Congratulations! You’ve completed an exhaustive RFP process and have a shiny new agency that you can’t wait to take for a spin. I’m sure you asked all the necessary questions, so there shouldn’t be any surprises now that it’s time to get down to solving all of your marketing communications challenges. The only question that matters is, “How do we get started?”
Read full post...

Craig, Jenn and Paul of AB&C with Anita Moos of Newark Natural Foods. (Photo credit the Delaware Business Journal.)

If you scour our website and blog, you’ll see the words “brand” and “branding” popping up all over the place. It’s at the very core of what we do, so naturally we like to talk about it. What makes our jobs more fun is when our clients adopt that same love and appreciation for branding that we have. And we are fortunate enough to work with many clients who have done exactly that.

Delaware Business Times wrote an article spotlighting Newark Natural Food’s recent brand makeover. (Side note: it’s fairly obvious that posing for pictures doesn’t come quite as naturally to us [or at least to me] as branding does.)Read full post...

The budget tango – the precious dance clients and agencies do around the marketing budget.

Budgets.

There, I said it. I’ve never been a fan of surprises.

There’s a silly little dance that takes place in most client-agency relationships around the subject of budgets. I call it the budget tango.Read full post...

A happy, relaxed workplace leads to better thinking and a better product.

Ding! New email comes in. Subject line: “Who needs a drink?!” You waver a little bit before responding. On the one hand, it’s been a long day and you really need to unwind. And there’s nothing important that you had to do after work. On the other hand, you just don’t know if you feel like going to happy hour.

Go.

A happy hour may be spontaneous, or it may be planned months in advance — but either way, it’s always a good idea. At Aloysius Butler & Clark, we try to plan a happy hour each month, hosted by one of the departments in the agency. We’ve had a creative department tailgate party in the parking lot, a public relations Halloween happy hour in our spooky garage, and a media team Oscars gathering complete with red carpet — just to name a few.

Don’t have the space or energy to plan a themed happy hour? No problem! Just grab a couple of colleagues and head down to the local brewpub to enjoy some of their happy hour specials. Do it. It’s good for you. It can actually be healthy. Read full post...

Image courtesy of You Only Blog Once

Starting with the 2014 NBA season, teams will be allowed to sell advertising space on their home courts and backboards. No values have been set yet, but, according to Business Insider, the NBA believes this could be a $100+ million income-generator.

Just think, the next time Kobe’s sitting on the bench with a towel over his head, reminiscing about the good ol’ days when Shaq was around, he could be tapping his personalized size 14s on a Kia ad. Or when LeBron dunks on someone, he can reach for the stars — or the Starbucks ad at the top of the backboard. Why not, right?Read full post...

Traditional focus groups are great, but this just wasn't one of those places.

I know you don’t need me to tell you, but I’m going to anyway. The Internet is amazing.

Let me take a step back. One of our clients came to us a few months ago asking us to do a focus group on new webpage layouts for their online payment flow. Very quickly we realized we didn’t have a whole lot of time to design, build, test and report on these payment flows, so we were forced to branch out from the traditional group-behind-the-one-way-mirror routine and see what other options were available. Now, don’t get me wrong — traditional focus groups are great and have their place, but this just wasn’t one of those places.

Read full post...

Rethink. Retool. Readjust.

As more and more people do their banking technologically rather than in person, banks will need to adjust their branch strategy. They will need to morph into more consultative centers for personal and small business customers – with a human touch.

Personal and business banking is more complicated these days. Banks that can adjust to having branch staff able to deliver prompt, relatively unbiased and trustworthy counsel to customers will grow market share. If it’s customers that they give advice to, you may ask, “How are they going to improve share?” Well, if a checking customer wants to buy a home or a new car, and isn’t sure how to do it or what to look out for, you have a chance for a deeper relationship. And if the experience is helpful, your customers will talk to their friends. And here’s a crazy thought – advertise this consultative service as free, and open to anyone who wants advice, not only your existing base. Who knows, some of those non-customers might just want you to help them with that mortgage or SBA loan.

Changing the way they advertise.

Everyone wants to reach the top. Mountain climbers have always set their sights on conquering Mt. Everest. Baseball players have always aimed for the World Series. Big companies have always budgeted to advertise during the Super Bowl.

Until now. Pepsi is ending its 23-year run as an advertising staple during the most watched television event of the year. According to the Wall Street Journal, the soft-drink powerhouse is moving its advertising dollars online to kick off the “Pepsi Refresh Project” that will “award grant money for community projects proposed and selected by consumers, such as helping high-school students publish books to develop their writing skills.”Read full post...

Did you notice the change in tune?

We’ve all seen the Geico commercials with people being stalked by the little stack of money with eyes, reminding them of the money they could have saved by switching to Geico. Have you noticed a certain change in the reception that “Kash” has received from the person being followed? I have and, frankly, I’m not sure what to make of it.

When this campaign launched, people seemed to be a little leery of the creepy money as it snuck up on them. Here’s one of the original ads.Read full post...

Using sex to sell Hardee's

Sex. Duh.

And it was proven yet again with the latest ad from the fast food chain Hardee’s. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should definitely check it out. It features Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi…umm…enjoying one of Hardee’s new hamburgers.

I’m sure this phenomenon is not news to any of you. If it is, I’m sorry. Either way, Karlene Lukovitz, a writer for MediaPost Publications, wrote a good article about the new commercial and it’s worth a quick read.

Now, how can we make tobacco cessation and highway safety sexy? Think, people!

Marketing for non-profits

I know, I know, I know…everybody’s got something to worry about or stress over with the economy plummeting down the tubes of Americans’ own greed and poor planning. It only makes sense that companies are looking to their marketing departments to start cutting corners wherever possible.

However, in our beloved advertising industry, we cannot let that stand in the way of our creative teams continuously expressing their imaginations and keeping their ideas fresh. Read full post...