Friday, June 26, 2009

What's in a Name?

Hello! I am Catherine Poole, CMO and as part of WIN Firm, I will be contributing along with my partner, Chris Teague to this site. This entry is about the consciousness and energy your company name can communicate. Many may have heard of numerology, but not realize it can play a part in your business as well as your personal name.

I was visiting my mom recently; she lives in Anderson, Indiana. I was raised in Anderson and it has always been known as a GM town. Most of my friends’ parents worked at the Delco Remy or Guide Lamp factories. In its day, Anderson was a booming town and a booming economy. It has met its fate as many factory towns and the buildings are not even there anymore. As I sat at the breakfast table I noticed the Anderson morning paper’s front page headline was about whether or not GM should change its name?

Although I am known as The Queen of Color™, numerology is another aspect of the intuitive consulting I do. Just as color has its energy and vibrations, so do numbers. Numbers have corresponding colors as well and when they are in harmony, a name and how it is branded can help make a business sing. So for the next few entries I will address the power of a name and why it can make a difference in your company.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Going Beyond Your TV

It's Friday! Today is great for us at the WIN Firm because we have the opportunity to share another marketing tool we have been using to much success. Today's post is going to be short, but ENGAGING!

Have you been in restrooms where there are advertisements posted on TV's or above bathroom stalls? Did you pay attention to these advertisements? For me personally, I was just in a restroom today and can't even remember the ads I saw! However, this doesn't mean that others forget them. I am not quite sure either what the advertising company pitches when it comes to ROI and traffic. I think it may go something like: "There are 500 people eating at this fine establishment every weekend, which means you have the opportunity to reach 500 people as they take a..." I'm sorry, but this pitch wouldn't fly for our clients.

Marketers and advertisers especially, do there best job to reach us. With the realization that YouTube is more powerful than TV, more and more marketers are utilizing their media budgets online and seeking to find consumers wherever we go, including the bathroom. To break free from the madness, I have developed various tools to get in YOUR face that I would like to share. I call these tools: When TV Blows, Try This!

Instead of posting advertisements for a company in bathrooms, we put stickers with taglines right on the urinals in men's stalls for a boating company. Guess what! It worked too! You see, men like boating and the whole water thing goes well when you're in the restroom. One thing we did was make sure that you saw the tagline and created a call to action that simply read: "We dare you to tell someone that I was caught thinking about boating in the bathroom TM." This call to action prompted men to be bold and worked well when the company promoted its tagline asking: "Where do you think about boating TM?" We went beyond your tv and caught you in the bathroom with a simple, yet effective strategy.

I hope that this "SECRET" strategy helps you think of being more creative than the TV permits you to be. Remember, people are watching less TV these days despite the Nielsen Ratings. Please, please, please! Don't trust the box!! I hope you have enjoyed WIN's session on: When TV Blows, Try THIS!

Blessings,
Chris Teague
V.P. Marketing
WIN Firm

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Shoes, Shoes, Shoes!

It's a beautiful day here in Tennessee and our Chicago office reports the same! I hope all is well with everyone following us at the WIN Firm! Today, we are going to get back on the topic of Keep Brazil Beautiful: our shoe marketing concept that communicates sustainability.

Previous posts on Keep Brazil Beautiful began with figuring design layouts, working with other groups in Brazil and developing a strong concept to communicate to the masses. Yesterday, I posted a topic on simple marketing, mentioning my trip to Chattanooga over the weekend. This trip was fun and very informative. In fact, I was able to shop a potential competitor and compare our concept with their concept to receive some qualitative feedback. The results were awesome for Keep Brazil Beautiful!

Realizing that we had first touched a good side of people with our initial concept of donating a portion of our shoe sales back to the Rain Forest, we have sought to strengthen this concept and have received great feedback along with some attention from other shoe companies in Brazil and here in the U.S. Therefore, our concept is fully dedicated to promoting a truly "Green" and "Sustainable" cause through reactive and proactive sustainability measures. This approach will enable our client to far surpass any competition that exists today.

We have mentioned that our marketing is for all to see. However, out of respect and per client request, we will not reveal the total sustainability concept to you in our blog, but don't worry: you'll see it all over the place soon enough! Just know that we do a lot of field research and through our research we have discovered key reasons why we as consumers buy shoes and how certain companies like, Tom's Shoes, successfully sell their shoes based on cause-oriented marketing concepts. Therefore, we have modified our concept to encompass complete, and whole sustainability. Did you know that when you buy our client's shoes you will be supporting economic development and growth? YOU WILL! Way to go! Way to support progress!

Your support will be shared by all those who wear our client's shoes and each of you wearing them will know that you have truly made a difference in the lives of those in-need. Our concept is not only reactive, meaning we don't merely wish to contribute to an existing problem. Rather, we wish to provide opportunities for growth through funding of prevention methods to problems/challenges. This is something our client's competitors are no where near doing and if they were to read this blog, they still would be far behind what we have developed.

Our marketing of these shoes will enable people to develop tools for future growth. We aren't simply going to help those in-need, we are going to EMPOWER them. Actually, YOU are going to be the KEY DRIVER to this empowerment. Just think! Your purchase of a wonderful shoe will not only make you feel good and look good, it will truly provide growth opportunities for our intended beneficiaries. Thanks to our good friend, Dan Oda, we have been able to see a much larger picture of the power we have to market this concept for our client. Therefore, we are proud to use our expertise and skills in marketing to promote PROGRESS! In fact, YOU are the answer! Congratulations for caring!! By the way, I hope you enjoy the shoes!

Blessings,
Chris Teague
V.P. Marketing
WIN Firm

Monday, June 8, 2009

Keeping Marketing Simple

Good evening! It is evening for us in Tennessee, and I wanted to post a short blog on some excellent marketing strategies I witnessed over the weekend. The best part about these strategies is that they were all simple! There were no flashy creatives or trendy web 2.0 gimmicks involved. This was just plain, simple and beautiful marketing at its core. It was brilliant!

First off, I ate at a restaurant that had the best call to action I have seen lately. In fact, its tag line was the call to action. I had the privilege of returning to my home city of Chattanooga, TN this weekend for a music festival, Riverbend. While in Chattanooga, I went with my sister to have some brunch at the Blue Plate Special downtown. When I first walked into the restaurant, I read "EAT HERE NOW" in all capital letters. The letters were very big and caught your eye immediately. What a great tag line! Seriously, it was great because it was so simple, yet powerful. There was no talk about how long the restaurant had been making tasty food (it was very tasty!) or anything like that at all. I thought of asking to speak with the owner to discuss his or her strategy, but decided I would just let it be (maybe next time). I am not sure how well sales are going, but I know the place was busy!

Next, at the festival there were all sorts of people handing out free samples of new products, but the the unique thing that caught my eye was a fan. There were several colleges present at vendor booths during Riverbend, but two made it a point to interact with the crowd. The local university, University of Tennessee Chattanooga, and a local private school, Covenant College, both were in full force passing out fans for those seeking to cool off. However, Covenant College was ready to take their fan giving a step further and completely out marketed their counterparts at UTC. Covenant's foot marketers not only handed out fans, but told us to look at the fan and go to their web-site to win a free MAC. I know that this strategy is nothing spectacular, but it was simple and worked! Covenant created a special URL specifically to measure its impact at Riverbend. Again, simple and sweet!

What's the point of this post. The point is that we as marketers tend to overlook the simple things of marketing like merely adding a call to action with whatever we are promoting. Just take a look at the top creative ad campaigns today and tell me what they are asking us to do. Are they saying "EAT HERE?" Some do, some do not. We as human beings need to be guided. We desire some sort of direction. Direction that is simple and easy to follow. Therefore, to end my post I am going to leave you with a call to action: Come back tomorrow to read about how Keep Brazil Beautiful is progressing.

Blessings,
Chris Teague
V.P. Marketing
WIN Firm

Friday, June 5, 2009

Why Aren't We Listening?

"If there's no war outside our heads, WHY are we losing?" As I was searching for some juice to add to a campaign this morning, the above line from rock group, Rise Against, caught my attention and perked my creativity a bit. I thought to myself, "What does war mean to me, and how does this particular word impact my conscious and subconscious decision making?" I then started playing with the theme of waging war on my own campaign and decided that I was flirting too much with being cliche and unoriginal. So, I realized that I had begun this post with a catchy line, but no substance to back it up! Then, I realized something: Marketers and agencies are doing the same thing everyday and we are getting paid big bucks for pushing a lackluster product.

Marketers and agencies are so busy competing for our attention that they have overlooked the values we seek in a company, product and ourselves. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, so I have no intention of generalizing all marketers and agencies. However, I want you to think about the top ads you have seen recently and how you reacted to them. Did you feel connected? Did you feel you belonged? Did you see yourself? I won't speak for you, but please think about these questions and then ask: Do I care about this concept I am seeing advertised to me?

As the V.P. of a marketing firm, I have lived a few years trying to persuade you to buy said product and tell you how un-cool you are if you choose something else. I have even belittled you to the point that I completely lost you while making lots of money for being a creative marketer. Who am I to do this? What happened to me? I completely "SOLD OUT" and in doing so, LOST YOU. So, if you are a marketer reading this post, please understand that I think we have a purpose to serve, and it shouldn't be about us.

There are many theories, philosophies and cases for why marketing absolutely blows today overall, but the case I present here is that we are too concerned about ourselves and not our clients, especially not our consumers. How can a marketer connect with a consumer being and living so selfishly? Obviously, things aren't going too well.

For those agencies and marketers that are connecting, I congratulate you! I even encourage you to land a huge contract and use all of your ammunition to reconnect by thinking of others before yourself. Use your marketing to reconnect and help us rebuild this beautiful country.

Blessings,
Chris Teague
V.P. Marketing
WIN Firm

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Paying a Quick Respect

After playing around on Twitter this evening and searching for the WIN Firm on Google, I came across our blog and am pleased it is appearing in search.  One thing I noticed after reading my earlier post today is that I needed to pay some respect to a couple of authors who reminded me why I love marketing. 

Being responsible for implementing new strategy for growth at the WIN Firm, I am always thinking of how to compete and grow in today's market place.  However, after reading and recently, re-reading Punk Marketing, I realized that there are people out there who care just as much about you as I do, and these people are fed up with the disconnection that exists among marketers and you. I also wanted to publicly let a couple of authors know that I appreciate them for bringing Punk into marketing, because the key to Punk Rock was that it came from the underground and was led by one of the most creative and artistic generations of music listeners who were tired of complacency. 

Who are these authors I respect and thank for calling out the complacent, detached marketers of today? Mr. Richard Laermer and Mark Simmons have earned my colleagues and my praises for their work today. 

I wrote this post because I did not want the two men who helped get me back on track to think I thought ill of them based on an earlier statement I made on today's first post.  If you guys read this post, please know that I think you could add much more about Punk Rock and the entire counterculture that truly changed the face of music through some of the most creative marketing ever to exist in the music industry.  What's great about the Punk movement is that this marketing did not come from any multi-million dollar brand budget.  Instead, this marketing came from a connection found amongst people fed up with complacency.  Punk Marketing reminded me of this passion I have to go against the grain.  

Thank YOU, Richard and Mark! 

Blessings,
Chris Teague
V.P. Marketing
WIN Firm  


Marketing the Heart: Cause-oriented Marketing

It's a beautiful day here in Johnson City, TN and all systems are a go for the WIN Firm. I hope each of you following or reading this blog is well and I wish you much success in all you do. Since our work with launching a product to help with social change through environmental and educational growth, we at the WIN Firm have been defining our own purpose for marketing. Therefore, today's topic is an introduction into the marketing we stand by and will support.

Marketing is the reason people gravitate to brands and purchase products. We as human beings are conditioned to following the leader, or in this case, the brand. However, I have discovered over my ten years of marketing experience that there is a growing disconnection between the marketer and consumer. This topic has been debated and addressed by various people, and there is even a book about losing touch with the consumer entitled: Punk Marketing. Thus, there is no reason for me to reiterate what someone else has said. Rather, today's topic is about the marketing I have challenged the WIN Firm to choose that connects with you, the consumer; the person.

If you are following marketing, then I am sure you have heard about "Big Dog" agencies that land HUGE accounts and win all sorts of creative awards. These agencies are truly talented and we at the WIN Firm appreciate the quality of work produced by them. Despite all the talented marketers in existence today with all of their awards, people still are disconnected. Why is that? What aren't marketers doing right today? I don't pretend to have all the answers, but do know that the WIN Firm is heading in a new direction and has no desire to take part in today's marketing culture the way it is.

I don't care about a commercial with puppets featuring LeBron James and Kobe Bryant no matter how creative it is. The commercial just doesn't appeal to me, and especially doesn't make me feel compelled to buy some Nike shoes. However, I did once love buying the new Jordan's when I was a teenager. Why? I felt that the shoes connected me to Michael Jordan. Wearing his shoes represented "Greatness." So, I have taken a new avenue in marketing and pitched the following idea to our firm:

Why not find a company that truly is great or tries to be great, cares for people and takes action to promote greatness instead of created an over-marketed false image of a company that wants you to think of them as great?

This question was not taken too well by my fellow marketers and I was even asked to reconsider my position. I didn't back down and even developed my own concepts, campaigns and pitched them to our firm as if I was pitching them to a client. Guess what? I still didn't get the full buy-in I wanted, but I did open the door and that paved the way for what I am doing now. My door is open a little, but now I want to bust through and have the challenge of producing.

I mentioned greatness earlier and also mentioned a book on marketing that has a theme of doing it the "Punk" way. Not to slam the authors of the book, but they missed the key to what started a revolution of underground music that led to the emergence of bands like Nirvana. I won't rant and rave on the history of punk rock (even though I love it!). Instead, I want to use the counter-culture movement that ignited punk rock and is ingrained into our culture today. The beauty of this movement is that it needed no "Big" agency to help it grow. No, this cultural shift in music came from the heart, which is where I want to take marketing.

Why should the WIN Firm create a concept for a business to increase sales or market position if it has no heart? Why should we spend months developing a brand when you have no brand to begin with? Instead, I pose the option of putting all of our skills that make decent companies look like solid companies through our creative marketing, advertising or whatever you want to call it, into companies that truly are GREAT. What companies am I talking about? How about ones that help their fellow human being? How about a group that feeds the hungry? How about a company that gives kids a shot at life? These companies are GREAT! They already see value in life! These are the companies that the WIN Firm is going to help.

There is no need to make up greatness when it already exists. So, I care nothing about the marketing culture of today that promotes mediocrity and complacency. I care about YOU! Therefore, I don't want to persuade you to buy a new car because you will be safe, look cool or have great gas mileage. I want you to see your fellow human being in-need and help him or her. The WIN Firm is moving into this direction of cause-oriented marketing, and with your help, I can make it happen sooner than later.

I would like to extend an opportunity for you to nominate your favorite cause-related group that promotes positive, ethical values and standards and tell me what makes the group great. I will then expend all of my energies, talents and God-given marketing skills to promote the best presented cause. The WIN Firm has given me permission to embark on this venture, so if you care enough, tell me what organization the WIN Firm can help. I will even launch my own product to sell on behalf of the selected group and donate at least thirty percent of all sales to the group. Therefore, I will put my marketing where my mouth is, or I should say, MY HEART! Please e-mail your submissions at:

chris@thewinfirm.com

I am also on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/thewinfirm10

Blessings,

Chris Teague
V.P. Marketing
WIN Firm