Branding is Everywhere

Branding is everywhere. Check it out:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2007-07-26-burger-chips_N.htm?csp=34






















Yum - I wonder if they'll be available for sale at Burger Kings near me? I might be heading to the BK here in Annapolis, Maryland to check it out. It has to be the lesser of two evils, right? Right???

Cool package design, too!

Garret

MORE Viral Marketing for The Simpsons Movie

Hi all -

By now, most of you have heard that The Simpsons are coming out with a new movie very soon. I say that because it's one of the best marketed movies that I've seen in recent memory. Everywhere you look, there's The Simpsons. You all read my post recently about how a number of 7-11 stores, including one in Maryland had turned into The Simpsons Kwik-e-Marts. If you haven't go HERE. Then, shortly after that, I saw huge banner ads taking over Myspace.com promoting the movie. Then, I went to see a flic at Muvico, and saw a ginormous Simpsons donut in the theater.

Now, I received an email from one of my friends that directed me to the www.simpsonizeme.com Micro site. This thing is awesome. It lets you upload a picture of yourself and in a few minutes it spits back an image of your likeness, animated to look like a Simpsons character.

Now that's brandertainment! Here's how my picture turned out:





















Pretty sweet, huh? ; )

SWEET!

I thought it might be a good idea to pass along Ad Age's latest poll to try and get more consumers to respond. You know how we love market research.... Here you go: BACKGROUND: Eleven major food marketers have now pledged to curb or eliminate marketing aimed at children. Among the promises: Coca-Cola and Hershey won't aim advertising at kids younger than 12. Mars/Masterfoods won't advertise any of its candies to kids but might at some point advertise its better-for-you snacks. PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, Kellogg, General Mills, McDonald's, Unilever and Campbell Soup will limit all their marketing of food to children younger than 12 to more healthy foods. Yet past attempts at better-for-you offerings haven't flown off the shelves.









THIS WEEK'S POLL QUESTION: If food marketers follow through on their promise to shift ad dollars to support more-healthful options, will there be a corresponding uptick in sales? VOTE & COMMENT for possible publication in next week's 'Advertising Age' at http://adage.com/poll?poll_id=79

Boomers Unload Their Stuff Online

Hi all -

Read this from the Center for Media Research earlier today and thought I'd post it. Good consumer research on baby boomers....

Previous White Collar Boomers Dominate Used Bookselling Online

According to an extensive poll of used booksellers in the U.S. by AbeBooks.com, it is the ‘Baby Boomer' generation who are committed to extending used bookselling businesses deeper into cyberspace, the world's largest online marketplace for new, used, rare and out-of-print books.

Online bookselling has only existed since the mid-1990s, says the report, and the research shows how the profession appeals to entrepreneurial "Silver Surfers." The poll also says that long working hours and knowledge of technology are key aspects of the job.

Key findings include:

• 79% of Online booksellers are aged over 45 - more than half have a degree or a higher qualification
• Most sellers had left white-collar careers to become booksellers. The most common previous professions were jobs in teaching, libraries, sales, and m anagement
• 11% work between 51 and 60 hours per week, and 9% are working more than 60 hours a week with the online cataloging of books being the most time-consuming task
• 25% will increase their online book inventory by between 10% and 25% in 2007
• 21% plan to launch their own e-commerce website
• Sellers acquire books through a large number of sources, many of which require time on the road, including library sales, estate sales, private sales, and auctions. 26% had traveled up to 100 miles to buy a book and 9% had gone abroad to buy books
• Many sellers also sell through other online marketplaces and 74% had set up their Internet selling operation without outside IT assistance
• 60% of sellers polled operate purely online. The others had bookstores or showrooms
• 64% of the sellers offer mostly out-of-print books and most specialize in a number of genres. History, fiction and children's books are the most common
• 68% list falling book prices as their biggest fear for the future but 38% are also concerned that fewer young people are reading books now
• Despite their long working hours, 33% read between five and 10 books per month

Hannes Blum, CEO of AbeBooks.com, says "...this profession... requires dedication to build up an online inventory of books and considerable effort to find books ideal for the Internet. ... (More than 8,000 booksellers from the US currently)... offer over 100 million books through AbeBooks that could expand to 120 million by the end of 2008..."

Find more about this study here.

Are You Listening, Electronics Retailers?

From The Center for Media Research....very good article, and interesting information. We don't currently have any electronics retailer customers, but I'm working on that!

Consumers Spend More on Electronics if Studied First on Web

According to new research from Yahoo! and ChannelForce, consumers who search online for televisions and digital cameras spend ten percent more when making their purchase in-store than those who did not use a search engine. The survey also found that a vast majority research products online prior to making in-store purchases, and that online research is helping consumers make key purchasing decisions before they enter a store.

Key findings include:

• Seventy five percent who researched their purchases before visiting a retail location used the Internet as their primary source of information. The leading online resources were retail Web sites (73 percent), manufacturer websites (68 percent) and search engines (49 percent).
• Those who search spend an average of $31 more on digital cameras and $46 more on digital camera packages; and an average of $139 more on TVs and $190 on TV packages.
• More than 80 percent of consumers who research before making a purchase end up buying a brand from their original consideration set. The remaining 20 percent said the in-store sales person was highly influential in their decision.
• About 75 percent of people did not know the model they wanted when they walked into a retail store.

David Rubinstein, senior director, Yahoo! Search Marketing, says "This study confirms and quantifies that a more informed consumer is a more valuable consumer... "

Kurt Higgins, president, ChannelForce, noted "... the brand experience begins well before the shopper walks into the store, and this study confirms how critical the in-store experience is to the consumer's decision..."

Carbon Neutral Printing

I just wanted to give a quick "shout out" to one of the printers that we call on regularly, Mosaic.








I just got a note from them in the mail that they are now CARBON NEUTRAL. This is a huge step forward in printing, and they deserve some recognition for their efforts. What does Carbon Neutral mean, you ask? It means that they do their part to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions to the point where they are eliminating as much as they are producing.

Through use of wind power, participation with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), reforestation programs, waterless printing and solvent and materials recycling, they have become one of the most environmentally friendly printers in the country. That's a big accomplishment. Oh, and for those that don't think an environmentally conscious printer is important, consider this - in printing the note they sent me and their other customers in the mail, their environmentally friendly methods saved the following resources:

6 trees
18 lbs of water-born waste not created
2,589 gallons wastewater flow saved
287 lbs solid waste not generated
564 lbs net greenhouse gases prevented
4,318,000 BTUs of energy not consumed
293 lbs air emissions not generated
697 cubic feet natural gas unused

All this is the equivalent to planting 20 trees or not driving 318 miles....



















We're proud to work with Mosaic to print our clients' marketing materials, and we look forward to doing so for a long time to come. If you're interested in doing business with Mosaic, please call Tim Keagy at 301-927-3800 or email him TKEAGY at mosaicprint.com.

Here's their Web site: www.mosaicprint.com

Garret

Seniors Get Wired

Here's a good article from today's Baltimore Sun - Christina found it online at www.baltimoresun.com. This article discusses technology use among people above 65 years old. For quite some time, many companies have been reluctant to pursue this group of people with new technologies such as the Internet and mobile devices. This article suggests that increasingly, seniors are jumping on board and consuming technology like their younger counterparts.

Check it out: http://www.baltimoresun.com/technology/bal-te.ha.seniors02jul02,0,5143046.story?coll=bal-technology-headlines

I wonder how many of the people lined up to buy the iPhone were over 65?

Garret

Reverse Product Placement

Hi all - It's been a while - sorry about that. I know you all missed my musings, so here's one for you, and no it's not an iPhone blog. This story is very near and dear to my heart, because it involves one of my favorite televisions shows...ever. Now we're all familiar with product placement - and if you're not, and want to read more, read the blogs I wrote about it here.

But you've probably never heard of reverse product placement, which is something that has been brought to the forefront lately because of this story: http://wjz.com/topstories/topstories_story_183095840.html The Simpsons' new movie will be coming out in theaters around the country soon, and in preparation and to build the buzz, the movie company has struck a deal with 7-11 stores around the country to turn select stores into Kwik-e-marts (even one here in Maryland). Not only is it a great, fun idea, but it turns out it was funded entirely by the 7-11 chain, and didn't really even cost them anything, because they made profit on the Simpsons branded items in-store. Here's a picture of one of the stores:
















Great move! Reverse product placement - it's here, and you'll be seeing more of it.

Garret