Campaign Planning

Great Work

Here's some great work found over at Social-Creature. I won't spoil the scenario--you'll just have to watch--but it's one of those ideas that can go on and on. Kind of like this and this. Entertaining yet focused ideas, for mass-use products, that can keep an audience engaged for quite some time.  

Be Interesting, Be Good

"What if companies started doing what people do all the time, reuse perfectly good boxes?"

Columbia Sportswear just launched A Box Life which allows online shoppers to choose if they want to receive their purchases in a used box. By using QR codes shoppers can track where the package has traveled. The can also visit aboxlife.com and share pics and stories about their box's journey.

This is a great example of a company doing something interesting that's also bettering the planet... so naturally it's fun to write about, share and discuss.

Via Creativity.

Togetherness and Optimism

This past summer, Getty Images' 27 Letters noted that "Together" was the most highly searched image term during the month of May. It was an interesting word to note as a sign of what many creative thinkers were exploring for late '09/2010 work. And what a pleasant word, "Together." Ties right along with optimism, fun and people. A reminder of this surfaced after seeing some nice work this week from McDonald's (UK) and Dove/Walmart.

The Value of Sabbaticals

Many of us never get the chance to take a sabbatical. But no matter the career field if part of a job requirement is the creation of new ideas some lengthy time away could lead to breakthroughs. For example, apparently since the 1930s 3M has been giving generous personal time for their engineers and, as such, both Scotch Tape and the Post-It were conceived during time away from work. 

Stefan Sagmeister gave a fantastic presentation at TED on this subject... Every seven years he closes down his NY design studio for one year and takes a sabbatical. After watching the video an interesting thing to ponder is that by structuring a sabbatical in the correct way the output that results upon return could be more valuable than the output would have been had the sabbatical never happened.

(Found on PSFK)

Packaging Partnerships

People like "new." As Don Draper once said, "it creates an itch." But what do you do to create that itch if the product never really changes? Such would be the challenge for a brand like Evian. It's water... how much does the product really change? Sure, serving sizes and distribution avenues could be altered and flavorings and extra stuff could be added, but these things, while indeed new, aren't very interesting for consumers to talk about.

But what is interesting: enlist famous designers to create Pret-a-Porter packaging.

This year, Evian invited Paul Smith to design a bottle. (Last year it was Jean Paul Gaultier and the year before that it was Christian Lacroix.)

By allowing designers to customize packaging Evian creates something new, something interesting, is able to charge a premium (around $13 each!) and enhance their brand among different audiences and distributors (such as the likes of Dean & Deluca). 

Good stuff.

Read more on this idea here, here and here.

 

Creating Value Through Design

Many of us are inspired by great design. After all, there's so much interesting thinking and application to appreciate. But how can better design add more value throughout an entire organization?

If you find yourself asking this question on a re-occurring basis, you should read October's Fast Company as there's a fantastic article that profiles David Butler, Coke's VP of Global Design...

From Butler: "This is not a design story... I understand there are some people who would like to hear the words 'design-driven' come out of our CEO's mouth. Honestly, I don't care. We're leveraging design to drive innovation and to win at the point of sale, which is fundamental to our business."

The whole piece is a case study of bridging inspiring, global design with business success.

A great read to kick off the week...

Brands In Public

Today marks the debut of Brands In Public. The site is launched by Squidoo and Seth's post today provides a great overview of what the site is and how it works. The idea is basically that brands cannot control what's being said about them... but with Brands in Public they can organize the discussions: highlight and confirm the good, respond to and address the not so good. 

Each brand has a page like this. Right now there are only several hundred pages but eventually Brands In Public will feature thousands of pages of brands. The right hand side of a brand's page will be made up of the conversations currently circulating about the brand while the left hand side is available for marketers to purchase and then control. This creates a two-way discussion, on multiple topics, all on one page.

What a great idea. I look forward to seeing this develop.

I also think it's very needed today...

I recently came across a fascinating study on PsyBlog that discussed, "Do we believe everything we read?" Historically, there have been two theories: 1) That understanding and believing are two separate processes (argued by Rene Descartes) and 2.) That understanding is believing but then we can change our minds when we come across evidence to the contrary (argued by Baruch Spinoza). 

Like it or not, the study confirmed #2. We can't help ourselves... We tend to believe what we read (blogs, news, commentary, etc.) until we find evidence to the contrary.

This is why it's important to introduce things like Brands In Public. It's a place to host both sides of a discussion so that people can quickly and easily make up their own minds about a brand once they observe both sides of a story.

Amazing Tale of Customer Service

Found this story via American Copywriter. It tells a somewhat amazing tale of customer service from Southwest Airlines. Simply excellent at all levels. And if you're a parent, I think you will find it even more moving.

This is called being a fantastic company and doing great things for your customers. Which, of course, also happens to be good for business.

Here's the story...

A Quick Example of the Power of Brand

Need a quick example of the power of a strong brand?

In the August 31 issue of Fortune there's a great article comparing RIM's BlackBerry and the iPhone. While both companies are moving a tremendous amount of units, it's interesting to look at margins... According to a Sanford Bernstein analyst, Apple currently has an operating margin of 40% on its iPhone while RIM's average per handset is 20.7%.

Apple's margins are almost double. That's the power of brand. Indeed RIM/BlackBerry has a premium and respected brand (e.g. 20.7%), but Apple has built an amazing brand. And while there are many benefits to having an amazing brand probably the most important thing will always be the ability to generate more margin.

What's Next In Marketing and Advertising (2009)

What's Next In Marketing And Advertising (2009)

View more documents from Paul Isakson.

Here's a great presentation from one of my favorite thinkers, Paul Isakson.

Enjoy.