Brandanimation

O’ the lessons to be learned from daily life. How we humans drift away from the simplicity of life to make things multi-layered, extremely complex and place things on a path to their ultimate demise. Not trying to be apocalyptic.;)

Yes, I’m sure for some of you that have read my rants you already know that I feel that the majority of complex situations are the outcome of human involvement. At the core, at the very inner workings of all systems surely problems will eventually arise. They can usually be solved rather easily, but we have built systems of layers that filter simple problems and allow them to percolate into our delicious world of complexity.

And now…..drifting back on course:) Enter the radically simple show Undercover Boss. Should we be surprised by the success of the show? more

AHHHHHHHH..It’s good to be back. I was dealing with the loss of my mother so I needed to regroup…back to the madness that lives inside my head;)

Talk to any garden variety hippie :) and they’ll tell you that they wake up everyday and set their day’s intentions. They’ll go into great detail about what they want to happen that day and they will visualize it happening and set their intentions. While to some this may seem like a total waste of time - it isn’t. Furthermore, there is a lot to be learned regarding the power of intent and how it relates to what we do for a living

Hold on. Here comes a bit of an A.D.D diatribe - I apologize in advance:)

Camus once stated that, “We can’t create experience, we must undergo it.” more

The feeling is everywhere. I’m sure you’ve had numerous conversations about it with everyone from co-workers to close friends - you can even feel it in the air. Everyone seems to be tangled up in an emotional spiderweb of doubt and disillusion.

Everyone seems to be wanting to simplify things - they want to slow things down. Unfortunately, everyone has finally come to the realization that they unknowingly joined the cult of speed that has taken over our lives. Never before has it been drawn into this sharp of focus. The world is moving incredibly fast, and we all seem to have allocated less time for the things that mean the most to us.

As marketing professionals what can we do to connect to what seems like an unconnectable audience? more

Hello Readers of the BFMB! I apologize for the decrease in frequency of my posts, but I am dealing with a family illness.

Also, we just launched a new research channel for The Experiential Marketing Forum (EMF). This section is intended to help al brands and practicioners better understand events that are done using experiential methodology.

Having said that - TIME TO TAKE THE GLOVES OFF for part #3.

In part #2 I wrote

Today, everyone knows that the activation budget/media buy needs to be a healthy sum of money in order to reach the intended amount of the mass audience.  Especially since there are reports floating around that it takes 40-plus airings of a commercial to yield the same result of just 4 to 5 airings a few years ago. The media landscape is that much more fragmented. In any case, it is clear that there are two things that need to be taken into consideration: the quality of the spot and the quantity of the times that it runs. Both of these things require substantial spending for a chance at success.

In essence, when you are classifying event marketing as the mass channel that it is let me say this. Event marketing is the most effective media for the key consideration metrics dollar for dollar vs. any mass channel that exists today. more

Let’s begin to think about other mass channels and the current thinking applied there - let’s start with the oldest and most famous traditional mass channel - the good ole’ TV commercial!

It’s certainly been a round a long time, and when used properly, it’s certainly a great component to any integrated marketing campaign.  I say this, of course, taking into consideration that a brand is working with substantial dollars, and not in a situation in which it’s working with slashed budgets. Sound familiar?

When working on a TV spot - whether a 15-, 30- or 60-second spot — the tried-and-true media planning and buying methodology will break down the cost of the spot into a few quantifiable buckets.  How many buckets exactly?  Lets just say that it’s about 3 to 5 separate buckets, not counting the cost for ideation.

We’re talking about the mechanics of the spot itself. (Please note that I am not a media buyer so I’m applying a beginner’s perspective to this process. I apologize in advance.) There’s the pre-production costs and all the advance work needed to kick-start the production. Site and talent scouting, procurement, scheduling, troubleshooting, etc….there’s a bunch of money set aside for these kinds of things. more

O! Hello faithful readers of the BFMB! The BFMB remains one of my favorite places to be able to free flow write. What a thrill! It’s the little things in life, ya know:)?

I have done many things in my career to help try to put things (all kinds of things) in a new perspective, to help people see things through a new lens, to sometimes even challenge the core of their belief structure in order to help them succeed in today’s new market landscape. This, without question, is actually my favorite thing to do…to stretch the thinking of individuals.

Anyone can, like a blind mouse, accept and work inside of existing structures. Others challenge the status quo because they think that there is more that can be done — much more. more