Strategic Public Relations

Blog’s Broken, Watch for Finger | Friday Flickr Fix | 06.20.08

If you only knew how many (brilliant) posts I have in the hopper. Unfortunately I have no time to finish them prior to the annual family vacation.

Until I’m back on the grid in July, there are a ton of great blogs to the right in my blog roll. Scroll and check them out.

Or, if you REALLY want new content, I can tell the kids to the right that their Dad has to write instead of hitting the beach. Do you want that kind of guilt on your head?

**This post title is inspired by one of my favorite bumper stickers.

Too Cute uploaded by prblog

Kraft’s Green Packaging | DMI Brand Design Conference Day One

Consumer packaged goods marketing has always interested me. So I was all ears when the DMI’s Brand Design Conference kicked off with a presentation from Scott Young, of Perception Research Services.

Young discussed packaging and the environment from the consumers’ perspective.

CPG brands have three (conflicting) challenges when it comes to packaging.

1) Doing “the right thing” environmentally. More accurately, defining what exactly the right thing is when it comes to packaging.

2) Educating the consumer on what makes packaging good or bad for the environment. Young’s research findings showed a surprising lack of awareness around environmental terms.

3) Creating packaging that addresses consumer preferences. Consumers know environmental issues are important. But they still want packages that look good, show off the product, protect the product and are easy to use. And if the package is environmentally-friendly? Consumer’s want them to cost the same (or less) than current packaging.

Defining Terms
Confusing packages and a lack of awareness around terminology has created a clear need for better package messaging and an education campaign (e.g., terms like sustainable are industry terms, not words that consumers fully understand).

Product messages are getting confused with packaging messages. Is a product good for you and/or is its packaging good for the planet? Consider how products tell us they are everything from USDA approved, free trade, organic, environmentally friendly, recycled, locally owned, recycled and several shades of green. The end result is an overwhelmed consumer.

The Impossible Dream?!
Packaging that meets environmental and consumer needs reads like a tough order to fill. But packaging can look good, be easy to use and be environmentally friendly. Kraft’s new salad dressing bottles present a powerful example.

This award-winning package design uses 19 percent less plastic. This means a lighter package, saving more than 3 million pounds of plastic annually, and increased shipping efficiencies by 18 percent as the package is smaller.

Consistency is Key
Environmental messaging is valuable and vital, but they must extend beyond the products. From product to brand, it’s best to link to a larger environmental proposition.

Aveda for example has made the environment much more than a product differentiator. It’s part of everything they do from corporate social responsibility programs and the corporate mission statement to its stores, services and products on the shelves. And they need to go from being the stand out to being the standard.

tags | marketing | brand | design | DMI

The First Mash-Up, Circa: 1977

The AP tells us that "some retailers are giving vinyl records a spin" (get it?).

This reminded me of another long-lost recording format. As I wistfully combed the results of a Google Image search for the perfect image of an Eight Track, I found evidence of the first mash-up.

The interactive 8-track looked like the average 8-track, except at the bottom, where the Atari cartridge was connected. These 8-tracks, or "double-enders" as the music/video game fanatics called them, were an instant success and proceeded to change the music industry for at least a couple of weeks.

The double-ender was a hit. Magazines like Rolling Stone and Gamers Monthly hailed the Foghat Live 8-track as the start of the new music and video game revolution. And it was, for the next four years at least, but in the end it was not enough to save the interactive 8-track from the trash heap of nostalgia.

-- Via The Van Gogh-Gogh's

Is it me, or is that guy so beyond smiling that he looks in pain? UPDATE: Yeah, it's a joke. But a guy can dream, can't he?!

Three Stages of Writing | Friday Flickr Fix | 06.06.08

Years ago en route to a client meeting I asked my then colleague, a hack turned flack, if writing ever gets any easier.

My heart sank when this ex-journo told me writing is the hardest thing he does every day. But his point was writing is a labor of love. Your writing should always be improving and evolving. If it get’s too easy, you’re not pushing yourself to do your best work.

In hindsight, I think my writing has gone through at least three stages of evolution since entering the work force.

Unclear: Right out of school, my editors/my editing saved my ass. Let’s say I wrote something 50 words in length. Those 50 words probably didn’t communicate as simply and clearly as they could. I’d make associations or assertions that were unclear to the reader, with little transition…basically content that made more sense to me than my readers.

Inefficient: My issues with clarity fixed themselves over time. The writing was doing its job. But I was doing more with more. It took me 100 words to get the point across instead of 50 words. And editors/my editing still saved my ass.

Ever-Evolving: Today, thanks to blogging and work experience, those 100 words are back down to 50 words. My word choice is more muscular as I write more clearly and concisely. Editors/my edits still save my ass, but the challenge is more about what I write instead of how I write.

Writing is a labor of love. What are some of YOUR challenges and solutions to writing? Leave a comment with everything from how you deal with writer’s block, writing exercises and grammar pet peeves to your process and “secret-weapon” reference sites.

I’ll compile the responses into a follow-up post. Or did I just doom myself by ASKING for comments? You tell me – in 50 words or less.

From where I sit uploaded by Olivander
tags | public relations | PR | writing

Brand Merger Baby Steps | Goofus and Gallant

FedEx just announced it’s dropping the Kinko’s from its name and becoming FedEx Office to "describe the wide range of services available at its retail centers."

FedEx purchased Kinko’s in 2004. Waiting four years to drop the name might seem odd for a company specializing in overnight delivery, but it’s not.

FedEx was also adding a service by extending their brand to the uber-copy shop. This takes time to get organized internally and externally. Regardless of customer loyalty when the acquisition was announced, FedEx Kinko’s has now established itself as a successfully merged brand.

FedEx gets the Gallant on how to merge brand names -- by taking baby steps. Macy’s took a similar approach locally when they purchased they were still known as Federated Deparrment Stores and switched Lazarus Department Stores over to the Macy's nameplate.

Who gets the Goofus for showing us how NOT to merge brands? AT&T.

After several convoluted business deals, AT&T owned Cingular Wireless. It took about $4 billion and six years, but Cingular was a hot brand with its orange jumping jack logo. Cool enough to land exclusivity around the iPhone introduction.

AT&T flipped a switch in May of last year and what was once orange became blue.

Tossing some hard-earned gravitas out the window is bad enough, but it sends an even worse message to customers. It implies that the new brand is trying to gloss over the change. The subtext reads that AT&T is an arrogant alpha brand.

The instant enterprise-wide consistency might make integrated marketers squeal with glee, but this is messy stuff. The more AT&T tried to establish the new brand, the tougher it made the transition.

tags | advertising | marketing | branding | brand

Great Marketing Quote from Peter Drucker

"Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two--and only two--basic functions: marketing and innovation.

“Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business." – Peter Drucker

It’s up to us to make this quote a reality. Via Forbes

GRAFFITI YES uploaded by Andy Welsh
tags | marketing | Peter Drucker