Take It Face To Face

Tuesday night after work Anthony and I headed downtown for my first official media networking event. After hearing about an event last week that pulled in over 2,000 participants, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. Not that I thought they were going to cram 2,000 people into the K Street Lounge, but you never can be sure.

I was met with a room of roughly 100 people dressed in everything from suits to jeans and grouped around the room in conversation. Okay, I made it here. What next? Am I supposed to insert myself into a conversation? Look for someone standing alone? Is there some protocol for initiating conversations? I have no qualms whatsoever about talking to strangers, but this was in a professional context, and that was unfamiliar territory. I figured I’d take a few minutes to observe and process the situation.

Oh, but here comes a guy in a suit, walking determinedly towards me, hand outstretched. Hey, that answers that question. I’d love to tell you that the conversation went famously and I told him eloquently and collectedly about everything I do. But that would be a lie. I picked my way through the conversation as best I could, and was glad when Anthony joined in. He’s far better at explaining things than I am.

A bit later on in the evening, I met and swapped notes with Casey, Facetime’s other intern, and chatted with a handful of other people. I left at the end of the night with some business cards in hand and a much better idea of how these things operate. At this point, I may not be the master of navigating these events and walking away with tons of contacts I can utilize down the road. But I think it was a good first step. Don’t worry, I’ll get there.

Do you remember your first networking event? Tell us about it!

I read an article this past week about going back to basics in marketing and it really struck a chord with me. It is my impressions that we are all getting very tired of flowery – over the top – not completely accurate descriptions in almost every marketing message we receive. Jack Webb’s Joe Friday on Dragnet, for anyone who remembers, was famous for imploring “All we want are the facts…”

It is hard enough to get through the myriad of messages each of us receives every day as it is. And then to have to take time dig through the fluff to the real message is getting exhausting. What is interesting is that those messages which are clear, simple and concise are the ones that last and those we remember. Even today, the taglines that stand out are the ones like “Got Milk”. How much more simple can we get – or more clear. How did we get away from clarity and straightforwardness?

Are you asking yourself some of these basic questions as you create marketing messages?

• Is this created with the target customer in mind? If you are seeking the attention of the baby boomers, is the font a size 10? Try thinking about the size and the spacing.

• Is the message going out via direct mail, email, text, or any other channel? If so, how should it change? No one wants to read long email that’s lots of flowery words. After about the 2nd time, your emails will end up in the blocked category.

• Is the message relevant to the consumer? This is the number one questions each of us should consider. Does the message provide insight to a solution or situation in the consumer’s life that you can solve?

We all like to give descriptions of help readers try and see what we want them to see through our messages. But, sometime, we need to just give the reader the facts, and let them decide. In the end, they will thank us for it.

I remember the first time I came across a grocery store self-checkout; it was at a New Jersey A&P in 2002. The fact that my lack of scanning expertise probably doubled my checkout time was irrelevant. Even technology for technology’s sake can be cool, and I was enthralled.

Six years down the road, my self-checkout enthusiasm has dwindled a bit. Lucky for all of us, there’s a new grocery store gadget to play with. Earlier this month, Boston’s Modiv Media completed its rollout of a new integrative hand-held scanning system at nearly 150 Stop & Shops and Giants along the east coast.

Much unlike those pesky self-checkouts, the scanner actually saves time. Swipe your store membership card, bring the scanner with you, scan and bag each item as you go, pay at the door, go home. I imagine it will do great things for their business. I was an avid Safeway shopper until I ran into this system at Giant. No more.

And as a direct marketing tool? Fantastic. The screen affixed to the scanner cycles through images of discounted items around the store and beeps persistently with a new coupon or purchase suggestion whenever you pass a product of interest. My scanner was pretty adamantly reminding me about the discounted cranberry juice, a product I purchase fairly often. Coincidence? Probably not.

Have you tried the system yet? What do you think?

All of Washington, DC was on some kind of natural high in the days prior to Inauguration 2009 and to aid in that high were the top 5 inauguration marketing campaigns.

Different company’s launched US ad campaigns to celebrate the inauguration of President Barack Obama. I think what these companies’s did, although to ensure their own success, was very patriotic and aided in the celebration of the inauguration of a new president.

Pepsi replaced O’s in words such as Hope and ‘All for One’ with the Pepsi logo, which is strikingly similar to Obama’s campaign logo for change, don’t you think? With all of the pro-Obama ads running through DC, these Pepsi ads blend right in, allowing Pepsi to capitalize on the Optimism in Washington, DC and be a part of the winning team.

Honest Tea came out with a limited edition flavor Barack Forest Berry to commemorate this historic event. President Obama does in fact drink Honest Tea, but the reason for this product redesign was to link people’s excitement and anticipation about the inauguration of a new President with their brand.

Dunkin Donuts joined the bandwagon and started making red-white-and-blue sprinkled “Stars and Stripes” doughnuts to join in the celebration. With all of the hope and energy coming from the inauguration of a new President, Dunkin Donuts wanted to add to that hope and energy, hopefully increasing their sales but also keeping the momentum of the city going.

In Washington’s Union Station, Ikea furniture was used to fashion a replica of the Oval Office. Ikea, whose slogan was “Embrace Change ‘09”, wanted to link Obama’s concept of change and economic responsibility to their own philosophy of affordable and practical furniture for all. Ikea’s display offered low cost suggestions for redecorating the most famous room in the White House.

Jones Soda celebrated the inauguration by creating a limited edition flavor of soda featuring President Obama called “Orange ‘You Glad for Change’ Cola.” On the back of the label their motto reads, “At Jones Soda, our mottos has always been’ Run with the little guy…Create some change. Well, you chose change, and Orange you glad that you did.” Jones Soda wanted this time to be commemorative and wanted people to recognize their brand as Obama supporters.

Has anyone else seen any good Presidential tie ins lately?

I normally don’t write about post like this but I just had to. I love when films and companies try things new. This video is for the upcoming film ‘The Watchmen’. I know I do not watch much television but I am on the net way too much.

Granted I don’t think viral videos will work for all movies, Driving Miss Daisy 2, but I think for a film like this, with a dedicated base followers, the video works.

I personally love the style of the video and think it has an authentic look and feel.

Do you think marketing like this works? Do you like the video? Let me know.