Branding Blog - Marketing Advice and Advertising Strategy for Small Business Owners

Cool Flashbacks from an Airline Mag

With 4 flights on United last week, it was easy to read the in-flight Hemispheres Magazine from cover to cover.

Two stories that caught my attention were flashback pieces.

First, "Remembrance of Cocoa Puffs Past," a story about retro marketing. It's a cool read and it makes the case that especially during a recession, we like to touch the comforts of the past.

The other flashback piece, "Bunker Mentality," was about Norman Lear and his 1970s and 1980s TV dynasty. The story talked about how Lear altered the national conversation with his provocative shows. Coming out last month was the Norman Lear TV Collection (19 discs) with the first seasons of 7 of his classic shows including All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, Good Times, Maude, Mary Hartman, and One Day at a Time.

Tags: retromarketing, hemispheres, norman lear

Happy New Year...Ready to Learn?

I've got a couple of course recommendations for you.

First...Fight the Big Boys and WIN! Just a few seats left and you might just get to stay in Engelbrecht house if you hurry.

Second....The Marketing Performance Seminar in Denver, Colorado. This one is a bargain, especially if you're a retail or service business owner. Your registration will be just $99 and you can grab an on-site hotel room for just $99/night.

"The Breakup" the Sequel: "Inspiration Anyone?"

About a year ago, Microsoft Advertising released a video called "The Breakup." It's a great statement about the disconnect between advertisers and consumers. Now, a year later, they've produced a nice sequel. Again, deep irony regarding the fact that the advertiser just doesn't get it.

The video is designed to get people to a Microsoft web site called getinspiredhere.net, a brand new blog that promises to build a community of marketers, designers and developers. There's not much there yet, but it's likely worth watching to see how they progress...or they could just become another piece of the irony.

Inspiration, anyone?
by geertdesager

Let's Get Together in Nashville: We're having a Wizard Seminar!

A bunch of my fellow Wizard of Ads Partners are throwing a party seminar in the Music City. It's gonna be a lot of fun very educational. Wanna come along?

• Do you make decisions that impact a business?
• Do you have the courage to actually do something differently?
• Do you want to communicate more powerfully?

Take away a wealth of persuasively potent tools you can begin using immediately to Boom Your Business on Friday and Saturday, August 1st and 2nd, at the Sheraton Music City Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.

It’s just $299 for two days. Strictly limited to the first 200 who register.

A 2-day event with this line-up should cost you at least $1,200. Why are we only charging $299? You're thinking that you're going to get a sales pitch, right? Nope. Nothing of the sort.

We're charging less because this is the first time. We're working out the bugs before we take this event on tour. You won’t be asked to buy anything else. The Wizard of Ads Partners do not solicit business. They are teachers first.

Ready to go back to school?  Raise your hand.

Boring but Valuable Formula #117: Repetition and Results

[Following the rabbit hole from today's Monday Morning Memo, will lead you to this fine piece of Wizardly Wisdom. We teach this to our clients, and this week Roy Williams shares it with all who follow the rabbit.  -Dave]

By Roy H. Williams

It’s a question asked by business owners in every town, village and hamlet. It’s asked by the cautious, the anxious, and the wise. It’s asked of every newspaper, television and radio rep.

“How many ads will I have to run before I begin seeing results?”

Remarkable Direct Mail: Veer

This was the coolest thing I've received in the mail for ages. I'm not spilling the secrets here. You'll just have to go find out. Veer.

"The kerning pair went everywhere."

Advertising vs. Being Remarkable

"Advertising is a tax you pay for being unremarkable."
-Geek Squad founder Robert Stephens

There are STILL plenty of very smart people in the world who have not begun to realize the power of the web. For some, it's a fear of technology. Others have been too busy engaged in successful business. Still others just have their heads in the sand.

I was having a conversation with a group of very successful brick and mortar jewelers a couple of weeks ago. We were talking about my blogging class and they asked if I knew of any jewelers who have had any measure of success with blogging. I pointed them to Ice.com and their use of a blog strategy to tie their name to celebrities and provide lots of in-bound links to products.

Then, they asked me if I could name a business that has achieved any kind of success with YouTube?

How Diamond Advertising Brought me back to Music

After 20 years in the radio business, I was burned out on music. I haven’t listened to more than an hour of music radio in the past 8 years. Really. I’d heard it all. I was tired of listening just to see if there was “dead” air, the bane of all broadcasters.

I have a small list of  about 100 songs that I listen to when I sleep on airplanes.

About a week ago, as I flipped through channels looking for something to tide me over between Top Gear and the next Kitchen Nightmares show, I stopped on a repeat of a Leno broadcast from a few months ago. He was just introducing some guy named Landon Pigg. Not very deep, am I. I chuckled at the name and decided to give the guy about 10 seconds before I clicked on.

Airline Ad #7: Air India

This is the last ad, and my favorite.

Why?  In 3 words...Multiple Personas Addressed.

Airline Ad #6: Etihad

I'd never heard of Etihad until I saw the ad. Then again, they aren't looking for my type of business.

What do you think? In 3 words.