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...

Medical Marketing Becomes an Origami Crane.

Authors: Kathleen Dunn and Peter Gordon.

Part II. From quantum leap to fold change.

Diagnostic and genomic tests are now being applied to pharmaceutical decisions. Today, the use of genomic data can optimize the ability to identify discrete subpopulations in clinical trials, leading to the development of highly targeted drug therapies, such as Her-2/Neu measurements to optimize the therapy decision-making for a breast cancer patient. In fact, 10% of pharmaceuticals now have pharmacogenomic data in their labeling.

What are the implications for marketers? There are no longer simple boundaries, but intersections where several disciplines are folding back on one another. Your marketing challenge is now a kind of origami puzzle, with different shapes meeting others at odd angles, with small or large junctions and hinges connecting them. What at first seems like oddly configured folds on a piece of paper eventually emerges a beautiful bird, like the classic origami crane.

Part III takes on Origami Marketing itself.

Newspaper advertising will recover.

There’s going to be an ad revenue recovery for the beleaguered industry, and it’s coming soon. Yes, the decline is about to end, according to a new forecast that projects print ad revenue will actually rebound 2.4% next year.

Beyond 2010, ad research firm Borrell Associates forecasts that by 2014 newspaper income will be up 8.7% over 2009 and that newspapers’ share of total ad revenue will jump from 14.4% to 15.9%.Read full post...

Which occupation do you trust?

When I’m at a social gathering, and people ask what I do for a living, I say I’m in advertising. And the standard response is, “Oh, really? Have you done anything I may have seen?” It’s tough knowing how to answer that one. But I’ve never felt ashamed of my chosen profession — until now.

A recent survey by GfK Custom Research revealed we advertising types are not to be trusted. People were asked how much they trust various professionals. As you could probably guess, firemen finished first (95 percent), followed by military personnel (85 percent), doctors (83 percent) and schoolteachers (83 percent). Bankers took the biggest hit in this year’s trustworthy tally, falling from 63 percent last year to 44 percent today.

But even sadder to me is the paltry number of folks who trust advertising people — 24 percent — or marketers — 27 percent. Of little consolation, politicians finished even lower on the trust totem pole at a dismal 21 percent. Casual research indicates that this distrust of advertising practitioners is a continuing trend. So what can we ad people do to polish up our eternally tarnished image? I’m thinking of starting an agency staffed entirely by firemen.

Medical Marketing Becomes an Origami Crane.

Authors: Kathleen Dunn and Peter Gordon

Part 1. A head-on collision.

Over the last several years, marketing the Life Sciences has meant different things to different people, encompassing pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, molecular diagnostics, molecular imaging, medical devices, bioinformatics, genomics and proteomics, to name the major players.

Ironically, as the disciplines named above have become more defined, they have started occupying the same space. As developments in many of these fields begin to integrate, they also begin to collide. These disciplines are now affecting each other — and affecting each other’s developments.

Marketers of these products are now faced with having to think outside their own discipline — outside their own box. It means they have to start thinking inside someone else’s box (maybe a lot of them at once).

In Part II we’ll see where these collisions are happening.

A great alternative for out-of-home spending.

According to Media Life, digital out-of-home spending will leap 13.2% from 2008 to 2013 — total spending will reach $4.53 billion, up from $2.6 billion this year. Video ad networks (screens in office buildings, health clubs, fast food chains and gas stations) will make up the largest portion, but the fastest growth in the category will come from digital billboards.

Digital billboards are currently available in the Philadelphia market on the I-95 corridor, but there’s also good news for our Delaware-based clients: The first digital billboard in Delaware will launch mid-September on I-95 near Newark. Digital billboards allow for unlimited design executions with no associated production costs and can be purchased on a weekly, every-four-week or annual basis. Yet another outlet to keep in mind as we search for the most effective ways to get our message out there.

Tourism and economic development

Tourism. It’s vital for many countries and many island nations. It’s also important for the economic development of the State of Delaware and its neighboring states. Millions of dollars are brought into these states through businesses that serve both tourists and locals, and thousands of jobs are created in service industries associated with tourism.

Whether it’s trips to nearby attractions (25% of the population of the United States is located within a four-hour drive of Delaware) or weekly visits to the lovely beach communities that line the eastern coast of New Jersey and the Delmarva Peninsula, tourism is key to this area’s economic development.Read full post...

Am I too old for Facebook?

So it’s no secret — I’m well into my 50s. I learned the basics using pencils with portable erasers that were the size of small Volkswagens. Eventually I graduated to relying on secretaries who used carbon paper. These same secretarial resources also made my thoughtful presentations come to life using some low-cost overhead projections. Then life got fancy and we all started using slides! The fax machine really changed the whole mindset though — I was suddenly able to “do my own faxes” (well, usually). Read full post...

Don't mix texting and driving!

Of all the new media, texting has exploded in the last year and, together with its sibling, twittering, it may now come with a caution label attached. While many of us are accustomed to listening to the radio in the car, very few of us watch television in the driver’s seat. The logic is obvious, and yet many of us engage in texting behavior that defies that same logic.

According to The New York Times (7-18-09; 7-28-09), two studies have shown that this new media and driving don’t mix. A study conducted by Virginia Tech showed texting truckers (on actual runs) were 23 times more likely to have a crash, and a University of Utah study showed that college students (in simulators) were eight times more likely to crash.Read full post...

Where is today's face-to-face communcation?

Much of what you read here in AB&C Blogland relates to technology. We offer our thoughts on the latest developments, trends and leaps forward in the rapidly advancing world of web connectivity. Things have reached the point where you can’t go too many places without spotting someone staring down at some sort of handheld device. Even my travel plans have been affected! It used to be that long car trips to client meetings meant there’d be time to catch up on the latest office gossip.Read full post...

Let AB&C be your GPS.

After getting hopelessly lost in Washington, DC, a few weeks back, I decided to buy a GPS navigation device to make sure that it never happens again. My new friend “Mindy” now guides me through each turn and makes sure I reach my destination regardless of road closures and detours.

As I was loading Mindy with all of my information and favorite destinations, I thought a good marketing agency is like a GPS. Clients provide their information and objectives, and the agency provides a targeted road map to help them reach their marketing destination.

AB&C is a good example. We provide focus and step-by-step directions on how to reach your target audience with a customized message that won’t get lost in the market. Call us if you need a marketing GPS. Just don’t call us Mindy.

The browser wars are back on!

Remember the browser wars of the late nineties? Half the online population thought “Netscape” actually was the Internet and Microsoft was just starting to take the Internet seriously.

Of course, Internet Explorer emerged the victor and whether you’re in the camp that faults Microsoft’s heavy-handed tactics or the camp that recognizes Netscape’s failure to innovate, there’s probably some truth in both.

But now the war is back on. Except it’s not a browser war, it’s a “rendering engine” war.Read full post...

Website design requires a balance.

No matter what you design — from blue jeans to loveseats to SUVs — you have to strike a balance between form and function. Thanks to the patient counsel of my interactive colleagues over the years, I’ve learned that I can’t approach web design the same way I approach print and other media. The scales tip toward functionality, which is determined by the target audience and its needs.

User experience is the number-one priority. Of course a successful website should look good, but, more important, it has to answer the needs of the audience and bring value to the user. Complicated navigation and over-designed pages only distract and confuse the audience, driving them away from the site.

When it comes to web design, balancing form and function is critical. Your design has to be engaging, interesting and compelling, but you can’t overwhelm the user with superfluous bells and whistles. Know your audience; know their needs. Let that knowledge guide you.

The power of celebrity.

Celebrity is potent. We’ve seen the power of celebrity recently with the death of a certain music icon — how it takes over the news and, in his case, a city budget.

The power comes from celebrities’ ability to generate awareness — whether it’s fashion, diet or a cause, if they are affiliated with it, attention will be paid. Sometimes the attention comes about unintentionally, as with the awareness now surrounding prescription drug overdose.Read full post...

Are hospitals turning away patients?

Ten years ago a hospital system in New York City opened several public diabetes clinics to help people better manage their disease. From insulin injection assistance to nutrition education, diabetic consumers could gain the knowledge they needed to change their behaviors. Within seven years, these clinics closed. Did the public need the clinics? Of course. Were they underutilized? Not at all. The hospital was forced to close the clinics because the services did not increase patient volume for treatment procedures due to diabetic complications. The issue here was not the execution, but the intention.Read full post...