Good day everybody! Welcome to another post from the WIN Firm brought to you by me, Chris Teague. Today's post is especially important for us at the WIN Firm! We are taking time out to recognize the importance of helping those that are less fortunate than us. I want to tell you a story about one of our clients, Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Tennessee and partner, Feeding America. This story is not about our firm today; rather, it is about our client doing an AMAZING job helping hungry residents in our Northeast Tennessee community and the country as well. We at the WIN Firm would like to introduce you to Roger's Story.
Roger, a child that lives in Bristol, TN, participates in Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Tennessee's Food for Kids program through the Bristol City Schools. Roger’s mother was laid-off from her job and faced some challenging situations that included the difficult choice many parents in our region and country must make, whether to pay for utilities or food. Roger’s mother chose to provide food for her son and pay for the utilities to the best of her abilities, but soon found herself behind in paying the bills. As money decreased, Roger’s mother was forced to leave the apartment she lived in and move into a tent. Roger’s only shelter at night came from a nylon piece of fabric and the only food he ate was for lunch at school. Roger’s situation was discovered by his school and action was taken to enroll him into Food for Kids. Thanks to Second Harvest and Feeding America, Roger was able to immediately receive food from Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Tennessee to take home, so that his mother would not have to make the choice between feeding Roger and using her limited income to find housing for her family. Roger’s story is unique, but many children in our region and America suffer from malnutrition because of their impoverished living conditions.
Please take a moment to support the hungry. We at the WIN Firm make sure our work goes to raise awareness for issues that touch our lives. You too can help be the voice for our country's hungry, impoverished residents. We at the WIN Firm invite you to go to www.hungeractioncenter.org, sign up to be a voice for hunger support, and help feed the less fortunate people around you. As a perk, there is a contest that helps your local food bank. When you take action on hungeractioncenter.org, minutes are logged for your work and counted. The food banks that accumulate the most minutes by the end of September win a free tractor trailer load of food for their community. Please help us!
Blessings,
Chris Teague
V.P.
WIN Firm
"We create ideas that WIN."
Showing posts with label social causes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social causes. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
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
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
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
It's All About YOU!
Wow! We are already in the middle of the week! I am pleased to report that our concept: Keep Brazil Beautiful is continuing to grow and everyone here at the WIN Firm looks forward to launching the promotional program and seeing our client reap the rewards of being socially responsible. Well, let's dive right into the work...it's awesome!
With all the hype around green marketing these days, we have really nailed a concept for our client that is going to change the way they sell shoes and bring them a greater reward than sales. What is this reward? Our client is going to build a connection with YOU, and YOU are going to build a relationship with our client. The marketing strategy behind Keep Brazil Beautiful is centered around continued growth and longevity. While short term sales are going to please our client's CFO and various Product managers, the future WIN is building through this marketing campaign is going to deliver something better than mere ROI numbers; we are going to connect YOU with our client for life.
Was that previous sentence a bold statement or what! I stand behind that statement and will do so as long as this campaign continues. Why? My reason is that Keep Brazil Beautiful is not just a sales or marketing ploy to make you buy shoes, though the client's intent is to sell lots of shoes. This campaign is truly about helping the environment, producing sustainable growth and empowering students to be socially aware. Keep Brazil Beautiful is designed to go beyond the traditional non-profit model of charging for services to react to a given need; rather, our model is going to proactively strive to reduce our global footprint along with reacting by replenishing rubber trees.
It's all about YOU! Yes, we at the WIN Firm realized that Keep Brazil Beautiful is one of those causes you are going to be proud of and support; it's not merely a marketing concept. We are turning our client's shoes into a vehicle that promotes caring. Of course marketing this concept is going to make our client money, but the non-profit side of this concept is about giving and receiving. Is this green marketing? Well, maybe; but, we are striving to grow and green marketing is merely a trend right now. As we all know, trends die, so our marketing is about future growth and causes are the future. In fact, causes are the past, present and future. All we are doing from the marketing side is communicating this concept in a manner that fully engages you and prompts you to take action. Our client saw the value of this concept as soon as we presented our canvas, and we are thankful to be working with such an astounding and responsible client.
Are we the first to realize that marketing based on a cause is the way to go? Of course not! However, you will see that our strategies and methods for communicating this cause are effective. One of our followers of this blog asked a question about the research we did over the past ten years on non-profits. J.R., here is your answer to the research. Non-profits that are able to mobilize and raise millions of dollars are the ones who know how to communicate. A simple answer yes, but I will elaborate. United Way communicates very well. Using visual images that not only inform us of what they are doing, but give us a direction to follow, the United Way has mastered the art of speaking to our conscious or I should say, subconscious. Have you seen a thermometer posted on a street corner displaying the amount of money raised up to a certain point? Did you realize the goal was not met and have a sudden feeling that you should give? Were you relieved to know that you held on to the letter your boss sent around about their participation in United Way as a company? Whether United Way knew that this visual image would successfully communicate the urgency and importance of giving subconsciously or not makes no difference, the point is that this simple way of communicating to you on the surface and penetrating the surface works.
The WIN Firm uses studies like United Way and other successful studies from today's leading non-profit organizations to learn how effective their communications are at reaching you. Twitter, MySpace, FaceBook and all of that social media jazz is the "thing" to do today if you want to stay up with the times. Yes, this new way of communicating is important, but organizations that keep their brand and last know how to use all available tools of communication to fuse the art and science of marketing that works for them. These companies and organizations are the ones that may struggle finacially during difficult economic times, but their image never tarnishes; thus, their perceived value remains strong. We at the WIN Firm use this knowledge so that our marketing strategies go beyond the short-term, quick fix solutions that many businesses get caught up in, and we provide them with the tools to achieve the short and long term successes that keep their fire burning.
As I end this blog for today, I do want to say that everyone who has commentted and provided WIN feedback is great! THANK YOU! Dan, we will be talking later this week and your ideas are right on target with where our firm wants to take clients. I hope everyone has enjoyed this post today and that you be blessed in all you do!
Blessings,
Chris
Chris Teague
V.P. Marketing
WIN Firm
With all the hype around green marketing these days, we have really nailed a concept for our client that is going to change the way they sell shoes and bring them a greater reward than sales. What is this reward? Our client is going to build a connection with YOU, and YOU are going to build a relationship with our client. The marketing strategy behind Keep Brazil Beautiful is centered around continued growth and longevity. While short term sales are going to please our client's CFO and various Product managers, the future WIN is building through this marketing campaign is going to deliver something better than mere ROI numbers; we are going to connect YOU with our client for life.
Was that previous sentence a bold statement or what! I stand behind that statement and will do so as long as this campaign continues. Why? My reason is that Keep Brazil Beautiful is not just a sales or marketing ploy to make you buy shoes, though the client's intent is to sell lots of shoes. This campaign is truly about helping the environment, producing sustainable growth and empowering students to be socially aware. Keep Brazil Beautiful is designed to go beyond the traditional non-profit model of charging for services to react to a given need; rather, our model is going to proactively strive to reduce our global footprint along with reacting by replenishing rubber trees.
It's all about YOU! Yes, we at the WIN Firm realized that Keep Brazil Beautiful is one of those causes you are going to be proud of and support; it's not merely a marketing concept. We are turning our client's shoes into a vehicle that promotes caring. Of course marketing this concept is going to make our client money, but the non-profit side of this concept is about giving and receiving. Is this green marketing? Well, maybe; but, we are striving to grow and green marketing is merely a trend right now. As we all know, trends die, so our marketing is about future growth and causes are the future. In fact, causes are the past, present and future. All we are doing from the marketing side is communicating this concept in a manner that fully engages you and prompts you to take action. Our client saw the value of this concept as soon as we presented our canvas, and we are thankful to be working with such an astounding and responsible client.
Are we the first to realize that marketing based on a cause is the way to go? Of course not! However, you will see that our strategies and methods for communicating this cause are effective. One of our followers of this blog asked a question about the research we did over the past ten years on non-profits. J.R., here is your answer to the research. Non-profits that are able to mobilize and raise millions of dollars are the ones who know how to communicate. A simple answer yes, but I will elaborate. United Way communicates very well. Using visual images that not only inform us of what they are doing, but give us a direction to follow, the United Way has mastered the art of speaking to our conscious or I should say, subconscious. Have you seen a thermometer posted on a street corner displaying the amount of money raised up to a certain point? Did you realize the goal was not met and have a sudden feeling that you should give? Were you relieved to know that you held on to the letter your boss sent around about their participation in United Way as a company? Whether United Way knew that this visual image would successfully communicate the urgency and importance of giving subconsciously or not makes no difference, the point is that this simple way of communicating to you on the surface and penetrating the surface works.
The WIN Firm uses studies like United Way and other successful studies from today's leading non-profit organizations to learn how effective their communications are at reaching you. Twitter, MySpace, FaceBook and all of that social media jazz is the "thing" to do today if you want to stay up with the times. Yes, this new way of communicating is important, but organizations that keep their brand and last know how to use all available tools of communication to fuse the art and science of marketing that works for them. These companies and organizations are the ones that may struggle finacially during difficult economic times, but their image never tarnishes; thus, their perceived value remains strong. We at the WIN Firm use this knowledge so that our marketing strategies go beyond the short-term, quick fix solutions that many businesses get caught up in, and we provide them with the tools to achieve the short and long term successes that keep their fire burning.
As I end this blog for today, I do want to say that everyone who has commentted and provided WIN feedback is great! THANK YOU! Dan, we will be talking later this week and your ideas are right on target with where our firm wants to take clients. I hope everyone has enjoyed this post today and that you be blessed in all you do!
Blessings,
Chris
Chris Teague
V.P. Marketing
WIN Firm
Friday, May 1, 2009
Doing our Homework Pays Off
I hope everyone following the WIN Firm is having a fantastic day and I wish you well this weekend! Today's brief topic covers the importance of doing your homework. Our teachers had right all along: we will always have homework! Well, that is true for my colleagues and me at WIN. Are you ready to learn what took us several years to learn in about five minutes?
What we have researched, studied, reviewed, analyzed...or whatever we were doing, has enabled us to develop a strong strategy to delivering our shoe concept. Keep Brazil Beautiful is not a campaign that we sat around singing camp-fire songs one evening and came up with. The social cause of our marketing concept arose many years ago when our executive team began serving on various non-profit boards, because we wanted to make a difference. Guess what we learned over the past 10 years or so serving on these non-profit boards: You want to make a difference too!
I will not bother you with statistics today, though I am sure some of you are interested in data sets. Rather, I will summarize what we have all learned over the span of 10 years: People care about giving, and those who have, do give. Corporations who give see the biggest return for their efforts too! Don't believe me? Have you been to Wal-Mart lately? Did you see all of those shoppers? More important, I hope you noticed how the employees and have taken notice to the non-layoff of employees while other "Big Fish" are downsizing to no end. Wal-Mart gives more than any other corporation and they seek to truly make a positive impact on their communities.
Our shoes are designed on giving back. We know that you care and that you are still buying shoes even if you won't buy that designer outfit. Therefore, our concept is backed by over a decade of actual and direct research, observation and participation. Thanks for reading and please help us Keep Brazil Beautiful.
Blessings,
Chris Teague
V.P. Marketing-WIN Firm
What we have researched, studied, reviewed, analyzed...or whatever we were doing, has enabled us to develop a strong strategy to delivering our shoe concept. Keep Brazil Beautiful is not a campaign that we sat around singing camp-fire songs one evening and came up with. The social cause of our marketing concept arose many years ago when our executive team began serving on various non-profit boards, because we wanted to make a difference. Guess what we learned over the past 10 years or so serving on these non-profit boards: You want to make a difference too!
I will not bother you with statistics today, though I am sure some of you are interested in data sets. Rather, I will summarize what we have all learned over the span of 10 years: People care about giving, and those who have, do give. Corporations who give see the biggest return for their efforts too! Don't believe me? Have you been to Wal-Mart lately? Did you see all of those shoppers? More important, I hope you noticed how the employees and have taken notice to the non-layoff of employees while other "Big Fish" are downsizing to no end. Wal-Mart gives more than any other corporation and they seek to truly make a positive impact on their communities.
Our shoes are designed on giving back. We know that you care and that you are still buying shoes even if you won't buy that designer outfit. Therefore, our concept is backed by over a decade of actual and direct research, observation and participation. Thanks for reading and please help us Keep Brazil Beautiful.
Blessings,
Chris Teague
V.P. Marketing-WIN Firm
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