Archive for July, 2007

It takes a lot to make things new, especially in advertising. The world has never been more saturated with marketing logos, messages, images and branding. They’re on the mug that holds your morning coffee, the radio in your car, the walls of your train car and even in the pages of the restaurant menu at lunch.

As Americans become desensitized to traditional media, marketers are finding new places to capture their attention. The new frontiers of advertising are as varied as the old–from ad panels on employee uniforms to laminates on airplane tray tables–which means there are opportunities for both small startups and national brands.

Here are five of the newest places to pitch your brand, service or product.

1. Tray tables in the sky
Imagine having hours of a consumer’s rapt attention. It’s just your ad and their eyes; they can’t leave, and they can’t use their phone. They can use their computer, but that will likely bring their eyes right back to your ad.

Advertising has finally hit airplanes in a more in-your-face way than the in-flight TV programming or magazine. New York-based Brand Connections SkyMedia has already lined up contracts with America West and US Airways to put laminated ads on airline tray tables.

"This is the anti-clutter," Brian Martin, CEO of Brand Connections, says. "It’s purely captive." He says the ad space is ideal for brands with high-ticket items.

2. Employee uniforms (not your own)
Bartenders can hold a lot of sway over what people choose to drink. A talented mixologist at a trendy club suggesting an açaí berry liqueur is a powerful way to get consumers to drink acai cocktails. So imagine if the bartender’s shirt bore a giant, color-rich, graphic panel advertisement of a particular liquor or mixer.  

That’s the marketing concept behind Los Angeles-based Eye Level Marketing. The company is pitching the interchangeable shirt panels to theme parks, stadiums, shopping centers and retail stores.

3. Golf cart hubcaps
Golf club and golf clothing makers have long had the monopoly on golf course branding. Tournaments have offered opportunities for corporate exposure, but often the visibility for hole sponsors is minimal at best.

Enter Static Media Group and its non-rotating golf cart hubcaps. The Woodstock, Georgia-based firm launched the concept in Atlanta in November.

"It’s going very well," says Neil Johnson, director of sales. The company is expecting to launch in six markets, from Southern California to Tampa Bay, within the next three months, Johnson adds. The concept is appropriate for any company targeting high-end consumers, from beverage companies to mortgage lenders.

An executive playing at a recent golf tournament told Johnson, "You know, I can’t tell you who a single hole sponsor was, but I can tell you who was riding along on the wheels."

4. On your shirttails
Most companies have ponied up for T-shirts that feature their name and logo, whether for employees to wear at promotional events or as handouts to customers.

But aside from a company’s name, the shirts don’t offer much additional information. Montoloking, N.J.-based Telme Clothing, however, has been helping companies get a more personal message across to customers.

The company sells customized tees bearing the traditional full-front or left-chest logo, but it adds an unexpected twist on the inside back bottom of the shirt. There, a company can include several paragraphs of its mission statement or all of its contact information.

Owner and President Kevin Shane says Telme’s main market is in promotional shirts for companies, and they’re a hit with smaller firms. "We don’t have minimums," Shane says. "We don’t like to turn any business away."

5. Around town
Keep an eye out for advertising opportunities on the municipal vehicles, city-owned buildings or recycling bins in your area. More municipalities are considering ways to boost revenue without hitting up taxpayers and are seeing advertising opportunities on local infrastructure.

Allentown, Pennsylvania, for example, is exploring ways to raise revenue by selling municipal marketing space. And the police cars in Toledo, Ohio, will soon host the logos and phone numbers of sponsors. The ad sponsorships are the city council’s solution to a deteriorating fleet.

Every brand is different. The point of branding is to distinguish you from the competition. Just about every good brand meets the following criteria. Look at these criteria as you develop a brand from the ground up, or test your existing brand against them.

1. Targeted
Your brand must start by being appropriate to your market and product. Microsoft is a great brand, but if you were marketing to kids and mothers, you wouldn’t want to emulate Microsoft.
Every great brand you can think of clearly communicates who the audience is: Apple nonconformists; Nordstrom upper class, by wealth or tastes; Toys”R”Us annoying, but obviously kids, kids, kids.
I recently worked with a company to develop a logo and brand strategy for an electronics engineering resource site. The company had started with an idea for fun and hip. But the more we worked from that angle, the farther we got from the audience. Engineering tools just are not fun or hip. We ended up doing an about-face, and defined a brand that was clean, efficient, simple, and bright.

2. Clear
What’s the message? From the logo to the collateral, are you communicating an instantly comprehensible message? Look again at the example of Toys”R”Us. You can instantly recognize the message: kid-oriented and kids only, fun, everything a kid could want.
Test your own messaging. Show several of your marketing pieces (ads, collateral, business cards) to a total stranger. Do they describe the company traits the same way you would?

3. Meaningful
The message about your company must be meaningful. If you base your image on excellent service, you must deliver on that promise. If the customer’s experience doesn’t match his or her expectations, the image will become negative. You will lose the customer’s trust, which is a very serious problem that is difficult to fix.
List the strengths of your company. Does this match your brand? List the weaknesses. Are you trying to use image and branding to deny or rectify any of these weaknesses? The brand should talk about what’s great about your company. It should then become a mission statement unto itself.

4. Consistent
You have established a clear, meaningful message. Now repeat. Don’t change the message; and communicate it consistently through everything.
My favorite aspect of the Nordstrom brand is that they use their message perfectly. Look at the catalogs, the ads, the retail space, the merchandise, the Web site: The message is perfectly consistent across media, across targets. They may market to kids, to teens, to women, to men, to mall shoppers, to Web shoppers, but they never stray from the core image of quality and service.
Look at your advertising, collateral, communications, and environments. Are you consistent, or does your message waver? Note that the more often you change your message, logo, and branding, the harder it is to apply.
One of my clients had a tough time deciding on a message, and kept tinkering. This left the client with outdated collateral, ads, press releases, and Web sites that did not communicate a consistent message. Consistency means both consistent application of the message, and longevity.

5. Recognizable
Crafting a message is an important process. But once you have that done, the tough part begins: getting the message out there. This is the Zen of branding. If a brand is good but no one knows about it, is it really a good brand?
Good branding can work to establish recognition if you target it to customers, then consistently repeat it until they memorize it. So start that repetition in advertising, press releases, and collateral. Consistency, clarity, and repetition build recognition, the real brass ring of all branding.

6. Actionable
The point of branding and gaining recognition is to drive action. The action should be built into the message: “We are the fastest and cheapest (so buy from us).” “Trust our service: we’ve been in the news industry for 30 years (so visit us regularly).” “We are cool enough and serious enough for competitive athletes (so you should buy our shoes, too).”
The brand we developed for the electronics industry site communicated this concept: “Our service will help you be more productive, more organized, and more informed.” This message revolves around the users’ self-interest.
In other words, does the customer care about what you’re saying? It may be a great message, but the whole point is to motivate sales. Does it do this?