Monthly Archives: January 2012

Powerful stuff, I’m tellin’ you.

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Not even sure where to start with this one…so many questions… Check out this video and tell me that experiential marketing isn’t unbelievably effective. These are views from a five year old.

Having a two and a half year old niece who’s already pairing letters with words and associating images with known people/objects/etc., this is entirely believable to me. And I’d think the goal would be to become the ‘coffee’, the ‘soda’ or the ‘place where grandpa works’. Natural associations that become facts in the mind of five year olds could continue to grow into strong allegiance for the company years down the road. It appears that GE could be the strongest emotional tie this five year old has with any company. It keys in to a very personal emotional connection with her grandpa (as age old companies like GE have done with many of our grandpas over the years). The whole purpose of experiential marketing is to build that personal, emotional, lasting connection with consumers and this video is just a sample (albeit a very small sample of 1) to show what companies have been effective with the upcoming generation so far.

I wonder how many of these brands would have had similar affects on my generation at age five and what the emotional ties looked like then compared to now. Would the ties and allegiance to those companies have grown with time (as companies might hope)?

Challenge: How do you act on your own views of brands? Do any tug your heart strings? Do you have an affinity for one soda brand rather than another for reasons beyond taste? Were any of your parents’ brand preferences especially influencing in your youth? How has that affected your purchasing habits?

This one little video invokes so many questions for me. And those question are what drive my passion for keying in to what people want/crave/buy/think. This is the reason I get excited about events. Effective events have a way of connecting consumers to brands in a more tangible and personal format than flat advertisements do. Even birthday parties, weddings, happy hour events can leave you with another impression of your host and what they value.

What do your events (aka. your tangible marketing outlets) tell others about you?

Love Actually

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…is one of my favorite movies. Not only because I enjoy the yucky love stuff, but also because of THIS scene. I’m sorry, it’s adorable. Any (if not every) girl yearns to feel that to someone else they are the world. That their someone else would be brave and bold and put their heart on the line, and tell her that she’s it. She’s the one.

Regardless of age or time of year, moments like the one in the Love Actually video will always touch my heart. It’s a different feeling from that felt pre-engagement, but still gets to that vulnerable, happy place where little kid dreams live.

But these next videos… awe, man, tears were pouring down my face. This 2011/2012 proposal/engagement season has not been impressive because of the slew of bridal marketing being done, but because of the engagements themselves. Watch and see what you think.

See what I mean? I love ‘em! They get you in that usually-protected, raw, gushy place in your heart.

Props to the proposers. We’re looking forward to stepping up our razzle dazzle wedding planning game not just for the brides but for the ’12-’13 grooms!

And circle gets the square!

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For those of you out there developing marketing campaigns and looking for great mobile solutions, check out SnapTags. I started to hear about them as fall started, but the buzz didn’t really pick up until recently. These simplistic, photo-friendly, and scannable codes can aid in leading your clients to your brand.

Their website is pretty explanatory. They’ve even listed descriptions of how people from various viewpoints would define SnapTags (including a Kindergartener!).

I love that these allow brands to include their logos in the center of the circle, so it can continue to brand the org where placed, unlike QR codes. I appreciate the crisp, clean, aesthetically-pleasing design of SnapTags as well.

So, okay, they’re not free, like QR codes are. And they aren’t meant to be used as one-offs. However, they provide so many more benefits from use that they may give your brand tangability it’s yet to have with your clients/consumers… And gaining insider stats on your consumers’/fans’ purchasing cycles? A huge necessity and bonus.

Many of their benefits for brand engagement are included in the infographic below, but there are also some pretty compelling and brainstorm-generating details here.

QR Codes vs. SpyderLynk SnapTags: The Infographic

Happy You Year.

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It’s strange how much of your perspective on life changes in the first year of marriage (or at least has in OUR first year). Pre-wedding, I thought having kids & settling down in an established home were still 3-4 years away. My, how the tides have changed. Looking back, I’d say 2011 may have been our ‘solidifying year’. We got married (check), discussed what we’d want in our future home & where (check),  and grew confident in our expectations for future career moves as well as the strengths we bring to the table (check, check). Though it was fast-paced, 2011 was full of fun challenges and pieces to mentally prepare us for the here and now.

Yoga Journal‘s February 2012 issue arrived this week and I can’t resist giving props to Manduka‘s new ad campaign: Happy YOU Year. The idea being to ‘practice being the beautiful, twisted, radical miracle that you are.’ Very clever and very effective. Easily appealing to women & moms, all things health, and potentially even people who’ve recently re-entered singledom. If pilates and yoga classes weren’t already something I’d committed to continue taking this year, I’d be adding them to the list. Especially with their mats. Plush, soft, and still durable quality. Big fan.

Though there is some continuity from 2011, our family has dubbed 2012 as ‘the year of changes’. It’s time for us to make the big switch from ‘developing’ to ‘acting on’ what we’ve been working hard to achieve: experience in our fields, bases for strong careers, established networks, and a foundation to raise children. It’s strange how quickly it feels we migrate from adolescence to adulthood. But we’re ready, life. Here goes.