Author: Drew Neisser

Chatting with Chips

Posted on by Drew Neisser

Its been a slow time for Marketing as Service. Frankly, I haven’t seen one example really worth writing about in several weeks. Desperate to find something of interest to you all, I decided to munch on a social media effort by Terra Chips. Here’s a taste of this effort as served up by MediaPost:

On Tuesday, the brand will launch a “Chip in for Change” campaign on Facebook. The concept: Tap into the patriotic zeitgeist and give Facebook users a channel to share their opinions not only with each other, but the new president–while also conveying that consumers by no means need to wait until next July 4th to enjoy Terra’s S&B chips.

The campaign centers on a Facebook product page where users will be able to register their ideas and priorities regarding changes that they would like the new president to address, via a virtual “Chip in for Change” suggestion box. The input will be gathered into a virtual gallery where users can read one another’s perspectives.

In addition, users will be invited to become “fans” of the Chips for Change “movement” by downloading the branded application and adding it to their personal Facebook profiles and/or sending it to Facebook friends.

It will be interesting to see if Facebookers find this to their liking or simply salt it away with the rest of the contrived attempts by marketers to invade their social network. When MoveOn.org or another politically savvy organization asks me to chip in, I’m prepared to engage. When a spruced up junk food says “lets talk,” the conversation on could go something like this:

Terra: “Hey Drew, chip in for a change and tell the next president what you think.”

Drew: “Hey Terra, are you serious? Why would I want you, a salty snack, to be my portal to the President?

Terra: “Now Drew, relax, we’re just trying to demonstrate that we understand your Facebookian lifestyle and want to engage in the conversation.”

Drew: “What conversation and who asked you become part of it? If you want to talk to me about the health benefits of blue potatoes, I’m all ears but when it comes to politics step aside. You’re cutting this thing the wrong way. I didn’t sign up for Facebook to face off with a tiny tater.”

Terra: “Now Drew, don’t be that guy. We just want to be your friend.”

Drew: “I’ve got plenty of friends already you specious spud. You want to be my friend, bag this Chip In program and do something useful that is somehow relevant to your brand.”

Terra: “Whatever dude. We’re getting great PR and our marketing folks are now being invited to every social media conference in town. So any way you slice it, we win.”

Drew: “You got me there. Serves me right for talkin’ to a bag of chips.”

For the record, Terra Blue is my chip of choice.

Serving Up an Ambush in Austin

Posted on by Drew Neisser

Ambush marketing is one of those things you either love or hate depending on whether you’re the practitioner or the victim. Recently a Texas beer brand, Shiner, ambushed Heineken at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in a way that I think actually qualifies as Marketing as Service.

Here is part of the story as reported by AdAge last week:
Shiner Ambush in Austin

Shiner wasn’t even available inside the festival. But that didn’t stop its ad agency, McGarrah Jessee, from targeting the 65,000 people attending. So the shop printed up Shiner koozies designed to look just like Shiner cans and had street teams hand them out to festival-goers. Sure, they might not have sold any beer that day, but they did get the brand out there in a way that anyone with a soft spot for scrappy underdogs would appreciate.

Providing koozies at a music festival is indeed Marketing as Service, however simple it may seem. In fact, koozies provide the dual service of keeping the beer colder longer while keeping the hands warmer and drier. It also gave beer drinkers the opportunity to “wear” a brand that some may have felt was more in tune with this heavily Texan event and their lifestyles.

Of course, if I had been working for Heineken I would have been pretty ticked off at the event organizers for letting the Shiner koozies onto the festival grounds. Perhaps at their next concert event they’ll provide Heineken branded koozies that attendees could take home, re-use and maybe even drive them to a website that tied it all together. Every event marketer has to be prepared for ambushers and the best way to do this is think like one and beat them to the punch with service (and not just messaging.)

Good is in the Can for Pringles

Posted on by Drew Neisser

In the world of extruded potatoes, it is often difficult to find genuine goodness. Here’s how Pringles is attempting to bridge that gap, as reported by BRANDWEEK‘s Elaine Wong:

Beginning this week, consumers can go to Pringles.com to play with its new “Can Creator.” The application allows users to design and print their own creations, which they can then tape onto their Pringles can.

For every can created, parent company Procter & Gamble will donate $1 to the Children’s Miracle Network (up to $20,000). The campaign runs through June.

Up to $20,000? Come on P&G, with $265 million in sales for Pringles alone, surely you can do better than that. Are we really supposed to prefer Pringles given such a modest charitable commitment? While I’m sure the Children’s Miracle Network isn’t complaining, this is the perfect time to step up and make a sincere commitment. I’d propose donating up to $1.0 million and shame the rest of the marketing world into doing good on a grand scale.

Would such a grand commitment be good for Pringle’s sales? You bet. More from the BRANDWEEK article:

The 2008 Cone Cause Evolution Study found that 79% of consumers said they would switch brands (provided price and quality were equal) to the one that is associated with a good cause. Eighty-five percent of respondents said they have a more positive image of a company when it supports a cause that is dear to them. And 38% have purchased a product associated with a cause in the last year.

I’m all for doing well by doing good. Just make sure your commitment is clear and sincere, otherwise there will be no pop in your sales.

Jim Collins’ To Do List

Posted on by Drew Neisser

I had the pleasure of seeing Jim Collins speak at the World Business Forum a week ago. Collins is the author of Good to Great, the only business book I actually read from cover to cover and then re-read. His speech covered much of the same ground as Good to Great and included lots of helpful reminders:

  1. Good is the enemy of great
    • It requires the hearts of lions and the courage of elephants
    • Decline is typically self-inflicted
  2. Over night successes are typically 20 years in the making
    • Striving for great is a cumulative never ending process
    • “the moment we think we’re great, we’re dead”
    • If growth exceeds ability to hire great people, you’re in big trouble
  3. Must have the right people on the bus even before you decide where you’re going
    • Hire self-motivated people who are committed to doing whatever it takes
    • The “plow horse” typically beats the “show horse” when it comes to great CEOs
    • Have the discipline to confront the brutal facts
  4. Find your “hedgehog” concept
    • What are you truly passionate about?
    • What can you be the best in the world at?
    • What is the economic denominator that will make the business competitive?

He ended with a to do list for all the attendees, especially the CEO’s in the audience. Here’s his 10-point to do list that I somehow turned into 11 points:

  1. Assess your company’s strengths and weakness (with the Good to Great diagnostic tool on jimcollins.com)
  2. Figure out the key “seats” on your business “bus” and calculate the percentage of those seats that are filled with the right people and then make an action plan for improving that percentage
  3. Establish your own personal “board of directors” that can advise like “tribal elders”
  4. Get some young people “in your face” to challenge your perspective on things
  5. Build an internal council for key decision making
  6. Ask more questions; make fewer statements (he suggested doubling the quantity of questions & repeated some advice given to him years back–spend more time being interested and less time being interesting!)
  7. Turn off your electronic devices and schedule time just to think
  8. Create a stop doing list (eliminate the stuff you don’t need to do yourself so you can focus on contribution)
  9. Forget titles and focus on responsibilities (titles are inherently limiting and responsibilities ensure jobs get done)
  10. Make sure your core values are solid and that you and your team are following them
  11. Set BHAG (big hairy audacious goals) for 10, 15, 25 year horizons (establish the risks and then remove them).

Collins also recommended tracking down John Gardner’s book from 1984 called Personal and Organizational Renewal (which could take some work since Amazon notes it is out of print.)  So, who’s ready to be great?

Whoa! Cause Marketing Increases Sales.

Posted on by Drew Neisser

This just in–cause marketing increases sales!!! And all this time writing about Marketing for Good, you thought I meant “good” as in good for your soul and not “good” as in good for your bottom line. Here’s the scoop as crafted by Ken Hein of BRANDWEEK:

Pier 1 Imports and Payless are likely to get a sales lift from their partnerships with Susan G. Komen during “Breast Cancer Awareness Month.” A series of new studies released today (Oct. 1) show that consumers are more likely to purchase brands that are associated with causes they care about.

The 2008 Cone Cause Evolution Study found that 79% of respondents said they would switch brands (provided price and quality were equal) to the one that is associated with a good cause. Cone, Boston, polled 1,100 adults polled online in August.

Eighty-five percent of respondents said they have a more positive image of a company when it supports a cause they care about. The same percentage said it was acceptable for companies to promote their affiliation with nonprofit organizations in their ads. And, 38% have purchased a product associated with a cause in the last year.

Knowing that consumers are interested in cause-related branding, how can companies make it more effective? Eighty-four percent of those polled wanted to select their own cause, 83% said it must be personally relevant and 80% said the nonprofit associated with the brand matters.

Even though companies are struggling, more than half of respondents (52%) said companies should continue to give to nonprofits. More than a quarter (26%) felt companies should give more.

A separate study, conducted in conjunction with Duke University, sought to see if consumers would put their money where their mouth is. In the “2008 Cone/Duke University Behavioral Cause Study,” 182 consumers were exposed to print ads (cause-related or a typical corporate ad) for one of four focus brands in a regional magazine. They were then sent to shop in a mock store that featured 150 SKUs.

All you marketers out there, take note. Now is the time to ramp up your Marketing for Good activities. Many non-profits are getting hammered by the collapse of the financial institutions that used to underwrite their activities. Ride to their rescue, align with a cause that makes sense for your business and or your target, get your employees involved so they feel good about working for you and do it now while your competitors sit on the rears waiting for the market to recover.

Time for Good

Posted on by Drew Neisser

As the markets retreat and marketers regroup, non-profit organizations, especially New York-based ones, are sure to feel the pinch. The Wall St. Journal reported on this last week:

Officials at charities are trying to devise creative ways to stand out. They are making urgent appeals through direct-mail and email campaigns and taking to the airwaves. Charities also are gearing up to tap their wealthy board members and other well-off supporters for extra cash. If they fail, charities may have to cut staff or seek loans.

As I’ve noted before, brave marketers will dig deep and keep investing in their marketing for good activities. These commitments don’t have to only be in cash. Marketers like Home Depot have learned that they can make a huge impact on their local communities by donating the time and expertise of their employees. Here’s an inspiring example followed by a happy video that should cheer you up:

On Friday, August 22nd, 2008 volunteers from WNY AmeriCorps, Home Depot, and Hands On Greater Buffalo came together to revitalize the outdoor space in front of the Henry J. Kalfas Magnet School in Niagara Falls. Projects included planting a new garden in place of dead or obtrusive plants, installing paver blocks on either side of the walkway, building two benches, and painting the flagpole. A community cookout following the project welcomed local citizens to become invested in their school. Watch the video of the project day below!