Marobella's Branding SoapBox

Hawk Rising From The Ashes: Reviving The Chicago Blackhawks Brand

About 4-years ago, I was having dinner with a friend of substantial means and connections. In addition, he has deep ties into the NHL and been around the league for the past decade. The topic of our discussion was revolving around his possible joint bid to buy the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, which at the time were for sale. I had been living in Chicago for a few years, at that point. Coming from another original six city, Boston, I understood the unique passion those fans could have for their teams. (We’ll cover the Bruins some other time.)

Our conversation shifted from talking about the Ducks to the Blackhawks. I proposed to him that the Blackhawks would be the biggest lay-up to create additional value once the team was wrested from Bill Wirtz. If he would sell it, the upside would be incredible, depending on how low he could buy the franchise. My rationale was that the brand was tarnished and becoming less relevant in a City with a deep heritage of sports. The value of the team was latent and buried in the mud because of the way the customers (fans) were treated for the past decades. It was amazing to witness the neglect and lack of empathy that Bill Wirtz was bestowing on the people that truly ‘owned the brand’, the fans. The stories I heard from native Chicagoans about the Hawks always started with ‘back in the day’ or involved the old Chicago Stadium. For such a successful businessman, I was shocked that Mr. Wirtz didn’t understand the value he was sitting on with this brand.

Then, Mr. Wirtz passed on and his son Rocky took over the team. When that happened it was incredible to see the disdain that the Chicago fan base had for Mr. Wirtz, hearing comments like “Good, now hockey can come back to Chicago.” I mean, this man just passed on and left behind a family – I never wish that on anyone. I had imagined that his son was torn that he had just lost his Father, but now he could implement all of the changes he had been thinking about as he was in the background while his Dad was alive.

Rokcy made a couple of quick moves that I’ve always thought were in the works for years, just waiting for the right time – he hired John McDonough from the Chicago Cubs marketing fame and named him team President. He understood that the Blackhawks had a brand-issue and having someone at the helm that understood how to re-build a brand was critical. From there, they started to implement their strategy at breakneck speed.

Here is how I deduce the strategy the Blackhawks put forth and have been implementing for the past 24-months:

Fan-Driven Product Design: Watch any Blackhawks game and you will most likely see Rocky Wirtz walking around the United Center engaging with fans, signing autographs and taking the time to talk to his most important constituent, the fans. He truly puts the fans at the top of the organizational chart. He does what the best brands in the world do on a daily basis, listen. He knew he needed to field a competitive team that gave fans ‘hope’ for the near and long term. And, the #1 complaint I am sure he heard was put the Hawks on TV. Even people can’t make more than a few games a year whether for monetary or time-starved reasons. Let us watch our beloved team on our time. That was a no-brainer.

Develop a Long-Term Strategy For Brand Growth

Very few teams can survive if they don’t field a competitive team, however their sister-team to the north, The Cubs, have survived just fine thank-you-very-much. But, for the most part winning cures all that ails. Instead of going out and getting high-priced veterans on the downswing of their careers, they acquired and farmed young, charismatic players like Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Cristobal Huet anchored by winner-veterans like Nikolai Habibulin and Duncan Keith. They also made a quick decision about their coach and brought in a more experienced Quenville, but did not push away the Hawk legend that was the coach, Savard – they asked him to be a part of the team as an ambassador.

Give The Brand It’s Voice

For me, the voice that I associate with my favorite team, The Boston Red Sox, is Jerry Remy. Forever, I will think that the Rem Dawg is the voice of the Red Sox. The voice of any team is the auditory, almost Pavlovian trigger that fans expect when they hear or watch their team. The Chicago Blackhawks had lost their voice years ago when Pat Foley left Chicago. Mr. Wirtz knew that bringing him back would be a signal to Chicago fans that the ‘good ol’ days’ were on their way back. The fans went crazy when Pat came back. Still to this day, people swoon over this guy. Brilliant move to give the brand its voice back.  And, Rocky mended fences with former Blackhawks greats Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Tony Esposito in essence naming them  brand ambassadors.

Brand Awareness & Brand Understanding

Often, I hear people refer to the resurgence of the Blackhawks due to the their new ‘marketing campaign.’ Well, I think that is partially true, but only part of the story. The Blackhawks issued an RFP for a new agency almost immediately after Mr. McDonough took the reins to bring clarity to the Blackhawks brand position, promise and story. After the review, their new agency was selected, Ogilvy & Mather (bit of a surprise they went with a big shop) and they went to work. There were a variety of paths they could have taken with regard to the brand, the most obvious would be pulling on the brand’s heritage – much like the Chicago Bears had done this past season. But, they landed in a place that aligned the fans’ hopes, dreams and desires with that of the players and team. The insight was probably somewhere in the neighborhood of “Every person that loves the Blackhawk jersey shares a series of hopes and dreams and it has been long enough, it is time to awaken that latent passion.” Their new, deceptively simple ad campaign of “One Goal” did just that – it allowed the fans, players and team to share their individual and collective goals on a variety of platforms – whether at the game, on TV, on the web, through Twitter or wherever. The TV spots are a simple execution of a microphone standing alone on the ice of the United Center, almost metaphorical in that it has been there all along. Then, the players skate to the mic and share their Goal. Most are humorous and have a twist, which starts to build the brand’s personality of humility and not taking themselves too seriously, something I believe is highly-intentional based on the years of navel-gazing from the team.

 

Create Fans For Life 

Something I never understood from the perspective of customer-development and lifetime value, was the decision to not air the games on local TV. Certainly the theory is not hard to grasp, that if people can watch it on TV, they won’t fill the seats. Boy, that is a short-sighted perspective. The lifeblood of any team is the youth in the market. The kids that wear your jerseys to school, beg their parents to take them to a game and buy them all of the licensed merchandise for their bedrooms. The simple question was that how can a kid get passionate about the brand if he doesn’t know what to get passionate about? Putting the games on TV is like one long commercial for the team. It takes time to get to know each player and their playing styles, personalities and skills. Kids want to have favorite players. And since they don’t watch the evening news, the kids on the fringe of being a hockey fan, didn’t get that chance. The bigger issue is that they will grow up. They will have disposable income and they will not have a passion for the Blackhawks. Creating fans for life is a critical long-term strategy that MUST be in place for a brand to survive. Just sit in any CPG strategy meeting and you will inevitably hear about spinning the brand messaging to attract a younger demographic to ensure the brand stays relevant. Incredible that the team did not understand this. Now, you see kids everywhere wearing Hawks hats and jerseys. The team even did a TV execution where Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews surprised some young hockey players at their practice and played with them. The little things, people, it’s the little things.

 

Create Powerful Customer Experiences

Fielding a great team and having them win isn’t enough. People want and will pay a premium for excellent experiences, even in the recession. Mr. Wirtz understands that people want to ‘experience’ the brand, not just go to a game. So, he and Mr. McDonough devised some big and small experiences that brought the brand to life. The biggest so far being the 2009 Winter Classic at Wrigley Field against the arch-enemy, Detroit Red Wings. This became a must-have ticket, not only in Chicago, but for NHL fans around the US. I’d say that the energy level, passion and brand love in that building was like nothing I had ever experienced, before. It was absolutely incredible and ridiculously cold. Not only did people pay thousands for seat, but braved twenty-degree temps to watch a hockey game outside. Amazing. I would have given anything to be a player on that day. Some smaller elements of experience that has been added to the team are things like the “Ice Girls” Certainly, I am a male and appreciate the Ice Girls every time they come on the ice to clean the snow, I look forward to seeing them when I am at a game or on TV. It brings another entertainment element to the team, albeit mostly male-driven. Other parts of the experience include the Ketel One Club, The Budweiser Carvery & Pub, the better designed-team merchandise, deeper online experiences, including Twitter and more.

The results? Here are some figures to show the value he’s created in a short 18-months: Before Rocky took over the team, The Blackhawks had but 3,500 season-ticket holders. They had the second-lowest attendance in the league. One week into the 2007-08 season, the team was in danger of failing to make payroll and needed a $34 million loan from the Wirtz Corp. to help it stay afloat. The on-ice product wasn't much better, finishing fifth in the NHL's Central Division. Then, in early April 2009, the team set a single-season record for attendance. The average of 21,783 fans that poured through the turnstiles each night led the entire NHL. And Thursday night, the on-ice product confirmed its revival, as well, defeating the Calgary Flames 3-2 in overtime in the franchise's first Stanley Cup playoff game in seven seasons.

Social Media In Sports: The Athlete

Social Media In Sports: The Athlete

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Free Promotion For LoJack: Update

 A few week ago, I wrote about my laptop getting jacked here in Chicago. The premise of my post was that I wish I'd known about LoJack for laptops before it was taken. That I'd wished that I'd (or our IT guys) had seen a promotion from LoJack putting the fear of god into us. Well, it took me losing a machine to have that fear. Now I have Time Machine set up, double-backing on an external etc. All that will save data, but the price to pay to recover a machine and bring those to justice is worthwhile.

A few days ago, I received an email from Mr. Stephen Midgley, Director of Global Marketing for Absolute Software, their Computrace technology is the secret behind LoJack For Laptops.  Mr. Midgley offered to send me a free standard copy of his software to test-run and to protect my new MacBook. I wanted to publicly thank Mr. Midgley and tell the world about this amazing technology. I know each of you are caressing your laptop wondering what would happen if your precious baby was ripped from your arms like sucker from a baby, but I digress.

He was monitoring the social-sphere and saw that I wrote about his technology and reached out to me. I appreciate it and have spoken with one of our IT procurement leads and they will be discussing the technology for installation on Wirestone machines this coming week.

Thanks again Stephen. I thank you for your product and I hope that I never have to use it.

Awesome Retail Creative: Old Navy Supermodelquins

Having spent a good part of my career developing creative strategies for retailers, I am always in awe of how Old Navy continues to reinvent a boring, staid marketing category. They aren't afraid to take risks, maintain an integrated brand personality and have genius promotions. Today's retail promotion and activation campaign take that creativity to new levels. I love the supermodelquins for a couple of reasons. 

1. I've never seen it done before. They aren't normal, boring mannequins. They seem like the type of mannequins that you'd see in those old nuclear testing videos that were inside of the houses when the government was testing the A-bomb in Nevada. They seem like their normal models, just calcified. 

2. No model fees. With these mannequins there are no model fees, royalties or usage fees. In this economy, this is a brilliant way to cut costs. 

3. They create a magazine-type format rather than just a boring preprint. Hold this preprint up to a Sears or Kohls preprint and the delta in creativity will astonish you. They also created a multimedia video of the mannequins in an in-store environment doing crazy things. Good, but not great. 

Couple of thoughts that could make this campaign even better. 

1. Allow kids to share not just the entire site, but each piece of clothing on the promotional website. Tweens, especially girls, seek their friends' approval and being able to post this to their social profile or SMS a jpeg would go a long way in helping to move the product. Also, it can give the brand some sense of the hottest products so when merchandising future issues of the preprint, they can allocate the space to the hottest product. 

2. Create Supermodelquin avatars and take beyond the Old Navy properties - the video is a valiant attempt at creating a fun, engaging video. I imagine that the creative team could think of a million viral ways to show these mannequins that would create a momentum effect in sharing the videos around the social web. 

3. Allow people to customize their supermodelquins creating an engagement model - whether dragging and dropping clothes onto mannequins of their choice, uploading their face onto a mannequin or any other personalization feature. Then, allow them to share it with the world. 

Great job, Old Navy. Your creative today has activated my wife to visit your store for your one-day sale, today. However, her exact words were "Old Navy is going to be a zoo, today."

My Car Buying Experience (So Far)

The lease on my car is coming due in less than a month. So, I am on the hunt weighing my options, crunching numbers, going to consumerreports.org, visiting dealerships and narrowing in on a couple directions I could take.

With all of the depressing news about the economy, especially as it relates to the auto-industry, you’d think that the consumer would be in the driver’s seat. I am here to tell you that that has not been my experience in the past few weeks.

Like I said on Twitter the other night, I can’t tell if their behavior is out of denial of their status of their industry or a calculating take-away sale strategy!? I’ve gone to 3 dealerships that all had the make, year and model I was searching for. I did my homework, when to the dealership, appeared non-chalant and disengaged in the model pointing out things it had or didn’t have that I wanted. I do my best at appearing as if I could care less.

So, the cliché question from the dealer comes:

“What do I have to do to make a deal with you, today?”

Deal being the operative word, here.

My answer is always the same, “I’m not going to buy today, I am going to 2 other dealerships today to look at the same car.”

He says, “ How are their prices compared to my car.”

I say, “Around the same, but they have better/different equipment and they seem hungry to move the car.”

He says, “Let me get some information from you.”

I say, “OK.”

Mr. Dealer says, “Where do want your payment to be?”

I say, “As low as possible based on the best possible price for the car.”

He says, “Make me an offer.” (let’s say theoretically the car is listed at $20k.)

I say, “Alright, based on my research and inventory in the area, I offer you $17k)

He says, “Would you buy today if we can make a deal?”

I say, “If I consider it a deal, yes.”

After walking around his dealership and pretending to talk to someone, he says, “ I priced this car to move already and $20k is my bottom price.”

I get up and say, “Here is my phone number call me if you want to make a deal.”

This dialogue has happened 3x at 3 different dealerships. Either I am doing something wrong or these guys are bumbling idiots. I give subtle buy signs, I listen and make the first offer and they don’t move. Out of principle, even if the price is right, I will not buy the car if I do not feel like I ‘made a deal.’

And each of them gives me the spiel about how long they’ve been in the business, why their car badge is better than the big 3 and why they aren’t in trouble. Ah, really? I just saw that your badge laid off 10k people globally yesterday. Wow. And those so-called upscale used car showrooms, these guys are probably doing alright based on the swing to used cars – but you have a worthy buyer with a checkbook in his pocket sitting in your seat and you give ME the attitude – you guys are getting it.

I am all for a businessman making a fair profit, but do car dealers have to play into the stereotype? I mean, come on. If there was ever a time to make a concerted effort to break the chains of a buying experience that ranks down there with going to the dentist, that time is now.

Onward to the next dealership. 

25 Ways I’m Going To Survive The Recession

 This began as a note/letter to myself on all of the ways I will stay grounded, stay positive and ultimately thrive during these uncertain times. It serves as a daily reminder of my game plan to come through this recession, depression or any other economic era ending in an
–ession better than when it began. I thought I would share it with the world and try to touch people to help them stay positive and together, our collective energy might influence a quicker turnaround.

1.    Immerse Into My Family – I’ve been blessed with a beautiful, loyal and caring wife that is the glue of our family. She has given us 2 precious little girls that remind me everyday that laughing, playing and being creative is the key to happiness. Each day, no matter what, I will shut down and spend time with my family – whether it means watching Star Wars for the 100th time with Ava, teaching Maya how to color in the lines or just hold my wife in those rare quiet moments, I will make it happen.

2.    Avoid Negativity – One way is by reading and/or watching as little news as possible. There is a fine line between staying informed and obsessing over the headlines. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy to only read the negative headlines. I will seek out the positive headlines in the news and read those first, whether a Red Sox win or about a good deed somebody did. I will also avoid consistently negative people as I feel them sucking the positive energy out of me and I can get caught up in their cycle.

3.    Call My Mom & Dad – My Mom & Dad are great people. They provided a great childhood for us and did the best they could to give us more than they had. To this day, they would sacrifice anything for my brother and I. I don’t talk to them enough.

4.    Simplify – Over the years, I’ve collected so much stuff. I’ve found freecycle.org and have started giving things away that I don’t need anymore. People want it more than me, so why have it take up space in my house? Every time I give something away, I feel a little lighter and less burdened. This will also apply to unnecessary bills, subscriptions or expenses. I plan on reducing the line items in my budget.

5.    Do More For Others – Seems counterintuitive in times like these, but I have been more focused than ever in helping others. This goes beyond money and into areas of trying to help people find a job, give them advice on careers, donate valuable items for other’s benefit.

6.    Watch More Comedy – I find that when I laugh, I forget everything. When I don’t laugh enough, I am grumpy. So, whether that means watching more 30 Rock episodes on NetFlix or seeing a funny movie rather than a shoot ‘em up action flick, I intend to shed more tears of laughter.

7.    Be An Eternal Beginner – At the start of this year, I made a resolution to try new things this year, not necessarily master them, but feel like what it means to be a beginner. So, I started playing hockey, a sport I’ve had a lifelong passion for. It has been a great workout, but more importantly a humbling experience every time I fall on my ass. I also plan on starting up my guitar lessons, probably through the new Garageband in iLife ’09.

8.    Defend Against Mediocrity – Accepting mediocre ideas will not be acceptable. While this can result in making fewer friends, it is the right thing to do for the company, our clients and our people – it makes everyone better.

9.    Live In The Moment – Sounds cliché, but I feel like I can’t remember things sometimes because I wasn’t living in the moment in the past. I was probably thinking about something else or worrying about the future. I will work harder to breathe in the moment, try to be lucid and breathe it in – even if it isn’t a happy moment. There is a learning experience in there somewhere.

10.    Tend To My Health – The strong survive and I’ve been putting off areas of my health that need to be addressed. Effective immediately, I am going to sharpen the saw and make sure I am as fit as can be for the long battle ahead.

11.    Be A Student Of History – One thought I continually have is that while people like to say that we’ve never seen anything like this before, that arrogance amuses me. We’ve been through Civil Wars, Revolutions, The Great Depression etc. People forget that we are a resilient people and we’ve survived this before and will do it again. My grandparents lived through the Great Depression and thrived after they survived. They died happy and lived a very fulfilling life. Sure, times were hard and they lived hand to mouth, but they survived. I find energy in those stories.

12.    Faith In Myself – The fact is, I’ve worked, lived and survived through 2-recessions in my career including 1991 and 2001. I’ve always made the right decisions, managed my skills and career the best way I could and know that I have the skills, the resolve and drive to survive anything. Nobody can take away your belief in yourself no matter how hard they might try.

13.    Faith In My Team – Around me are people that are smarter than me. I will continue to believe in them and together we will come through this era stronger, smarter and better off for the future.

14.    Appreciate What I Have – Knowing that going out and buying unnecessary items isn’t in the cards right now, I intend on reclaiming the joy I once felt for the possessions I purchased at one time. As I sift through what I want to keep as I simplify (see #2), I will appreciate what I have – whether my home, sunglasses, watches, clothes or whatever – It’ll do just fine.

15.    Read More – While the web, my Google Reader account and reading on my iPhone has taken away from my analog book reading, I will get back to sitting in my brown leather club chair with a drink on the side table, a light over my shoulder and read. Some people meditate, I read.

16.    Music – I have a passion for music – whether bumpin’ to Biggie Smalls or throwing up devil horns to Metallica, a proper song makes me happy.  I will listen to more of it whenever possible.

17.    See My Friends More – When I moved to Chicago, I have made some great friends. But, my posse, my blood brothers are back in Boston. We all have young families now and are happily tied up in all that comes with that, (see #1) but we must find time for an annual trip to the Superbowl, Golf or to Vegas.

18.    Spend More Time @ The Ocean – Both my wife and I have a passion for the ocean. We love Mexico and S. Florida and don’t get there enough. When it is 5 degrees in Chicago, especially. We are happier when we are tan and are able to enjoy a drink on the beach.

19.    Find Opportunity In Crisis – Projecting 5-years from now, I am confident that if I don’t buy a property at the crater, invest more in my daughters’ 529 or buy the right stocks now, I will regret it. The people that had the gumption to buy at the lows in the early 90’s or 2001 created wealth for themselves. People get rich when they buy, not when they sell.

20.    Have More BBQ’s – We built a nice patio and gazebo in our backyard last Summer. I don’t think we used it enough and this coming Summer, I intend on spending more time out there with my friends and family. Maybe some nice outdoor speakers (see #15) will help?!

21.    Get That Tattoo – There is a tattoo that I’ve been putting off getting that is a tribute to my grandfather Marobella. He had an Iron Cross on his right forearm that had a wreath hanging from it. He got it when he was in the military during the 30’s. He once told me it was the biggest mistake he’d ever made. I guess that didn’t sink in for me. It was a tribute to his Mom and helped him survive through the Great Depression.

22.    Start More Traditions – Breakfast for dinner, Star Wars, Summer trips to Cape Cod, Winter trips to the Dells and more. Stay focused on creating traditions for our family and help our children create some incredible memories.

23.    Re-Build Broken Bridges – Over the years, there have been some people that I was once close to but for some reason have lost touch. They’ve been important in shaping the person I am, today.  I will be the person that reaches out and tries to re-connect.

24.    Don’t Give Up Life’s Small Luxuries – A proper haircut, a well-fitting t-shirt, decent cufflinks, a Starbucks coffee, nice shoes, Burt’s Bees lip balm or a slick tie. In moderation, they don’t cost all that much and they make me feel better, more confident and just plain happier.

25.    Don’t Give Up – No matter what, I won’t stop. I will not be outworked, outsmarted or outflanked. I might lose some battles, but I will not lose the war. And, this is all because of #’s 1-24.

Free Promotion For LoJack

This week, I learned the hard way. My nearly-new MacBook Pro 17" was stolen along with the rest of the items in my backpack from the trunk of my car. The irony is that I always put it in my trunk so that it can't be spotted from the street or anywhere else. I had a client in town and my car was covered with salt, dirt and other stuff from a Chicago-winter, so I went to one of the "nicest" car washes in Chicago, Gold Coast Car Wash, and had my car washed inside and out. I took my eye off of my car for a few minutes to read the paper while I waited and that was enough time. Once I got back to the office, I opened my trunk to get the pack and it was gone. Uh oh, my stomach sank. I thought long and hard about where it could be. Did I leave it at home? Did I forget to put it in my trunk? The only explanation was that it was clipped from my trunk when they were drying the inside of my bumper. I found out later that my iPhone charger and a pair of sunglasses were also stolen. Well, that's enough of me whining.

The moral of the story is this: If I had known about LoJack For Laptops I would have had it. In fact, marketing that service to IT directors in companies like Wirestone should be a boondoggle for LoJack. It is short money for an insurance policy that at least gives you some options. All I've been able to do is go back to the car wash and listen to some bullshit from the manager. We've also called pawn shops etc. But, if we had LoJack For Laptops, we could nail the culprit red handed and I would have my precious information back. 

LoJack, if you're reading this, call me.

Maintain Your Brand's Reputation In The Recession

Desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures. We are human, after all and tend to get caught up in the newspaper headlines, lead stories on MSNBC, the content of the new President's speech and all of the water cooler talk. Sometimes this paranoia and fear trickles up to the executives in America's corporations, permeates the board meetings and finds it way into marketing strategies.

Via The Consumerist comes the case of a brand that is working hard to maintain their customer base in this era of uncertainty. Insurance and benefit companies have an indirect relationship with their group-based consumers. It can be a complicated situation as the group controls the business relationship, but the consumer is the closest to the benefits and services of the provider. When corporations decide to trim staff, people have the option of choosing COBRA, gambling with no health insurance or joining an individual plan. From the provider's perspective, losing a "subscriber" is not a good thing, it provides the company with a smaller consumer-pool with which to spread the risk. In simpler terms, healthy people pay for the sick people. So, when a company lays off people, the health care company could try and retain them into an individual plan.

So, when Aetna sent this letter to their subscribers, they probably had best intentions of pre-empting a possible layoff at their subscriber's corporation to try and keep them as a customer, one way or another. The issue with it is that they played the "fear-card" and clearly created one pissed-off potential current and future customer. A strategy like this raises more questions than answers and can wreak havoc not only for the consumer, but for the HR and benefits people. And, they are not to be messed with since they control whether or not they go out to bid when the program comes up for renewal.

If I were a fly on the wall in the strategy session where this marketing scheme was hatched, I'd bet that they discussion revolved around a strategy pillar such as, "We need to strenghten the relationship directly with our consumers and let them know we are there for them.""Let's make them feel better about having Aetna as their health insurance provider and put their mind at ease if they lose their job." Unfortunately, I imagine that the spirit of the compassion and sound strategy got lost in legal-translation and watered down by layers of marketing approvals. I would think that there are many marketing fingerprints on this letter and somewhere along the line, someone said let's be more aggressive and play into people's fears. Probably someone with a parking spot.

The learning here is that this downturn will end. And when it does, people will remember the brands that were authentically compassionate and altered their pricing and product strategies to help people get through the hard times. Like the Hyundai Assurance Program where people can walk away from their loan or lease without worrying about negative equity after qualifying. I must admit, I've even thought about looking at Hyundai after hearing about this promotion. It's pure genius, communicated with a genuine tone of caring and compassion. This is the way to market to your consumers that you understand times are tough and you'll be there for them.

5 Ideas For Breaking Into Advertising During The Recession

I graduated from school during the recession of '91-'92 and probably had the same feeling in my gut that many of the recent or upcoming college graduates are having about getting their first job in advertising or marketing. I kept thinking that nobody would take a look at me until I had experience, but how was I supposed to get the experience? It seemed like a chicken and egg situation. While people are losing their jobs in the advertising & marketing sector, there are still ways to gain that important experience and even more important relationships that will set you up for success. Here are 5 ideas that can help college graduates in this recession.

1. Leverage What You Already Know: Chances are if you are 21 or so, you live on the web. Your life revolves around your mobile phone, facebook, myspace or any of the other social applications that allow people (and brands) to connect and interact with each other. Agencies and their clients are trying to find ways to utilize the social web to get closer to their customers. While people in the agency are certainly catching up and are learning about the social web, we are all interested in having people that are engaged in the social web as deeply as the Millenial generation. So, 2 things here -
1: Study how brands are interacting with you on the social web and learn about who is doing it right and wrong, this will serve you well in an interview and make you sound like you know what you're talking about.
2: Apply for a social media internship at an agency, if they don't have one open, offer one. Maybe they haven't thought about it.

2. Leverage Who You Already Know: Networking is a skill that's typically perfected over time and usually a student coming out of school hasn't mastered it, yet. These are extraordinary times and knowing how to properly network until you find what you're looking for will help you achieve your goals. A few ideas on this topic:
1: Join LinkedIn and add all of your college friends and parent's friends. And then, request to connect with all of their friends. Make it known that you are searching for an entry-level or internship in an advertising or marketing agency.
2. Join Ziki and utilize their search engine locator tool - people will search for you on Google and your Ziki profile can help you appear in the paid search listings.
3: Use Facebook as a networking tool not  a place to post drinking pictures. You probably have hundreds of people already connected with you on either FB or Myspace, use them to get a job not a date.
4. Attend Local Marketing Events: If you live in a major market, there are probably marketing events either for interactive or advertising. Go to them to learn and to meet people.

3. Create a Google Reader Account and subscribe to the feeds of the top 500 marketing blogs. Sort your reader in folders that divide the content into areas such as, B2B Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Search, Mobile etc. Be religious about reading the content and learning it. Star the articles and posts you think are smart and be good about referencing them when you do get an interview. Being informed about what is happening in the marketplace is the best way to sound smarter and more advanced than the other people that are interviewing for your same position. Agencies hire people that can add value every step of the way, especially now when we need to do more with less.

4. Create A Social Media Resume which is a multi-media dossier that will give the potential hiring manager a layered and dimensional perspective on who you are and what you know. This would include not only your basic resume, but links to all of your social networks, papers you've written and a professional video introducing you to the hiring manager. This will certainly set you apart from the people that are just sending resumes to HR and praying someone calls them back.

5. Write a Marketing Blog that outlines your take on what brands and companies are doing in the marketplace. This is a great way for people to see your passion for marketing and your writing skills. This takes a great deal of effort, but is worth it. Not only will you be forced to analyze and study what is happening in the world of marketing, but it will most definitely set you apart from the other entry level candidates. And, if you do it right, you will be connected to other influential marketing bloggers that can help you network. Find a leader blog and emulate their content and widgets until you feel comfortable.

Breaking into our industry isn't easy, especially today. However, there are ways to separate yourself from the pack in the process of interviewing. These will test your will for how much you really want to break into the marketing/advertising world. And, if there is one thing you take away from this post is that agencies are needing to do more with less, we need people in our companies that will add value beyond answering phones or pushing paper. Make yourself a 'must-have' hire by pointing out ideas and thoughts that the agency and their clients can't live without.

Good luck.

Oh yea, one more small, but big thing - send your interviewer a handwritten thank you note confirming your key points from the interview. Best case, hand deliver the very next morning to the receptionist or assistant. This goes a very long way.

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Clearly, We Can't Be Surprised. Right?

I've always marveled at the statistic conveyed by this graphic. The mere fact that we are about 7x higher than the next closest nation in terms of retail square footage per American is astounding. We Americans love our retail, we demand new concepts, new more immersive experiences, new fashion brands and something to pique our interests. We are bored easily and highly-fickle consumers. I mean, can anyone be surprised by the article in the Wall Street Journal today that declared "Retailers Brace For Major Change" Retail has long been homogenized, pasteurized and any other word with the -ize suffix you can imagine. The malls have sprawled with concepts that cater to Boomer men, Boomer women, Millenial Goths, Millenial Skateboarders, tech-hungry geeks, power-hungry business people and everyone in between. The difference between a Kohl's Sunday ad and a Sears' Sunday ad is only in the size of the font and the predictable model poses perperated by some hack art director.

I mean, are we really surprised that the weakest retailers that did nothing to differentiate except proclaim sales like "Lowest Prices of the Season", "Stock Up And Save" or my personal fave The BOGO. All these sprawling, faceless retailers have done is force mediocrity and leave no room for creativity. But you know what? You know who is to blame for that vanilla, retail horror? You. Me and Us. That's right, we the consumer are at fault for not rewarding retailers for creativity. We are a vanilla culture that has forced their hand in making sure we buy boring shit.

Also, I've always thought that Wall Street and subsequently the CEO's of the retailers always made inflated projections around the holiday season and I can't remember one time in the recent history where people were actually happy with the sales that did occur. Someone was always bummed out about something. It  is either sales that is the depressing news or because of deep discounting, their margin.

I think that this retail natural selection is healthy. Yes, I am bummed that people will lose their jobs up and down the supply chain - but maybe this will teach us a lesson about guns and butter, again. Or, maybe we will learn that the differentiated will survive and resist the temptation to paste the front of ads with big yellow letters (yellow is the official color of the retail sale) 300% off everytime we have something to say. The consumer is over it. I'm over it. 

Twitter = Black Friday Secret Weapon

For those that are dialed into Twitter, live in Boston and are the  masochistic-type by shopping on Black Friday, you are in luck. Twitter will be abuzz with helping people track the best deals on Black Friday through the Twitter-verse. Boston.com is asking shoppers that Twitter to inform the website of what's happening where. Nice use of the 'digital water-cooler" that is Twitter. 

Costco vs. Sam's Club. The Face Off.

Today, my wife and I took Sam's Club for a spin. We've been loyal Costco customers even since we've moved to a town that forces us to drive about 35 minutes to get there. However, we found a Sam's Club that is considerably closer so we thought we'd see what's what. Here is how I scored the day starting with the front door.

1. The Approach: Walking up to Sam's Club today it looked somewhat like the entry to a Costco, sans the neat and organized cart system that Costco maintains. The carts were scattered and seemed tattered and old. The person at the front door was not friendly and seemed to ignore me when I asked where the membership desk was. Off to a good start. I approached the membership desk that seemed disheveled and chaotic because it was co-mingled with the returns desk. Signing up was quick and painless other than the woman spelling my name wrong on my card. Not sure how that happened as she was staring at my license as she entered it. Small detail, but Morobella annoys me. Once we wrangled a cart it was off to the races.

2. First Impressions:  I started to feel that this felt like a Wal-Mart except it cost me $40 bucks to get in and the mayonnaise jars could eat you. The store had similar sight-lines to Costco but didn't have the racetrack format of a Costco with the infield merchandise. It was hard to get my bearings as the aisles seemed to have no rhyme or reason. I'm sure I missed merchandise as I shopped. The entry had awesome pies and cakes which tempted my daughter and were very reasonably priced, so far so good. The same Vizio flat screens greeted us as they do at Costco along with the iPod's, hp printers and more electronics. Then, we were intercepted by a DirecTV sales man who tried to convince me that saving 7 bucks a month was worth me ripping out all my Comcast equipment, having my credit checked and putting a large dish on the side of my vintage house. I shook him off and kept moving.  For a Saturday afternoon, it didn't seem as hectic as a Costco. Is that a good or a bad sign. Let's find out.

3. Merchandise: One of the things I like about Costco is that they have luxury and semi-luxury brands interwoven with the values. Also, even their clothes are quality as you can sometimes find Lucky jeans or Calvin Klein shirts. At Sam's Club, it felt like someone took a truck from the Wal-Mart next door, loaded it up with clothes and brought them over to Sam's. Another part of Costco I love, is the books. The book section at Sam's was brutal. I mean, don't they study Costco and see how their merchants build that area? Why wouldn't they at least hold ground with them? There were about 25 types of bibles and a whole section of Spanish language books, but very little in the way of current best-sellers. Bummer. Food: We usually buy all of our bulk items like diapers, cereal, snacks, Vitamin Water etc at Costco and Sam's Club did okay in that area. But in places like the take and bake pizza, the portions were smaller and not as rich as the Costco pizza. The bread and frozen seafood were nice selections. Part of what we were looking for today were toys for Xmas. Their selection did not rival that of Costco which, is surprising since Wal-Mart could buy in larger quantities and parse toys over to Sam's. There is more to write about the merchandise, but it felt more like a Wal-Mart than the treasure-hunt that is Costco.

4. The Service: A bummer all around. Starting with the unfriendly greeter at the front door to the DirecTV guy through to the people at the checkouts not helping us like they do at Costco all the way to the rude guys at the hot dog counter the service experience was consistently bad. The employees did not have the same professionalism as they do at Costco (all relative) and they did not seem as happy with their jobs.

5. The Hot Dogs: We can't go to Costco without having a hot dog after we checkout. We love the $1.50 hot dog combo you can get at both Costco and Sam's. We think the edge goes to Sam's because they hot dogs are Nathan's from New York. Yummy. However, the condiment station had gnats and flys all over it and was disgusting. I was not happy about that.

The verdict is that we will continue to drive to Costco but when we need to make a quick run for a cereal box big enough for a small family to live in or my baby needs diapers, we will shoot down to Sam's for a visit. We intend to use Sam's as a big-box convenience store, but will not give up the red & white carts at Costco.

Some suggestions for Sam's Club would be to downplay the Wal-Mart feel. Maybe replace the blue smocks with orange ones or go even something more unique. Try to at least beat Costco at some key categories and steal some share from Costco by beating them in key areas. Also, creating some targeted experiences or store-within-store that immerses the consumer into an experience would beat Costco. Like a Wii experience or a Magnolia-type home theater environment. Sam's certainly has the resources to make it happen. Oh and, hire some people that are happy to be there. It is well documented that Costco pays well ($17.25 an hour on average) and pays 90% of benefits. It really shows and plays as part of the experience when the people working there seem like they want to be there.

QR Codes. Innovative or Tech In Search Of A Solution?

I recently had someone tell me that their agency was innovative because they had brought 2D codes to the table for their new ad campaign. The brand and agency shall both remain nameless. I will say in full disclosure that we've pitched this to a brand recently, but the application was highly utilitarian and served a strategic business-purpose, rather than getting someone to just have a new way to visit your campaign microsite rather than just click on the safari icon and enter the URL.  And even then I felt like we were jumping the shark.

This post from Adverblog talks about how Pepsi and Polo are using codes in their new campaigns. I can't help but still think that this is just a technology in search of a solution. That agencies and brands are so thirsty for new innovation that they latch onto a technology way before even the early majority has the software on their smart phones. In fact, we knew this even before we pitched this to the brand I mentioned earlier. There are no stats on the adoption of the QR reader that I could find.

I'm sorry, but if you think that your agency is innovative because they told you to put a QR code in your ad that launches your microsite, you are sadly mistaken. Innovation would be an application that would incent people to download the reader and THEN give them a compelling reason to take a picture of your ad or packaging at the shelf. 

Hey Harley, It's About Time.

An Open Letter to Harley Davidson:

Mr. Davidson,

For years, I have pondered buying one of your bikes. Especially, the V-Rod. Now that I have 2-kids, my desire has waned because of the risks. Every spring, I get the urge to roll down to the the local dealership and make it happen. But, this is the first time I have had the urge at the dawn of a Chicago winter. It is shaping up to be the hottest Chicago winter on record because of your use of Marisa Miller in your VRSC campaign. Whoa.

The funny thing is that I can't remember Harley ever going the Maxim cover, sex route this overtly. Sure, sex is part of the Harley experience, but the brand hasn't been a part of communicating that. Having her as part of your campaign is perfect. First, she isn't 21 and appeals to men of all ages. Being 30, a Victoria's Secret model and a perennial cover girl lends huge to the brand. This move helps push guys on the fence over the edge to buy a bike. And, you have 2 other things going for your right now, bikes are better on gas and Sons Of Anarchy, the new show on FX. I think I secretly wish I was a biker.

Anyway, Mr. Davidson, thank you for selling out to the temptation of 'sex-sells'. Oh yea, and thanks for the YouTube Video

Bring Back The Yugo

So much attention has been given to the meltdown of the mortgage market over the past year or so that 2 other credit markets not far behind, have been little talked about.

The first is the credit card market where people have been racking up debt that they can't afford and now the credit card companies are moving interest rates up and lowering your minimums without warning, sometimes under what you actually owe. And the 3rd market that about to fall apart is the auto market. People are having a harder and harder time getting loans and leases to buy a car. People with good jobs and good credit, even.

I mean, who actually pays cash for a car in full? Not many. So, with people not able to get a loan or lease and the credit crunch, people are going to be forced to pay cash for a car.
If public transportation isn't an option, then a car is a necessity. I predict the rise of the $5k used car market. Cars that are in the $5k range will be flying off the used car  lots. If people can't finance and most average Americans don't have a great deal of savings, they can scrape together $5k to buy a car. The risk is that it will require thousands of dollars of work in the subsequent years because it is most likely an older car with high mileage.

Something You Don't See Everyday

My alma mater, Bentley College in Waltham, MA is now known as Bentley University. I had heard this was a long time coming as the school made significant progress academically and with the resources of the school. I am proud to be a graduate of this school and thought it to be an interesting exercise in branding. The official word is that it will make the school more attractive to international students and the unofficial word is they can charge more per year. Just kidding, but I bet that is part of the allure.

Does this mean I get a new diploma and class ring?

Starting A Corporate Blog

Mr. Joseph Jaffe recently wrote about 10 Reasons Why Companies Should Blog which was a response to B.L. Ochman in AdAge, who wrote about 10 Reasons Why Companies Shouldn't Blog. In fact, I agree with Jaffe that B.L.'s article sounded like every empty excuse that a company makes to not do something that matters - simply because they can't, don't understand it or are afraid of commitment. In fact, I could have sworn I was reading an article written by a 'dead client walking'. Do you know what that is? That is the client inside of an organization that refuses to accept that the world is changing around him/her and will be obsolete in a matter of minutes.

The irony in all this is that the best companies with blogs are the ones that have limited resources (start ups) and understand the value in connecting directly with the marketplace rather than speaking at the market.

Writing a blog does take time, nurturing, reciprocation with the other bloggers/commenters and most of all patience. This is not if you build it, they will come proposition. It takes the time of a dedicated person on staff that understands the blog-o-sphere and how to navigate it, the etiquette and the connections that exist. That person becomes your brands ambassador to the blog space. They have to get it. The reciprocation is also critical, not being afraid to post on other company's blogs or respond to negative remarks. Even things as simple as understanding with a trackback is and how to use it....

The blog is the forum for brands to be transparent without spinning, show the flaws without being insecure and truly build relationships with customers, prospects, recruits and their own people internally.

From The "Are You Kidding Me? Department"

There have been many natural disasters over the past few years, some on our soil and some in other countries. Countless lives have been lost, families torn apart and history changed forever. After reading this quote in the Wall Street Journal from people in Greenwich, CT, I am sick to my stomach that the current economic meltdown could be related to events that took so many lives.

A deeper analysis was offered by local Democrat Ned Lamont, who in one fell swoop compared Greenwich’s money woes to the Japan malaise, Asian tsunami and the New Orleans flood.

“It really is a financial tsunami, and it could go either way,” said the multimillionaire telecommunications mogul who ran for the U.S. Senate in 2006. “It took Japan 20 years to recover from their buying binge. How long does it take us to work through excessive leverage? That could take years not months. This is our Katrina.”

You be the judge.

Where Is The Line Between Informed & Saturated?

Speaking with my wife today about the state of the economy and all that is happening with the bailout, credit crisis and the war. She sees the Wall Street Journal open on the table every morning and hears my grumbling every time there is a headline on the front page declaring the end of the financial world is upon us. Today, she told me that she would appreciate it if I stopped reading the newspaper, watching CNN or reading blogs. Some people are of the belief that the economy is a group-think phenomenon and that we can all will ourselves out of crisis and work together to make it better. To a degree they are correct. Wall Street is very much a psychological animal where a piece of news can have the sentiment of the street move in one direction or another.

If we believe what we read and hear, we are upon the next Great Depression, that we will spiral into despair and all of us will be standing in bread lines. I have to say it is hard not to freak out a little and watch your spending even on essentials, just in case something does happen. The fact remains that 94% of us are gainfully employed and are working hard to make ends meet. Yes, that number is higher than it was in the recent past - but I believe we are a resilient, intelligent society and will find a way out of this mess.

Will anyone be surprised by the upcoming holiday spending decline? Will anyone be shocked when retailers report smaller than expected gains on holiday spending?

Until the media straightens out, maybe I will get my news from happynews.com