But, what about the other side of the promotional coin? What about old-fashioned, old-school forms of sale promotions in today’s super-savvy web age?  Well, according to ad agencies like ours and other industry experts, they are starting to make a comeback – and in some cases, they’ve never left.

Lauren Comiteau writes in a recent edition of ADWEEK that “brands are discovering that low tech (and no-tech) marketing still turns heads.”  She goes on to report of the success of promotional gimmicks like chicken suits and bounce houses.  They’re decidedly low tech but, when deployed properly in the right settings, are still highly effective.
Factor in the relatively low cost of such efforts, and the benefits become even greater.

We’ve experienced success first-hand with old school promotional tactics here at Warren Douglas.  One of our clients, a leading manufacturer of eyewear, accepted our recommendation for creating lifesize eyeballs to roam around a large amusement park (see below).  The results were amazing. Hundreds of children (and adults, it seems) eagerly engaged with the characters, resulting in parents collecting pertinent materials which drove them to a website for more information.  (Read the resulting case study.)

So the next time your brand or client is interested in running a sales promotion,  consider taking an old school approach.  Sure, someone in your organization might have to don a chicken suit.  But that’s a small price to pay if you lay the elusive premium gold egg of effectiveness.

I believe this new invention—although it’s basically a larger iPod Touch—could revolutionize print advertising as we know it today. Truth be told, when I’m reading news online in a traditional web-browser format, ads are too often easy to ignore. Online, I don’t get the same level of marketing impact as I do when I’m flipping through the pages of the printed form of a magazine, looking at full-page ad after full-page ad. That printed form, however, makes the metrics of my intake of that marketing message tough to measure. How long did I stare at the ad? Did the pages stick together, making me miss it altogether? Did this ad’s call-to-action (visit www.companywebsite.com) prompt me to do something? Wouldn’t marketers like to know!

The middle ground the iPad could occupy between the PDA and the laptop could be just the remedy that publishers and marketers have been waiting for, especially if the technology will allow users to earn their subscriptions by agreeing to view the ads measurably. People want free content. Publishers want to sell ads AND charge for the content. Looks to me like the paradigm could soon shift to an online format where consumers could choose: view ads and let us measure your interaction for free content, or just look at everything at your leisure and pay for all the content. Either way, advertising still drives the financial model. That’s good for ad agencies, and that’s good for the publishers.

Boy, I’d hate to be Kindle right now.

The other day, Mr. Bossy Boss told me a tale about this Facebook friend calling him and reiterating an interesting conversation he had with “Mr. Boss Man” on Facebook chat. Evidently, “Mr. Boss” had told this friend that he needed money for his cousin but he had been mugged while in the UK. FBfriend replies, “Are you a Nigerian Prince?” The profile hijacker immediately shuts down the chat and unfriends the witty little guy.

Needless to say, Bossy changes his password, and his status to tell everyone about the potential scammer on the loose. Later that night, his wife goes to check his Fbook, and lo and behold … he is not there.

No friends. No profile. No Farmville Animals. Mr. Bossy Boss was Facebook murdered.

Shocking tales like these are occurring more and more within the Facebook realm. Due to its international popularity, Fbook has become the #1 target for spreading viruses, hijacking information and all-around chaotic malarkey! It is an alarming powerhouse in our world today—it has the ability to connect you to anything, but also disconnect you from the world, your fans, and even worse, your consumers—all in the blink of an eye.

Premium brands that don’t engage with newer types of interactive media are like Mr. Bossy Boss and his imposter—someone out there is representing their brand, whether they like or not, and they are taking control. However, if you play the game right, those imposters won’t matter, because, like real-life friends, once you build your relationships, brand advocates will know that you’re not a “Nigerian Prince.” They’ll recognize your brand’s true voice and learn to trust it.

The bottom line to consider is this: Life is scary. And social media is just life happening online. So, learn how to interact effectively with the real world, and you’ll see that being a “victim” online isn’t as easy as it first sounded. Your brand will be able to handle it. Your brand will be better for it.

Last night, while watching my recording of Wednesday’s So You Think You Can Dance (yes, I’m one of those people), the show’s host introduced me to a group called “The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers.” While this seems like a fun name, I was hardly going to believe what a TV show produced by American Idol aficionado Nigel Lythgoe told me. Like any consumer, I had to consider the source.

But as the music began and I saw the opening moments of the performance, there was an immediate sense of pride in making the right decision to stick with the program. The time and effort put into each execution. The attention to detail! They were fantastic. Beyond excellent. They were extraordinary. And I proceeded to go online and watch the YouTube version of the performance below 5 more times that night. And then a few more today.

http://bubble-cast.com

There were other performers on the show who were great. It’s a dance competition, for heaven’s sake! But these performers stood out because they have created this product, this “brand,” with creativity, something distinguishable, something unique, and, hopefully not to be too trite, something premium. And not every brand can play at this level, but when articulated and executed well, the consumer is hooked. And living up to your claims defines consumer retention.

So, brand managers, before settling with any creative or strategic execution, ask yourself a few things—what is it about your brand that is truly extraordinary? What is it that your product does within its category that is beyond normal? And how can you tell that story in a like fashion? Articulate and demonstrate these assets, and your customers will develop a sense of pride and belief in your brand, as well. And though it may seem basic, it works. Trust us. We at WD create such extraordinary every day.

The most important restrictions are the prohibition of:

• Photo contests which require profile photo manipulation
• Status update contests which require posting status updates for entry
• Contest entries once a user has become a fan
• Promotions appearing anywhere but in an application on a tab within the respective Fan Page

Even worse, every promotion must be approved by Facebook through an account representative and have a listed disclaimer!

So, with these new limitations, what is a brand to do? At the risk of seeming arrogant, I have to point out that premium brands must now stop the insistence that they can handle their own Fan Pages and social media. They must turn it over to someone who can develop apps, has a standing relationship with account reps, as well as have the strategic thinking behind how in the world to get users to care about a Widget Deluxe Fan Page when they get nothing free from it. In plain English, they need a marketing agency.

Not to toot my own horn or do the sales pitch, but in past posts, we’ve pointed out how it is virtually impossible for a one-man-band to handle a full social media strategy—emphasis on strategy. So, throw in creative web application development on top of legalese, and it’s way over what Jimmy the 18-year-old intern can handle on his own. And while this may seem discouraging to brands that have relied on this “cheap” form of social media connection, I must remind us all that in marketing, we get what we pay for.

So, Facebook has, in essence, secured the need for a well-thought-out plan of attack and I applaud them for taking such measures to keep their product premium and free of spam-inducing promotions popping up on their highly-successful product. Though it might be hard at first for premium brands to part with their dollars to produce a new way of reaching Fans on their Page, it really is long overdue if they want any chance of retaining their premium status on Facebook.

Mr. Nese is the perfect example of the fact that just because an opportunity comes along that others have taken and seen success, that doesn’t mean it is the path for every brand out there. His greatest line is that each brand should “set yourself apart and provide your customer with something no one else has.” He did that by offering over 500 premium brands of soda pop rarely found any other place. And from the video, you can tell he’s had fun counting his success as he continues to stick to the ultimate goal of creating something with worth to his customer and not being enticed by every shiny opportunity that comes along.

http://bubble-cast.com

Just from reviewing and trying to get the social search features activated on my personal Google and Bing searches, it seems to be a lot more complicated than most are letting on. Not only do you have to have an account for each respective engine, but on Google, you also have to submit profile information, links to your social networks, and then be logged in at the time of search. After doing all that, even searching a familiar term like “facebook” yielded no results from my networks. And before you ask, yes, the account was signed up in the Google Lab, the testing section for the feature. For a more detailed look at what Google is offering and what it is really made of, watch the video below.

http://bubble-cast.com

As explained above, these searches only pull up information from the user’s “circle of friends.” So, the doom and gloom of getting any and every negative comment about a brand seems highly unlikely. And although it can be said that a negative comment made within a customer’s social network may be more damaging than one outside, the likelihood of its occurrence diminishes quite a bit when all the filters are in place.

So, brand managers, take heart. The only thing this social search means for your brand is you had better pay attention to what’s being said about your brand online. And I know you’ve heard that one before.

Perhaps you have started a Facebook page, but your only fans are a handful of employees from the marketing department. Have you posted a video to YouTube, but the only comments are from your brother? Why?

Think about this…what would happen if you walked out into the middle of Times Square and started talking. You didn’t take anyone with you. You didn’t tell anyone you would be there. Who would care? Who would stop and talk to you? Easy. Nobody. What you start saying may be interesting, relevant and credible, yet you most likely won’t get an audience.

In some respects, online conversations are no different. If you try to start one without making a concentrated effort to tell people, most likely your efforts will fall on deaf ears. As Marsha Lindsay points out, good ole traditional media can be very useful in alerting your audience that a conversation is happening. As she points out, even for brands as universally recognized as Nike, their most successful online efforts have been introduced at least in part through traditional mass media outlets such as TV. Or, consider how your targeted direct marketing efforts can work together nicely with social media to help you engage your audience.

So once you get people to your home in your social network(s) of choice, then what? Keep the interest of your growing audience with contests, games, surveys, forums, invitations to contribute and relevant, interesting content. Listen to what they have to say to you and, more importantly, to each other. Use different types of media to keep things fresh. Give a framework for discussion, but don’t dominate the conversation. Treat your audience like people. You know, be social.

What have you found to be most successful in growing and maintaining your online communities?

Recently, an Apple fan responded to the ad with the following video. Already it has had over 100K hits and growing as it is proliferated through the net via neat little blogs like this one.

http://bubble-cast.com

And in more recent and tragic news, Microsoft’s never-ceasing quest to be as “cool” as Apple has failed again. Though surely Windows 7 does have its fine points, all anyone is really talking about is its embarrassment on that Japanese TV show. They really can’t catch a break.

http://bubble-cast.com

It’s true. Apple has it made.They are the golden child. They have loyal fans that defend them in quirky and catching ways and other companies just keep feeding the critics fodder to trash them.

Note to these corporate entities: You aren’t an Apple product. You never will be. Stop trying to convince us all you are.

Instead, why don’t you act like the grownup premium brand you are and distinguish yourselves from the pack? You’ve lost yourself and your worth inside a race to steal a group of consumers that can’t be stolen. You’ve lost the battle, and now it’s just getting sad.

So, this raises a very important question for you, the masses: why do you think these companies are so intent on comparing themselves and repeatedly coming up short, instead of marketing their brands as something with worth?

In this day and age where consumers are barraged with messaging assuring them that every brand they try is, in fact, superior, it can be hard for the consumer to trust advertising anymore. It reminds one of the classic 50s commercials about some product X, which were easily and readily believed. These days, it is much harder to break through the gimmick.

This brings us to the new trend in marketing for premium brands—transparency. Seems pretty simple, yet few brands engage in it because it is deceptively hard to come up with an actual tried and true reason why one brand is better than another. But the glorious truth is, if your brand truly does fit the definition of premium, there will be a pertinent message that makes sense and builds trust with the consumer.

Take one of Warren Douglas’s clients, Briannas Fine Salad Dressings. After years of being number one in the specialty salad dressing category, Briannas decided to hire us to share with more people what they and their loyal following love about the product. After going through our Premium Brand Process, we determined something very simple, yet true—Briannas is just plain good. Though there is more to the marketing plan than just this revelation, it is a succinct statement that rings true with everyone who tries it. Briannas doesn’t try to be anything they aren’t, but simply adhere to the new golden rule of advertising—when you tell the truth, people love you for it.

So, if you truly want to be perceived as a premium brand, make sure you aren’t peddling that gimmick, but really taking the time to get to know what it is that sets your brand apart. More importantly, have the courage to put your brand out there exactly as it is, with complete and utter transparency. Trust us, you’ll get the results you want and the credibility you need to be called “premium.”