Anheuser-Busch is entering the "as seen on TV" drinkable skin care market. In a strategic marketing and distribution partnership with BORBA, Anheuser-Busch will expand their business into another avenue beyond beer by targeting consumers who are focused on the health of their skin. In case you haven't seen it on TV, BORBA is water with antioxidants designed to defy age, and clarify, firm and replenish the skin.
The partnership seems more advantageous to BORBA - they receive the extensive reach, marketing, and distribution expertise of Anheuser-Busch. While the beer maker has the challenge of selling drinkable skin care (the resounding impression around our office is "ew"). We can't wait to see how they're going to market this one...
Paramount and DreamWorks announced that they would exclusively release their high-definition movies on the HD DVD format. This change in strategy comes with $150 million in financial incentives for committing to HD DVD.
Although this is a major win for HD DVD, they remain far behind the superior Blu-Ray media in the battle for a single high-definition format.
Trendwatching.com has started an insightful snapshot look into big demographic trends (baby boomers, women, the gay community, etc.) As we research our campaigns and brand identities, it's always important to be reaching the intended audience in innovative ways. Take women for example...
"Women. The Mega Niche. The under-served market of all markets. And so on. Just consider the fact that women, who comprise just over 50% of the U.S. population, make over 80% of the consumer purchasing decisions (and in case you're wondering, consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of U.S. GNP). Consulting firm A.T. Kearney estimates that women determine 80 percent of consumption, purchase 60 percent of all cars and own 40 percent of all stocks."
We help clients define, visualize, discuss and promote their brands. But lately "brand" seems to be a common nomenclature in main-stream media. A headline on msn.com "Top 10 Reliable Brands" peaked our interest. However, after clicking, we discovered the article focused on the top 10 automotive brands – not exactly the universal ranking we were expecting.
Brand is hard to define – seven different definitions for the word exist on dictionary.com.
Our definition of a brand is the tangibles and intangibles of a company, product, or service - your name, look, messaging, perceptions, customer service, storefront, web site, etc. "Brand" captures the essence of every element that makes up who you are in the marketplace. That's why it's important to focus on your brand and make it what you want it to be. You may need to change perceptions if needed, but stay focused to enable your success.
Visionstreetwear.com is a great example of effective use of video in a web site. Consisting of a series of full-screen videos, the whole site does an amazing job of selling the lifestyle – as well as the shoes.
In light of the launch for the new Simpsons movie, 7-Eleven and the Simpsons teamed up for a campaign that would run from December 2006 until the launch of the movie in July 2007. Some aspects of the branding effort included graffiti, product packaging, and store signage. We will keep an eye on the numbers, but as of yet we have heard 300 to 400-percent sales increase at participating locations. Now that's some serious D'oh.
Forbes.com recently ran an article on the value of PR. The piece highlights the benefits of PR vs. costly advertising campaigns, gives practical advice to entrepreneurs looking for PR help, and even suggests a list of questions to ask your potential consultant. One of which asks the consultant to turn over a list of media contacts for you to interview.
Question... Why would a busy reporter take the time to help you select the person that will ultimately pitch stories? Approaching said busy reporter in this manner could damage an important relationship with the journalist before you've had a chance to build a relationship.
How many times have you caught yourself talking about a commercial, but completely forgot what thingamajigger was being advertised? One cure for this type of memory loss is the use of an unpleasant reality... one that your audience would rather not acknowledge, but also make them feel good somewhere in there too.
Take this commercial. I first saw it in the weeks leading up to tax day 2006, and then again one year later. It masterfully sucks you in with unpleasant reality, but in the end... well, I just couldn't help but smile. It's fantastic. And I'm sure I'll remember it again before April 15, 2008.
We've all heard examples of products with seemingly harmless names that translated poorly (example: Standard Oil sounded too much like a U.S. company to appeal to Japanese consumers, so they changed their name to "Esso." Esso, in Japan however, translates phonetically to "stalled car.") Read more examples.
But what happens when the name is invented, yet still has unintended meanings conveyed. In the pharmaceutical industry, trade names for new drugs are quite simply made up. In the quest for a unique name, sometimes things go a little awry. Take the new drug out for acid reflux disease, while it might do a great job of helping with the symptoms, the name alone is scary: AcipHex. Pronounced as-e-feks (yes, that's ass-effects for anyone that may be dictionary challenged). What were they thinking? Maybe they were taking a shortcut to listing the possible side effects, or maybe no one was sure how to pronounce it until the name was trademarked, but in any case, we are amused. Better luck next time guys.
Back in October 2006, one of our employees posted a video to YouTube of a track he created for the beta version of the game line rider. The game was released the previous month, and people had just begun to record their tracks and post them to YouTube. Although the video was substantially better than the others that were posted, not many people viewed the video during the first few days.
When a watcher saw the video and posted it to digg, the video started attracting attention. In fact, the day that the video was submitted to digg, it received over 50,000 hits. Ultimately, the video garnered nearly 2.5 million views and an article in the Wall Street Journal. Digg and similar sites use intelligent algorithms and user input to determine an article's rank. If your article reaches the front page or close to it, it's almost guaranteed to be big. Sometimes to get your voice heard, a quick submission to a web page is all you need.
Burnsmarketing.com
