It was Friday night, and as I was in the restaurant, across from my husband, I was texting my love to ChaCha.

No, not the dance, but a free web-based, mobile text messaging answering service that has become my favorite thing. So favorite that I might even consider paying for it if I had to. Because, unlike with Twitter, almost like with Scrabulous before they shut it down, and definitely like my husband, ChaCha has become a can't-live-without addiction.

Here are the facts:
ChaCha allows people with any mobile phone to text 242242 (chacha) and ask any question in conversational English and receive an accurate answer as a text message in just a few minutes. ChaCha also offers voice search through a mobile service that could be queried via a toll-free phone number--1-800-2ChaCha (800-224-2242).

My first experience with ChaCha was tenuous- I texted ChaCha the following question: Where is the best place to invest a small amount of money to yield a 10% ROI. I waited. In minutes, ChaCha texted me back and told me to call a financial advisor. Ever so thoughtfully, ChaCha sent me a weblink to Financial Advisors in my area.

Other texts were more concrete— “What’s the weather this weekend?”, “How many seats are in Shea Stadium?”, “What’s the address of my dentist?” Time after time, ChaCha replied with accurate, up-to-the minute details. When I was in the midst of a conversation about gas prices, ChaCha saved the day by answering my question “If gas is $1.50 a litre, how much is it a gallon” with the following “it would cost $6.819 per gallon. Yikes! Have a great day and keep texting ChaCha. ChaCha told me how to get paint off the carpet, what my horoscope was for the month of July.

I’m not so interested in the behind the scenes at ChaCha but in case you are, the ChaCha system is set up so that each question is routed to a trained Guide who is knowledgeable in that particular subject matter. The Guide will research your question and send the answer back to you as soon as possible. The Guide will be able to see your previous questions so they will understand if you ask a follow-up question. Once you register, ChaCha will save your questions and answers, and you’ll be able to view the profile of the Guide that found your answer!

I also love the ChaCha website- very cool Valentine colors (because I’m not the only one in love) a place to read and leave confessions, a store where I can buy ChaCha apparel and a well-produced culture video.

My HR friends may even find this interesting: ChaCha recently announced that they are moving to a “Pay-For-Performance” system that was designed to improve search quality. Under the new program, “Top Guides” will receive 20 cents per question. Everyone else gets 10 cents per question. To become a Top Guide, users must do the following:

* >95% Quality Measurement.
* 95% and above completion of answers to questions:
* Minimum 300 Searches a week.

But what I really really love is that ChaCha will partner with BRANDEMiX in putting together branded mobile text campaigns including event promotion, text voting or trivia events.

So Friday night, when ChaCha told me what time the local movies were playing, I was so happy I literally texted back “I love you ChaCha.” And you know what ChaCha told me? “We at ChaCha think you’re the best, too! Our customers are very important so let us know if you need anything 24/7”

As a dependable virtual sage at my fingertips, or another leg in an integrated client branding or recruitment campaign, ChaCha stands alone!

Labels: BRANDEMiX, Branding, ChaCha

Don't look now, the agency handling the recruitment for the National Guard is targeting you Mr. Fisherman.

Does anyone else find the concept of Branding the National Guard as Rock Stars a bit of a disconnect?

In August, the US Army National Guard will launch a mobile marketing campaign, supported by outreach to local media, to sign up recruits at various music festivals and other outdoor events.

Developed and executed by RedPeg Marketing on behalf of prime contractor Docupak, the "Rock Star Hero Challenge," as the campaign is called, features a tour bus with 52-inch touch screen displays that allow potential recruits to see and participate in virtual missions.

Interactive kiosks where visitors can pose with images of rock bands will sit outside the buses, tying into the musical nature of the events and emphasizing the figurative "rock star" quality of Army National Guard members. The National Guard is currently on track to meet its recruiting goal for 2008.

Since 2005, it has increased its "end strength" total from 330,000 to 380,000.

"Recruiters will know about the events [in advance] and pre-market them," said RedPeg president and CEO Brad Nierenberg. "The events will be a way to engage with consumers who haven't considered the National Guard before now." Day said that recruiting is typically done on a local, grassroots level, with recruiters attending any large event where its "target demographic" might be found.

"The interactive nature makes the 'Rock Star Hero' different and will appeal to our demographic's thirst for technology," Day said.

Labels: Branding, Recruiting

In something we can call the Recession job diet, the US economy is shedding jobs at the rate of approximately 73,000 per month. Don’t look now but we lost about 60,000 in June and almost 450,000 since the beginning of the year. Not surprising, the losses are primarily in the support to the housing market: financial services, mortgages, construction and manufacturing.

But with the stock market imploding and grim forecasts ahead, more companies will no doubt follow suit just to keep fiscally fad-conscious. Some of this will be healthy shedding and some will be hard but the unintended result will also be fear and de-motivation among employees that you really want to keep away from the exit door.

Don’t believe me? Look at what’s going on at my nemesis Yahoo. Here’s an excerpt from a recent Business Week article:

Top Yahoo Talent Rushing for the Exits
Posted on: Friday, 20 June 2008, 12:05 CDT

Another day, another high-level exit -- or three -- from Yahoo! (YHOO). The most recent round came to light June 19, when TechCrunch reported the imminent departure of three prominent Yahoos: Vish Makhijani, general manager of Yahoo Search; Qi Lu, executive vice-president for search and advertising technology; and Brad Garlinghouse, senior vice-president for communications and communities and the author of a scathing 2006 memo dubbed the "peanut butter manifesto" that accused Yahoo of losing its focus. Garlinghouse and the others are among more than 50 high-profile Yahoo executives and managers who have left the company in the past three months or intend to leave, raising concerns that a leadership vacuum will ensue in light of failed merger discussions with Microsoft (MSFT), and amid withering public criticism of Yahoo management by billionaire investor Carl Icahn. The exodus makes it harder for remaining executives to persuade shareholders the company has the means to turn itself around.

Ha! As you know, I have hated Yahoo since the debacle when they lost my website (note: now I hate Verizon too since they lost my internet during the move) so in many ways it’s just desserts, but, as the President of a Corporate Communications company, I would still work with them if they wanted my assistance. Here’s what I would tell them.


5 Internal Communications Strategies to Deploy During Employee Layoffs

1. Employee Recognition Program- It may sound disingenuous to begin recognizing the contributions of your current employees at a time like this but hopefully you already have a program in place and you can just ramp it up. Studies show that even non-monetary incentives enhance teamwork employee contribution and morale.
2. Rumor Cooler- Spot communications that separate fact from fiction will keep everyone informed and show that senior management is in touch with grapevine and doing their part to create authentic reports of news as it’s breaking.
3. Surveys- Sample your talent and identify their issues and concerns. This information can be cornerstone of a holistic strategy that touches on training and developing the high potential employees that remain.
4. Social Networking Intranet- A hybrid site where employees can collaborate based on individual needs and form new professional connections will help both socially and strategically as you create a line of site from the staff to the business needs.
5. Strategic Rebranding- Energize and educate your workforce on business goals and objectives as you roll out a new Employer Brand based on the To-Be vision of your business.
   

In general, over communicate. According to HR guru Dr. John Sullivan:

After layoffs, it is essential that you keep two-way communications going: first, in order to ensure that the employees know when the cost reduction targets are actually met, and second, to give them an avenue to vent their frustrations and to get answers to their questions. Open book management, although it may be initially uncomfortable, is the short-term solution to keep everyone feeling in on things.

Labels: Branding, employee retention, Employer Branding, internal communications

OK- Believe it or not- even though I’m still in love with everything Zappos, this is about finding the love for Twitter. Never heard of it? No worries, that’s what I’m here for- (and Wikipedia).
From Wikipedia:

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates (otherwise known as tweets) which are text-based posts, ranging up to 140 characters long. Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them.

From another blog:

The key to Twitter is the level of listening you do as well as talking. It is definitely supposed to be an interactive program. And, in fact, this is where you build the majority of your Whuffie (aka social capital). The more you interact on Twitter, the more people will interact with you, which attracts others to you as well.

From Tony Hsieh at Zappos:

You send an SMS text message to Twitter with your note, and your message will be automatically broadcast (like CB radio) to whoever is choosing to follow you (your friends). If people don’t care what you’re doing, they won’t follow you, so don’t worry about sending out trivial messages.

At first, it will seem really weird and unnatural for you to do this, but just trust me on this one. You will find that it’s actually a really good way to stay in touch with all your friends and know what’s going on in their lives.

…I was flying in to the Vegas airport, and I twittered “Just landed in Vegas airport.” I would have never texted anyone that message, but in the Twitter culture, that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do. It just so happened that someone on my Twitter network was about to fly out of Vegas, so we met up at the airport bar and had a drink. I would have never known otherwise that this person was at the airport, nor would I have ever sent him a text message or called him that I had just landed.


Stuff to Tweet About

There are no rules about what you should tweet out, here are a few suggestions for you. It is important that you balance the ‘outbound’ with the ‘inbound’. In otherwords, the announcements with the conversations:

1. Personal thoughts and reflections that suit your brand - this helps people feel more trust towards you and your brand and strikes up conversations
2. Events (both your own and other events your audience may find interesting) - this makes things interesting and, perhaps, gives you a way to meet your followers
3. Contests (”The first three people who answer this trivia question get….”) - they drive more followers and interest in what you tweet
4. Replies (@twittername) - this comes from listening to your followers (you have to follow back to see their tweets). The more personal the reply, the higher the impact.
5. Direct replies (d twittername) - this isn’t in the public timeline, but it helps build deeper bonds to talk directly to someone like this. This is helpful to answer people when it is a private matter or when you want to show concern (i.e. someone reports an accident, etc.)
6. New blog posts - you should keep these to one per day at the very most and you should also promote other people’s blog posts that are of interest
7. Announcements - if it is interesting, tweet it
8. OH’s (overheard) - someone say something in the office or when you are out and about that cracks you up? Type OH: “well, if you don’t mind, im trying to work on my love life” or something else funny (sometimes used to offset potentially racy comments…if you didn’t say it, but are just REPEATING IT, then it’s okay)
9. Rickrolls or other fun internet games - this shows you are a bunch of fun and has people trying to do the same for you. Spreading as many internet memes as possible is good.
10. Lyrics and quotes - especially fun are the lyrics: ♪Never give the game away | Try to keep me entertained, baby | Don’t make it too easy | Leave something for me and my imagination♪ as the musical notes make for lots of questions
11. Links to media you create - video is fun, podcasts, perhaps interviews that are posted online about you, etc.
12. Shout outs - @twittername rocks! Thanks for the great link: http://insertlink.com These make people feel great, too.

Tweets that make people laugh are awesome, but tweets that make people think are even better.

I'm not going to lie- I don't totally get Tweeter but I've heard enough people talking about it to know that it's resonating in certain circles.

So, I'm going to give it a whirl. Connect with me if you want to and we can all be bored together.

But, if you really want to know what I'm addicted to--- its ChaCha.

Labels: Branding, Tweeter

Here’s the Zappos follow up I promised you.

The backstory is a recent posting you can view here or continue reading the short and sweet version.

I came across an article about Zappos paying employees $1,000 to quit their job following training. The ones who stay become the Brand Ambassadors— committed employees who stay, perform and recommend.

I did some follow up research and found a presentation made by Tony— my NBF (new best friend) and also the CEO. At the end of the presentation, he said anyone who wants a culture book could send him an email. I did.

Here’s what I wrote (please indulge me my sales pitch— I’m an entrepreneur)
“I love your site. I love your culture. (And great shoes help.) I develop marketing and communications that support the attraction and retention of talent and if you ever need a hand- please count me in. Thanks,”

I also started following him on Twitter, http://twitter.com/zappos, and saw that he was in London.

Guess what! Tony wrote me back within hours and said
Hi Jody,
It's a physical book so I just need your mailing address...
Re: attracting/retaining talent, I've cc'd Christa who heads up our recruiting department and she will be following up with you!

Not only did the book come, following an awesome email from someone in shipping inviting me on a tour of the facility any time i’m in Vegas, but the call from Christa came along with a potential opportunity to assist them with their employee communications!

So, operationally, externally and internally, ZAPPOS goes from A to Z, or in actuality Z to A in living ther brand!

Great job Tony and friends.

Labels: BRANDEMiX, Branding, internal communications

YOUR CHOICE: SEE THE MOVIE



READ THE POST
Ever heard of a “Quit-Now” bonus for new employees? We’ve all heard of severance packages where long-standing employees are essentially paid a bonus to quit now. But a “Quit-Now” bonus for new employees to voluntarily leave after a week on the job … that’s novel.

Bill Taylor, of Mavericks at Work fame, writes how Zappos , a fast-growing online shoe retailer, will offer one-week old employees a “Quit-Now” bonus of $1,000. Zappos will ask new employees this question … “If you quit today, we will pay you for the amount of time you’ve worked, plus we will offer you a $1,000 bonus.”

Why does Zappos do this? The reasoning, as Bill Taylor put it, is …

“Because if you’re willing to take the company up on the offer, you obviously don’t have the sense of commitment they are looking for. It’s hard to describe the level of energy in the Zappos culture—which means, by definition, it’s not for everybody. Zappos wants to learn if there’s a bad fit between what makes the organization tick and what makes individual employees tick—and it’s willing to pay to learn sooner rather than later. (About ten percent of new call-center employees take the money and run.)”

SEE THE POWERPOINT PRESENTATION FROM ZAPPOS PRESIDENT, Tony Hseih




Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, provides his 10 tips for building a customer service focused culture.

Whichever is your media of choice, the deal is that for a virtual company to have such a strong connection with its customers, they must be doing something right.

All employees that are hired into their corporate office, regardless of position, are required to undergo a 4-week Customer Loyalty Training course, which includes at least 2 weeks of talking on the phone with customers in the call center.^[7] at full salary. After training the new employees are offered $1000 to leave the job immediately.^[7] This is to ensure people are there for the love of the job and not the money. Over 90% turn down the buyout.

Great job Tony. And move over Southwest. I've just found a new case study for my toolbox.

I have emailed Tony who graciously offered me a free copy of his culture book. More to come.

Labels: BRANDEMiX, Branding, culture, retention

This week, Seth Godin printed an updated list of things every good marketer should know.

The one I know best, and keep in mind every day is this one:
PEOPLE ARE LAZY, UNINFORMED AND SELFISH

Is it a bad thing? No. It’s just what I start with when developing relevant communications plans for every audience.

Let’s break it down in stages.

People are lazy-
That means, they’re not going out of their way to find your messages, read your messages or respond to your messages.

Consider this:

• Since yesterday, almost 2,000 junk emails have accumulated in my spam box
• Since I’ve been back from Oklahoma, 5 newspapers are waiting for me to read
• On the NY Times homepage, I often just skim the most emailed news stories to get my intel
  

Do this:

• Design media plans that are interactive with your audience and encourage people to opt-in for more details.
  

People are uninformed:
That means you should never assume they have any idea who you are or what you do.

Consider this:

• Word of Mouth is the most trusted source of information when consumers decide which products and services to buy.
  

Do this:

• Read my White Paper on Word of Mouth Marketing or, if you prefer to do-it-yourself, find the people that know the most people and have them spread your messages. And make your messages informative, relevant and just a little bit fun.
  

People are selfish:
That means that’s enough about me, let’s talk about me

Consider this:

The average American is exposed to about 3000 advertising messages a
day, and globally corporations spend over $620 billion each year to
make their products seem desirable and to get us to buy them.

Do this:

Create your messages using the WIIFM rule: What’s in it for me. You have 3 seconds to get me attention. Use them wisely.

Take a test- look at the last 3 important emails you sent out to a group and analyze them against the above— How did you do?

Happy Mothers Day!

Labels: Branding, Word of Mouth marketing

When I say Volvo you say ?
Safety, Right?

So does everyone else.

Clearly it was a case of a branding job done too well- that’s my summary of Volvo’s central focus group issue covered in BRANDWEEK’s recent article.

But instead of patting themselves on the back- they did something quite different- they called in a hypnotist to go deeper and get the TRUE feelings about the brand.

An interesting act following by interesting findings...

Post-hypnosis findings revealed that for some people- Volvo also represented “middle-aged.”

Apparently, unbeknownst to me, hypnosis has been taking off. Clients are looking to go deeper into the brand experience and get to the real emotional connection that consumers have with their products. Typically there are 8 attendees in each 2 hour session.

But, as the article states- there are also detractors to the process. Some question if the information is relevant at all. Marc Babej, partner with the consultancy Reason, New York, says: "I have a particular venom for this area. These subconscious attitudes have little to do with purchase decisions. Most consumers navigate the marketplace based on the tangible benefits of the product."

As a facilitator of focus groups for our clients, I agree. When I ask my husband if by butt looks big in my jeans, should I hypntise him to get to the real truth of the matter or just accept his “no” as a man who recognizes the tangible benefits of being married.

I wonder if sodium pentothal is right around the cublcle?

Labels: Branding, Focus Groups

Labels: Branding

A great article From Lou Adler, ERE.net Friday, October 26, 2007
with insight and info-- even if I am a bit bored with Second Life stats.

How to Win the New Sourcing-is-Consumer-Marketing Game
Coupling technology with consumer-branded marketing ideas

The talent wars have entered a new phase. Now it's more about guerilla warfare and skirmishes, not big battles. With this concept in mind, I was lured to a workshop a few weeks ago to hear about some of the latest creative sourcing ideas going on throughout our industry. Some of them were Web 2.0 based, others technology-oriented, a few based on contests, and others just targeted and compelling advertising. Regardless of the approach, all had one theme in common:You can't use Wal-Mart advertising to attract a Tiffany's customer.

Bottom line, sourcing is comparable to consumer marketing: It must be designed to meet the needs of your target audience.

Engineers won't respond to the same approach as entry-level call center representatives, and mid-level accounting managers aren't going to go the same website as retired people looking for part-time sales jobs. Targeting the right audience with the right message is critical to maximizing your sourcing efforts. For me, the other big takeaway from the workshop was that companies are getting much more aggressive with respect to their sourcing techniques. Benchmarking other recruiting departments' best sourcing processes is no longer the strategy. Instead, more and more companies are benchmarking best consumer marketing practices.

As part of this, going on the offensive and pushing advertising to your target prospect will be the difference-makers for those who want to be the winners in the next phase of the war for talent. So, to get in the new "sourcing-is-consumer-marketing" game, consider implementing the following ideas right away. Then, figure out ways to make them better. Implemented properly, they will work and they will allow you to increase your share of the top talent market in 2008 and beyond:

Harrah's MBA Poker Contest. Susan Hailey, the vice president of talent at Harrah's, described a poker championship sponsored by Harrah's for MBAs only. The only admission fee is the MBA student's resume. Of course, the event was advertised at all of the major B-schools (participants must pay their own expenses, but they get a block rate room). Although the poker championship was initially designed to target Harrah's internal MBA recruitment goals, I just received an email from Susan stating that they're opening up their next event at Caesar's Palace (January 2008) to other companies. Their tagline: "Imagine spending a weekend with 1,300 MBAs from the top schools in the country."

Dennis Smith's Wireless Blog. Google "wireless jobs" right now and see who's on the top of the organic listings. It's wirelessjobs.com <http://www.wirelessjobs.com> , which is none other than Dennis Smith's blog. Dennis, who is T-Mobile's senior manager of recruiting, started the blog three years ago and spends about 30 minutes a day keeping it current. The real key is that people looking for jobs in wireless, whether they're installers, engineers, or executives, will find Dennis first. This is a great way to build a proprietary database of resumes of top people. And, don't forget each person in the database knows six to 10 other great people. Dennis's blog is a great example of how to build a just-in-time pipeline of hot talent.

L-3's Creative Niche Advertising. Amber O'Brien is a staffing specialist for L-3 Communications Group in Sonoma, California. It's pretty tough to get aerospace engineers and support personnel to relocate to wine country unless you use some creative sourcing techniques. Amber has taken outrageous and niche advertising to another extreme. One ad, posted on an optics engineering job site, had the title "O.G.S.K.S., aka Optic Geeks Seeking Kindred Spirits," which resulted in five qualified candidates in a few hours. The rest of the ad was more compelling than the title, which is what really captured the attention of what Amber aptly calls "cryptonomicon characters." Another one of her ads had the unusual title "Wine Country and Aerospace, together at last." She posted this ad with compelling and unusual copy (e.g., "...loves finding new and creative ways to solve quixotic quandaries") on a site designed for government contractors. Amber said she was "deluged" with responses. The key: compelling advertising on niche sites.

Sodexho's Virtual Job Fair. Anthony Scarpino, senior director of talent acquisition for Sodexho, and Amy Brooks, led the company's first virtual job fair using Second Life. Anthony and Amy both contend that putting a virtual career is not easy and the results aren't instantaneous. Regardless, it's worthwhile investigating this new Web 2.0 technology, particularly for targeting entry-level candidates.

Jobs2Web's Career Site Cloning. Doug Berg is a genius when it comes to making technology work better in the recruiting space. If you don't know Doug, he's the founder of HotGigs and Jobs2Web. I'm continually amazed at how Jobs2Web <http://www.zentation.com/viewer/index.php?passcode=dM4UBIkHRN> can free up a company's website so it can be found. The Jobs2Web system clones every job, gives it a logical title, adds a bunch of keywords and meta tags, and then reverse engineers them so that people googling for jobs can easily find them. For results, consider that Merck's Jobs2Web system is rapidly becoming its lowest cost and primary means to find top talent online.

3M's Sponsoring Industry-Focused College Fraternity. John Lanning, 3M's manager of sales recruiting, described the impact of the company's long-term sponsorship of Pi Sigma Epsilon's annual Pro-Am Sell-A-Thon. For background, here's the purpose of the Sell-A-Thon directly from their website: To provide PSE collegiate members with the opportunity to experience the salesperson's role in a simulated business-to-business sales environment, with coaching from a sales professional. Of course, 3M has first access to the best college grads who win the contest, and most of the salespeople John hires make their quota way ahead of schedule. In addition to sponsoring similar contests, you might want to search within your resume databases for "PSE members" as well as for "Sell-A-Thon," "winner," and "runner-up."

Again, the key to success here is coupling the latest technology with consumer-branded marketing ideas. One thing is readily apparent when you attempt to do this: you can't copy someone else's marketing approaches and creative ideas and expect them to work just as well. So, being the early-bird and putting your own spin on everything is important. Despite this caveat, trying a similar idea in a different market is a good way to start. To try out the consumer marketing idea, just write a compelling ad on a niche site and compare the results to a traditional, boring ad on the same site. You'll probably get three to five times the response in both quality and quantity. This will be enough evidence to convince the naysayers. But don't wait. Everyone will be doing this kind of crazy stuff in the next 12 months.

So, another reason for BRANDEMiX’s success- the right model for developing a branded recruitment advertising campaign. Next step- employee engagement from onboarding through assimilation. Great article Lou.

Labels: Branding, recruitment advertising

Several months ago I wrote about America’s Brand as seen through the pages on my passport. It seems that they’re not the only arm of government to redefine its image. The Postal Service, which has a budget of $30 – $35 million a year for advertising, wants people to view them in a new light.

Rant 1: Why is the budget a floating number with a $5 million spread?
Rant 2: Why does the post office need to spend $35 million on advertising?

Though I don’t have the answer to my first question, I can presume that the cost of a stamp- now at almost half a dollar, makes people like myself reconsider whether to actually mail my checks, or use the online bill paying services of my Bank- Bank of America- another recent member of the re-branding club. Losing so much revenue from no-competition stamps means they’re forced to compete head to head against mighty brands like FedEx, UPS and DHL. And that is a problem and the answer to Rant 2.

The manager of advertising and promotion at the Postal Service said that though the brand is changing, customers were not viewing them as the contemporary and competitive organization they are.

The new theme: Today’s Mail.

The ads highlight some new services including shipping a package from your kitchen, creating customized postage stamps, automated postal centers and “eco-friendly” packaging to mail gifts. (Lets cover every base including green- rant 3.) The attributes were culled from the information received from 37 focus group sessions around the country and it’s the first time a theme has been used USPS advertising in 10 years. The ads use real people and, in addition to appearing in both print and online, will appear…. Guess where…. Right in your mailbox. A Brand New Postcard will be sent to 146 million addresses. Direct Mail for Today’s Mail. (Not to be confused with Today’s Male.) I just wasn’t that impressed.

Labels: BRANDEMiX, Branding

It's fall and apples are in season and I set out to buy 3 shiny new ones for BRANDEMiX.

In terms of Brand Equity, Apple's ranks 22 on the list of best Global Brands, and it's brand equity is up 22% over last year. The Apple brand is innovation, style and design. It's thinking out of the box.

And the Apple stores themselves are an experience worthy of the Apple logo.

Though the store was every bit as busy as you would imagine on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, the my salesperson guided me through my purchases, asking me qualifying questions such as who were the computers for and what kind of work would they be doing.

When I expressed concern integrating the new Intel-chip Macs onto my network, out came a Mac Genius. Another company might call this person a Geek or part of technical support.

But in Apple-land he is a genius and he helped alleviate my concerns. He handed me his card and told me to give him a call on Monday and let him know how it worked out.

Yes, I was buying 3 computers but there are companies buying 500 Ipods to give out to their employees. There are customers raffling 100 Iphones at the next networking conference. My purchase was not large by Apple standards yet I was given the red carpet treatment.

AND THIS RELATES TO YOU HOW?

The most significant impact Human Resources can have within their company is to support the brand, hire to the brand attributes and make sure training and development programs, performance management systems and compensation programs are designed to reinforce and promote "brand behavior."

The geniuses both in the stores and running the company know how important every person walking in the door is. Not only are they connected to the culture- the create the culture every day.

They know that my children want Mac computers because Mac makes their favorite thing- the Ipod.

Here's what InterBrand's insights on Global Branding had to say about the company:

Apple
Apple is the supreme master of Demand Creation. Consumers
are now happy to own multiple iPods that are styled for
particular functions: home, video or exercising. And in a world
filled with technology, the expectation created around the
launch of the iPhone demonstrates the supreme desirability
this brand has created. With iPhone, Apple plays a double trick
on its competitors. It transcends the problems of the highly
saturated communications environment by creating products
with such extraordinary customer pull that there’s no need to
push. At the same time, the phenomenon of the product launch
pulls free media toward it, proliferating brand impressions and
flooding media channels with branded messages. Essentially,
it has created such a profound demand that the product itself
generates a media blitz. It’s a high profile demonstration
of the convergence of technology. It was unthinkable some
years ago that Apple could make a phone. Consumers wouldn’t
have given the brand permission to do so. But now Apple
can transcend the ‘old thinking’ of limited boundaries. In this
sense the brand has become its passport, to roam wherever its
proposition can be applied.

That's the power of a brand and the power of Human Resources to take a big bite of the business strategy and get in the game.

Labels: Apple, BRANDEMiX, Branding

In the world of Branding, it is a well-made assumption that all the big shops are filled with talented writers, art directors and presenters. I've always wanted to know the deciding factors that tip the scales in favor of one agency vs another.

Fortunately for me, Business Week published a "behind the scenes" look at a recent pitch for the $600 million Hyundai account. Fortunately for you- I'm about to describe it.

The Situation: Despite receiving high marks for quality, Hyundai has struggled with stalled sales. The company, which was the fastest-growing car maker in the U.S. from 2000 to 2005, had a target of selling one million vehicles in North America by 2010. Hyundai sold just 455,000 cars in the U.S. last year.

The Solutions:

• Siltanen & Partners: signed actor Kelsey Grammer as the voice for its TV ads and created a series of ads that compared Hyundai models to much more expensive brands like Lexus and Land Rover, making the point that the Hyundai in many instances outperformed or had more standard features than vehicles $10,000 to $20,000 more expensive.
  

The problem with it: "I don't think long-term we want to define ourselves relative to other brands. We want to establish our own story,"

• StrawberryFrog: An idea—and a word—it felt Hyundai could own in the marketplace: defog. "There's something unusual about Hyundai drivers, something you may not have noticed. They're curious. They do their research…more than any other driver. They find the truth. They cut through. They see the world more clearly." A Web site called Hyundaipedia would be a Wikipedia-like site for Hyundai facts and information on such technical terms as "ABS brakes."

The problem with it: Hyundai was looking for a really big idea. But the consensus of the selection committee was that "defog" was too big an idea, and perhaps too complex.

• Arnold Worldwide: "Here's To More." Arnold believed Hyundai's strength to be that it offers customers more standard equipment than competitors such as Toyota and Ford Motor (F ) at lower sticker prices. Comped TV ads trumpeted Hyundai's superior safety ratings show a man celebrating his 60th birthday. The ad then replayed his life in reverse, all the way back to when he was 22 and survived a crash in a Hyundai. The ad line: "Here's To More Birthdays."

No reason was given for why this didn't win. I kind of like it.

• Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners: "Why Doesn't Everyone?" The agency created a strategy of social networking, direct marketing, and multicultural and corporate marketing. To get past the baggage that Hyundai's own logo is associated with its poor-quality past, the agency hatched an idea to break out the letter "Y" from "Why Doesn't Everyone" and Hyundai's own name, and turn it into a new graphic icon that overshadows the Hyundai logo. It was a clever way to give Hyundai a fresh look and new start without asking the automaker to change its global logo.

Hyundai was impressed with how the agency went well beyond advertising: "I could see we couldn't do everything because of cost, but every idea was exciting, and that's a nice problem to have." And still, they were not selected.

THE POWER OF RESEARCH: Hyundai opted for San Francisco-based Goodby, Silverstein + Partners. Goodby helped to define Hyundai's problem using research involving 200 people who sized up the new Veracruz crossover. When a group was shown the vehicle without any identifying logos on it, 71% said they'd buy it. Once the Hyundai logo went on, however, that dropped to 52%. In the same research, a Toyota logo lifts intent-to-purchase by more than 20%.

"Think about It" One TV ad showing a woman walking in slow motion through an art gallery carries the following voiceover: "There's a lot of great stuff in the world that you miss when you're in a hurry. In your mad dash to get to the Mona Lisa, you miss cubism, impressionism, and the whole French Renaissance. So, what we are really saying is slow down. It's not something you usually hear from a car company. We're not telling you to go out and buy one of our cars. We're just going to tell you how we're safer and better made than some of the cars you might be looking at. And then ask you to think about it."

Interestingly enough, Goodby's actual slogan, or tagline, bombed with Wilhite and most of the rest of the group. "Have A Nice Car," Wilhite thought, was too trivial a phrase like, "Have A Nice Day."

More interestingly to me: This week, Steve Wilhite, chief operating officer of Hyundai Motor America who was in charge of this entire agency review, has stepped down from his post directing Hyundai's U.S. operations after the world's sixth-largest automaker had to cut its sales target this year.

So, how do you like life in adland? Don't quit your day job.

Labels: Branding, Online Advertising

Trevor is either the luckiest or unluckiest intern in the world. A college student hired by Mentos in Kentucky, Trevor's job is to entertain, amuse and serve you. He can proof your papers, play X Box with you and even play pranks on your friends. You can call him, email him or even i-chat with him.

This campaign has gone viral all over the net and the Mentos name tags along everywhere…

Trevor is on MySpace.
He’s got a profile on Facebook.
He’s pretty popular on YouTube.
He’s got his own blog.

But the great thing about Trevor's internship is that it ties a communications strategy to Mentos' brand positioning as "the funmaker."

And that's what we want to do!

Trevor can be reached all day through www.mentosintern.com, and will have a web cam set up in his office so you can check in on his progress!

Labels: Branding, social networking, viral marketing

What kind of online articles do you read in that one minute of relaxation time? This is the question I set out to answer for myself and over the past month, I have come to the following decision: Give me a headline with a question or a number-- "What will be this fall's hottest seller?" "The 5 things I love about my job." If it has a question or a number, I know I'm in for a quick read and I'll come out the wiser.

So, with that I mind, I will become the change I wish to see. I bring you some condensed, borrowed information from a book on branding.

(5 out of ) 22 Immutable Laws of Branding
-Source: Al Reis

1. Expansion
The power of a brand is inversely proportional to its scope.
"Customers want brands that are narrow in scope and are distinguishable by a single word, the shorter the better."

5. The Word
A brand should strive to own a word in the mind of the consumer.
"If you want to build a brand, focus your branding efforts on owning a word in the prospect's mind. A word that nobody else owns." Examples: Mercedes = prestige; Volvo = safety; Kleenex = tissue; Xerox = copier; FedEx = overnight.

6. Credentials
The crucial ingredient in the success of any brand is its claim to authenticity.
A widely-publicized study of twenty-five leading brands in twenty-five different product categories in the year 1923 showed that twenty of the same twenty-five brands are still the leaders in their categories today. In seventy-five years, only five brands lost their leadership."

19. Consistency
A brand is not built overnight. Success is measured in decades, not years.

20. Change
Brands can be changed, but only infrequently and only very carefully.

So, there you have the number. Next week, let's try the question.

Labels: BRANDEMiX, Branding

As I surf around the net this morning, tickled that I am fulfilling 2 of BRANDEMiX corporate values- continuous learning and inspiration, I have landed on this:

Generation X-tasy

(Add it to my growing list of demographic terms including: Milenials, Generation X, Technosexuals, Echo-boomers, Digital Natives.)

Think Lindsay, Paris, Britteny.
Think Vegas, think luxury, think experiences.

Think about the fact that Global luxury sales to the US have risen to $150 billion, according to the Telsey Advisory Group.

The term is relevant to me as it stems from the continuous search for new thrills to shake up that sense of "been there, done that."

And, that's how I feel each day when my e-mail inbox is clogged with articles on using Social Networking sites for recruiting, how to start a successful blog, and all the other information that we at BRANDEMiX have been writing about for the past 2 years.

The learning curve is sometimes so slow and we are all so mired in triage that it is difficult to keep up with emerging trends. I can't even read emails anymore if they're too long.

My promise to you is that I will continue to forge ahead in my quest to stay at the forefront of technology marketing success strategies- (the term success critical because technology for the sake of newness is wasteful) and report back. Just remember- the foundation is in the message and the key to success is integration.

If anyone would like to contact me, I'll send you a copy of my presentation entitled: "Staying Ahead of Curve in New Technology: The Rules of ME marketing. Learn how to make the most of your Message, Media Options and Meager Budget"

Speaking of Budgets- Lets look at what marketing managers are shifting substantial sums of their 2006 budgets to.

If any of these items are on your to-do list, guess what! Next week is August and there are only 5 more months left of 2006.

PS: How do you like the new template. I know I said I was done but isn't it my prerogative to change my mind? (Did you ever know the correct spelling of prerogative?)

Labels: Branding, generation x-tasy, marketing

There are lessons to be learned everywhere-- Even the TV. And though Sunday nights haven't been the same without Carrie and Tony -- at least we still Ari, Turtle, Vince, E and Drama. For those of you new to the scene, Entourage follows a movie star, his agent and his 3 trusted consiglieres through the trials and tribulations of fame in Hollywood.

The boys from Entourage have been busy producing a movie- Medellin.

Recap: We're watching TV about making a movie and last week's episode centered on the trailer being leaked to YouTube. Not only did HBO run the trailer after the show but it did actually appear on YouTube-- currently receiving hits into the thousands.

Check out the Trailer-- not an at-home, do it yourself job but the type of production that makes us wonder if the full movie might actually be coming down the road.





This type of integration, the blurring of lines between TV, internet, fantasy and reality is a great example of the building of a buzz, a brand and a blockbuster series.

Gotta love it.

Labels: BRANDEMiX, Branding, HBO, integrated campaigns. Entourage

The Royal Navy builds action and technology into a great recruiting campaign. At the url getthemessage.com you'll see an action video depicting all the excitement of a telecommunications career with the Royal Navy.

The site encourages visitors to use it to send messages to their friends. I sent one to my best friend me.




The email came to my inbox from "my friend" telling me there was an important message waiting for me. I clicked the link.

Here's what I saw.




I had the option of checking the box to allow them to contact me directly with their opportunities.

Well done.

The take aways are for you to use Personalization, Integration and Very Important Brand Messaging to build your unique database and enhance your relationships with opt-in participation.

Great music helps too.

Labels: BRANDEMiX, Branding, Integrated Marketing, recruitment advertising

ALERT: For every 2 experienced professionals leaving the workforce over the next 10 years, there will be only one and the chances that they will have a tatoo or non-ear body piercing is greater than 50%.

In a preview of the exciting surprise I have planned for you tomorrow, I offer you this solution from our friends in Japan. Concerned that their workforce of tomorrow will not share the diligent work ethic that they are now known for, they have launched a new theme park called Kidzania.

Kidzania, based in Mexico and founded in 1996, offers children the opportunity to role play in for than 50 kid-sized career pavillions with a no-parents allowed sign on each door. Brought to Japan by the same entrepreneur who introduced the Japanese to Spago and Il Mulino, it is a branding opportunity for corporate sponsors such as Nippon Airways, Johnson and Johnson and Sumitomo Bank.

It is also a wonderful way to connect with potential customers and expose children to real work experiences in a variety of industries. BTW: franchises are available. This emotional experience aims to create a positive between tomorrows workforce and the brand.


Anyway, gotta run and cut out my hearts. See you tomorrow.

Labels: Branding, emo marketing, workforce trends

Hi everyone. Just surfing in the cold New York day and found some great inspiration for some fun projects we're working on in BRANDEland. Along the way, I stopped by a funny site called whatamigonnadonext

Thought it might be a cool niche job board until went in and found it was a promotional idea of the US Airforce.

Kind of slow to download but a really good use of the vanity url.

Also went to find out about how the stress of work is impacting my life-- want to see what it's doing to you? Check out age-o-matic.com


You'll find out what you'll look like in 50 years if you stay at your dead end job. Built by Cramer-Krasselt for Careerbuilder... its really fun.

Anyway, back to work. But now that you're here, sign onto our visitor map.

Get ready...Valentine's Day is coming.

Labels: Branding, Careerbuilder, employee communications

In a recent article from Entrepreneur Magazine titled "How Low Can You Go?" -- please ignore the pun-nyness of the title -- there is an attention-grabbing blurb that reads "With these 97 franchises costing less than $25,000, you'd be surprised." Well, color me surprised.

Listing the total cost of nearly 100 franchises, readers will find that these particular ventures run the gamut from food and pets to fitness and child-care. As an example, one could start their own branch of Jazzercise for as little as $3,000; at present time there are reported to be 6,514 franchises of Jazzercise out there. Others recognizable names on the list were Merry Maids, Hot Stuff Foods, Jani King, Christmas Decor, and Aerowest.

Sometimes an entrepreneur may worry about whether or not their services are something that consumers will need. Or how they'll be able to explain their services without a long-winded pitch. But in this situation, you're buying the rights to the brand name, along with the start-up materials. There's little to stop you from being the regional distributor or provider of a sought-after service.

But as with any business decision that you make, this blogger urges those interested to proceed with caution. You may have acquired a brand without knowing exactly what to do what it, or who to sell it to. Without a solid "Who-What-Where-Why-When-How" plan in place, one may find themselves with limited options and even more limited cashflow.

Labels: Branding, Entrepreneurship, Franchising