On Your Mind?

Good day to each of you following The WIN Firm here on blogger and on our web-site. This is Chris Teague, Vice President of The WIN Firm, and I have some cool stuff to share with you today. Let's get moving!

Last post we brought you tales from a campaign designed to help a local charity make a bit of cash during these tough times. The campaign for those of you who may have forgotten is called the Dream Ticket. Today, we will explore the emotional elements at play in this campaign and why each communication message we craft for the campaign is written to engage the sub-surface so that the Dream Ticket remains fresh on YOUR MIND. As you continue reading below, you will see how understanding cultural communication is important to message crafting.

Our first audience is the NASCAR fan. We at The WIN Firm have quite a bit of knowledge when it comes to understanding the cultural persuasions of a sport based on left-hand turns and continuous laps. Yes, you may like the sport, but you do for cultural reasons. Did you know that? Seriously, any sport is liked or not liked due to our cultural mentality. In fact, we make judgements about products everyday based on our up-brining. Don't believe me? How many of you went out on St. Patrick's Day and aren't even Irish? My point: St. Patrick's Day is embedded into our culture due to the influx of Irish immigrants that built this country.

Though we left NASCAR for a moment to discuss culture, we are now back to the power of NASCAR culture and The WIN Firm's understanding of this culture. Our Dream Ticket is very appealing to the fan in this sport. Why? Because this sport is all about the driver and how the consumer or fan perceives the driver. Dale Earnhardt Sr. presently sales the third most merchandise in the sport even though he sadly passed away. Fans are loyal to their driver, which is not new information. However, our concept of creating a Dream Ticket plays on this loyalty. How? Stay with me.

When developing key prizes to give away in order to make our raffle successful, The WIN Firm conducted an extensive research campaign that involved attending many NASCAR races and walking among the crowd. Sales numbers couldn't possibly reveal as much information as our WIN Analyst Team gathered interviewing and spending time with the fans. At the end of the day, we discovered what fans drank, ate, size of TV they liked, their favorite driver, what races were their favorite, what their style of dress was outside the track and a whole bunch of extra stuff. The point is, we at The WIN Firm were able to create a prize package that appeals to the NASCAR fan because we walked with the fan.

Now, we have a prize package that includes a 50" Plasma Screen TV, Season Tickets to the most popular track in NASCAR and the convenience of owning a condo across the street from this amazing fan-favorite track. Oh yeah, we threw in a bunch of other goodies like a trip to Las Vegas and the chance to drive a car through the Richard Petty Driving Experience. Appealing? It is if you are a NASCAR fan.

You see, our prize selection was geared to our primary target audience. Why are prizes important? When selling a ticket for $200, you must create a value that well-surpasses the price of the ticket. Creating a price point is nothing new in terms of value creation, but it is very important and represents your brand. Therefore, we offer the NASCAR fan a chance of winning a Dream package: A package that provides this fan an experience like none other. Yes, you as a fan can win a prize greater than any prize offered for NASCAR. What are you waiting for? Sign up for the Dream Ticket and find out when you can have your chance to purchase a fan's dream: email chris@thewinfirm.com for details.

I hope you have been enlightened as to how we at The WIN Firm work on campaigns. We are an ideation and brand positioning firm because of our love of people. We are a team of people that hang out with you on a daily basis then explain and teach companies how to talk to you. We are more than web-based analytics. We are ideas in motion and you move a lot.

Blessings to All!

Chris Teague
V.P. The WIN Firm, Inc.
chris@thewinfirm.com
www.thewinfirm.com

Where's the Content?

Good day! Welcome to another post by me, Chris Teague. On behalf of everyone here at The WIN Firm, I would like to thank you for taking a few moments out of your day to read our blog. Keep up with our posts and send us any information you would like us to cover: We’ll be provide you with information!

Do you remember any catchy songs or jingles from old ads? “Give me a Break; give me a break…” Does that song ring a bell? If you have been living since the early eighties is should. The jingle is from Kit Kat. I was in a wonderful conversation with a friend today, and he stated that advertising today absolutely blows! I asked why, and he replied: “It’s an insult to my intelligence. Too much art; not enough content.” Wow! After thinking about his comment, I completely agree. However, I want to share an example of a content driven strategy to compliment your art.

First, write an argumentative essay with five paragraphs stating your reasons someone should buy or use the product or service you are currently marketing. Make sure your essay is filled with a thesis statement and stresses key points in every paragraph. Of course, you need a nice introduction to grab the reader’s attention, so make sure you introduce what you are offering in such a manner that the reader understands you and wants to learn more.

Second, read the essay out loud and listen to your key points. Are they backed up with facts and supporting examples? Once you have completed this task, then hand your essay to a colleague. Have him or her read the second and final paragraph only then provide you with a summary of your argument. Did your colleague present a solid case of understanding your argument? If so, then you are good to go! If not, you need to work on your writing skills, but for now, you can move forward.

Last, take your key points from each of your paragraphs and write them down. Make a list of all supporting information as well and write that down. Now, find your three strongest points and their supportive examples and circle them. Are you ready for the design portion? Use a simple, clean design to compliment your points. Each component of your design should clearly relate to your three key points. Once you have done this, you have created an intelligent advertisement that is based on what people want: CONTENT.

Have a wonderful day!

Blessings,
Chris Teague
The WIN Firm, Inc.

All WOUND Up!

Wow! It has been a crazy end of the year and start of a new year! Welcome to this new year of posts by The WIN Firm. This is Chris Teague, and I am the V.P. of our wonderful marketing/advertising firm. Today's post is a brief explanation of what we have been able to do during this challenging economy: Create new strategies and have fun doing it!!

Monday, I was having lunch and someone asked me "What I did for a living?" I simply replied, "I have fun!" Don't misunderstand me. Not all work is fun, but overall, working with The WIN Firm is fun. I am unable to speak for other marketers today, but all of the worry wrapped up in today's economic climate has only made us happier than we were at WIN.

Why would I be happy when clients are cutting budgets and leaving us with less billable work than we have ever experienced? Simple: I LOVE the challenge of seeing whether we are good enough to compete. The author, John Eldridge, explains in various books how men always seek approval from their father and want to be tested. Though Mr. Eldridge is specifically writing to men, his point about proving worth relates to all of us! We all want to know that we are good at something and can overcome hurdles in our lives.

This year, we are unveiling some AWESOME strategies for increasing a company's brand, market presence and bottom line. Please stay tuned as we UNVEIL our "secret strategies" that we presently utilizing for our clients. Our clients love the work we are doing and YOU will too!

The WIN Firm's posting schedule will be on a regular basis. We will post updates once a week for everyone. Posts will occur every Thursday, so check back with us next Thursday at 3pm EST. Please take our strategies and ideas. Use them to help you market your company. We are here to share what we do: Have Fun!

Be blessed in all YOU do!
Chris Teague

Chris Teague
V.P. The WIN Firm
chris@thewinfirm.com

Meeting the NEED

YOU are driven to surpass status-quo expectations. We too possess the drive to produce RESULTS that our clients NEED.

Welcome everyone! This is Chris Teague, and I am going to share a WINNING idea we at The WIN Firm use to generate RESULTS. Last week’s blog was an example of the impact we provide to clients, and as you can see, we truly strive to leave a positive footprint as we walk through this life. So, today’s post is another example of good ideas that will help you produce effective marketing communications.



Have you been in a situation where your current marketing efforts were working, but your boss was not seeing the same thing you do? This lack of recognition can often bring you down, hindering your creativity. Stand UP! Let me show you how to keep the good marketing going while pleasing your boss.

Step 1: Hire The WIN Firm. Okay, seriously. First, review your company’s overall growth plans for the year. Is your marketing playing a positive role in this growth? If so, then determine what exactly your boss needs. Is it more results? What are these results? Well, what are you waiting for? Go ask the boss what is needed! This step is important because you are not only marketing to external audiences; you also need to reach internal audiences: your boss.

Step 2: Remember that you are doing a good job and that your marketing is working. Be positive! Now that you know what your boss needs, it is time to produce some winning results (Call me now! :) Instead of putting more money into your current campaign, segment your campaign. Much like you do to reach various audiences, segmented your campaign will enable you to demonstrate the results your boss needs. Take the information your boss provided you and create a side campaign that compliments your current campaign. This segmented campaign should be directly targeted to an audience that can quickly show your boss desired outcomes.

Step 3: Track this campaign and measure it as best as possible. Create a separate landing page for the campaign. The landing page unique visitor count will be a good measure to show the boss results. Enhance your imagery in various advertisements and create new messages. These images and messages need to be distinctly different from what you are presently doing, yet ensure your brand is kept in tact. Once you begin receiving responses to this campaign, you can march right into the boss’s office and say: “RESULTS delivered!”

Be blessed in all you do,

Chris Teague
The WIN Firm, Inc.
chris@thewinfirm.com
www.thewinfirm.com

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

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

Tools for Communication

Brasil...Que BELEZA! Bem vindo a gente! What did I just write? Well, I basically wrote that Brazil is Beautiful and welcome to our blog. On behalf of all those hard workers here at the WIN Firm, I say, "THANK YOU" for following the blog. I want to share with you some of the tools we have chosen to communicate our concept: Keep Brazil Beautiful.

Selecting the appropriate tools for communication is very important, and we like to use all the tools that work. Would you like to build a house with a hammer and nails alone? You might, but we at the WIN Firm don't take those chances. Therefore, we are not going to put all of our energies into only using the trendy new media of today to reach our audience. What? We are not going to start a FaceBook fan page and play on Twitter everyday? Nope, those things don't really make anyone money and our clients want to get paid. We are about producing results through careful processes and procedures.

The first tool we want to use is the good ole television. Yes, people do still like T.V. in the states and we will use a creative commercial communicating the concept of caring and be proactive. We will develop a commercial series that grabs you and puts you into a group you feel comfortable belonging to. Do you ever see beer commercials with one person drinking by themselves? Don't think so. We all want to be part of something, so you will get your chance with this campaign.

The next tool we are going to use will be events. We want you to experience the thrill of giving and receiving, so all of you will be invited to partake.

The third tool revealed today will be a customized web-site unlike any other charity based site. This site will allow you to personally see where your money is going and give you the opportunity to dictate how it is spent. You will be amazed!

That's it for today. Catch us next time...Same place...Keep BRAZIL BEAUTIFUL!

Blessings,
Chris Teague
V.P. Marketing
WIN Firm

Working because we Care!

Good day everyone! I hope all is well in your world today and thank you for keeping up with us at the WIN Firm. Our CMO, Catherine Poole, is going to begin posting a motivational blog for everyone on our blogspot called, The Thursday Kick! I am very thankful to have such a dedicated team of marketing gurus to work with and our cohesiveness produces wonderful results for our partners/clients.

Are you ready to discover how things are progressing with the concept: Keep Brazil Beautiful?

First, before we begin, I want to thank Dan Oda for a wonderful conversation about more giving opportunities related to this campaign. Dan, "OBRIGADAO, VIU!" The beauty of not being secretive and allowing others to view what we are working on has proven to be a great business model for WIN. This Wikinomics approach to working with doors open makes us much better marketers for our clients. In fact, I have received a suggestion to make a profile change and another regarding a spelling mistake on Exxon Mobile; both were great suggestions. See, this feedback is exactly what we need to be sharp!

Now, to the project! We mentioned in last week's blog that design and style were removed from our list of deliverables for time being due to further research needed on shoe-wearing consumers. Therefore, we began researching consumer behavior in terms of shoes being worn today and also spent the past week mapping out our course of giving models so that people truly know their investment is helping. We want everyone to not only buy our client's fabulous shoes because they are cool, trendy and comfortable; rather, we desire a stronger, more emotional connection to you, the consumer, than the simple thrill of owning some new shoes.

We have taken our giving concept to a new level, and Dan gave us some wonderful insight into being proactive in helping Brazil versus our original reactive approach. We decided that being proactive is what many non-profit organizations lack today in the U.S. It seems every grant I write for Second Harvest Food Bank is based on a reaction to an identified problem: hunger. What are we doing to prevent hunger? This question led me to think harder about our Keep Brazil Beautiful concept. What can we do to truly bless the country that gives us so much rubber for the shoes we wear? What about being even more environmentally aware while promoting education as well?

Yes, we are going deeper into our concept. Why? We work because we care for our clients, and we develop marketing concepts for clients who care for you, me and the environment. Thus, there is a new development of giving. Dan posed a great idea of tree planting that involves partnering with Google, using its mapping software along with cross-promotion efforts to implement an "Adopt a Tree for Brazil's Children" campaign. You would continue buying these wonderful shoes, knowing that your money is going back to replenish the Rain Forest, but you will also be able to provide ongoing support that truly Keeps Brazil Beautiful.

By adopting a tree, your investment will go to the future of Brazil. We will start a tree forest on a University's property that is close to the Rain Forest. We are now working on the logistics of making this idea a reality and furthering our campaign, so more information is to come around this new development. Imagine, you will help the environment through specific tree placement and planting as well as help provide work opportunities and education to University students. Imagine a campaign like this in the U.S. Wow! Working because we care is not only going to sell a whole lot of shoes for our client, but we are also proactively taking care of people and the environment. Maybe we should be a non-profit marketing firm! I hope you have enjoyed today's post! Please comment.

Blessings,
Chris Teague
V.P. Marketing
WIN Firm

Living with a Cause

Good day to everybody keeping up with the WIN Firm's marketing projects. As always, I welcome your feedback to this post and want you to know our doors are open and we believe in sharing our marketing knowledge to all interested parties. Did you like that disclaimer? Seriously, we at the WIN Firm are really pleased with the progress we are making on various projects and are excited to share our discoveries in this ever-changing marketing world with you. Are you ready to hear how our Brazil project is progressing?

I apologize for not posting on Friday, and will not offer up any excuses for my missed post. I just ask for your understanding and forgiveness.

Let's get started on telling you how our strategies are being formed for the Keep Brazil Beautiful campaign. First, after several years of researching the concept of social causes and non-profit marketing, we have found that people really do care about helping others, their community, the environment, etc... Therefore, we have developed a concept to sell shoes. Yes, we are selling shoes that touch your emotional neurons and make you believe in what you are buying. We have a firm understanding of why you support various non-profits, and have developed this campaign based on the non-profit model of caring.

After we first posted this blog and told people that we were opening up our core, people thought we were really making a mistake. I disagree. You and I and everyone in the world knows how to market something. Ever been asked how you were? Were you actually lousy but responded that you were alright? Well, this response is what we call perception management. Therefore, you manage your perception everyday with the way you comb (or don't) your hair, the way keep your house, etc...

How does all of this perception management tie into our project of selling Brazilian shoes? The answer is that when you wear these shoes you are managing a perception that lets others know you care. Yes, IT IS THE SHOES! You will be telling everyone who sees your shoes how much you are aware of the decisions you make, especially when it comes to the things you buy. What better way to communicate you care than to walk in the shoes of caring?

Our advertising and promotional strategies will all convey the message of our shoe being the BRAND that cares. As we have stated before, we are willing to do whatever it takes to build confidence in our brand and show you where your money is actually going. Our web-sites are going to be designed for you to follow the shoes journey to replenishing the Rain Forest in Brazil and Keeping Brazil Beautiful. Don't we need a company that truly is a steward of goodwill?

Until next time, be blessed in all you do!

Blessings,
Chris Teague
V.P. Marketing
WIN Firm