sharing information card that directed our guests to upload the photos they took to a shutterfly.com sharing site) fit seamlessly into the rest of the wedding. All the ideas that I had and thought, “Oh, that would be so cute!” were ideas that I was able to have turned into reality…all because of my job. I really don’t know how other brides do it (without spending thousands of course).

While I’m sure that not everyone noticed all these details that I spent 2 months concocting, and most people didn’t say anything, I’m confident that our guests walked away thinking “that was beautiful and everything was so well done”. Our wedding had the exact personality I dreamed of; simple, welcoming, romantic and classy. It wasn’t the chairs we rented, or the tables, or the bar (although that helped!)- it was the little things, and all the thought and care that not only I, but my very talented co-workers put in to make August 7, 2010 perfect.

Morgan Nelson

For more photos, check out the WAG Flickr Page!

Observations on Shopping and Eating Local

2010-09-03T14:12:00.000-07:00

I’ve been buying fruits and vegetables at our local farmers’ market for awhile now, and enjoy the experience. It’s great getting out early, chatting with the sellers (who more likely than not, are the owners of the family operations), running into friends, and having a breakfast pastry and tasting lots of vendor samples while strolling around. I really love the heirloom tomatoes, especially sliced up with some burrata, basil and olive oil. They’re much better than any I could grow, though my farming skills are pretty dicey, so the cards aren’t exactly stacked in my favor.

My wife Jan loves farmers’ markets more than I do, and she really goes out of her way to buy local products–she’s really “loco for local”. Last night she happily reminded me that the tuna in the Salad Nicoise was bought from a fisherman in Eugene, from one of our trips visiting our son at college. And the olive oil is from Corning, a stop on the way back from Eugene. Local in a roundabout sort-of-way.

Of course, not everything can be local. A lot of my shoes and clothes are made in Italy, though I know there are a lot of local clothes designers in the Bay Area–at least for women. My favorite sport is baseball, and Rawlings MLB baseballs are made in Costa Rica. (Interesting aside–a typical Major League game uses about 100 baseballs). And I‘m not a nutcase about local–it’s just interesting to know where the things you use and eat come from.

Speaking of good food, I recently noticed a burst on the front of my Lay’s Potato Chip bag (their regular potato chips rank as one of the world’s great snacks) and realized that even Frito-Lay, the world's biggest snack-food maker, is getting into the locally-made act. “Discover where your Lay’s chips are made” it proclaimed. (Don’t you just love to see bursts get noticed?).

They are focusing on 80 “local” farmers from 27 states who grow the potatoes used to make its chips. Want to know where your chips come from? Grab your bag and go to

http://www.fritolay.com/lays/chip-tracker.html

and then enter your ZIP code and the first three digits of the product code from the bag and up comes the location of the plant from where they were made. Intrigued, I checked my potato chip bag and found out they were made in Modesto. The site goes on to say that Lay’s bought 283 million pounds of potatoes from California farmers last year. Which I’m sure helped out the local economy in the Central Valley tremendously.

"Knowing where food is made and grown is important to consumers," says Dave Skena, vice president of potato chip marketing at Frito-Lay. "Sharing with consumers how regional we are is relevant and compelling."

OK, Dave, calm down. It’s not that compelling. But it is interesting to see how very big companies can take a trend and run with it. And sometimes with weird twists–I’ve read of spas advertising “farm-to-spa” by integrating locally grown fruits and herbs into skin treatments and massage therapies. At least Lay’s is still taking the potatoes and frying chips. And though rabid locavores would probably insist on frying their own chips (I’ve done that–they’re tasty but pretty time consuming), the Lay’s ingredients are very straightforward: “Potatoes, Sunflower Oil, Salt."

My business partner, Francine Pinoni, is from Michigan. One of the Lay’s TV spots features Michigan farmer Brian Walther, who appears with his brother, Gary, in a spot that aired in that state and tells viewers: "Next time you grab a bag of Lay's in Michigan, think of us." Considering how many people Francine knows in Michigan, she may even know these guys.

"Lay's Local" was the brand's biggest 2009 campaign, and it seems to still be going strong. It doesn’t claim that its products are locally grown, but, rather, it’s “celebrating the contributions people and communities across the country have made to the Lay's brand."

And to their credit, the campaign reminds us that Frito-Lay is an American brand that supports American farmers in tough times. Just like I do, when I pick up my heirloom tomatoes each Sunday at the farmers’ market.

Bon Appétit!

Jim Walcott-Ayers
Partner

Meet Our Summer Intern!

2010-08-30T15:16:00.000-07:00

Meet our Summer Intern!

Hi, I'm Lauren Pereny and i'm visiting from Michigan to stay with my aunt, Francine. I'm 15, 16 in October, and in the fall will be a junior at Lamphere High School. I'm interning here at WAG for three weeks, and I'm really excited to get going. Being new to the working world, I'm anxious to learn a lot on how businesses work. This is my first job-like experience, but I definitely know what it is liked to be coached. I'm on the varsity dance and track and field teams at my high school. I also have participated in two school musicals and was the student director for the fall play. I belong to the drama club, and also something called Interact, where we do community service projects such as caroling for senior citizens or fundraising to donate money to a worthy cause. This year, I was also given the opportunity to become a Link Leader. We coach the upcoming freshman and welcome them into our school, giving them a helping hand along the way.

I have a love of traveling and learning about new cultures. I'm a big fan of history and the arts. Music is a huge part of my life and I could literally live at concerts, I enjoy them so much. I'm a big fan of photography and I love to be inspired. So everyone should get ready to put up with me for the next couple weeks, because I'm raring to go.

Social Media Q&A

2010-08-17T13:33:00.000-07:00

Social Media Q & A with Justin Noland, WAG's Social Media Manager:

We know you have some questions so, let’s take a moment and get to know the person that is ready to take your brand’s social media presence to the next level.

FP: When did you start in social media?

JN: Personally speaking, I started being active in social media five years ago with the breakout of MySpace. I was also quickly entranced with the blogging world as I saw well written and current information about topics that mattered to me.

Professionally, I became interested in what this age of new media opportunities would mean to the marketing profession about two years ago. I entered UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business specifically because of their progressive stance in the education of Marketing MBA candidates. The opportunity to learn from the innovators and build my understanding based on the forward thinking of the faculty was too great to pass up.

FP: What is social media?

JN: Social Media is a term that describes a variety of new mass media outlets, but it’s more than that. It is the building of relationships, the conversations between people and a different type of outlet for new information and content. From a business standpoint, it represents a new way to engage your target consumers in a meaningful and impactful way.

FP: What is a social media campaign?

JN: A social media campaign starts with the development of a message and a voice for your brand. The brand takes that message, reaches out to the target consumer and delivers it in a creative and relevant method, while giving the consumer some level of incentive to pass the message along to their friends creating viral growth. The incentive here does not always have to be a coupon or a prize, but could be a simply a form of entertainment, a laugh, or just quality information.

FP: How do you monitor social media for a client?

JN: Great question, there are a variety of ways to monitor social media and new products are continually being developed in order to gain better insight from a marketing standpoint. Right now, I’d have to say that my favorite tool is Brandwatch. It is a cost option, but I feel it provides the right tools needed for a brand to really understand what is being said out. Specialty tools within Brandwatch also help you keep tabs on a particular campaign and can even help you understand what your competitors are doing. So far, Brandwatch is the most comprehensive way to monitor your brand on social media.

FP: How do you measure ROI?

JN: I’d love to take credit for this answer, but I can’t. My answer to this question comes straight from Olivier Blanchard who writes “The Brand Builder” Blog. If you haven’t read his blog, I would encourage you to and to watch his video presentation on social media ROI. It is not only informative, but will help you when deciding on which agency to hire to assist you in your social media ventures.

Measuring ROI in social media is pretty much the same as measuring it in traditional marketing. The bottom line question is “what did I get for what I spent?” If you have developed your campaign the right way, by setting clear goals and setting a baseline for analytic measurement, then simply take the metrics from your monitoring tools (I’m a fan of Omniture, but Google Analytics is helpful too) and see how they correlate to higher sales, better customer retention, or whatever your primary markers for success are.

Then we look for trends. Is traffic up in-store after posting on Facebook? What about Twitter? Does a higher sentiment analysis on Twitter lead to a larger basket size or more trips? Finding trends and tracking them back to their point of origin is the key to measuring ROI.

FP: How do you build an audience?

JN: This really depends on the campaign and what our goals are, but for most campaigns it simply comes down to engaging the consumer with relevant information. Just by joining the conversation and providing the consumer an incentive to listen, your audience will grow.

However, depending on the type of campaign, using Facebook ads or banner ads on the right kind of blog can certainly help build awareness of the campaign.

FP: Do you offer a guarantee?

JN: Yes and no, I always guarantee that I will work hard for my clients and represent them is the best way possible. I guarantee that I will give sound social media advice and always be open to the conversation that’s out there. I am not the guy that is going to guarantee a higher SEO or a certain number of fans because that just isn’t the best approach to social media. Plus, marketing is only one step in the brand equation and a multitude of other factors affect consumer behavior.

FP: How does social media impact SEO?

JN: SEO in its most simplistic form is about generating a higher number of links to the page or site that you want to promote. So, a simple answer is that social media will help generate more links. It’s more complex than that though. Social Media helps build relationships with your consumer base. The more loyal your consumer is, the more likely they are to want to pass along your information. That is what generates links.

FP: Outside of school, how do learn more about social media?

JN: By keeping my eyes open and reading plenty of blogs. Social Media is constantly changing. Understanding these changes and their effects is necessary to be best prepared for the future. Just be open minded and objective. Will this tool help? If the answer is yes, you need to learn more.

FP: What are your thoughts on developing a brand’s voice on social media?

JN: I am of the school of thought that having an anonymous “brand voice” is not the way to go in social media. Social participation works best when done by an individual, real or not. Many companies operate their Facebook page or Twitter account anonymously without identifying the person actually responding to customer inquiries and comments. This detracts from the effectiveness of the effort.

So the question is less about what my brand’s voice should be, but what the individual should sound like. They are the brand ambassador and should reflect the brands goals, passions and interests, while remaining personable and interesting. However, the voice depends more on the target audience that you are engaging with then it does the brand itself. Who are you talking to? What do they expect from your brand? What are their goals in life? Listen, understand and engage.

Have more questions? Email Justin yourself at Justin@wag.com

Francine Pinoni

WAG Partner

The name change that isn’t a name change

2010-06-18T09:12:00.000-07:00

Recently, we undertook the task of rebranding Walcott-Ayers Group, officially changing our name to WAG. The acronym was already in wide use–email addresses, website address, the shorthand way we were referred to by our clients and by ourselves–but that wasn‘t the driving force behind the change. There have been major changes in CPG Marketing, and we have been actively involved in new ways to target shoppers for our clients from start to finish. This isn’t a reflex action, but rather a studied and conscious decision to ride the forefront of a new marketplace. OK, that sounds pretty good, right? I’ll buy it. Onward.

We’ve had the same dog in our logo since 1989, lovingly referred to by waggers as the “Picasso” dog. The only change to the pup in 21 years was a move away from the bright colors used in the original version to a simpler, more straight-forward dog (my own dogs are losing their bright colors as well, especially around the snout–but that’s another story). So when we set out in the beginning of 2010 to reorganize our efforts to focus on Shopper Marketing and Social Media, we had to make a big decision. Simply put, dog or no dog?

We were torn. Some of our clients were torn. We explored several ideas that kept the old dog, or a version of the dog, by putting the image onto a shopping bag (remember the “Shopper” part of this new identity). They had a nice look, but, combined with the shopping bag, they all tended to subtly (or maybe not so subtly) suggest that we were a purveyor of dog toys. Or in the business of dog grooming. Which we decidedly are not.

But it was hard saying farewell to the dog. Do you really want to turn your back on an old friend? But then we hit on a possibility of keeping a hint of canine. (And we do mean a hint).

See it? See the tail wagging? Now we just needed to get the dog presence and the Shopper presence all playing happily together with the type. We picked up the idea of the shopping bag from the “doggy boutique” idea, and replaced the dog with the wagging tail icon. We then started the color studies.

The beauty of having several people work on a project is that you get a whole bunch of ideas - and those ideas spark others (it’s not really stealing when you own the company). For instance, one of the designers had hand-drawn a logotype early on in the process. It had a certain appeal, but some people saw it as old fashioned (and the “w” in particular set off some Freudian anxiety in some) so we sent it back to the drawing board where it emerged much jauntier (and with no more anxieties).

So we’ve done the color studies (dozens and dozens), worked on the dog (or at least the tail of the dog–and no, not the hair of the dog), written taglines to neatly sum up what we do, and now we finally join the computer drawn type with the image and tagline and here we are:

Then it’s redesign the website and the Facebook page, redesign the business cards, letterhead, mailing labels, CD labels and all the rest. We’re getting there. Welcome to the new world of WAG. Design Powered by Shopper Insights. And yes, we can explain it. just call us.

Jim Walcott-Ayers

WAG Partner

Ready for the QR Code Revolution?

2010-06-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

What's The Buzz,
Tell Me What’s Happening!!
(borrowed from Jesus Christ Superstar, the Rock Opera!)

What is the buzz with marketers and retailers
in America? What is going to take American
consumers by storm?? QR Codes! What are
QR codes, how do they work and what can they do?

According to our trusty Wikipedia, "A QR Code
is a matrix code created by Japanese corporation
Denso-Wave in 1994. The 'QR' is derived from
‘Quick Response’, as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.” And high speed they are, as they rapidly fire across all measurement of consumer communication.

This two-dimensional bar code is quickly on the rise. In the past five years American consumers may have seen these little codes buried in the legal area of their consumer products. The on-pack QR code helped the manufacturer track parts, production, expiration dates, pricing and an entire myriad of information. But, the life of the QR is expanding rapidly as they are easy to generate, easy to execute and easy to utilize.

How do QR codes work? If you have a cell phone that has a camera and the right app, you can use a QR code. You point your camera phone to the QR Code, snapping a photo. The QR code decodes instantly and voilà: the browser on your phone launches, directing you to the webpage or program that was linked to the specific QR code you just scanned! You’ve now opened up a
whole new world!

QR codes can be used (and are being used!) for special offers and promotions, coupons, websites, maps and directions, menus, as well as other less obvious links: bus signage, business cards, postcards, marketing collateral, real estate signage, security clearances, the list is endless. You can create QR codes for phone numbers, events, emails, data lists, or for whatever your mind creates the need for. Then, you can measure the data- the number of scans, the number of responses, the dates and times people used them. Using this information you can determine the ROI and how they measure up against other vehicles/channels.

In 2007, British pop group Pet Shop Boys used a QR-code for the artwork of their download-only single “Integral”. The video clip for the song also featured a QR-code. When the codes were scanned correctly, users are directed to the Pet Shop Boys website and web pages about the British national identity card.

Earlier this month I checked in for my Delta flight from Detroit to San Francisco. I was offered a ‘digital’ boarding pass, which I quickly signed up for. After telling them what type of phone I had, my desired phone number for my ‘boarding’ text and my phone operating system, I received my text message within seconds. I opened the text and there it was, my personal QR code for my flight! I used it at security and I used it at the gate. I LOVED it. I didn’t have to remember my paper boarding pass, I just needed my phone! I admit I got slightly panicked a few times when I feared the loss of my paper pass, but that fear ended quickly and I was silently thrilled by my QR ‘secret code’!!

The Pet Shop Boys and Delta Airlines aren’t the only groups utilizing QR codes and bringing them mainstream to the US consumer. Facebook just recently announced that they were enabling users to generate custom QR Codes. On the example provided, they are suggesting two QR codes for your
personal profile: 1) Personal QR Bar code and 2) Status QR Bar code. Now your friends and associates can scan your QR code to download all your personal information! Maybe they need directions to your house? Your personal QR code is their answer!!

Now that we know what QR codes are, how they work and what you can do with them, they will certainly become a marketing gold mine as consumers look to achieve information or offers with QR codes. This gold mine could further be enhanced with the use of Social Media. When Brandweek asked US Facebook Users why they join Fan pages (March 2010), 37% answered ‘to receive coupons and discount offers’. As these Facebook users turn to their ‘fan pages’,
marketers will provide unique promotional offers targeted directly to them using a QR code. For Example...A Haagen-Daz (HD) Facebook ‘Fan’ visits the HD Facebook page and finds a QR code. They ‘shoot’ the code to learn that they have just received a ‘BOGO’ offer exclusively at Safeway. In doing so, they make themselves happy HD consumers, they make the retailer happy
gaining a ‘stock up’ trip with this HD shopper and they helped increase
market share for HD shareholders. A win-win-win!!

Help WAG Help "The Young Faces of ALS"

2010-06-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

For those of you not familiar, ALS (commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease) stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. In short, ALS is a progressive, fatal, degeneration of motor neurons, the nerve cells in the central nervous system that control voluntary muscle movement. People who suffer from ALS slowly become paralyzed while all mental capacity remains intact. It’s a disease that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.

ALS has commonly been referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease after the iconic baseball player died of the disease in 1941, just two short years after his initial diagnosis. He is remembered as one of the greatest to ever play the game, and is probably most respected for his record of playing in 2,130 consecutive games, as well as his unrivaled sportsmanship and class. In 1939, at the age of 35, his streak came to an end when he became too physically disabled by ALS to continue playing. Gehrig, known as a power hitter and RBI king, suddenly felt his strength and balance fading. Athletic abilities that were once second nature to him quickly began to fade. After a trip to the Mayo Clinic, he learned his diagnosis and retired July 4, 1939 after delivering the most storied speech in baseball history. His record remained for 56 years, until Cal Ripken, Jr, broke it in 1995.

One of the most unfortunate aspects of ALS, is that “this disease is not incurable, it’s underfunded”, and in the 69 years since Lou Gehrig passed away, the prognosis for patients diagnosed today, in 2010, has barely improved.

However, an organization called ALS Therapy Development Institute (TDI) is trying to change that. ALS TDI is the world’s first non-profit biotech, and their sole mission is to develop effective treatments as soon as possible to stop ALS.

WAG supports ALS TDI, specifically their new “Young Faces of ALS” campaign. The goal of the Young Faces campaign is to change the perception of this disease, raise awareness, and ultimately raise the money that would lead to a cure. ALS is not a disease that only afflicts people who have lived a long, full life, it strikes an alarming number of young people as well; people who have barely had a chance to start living.

At this point, what ALS needs is awareness and FUNDING. WAG is doing our part by teaming up with the amazing people at ALS TDI, as well as local ALS patient, Corey Reich (whose family has helped raise over $1 million for ALS TDI), age 24, to help launch their “Young Faces of ALS” campaign on Facebook. It is our goal to help ALS TDI and the Young Faces campaign educate as many people as possible about this disease, because once you know about ALS, it is impossible not to be moved to help.

Corey is my friend from high school and was diagnosed our junior year of college at age 21. Since then, I personally have attended fundraisers and awareness events, and simply educated myself so I can talk with people I encounter and spread the word on ALS, what is being done, and what CAN be done. Now working at WAG, I work with people who know how to draw attention to a product. We are using our resources to not only design a visually appealing Facebook page, but also create a forum for young patients, their families and friends, doctors, and volunteers to come and share their stories, promote fundraising events, and RAISE MONEY!

Stay tuned for WAG’s launch of “The Young Faces of ALS” Facebook page, and be sure to ‘Like’ it. In the meantime you can visit ALS TDI, or The Young Faces of ALS to learn more or donate. Or, even easier, text ENDALS to 20222 to donate $5, every cent helps.

Morgan

What’s Up Kraft Sandwich Shop and Miracle Whip?

2010-05-27T16:22:00.000-07:00

I’m focused on Kraft Mayonnaise and Kraft Miracle Whip sandwich spread and I know why. Kraft is out there heavily promoting both. I don’t even like mayonnaise but recently it’s been a part of my life. That’s how Brands are. Even if you’re not even interested in them, you don’t buy them or you don’t engage with them, they have a way of sneaking into your life. It is almost impossible not to have involvement with Brands no matter what. Here’s why:

Kraft just launched their new flavored mayonnaise “Sandwich Shop Mayo”. Woo! What took them so long? Consumers have been eating (and loving!!) flavored mayonnaise since…hmmmm, how long exactly? I wondered so I used ‘The’ Google (http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/SauceHistory.htm) and The Google says that the mayonnaise history can not be traced exactly, but mayonnaise can be traced back to the 1756 French capture of Mahon, a city on the Spanish Isle of Minorca. Okay, enough of that, lets get back to Kraft.

So, Kraft introduces a line of flavored mayonnaises-the SANDWICH SHOP MAYONNAISE: a sku of reduced fat Chipotle, Garlic & Herb, Horseradish-Dijon and regular Hot & Spicy. They use HGTV design star judges to help introduce the product in a reality TV type format. Using these designers for this product was a little disconnecting for me. Does Kraft want me to believe that because Vern Yip knows feng shui for living rooms, he can ‘design’ a sandwich too? Vern may pull together a color palette for a kitchen but is a color palette really necessary for a sandwich? I’ve been in the design world my entire life and no way do I think I could build a better sandwich then legendary Alice Waters, or even my German engineer husband, just because I studied and practiced design for over 30 years!

I do think the time for flavored Mayonnaise has come though! We’ve had Dijonaise (whatever happened to that product?), Baconaise (we all KNOW what happened to that product!), and even the giant fast food legend Burger King has served aioli on their burgers! The time has come and Kraft is letting me know.

But while the brand managers for the new and exciting Sandwich Shop Mayo are jumping up and down with their new consumer-desired product, celebrity spokesperson, big TV, radio and print campaigns, just down the hall are their Miracle Whip (MW as abbreviated by the brand team) counterparts and unfortunately for them, they are the David of the ‘Sandwich Shop’ Goliath.

How does one market ‘Miracle Whip’ against these new and highly touted consumer flavor profiles? Of course the growing Hispanic market desires a Chipolte Mayonnaise! And the Gourmet suburban ‘indulger’ shopper has desired Horseradish-Dijon Mayonnaise for years! This new Kraft product is the answer to their dreams, right? So what happens to Miracle Whip and who exactly buys that product?

I used The Google again to find PR on MW but the most current news I could find was from May of 2009. In this article (http://www.prweekus.com/putting-the-zing-back-in-miracle-whip/article/154459/), the SVP of marketing says they ‘reinvented Miracle Whip’. They are targeting the 18-34 year old consumer. Their research shows that this younger segment has fond memories of Miracle Whip, that this consumer group enjoyed MW when they were younger and with the economic situation they’re facing, it’s the perfect way to get MW into this consumer’s kitchen. GREAT! Interesting strategy for an historic brand that is competing for share of stomach against their own colleagues offering a brand with strategic flavor profiles (and every consumer knows what mayonnaise is but what exactly is Miracle Whip anyway?).

‘Miracle Whip vs. Mayonnaise’ has always been a debate and definitely a consumer preference. This debate was further sparked by a Comedy Central remark made by legendary comedian Steve Colbert, who chose Mayonnaise over Miracle Whip when given the choice during an episode of his ‘Colbert Report’. The MW brand team catapulted the remark into their social media and traditional marketing campaigns to reach their 18-35 year old audience. Using Twitter, Facebook and a ZINGR branded browser plug-in, the brand believes MW ‘zings’ and now they can ‘zing’ the product to the digital world where their target is active.

Well, lots have happened in a year of zinging! They utilized Facebook to ask consumers to ‘take a stand’ against mayonnaise and have compiled 20,357 friends! While this doesn’t seem like a big number, when compared to the Kraft Mayonnaise Facebook page with 162 friends, the MW campaign is a huge success!! They utilized Facebook to encourage debates and discussions on consumer’s love of MW vs. Mayonnaise and to further capitalize on the Steve Colbert debate, they purchased every commercial timeslot during the Colbert Report on Thursday, November 12 to dominate the airspace with Miracle Whip consumers ‘snarfing sandwiches’ topped with, what else?, Miracle Whip.

It’s all good at the Chicago office of Kraft Miracle Whip. The brand has defined the consumer, got the touch points down, got a brilliant campaign to go against their Flavored Mayonnaise ‘Sandwich Shop’ colleagues, so now, I’m just wondering, what demographic data did they look at when they decided to use Red Plum’s Newspouch to deliver me a sample of their MW product within my Sunday San Francisco Chronicle?

In the last ten years, readership of newspapers in the core demographic group that MW has decided to go after has fallen 35-40% based on Scarborough Research survey data.

I’m definitely not their target as I’m not 18, 26 or 35, I’m not economically challenged and I don’t even purchase mayonnaise let alone a ‘sandwich spread’. Lets not forget my consumer segment is double income, empty nesters, indulgent and organic. We are so off the Miracle Whip target. Not only that, I find something very wrong with offering sandwich spread within a plastic newspaper bag. Is Miracle Whip sensitive to heat? How about when it’s in wrapped in plastic twice and it sits in the sun for four or more hours? Does it need to be refrigerated? Maybe the MW brand team did consider this. For their target, maybe food quality doesn’t matter as long as it’s free??

And, maybe those hipster Miracle Whip marketers may need to rethink their ‘kick up’ the flavor copy. I really need to know how mayonnaise (or any sandwich spread) kicks up anything? And, I’m not alone in wondering about the ‘non-taste’ of sandwich spreads and mayonnaise either! Evidently there are many us ‘I hate mayonnaise’ people out there as there’s even a website: www.world-of-mayo.com.

So Kraft, save your money on sending samples out to people that you have already decided are not going to buy your product. Instead, continue to execute the promise that your viral campaign has to offer. Extend it further by going guerilla on people and hitting the streets to target your demographic! Set up sandwich shops at tailgating spots and deliver the samples directly to the people. Take photos, post them to Facebook, announce where the next pop-up sandwich shop is going to be and when!

Cross Promote with sandwich king Subway or sponsor contests that build creativity and brand awareness! Bring it all back by actually using social media to advertise these events, contests and build your brand in the process!

You want web 2.0? You want hipster? You want new age marketing tactics? FORGET NEWSPAPERS! Stick to your guns and dive in, the young and spending shopper awaits, but he’s not reading the morning paper.

Just my thoughts on a Sunday morning! I’m off now to eat my German husband’s breakfast sandwich. (made without the free MW packets we got this morning in our Sunday paper!!).

Does your brand need a Facebook page?

2010-05-25T16:18:00.000-07:00

The short answer is yes.

While some may argue that another platform will come down the line to replace Facebook, the reality of the question is more about a Brand's necessity to dive into the world of social media.

The value of social media can be broken down into the "Four A's":

Audience:

There are more than 100 million active Facebook users.

There are more than 75 million active Twitter users.

There are more than 50 million blogs worldwide.

These are simply numbers that a brand manager cannot, in good conscious, pass up on. The ability to tap into the various demographics and use them to target a very specific group of shoppers and consumers allows for extremely effective and personalized marketing efforts that can not be achieved through traditional marketing efforts.

Affordable:

The cost to create, maintain, develop and effectively use social media as a marketing tool is far less than the budget busting dollars spent on traditional marketing plans.

Take a look at your design costs, consulting fees, add in those printing fees, don't forget media buying, shipping, more shipping and hours and hours of manpower. They add up to one large invoice after another for traditional marketing.

Take the dollars that you are spending on just two of these projects and you have a large enough budget to run a social media marketing program for an entire year. Social media is dependent on your consumers being your primary advocates. The community built around your brand does the bulk of the advertising work... not your dollars.

Action:

Social media is actionable from moment one. Regardless of whether you are diving into the deep end or tip-toeing into the shallows, social media creates an immediate impact on your brand.

This is an instant way to connect with consumers and shoppers on their home turf. Launching a brand? Get to to the viral market long before it hits the store shelves. Retailer specific promotion coming soon? Announce it, plug the retailer, ensure its success. Just want to know what your consumers think? Go ahead and ask.

Awareness:

Brand Awareness spreads through word of mouth. Social media allows for users to be your spokesperson. They can suggest your page to friends, share your posts, retweet your contests and comment on your latest event photos. Viral brand awareness grows faster than any form of traditional method (outside of Oprah). This is an opportunity for you to get your brand message across, spread and known!

Want to know more? Just ask: Justin@wag.com

Justin Noland

CPG Marketing Idealist

(510) 594-1300

Chip Tasting!

2010-05-25T12:15:00.000-07:00

We love chips here at WAG, and one of the perks of working in this industry is TASTE TASTING. There are BBQ Chips, spicy chips, cheesy chips, and brands galore...so we had a chip taste-off; 1 part market research, 1 part good time! The categories for judging were determined, the boxes and boxes of the crunchy snacks arrives, and the contest began. Here are the results:

Best Regular: Lay’s Classic Potato Chip

Best BBQ:Mike-sell’s Zesty Barbecue

Best Salt & Vinegar: Tim’s Sea Salt and Vinegar

Best Dill Pickle: Lay’s Dill Pickle Flavored Chips

Best Spicy: 3 way tie- Tim’s Jalapeno, Tim’s Wasabi, and Kettle Chips Spicy Thai

Best Sour Cream & Onion: Kettle Chips Sour Cream, Onion & Chive

Best Cheese: Mike-sell’s Cheese Curls

Best Citrus: Lay’s Limon Tangy Lime Flavored Potato Chips

And of course, as a design agency, we had to judge the packaging:

Best Package: Mike-sell’s Good & Hot

Worst Package: Kettle Chips New York Cheddar with Herbs

Not a bad day's work!

For more photos, check out the WAG Flickr Page!

AIGA! Plan, Pitch, Prize.

2010-05-24T13:32:00.000-07:00

I was impressed already and I hadn’t even walked in the door. I hadn’t realize that the San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is located in the famous Hallidie Building, a building I studied in my American Architecture classes in college. This famous building, on the National Register of Historic Places, is credited as being the first American building to feature glass curtain walls. I was headed here on a Thursday evening in May for the AIGA event “D.Talks 2010: Plan, Pitch, Prize”.

The event was part of a series of AIGA sponsored discussions on the business of design called ‘D.Talks.” The D.Talk events were created to open up engagement within a discussion so communication would be an integral interaction between industry leaders and the audience. This particular event focused on finding, pitching and landing new projects.

Josh Levine, who asked questions and motivated dialogue between the audience and three industry professionals, moderated the event:

Peter Allen- a 20year veteran of business development, brand strategy, and client services for Landor, TurnerDuckworth, Siegel&Gale.

Cathy Barnet- Senior Manager Multi-Brand Marketing at Levi Strauss & Co.

Twelve years of interactive agency experience with brands such as Coca-Cola, Ford Motor Company and Cadbury Schweppes. Now on client-side at Levi’s responsible for their wholesale ecommerce model while managing all online and print collateral for independent retailers.

Ted Leonhardt- Management Consultant who co-founded The Leonhardt Group (TLG), a brand design agency, now Fitch: Seattle. When they sold in 1999 the company had 50 employees and $10 million in annual fee sales.

QUESTION: How do you make contacts? How do you identify new business opportunities?

PA:

Many different approaches, no right way
Look for a fit: Brands you love & celebrate / Things you love yourself
Big companies are hard to get
Smaller = quicker turn around
Do your homework and approach the right person

TL:

Design is on a path to commodization
Categories are defined, brand interactive
Clients believe agencies are interchangeable
Need to identify their needs with your services

CB:

When she pitched as her own agency, she found a ‘hook’ to get her in the door: She worked with a logistics & measuring expert and they used measurement as their ‘in’ for agencies, asking ‘will, or did, your design pay out?”
Use Linked In & Tell potential clients: “I will take your scraps”

QUESTION: What can I do for you that your current agency isn’t?

PA:

Got to COLD call / Do your homework
Don’t take “no” for an answer- won new business after striking out 12-14 times
Send something of value
It’s LUCK + TIMING
Customer Relationship Marketing
Sales Force , HiRise (light-weight version), Batchbook

QUESTION: How should I approach you in cold calling?

CB:

Can’t stand cold calls-too much going on at my desk
Email- back up your phone call with an email
Don’t be a pain in the butt and announce your offer quickly
E-mail: First 5 lines: tell me what you’re about. Do your research and tell me how you can help me.

QUESTION: Business Development- where should I start?

TL:

Make yourself relevant to your clients world & understand their needs
We had huge client breakfasts where we discussed project issues with current clients and potential clients. The potential could see how we handle the problems.
Attend, participate, monitor SF Agency created seminars
Watch agency acquisitions- they are buying metrics, analytics
Add specialties to your creative services to make you valuable to your client
Business journal- send them articles

CB:

Write articles for other types of business
She wrote ‘Top 10 Things To Ask Your Agency” and distributed to trade magazines for publishing.
SF American Marketing Association
Get involved in events where you present yourself as the expert

PA:

Direct Marketing- Indirect marketing is all good, but nothing is better than a targeted list, cold calling, and following up
Start dialogue, give info

QUESTION: Lets talk about positioning. What can you do to position yourself?

TL:

Best position: Have a product or service that they need!
Not a cold call, but an informative conversation
Ask: How can I help you move your business forward??

PA:

Questions to ask to see if you are a good fit for the client
Is there an opportunity? Ask them because you don’t want to waste time.
Ask them what are you looking for in an agency?
The last agency you hired, how did that develop?
Do you hire a designer or contract?
You have a problem, and I can help you with that.
Prepare the Questions! You know if they’re junior or senior by the questions you ask.

QUESTION: Request for Proposal-How much time should you spend on securing possible business using an RFP?

TL:

To get new business, and independent developed a program saying, "I can cut your packaging budget by 'X' amount and you'll pay me 'Y' amount if I do." He believed in what he could do, and said so.
Without inside track, RFP's are hopeless.
Ask for money for RFP to set the tone: I am serious, I am worth something.
Position yourself as being more valuable by valuing yourself and your services.

PA:

RFP’s suck! Some are well written, but most have many unanswered questions.
Always digest it
Create list of questions, anything big or small, then walk through with the person monitoring
RFP –OPPORTUNITY TO ENGAGE!! Ask the right questions!
How much do you have to spend? If they say “price it as you normally would” say NO and ask for budget. They will always have one.
Ask who the competition is.
When they call ask- why did you call us?

CB:

Client’s responsibility to give you clean direction
Immediately upon receipt of RFP, call and ask questions, present your best qualities, ask the right question
Stay away from government RFP
Be relevant to the business and know more than the client

A few professional recommendations:

Blair Ems- Win Without Pitching (http://www.winwithoutpitching.com). Recommended as the best system approach to selling within our business.

Cold Calling Techniques: That Really Work by Stephan Schiffman

Following this fabulous evening, I took action!! I’ve written this blog article, purchased Stephan Schiffman’s book and perused Blair Ems website downloading some articles. What I need to do now is complete my list of companies I want to target, research the right contacts at these companies, evaluate their needs, then cold call them with a unique value proposition!! Yep, you read right, Cold Call!!!

(Looks like I need to get busy!!! Come back in a few days/weeks/months/years and check in on the progress!!) Byenow!

Francine Pinoni

WAG Partner

Social Media Event: Steve Knox CEO of Tremor speaking to the Network of Executive Women

2010-05-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

Network of Executive Women-Northern California, what an awesome group! I am so happy to have found a group of women who actively pursue their craft in the CPG and Retail Industries. How exhilarating it is to know so many of us love what we do and are committed to furthering ourselves by participating in NEW events so we can be better employers, employees and people!

I recently attended the Nor Cal NEW Event ‘Building your Individual Social Media Strategy’ on Friday, May 14^th. The event was in the very beautiful Bankhead Theatre in downtown Livermore (and boy has Livermore changed, I suggest a visit!). There was plenty of parking and lots of space to roam and mingle.

The NEW Event opened with signing in, getting your name badge and then moving right into the theatre lobby for meet and greet- coffee, mini-quiche, some decadent pastries, (bagels with lox-yum!) and fresh fruit kabobs-thank God! Attendees walked around, attempted to mingle while eating and posed for group shots for the event photographer. On each table, there were some ‘conversation starter’ questions on Social Marketing, which were used to help open up dialogue with other NEW! Members.

Promptly at 9:00am, the group was slowly filtered into the theater for the Opening Remarks and Keynote Speaker, Steve Knox, Chief Executive Officer of Tremor, Procter & Gamble’s word of mouth marketing think-tank. He opened up his presentation by guaranteeing the audience that they would not be bored and would learn something! Could Steve deliver? I’m sure everyone in the room wondered if Steve was going to offer up his promise!

Steve started talking about the ‘Pie Model’. Steve didn’t know where this model came from and encouraged us to find out (we’re working on it- more on this later!!). One thing I learned from Steve for sure… If you want to be noticed, you need PIE!!!

PIE -‘Performance, Image and Exposure’!!

How is PIE measured? The PIE Chart!

10% Performance, 40% Image and 50% EXPOSURE!

If any of the PIE is Zero, you’re Zero!

PERFORMANCE- it’s a given. Performance is what people expect from you but it must grow. Performance that is static amounts to nothing. If you do nothing but perform, your growth will be stalled.

IMAGE- the message you send before you speak. Whether its intentional or not, you send an image to the world through your attire, your confidence and your demeanor. How are you representing yourself to your market? Are you using Social Media? Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs?

EXPOSURE- the KING daddy! This is most important in the PIE example, as exposure is the only place you can seek and find rewards. To have exposure, you must get your name in the marketplace and build a large network of contacts. These contacts must speak about your attributes to others-your contacts must advocate you and your services.

How do you do this? “Keep your eye on the PIE!” by 1) Advocating, 2) Disrupting ‘Schema’s and 3) Defining your ‘Foundational Truth’.

1. Advocacy. Who are you? What are you advocating everyday? How are you presenting yourself? If people trust you and trust what you do for them, they will naturally advocate you. Trust is number one but image is important too. If a guy shows up in a running suit for a big meeting, would you take him seriously?

2. Disrupt Schemas. The brain is designed to remain in a static state and operate on hundreds of thousands of preconceived notions, or schemas. We all use schemas everyday to quickly process information so we don’t have to think. If something or someone disrupts our schemas, we see this as an exception to what we know, thereby labeling the schema as unique. An example: If we see a person at the door of our local Starbucks who is sitting on the ground wearing dirty, tattered clothing, our schemas will tell us that this person is homeless. If we see a person dressed in dirty, tattered clothes sitting down in Starbucks with three men in suits, it would disrupt your schema snd force you to change it. People develop schemas everyday but they are hard to disrupt, as they have to have believability.

If your business (or personal) schema fits how people view you, you will not disrupt their schemas. Example: Las Vegas Tourist Bureau. They tried to position Las Vegas as a ‘family friendly’ tourist destination. The general schema for Vegas travelers is that Vegas is an adult playground that is no place for children. The schema of ‘adult playground’ was grounded in past and present experiences. When the Las Vegas Tourist Bureau asked tourists to disrupt their schema- and believe that Vegas is family friendly- the campaign became unbelievable, and ultimately failed. Later, when they launched their ‘What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’ campaign, Vegas travelers confirmed their ‘adult playground’ schemas, as they know this information to be true, and not contradictory, thus the campaign was a success.

Performance that just meets expectation (schemas) is not the core of advocacy. You must disrupt schemas to be advocated and you must be advocated to gain exposure!!

3. Define your Foundational Truth-the core of who you are! What do you believe in? What will you never stray from? If you want others to advocate you, they must be clear on your foundational truth. What schemas are at play relative to your foundational truth?

To gain exposure:

Utilize Social Media- Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogs. Each of these online tools offer lots of exposure and information. Use Google Alerts, Google Profile, Google Dashboard, and Micro-blogs to keep track of what’s being said about you online. If you have negative comments, try to get them removed or supplement these with positive comments from yourself or others.

Steve got me thinking! Yep, we need to utilize Social Media Marketing more if we want to be exposed (so thanks for reading this article!!) and we need to secure clients to make it happen, but before any of that, we need to define, understand and live our ‘foundational truth’.

Want to know what that is? Come back next week! I’ll post it! But if you have any questions before then, you can always email me (francine@wag.com), Facebook me, join my LinkedIn network, tweet me or comment on this blog! Until then…byenow!

Francine Pinoni

WAG Partner

The Future, Not as Scary as You Thought

2010-05-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

Where is marketing going in the next ten years?

I am going to pass on the usual introductory blog that spends ten minutes talking about who I am and why I think you should pay extra attention to what I am saying. I am just going to jump right into the topic at hand and see where it goes.

Marketing is about reaching people. It is about getting a product or service out there in front of people who might become a consumer. It is about creating a demand and, eventually, encouraging someone to spend money. So the question really is, how will reaching people change in the next ten years? How will marketing and advertising agency's need to change in order to reach the maximum number of people?

The obvious answer is Social Media. Social Media is a change in the way people get their information. It is more than Facebook, more than Twitter, it is the various forms of user generated content and the collection of websites and applications that enables people to interact and share information online. It is a content through interaction. Think blogs, think review sites, think comment sections on a news page. This is a major shift in the way marketing works. In previous years, marketing was a one way street. You put up your billboard and boast about your product. The masses see your glaring message and react in one way or another while you hope it drives more sales. Here's the new difference; social media gives the consumer the ability to climb up to your billboard and, with a big can of spray paint, comment on your brand message. Social media allows the consumer to ask questions, give praise, and, yes, ridicule.

Marketers and advertisers have gotten very good at preaching the virtues of their products and creating new ways of saying the same old message, but how will traditional media marketers react to the consumer demands in social media. How will they answer the call when Peggy Sue of Middle America questions their product online and the voices of social media echo her sentiments?

Looking for answers? Check back soon as I get into detail on this subject and many more including:

Will every brand have a Facebook page? Who will be the voice?

How much of your marketing budget should you spend on social media?

What is guerilla marketing? Is it useful?

Justin Noland

CPG Marketing Idealist

justin@wag.com