dioLOGUE

Answering the white paper question with a strategy

2011-03-29T11:34:00.001-04:00

Last year, our team would cringe when it came around to the “it’s time to write another whitepaper” discussion. It wasn’t that we couldn’t see their importance as a new business tool to attract potential new clients, and engage current clients with ideas to help them build their business. It wasn’t that we weren’t looking forward to the brain stimulating research that would benefit our own life learning and the addition to the team knowledge base. It WAS the painful decision of what to write about, how long it should be, and whether the hours spent researching and writing would be worthwhile. As my personal goal this year is to fit in a white paper each quarter into to my regular responsibilities to clients and the firm, I am increasingly aware of how valuable resources are in this economy, and wanted to make sure we were being smart in our white paper approach. I had to ask myself whether it was acceptable to be reactive as we have been in the past; to rush and write on all these varied topics without first looking at it from a strategic approach. This question led to my first white paper topic of 2011 a white paper about white paper/educational marketing strategy… which is completed, just under the wire for the 1st quarter. At dio we believe that great creative usually stems from a sound strategic plan. In that context, white papers are no different than a television spot or a print advertisement. We took a look at how the white paper has evolved into a commercial educational tool with a high return on investment, and explored the ways a strategic approach can enhance your return on those valuable hours of research and writing. Please check out the whitepaper at: http://www.diousa.com/dio/WHITEPAPERS_files/educational%20marketing.pdf I look forward to your feedback! Glenn Cudaback Account Director

You are where you live...

2011-01-21T16:37:00.001-05:00

I am a huge fan of Nielsen/Claritas - a huge fan of any research, but I do love their market segmentation. Here's a fun exercise you can do to warm up in the chilly weather - In my opinion, it is even better than the "Elf Yourself" app from years past: Simply go to the Nielsen/Claritas link http://www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments/Default.jsp?ID=20 When you enter in your ZIP code, the site will serve you up the top five segments of where you live, and an outline about each of the segment's lifestyle traits. It is interesting to see where you fit in, and how close it describes where we live. I even entered in my West Virginia ZIP (no jokes please, I believe everyone should have a cabin in the middle of nowhere to unplug!). It did a very accurate job of describing the disparate denizens of Lost River, WV... from the local folks, farmers, military retirees, and the creative folks who flock there every weekend from D.C. I'll soon be writing a white paper on the value this kind of research has in helping marketers really understand the different audiences in their marketing footprint, and the way it can positively shape messaging and resource allocation. Go ahead and try it ! Who are you? (In WV, Nielsen/Claritas has me pegged as a Blue Highway) -GC

Media Spectrum

2010-11-08T09:24:00.002-05:00

I’ve been working in the media department of a marketing firm since I first graduated from college in 19$$ (did you really think I was going to give away my age). Over the years I’ve seen quite a lot of changes in media… some good, some bad (some I could even categorize as “what were they thinking?”) But basically, media can be divided into two categories… traditional and non-traditional.

Traditional media includes television, radio, newspaper, magazine and outdoor advertising. Non-traditional media (also known as new media) includes Web/Internet, out of home, e-mail, promotions and guerilla advertising.

Television really hasn’t changed much in its lifetime, except to say that over time individual show audiences for the main networks have dropped. The basic cause for this has been the proliferation of cable channels. Even though any one cable show’s ratings really don’t even come close to a network TV program’s ratings, multiply it by the number of cable channels available, and you have your answer. In addition, the amount of time people are spending on computers at home in the evenings isn’t helping either. In fact, the largest network audience drop is in the teen and young adult categories… the people with the highest index of primetime computer usage. Once the home of glorious 25 to 35 household ratings when I started in this business, networks now get excited by anything over a 7, get downright giddy should one of their shows acclaim a 10 rating, and they nearly hurt themselves should the Nielsen gods show them to have a program that actually has a 12 household rating.

Radio isn’t doing much better. Although there has been no great gain in the number of radio stations in any market, the audience levels and the “time spent listening” numbers have dropped severely. Why listen to formats that constantly interrupt your listening with commercials, when you can listen to an iPod, MP3 player, or computer music with no commercials. An unlike radio, these venues guarantee that you will listen to 100% of what you want to hear.

I’m sure you have all heard of the death of newspapers. Well, maybe… maybe not. There definitely have been some newspapers that have gone out of business. Especially in markets that previously had two papers. Especially in the current economy where clients have pulled way back on the advertising budgets. Plus, middle-aged people are more inclined to get their news on their computer via the Internet. However, that being said, there are still many people who want the paper in their hand while they drink their morning coffee.

Magazines are going out of business at an alarming rate. Time and the economy are the two culprits behind their demise. 15 years ago people had enough time to read many magazines per week/month. However, now we are all running around like chickens without heads try to get everything accomplished. And well, something had to give. Plus, again the economy has caused marketers to seriously cut back their adverting budgets, so only the primary publications were able to survive.

Billboards are probably the only traditional media vehicle that has remained constant. In fact, with such a mobile society, viewership of billboards (posters and bulletins) has actually gone up over the years. Although a hard medium in terms of creative design, good messaging and location makes this an extremely efficient advertising medium.

Okay, let’s move on to the non-traditional media. If you’re under 80, you almost definitely have an e-mail account. In theory, it’s such a great medium for one-on-one and two-way marketing. However, direct marketing companies and freelancers have completely ruined this venue for serious marketers. Between the plethora of worthless junk e-mail, and virus-enclosed emails, people are hesitant to even give their e-mail addresses out to anyone other than their accepted friends. This advertising vehicle has become an almost worthless marketing vehicle except in the case of opt-in marketing e-mail. But in terms of acquiring new customers, opt-in email is after the fact. However it can certainly help in terms of new purchases from an already existing customer.

Over the years out-of-home advertising has expanded to more than just billboards. Today it includes such things as bus and subway ads and wraps, transit shelter advertising, bench ads, hot dog umbrella ads, mobile vehicles and projection media, where video ads are actually shown on sides of buildings after darkness has set in. The trick in out-of-home advertising is to catch the customer by surprise, when they are not expecting to see marketing messages.

Internet/Web advertising is relatively new, since the Internet has only been available since the 1980s. If nothing else, every company should be doing Google word search marketing. Since you only pay for actual click-throughs to your Web page, it’s the most efficient for of marketing, with the ROI of getting a client, or possible client to your Web page being 100%. Web site and Web page sponsorships have also become efficient if you’re dealing with a site that has the ability to geo-fence your marketing message. What this means is that your message would only be shown to site visitors that are situated in areas that you have previously set up with the site that you are advertising on. Now, not all sites have this ability, so make sure you ask about this feature when you discuss your advertising plans with them. Also, be careful in picking your Web ad size. Most people have trained themselves not to look at the top few inches of a Web page that usually contains a banner ad. You’re better off running tile, skyscraper and empire ads that are along the side of the site’s content. Or better yet, try to get “ads” that are embedded within the copy of the page. Many B2B companies now send out monthly, weekly or even daily newsletters that you can sponsor. But remember, seeing your ads too often can actually turn a prospective customer off toward your company.

The most exciting venue for non-traditional media (at least in my opinion) is promotions/guerilla marketing. This can range from a low key whisper marketing campaign all the way up to scooter squads and brand ambassadors. When a promotion is done correctly, it has a great chance of being covered by the local news. And if it’s truly great and out of the ordinary it possibly even land on a network newscast. It does have some drawbacks though. It takes a real left-brained person to organize and carry it through. Lots of Is to dot and Ts to cross for everything to run smoothly as planned. That’s why you really should be working with professionals who do these kinds of things for a living every day.

Guerilla marketing can also include another venue. I like to call it “whatever you can think of.” This can include everything from ads printed on deli cups, to graphics on the floor at supermarkets or department stores, to Post-It notes attached to a newspaper or magazine ad, to one of my favorites… ads on sailboat sails. You’re only limited by your imagination.

No matter what medium you are going to use, you need a media process to get the most out of your expenditure. At dio we use the following media process steps:

Media Compilation
Historical Dissection
Plan Evolution
Plan Dissemination
Plan Endorsement
Implementation
Post Determination
Future Plan Evolvement

If you have any questions, or even want to discuss any of the above thoughts, feel free to contact me, Lee Karon, Media Director at dio at (717)764-8288 x108 or at lkaron@diousa.com.

Flippin' Out on Social Media

2010-07-26T13:01:00.003-04:00

I bought my iPad in May. Friends challenge me on why I would get this “thing” – and didn’t “get” my explanation was that I wanted a wide-screen iPhone for my sofa to feed my Facebook habit, news habit, and Netflix queue update needs. My real passion now is to use it as a reader for the New York Times – Wake up Sunday, make tea and start sifting through the “un-paper” in an easy to hold, easy to navigate format – one that I don’t have to leave the house for.
Of course this weekend, the Times did not fail to enlighten me; this weekend the NYT tech coverage turned me on to Flipboard, a new app that blew me away. Why?

It’s a digital magazine you can flip through with content from your favorite social media, news, and entertainment outlets – a one-stop platform to check your own tailored digital magazine with a fun interface, intuitive ease of use, and stunning graphics. The linear worlds of Facebook and Twitter are turned into smart layouts. Actually the word “magazine” does not work, as this is a living interactive, very sexy journal of YOUR content.

Facebook was becoming a drag on the iPad; since they have not released an iPad app, and it is really hard to deal with the grainy pictures of friends on the high-res screen. As far as twitter, I am still green to adoption, a casual observer warming up to the way it feed off my news junkie side, and allows me to receive sound bites from stars, thought leaders who make up my little personal tribe

Unfortunately, there is a waiting line to get your Facebook and twitter account integrated; however with the news feeds (Love “cool hunting”) aggregating the latest information from blogs and news sources, this is one sticky app you should definitely give a try.

Of course I have to look at this all from a marketing perspective, and there is great opportunity. We all know that word of mouth “buzz” helps increase sales for great products, services, music; however Flipboard can bank on these conversations immediately by aggregating and serving up direct transaction offers to users at the same time as they get “organic” awareness from a friend's trusted testimonial.

The next stage for Flipboard is the integration of a startup they purchased called Ellerdale, which will enable Flipboard to analyze its users favorite artists, geographies, literature, etc. based on reading and usage patterns. This will allow the site to offer a highly personalized experience akin to Pandora’s music server… the more you use it and provide input, the tighter the content is delivered to your tastes.

There is a social conundrum however… Let’s take a look at Netflix. They used to really know my indie art film tastes and would always give me great recommendations; however those recommendations have been greatly skewed after renting Disney and teen films this summer for my friend’s kids! The implication from a social perspective is if I will now need to edit my Facebook friends to just those with opinions I really value, lest my Facebook inclusions of third cousins, childhood friends, tourists, and those six-degrees of separation folks start skewing my content delivery!

I digress… give Flipboard a try – I’d love to hear what you think, and we’d love to discuss how the changing social media can benefit your business.

FREE Social Media Webinar - Driving Sales with Social Media

2010-06-16T16:59:00.007-04:00

RSVP here for our upcoming FREE interactive Social Media Webinar!

Driving Sales with Social Media
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
2-3pm

Join dio's Social Media Strategist, Katy Halter, for an informative look at how Social Media can drive your business' sales. From Facebook to Twitter, Blogs to YouTube, she'll give you both an overview of how the social sites work and will entertain live discussions about how to best leverage social interactions for your industry.

Sign up NOW! Only 20 spots available!

The AP Needs Your Help!

2010-05-28T15:22:00.003-04:00

The Associated Press is updating it's stylebook to reflect social media and new media that have become an integral part of our everyday personal and professional lives. But they need your help to define what is worthy of including in the guide book!

Check it out - you can tell AP what to include at this site. While the page layout is pretty jumbled with all of the comments and suggestions, kudos to AP for sourcing their content in a 'social' way.

INployees - A Power Ballad about Customer Service

2010-03-15T13:47:00.002-04:00

Geico recently created the following power ballad video about their devotion to customer service. The surprising part is that it was created for the enjoyment of its employees.

(PS- Can you figure out who the celeb in the wig is at the end? Hint - He's not Jimmy Buffet, but they do share names).

This is a great example of INployeesTM in action at Geico - meaning employees that are living and breathing the Geico brand in everything they do.

For more information on INployees, check out our whitepaper section on our Web site at www.diousa.com.

Thanks to BrandFreak for finding this gem.

uFinancial's Matt Dobbie is featured in Central Penn Business Journal, PA Business Central!

2010-02-22T09:34:00.004-05:00

Matthew Dobbie, Senior Managing Partner of uFinancial, wrote an article about the recent changes in Roth IRAs that was featured in both Central Penn Business Journal (Fri. Feb. 19, 2010) and Pennsylvania Business Central (Fri. Feb. 26, 2010, but online now).

The article in CPBJ: http://www.centralpennbusiness.com/article.asp?aid=74498

The article in PA Business Central: http://www.pabusinesscentral.com/2000/02/2010-roth-ira-conversion-is-it-right-for-you/

Way to go Matt!

SNOWpocalypse and Social Media

2010-02-11T15:15:00.002-05:00

Holy SNOW Batman! With record breaking snowfall totals and incredible new white landscapes across the entire East Coast, it's no wonder that words like SNOWpocalypse, SNOWmaggeddon and snOMG have been coined across social networks to describe the recent weather conditions.

As people were stranded inside their homes, watching the white out from the comfort of their couches, many turned to social channels such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to document the historical weather as it happened.

This video, picked up by news stations across the country, shows the snow accumulation of over 30" in D.C. last weekend in just 30 seconds of time lapsed video footage.

Twitter became a crowd-sourced weather report for days at a time. Users reported on snow accumulation, road conditions, and personal accounts of the storm through tweets, pictures from their phones, and links.

The District of Columbia's Department of Transportation even set up an interactive map to show the status of snow clearing on all of it's city streets. It's pretty interesting to play with, check it out: http://snowmap.dc.gov/snowavl.asp

On Facebook, users began to organize massive snowball fights in major cities. They also posted many new pictures to document their use of the snow outside their front door as a beer cooler or the before and after effects on their front lawns, including many great snowmen.

Personally, I'm part of the stranded passengers meant to be on one of the 5,700 flights cancelled this past Wednesday. With plans to return from vacation last Sunday night, I've had my flight cancelled and rebooked four times since last weekend. My itinerary was impacted by both sets of storms and thanks to Southwest's diligent customer service, I will finally be returning home a full seven days after expected. Truly though, Southwest has been amazing about alerting me to the cancellations over 24 hours in advance in all cases, and has even proactively called me to fix a mistake in my reservation. I couldn't ask for more from an airline (other than open airports) when I'm stranded far from home. I was happy to tweet their praises to @SouthwestAir, and got a personal thank you from their team for doing so.

After all of the media hype and most East Coast'ers ready to be rid of all things white and frozen, some have dubbed it all just a bunch of SNOverkill.

I think we're all ready for a little sunshine!

BrandBowl: Twitter's response to the Super bowl's Ads

2010-02-09T08:44:00.002-05:00

During this year's Super bowl, there was another competition taking place that captured the attention of Twitter users all across the U.S.

No, I'm not talking about PuppyBowl. I'm referring to the battle of the brands: BrandBowl, hosted on Twitter by Mullen and Radian6. Using a special hashtag - #brandbowl (a Twitter user's way of organizing similar tweets), the two agencies were able to track the thoughts and tweets of viewers worldwide in real time. At several points in the evening, #brandbowl even became a trending topic, meaning that the hashtag was among the top ten most mentioned words across the world on Twitter.

So how did the brands that advertised during the big game fare in this battle? According to the competition's site, Doritos took home the top honor thanks to their consumer-generated (crowd-sourced) spots. My favorite spot of the Doritos set was "House Rules" with the adorable, mom-protecting, date-scaring kiddo. Interestingly, Doritos hosted it’s own competition called “Crash the Superbowl” wherein consumers sent in their home-made spots in hopes of getting it voted high enough on the Doritos site to be aired during the game, but also in hopes of taking the top spots on USA Today’s Ad Meter. The top three :30 spots took home additional prize money. The genius in this is that Doritos used a social media, user-engagement platform to select commercials that they didn’t even have to create. Furthermore, when the spots took home the top rankings, both the brand and the consumer won. What is that called again? A win-win-win-win situation, I think?

Second place was Google with their simple storytelling of “Parisian Love”. The spot elegantly pulled at the heartstrings while also demonstrating the features of Google, all told from within the search box. As Google’s first TV spot, this was a home run for the search engine brand.

Third was Focus on the Family with their Tim Tebow spot taking a stance against abortion. As Joe mentioned before, this spot got more PR value than any other brand due to its obviously controversial nature. While other spots were voted up because of their humor or cleverness or emotional value, quite frankly, I believe this spot landed in at number three for none of those reasons. Simply put, everyone was talking about it and that was enough to bubble it up to the top.

Other brands that landed high on BrandBowl 2010: Snickers, Budweiser, Bud Light, Hyundai, Kia, GoDaddy, and Coca-Cola. As Joe mentioned, the worst spot of the night was clearly GoDaddy's, so it's likely that the #brandbowl hashtag was used to report how much everyone hated their overdone tactics of hot girls selling domain names.

Since BrandBowl 2010 only tracks buzz, and was unable to capture opinions on a larger scale, it's difficult to say that these spots were "the best" or "the most popular" or even "the winners."

But the Twitterverse spoke and they definitely took home top honors for the "most tweeted."

Super Bowl Winners and Losers

2010-02-08T14:18:00.001-05:00

This year the game for me was a winner. Unfortunately, the spots were the losers for me. In fact most of them were an interruption in my life (And people who know me know I don’t care much for NFL Football.) To me the Super Bowl is a celebration of smart creative individuals and brands, showcasing their talents to nearly half of America. And then they play that important game.

As a Creative person I always try and find the germ of the idea in the spots and then analyze why they went bad or good. Was it the Executive Creative Director putting his thumbprint on it? Did the agency President think it should have his stamp and twist on it? Did it fall short in the production or did the client muddle with the agency and crush a killer concept. I’m not being a creative hater here. At dio we had a spot ready to roll for a local Super Bowl media buy but the client pulled the plug at the last minute. The interesting thing is, and not to brag, but our spot for uFinancial told more of a story than 60 percent of the spots that aired, and I know strategically would have created a connection with the local audience. Oh well, maybe next year!

To me the big winners were:

Dodge Charger: Man’s Last Stand

They are selling these cars to MEN. The creative connects with the demographic watching the game, especially the line about being civil to her mother. Lets face it men, we’ve all been there. Celebrate you manliness with a go fast mean machine. This is a spot well done. I’d buy one but my wife says no because I wrecked my last manly go fast machine.

http://adage.com/brightcove/single.php?title=65106415001

Dove: Manthem

Great montage of “manthem” to the William Tell Overture. This spot is driven with incredibly powerful music and voice over to celebrate all the accomplishments you’ve made with a very simple message - Now that you’re comfortable with who you are, isn’t it time for comfortable skin. How much clearer can that message be? I love the spot; I’m just not giving up my Old Spice.

http://adage.com/brightcove/single.php?title=64892881001

Audi: Green Car

We’re all trying to be a little “Greener”. This spot takes a smart yet funny approach to how we could all do a little better to be green. This spot is full or great scenarios, hot tub water too high, ryes’ in the compost piles violations and the ever so dreaded statement, please step out of the car and put your drinks on the hood. (Glad it wasn’t a tofu doughnut joke.)

http://adage.com/brightcove/single.php?title=64892835001

Spots that didn't connect with me.

I wouldn’t call any of the spots I didn’t call winners, losers. I think all the spots had some sort of merit. The production quality was good on all of them except the strange Sketchers Exercise Shoes spots that ran about three times. I think the Google spot was good story telling but I’m not so sure why they spent the money to run during the Super Bowl. The Boost Mobile Shuffle left me scratching my head. The Bud and Bud Light seemed like they were a huge stretch in reality, rather than embodying the beauty of truisms. Then we have the stick with no pants in Career Builder and Dockers. They reminded me of creative that was embodied in bathroom humor that creatives know to stay away from. The Coca-Cola stuff was just plain and simple strange. I don’t sleepwalk for soda or watch the Simpsons, so why would that motivate someone to purchase a shitty can of Coke? Hell, you can’t even find that stuff in the bottle that you patented a billion years ago so show the fuckin’ can. The Denny’s Chickens Across America - mediocre creative but the offer is so huge they will have every seat filled on Tuesday the 9^th.

Now I’m going to get to my biggest disappointment of the night - Go Daddy. Guys or girls, you need a new shtick. How many times are you going to play the same joke over and over and over? I don’t know if you focus group test that crap-ass creative, maybe it tests well, that’s why you want to run it over and over. Maybe it’s time you take it from in-house and hire a real dam agency or marketing firm to come up with something new. The hot ladies are fun a couple of times but now it’s boring and everyone knows what’s going to happen. And please don’t send me to your Web site to see the ending. Yep, you’ll be able to quantify your media spend to your shareholders by the number of hits on your site. But it’s getting old and we know to go to your site to purchase a domain name and host for $1 a day. I’ve actually given this too much thought, and I certainly don’t want them to get any free PR or a viral effect.

The Tim Tebow – Focus on Family wins my award for the most talked about PR Driven, viral spot that was so soft in the media environment during the game I actually missed it. However, I think they did get the most PR and viral out of all Super Bowl spots. So, well done for the little guy getting noticed.

Till next year! Stay away from people buried alive in Doritos or disrespectful little brats reminding adults to “keep yo hands of my momma” and people with no pants sleepwalking going to Web Sites with scantily clad women and babies talking about your finances. I mean who trusts a kid to handle your retirement anyways?

Joe Easton Creative Director

The $2.5 million :30 Spot Controversy

2010-02-01T13:18:00.000-05:00

I am a huge fan of controversial creative. Creative that makes people think, feel and do. I know this is going to ruffle some feathers - The Tim Tebow Super Bowl Spot.

CBS says it will run the spot during the Super Bowl, but will also consider other "responsibly produced" advocacy ads in its Feb. 7 broadcast. OK, so that means pro-choice advocates can purchase equal time. Right? Right. So what’s with the craze of media about why CBS shouldn’t run this spot? The 30-second spot is expected to recount the story of Pam Tebow's pregnancy in 1987. After getting sick during a mission trip to the Philippines, she ignored a recommendation by doctors to abort her fifth child. She later gave birth to Tim, who won the 2007 Heisman Trophy and helped the Florida Gators win two BCS championships. Ok, that seems pretty reasonable. Right?

Let’s think about this. The spot has yet to air and it has gotten more PR than a North Carolina Senator running for President who had a love child to a videographer on his campaign trail. So what’s the value of the PR? I would bet, without having to talk to our PR Director and Media Director, that it has already well exceeded the media buy and cost of production.

Some people feel that the spot shouldn’t be allowed to run. Why? Evidently, the production quality is on par with other spots submitted. So, the pro-choice people can submit their spot that is "responsibly produced" according to CBS. The beer companies can promote their goods. In fact most people don’t know it but the beer companies target “Super Heavy Users” - people who drink 30+ beers a day. So, I’m still trying to find a reason why this spot shouldn’t be allowed to run. (I’m sure I will get a flood of reasons.)

What has this spot made people do? Well for starters, go do a Google search for Tim Tebow Super Bowl Spot and see for yourself. The bottom line is that not all Super Bowl spots have to be funny, make you send something overnight or go online and purchase a URL because a racecar driver tells you to do so. We idolize brands because of TV spots, and if they are done well and are based on solid strategy they make us think, feel and do. Maybe the strategy for the Tim Tebow Super Bowl Spot had a huge PR component to the strategy? If it didn’t, it does now! Congratulations on a spot that paid for its production and media buy without airing yet.

Joe Easton

Creative Director

2010 Olympics – Vancouver: Graphic Identity

2010-01-29T12:50:00.006-05:00

At first look you may think “Just another use of modern stock illustrations – silhouettes against a rolling background, a trend that we’ve seen used over and over again.” Of course this popular trend of graphic treatment keeps the look young and modern. This is a good way to start when you’re trying to visually show how you want others to perceive Canada’s personality.

So what is so special about this design? It’s in the details. That’s where we find our story.

Within the rolling mountains, hills and waterscape, graphically treated as flowing waves, we find a fusion of natural and urban environments. We discover patterns: from cobblestone pathways to clouds, to fish scales to wood grain, to patterns from architecture within their urban cosmopolitan towns and cities. These textures are used to show the connection and balance between the two environments, as well as the subtle silhouettes of combined imagery. For example, the combination of a tree with a streetlight or an airplane that has the wings of a dragonfly. In the hierarchy of everything, you will find that each combination of imagery is set so that it doesn't pull the viewers’ focus to just one main illustration, rather you can see everything interacting together. These details and combination of environments show a sense of being progressive and unique: attributes of both Canada’s personality and the Olympic Games.

Overall, I have a positive opinion about this graphic identity; however, there’s just one negative thing to say. In some cases it gets a bit busy with the finely illustrated athletes. The background colors of blues and greens, obviously representing the vegetation, water and temperature of winter cause the athletes placed over top of the background to blend in. With so much going on behind the human figures, the viewer may lose sight of the intensity and energy in the action of the athletes – which, ultimately, are the true focal point of the Olympics. In exploring graphic identities, it is important to tell a story, but it’s just as important to keep focus and simplicity in mind.

Elizabeth Shaffer

Art Director

Interactive Creative

2009-12-09T11:32:00.001-05:00

There was a time I was all about TV spots. I loved making them. I loved watching them. I loved the fact that it was the easiest way to describe my job, especially to my parents. Print and radio were great too, but nothing gave me career satisfaction like cranking out the big spot. My copy writer Eric and I made our share, too. We shot all over the US, we worked with the occasional celebrity, and we always tried to make our client’s brands stronger.

So came 2007! Woo Hoo. Youtube was on the rise, the iPhone was about to make it’s debut and I was still convinced that MySpace was designed as a NSA hookup spot. Well, the writing was on the wall on that new thing called Facebook.

See, I grew up in traditional advertising (Arnold) and had gone to a traditional print, TV and radio ad school. It’s hard to make that switch but a wise old man named Matt Smith said it’s important to learn or at least hire someone younger that knows what’s going on in the interactive world. So I made the leap for myself and hired an incredibly talented designer named Elizabeth.

Going digital meant totally changing my media consumption habits. I spent hours and hours on line – reading blogs, interacting with banners, fuc%in’ around on Facebook and pouring through web sites for hours upon hours watching gross negligence of what I call “flashterbation”. It’s what watching hours and hours of MTV meant if you were a creative looking for a certain video style.

Making the digital jump doesn’t mean I’m forever living in the weird wide world of web either. For my first heavy experiment in digital I didn’t leave all my roots behind. We created a viral video. It was for Bursters Real Ice Cream. It was sort of a sweepstakes. Order a waffle cone, get a scratch ticket, go online, enter your email address and see if you’re a winner. Then within 30 seconds after you had registered you got a funny email in your in-box with a viral video about treating yourself to something real. So after the client pulled the plug on it after 1,000 emails were added to their database and numerous complaints about the “homosexual nature” of the video, it somehow “bred” on the weird wide world of web and people posted it everywhere. Within 2 months of the plug being pulled, it became #2 in world wide views for nearly a month with over 1 million views on Google video before YouTube bought them up. Now, the whole point of this white paper is going to be wrapped up in the next few sentences.

Interactive needs to be engaging. If it’s not engaging who is going to pass it around, “friend it” or “Tweet” about it or just simply hang out with it. I wonder if anyone reading this has ever “twittered’ themselves”?

Interactive creative needs to follow traditional design principles: creating a hierarchy with type and visuals. Just because you have the controls to do whatever you can imagine. Don’t! The guy at the carnival gets everyone back to the ground safely with 3 controls. This is something you should keep in mind. Concept rules “cool” effects don’t rule.

Interactive creative needs to connect. And gees don’t forget we need to talk to the target audience in a way that engages them. For Christ’s sake, I’ve had to learn a new language to not talk at Mellinials but engage them on their pillar they stand upon. This has also created a better dialogue between me and my 16 year old daughter.

Interactive creative is like a TV spot. Except it is viewed from your computer monitor. And let’s not forget about the principals that go into creating a TV spot. TV spots need to connect the target audience and make them recall the brand or purchase a product. Interactive is no different. Interactive needs to engage the target to create brand recall, make a purchase or pass it along to a friend. It’s all about connection. See, interactive actually has the upperhand by being able to instantly pass it to someone if the target likes it. Kind of like a free media buy from one person to the next. In TV spot world, do you remember standing around the water cooler saying I saw a great spot on TV last night it was killer let me think, it was for awe..errrr...but when you see it you’ll know the one I’m talking about.

I know it’s getting bare-boned everywhere nowadays, but in the digital world, it’s done faster and leaner. TV still commands the larger budgets, however, digital is knocking at its door, with its hand out. I’m not saying digital advertising is less satisfying than a great 30-second spot. I’m saying if it is done right it can be even more satisfying than a TV spot. Heck, with digital hits, people friend it and the pass along value of Interactive creative you can instantly tell how well your target likes your creative product. Digital advertising at its best is a participatory experience. The ultimate goal of TV advertising is to make a spot everyone talks about. The digital/interactive goal is to get people to play with it, “Friend” it or pass it around. Join its world. Have fun and think about it like it’s a TV spot that’s as long as you want it to be. Welcome to the weird wide world of interactive creative. Make it clear and concise with a concept that speaks to the target and brand managers will be forever grateful.

Joe Easton

Creative Director

What's a customer worth to you?

2009-11-19T14:19:00.002-05:00

Seth Godin had a great blog post today about "Embracing Lifetime Value".

(If you don't already follow this marketing guru, you should. Go do it now.
Really, I'll wait... Done? Good.)

Here's his post so you can read it first hand:

If you walk into a company-owned cell phone store to sign up for a contract, what are you worth?

Given the huge gross margins at AT&T and Verizon and the standard two-year contract, I think it's easy to figure on more than $2000 in lifetime value.

If you ran a business where a customer represented an additional $2,000 in profit, how would you staff? How long would you make someone wait? If staff costs $25 an hour, how long would that extra person take to pay off?

Few businesses understand (really understand) just how much a customer is worth. Add to this the additional profit you get from a delighted customer spreading the word--it can easily double or triple the lifetime value.

So, a chiropractor might see a new patient being worth $2,500, easily. And yet... how much is she spending on courting, catering to and seducing that new customer? My guess is that $50 feels like a lot to the doc. Instead of comparing what you invest to the benefit you receive from the first bill, the first visit, the first transaction, it's important to not only recognize but embrace the true lifetime value of one more customer.

Write it down. Post it on the wall. What would happen if you spent 100% of that amount on each of your next ten new customers? That's more money than you have to spend right now, I know that, but what would happen? Imagine how fast you would grow, how quickly the word would spread.

Here's how you'll know when you've really embraced this--a good customer at your podiatry practice (or supermarket or tax firm) walks out the door in a huff and you turn to your partner and say, "There goes $74,000."

The truth is every customer matters more than we realize sometimes. That one that just called complaining about your service technician being late, or the other one who thought your bank was ok, but doesn't really have a reason to stay, or the potential new customer that you didn't reach out to because you didn't want to risk any hard earned money on advertising - they represent your future.

Do you know the lifetime value of your current customers? Do you know what your cost per acquisition is? Do you know why customers leave or choose one of your competitors? Do you have a retention strategy?

These are big questions that are sometimes hard to answer. We get it. But they're important nonetheless and can open up windows of opportunity.

Let us help you answer them and get your business on the right track to embrace your lifetime value investments - your customers. Give us a call or drop us a line today.
717-764-8288 or dpridgen@diousa.com

Good Brand, Bad Brand: Are You Experienced?

2009-10-06T13:19:00.003-04:00

Brand experience is so important to the success of a brand.

I was thinking about brand experience in the small town of Lost River, WV this past weekend -and how important brand interactions are.

The Mathias, WV Hardware store is not branded, but has a strong local word of mouth brand – it is positioned by the locals as “The place you go to get exactly what you need”.

I learned this early on, as a DIY city-type trying to fix up a little log cabin on my own. Sure, the trip a half-hour away to Wal-Mart would yield a cheap shop-vac. However if you were trying to do something like convert a claw foot bathtub to modern plumbing, or any other similar DIY challenge, you learned the hard way to spend your money wisely by visiting Charles at Mathias Hardware.

Charles will stop to listen, give you advice, and send you home with exactly what you need. This is a far different experience than wandering around Wal-Mart trying to find hardware on your own, with no guide – only to buy the wrong thing and have to make another trip to return items and start all over. Granted, I realistically don’t expect top service and expertise from Wal-Mart – because I shop there for price.

A Lost River neighbor (from DC) was having issues with his water pump recently. I looked in the crawlspace and watched the attempts to tighten a valve, but not too long to suggest that better tools were needed. The instant thought was – Wal-mart; get something cheap to take care of it. Instead, I suggested a visit to Charles – who favors Cardboard & magic marker signs vs. Happy faces with price points. Truth be told, on the way to Charles, we did stop by a local grocery store know as the local Wal-mart of second-hand tools. The wrenches were not the quality or type needed to open the valve. So we continued on to Mathias for the hardware store, and had a beautiful experience: Charles greeted us, asked about the problem, asked about the valve specifics and then provided the consultation – He didn’t sell the kind of wrench we needed; although he had plenty of others in stock.

My neighbor looked frustrated, as Charles gave us a “hold on” and disappeared into the back room. When he re-appeared, he had a very expensive-looking red wrench that looked like it was perfect for the job. Charles gave the wrench to my neighbor and said “Try this one, and bring it back when you are done.” Long story short, the wrench worked like a dream, my neighbor got water again, and Charles has another loyal customer for life.

I was conveying this story to my friend Beth as an example of true brand loyalty connected with service. The reason? She commented on my red plaid shirt from Faconnable - dredging up my tale of woe for a brand relationship lost.

A frugal friend on Beacon Hill in Boston turned me on to Faconnable. Faconnable is a French brand made popular in the US when Nordstrom’s started carrying this high-quality menswear line. They produced very unique dress shirts that actually fit me - and even though they were really expensive for a college student, they lasted forever. In fact, the red plaid Faconnable shirt Beth had admired was one of my first, purchased in 1991. And for an eighteen year-old shirt, the colors are still bright and the fabric is still in great shape. Even the buttons are still original, a daring feat for one of my favorite shirts.

After graduating from college, I learned the value of saving up for five or six of these shirts per year vs. buying shirts “on-sale” that would end up as dryer lint. I also learned that due to the limited run of these shirts in my size and color preferences, it was helpful to keep in contact with sales reps at Nordstrom’s – to let me know when to stop in. The ultimate was my experience at the King of Prussia Nordstrom’s – where the Faconnable sales rep actually kept detailed notes of my size and style preferences and would e-mail each season if something came in that I might like.

But alas, something happened. I had not heard from my sales rep in a year, so I had not thought there was anything I'd like in the collections. After an inventory of my shirts it was clear that I did need to boost my wardrobe with a few new shirts. Some shirts were getting worn, and needed to be taken out of rotation. It was also apparent that some of the shirts from last season looked more worn than some of the older shirts. After closer inspection, I noticed why… the cuffs and collars were not made the same – the hem tape was made out of an abrasive material; not the same fabric as the shirt, making the wear-and-tear on these parts start from inside the shirt. Yikes! I grabbed a few to bring to Nordstrom’s to show my sales rep.

Driving to KOP, I had great expectations of the helpful consulting waiting for me at the Faconnable counter with my sales rep – although I did not call ahead for an appointment, I figured he would be in on his regular Saturday schedule. When I arrived, I experienced a horrible realization – not only was the quality erroding the brand, but also the one thing that might save my loyalty: the experience. The Faconnable counter was gone, as were the Faconnable sales people. There had been a shift to a new cut and design, and while there were still some classic cut shirts on the floor, after searching for my size for a half hour - with no offer of assistance -I only found one throughout the floor that I liked. I stopped and thought about the Lucky jeans in my hands and the dress shoes I had on my list, and then the disappointment with the lack of service and lack of choice... and did something I have NEVER done at a Nordstrom’s: I left empty handed. I knew I could do better on the jeans and shoes with a simple call to a small shop in Delaware who carry the lines & are very service oriented. But my longstanding loyalty with Faconnable was bruised, and left me at a loss.

Back home, I did some internet research to see who I could contact regarding the demise of my favorite brand. I knew that Nordstrom had purchased the brand in Y2K, but did not realize that Nordstrom’s sold the brand in 2007 to a Lebanese private equity firm – the M1 Group. Despite the wonderful design, the erosion in quality and customer service have left me looking for another quality brand of shirts that have a similar style and that fit me. If only Charles could sew…

I stated that brand experience is so important to the success of a brand. It is the way that a small mom and pop shop can compete with the low prices of Wal-Mart. It is the way that a regional bank can retain clients in an atmosphere of mergers. It is the difference between “customers” and “ loyal customers”. And "lost customers".

It is through each customer experience – with quality and service that a brand continues to flourish or die in the consumer’s mind.

The 65 mph ad game.

2009-09-02T13:00:00.006-04:00

Billboard creative is a smart concept and a simple clear message. As long as you remember concept and simple, you will always deliver billboard creative that is memorable and effective.

WARNING: If you believe in putting as much information on a billboard as possible so you feel like you are getting your moneys worth, stop reading and keep doing what you’ve been doing because I bet my paycheck you are one of those self-taught Adobe Creative Suite gurus and have some sort of a degree in marketing so you feel that empowers you to do creative work. Sorry, but since they made CS3 available to the public, everyone thinks they know how to do creative, and billboards were the first to suffer.

Keep It Simple

You should not put more than 12 words on a billboard. Now, some will disagree with me on this but if your billboard is in a high traffic area you can get away with 12 word

s. For example, I was in Boston sitting in a car on the way to a client meeting, sitting in stop and go traffic and I saw this billboard. I had plenty of time to read it and the concept was simple.

So, let’s say your billboard is along a highway that’s 65 mph and everyone does 85 mph - you really need to keep it simple. To make this happen, you have to distill the message down to its simplest form. This is one of your key goals in creating great billboard creative - what is the key message, and how can you express it in the fewest possible words?

Legible Type Styles

There are a lot of type styles out there - and most of them should never be used on a billboard. Most of the highly stylized type styles that are popular in magazine spreads and MySpace layouts are completely inappropriate in billboards, although many graphic people refuse to acknowledge this. If you look at a typeface and go wow that’s a killer font, think about ONLY using it to lay out a haunted house flyer. The type styles you use must be easy to read. Those include simple styles such as a sans serif. Always use styles that have very bold, thick strokes - they are easier to read at far distances. If the viewer can’t read your copy, what it the point of the billboard?

Graphic Must Convey

If you are going to put a picture in the billboard make sure that it compliments the concept and helps tell the story. For example, a restaurant might want to show they have fresh salads. You could just show a real high quality photo of a salad and call it a day, or they could visually show how fresh the salads are.

Test and Re-test

Once you have a design that meets these criteria, you have to test it on some sample consumers to see if it works. These may be, in the simplest form, some of your co-workers. Now, I can tell you that if you and your media director are in harmony and know where the billboard is going to be running that might help your idea. If you are not in harmony, their idea of what is readable and your idea of what is readable might turn into a screaming match.

So tape the finished billboard concept to a distant wall, and then have the guinea pig (Media Director) walk toward the wall and tell you when they can see it clearly and what it means (try as best as you can to replicate the distance and size that the billboard will be seen). Be sure to use a color printout, so you don’t cheat with the simple, high-contrast black and white version. An award winning billboard will have good visibility at a distance as long as most of the copy is legible - yet just the headline grabs the viewer’s attention and makes them want to read the balance of the billboard.

Conclusion

There is no magic to producing great billboard ad copy. In fact, when you get away from the simple, time-proven roots of great copy and a great simple concept is when you fail in your mission. You may be tempted to stray from these logical benchmarks to create “edgy” advertising (I just threw up in my mouth) - but instead all you will create is an embarrassment. Due to the difficulty in reading a

billboard ad at 65+ mph from 1,000’, a lot of the creative things that work in print ads just don’t apply here.

So if you want to be known for having billboards that really sell a product or service and create brand awareness, you need to stick to the points outlined above. Remember, ideas rule the world. If you can articulate clearly, and visually demonstrate your product or service so your billboard is memorable, y ou don’t need us. The good news is for the 99% of you reading this we’re here to help you.

Joe Easton

Creative Director

The Birthing of a Name

2009-06-30T09:42:00.004-04:00

Creating a Brand Name

The task of developing that “killer” name has become quite complex. For years, business owners and management named their businesses after their spawn, and then the general public added their wisdom in naming contests. I’m sure they all have produced their share of brilliant names as well as some very scary ones. Now this field of art, science, skill, and luck has transitioned into a professional approach with dio’s strategic marketing’s naming process.

So what is a great name worth?

Plain and simple, a lot. Just remember it will be plastered on lots of things including your market’s mind. A great name is just as valuable as a great employee or piece of manufacturing equipment, or even the product that you deliver.

Ask yourself the following

Who will ultimately decide the name? One person or a committee? Whomever that is should be involved in the brand-building process. Defining the attributes, benefits, values, persona, intrinsic spirit and ultimately the UBD - Unique Benefit Delivered. What kind of brand are you naming? Company, consumer product, business service, or even endangered gorillas in a African refuge? What is the expected life of the brand name? Does the name fit into a larger family of names? Will it be used only in the U.S. or will it go global? Remember that today, “global” can mean the Internet too. Who is your primary audience for the brand names? Do they shop at Walmart® or Target®? Are you creating a new category or joining an existing one? If joining a category, what are your competitors’ names?

Should a name be descriptive

or suggestive or abstract?

I live in the suggestive to abstract categories. However, I also believe each case is unique and sometimes brand names get passed down, and changing them would take an act of Congress.

An abstract name can cut through the competition

Think of Nike®, or Yahoo®. They have visibility and a ton of marketing behind them including media frequency, brand-story telling communication, and brand performance. They are hugely successful brands, started as small start-up companies, and there is no doubt you know who they are and what they do. Descriptive words can work in some brand naming situations. But think about it carefully and proceed with caution because they can be more easily copied or imitated, leading to confusion in the same marketplace with competitors and creates consumer confusion. Confusion defeats the purpose of a sound brand name, and causes you to have to spend more against the competitors and generally both brands start a spending spinout.

However, if you have a big branding budget, you can salvage or sustain a boring, generic, or literal brand name with some other compelling messaging. Take, for example, Southwest Airlines. They are consistently creative, and “on brand” advertising has transformed a somewhat
unexciting name into a great brand name. Not to mention they clearly deliver messaging that is all about low cost, on time travel and their founder is one heck of a prankster. So think about the overall experience when you are deciding on a name.

Generic names

Generic names like Home Entertainment Solutions, Hi-Performance Automotive ZZZZZZZZZZZZ...ZZZZZZZ...ZZZZZ. Wow!... where’s my Concerta®? (BTW - a killer name for a great product that lives in the suggestive category.) Listen, they don’t have legs, and will likely drown in the sea of sameness. Avoiding generic names is also critical in consumer-packaged products, especially when private label copycats by mass retailers are showing up. Many times the name can be the strong point of difference.

Names that are hard to spell or pronounce

Finally, a name should be something most people can spell and certainly pronounce.

More big naming questions

How will the market receive the name? With supporting context, will the market get it? Will it live with your strategic positioning of the brand? Are there negative connotations or associations with the name? Is it available to use? On the earth? On the Web? Whatever route you take (hopefully it will be working with us), rallying your troops and making it an internal company project, enlisting strangers in a naming contest (remember bad idea), or combining several of these methods, you have created an extensive list of possible contenders. Now what?

Testing names

Sometimes too much analysis just delays decisions and defeats the naming of your brand before the next decade. I recommend that you test a little, go back and see if the name matches up to your companies attributes, benefits, values, persona, intrinsic spirit and ultimately the UBD - and listen to your gut feelings, and proceed with a choice.

Great Brand Names

1) Are emotional

2) Stick in the brain

3) Have personalities

4) Have depth

While the brand name is very important, a brand cannot survive on name alone

The brand name, and how the brand is executed, are equally vital for a successful and sustained brand life. A great brand name can serve as the anchor to your cause, a symbol to your story, a point of difference in your marketplace, a memory trigger, or just one big huge important part of your branding arsenal.

Joe Easton

Creative Director

Facebook FAIL vs. Facebook WIN

2009-02-19T11:14:00.004-05:00

There are a LOT of companies that have created Facebook pages. Most of them just haphazardly throw themselves up on a page with their brand splashed all over everything and then once the page is complete, they simply let it hang out in cyberspace all on its own with little to no interaction with other Facebookers. And then they wonder why they don't have any friends or fans.

Umm, isn't Facebook a SOCIAL platform? I don't know about you, but I don't really enjoy one-sided relationships in real-life, so why is it any different online? Bottom line, these companies are commiting a Facebook FAIL.*

It's all about engagement. The best social media brands know that and they focus their efforts on the tactics that will provide authentic, exciting, even remarkable engagement. Anne Brannon, over at Ignite Social Media, wrote a great blog post about four major brands that are using Facebook extremely well: Mountain Dew, RedBull, Southwest Airlines, and Dunkin Donuts.

If your company wants to build a loyal tribe of customers, there are ways to make it happen through social networking. The challenge is in choosing the right methods and executing them properly. And hey, we'd love to help you create that Facebook WIN for your brand.

Life on the Tube

2009-02-10T12:21:00.001-05:00

I’ve been in the advertising industry for over 35 years (although I look like I’m only 48). For 34 of those years I’ve been dealing with the media as either a media buyer, seller or media director. And I have to tell you… during that time things have really changed.

I remember when most markets only had three TV stations (ABC, NBC CBS). Back then a good prime time TV show did a 24 household rating. Then “Laverne and Shirley” and “Happy Days” arrived on the scene. And all of us in the industry were WOWed by household ratings averaging 35. Back in those days no network TV show was kept on the air if it wasn’t doing at least a 20 rating.

Then someone had a great idea… why couldn’t there be “independent” stations. These stations stripped out old mostly black and white shows that they could get cheaply. Most of these stations got excited if one of their shows did a 1 or 2 rating in early fringe. Then they realized they needed to bump up to TV shows in color. Wow, “Sanford and Son”, “All in the Family” and “MASH” worked the ratings up to a whopping 3. This is where things stayed for years. Eventually these independent stations got together to form their own networks in order to be able to afford better shows.

Now let’s fast forward to the current numbers. Today, 76% of households can receive hundreds of channels if they are willing to shell out the cash. Although none of these channels pulls a great rating, added together they eat up a huge amount of ratings. Now a major network is happy if one of their shows can do a 7 or better rating. And often you see major networks keep a 4-rated show on the air. Because that’s all the show can pull, and the network has already paid for 13 episodes.

What's has happened to those old independent stations that formed their own networks? Well, many of their shows still do 2s or 3s. But some, like “House”, “American Idol”, and “24” have amazed the industry, outpacing the original networks with ratings of 12 or more.

So what does this all mean? Well, if you’re thinking of purchasing television time to run your ads, you really need to think about having an expert (let’s say…maybe someone with 35 years of experience… hint hint) help you. Someone who subscribes to Nielsen data, and has the software that can help maximize your reach and frequency while minimizing your expenditure.

Don’t be led on by media buyers that can’t back up their numbers with reasoning and strategy, or your media spend might just be a shot in the dark. Trust your advertising to more than just a lucky dartboard.

Mapping out social media

2008-12-31T13:52:00.004-05:00

Navigating your way around the many forms of social media can be a bit like trying to find your way through some obscure European town where you don't speak the language with tons of winding backroads and unfamiliar faces at every turn. Well I've stumbled upon a social media map, thanks to Overdrive Interactive, that just might help you find your way around the unknown territories of social media.

At the very least, it's a great, categorized guide to the many platforms and options available in the social media world. Take a moment to look through the columns and some of the top examples under each, and by all means, click through the links and explore the sites in more depth. We're always learning new and exciting social media tips, tricks, and tools to help build brands and businesses, and we love passing them on to you. If you wanna know more, you know where to find us: info@diousa.com

Happy New Year y'all!

-KatyTX

Thanks to Overdrive Interactive for their great social media map! (If you can't see this image in detail, go to this link to see it more clearly)

Let's start the dioLOGUE

2008-11-19T13:32:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the dioLOGUE, a brand new blog written by the fabulous folks at dio strategic marketing.

Though our blog hasn't been in existence for long (heck, it's only been a couple hours now), check back regularly for useful tidbits that just might spark your next big campaign, give you new avenues of reaching customers, or will simply make you chuckle and break up your week of monotony. For us, it's a creative outlet and a way to share with our partners. And we LOVE getting mail, so drop us a line, a comment, a critique, or a call. We'd be delighted to hear from you.

Until then, here's a little rundown about what we believe:

It’s all about ROI. We listen. We ask the strong questions. Do you have to pay your current ad agency for work that doesn’t meet your CEO’s objectives? Should that agency be more concerned about producing pretty pictures to round out their portfolio than focusing on great work to get you more business? Does performance matter when it comes to compensation? Your answers should be: no, no, and yes. Yes - performance does matter when it comes to compensation. This is why we have incorporated this into our formula for success that has helped our partners grow market share, with shared risk.

The first part of the formula is Marketing Savvy. We understand that communications are important to grow your business and market share, and that starts by defining who you are and exactly what aspects can be leveraged as points of differentiation and a unique brand deliverable. We complete research and develop tailored strategic plans of internal and external communications. And we aren’t tied down to just one medium; we are neutral and utilize only those tactics which make sense for your budget, demographic targets, and brand strategy.

The second part is Business Acumen. Our business outlook has driven us to embrace a new pay for performance model for our partners. While the economic tide is out, and even when it comes back, we believe that part of our compensation should be tied to your success – allowing us to take part of the risk in your investment. That is why we’re not an ad agency – we are a firm focused on our partners’ success. We bring comprehensive category business knowledge, and the proven ability to integrate your overall business strategy into a communications plan in which we have a vested return on investment.

Added together: Marketing Savvy + Business Acumen = Success. This is the overall formula that is centric to our new strategic direction in which we provide accountability to your success.

What about you? What do you believe? What's your strategic direction? Perhaps we can help clarify your company's beliefs and help you build a new, stronger strategic direction to achieving that ultimate goal of success. What do you think, you in?