by Next Wave Team | Oct 29, 2007 | Brand Relevancy, Change the world, Design, Differentiating Your Brand, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Great Ad Agencies, The Next Wave in Business
Just ran across this, and thought, “imitation is the greatest form of flattery”
brand new: The wedding day
Michael Jager, one of the founders of the great design shop JDK, spoke about the need for brands to create emotion and devotion
“Brands to create emotion and devotion” sounds an awful lot alike with my Next Wave t-shirt I’m wearing today “Create Lust/ Evoke Trust.”
I’ve always been a fan of Jager DiPaola Kemp - especially the living logo concept they pioneered for Burton Snowboards, where the logo morphs as fast as fashion.
by Next Wave Team | Oct 9, 2007 | 1 to 1 marketing, Advertising, Brand Relevancy, Change the world, Differentiating Your Brand, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Future of advertising, Great Ad Agencies, Marketing & the Web, Practical Marketing 101, Public Relations in the Web 2.0 world, Retail, The Next Wave in Business, Viral Marketing, Web strategy
Last Friday I ended a 9 year relationship with Sprint. It didn’t have to be that way, but failed customer service policy made it inevitable- and also, made it unlikely that I’ll ever say anything nice about Sprint ever again.
So, today when the CEO resigned- and they announced a major loss of customers, I wasn’t surprised. I’m sure my story is repeated every other minute- and it’s not the advertising that’s at fault, it’s bad customer service.
First, here’s what Ad Age said about the churn at the top- and then I’ll share my story and how Sprint could reverse it’s fortune:
Sprint CEO Resigns; Carrier Announces Major Loss of Customers - Advertising Age - News
SAN FRANCISCO (Adage.com) — Despite $1.78 billion in ad spending, and its hiring of one of the leading ad agencies in the nation, Sprint Nextel continued to bleed customers in the most recent quarter, leading to the resignation today of Gary Forsee as chairman and president-CEO.
In a statement regarding the resignation, Sprint also said it will announce that during the third quarter it lost some 340,000 postpaid wireless customers, that is, customers who pay a bill each month instead of those who pay in advance for a limited number of minutes. (more…)
by Next Wave Team | Oct 9, 2007 | 1 to 1 marketing, Advertising, Brand Relevancy, Change the world, Differentiating Your Brand, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Future of advertising, Great Ad Agencies, Marketing & the Web, Practical Marketing 101, Public Relations in the Web 2.0 world, Retail, The Next Wave in Business, Viral Marketing, Web strategy
Last Friday I ended a 9 year relationship with Sprint. It didn’t have to be that way, but failed customer service policy made it inevitable- and also, made it unlikely that I’ll ever say anything nice about Sprint ever again.
So, today when the CEO resigned- and they announced a major loss of customers, I wasn’t surprised. I’m sure my story is repeated every other minute- and it’s not the advertising that’s at fault, it’s bad customer service.
First, here’s what Ad Age said about the churn at the top- and then I’ll share my story and how Sprint could reverse it’s fortune:
Sprint CEO Resigns; Carrier Announces Major Loss of Customers - Advertising Age - News
SAN FRANCISCO (Adage.com) — Despite $1.78 billion in ad spending, and its hiring of one of the leading ad agencies in the nation, Sprint Nextel continued to bleed customers in the most recent quarter, leading to the resignation today of Gary Forsee as chairman and president-CEO.
In a statement regarding the resignation, Sprint also said it will announce that during the third quarter it lost some 340,000 postpaid wireless customers, that is, customers who pay a bill each month instead of those who pay in advance for a limited number of minutes. (more…)
by Next Wave Team | Oct 6, 2007 | Advertising, Brand Relevancy, Careers in Advertising, Change the world, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Differentiating Your Brand, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Future of advertising, Great Ad Agencies, Hot New Creative Agencies, How To Select An Ad Agency, Marketing & the Web, Practical Marketing 101, Public Relations in the Web 2.0 world, The Craft Of Advertising, The Next Wave in Business, Web strategy
Fallon may be winning the battle as the womb of new agencies - as I’ve stumbled upon yet another spin-off: Zeus Jones. This agency popped onto the scene March 1, 2007 (and deserves extra credit for not naming the agency after themselves).
While we’ve not been very complimentary of Brew: A creative collaborative, or Barrie D’Rozario Murphy and the way they started off online (weakly)- the crew at Zeus Jones scores a B+ for “getting it.” The front page is just a series of places you’ll find them online- starting with their presentation on Slideshare (see below). Very cool stuff.
Zeus Jones Welcomes You.
Zeus Jones approaches marketing differently.
View our credentials to see what we mean by “Marketing As A Service.”
They also have a separate blog: From the head of Zeus Jones which for some odd reason, they didn’t decide to build on their own site- but using Blogspot- which is what stopped me from giving them an A+
The idea of a blog, separate from a site, is old school. Ideally, while having all those places online as place to hang out is great- the fulcrum of your online (the de facto realization of your brand these days) in 2 places is a mistake.
What I had time to look at on ZJ’s sites looked good. They’ve decided it’s not advertising brands need- it’s more of a reason to like a brand- utility. We’ve always thought of our solutions for clients as one that makes the relationship between customers and our clients one of mutual joy, as opposed to a one-way shouting match.
There are some smart, small agencies out there- but, finding and identifying them will take a new kind of filter. With agency search firms still clueless about what makes good web strategy, and Ad Age and everyone else so fascinated by Crispin Porter & Bogusky (us included)- what has been slipping under the radar is agencies like Zeus Jones who seem to have a true Unique Selling Proposition- and the smarts to make it happen in our Web 2.0 world.
by Next Wave Team | Aug 24, 2007 | 1 to 1 marketing, Advertising, Advertising Case Studies for The Next Wave, Apple Advertising, Change the world, Dayton Media Options, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Future of advertising, How To Select An Ad Agency, Marketing & the Web, Media, Personalization of Advertising, Practical Marketing 101, Public Relations in the Web 2.0 world, Search and Business, The Next Wave in Business, Web strategy
By now, every one has seen the Apple iPhone ad “Calamari” showcasing the Google maps function on the iPhone.
And, when typing in Pizza it does a great job around my home. It also works for locating the nearest Apple Store quite well. But, when typing in “Advertising Agency” nothing even close to an ad agency got a pin in Dayton. So, of course, I had to fix that. Google informs me it will take up to 4 weeks before my listing is updated (unbelievably slow in the Internet age)- but, it was incredibly easy, and the verification by phone system worked well.
If you haven’t put your business on the Google Maps page, I highly recommend doing it as soon as possible- and, if you are a Pizza place, you can even put a coupon on it for free! So, proceed to the following link and look for the “Add or Edit your business” part- make sure you are at your business phone and have a live internet connection at the same time.
Google Maps
For right now, it’s cool to show up on iPhone users phones- but, soon, this will be more important than the Yellow Pages ever were. And, before you select an ad agency, that claims to be digitally literate, check out if they have a complete listing on Google Maps.
by Next Wave Team | Aug 2, 2007 | Advertising, Creativity, Differentiating Your Brand, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Future of advertising, How To Select An Ad Agency, Marketing & the Web, Secrets of Great Advertising, The Craft Of Advertising, The Next Wave in Business, Web strategy
Back in 2005 Rupert Murdoch was interviewed in Business week, long before he purchased the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones:
The Birth of Murdoch.com
BROAD VISION. “Our strategy is quite simple,” Murdoch said. “News Corp. at its core is about content. The Web at its core is about personal choice. What we are aiming to do is combine the two, and in the process redefine the meaning of [an] Internet vertical.”
And in buying up newspapers, which ad agencies and CMO’s are writing off as an advertising medium- Murdoch is proving he’s way ahead of everyone else: he’s buying content generators, which will give him eyeballs. He’s planning on earning attention the old fashioned way- by providing useful content.
Which brings me to advertising as practiced today. We’re no longer generating ads to ride along with content- now more than ever the ad has to be able to stand alone as its own content. Not by intruding, but by being invited as content worth watching. So fun, interesting, informative that consumers will actually want to share it, interact with it, or use it to expand their own personal equity stash.
So, before you look at your next media buy and your new ad campaign, look at it as content first, and think what you would do with it? If you would want to hang it on your wall, share it with friends, save it to solve problems, or just keep it because it’s beautiful or funny- then go ahead and run it.
If it doesn’t do any of those things, or is mostly you beating your chest, maybe it’s time to select a new ad agency.
