BY: Brian Sullivan
I have come to realize that people will do almost anything for a free t-shirt (especially if the shirt is shot out of a gun or thrown into a crowd).
Seemingly rational adults will knock over small children or lean over railings risking a long fall to get a 50/50 cotton blend shirt with a large logo on it. Now, I expect kids to scramble, jump over seats and dive a couple rows to grab one, but adults? Come on. I know some of you are saying that they are just trying to get it for their kids. Baloney, most of these people aren’t with kids they apparently just love competition and free t-shirts.
The thrill of competition and winning can be a part of your promotion strategy. Creating excitement about your brand is the key to a great promotion or sponsorship. Many times there is value in the goodwill you get for just being associated with a cause or event. However, if you can create some excitement, you can create a more lasting impression. Wouldn’t you place more value on a shirt after displaying your athletic prowess in jumping over three rows of seats to snag it and having your efforts replayed on the video board for all to see, rather than simply walking into the arena and having a shirt draped over the back of your seat just like the 19,500 other seats in the arena?
When considering a promotion, you must plan how you are going to activate your brand in the process. Contests and giveaways are two of the most common tactics, but the options are only limited by your imagination. The bottom line is you must push for access to every activation point available when paying for a promotion. Do not miss an opportunity to make an impression or create excitement around your brand.
So, who do you think is the real winner in the free t-shirt-shot-out-of-a-gun scenario?
- The sponsor whose logo is on the t-shirt and who is paying for the promotion
- The event who sold the sponsorship and is using it to whip the crowd into a frenzy
- The guy or gal who knocked over the kids to get the free shirt
BY: Brian Sullivan
When searching for the essence of your brand, you may be surprised to find that it is not what you thought. You may think that people know your brand or visit your brand or buy your product for something quite obvious when indeed there is a much deeper connection.
Clothes don’t make the man; they enhance the man in the clothes. All people that wear The North Face technical gear don’t climb mountains every weekend, but they like the outdoorsy / slightly athletic image that wearing that brand projects. So, while the shorts with the carabineer loop are designed for a climber, people connect with the implied sense of adventure.
People don’t necessarily visit New Orleans just because of the French Quarter, they visit for the no holds barred / thrill a minute attitude you are allowed and even encouraged to have in New Orleans. Their trips are remembered for what they did and what happened to them and their friends while in the French Quarter.
People don’t buy Cascade dishwashing powder because it cleans better; they buy it because they don’t want spots on their glasses when serving their family and friends. Serving clean glasses means they are a conscientious homemaker and that is the image they want to project.
These are just three examples of looking beyond the surface for the essence of your brand and finding the emotional connection people make with it. Armed with this information, you can create much more persuasive communications.
BY: Amy Sharp
I love watching golf. Not necessarily up to ‘not moving from the couch all weekend’ guy standards, but I can definitely kill an afternoon following a tournament. One thing I have noticed over the years is the growing ‘logo fest’ on almost every players apparel. First it was just an additional sponsor to the hat or back of shirt, followed quickly by an additional logo or two on the front of shirt and why not one on the collar? I can just hear the sponsor/agent now, ‘It’ll be in all the closeups!’ I worry that just around the corner are more NASCAR style wins, which involve the winner spending as much time (cue the ‘grab and chug’ sponsor drink) naming/thanking sponsors as discussing play.
The problem with all this (besides the fact that it just seems to barge in on the grace of the game) is a great example of why creatives whine about wanting ‘more white space’. ‘White space’ is the space that allows objects to exist. Take a great portion of that space away, and the audience doesn’t know what they are looking at. Therein lies the battle and the whining begins. No one starts out using all the white space up. As you chip, chip, chip, away at it (no pun intended), before you know it, there is nothing but a sea of clutter to look at. If a sponsor wants the audience to see and remember said logo/partnership, in a sea of logos – what do you think the likelihood of that is?
In the past, Tiger Woods and Nike have handled it perfectly. Nike paid big dollars for exclusivity during play, while other Woods sponsors, Gatorade, Gillette, Tag Heuer, etc. got different pieces of Tiger. Of course that kind of money isn’t always on the table, but even Tiger is in a different situation now. Players need to be more selective about what they allow sponsors to demand of them. Sponsors need to be more innovative in how they take advantage of brand partnerships. If they don’t, they’re just throwing their money away.
BY: Brian Sullivan
I watched a short video today that challenged the viewer to guess the name of a movie based on the icons in the video. The icons morphed from one to another in a very clever way touching a wide range of movies. While movies are not my thing (I have a hard time sitting still that long), I loved the challenge of trying to guess the titles and felt good when I got one or two right.
I believe consumers like it when you challenge them. To be clear, I am not suggesting consumers like to be challenged to a duel or have their comments challenged (think Apple’s response to iPhone 4 complaints), but I am suggesting that consumers like smart communications that challenge them to think (even just a little bit). The goal is to engage them and not just talk to them. And, consumers find it endearing when you give them credit for being intelligent. Of course, there is a time and a place for this type of dialogue with a consumer just as there is a time and a place for “Big Mac $2.99.”
When a brand speaks to their consumers intelligently and treats them with respect, they will earn loyalty. When they can make their audience think just a little bit whether it is a reference to something in pop culture or a simple double entendre, people respond positively to the challenge of figuring it out.
This type of thing happens everyday in conversations around the world from… Andy Roddick referring to spontaneously shaving his head as a “Britney moment” to someone (me) playing the Violent Femmes Blister in the Sun over the company paging system just prior to a beach vacation. Smart communicators know the value of a payoff when the consumer has that “aha” moment which really translates to “they really know me.” Consider a Pepsi spot I did a few years back for an under-the-cap promotion that used the song Twist and Shout as the background, or Gastro One, the new name of the leading GI practice in our region, or the new tagline Live it Up, Just Down the Road for Tunica, MS, a primarily drive-in destination gaming market. All of these create “aha” moments, but in very different, very subtle ways.
So, as you can see, we consider every touch point an opportunity to give our audience credit for being smart, to engage them in a meaningful way and to ultimately gain their trial and resulting loyalty. Of course, social media outlets have become the ultimate way to engage consumers and have a true dialogue. However, it is important to remember that you can’t ignore the other opportunities to engage your audience. Man cannot live by social media alone.
I challenge you to see how many movie titles you can guess and can almost guarantee it will be more than I got. Click the image to view the video.
BY: Amy Sharp
Moving. We have been debating putting our house on the market for a while now, and I think spring fever may have gotten the better of me. Continue Reading »
BY: Brian Sullivan
I have spent most of this week escorting a family member to a series of doctor’s appointments. As you are no doubt aware, visiting any doctor is time consuming and stressful, but visiting four different doctors in three days with someone who doesn’t feel well, is almost surreal. Frankly, I had to check the calendar this morning to confirm what day of the week it was. Continue Reading »
BY: Eric Melkent
It’s that time of year again. No, I’m not talking about the start of the Christmahanakwanzika holiday season. According to most retailers, that started sometime between Valentine’s Day and Easter.
Continue Reading »
