BMW #BlinkWink
What a perfect use of a message for the right medium. Art is in the eye of the beholder.
A classic brand tries to make a comeback at #ArtToronto
Great brands touch our curious senses.
#BMW #ArtToronto @BMWGroup @BMWUSA #thinkblink
We spend our whole lives waiting.
We wait at the doctor’s lounge, only to be shifted to another room to wait again.
We work patiently at our jobs, in the hopes that at the next performance review, we’ll get a big raise.
We even wait for consumers to LIKE our brand.
But where does all this waiting get us? Does it bring us any closer to our goal?
So, stop waiting and take some action. Any action.
If you want to grow your brand, don’t just do one thing and wait for the results.
Be adventurous. Try several creative avenues to connect with your consumer. If the flyer in the local newspaper doesn’t work, consider another way to reach out. For example, think about where your consumer hangs out and execute a clever guerilla marketing campaign.
Whatever your goal is, waiting won’t get you there. You need to step on the accelerator today to get the wheels spinning.
Last week, Go Daddy went down and affected thousands of small business sites. Blackouts on the web happen. Sites go down all the time. Customers feel the pain. Most brands would just apologize and think that was enough and go about their business. But not GoDaddy.com
The next day the company sent this email to their members:
The email, sent in a timely fashion was a good start. A brand should always be honest with their customers. Like it or not, this is the age of “snap crackle blink” for brands. It is important to act fast to response to customer queries – good or bad. GoDaddy.com went a set further and gave their clients a refund. That’s brownie points for the brand.
Remember, perception is everything. Poor handling of customer concerns, directly affects your brand. Good job @godaddy for handling a faux pas very well.
Without fail, this question comes up in almost every marketing or social media pitch I make to a client. The answer (although cliché) is: it depends. What you need to ask yourself, is what do you want to achieve from this social adventure?
Executed for their specific purpose, both Facebook and Twitter can be effective. While Twitter is ideal for short bursts of information about your brand or industry, Facebook can help you tell your story and engage your customers.
If you do choose Facebook as your primary social media marketing tool, remember that no one likes a page with no friends or interactions. Just like in real life, if your Facebook page is boring, chances are you won’t be getting very many Likes or interactions. If you can create Facebook content that is inspiring and resonates with fans, you just may be able to convert them into customers and brand evangelists.
By the same token, Twitter is an incredible tool to help grow your brand awareness. If you create a Twitter profile that is informative and inspiring, you just may have followers who simply cannot resist the urge to Retweet. This action, will not only immediately showcase your company’s brand to the world, but also highlight your expertise (in 140 characters) to a brand new audience…a feat that would virtually be impossible to execute via traditional marketing, despite the amount of strategic focus you put into it.
I tell people this story: Never in a million years would I have considered picking up the phone and calling Martha Stewart or Ellen Degeneres, convincing them that my brand was worth noticing. Now, I don’t have to. Because by the power of Twitter, they just noticed me. All I did was do what I love to do best, and what a pleasant surprise for me, that others loved it just as much.
Last year, I decided to take the plunge. The idea of marriage didn’t scare me as much as the thought of planning for the big day. Photographers, videographers, décor companies, lighting companies, entertainers, catering companies, venues…how was I ever going to find all these people to be part of the most important day of my life?
Being a bit of a picky person made the process a bit more challenging. But heck, these memories were for forever right! As the kilometers rapidly started gaining ground on my dashboard during the following months, frustration lingered close by. But as decisions had to be made, all you could do is cross your fingers and toes.
The day went without a hitch, and it although it sounds cliché, it truly was the most beautiful day. While most vendors delivered on their brand promise, a few attempted to flake out on certain details. Our friends would probably look at the embroidered Indian silk blue curtain with a mere fleeting nod, oblivious to the fact that it was originally fated to be pink. Whether it was an oversight or a sales pitch by the décor company to woo us, the truth is, we were wooed.
What personal brands fail to remember is that they are still brands. If McDonalds fails to deliver on their brand promise, they will lose their credibility. There will be negative backlash as people talk about the story to their friends and colleagues. And now with the power of social media, that gossip channel is amplified.
So photographers, here’s a piece of advice. Don’t deliver the wedding photos to the client a year later. If you really care about your brand, then do it as soon as possible after the happy day, when the couple is still giddy in love. And if you do your job right, you will receive a plethora of referrals, guaranteed.
Remember, you can throw as much money as you want into your marketing efforts, but you cannot buy word of mouth.
A way with words
TY Foursquare
Just Play. Have Fun. Blink Wink.
Remember when you were 3 years old?
You giggled when you were tickled.
You jumped up and down for no reason at all.
You did cart wheels whenever you felt like?
When did we lose all that spontaneity and become grumpy adults?
Play makes us fun to be around; Play also makes us more creative.
Think about it.
Ask anyone when they get that Aha moment, and I guarantee it won’t be when they are shackled to a desk in a surly mood.
Most probably they will tell you it’s when they least expect it – like singing in the shower.
So can we conclude it is when we are most relaxed and happy, that we unconsciously welcome the alpha waves into our lives, allowing them to create their own ripple of creative inspiration?
Creativity today has lost the lustre of the Mad Men advertising days.
Gone are the moments when you can skip off to a matinee flick (all in the name of creativity).
At first blush, you may think that it’s ridiculous and counter productive –but try that the next time you are stuck on a problem.
Put your mind totally at ease and just enjoy the time away from your desk…you will for sure start attacking the problem from a completely different angle.
The stars today tell me, to “Make it a priority to have as much fun as possible over the next 24 hrs”.
So, I’m going to Play!
Words are my life. Stories are my inspiration. So, will Pinterest really keep my interest?
The winning film of the Oscars was a surprise. How could a silent, black and white movie, win in the era of 3D and visual effects? Especially, when the norm in cinematography seems to be pushing boundaries in technology. So does visual/silent trump words?
Seriously, who could have predicted that Pinterest – a virtual pinboard – could drive more traffic for marketers than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn? Is its success related to pictures? Or is it just a brilliantly simple idea that took off because it was different? My money is on the latter. While millions of people and marketers were offering essentially the same thing packaged differently – Google keywords, SEO, videos on YouTube – Pinterest decided to go down the path less travelled and create their own path.
So, should we assume that a picture is worth a thousand words? The writer in me still adamantly says “No”. Even though an image can seemingly get the message across in a quicker way, words can evoke a million images in your mind – and for every reader the experience may be uniquely differently. To me, that’s more powerful.
However, Pinterest could be interesting. It definitely peeks my interest.
Once There Was LOVE
A wonderful love between Mush & Moo.
One where they LAUGHED together
SKIPPED together
SANG together
DANCED together
and were HAPPY together.
What they didn’t realize, was that it was true love.
Then, one day a big man knocked on their door.
“Would you like to be happy and in love?” he asked.
Mush & Moo nodded their heads and replied “Yes please…we’d like that very much”
“Have you heard of Valentine’s Day?” the man asked.
“No.”
“Well, Valentine’s Day is the day of love. I will come back just before this big day and bring lots of goodies from my Corporate Candy Factory. These things will make you happy, and you will fall hopelessly in love.”
Mush & Moo were excited. They started counting down to Valentine’s Day.
Soon they got so caught up in keeping count, they didn’t have time to do all the things they used to do together. No skipping, or dancing, or singing. But they weren’t worried because on Valentine’s Day they would be happy.
So, they waited anxiously for the day that true love and laughter would come knocking at their door.
Then one day, there heard a knock.
The big man had come back with brown paper packages tied up with strings.
Inside were lots of goodies.
Boxes and boxes of CHOCOLATES.
Bags of CANDY.
Note cards sprinkled with GLITTER.
Scented CANDLES.
Pink RIBBONS.
Paper HEARTS.
Mush & Moo’s eyes began to SPARKLE.
They felt giddy.
They loved it all.
They wanted it all.
They bought it all.
Then came THE BIG DAY!
Mush gave Moo his brown paper package. Inside was a box of Lindor chocolates, Häagen-Dazs, and a glittery Hallmark card with the words “I love you”.
Moo gave Mush her present. His Carlton card was sparkly and full of hearts, and inside were the same words “I love you”.
They looked at each other. They didn’t have to articulate the words. Their cards had already done it for them.
Greedily, they ate up all their goodies. “Ouch” said both of them at once. They felt ill, and not very happy.
Resting in bed, they stared out at the sun, remembering all the times they skipped and played and laughed together in the garden. Mush & Moo smiled. They remembered how they felt. They felt love…all the time.
So, when they got better they went back to the beginning, where Once There Was LOVE and no brown paper packages tied up with strings.