The only thing worse than being talked about, is NOT being talked about.

Oscar Wilde said that a long time ago, but it still holds true today.

Craig is experiencing two things I've yet to. Vegas and knowledge of exactly what Word of Mouth Marketing is.

PBR or Pabst Blue Ribbon hasn't always been as popular of a beer as it is today, believe it or not. This brand was brought out of the ashes a while back by Word of Mouth Marketing. By taking the time to listen to what was being said by their audience, they created a strategy to bring themselves back to life. They didn't strive to be the biggest brewer in the country, or even be noted as one of the most favorable beers on the market. Instead they chose to appeal even more to their fans and let them help PBR grow.

The funny thing is that I've actually taken part in this phenomenon without even knowing it. In college I used to always drink micro-brews and dark beers, but that wasn't the norm in the art department. Slowly I was led to PBR and grew to love the stuff. That was the first part. Fast forward to last weekend when I went on a fishing trip with my Dad and some of his customers, the youngest being 45 years older than me. Before the trip they asked what type of beer I would like and of course I said PBR, to their dismay. By the end of the weekend, however, the whole crew was drinking my PBR, rehashing stories of drinking it way before I was born, and actually enjoying it.

I was pretty impressed that without knowing, I was participating in WOM.

+gern

Continue Reading

If you don't already know, I'm not the brains at Matchstic.  My job is to make big promises that I can't keep.  But I have all of the faith in the world in our creative team and our partners.  I told our friends at Tooth & Nail Records that we could concept and deliver a fun ecard to help promote Bebo Norman's christmas album coming out this season.  Bebo did an amazing job with all of his fun comments…he is a trip.  Click the image above to hear some good music and have fun "decking" Bebo's guitar.  

Continue Reading

Had a great time in Vegas at WOMMA. Met some great people and really learned a lot. A few of the guys in the office (we won't mention who didn't have the faith in Matchstic Red) gave me $100 to put on Matchstic Red before I left. Surely enough, as I was walking out, I put $300 down on Matchstic Red and SHE WAS A WINNER. Moral of the story: ALWAYS BET ON MATCHSTIC RED!!

Continue Reading

Another great day in Vegas. Our friends and clients, Sixthman, presented the key note this morning on how they've built an amazing event eight years running with The Rock Boat. It sells out a year in advance purely on the basis of a great experience and Word of Mouth (WOM). We are very proud to be a part of the success.

I have to say though that my favorite was Andy Sernovitz talking about how to get people talking about even the most BORING of products. The best example was this blender company which has many people talking (including myself now). They've done it with this YouTube video that has over 2.5 million views.

Continue Reading

Have you ever seen this image? Chances are you have. And if you haven't all you need to do is drive around any major city and look its everywhere. It is the main image from the Obey Giant campaign. Obey Giant is a street art campaign started by artist Shepard Fairey in 1989 while he was attending The Rhode Island School of Design. At the time Fairey declared the campaign to be "an experiment in phenomenology." Its sole purpose is to make people question their surroundings. Over time the artwork has been reused in a number of ways and has become a world-wide movement, with people printing their own stickers and posters and posting them everywhere. Essentially it is an advertising campaign advertising nothing but the campaign itself. Over the past 18 years this "fake campaign" has turned into a brand of its own, spawning a clothing line, books, etc… The Obey Giant campaign is an example of what can happen through word of mouth, viral marketing, and getting people passionate about a brand. Shepard Fairy started an experiment to make people question the ads and brands they were seeing everyday and ended up with a phenomenon.


Here are some examples of the Obey campaign in action…

Continue Reading

I'm here in at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas for the WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) convention. First day was a great one. My favorite quote is a pretty simple one and one that I heard within the first 5 minutes of the first session.

"Marketing is no longer about delivering a message. It's about starting a conversation."

Historically marketing has taught us to tell the people what to do and they will respond. Now we are all learning to respect the customer even more. It's about starting a conversation with your customer. Listening, not talking.

Continue Reading

I just saw a commercial for BP (British Petroleum) in which the whole point of the ad was to inform you that BP had spent around $95 million on solar energy development. This is your neighborhood gas station who you would think would be more interested in you buying a Hummer. I found myself thinking hmm…BP is a really great guy! He really cares about us and the earth. Then they wrapped up the commercial with the new BP logo shown here. Then it dawned on me (pun intended), this is all so very strategic. A few years ago BP got everybody together and realized that cars weren't always going to run on gas. And in fact pretty soon here people are really going to freak over going green and become suddenly enthusiastic over saving the earth. Not to mention oil independence. They decided to be ahead of the curve.

BP is strategically placing themselves in the forefront of your mind when it comes to progressive, clean, earth-friendly energy. In fact they're counting on it by spending millions on solar energy development. The first thing you do after a change of heart, you get a new face. Thus we have a new identity built around the idea of a sun or flower, accompanied with lowercase "bp" to seem more undressed. And a clever little spin on their acronym, "Beyond Petroleum". Strategy and design in perfect harmony.

Continue Reading

Your brand isn't what you say it is, it's what they say it is. Recently Apple, understood this concept and ran with it. If you have watched any tv in past few weeks you have undoubtedly seen the new commercial for the iPod Touch. What you might not know is an 18-year old UK student named Nick Haley originally made his own ad for the product for fun and then posted it to YouTube. Check his out here. Apple caught wind of it, realized how well it worked, contacted Haley, and created their own slightly modified version of the same ad which is what you have seen just about every commercial break on tv. Check it out…

Continue Reading

The best new ad campaign in years!

Snickers, recently unrolled its hilarious "Feast" Campaign. I love seeing great new ideas. I like to see the end product and think backwards all the way to the first creative meeting. Snickers has always differentiated itself from not just a candy bar, but a filling meal. Their new "Feast" campaign communicates just that, a FEAST! But to me, the cleverness isn't in the campaign title, its how they executed it. They've assembled a slew of characters associated with a Feast; such as an English King, a Viking, a Greek, and a gay Pilgrim. This plethora of historical figures create a hilariously dynamic story. Watch them all HERE. So, FEAST on this:

Continue Reading

Some products are just dull commodities right? Branding guru Marty Neumeier challenges us to think differently in his book The Brand Gap. In it he writes:

"There are no dull products, only dull brands"

Morton's Salt gets it. If you don't believe brand loyalty exists at all levels, this guy's tattoo proves otherwise.

Continue Reading