Boys' Life Magazine

The following paragraph may be lost on you — unless you are a former (or somehow current!) Boy Scout of America. Let me explain. I was in the dentist’s office this morning and spied a copy of Boys’ Life magazine in the rack. Seeing as this was a doctor’s waiting room, I fully expected this particular issue to be at least 30 years old. Imagine my surprise when I saw “June 2009” emblazoned on the cover!

With so many long-standing print publications meeting their demise these days, it gave me great comfort to unearth a current issue of a magazine that had such a profound effect on my boyhood years. I quickly thumbed through this latest issue to get a sense of how much scouting must have changed in America since yours truly roamed the woods. Amazingly, I found a number of Boys’ Life columns and comic strips that have somehow survived the past several generations. (Here comes the inside stuff for “scouts only.”)

Do you remember “The Wacky Adventures of Pedro?” What about “Pee Wee Harris,” the bumbling boy scout? And who can forget the always-dramatic “Scouts in Action” or the classified section called “Tradin’ Post?” Yep, they’re all still kickin.’ And it appears the very same cartoonists are still cranking out the ideas on a monthly basis. I may have long-since forgotten how to tie a square knot, whittle a Pinewood Derby® race car and successfully treat snakebite, but it’s nice to know some new kids are picking up the slack, thanks to Boys’ Life. Go get ’em, boys.

New app from Dunkin Donuts

Dunkin Donuts has just launched a new app called DunkinRun for computers and mobile devices (including an iPhone application). Using DunkinRun.com, you can make a run to Dunkin for your friends and yourself, using the site.

1. Invite friends by providing their email addresses or mobile phone numbers.
2. Order from the online menu.
3. Dunkin will compile the order for you, and you can print it out or have it sent to your mobile device.
4. Pick up the order and enjoy!

This is a great example of a company that is combining useful technology with marketing/branding for Dunkin. And they have infused the tone of voice and messaging that is a major part of their brand throughout the application — e.g., you’ll enjoy hero worship from friends and coworkers once you have made a DunkinRun. Check it out for yourself!

Search Engine Optimization

You have finally launched a beautiful customer-centric website. Now what?

As traffic flows move from brick-and-mortar storefronts to online locations, it is vital that you stake your claim online. And, as in real estate, there are still three keys: location, location, location.

If you build it, they will come no longer works. With well over 110 million individual websites competing for people’s attention, you need a plan, and some help, to be consistently found by the audience you most care about. One path to success is Search Engine Optimization, a collection of techniques that agencies can implement to give your website, and your marketing, the tools to succeed.Read full post...

Finding new ways to use Facebook

Target recently ran a two-week campaign on Facebook called “Bullseye Gives.” The premise? The mammoth retailer offered a choice of ten charities, from breast cancer research to the Red Cross. People voted for their favorites.

The prize? Target will split $3 million among the charities based on the percentage of votes they received.

It’s a great example of viral marketing for both Target and the charities. People posted their votes on their Facebook profiles, encouraging others to participate — and getting more people to join Target’s fan base. Some of the charities posted links on their website homepages, too. In addition, Target will help to connect voters with volunteer opportunities in their local communities. After two weeks, more than 290,000 people had voted!

So Target not only looks hip and philanthropic, but through a creative use of social media, it is strengthening its online community while building its brand.

Microsoft's Bing

Microsoft has launched its answer to Google in Bing, its replacement for Live Search. This latest go at a search platform has some interesting quirks, including instances of single results on the SERP (search engine results page) for keywords it’s certain have a single destination site.

On the homepage, Bing layers a pleasing image behind the search box, with your standard Images, News and other options down the left-hand column. The image has discoverable hotspots, which both fits the theme of searching and could be a very interesting way to integrate ads onto the most visited page at Bing.Read full post...

Award-winning work

That’s why I’m happy to report that AB&C recently won 12 awards at the 2009 Aster Awards, a medical and healthcare marketing awards program. The awards —golds, silvers and bronzes — recognized creative work in direct mail, web design, television, collateral and print. Check it out for yourself.

One gold was for our design of the St. Joseph Hospital Website. St. Joe’s old website was packed with information, but you had to take the time to dig through it. And that was the problem — especially because the good people of Greater Nashua, western New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts — the hospital’s audience — are very tech-savvy and look to the Internet as their first source of medical information. So after we impressed St. Joe’s with unique micro-sites for some of their new campaigns, they decided it was well past time to overhaul their main website.Read full post...

Stay competitive by advertising.

Almost half of the adults in the United States think that if you’re not advertising, you must be in trouble. And most think that if you are advertising, you’re competitive and committed.

That’s according to a new Ad-ology Research study, “Advertising’s Impact in a Soft Economy.”

Also:

• 40% of consumers use coupons more now than a year ago.
• TV, newspaper, direct mail and Internet top local media from which consumers saw/heard an ad within the last 30 days that led them to take action.
• Store websites ranked second only to search engines as the way consumers research products and shop online.

The lesson? If you want consumers to know you’ve got a healthy business in this sick economy, advertise.

Spec Creative

For all you prospective clients out there, we at AB&C would love to have you as a client. We really would. And please, give me a call at any time.

Or, feel free to include us in your RFP process. Just one little thing about that RFP process…
Read full post...

Social networking vs. Social marketing

People, please. You are breaking my heart.

I spend hours on Facebook. Hours. I do it so I can reconnect with people I purposely lost touch with years ago. I do it so I can poke Scott Bille and not get sued. I do it so I can see pictures of people from my past.

Read full post...

Search engines

The top search engines have collectively agreed on a solution to a problem that has long vexed web developers and web site owners.

Google, MSN, and Yahoo have announced support for the use of a “canonical” link tag as part of a page’s markup to help identify duplicate content. The three have a combined search market share of over 90 percent, according to several independent rating surveys.Read full post...

Good ads = good sushi

While walking back to the agency after a really nice sushi lunch today with my coworkers, I was struck by the parallels between creating ads and the tasty Japanese delicacy.

Sink your teeth into this: A really good ad should hit you in the same way good sushi does. It should have an attention-grabbing, almost explosive impact, just as the tastes and textures of the fish, rice, wasabi and soy sauce simultaneously slam into your palate.

Like sushi, good ads:

• Are fresh
• Are tasty
• Are potent. It’s been said sushi should provide “the universe in two or three bites.” A good ad should make its point at a glance. Or two.
• Leave you wanting more. Hey, unless you’re spending $30 on sushi, you’re still hungry. So, too, a good ad should make you want the product — and more good ads.

What else is good advertising like? Hmm, I sense a whole series of blogs…

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!

Advertising on the internet

Have you seen “Why Advertising Is Failing On The Internet” by Eric Clemons?

Reads partially like another “pay for content” scheme. But it is totally true that most premium (and non-premium) content creators cannot sustain their business models based on their current advertising model.

NYTimes.com could not support its robust site and content without the proceeds from its print counterpart, leading to a vicious cycle of reduced content value as print ad revenue decreases.Read full post...

Peel n' Taste

First Flavor Inc. of Bala Cynwyd and US Ink, a Carlstadt, NJ–based company that provides ink for the newspaper industry, recently launched “Taste-it Notes” – newspaper front-page sticky notes that double as flavor strips. Now you can smell and taste a food or beverage product in your morning newspaper!

So far, flavor strips have been used in national campaigns for Welch Foods, Arm & Hammer, SKYY Vodka and Campbell’s Soup. In addition to newspapers, the ads have appeared in People and Rolling Stone magazines.

The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that Taste-it Notes are being billed as “a new way for struggling newspapers to build up ad revenue. … This delivery leverages the power of print advertising and brings an interactive experience that is not possible with online, television or radio ads.”

Now I’m not sure if Taste-it Notes will revitalize the newspaper industry, but this is an interesting new take on product sampling.

Award-winning work

AB&C earned 11 awards, including a “Best in Show,” at the Twenty-Sixth Annual Healthcare Advertising Awards, the nation’s oldest and largest healthcare advertising awards competition, sponsored by Healthcare Marketing Report. Click to see the winning creative.

AB&C took top honors (the “Best in Show” award) for developing a Physician Recruitment Showcase Book on behalf of Geisinger Health System of Danville, Pennsylvania. Physician recruitment is challenging and highly competitive —particularly for Geisinger Health System, a renowned but remote health system in rural Pennsylvania. Recruitment branding has always represented Geisinger as a place where physicians are thought leaders and innovators — where they can be heard, do research, teach and pioneer revolutionary treatments and modalities.

Our idea was to create a showcase book that would capture the essence of the Geisinger physician experience. The book parallels scientific/technologic photography with quotes that aren’t so much inspirational as they are aspirational. We chose quotes from contemporary sources rather than “dead Greek guys.” Other photography captured the lifestyle of the physicians with captions that contrasted their leisure pastimes with their clinical pursuits. Response has been good — the piece has gotten high marks from physician candidates.