February 2010 Update
| |
|
Crucial consumer trends for 2010
Greg Nason - Interactive Specialist
What will consumers be searching for as 2010 unfolds? How can you make sure your business is at the forefront of their interest? Here's what's trending this year.
- Business as Unusual. Think of Amazon, Zappos and Virgin as pioneers in the digital frontier of customer touchpoints, then think of how you can outdo them.
- Urban Pride. Incorporating a city's character into your products for a huge edge in those markets.
- Real-time Reviews. Online, everyone is a critic, an advocate and a soapbox personality. You cannot control what is said, but you can certainly leverage the data to your benefit.
- (F)luxury. Luxury is about availability and perception, within your realm of control. As the trends fluctuate, concentrate on defining what luxury means for your target.
- Mass-mingling. As online technology makes it easier for people to coordinate and meet up in the offline world, determine how your product fits into this equation and do the math.
- Tracking and alerting. Everything is becoming trackable, and alerting puts your messages directly into the hands of voluntary recipients, the most qualified of targets. Have you noticed the food-truck-following craze lately?
For these and more trends, visit TrendWatching.com's January 2010 briefing.
Tech breakdown
Matthew Knox - Interactive Specialist
Embracing leading-edge technology is important but watch out for the bleeding edge of over-investment in the latest craze. Rather than spend on the unknown, strengthen the areas that have good ROI and integrate a pinch of innovation. Investing in things that lose value once driven off the lot is going nowhere fast. Utilize free resources and maximize your mileage.
Examples:
- Use YouTube rather than build a video player or video network from the ground up
- Use free software if there are no funds available to buy software - or use older versions of proven programs
- Use inexpensive but efficient iPhone apps that connect your customers and employees through multiple instant messengers to increase communication
- Use time-tested social networks instead of trying to create a new system (Facebook group, Ning, etc.)
If the car runs well, why buy a new one?
Rebranding: the bad, the ugly and the good
Will Shepler - Team Manager
The Bad
In this time of tightened wallets, sales are down and companies are looking for answers. Rebranding may help, but it should never be done without inspired purpose, an executable vision and total commitment. Uninspired changes are a fruitless expenditure and may even hurt your brand.
The Ugly
Rebranding is a serious endeavor; it requires strong fundamentals and execution. Yet every now and then, a company will reject the fundamentals and opt for the dreaded logo competition - soliciting work from the unskilled and untrained, which pretty much guarantees that the final product will not be strategically sound, as was the case recently with a popular tourist destination. Designers, branding specialists and marketing teams are trained to provide on-strategy direction and art—while logo competitions open to the masses sometimes replace that expertise with "pretty."
The Good
So who's doing it right? PBS rebranded in September, inviting viewers to "Be More." It took the time (almost a full year) to do the research and to commit to an inspiring new vision. In doing so, PBS stayed true to its tireless message of discovering our world and promoting new ideas, while positioning itself in a bright new light. It is foolish to rebrand without solid reasoning. Make sure you have a story to tell.
 | |  |
Building a brand one login at a time
Theo Pizza - Digital Developer
Thanks to the Web and a surge of social media, communications between the consumer and producer has shifted. We now have the opportunity to glance at what the average consumer says about a brand. Take for example "The Turnaround" campaign launched by Domino's Pizza in response to negative feedback about its food. The company faced its critics and created a new pizza from the crust up, and it's looking like it will be a huge success.
The takeaway? Listen to what your target consumer is saying. Knowing how they feel about you before you speak to them puts you two steps ahead of the game. Shaping our traditional methods of advertising around positive and negative social feedback has become the foundation for keeping a brand alive. All we have to do is listen.
Good news about some of our great clients
| | City of Hope has received the 2009 Summit Award, the healthcare satisfaction industry's most coveted symbol of achievement. It recognizes top performing facilities that sustain the highest level of customer satisfaction for three or more consecutive years. City of Hope is one of just 74 facilities across the nation, and the only one in Southern California, to receive the 2009 honor.
|
| | The Landscape Design Council of the California Garden Clubs, Inc. (CGCI) recently presented a Certificate of Appreciation to Monrovia Nursery. It cited Monrovia's involvement with garden clubs, commitment to horticultural education and assisting with programs for high school special-needs students. CGCI points out that Monrovia's showcase garden helps teach people about plants that thrive in arid climates.
|
| | NuSil Technology's Carpinteria, Calif., headquarters building and production flow were recently reorganized and redesigned. A 2,400-square-foot cleanroom was created to meet the rapidly expanding need for a silicone manufacturer that can compound active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) into silicones - and do so in a safe and controlled environment. This new cleanroom will be registered with the FDA, as well as the California State Health Department.
|
| | At select Panera Bread bakery-cafes, customers could easily donate $1 or more for Haitian relief just by adding it to their check. All contributions went to the American Red Cross Haitian Relief and Development fund.
|
| | Panasonic Toughbook 30 was named one of "The Great 8 Products of 2009" by Government Computer News lab. Of the hundreds of new products tested, only a select few stood out as the best of the best. The GCN lab reports, "...if you need a laptop that will survive where others fear to tread, this is the choice."
|
| | The Ultimate Wave Tahiti is a new 3D film for IMAX theaters launching this month. It features Kelly Slater and Raimana Van Bastolaer surfing one of the planet's most challenging waves, Tahiti's Teahupo'o. Expect stunning views of volcanic islands of French Polynesia, home to the Polynesian seafaring culture and some of the world's most challenging surfing. Learn about the astounding coral reef ecosystems that are at the interface between the island and ocean.
|
Newsletter archive
Review past issues of Creative Strategies.
Your thoughts?
Creative Strategies is written to deliver marketing philosophies and tips for our clients and agency friends. Email us and tell us how we can improve it.
The Phelps Group is a marketing communications company organized in client-based teams of advertising, PR, promotion, direct and interactive specialists, delivering integrated programs from a full-feedback environment. Our mission is to create great work for deserving clients, in a healthy working environment, to realize our clients' goals and our potential.
