Brand Central Station

It’s the holidays and we’re on vacation – so here’s a link to a great post on the history of punctuation.

Enjoy.

My buddy Chuck Meyst over at Agencyfinder.com tipped me off to this video on YouTube. What do you think Subway would have thought if Agency.com’s viral video was as honest as this one?

Warning: The language in this video may not be suitable for some work situations.

Technorati Tags: Advertising, Creative, Account Managment, Ad Agency, Advertising Agency, Agencyfinder.com

Kami Huyse, the blogger behind Communications Overtones, has come up with a series of helpful tips to find and pitch mainstream journalists who keep blogs. The most helpful (and, duh, obvious) tip isn’t even in the “official” list:

“As public relations professionals we would be crazy not to read the blogs of those that we want to pitch. Seems logical, doesn’t it?”

Okay, now remove the 2 x 4 from the side of your head and spend a little time with the post to get all six of Kami’s recommendations.

Technorati Tags: Journalism, PR, Tips, Media Relations, Public Relations, Communications Overtones

Blogger James Woods provides ten tips for building web site traffic. His Online Marketing for Dummies blog is filled with helpful articles for small and home-based businesses, but the general rules and guidelines presented in his “Top 10″ articles work for almost any-sized business.

Oh yeah, and those tips:

1. Write simple, “how to” articles.
2. Provide viral, desktop applications that build brand recognition.
3. Find and link to related web sites (remember to ask for reciprocal links).
4. Be sure to have a bookmark link on all of your pages.
5. Buid and distribute your own e-Zine.
6. Create and distribute “how to” ebooks from your web site.
7. Become a regular poster to online forums that will give your site greater visibility.
8. Be sure to include your site’s url in all of your off-line marketing materials.
9. Burn your best programs and information on CD/DVD and distribute to interested parties.
10. Syndicate your site’s content using RSS feeds and blogs.

Technorati Tags: Web Site Promotion, Online Marketing, Marketing For Dummies

Great summary article on MarketingVox about the future of newspaper and, more specifically, the fact that newspaper’s online ad revenues aren’t (and won’t) replace the losses in circulation and ad revenues from their print editions. The grim predictions for the future of traditional newspapers are spelled out in more detail in this report from media research firm, Outsell.

The implications for the newspaper industry are pretty obvious. Less clear are the ramifications on the advertising and PR professions. If newspapers face an ad revenue shortfall of $20B (billion) or more in less than five years, then advertisers are going to need to find alternatives that provide the day-to-day consistency and credibility mantles currently assumed by the delivery of the daily paper.

For PR professionals, the demise (or, at the very least, the extreme shrinkage) of the newspaper industry could present a significant threat. For the last ten years we’ve seen an explosive growth of the “news hole” that requires content to fill. But as ad revenues shrink, so will page counts and the size of that content hole.

Don’t expect online to provide a suitable replacement anytime soon. Even with in inexhaustible capacity for content, someone has to edit it, promote it and present it. As newspapers go away, so will a lot of the editorial capacity needed to ensure quality and maintain reader interest.

Thoughts?

Technorati Tags: Newspapers, Circulation, Advertising Revenues, Public Relations, PR, Advertising, News Hole

All comments (c) 2006, Brand Central Station – all rights reserved. For more information about BCS, please visit our website.

The Eyes on Creativity blog provides an interesting insight into a new design trend. Black and white is big now. More specifically, monochromatic palettes are big right now – black and white being the most obvious example.

Talking about examples, check out these:

• Eightface
• Godly Creative People
• Subtraction
• Back to Help!
• Easybit

And there’s much more at Design Melt Down … check it out.

Technorati Tags: Creative, Graphic Design, Web Design, Color Palette, Black & White

This statement from JupiterResearch lauds the voice of the consumer in making a difference in how companies take their products to market and grow their business.

Retailers are gaining market share by leveraging what they learn from user-generated product ratings and reviews. The result, says JupiterResearch, is a “winning trifecta” of increased loyalty, increased purchase frequency and reduced returns.

The four studies available from JupiterResearch are:

• “Retail Marketing: Driving Sales Through Consumer-Created Content,” by Patti Freeman Evans, which found that 77 percent of online shoppers use consumer generated product reviews/ratings and those who find them useful are more loyal to stores with reviews/ratings featured.
• “Travel Consumer-Created Content” by Diane Clarkson discusses the growing influence of online reviews and recommendations and provides to travel websites on how they can employ them to enhance their relevancy.
• “Online Support Forums,” by Zachary McGeary, which reveals that consumers who post feedback on forums, positive or negative, spend 22 percent more online than do consumers who have not posted on forums.
• “Managing Word of Mouth Online, Leveraging Internal Resources,” by Emily Riley, which reveals that more than 90 percent of large companies believe that consumer recommendations are important in influencing other consumers’ purchase decisions.

Technorati Tags: Social Media, User-Created Content, Web 2.0, Marketing, Retail Marketing, JupiterResearch

AdPulp does a good job cueing up what I think will be one of the biggest PR fiascos of the next few years. BP’s recent oil spill in Alaska could quite possibly derail tens of millions of dollars in advertising spent to position the company as eco-friendly.

It’s an oil company, folks. C’mon.

How quickly can BP recover and will their environmental faux pas degrade the similar work produced for Shell and other oil companies?

Only time will tell – but I think the consumer’s length of memory will be directly proportional to the annual increase in gas prices. As long as there is perceived pain at the pump, consumers will want to take it out on someone and oil companies that dump oil in Alaska and shut down domestic oil supplies will be ripe for the flogging.

What do you think?

Technorati Tags: Crisis Communications, Advertising, Public Relations, Oil Spill, Alaska, BP, Shell Oil, Big Oil

The Duct Tape Marketing blog states it pretty clearly:

“When small business owners finally face the fact that they are really in the marketing business, they struggle with the idea that they actually must spend time and resources feeding the marketing machine.”

But the real struggle often comes down to the question of “who’s time and resources” needs to be spent. Not just anybody can take on the responsibility of building the small business’ book of new accounts.

That responsibility usually comes down to one person … the owner.

In addition to his own insights, blogger John Janstch provides a link to a corresponding article from Inc. Magazine that addresses this issue in more detail.

Technorati Tags: Marketing, Business, Small Business, Leadership, Corporate Leadership, John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing

Our friend, Bill Lozito, over at the Name Development Blog provides this post about the forthcoming name change for ABC Sports to ESPN.

Of particular note are the reactions by bloggers of different ages. Younger bloggers who have grown up with ESPN see this change as not much more than a new nameplate. But older bloggers consider the demise of ABC Sports as akin to the “death of an old friend.”

The one thing I wonder: Does this mean Monday Night Football can move back to ABC and still stay on ESPN?

My confusion is, in all likelihood, of very little consequence. I’m a devout ESPN-o-phile.

Technorati Tags: Brand, Branding, Television, ABC Sports, ESPN, Brand Naming Strategy

All comments (c) 2006, Brand Central Station – all rights reserved. For more information about BCS, please visit our website.

It’s kind of reassuring to see that I’m not the only one who was a little confused by the inclusion of toy Hummers in McDonald’s kids meals. John Winsor’s blog, Under the Radar, provides a more in-depth look at what’s wrong with this pairing.

From my perspective, the idea of turning the toughest-looking, four-wheel, bad-ass vehicle in the military into a kiddie toy seemed to be a little off strategy to me.

Technorati Tags: Marketing, Fast Food, McDonald’s Promotion, Kid’s Meals, McDonald’s, Hummer

Great discussion going on over on Jennifer Rice’s blog: What’s your brand mantra. Jennifer’s initial post (a summary on the importance of finding the middle ground between brand focus and flexibility) is good all by itself – but if you take the time to read the post, be sure to read the comments.

Laura Ries chimes in again with her point of view as well as other contributors who manage to pepper the conversation with plenty of good examples and a back-and-forth that demonstrates how a marketing blog should work.

A good read.

Technorati Tags: Brands, Branding, Brand Focus, Laura Ries, Jennifer Rice