Moments and memories …
I chose to postpone my Monday blog this week until today in order to piggyback on the holiday spirit.
This past week I spent time with the former VP of purchasing for a national clothing chain, who I jokingly refer to as "Needless Markup." OK, so that joke didn't garner even a smile, but it did open the door to a broader discussion of marketing and society’s drive towards an aspirational brand.
We agreed that the true spirit of the season is never forgetting the deeper meaning: that gluttony reigns supreme and the larger and more expensive the gift, the more love you are providing AND should expect in return. We confirmed that extended joy only comes when you can post your new found booty on Facebook to ensure others can be swept away with your very personal moment.
He pointed out how some brands actually increase their logo size or the amount of application times its applied to an item during the last quarter of the year. This meets consumers psychological demand to promote to others their newly donned accessory.
Red seems to be the best marketing trick of them all. Sorry Santa.
The brand he referred to as "the emperor without clothes" (yes, I congratulated him on the pun), the marketing Houdini is Christian Louboutin. The bottom of the shoe dons a red sole to ensure all are aware of your perceived good taste and ensures one’s attempt at projected envy can be applied with each passing step. Amazing marketing and killer advertising has made this brand aspirational.
Once the red wears off you are forced to buy another to ensure the cycle of idiocy continues, genius! One problem is that the exact same shoe is manufactured under a different label (sans the red sole) for less than half the cost. When a focus group was given both shoes they said the brand name was better made and more comfortable, 90% of the time.
I support that 90%, life it not about quality it’s about quantity and one should never be seen in those "lesser shoes."
So remember years from now, this holiday season will not be remembered for those superficial things like family, laughter, sharing, health and love.
(Today's blog has been proudly sponsored by America's Gross National Product.)
Gregory Salsburg
CEO/The Big STIR
STIR-Communications
Miami | New York | London
c: (561) 386-8064
o: (305) 407-1723
e: Greg@STIR-Communications.com
Friday, December 24, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Silence is Golden
If you’ve had the pleasure of spending even a moment with me you would think, “he’s awesome,” and I would agree. I mean, not just a little fabulous but out of your mind, hang on every word I say, unadulterated awesomeness. Not only do I know you love me, I know you need me and would be lost without me. My words - golden, actions - unequaled, thoughts - genius, friends and family - more important than yours. Where I travel, what I'm wearing, what I’m eating or whom I'm meeting with are more fabulous than who you're surrounded by. I am a pop culture deity.
Not in my wildest, narcissistic, mirror viewing moments would I believe those things above. Well, actually I do but I wouldn't project it or share it in writing to be used as future evidence. Note: I wish my Facebook friends would follow suit.
However that's exactly what a bunch of self-centered celebrities (redundancy alert) did recently. Pink, Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Kim Kardashian, Usher, and others, vowed to stop using social networking sites Twitter and Facebook until fans donated one million dollars to Alicia Key’s charity, Keep A Child Alive. You already know I sit on the board of two charities so I'm all about giving but this is ridiculous and poorly conceived. They believed by refusing to post 140 characters of dribble they were somehow depriving you of crucial life altering information that you would demand AND be willing to pay for them to return. Seriously. Seriously?
Well thank gosh my faith for humanity was restored, when almost a week into this project less than half of the funds were raised (if anyone reading this was a contributor now is that time to hit that unsubscribe button). At that point, a wealthy philanthropist / entrepreneur matched the funds donated and the project came to a close.
I would have liked to raise the funds to keep them silent in perpetuity. That's a charity I would support. Unfortunately, muzzled and about to experience internal human combustion, they band together and found a friend to kick in the rest. (With friends like that who needs enemies?)
Now the world will be treated again with such special nuggets as:
Gregory Salsburg
CEO/The Big STIR
STIR-Communications
Miami | New York | London
c: (561) 386-8064
o: (305) 407-1723
e: Greg@STIR-Communications.com
Not in my wildest, narcissistic, mirror viewing moments would I believe those things above. Well, actually I do but I wouldn't project it or share it in writing to be used as future evidence. Note: I wish my Facebook friends would follow suit.
However that's exactly what a bunch of self-centered celebrities (redundancy alert) did recently. Pink, Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Kim Kardashian, Usher, and others, vowed to stop using social networking sites Twitter and Facebook until fans donated one million dollars to Alicia Key’s charity, Keep A Child Alive. You already know I sit on the board of two charities so I'm all about giving but this is ridiculous and poorly conceived. They believed by refusing to post 140 characters of dribble they were somehow depriving you of crucial life altering information that you would demand AND be willing to pay for them to return. Seriously. Seriously?
Well thank gosh my faith for humanity was restored, when almost a week into this project less than half of the funds were raised (if anyone reading this was a contributor now is that time to hit that unsubscribe button). At that point, a wealthy philanthropist / entrepreneur matched the funds donated and the project came to a close.
I would have liked to raise the funds to keep them silent in perpetuity. That's a charity I would support. Unfortunately, muzzled and about to experience internal human combustion, they band together and found a friend to kick in the rest. (With friends like that who needs enemies?)
Now the world will be treated again with such special nuggets as:
- I think a brilliant mind is the sexiest thing EVERRRR!!!! ;-) Ok time to go nite nite.... @aliciakeys
- I soooo want to get picked up by the cash cab .... @kimkardashian
Gregory Salsburg
CEO/The Big STIR
STIR-Communications
Miami | New York | London
c: (561) 386-8064
o: (305) 407-1723
e: Greg@STIR-Communications.com
Monday, December 6, 2010
The Death of B2C and B2B
Before I get into my topic for this week, I want to say thank you to the three Congressmen and one Senator who “appreciated my brilliant stance” last week, even if they thought I was “a little too honorary at times.” Congress, not surprisingly, heeded my call and made the right choice. I also want to thank the woman from Seattle who declared, “You, Greg Salsburg, are a small-minded, pathetic, big stupid douche and should shut up!!” To be honest, I think she’s on to something.
Last week, I was discussing with an Academy Award winning film producer the art of communication. Specifically, we discussed the changing outlets of communication points in today’s environment.
(Wow, I am only one paragraph in and I have already thrown out 3 Congressmen, 1 Senator and an Oscar winning producer. If I name drop anymore I will need a chiropractor.)
Much of the tactics deployed to promote a film in the past twenty years first came from the mind of this man. Millions of dollars were on the line for these productions to succeed. A films shelf life at the top of the box office could be a month if a well conceived plan was executed. The studios needed to reach their audience to ensure awareness and enticement was captured. And, audiences only had a few outlets to receive messages and all were hit. The reach and receive was dealt in mass, since neither side knew much about either’s proclivities or had the tools at their disposal. This means of discussion is prevalent in Business to Consumers and Business to Business, widespread top down messaging.
Consumers/Businesses do not want to be “targets,” they do not want to be “penetrated” or “infiltrated.” They do not wish to be “assaulted” or “bombarded” with messages, most of which are not relevant to their lives. Or, my personal favorite of “execution.” The above words in quotes are just a few of the choice vernacular used by a fellow marketer from a large agency at a recent meeting. When I left I felt like I was heading to war rather than launching a product.
“We were a tactic driven industry,” Oscar winner summarized, “And, too many companies have yet to switch their way to today’s forward thinking.” He agreed that today to succeed you need to first have sound analytics and principles and matching tactics to follow.
Today the tools at an advertiser’s disposal to communicate are enormous, the costs significantly less expensive, and an ability to alter and adjust messaging quickly are readily available and the analytics to support all are abundant. Additionally, these tools have provided a voice and power to the consumer and thus positioned them away from a receiver and into a “determinator.” How and when messages are delivered and received are equally, if not more so, decided by individuals and not those outputting the content. The modern digital world has seen a multiplication of contexts: emails, search engines, blogs/forums, social media, mobile messaging, and on and on. Interactive Advertising Bureau recently reported that online ad sales reached a record 6.4 billion, up 17 percent from a year earlier and expected to grow next year.
At STIR-Communications, we have been preaching (for what feels like an eternity) a move from a mass awareness approach to one of full-on engagement. If you are talking at, rather than talking with, your audience you are going to flat-line. We rather focus on micro-messaging to niche behaviors that create interactive brand experience that recognize and enhance consumer’s behavior. So B2C and B2B are dead and if you want to move the masses you need to engage the masses. Today, we have entered a P2P (person to person) world. You need to listen, provide, partake, supply, adjust and ignite. Far different choices of wording from old world ad speak. Mr. Hollywood agreed.
Gregory Salsburg
CEO/The Big STIR
STIR-Communications
Miami | New York | London
c: (561) 386-8064
o: (305) 407-1723
e: Greg@STIR-Communications.com
Last week, I was discussing with an Academy Award winning film producer the art of communication. Specifically, we discussed the changing outlets of communication points in today’s environment.
(Wow, I am only one paragraph in and I have already thrown out 3 Congressmen, 1 Senator and an Oscar winning producer. If I name drop anymore I will need a chiropractor.)
Much of the tactics deployed to promote a film in the past twenty years first came from the mind of this man. Millions of dollars were on the line for these productions to succeed. A films shelf life at the top of the box office could be a month if a well conceived plan was executed. The studios needed to reach their audience to ensure awareness and enticement was captured. And, audiences only had a few outlets to receive messages and all were hit. The reach and receive was dealt in mass, since neither side knew much about either’s proclivities or had the tools at their disposal. This means of discussion is prevalent in Business to Consumers and Business to Business, widespread top down messaging.
Consumers/Businesses do not want to be “targets,” they do not want to be “penetrated” or “infiltrated.” They do not wish to be “assaulted” or “bombarded” with messages, most of which are not relevant to their lives. Or, my personal favorite of “execution.” The above words in quotes are just a few of the choice vernacular used by a fellow marketer from a large agency at a recent meeting. When I left I felt like I was heading to war rather than launching a product.
“We were a tactic driven industry,” Oscar winner summarized, “And, too many companies have yet to switch their way to today’s forward thinking.” He agreed that today to succeed you need to first have sound analytics and principles and matching tactics to follow.
Today the tools at an advertiser’s disposal to communicate are enormous, the costs significantly less expensive, and an ability to alter and adjust messaging quickly are readily available and the analytics to support all are abundant. Additionally, these tools have provided a voice and power to the consumer and thus positioned them away from a receiver and into a “determinator.” How and when messages are delivered and received are equally, if not more so, decided by individuals and not those outputting the content. The modern digital world has seen a multiplication of contexts: emails, search engines, blogs/forums, social media, mobile messaging, and on and on. Interactive Advertising Bureau recently reported that online ad sales reached a record 6.4 billion, up 17 percent from a year earlier and expected to grow next year.
At STIR-Communications, we have been preaching (for what feels like an eternity) a move from a mass awareness approach to one of full-on engagement. If you are talking at, rather than talking with, your audience you are going to flat-line. We rather focus on micro-messaging to niche behaviors that create interactive brand experience that recognize and enhance consumer’s behavior. So B2C and B2B are dead and if you want to move the masses you need to engage the masses. Today, we have entered a P2P (person to person) world. You need to listen, provide, partake, supply, adjust and ignite. Far different choices of wording from old world ad speak. Mr. Hollywood agreed.
Gregory Salsburg
CEO/The Big STIR
STIR-Communications
Miami | New York | London
c: (561) 386-8064
o: (305) 407-1723
e: Greg@STIR-Communications.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
