It’s that time of year again. Time to look back at the work we’ve done over the past year and see what has Addy award potential. The questions start to swirl:
• “Do we have enough to enter?”
• “What should I have done differently?”
• “What have I seen that might be up for an award?”
• “What are my friends at other agencies entering?”
• “Can I quickly think of a cool idea and produce it for someone, before the entry deadline?”
The last question is interesting. We creatives love to imagine, and sometimes our ideas aren’t right for our current clients. This is a terrific stretch opportunity. I see nothing wrong with developing a great idea and selling it to a prospect — when it’s the right fit. Sometimes, off-the-wall, in-the-moment creativity leads to long-lasting, profitable relationships.
A former boss of mine once came up with an idea, called a potential client and said, “I have a great idea that you must hear.” He met the prospect for drink, wrote a tagline on a cocktail napkin, slid it across the table….and a 10-year relationship was born.
On the flip side of the coin… there’s nothing better than winning an Addy for an existing client, especially if it’s a concept that resulted in increased sales. Years ago there was an award called “Documented Success.” To me, this was the most important Addy of all. This award recognized great creative, great marketing and the work that created the biggest return on investment. What client wouldn’t want to be part of that award?
And then there are the awards won for really good creative, but with little return on investment. Bottom line, these ads failed. Remember: the ultimate goal for advertising is to sell products. If we create something that is a work of art that never sells, we’ll end up being starving artists with a sad reel of unsuccessful work.
I’m proud that Werth has a reel of advertising successes with clear return on investment. Want to join me over coffee or drinks to inspire that next great Addy idea that will drive your sales? Give me a call at 614.224.8114, send me an e-mail at kwaldron@paulwerth.com or leave me a comment on this blog post.
On Tuesday, November 17, Werth will hold a Webinar on managing a digital crisis in a health care environment. Even a scattering of Tweets or comments in a blog can create a huge problem for any health care organization. Social media will be an essential part of any crisis response.
Kim Ratcliff, Werth vice president, and Julie Scott, director of internal communications and marketing at The Ohio State University Medical Center, will join me as we share our perspectives on the increasing impact of social media on crisis management in the health care industry.
Participants will learn how to integrate social media into their crisis plans. We also will review some of the social media tools available to detect crisis situations and what to do when one hits.
Thanks to those who attended the “Balancing Legal and Communication Perspectives on Social Media” workshop from Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P. and Paul Werth Associates on October 20, 2009.
We hope you enjoyed hearing perspectives from both fronts on how social media impacts our workplace and our brands.
The presenters, including myself; Susan DiMickele, a partner at Squire Sanders; Traci Martinez, an associate at Squire Sanders; and Kim Ratcliff, a vice president at Werth, sat down to provide an overview of the insights shared during this complimentary workshop.
On October 20, Paul Werth Associates is pleased to partner with the Columbus office of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey on a presentation discussing how social media impacts brand reputation and how important it is for the communications and legal teams to coordinate efforts. This pre-registration only event will take place 3-7 pm close to the OSU campus.
The presenters, including myself; Susan DiMickele, a partner at Squire Sanders; Traci Martinez, an associate at Squire Sanders; and Kim Ratcliff, a vice president at Werth, recently sat down to provide a sneak peak of the insights to be shared during this complimentary workshop.
If you’re interested in registering, click here or please contact Adla Blackwell at (614) 365.2319.
That elusive emotional spark between a company and its stakeholders makes some reputations soar and never lose altitude.
Sophisticated measurements—even MRIs as described by Martin Lindstrom in Buyology—can track individual emotional reactions and the brain’s response to the appeals of marketing. Neuro-marketing is all the rage now thanks to self-described brand futurist Lindstrom, and the revelations from his $7 million study are riveting. The study provides evidence that purchasing decisions once considered to be driven by deliberate thought are in fact driven by instinct, deeply embedded and hard-wired into our nervous systems.
But describing and quantifying emotional connection to brands is different than feeling the connection. Lovemarks, coined by Saatchi and Saatchi, describe the beyond-brand nirvana of sensory connection to products. Lovemarks are in the upper-right corner of the quadrants formed by the love and respect continuums, squarely defined by high love/high respect. Our senses are clearly connected to our emotional responses to branding, and lovemarks embrace this.
One brand that’s leveraging the lovemark and Alsop’s seventh law is Ohio: The State of Perfect Balance. This is Ohio’s new brand. The “O” logo is now on driver’s licenses and is being implemented across all areas of state government. From the economic development perspective, the concept behind this brand is that business leaders can build their business AND love their life—something that’s clearly not possible on the coasts and in other areas that require large commitments of time for commute. Place branding has the power to draw more people to Ohio through emotional connections.
Take a moment to consider the brands that evoke emotional reactions for you. Comfort. Inspiration. Hope. Love. Protection. Relaxation.
What gut-level reactions do you associate with different brands? Compare notes with your colleagues. Is your own company’s brand a lovemark? Almost every brand has a lovemark they can cultivate and leverage. The best way to discover it is through research. Take action today to make your brand a lovemark.
The blogging team at Werth sat down with our Public Affairs practice area leader, Senior Vice President Karl Gebhardt, to talk shop on the latest strategies in government relations. Making the most of government connections is not always easy. Here’s what Karl shares to help navigate the unknown:
Prioritize your relationship-building approach with government. Are you leveraging the best outreach methods with your legislators?
Healthcare reform is monopolizing the news these days. Focusing on the big issues that affect your business–not just those that are hitting big in the news–will pay dividends in the long run.
Engagement strategies are becoming critical for government relations, following the model set by social media’s culture. Change is no longer happening in smoke-filled rooms, in behind closed-door conversations.
This video post is the first in a series for Karl. Visit us again to learn more from our public affairs experts.
As a student in my beginning years of college, my fine art professor told me, “You must have a unique style.” Which I didn’t.
As I gravitated toward design, my new professor told me, “Whatever you do, don’t have a unique style. You must adapt and design to your clients’ needs, not yours. An agency whose work all looks the same will be temporary.”
That really stuck with me. It wasn’t just one of those things that I learned in school and applied it because someone told me that was the right answer. It was, and is, one of those things that just makes sense. Her lesson is something that I truly believe and will always think about before approaching any branding project.
But, there are trends, and sometimes those trends tend to grow into styles, and once that happens, it’s all over.
The other day I walked through our break room and saw an annual report lying on the table, designed by another agency. The cover caught my eye because it was smartly designed. But once I opened it, I knew the agency that designed it.
Later in the day, I received a direct mail piece from a company. I investigated further and found that it was created by the agency that designed the annual report. Again, I saw the same trendy look. These work samples were created for two different clients, in different industries—but the designers executed almost the exact same brand guidelines. It seems that the agency is using the same brand for its book of business. That’s just not right. Clients deserve better than recycled brands.
Here’s my approach—and what you will see in the work of Paul Werth’s creative:
The brand represents the one-of-a-kind soul of an organization and should shine through in every work of design. Our work reflects each company’s unique soul, not our own.
Ask yourself this question:
Does your agency interview you before each project, as a continuing opportunity to know what you and your projects are all about? Are they seeing your brand through their company’s lens or the lens of your company’s soul?
I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on authentic and unique, company-specific branding. Please drop me a line, as a comment on this blog or personally, at kwaldron@paulwerth.com.
Increasingly skeptical about brands and resistant to marketing, many consumers are using the Web to research products and brands – turning to blogs, review sites and social networks for advice on how to find the best values as they seek to stretch their budgets.
Smart marketers are engaging their customers online, but it’s important to do some testing before you dive in to the digital ocean. Research provides the crucial difference between an online campaign that merely agitates the water and one that creates an ongoing current of measurable results. And the same technology that enables customer-to-customer conversations also makes it easier to conduct research in real time.
Here are some tools the Werth research team uses to help clients get to know their customers:
Search engine and keyword research – Because the majority of consumers start any quest for information with Google or another search engine, it’s important to know what keywords your customers are most likely to use.
Online reputation audit – A 360-degree view of your online presence uncovers who is talking about your company, your products and your competitors, where and when these conversations are taking place, what is the tone and content of these conversations and how conversations begin and unfold. Werth has developed an online reputation audit that is helping clients determine which online platforms and strategies are worthy of investment and sets a benchmark prior to campaign launch.
Social media monitoring – Ongoing monitoring of blogs, Web sites and social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, etc. provides real-time insight into how your campaigns are working, highlights new opportunities and signals early warning of any negative trends.
Other digital research methods include e-mail and online surveys, online focus groups and proprietary online panels. I’ll explore the uses and benefits of these in an upcoming post. Whatever the method, market research remains the best way to understand consumer behavior and to make smart investments during a time of economic challenge.
Interested in learning more about consumer trends? Research presented in the July 2009 issue of Harvard Business Review shows that the recession is having a far greater impact on consumer spending habits than previous downturns, and that some behavior patterns, as well as brand perceptions, may be dramatically altered. Paul Flatters and Michael Willmott of Trajectory, a consumer trends forecasting consultancy, document massive shifts in consumers’ purchasing behavior and attitudes toward brands.
Inexperienced “experts” in the social media world don’t understand that it needs to serve a clear purpose and be measured. The social media frenzy is now at the stage where companies aren’t taking so-called experts at their word. Companies are seeking substance—and experience. But are they getting it?
Werth has noticed that rising above the frenzy are some well-positioned strategic thoughts, like Peter Shankman’s recent blog post. But some are focused more on the purely social aspects of social media and represent themselves from an overly casual point-of-view, possible juvenile and often not aligned with corporate culture that seeks results (translation: not all fun and games) for the investment.
Here’s the rub:
Companies that put inexperienced professionals (admittedly power users of social media, but not communications or marketing experts) in the driver’s seat with their social media run the risk of damaging their reputations.
People are panicked to get a social media presence because it’s seen as the next silver bullet. As professional marketers and communicators, we all need to recognize one important and timeless fact:
Social media is—with deference to Tony the Tiger—simply “an important part of a balanced marketing breakfast.” I’m probably dating myself, but readers out there who get the reference are the fastest adopters of social media. According to Nielsen, FaceBook alone has more than 200 million active users with the fastest growing age group adults 35 and over.
Thinking like Tony, social media should be used as an important part of a total program to help achieve marketing goals. On its own, social media can be just like breakfast cereal–an addictive snack easily gobbled down by the handful throughout the day, or something served once daily or weekly with milk, OJ and some banana slices on top.
How can you tell if you are really getting expertise or just meaningless chatter behind your social media effort? Nothing beats a plan that is executed within corporate norms with respect for social media authenticity—while demonstrating results. As you are looking for experts, ask about experience, the strategy behind the program and most importantly, what business results it will generate.
Join us for an informed and results-oriented conversation on social media. Over the next few weeks my colleagues and I will be posting on successes we’re seeing with social media and sharing some amazing results, starting with a Werth client that reached more than 50 percent of its campaign goal in one day with a social media campaign.
If I were asking Tony the Tiger, I’m sure he’d say it’s “Grrrrrrrreat!”
Future posting: Using social media to rise above industry reputation challenges.
Nearly 100 of Werth’s friends and clients gathered at OSU Longaberger Alumni House last week to think about the worst things that could happen to them. Crisis communications, an essential aspect of public relations, has gotten even more challenging in the digital age.
We no longer control the flow of information about our organizations, and it’s hard to make sure that it’s even accurate today. And that’s on a good day! When things go wrong, the damage spreads like wildfire. Oxford-Metrica reports, “During the next five years, 83 percent of companies will face a crisis that, …as a result of the way it was managed…, will negatively impact share price between 20 and 30 percent.”
As we told our friends at last week’s workshop, Werth has many decades of experience in crisis communications and is actively working in the digital environment to prevent and mitigate reputation problems for our clients nearly every day. Here are some rules that work:
Listen to both what is said and who is saying it. Just as one journalist can trigger a global story, just one relevant blogger can generate a crisis.
Insert yourself into conversations when you have something positive to contribute.
Take the time to do a thorough, easy-to-use crisis plan and train your spokespeople. Then help the C-suite to become smart about social media.
Create a big digital footprint so you own your Google and other search engine results and your brand name on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Assume others know more about the crisis than you do. It’s OK to say, “I don’t know, but I will find out.”
Get templates of statements approved before the crisis begins.
Spread the truth faster than the rumors, responding in one hour or less. Get your message into the conversation before the story hardens.
Address the crowd where it gathers. If the flashpoint for digital crisis is YouTube, respond using that communications vehicle.
Notify employees and media at the same time.
Show you care. Tone and demeanor are important.
Werth will be hosting a Webinar next month to review these rules and other essentials for digital crisis communications. In addition, we will soon release a white paper that explores the detail from our workshop. We will share more information as the dates approach.
In the meantime, have you updated your crisis plan with a digital component? If you haven’t, you’re not ready for the worst. You’re welcome to contact me at ktwinem@paulwerth.com or 614.224.8114 to talk about the best ways to get started. Remember: Time is not on your side in the era of digital crisis, but Werth can make sure that you are protected.
