It doesn’t make sense for BMW to represent its brand on toilet paper (although I associate its gas mileage with certain activities that I do in a bathroom). But an underground, hip, almost gritty, bike bag company who sells product out of 150-square-foot retail spaces can really make this work.
Speaking of creativity, this Häagen Daz web site caught my attention for its clever cross pollination of advertising ice cream and generating public awareness on the alarming disappearance of the Honey Bee. You can also create your own animated Honey Bee to email. Here’s my creation. You can make one too. Oh, and I’m really craving a bowl of Vanilla Swiss Almond ice cream right now. Darn it.
This Saturday, I attended a radio promotion for one of my shopping center clients, Hazard Center. 
We had two stations participate in the three-hour promotion, Star 94.1 and New Country 95.7. Listeners were encouraged to attend the promotion where they could listen to live music and enter to win prizes ranging from Legoland tickets to a family four pack to a Charger game.
I’m not going to lie, I was pretty tempted to enter the drawing myself to win those Charger tickets, but I realized that wouldn’t be so ethical. Dang it.
The promotion ended our two-week radio buy we had purchased on both stations to drive local traffic to the Mission Valley-based shopping center. The radio spots we created tied into the rest of our campaign, which we named “All you need, all in one stop” since Hazard Center has its own trolley stop and bus stop.
The creative takes a spin on people’s everyday lives in San Diego and no matter how busy you are, you can get your errands done all at one place. You really should check out the spots:
Hazard Center-In Laws Radio Spot
On my last Costco run, I noticed a woman who had just purchased FOUR flats of bottled water for her family. Immediately, my stomach turned as I thought about those plastic bottles sitting in our landfill – and that’s just from one household.
Recently, the Clorox Company’s Brita “College FilterForGood Eco-Challenge” caught my attention (I didn’t realize Brita was part of Clorox either). The campaign is targeting college students, and offering five $10,000 grants to students who create projects promoting an eco-friendly campus. Read more about it here.
What a great idea! Targeting college students who are passionate about the environment is smart since this group are the world’s future decision makers. They are also highly involved in the social media space and can help promote this campaign by sharing with friends through networks like Facebook. Brita has integrated messaging of the Eco-Challenge onto its Facebook profile page and sent an alert for a proposal request.
At Bailey Gardiner we are continually making lifestyle changes to become eco-friendly. If you are a business (or a even a passionate employee) that has made a commitment to be better to our Earth, we want to hear from you.
Ever wonder how that great jacket you bought from H&M for $19.99 or that new $3.99 beach radio you got from Target is so incredibly cheap?
What happens in the life line of a product from it’s inception to the time you take it home from the store has largely been kept a secret.
But that’s changing.
From fair treatment of workers, to carbon footprint, to distribution and transportation methods, consumers are demanding more information about how products are made and the companies that make them.
Love,Earth and Icebreaker are two of the latest businesses that have joined Patagonia and Timberland in revealing their product back stories.
Love, Earth (sold at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club) allows customers to enter a product’s code online to see where it has travelled—from country of origin to store of purchase.
Sustainable Merino wool company Icebreaker, gives each product a “Baacode” that can be entered via their website to find info about the wool that was used and even the exact sheep it came from!
This is a smart marketing angle that will hopefully bring about the evolution of more socially conscience products and put pressure on existing companies to cough-up and hopefully get rid of their unethical practices.
I just finished Seth Godin’s latest book, “Meatball Sundae.” It’s good stuff – Seth speaks the truth. He explores the 14 foundations of new marketing and explains why they don’t apply to everyone. I suggest you check it out – but skip “Trend 13,” because it’s right here. I couldn’t resist: This could really change the way we market. Wait. It’s already changing it.
The New Bell Curve
The old curve looked like this:
The hump in the middle is the average consumer. It represents average products at good prices. Seth points to Sears, the corner hardware store and GE as examples.
Now check out the new bell curve:
At the cheap end stands Wal-Mart and at the other end are ski lodges in Telluride, Whole Foods and limited-edition Puma sneakers. Nobody wants to buy in the middle lately.
Seth sums it up like this: “Rich people used to live in similar neighborhoods, and read similar magazines. As a result, marketing to rich people was pretty easy. No longer. As the gulf between rich and poor continues to widen, and the number of people considered rich increases daily, the diversity of the rich increases as well.”
Local San Diego media have interviewed me three times in the past few weeks regarding my bicycle commute to work. As a representative for the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, I’m happy to take my well-worn Specialized road bike on media tours to help the region learn it is safe to bike to work.
And that sweating is ok.
In fact, I’ve been pimping myself out to media for years, as this whole “expensive gas” phenomenon really isn’t new news and media are always looking for unique interviews to tie into it.
Seems USA Today and the AP find it interesting that I sold my car 4.5 years ago and bought a used bike (see, I told you it was well-loved) and have been riding it to work, and meetings, and grocery stores and Oceanside ever since.
A quick Google News Search of “bicycle sales” shows scores of news pieces covering the trend of Americans turning to bicycles to get around town. High gas prices and a poor state of economy are pushing commuters out of their cars. (read: this is a silver lining)
And it makes me wonder: “How come bicycle brands and bicycle accessory and clothing stores have not used public relations and online communities to capitalize on the news?”
I’m there. Many advocacy groups are there. But rarely do I see a brand sharing its customer’s story or making sure its frame is worth a thousand words (you know, in the full color photo that ran every time the AP story was printed).
Now is your time. Media are talking. Regular Joe and Jane are open to the idea that a bike might be a good idea. They’re barely reading their local paper and certainly aren’t anticipating the next product review in Bicycle Magazine.
So what exactly are you doing to reach them?
Need a strategy? Give me a call.
We just wrapped a design project for the Sheraton Gateway SFO. With more than 10 hotels in the Peninsula competing for the same customers, we had to create something that would elicit a “This is different!” response from meeting planners and guests.
The hotel recently completed a $22 million renovation and wanted materials that reflected the feeling and energy of the property. We created the “modern airport hotel” positioning and sent a photographer and videographer on site to capture its personality.
Our design and web team created a new brochure and sales folder, as well as a redesign of the hotel’s website landing page.
The videos were scripted and edited to support our two key differentiators – the property upgrades and excellence of staff.
I think we hit the mark – what do you think?
We want a bike account. Yes, we want to be the advertising/public relations/interactive/design agency for a national brand in the bicycle industry. We’ve got the experience and passion to back it up. And since everyone who is anyone in the cycling industry will be at Interbike, we will be there too.
Years ago, I had the privilege of working on the Giant Bicycle account for several years while employed at another agency. It was one of the best experiences of my marketing profession — getting to combine something of great personal interest with the opportunity to do award-winning national marketing in the bicycle category. Under the tutelage of Giant’s then-President Bill Austin (recently the CEO of Raleigh) and Marketing Director Jean Austin, I went to boot camp on bike marketing. Literally. Like in the mud of the Seattle mountainsides.
The gang at Giant taught me what works and doesn’t work for the bicycle category. I brought my marketing background and experience in national brand rollouts and consumer products to the Giant brand, and together we were a formidable team. I absolutely loved it.
And we want that loving feeling again. Several of our staffers at BG are avid cyclists, as evidenced by the full bike rack that takes up most of our office reception area. Plus we are all committed to the environment and what cycling can do to cut down on our carbon footprints. We are definitely living the category.
So who’s gonna be the first bike brand to step up? Find Jamie Ortiz (twitter @JamieOrtiz) and me (email jon@baileygardiner.com) at Interbike later this week to hear more about Bailey Gardiner as your next marketing agency….
One of Saturday’s keynote speakers at Blogworld Expo was Richard Jalichandra from Technorati. He let us know that starting Monday (today) and going through Friday, Technorati would be posting its State of the Blogosphere report. It provides an in depth look at what’s happening with blogs, bloggers and their readers.
One of my key takeaways on today’s report is this little nugget:
Whether or not a brand has launched a social media strategy, more likely than not, it’s already present in the Blogosphere. Four in five bloggers post brand or product reviews, with 37% posting them frequently. 90% of bloggers say they post about the brands, music, movies and books that they love (or hate).
Company information or gossip and everyday retail experiences are fodder for the majority of bloggers.
So whether you’re actively paying attention or not, the discussion is happening. Be a part of it. It’s much better for your brand if you do.
Even Bill Marriott (or his team) are doing it and as a former Marriotter I gotta say, that’s a cultural shift I wouldn’t have expected but is worth applauding.
