The Madvocate Blog Has Moved!!

NOTE: The Marketing Advocacy Blog has Moved!

Check us out at our now home: http://www.idea-ware.com/blog

- JPL

Top 50 Best Brand Redesigns...And One Of Our Own!

Janine ran across this great blog post from the folks at Function Webdesign. It highlights what they believe to be the top 50 re-designs of major brand logos or icons like the AT&T example above.

Their selections point to a number of stunning examples that fundamentally change the face of a brand such as these:



















But then there are also some others that are very subtle but show how a small change can make a big difference...

















So I decided to add #51 to their list - selecting a logo redesign we did last year for one of our very own customers - USAN - and very much reflective of this latter grouping. Subtle changes to the logo font and colors combined with a much improved tagline add up to a simple yet powerful redesign...

















To see how this was incorporated across the rest of their corporate branding check out the case study on our site or visit http://www.usan.com

JPL

Tapping the Creative Vein

Last few weeks I have been on an incredibly strong creative streak and noticed that the energy has been cutting across disciplines and mutually reinforcing each activity I engage in. From brand campaign ideas to sketching a visual graphics to writing copy or even a song it seems that the inspiration has been coming fast and easy.

And I've been wondering why...

The Creative Process was never something I ever paid much attention to. Usually, when I needed to create a new message, brochure, web page or Powerpoint slide - I just set aside time, immersed myself in the content, and eventually the ideas started to come.

But in the past few months I've become much more aware of the ebb and flow of creative energy and how to manipulate it. I've noticed that when I am creative, it feeds on itself, and I can maintain that energy if I don't stop when I'm done, but instead apply it to another format.

So after writing some good copy, I'll go sit down and play some guitar and jot down some phrases for a song (or just learn to play someone else's). And if I have been thinking about a brand concept and finally come up with a good idea I can turn that energy around to solve some problem around the house that has been nagging me. Or write another blog post.

I creative energy is like an invisible jet stream coursing above my head and once I stand up and "tap into it" I can stay there as long as I keep channeling to into something productive. If I stop, it slips away and I may have trouble finding it again. So far it has lasted several weeks.

To some degree, I feel lucky that I'm able to even find this creative energy, let alone maintain myself in some kind of creative zone for weeks on end. I have had plenty of friends marvel at it and say they just don't have a "creative bone in their body" or they "just aren't the creative type". But the funny thing is, I never thought I was either. And I see plenty of people out there more creative than me.

And I've been astonished to learn there are so many techniques for unleashing creative energy or stimulating the creative process. This wiki here lists almost 200 techniques!!!

Hmmm...maybe someday I'll try a few. But for now I'd rather go play some guitar...

- JPL

Stanley Milgram - Father of Social Networking Theory?

As a marketeer, I am obviously fascinated by the potential influence of social media on marketing trends and we experiment with ways to integrate these tools into campaigns. But I also find myself drawn to a deeper analysis of why people join social networks in the first place. Why they pick one over another and why some ignore the trend entirely.

It was in exploring this psychology of social networking that I recently discovered the work of Stanley Milgram - a social psychologist who conducted two famous experiments in the 1960s. Both were experiments I had heard of separately. What I had no idea was that the same guy was responsible for them both! And so I think that could qualify Milgram as the "Father of Social Networking Theory".


Obey!!!
Milgram's first experiment, called Obedience, involved two subjects - a "learner" and a "tester". The learner would be asked a series of questions and with each answer they got wrong, the tester would apply an electric shock of increasing strength - from 15 volts to a leathal potentially 450 volts! In reality the test was rigged. The "learner" was an actor who faked the wrong answers, faked screams of agony, and pleaded for the tester to stop the experiment. The point was to find out how many testers - average people off the street - would obey the authority of the scientist in charge and continue shocking the learner despite knowing it was wrong and cruel. The result itself was shocking - over 65% of the testers would go on shocking the learners despite their perceived agony.

Milgram was in search of some deeper explanation of social obedience and in particular - its dark side - which can lead to normally rational, well-intentioned people, allowing the seemingly unthinkable (like the Holocoust) to take place and indeed even willingly participating in it. The experiments and various videos of it like this one range from disturbing to oddly humorous. But they do seem to illustrate the role that simple "peer pressure" plays in how we act socially and that very few people can fight it.


It's a Small World After All...
The other experiment Milgram conducted was called the "Small World Phenomenon".

In the experiment, Milgram sent several packages to 160 random people living in Omaha, Nebraska, asking them to forward the package to a friend or acquaintance whom they thought would bring the package closer to a final individual, a stockbroker from Boston, Massachusetts. The letter included this specific condition: "If you do not know the target person on a personal basis, do not try to contact him directly. Instead, mail this folder to a personal acquaintance who is more likely than you to know the target person."

Milgram found that it usually took just six mailings for the package to reach the stockbroker in Boston allowing him to theorize that on average any two people in the United States were just separated by just six acquaintances. That led, of course, to the now popular phrase "six degrees of separation".


Milgram's Law?
So what does it all mean? Well, Milgram died in 1984 (Obedience? Orwell? Irony?) long before we had Facebook, MySpace or even the Internet. But had he lived another 10-15 years I suspect he might have predicted that the natural phenomenon of "social obediance" and a world made even smaller by technology would have led to this. And he might have developed a Milgram's Law that states something like networking technology + small world + obedience = the rapid rise and fall (anyone remember Friedster?) of social media networks.

- JPL

Brotherhood of the Brand

How Smart Grassroots Marketing Revitalized a Fraternity



College fraternities are typically associated with mass inebriation and creative hazing, not smart branding and marketing. But the brothers at the Psi Triton chapter of Phi Sigma Kappa are changing all that and demonstrating once again why I believe the next generation of business leaders will be more serious and savvy marketers...

When I graduated from Hobart College in 1990 Phi Sig was entering decline, and within a few years the fraternity was gone, succumbing to a more aggressive "anti-greek" mentality sweeping the campuses and administrations of many colleges...

Then about four years ago, a new generation of students at Hobart, along with some key alumni, made the effort to restart Psi Triton. Led by former house President Julian LoPresti and current president Andy Fosbrook they decided to re-create Phi Sig as a different kind of fraternity. They astutely recognized the campus community's general distaste for intra-fraternity rivalry and irresponsible antics, and determined that they needed to separate themselves from the clique-driven reputation of fraternities at Hobart (Kappa Sigma = Football Players, Sigma Phi = "deadheads", etc...).

And so they developed and applied a smart set of marketing and branding principals as the foundation of a new fraternity. First they developed a tag line and theme that could be reused in varied ways to build an identity. The line they created was, get this:

"We Are The Change"

It may sound cliched now, but keep in mind - they came up with this message fully 2 years before the Obama campaign kicked off! And the brothers now fondly joke now that Obama ripped off the change slogan from them!

The tag line was applied to T-shirts and posters that were distributed around campus and handed out at events. It has evolved several times since but the core theme of "change" has remained and no doubt benefited from the Obama phenomenon (lucky timing helps turn good marketing into great marketing).

The second thing they did was to dedicated themselves to a set of events and causes atypical of most fraternities. From conceiving and sponsoring the Turkey Trot race (one of the most successful fundraisers ever conducted on the Hobart campus) to their attempts to bring back the legendary Folk Festival on campus this spring, the goal has been to associate the Phi Sigma Kappa brand with every positive, noteworthy event or cause on campus or in the community.

In each case they created posters and t-shirts to promote the events and even arranged for local businesses to "sponsor" the production costs in return for logo placement.  They even chose the personal charity of the College President's wife as beneficiary of the Turkey Trot race winning her gratitude and a plate of fresh baked cookies for the house. Talk about building brand loyalty!

And to demonstrate the depth of their commitment to the community, they have even extended their marketing and branding expertise beyond just their own house, in an attempt to revitalize the image of fraternities overall. In their first year of eligibility, Phi Sigs ran and were elected to senior positions on the Hobart Inter Fraternity Council including the VP position and a newly established "IFC Marketing" position with a healthy budget that will be used to promote the positive aspects of "Greek life" on campus. These guys aren't just building a "company" brand, their promoting an entire "industry" brand.

Beyond the personal gratification of seeing my former fraternity revived and demonstrating real leadership, I think its a great example of back-to-basics marketing and brand advocacy, and I'm captivated by the organic manner in which it evolved among this young generation.

Damn Proud!

JPL
Hobart, PSK '90

Online Imagination in an Offline World

I walked outside today to find my kids and a bunch of others from the neighborhood in the driveway, doing something that astounded me.

They were drawing the "rooms" of a large "house" - a kitchen, bathrooms, a game room, bedrooms (each of which had a flat screen TV) - filling every inch of the driveway.

But the really interesting thing was that each room had a swirled icon. I asked what they were and the kids explained to me the swirls were "portals" or "links" that allowed them to move between rooms.

They had mimicked in chalk & asphalt the digital interfaces and actions they know from popular websites like Webkinz and Poptropica.

It dawned on me that they were imitating and incorporating concepts they knew of only from the online world, and applying them to their physical world rather than the other way around. And I marveled at how this is probably the first generation to do that. They had been exposed to online imagination from such a young enough age that they can integrate them into their offline imaginations.

Here are a few shots...

Portals
















Game Room (Note Wii Console on left)
















Kitchen (with Portal icon)
















Laundry Room

How My Cab Fare in Louisville Ended Up In Bangkok

Just spent 2 days in Louisville KY this week. My first ever visit there and it's a pleasant city with a revitalized - if still somewhat sleepy downtown - and a few funky SOHO-like cosmopolitan hotels and restaurants.

But what really stuck with me was my conversation with the cab driver on the way out. He's a 70+ year old widower and tells me he's from Upstate NY (Elmira) originally - and worked for a company that delivered new trucks from manufacturers like PeterBilt, Mack, etc. to customers all over the country.

He moved to Louisville 17 years ago, finished his career there, retired and now lives with his adult son in an apartment. He spends 3 months a year here driving cabs just to save enough money to go to Thailand for the other 9 months of the year where he has a 26 year old wife who's former profession is among the world's oldest.

So I ask him what the impact of the economy has has been on him and he says it's been so slow he'll have to drive his cab for an extra month before he saves enough to go back.

Beyond revealing the somewhat seamy underbelly of the global economy I was amused at seeing how my "taxi" dollars were being routed to Thailand via a cab driver in Louisville KY.

Go figure....

JPL

The Limits of Great Marketing?

Back in 1996 the savvy folks American Savings Education Council (AESC) created Choosetosave.org in an attempt to educate consumers on the importance of raising personal savings and the problems with overextending credit.

They picked up a great domain name, built a website with lots of free tools, and even developed a whole super hero-themed story-line - "Savings Man" protecting consumers from the evils of "Credit Card Man" and "Sub-Prime-mate". Great idea, great execution, but it wasn't enough.

In the third quarter of 2005 America's savings rate actually went negative at minus .75%...

In a recent profile on PBS NewsHour, the founder was asked why, and he indicted that for every dime they spent on this program, far more powerful forces were arrayed against them, spending literally millions to convince Americans to take out another credit card, buy a bigger house, etc..

And so it goes: sometimes great marketing simply isn't enough. You need to know what competition you are up against, and either have the budget to combat it effectively or find a better way to get your message out. Personally, I think they could have done better with a hard core viral campaign - the videos are finally now on YouTube.

Of course, sometimes it's just a matter of timing. And SavingsMan's time may have just arrived: in Q4 2008 America's savings rate hit almost hit 3%.

- JPL

Humor Advertising in a Market of Worry

In a world when everything seems to be falling - the market, auto sales, your investments, public confidence, etc. - you can always count on humor to help make your message stand out.

Witness this great Ad I saw in today's paper from Jet Blue. One that made me chuckle out loud on the train and which I will not soon forget. In fact I'll tell others about it today just as I am here.




-JPL
-- Post From My iPhone

Bullish on America's Next Generation...

For all the talk of our 47 year old, post-baby boom President heralding change, I actually think its a much younger generation - those in college today and just out of it - that will re-invigorate America and the world.

Three things I have seen in the past week gave me great confidence that America has not completely lost its mojo and that this up and coming generation is poised to unleash the next great phase of global growth:

1.) TerraCycle - The amazing business that I visited and wrote about last week which was founded by a 20 year old Princeton dropout and turns garbage into products. It's not only revolutionized the way we look at garbage, but could become the GE of eco-capitalism in just a matter of years - proving that you can make huge profits, and benefit the planet.

2.) My Old Fraternity - When I left Hobart in 1990 my fraternity - Phi Sigma Kappa - was in deep decline. A few years later it was banned from campus and lost its charter. Then about 3 years ago, a team of industrious freshman reached out to the dispersed botherhood of house alumni in search of support and a history on which to re-charter the house. Today it's back in operation and appearantly the most popular house on campus. The key? They've run it like a business, building a viral campus-wide brand backed by posters, slogans and creative t-shirts, supported by unique fundraising events, smart networking parties ("slip-n-slide" parties), and a diverse array of brothers that defies the traditional Hobart Fraternity clique that was based on which sport you played.

3.) Today's Tom Friedman Column in the NY Times - in which he relays the story of two recent Yale grads he meets in New Delhi who tour the Indian countryside in a solar powered car promoting the Indian Youth Climate Network, or IYCN, which connects young climate leaders in India and spreads awareness of all the clean, green energy innovation taking place there today.

These kids are different than I was at that age for sure. They are less motivated by money than by doing what's right. But they are also deadly serious and incredibly focused about their mission. And they seem to be competely free of the social and business mores and constraints of previous generations. Maybe it's all the natural outcome of the first generation to have grown up with the internet and a truly open and fast moving market of ideas. But whatever it is, it's got me bullish on America again and thinking that whatever happens in this economic winter of discontent, just beyond it lies a spring of renewal driven by a new generation of innovators.

JPL

TerraCycle: Turning Garbage Into Gold!

A few weeks (and postings) ago, I had a chance to see the CEO & Founder of TerraCycle.net present at the CORE: club. I was really blown away by their business and curious to see more for myself, so we called them up and asked if we could get a tour.

Today George and I went down to Trenton NJ for a visit and all I can say is... Wow! Wow! And Wow! We spent close to 3 hours today at TerraCycle and the story just keeps getting better.

First, a big shout out to Albe Zakes, TerraCycle's PR whiz (and a great story in his own right - more on that in a future post) for so expertly delivering us the full tour of TerraCycle's facilities and operations.

We got to see first-hand how they collect and sort garbage of all types from schools, communities and manufacturers, then turn it into a bewildering array of products sold in major retailers countrywide. The scope of the operation boggles the mind: There was a 100K sq foot warehouse filled with left over clothing material, Coke and Pepsi bottles, milk jugs, wooden barrels, plastic drink pouches, reclaimed vinyl billboards, and shredded mylar wrapping material. All neatly organized in bins or bays, barcode scanned and cataloged. Hence one of their mottos: "The only difference between a landfill and TerraCycle is we're sorted!"

And all of it gets converted into backpacks, wall clocks, fertilizer, home cleaner, plant pots, you name it. You can see the full slideshow tour here.

At the end we had a chance to meet with Tom Szaky the CEO and Founder of TerraCycle. Like the rest of the gang here he's in his mid to late twenties - humbling for a couple of 30-40 somethings like us...

He talked about all the cool new stuff they are plannng including the release of his new book - "Revolution in a Bottle" - and their pilot reality TV show episode - Garbage Moguls - which will air on the National Geographic Channel on Earth Day (we got to see an advance copy of it and it's absolutely fantastic).

As a PR and Marketing machine, these guys are firing on all cylinders and seem poised to become the GE of "eco-capitalism". The energy and vision you pick up from them is contagious too, and its inspiring to suddenly look at garbage everywhere and see potential products.

Look for their stuff next time you are in Target, Walmart, Stop & Shop, Walgreens, Office Max or a Home Depot near you. Or just check them out online at http://www.terracycle.net

JPL

Testing the new iPhone BlogPress app

This is a test of the new app I just down loaded to my phone to do remote blogging. How remote, you ask? Well see for yourself...

I downloaded, installed, configured the app and typed this entry while walking to Kevin's house to let the dogs out! Sweet...

Now there is no excuse not to bang out a post when I see something that inspires me!

-- posted from my iPhone

The Importance of Doing Things Differently

Heard a great story on NPR this morning that really demonstrates the success you can have when you change the way you are communicating.

An astronaut at NASA working on a project to help senior managers identify what inhibits "innovation" at the space agency decided that instead of doing the typical powerpoint preso he would present it as a video which can be seen here on YouTube.  He shot it on a borrowed  video camera and edited the piece right at home on his computer.

The story-line follows a young engineer as she tries to pitch a better way to design a spacecraft and all the bureaucracy she encounters along the way.  In the end, she takes a job with Google and they think the idea is so great they say they can probably "sell it to NASA"!!!!

The result of this piece?  A lot of embarrassment and raised eyebrows at the agency.  In the words of one senior NASA administrator: "This is really funny.  And not funny it all...."

Well, at least it got their attention.  Fair to say if this had been a powerpoint preso no one would have paid any attention to it.  Kind of like the engineer's idea...

JPL

 

Networking for a Renewed World Order?

As a member of the CORE: club in Manhattan I get a rare glimpse into the activity of the world's movers and shakers and lately its been interesting to see how busy the place is.   

You'd think in current economic climate a private social and business club that caters to the super elite of finance, media, and a dozen other industries would be struggling. 

  

But what I am seeing is a LOT of lunches and dinners and meetings in the library - between people I haven't seen together before.  And they all seem to be reaching out, talking, trying to get a sense of where the world is headed and get some business done.   The club was envisioned for just that purpose but it seems to me that four years after opening, it's finally being put to use the way it should be!  

This view also fits nicely with the dispatches I've read from Davos this week which seem to indicate that compared to past years where the conference provides a rough sense of where the world is headed - this year attendees seem bewilderingly detached - searching for some kind of anchor - a new sense of order and a way to re-establish trust in all institutions.  

Hopefully, the activity I am seeing among CORE: elites will begin to re-establish that trust and order.  In the meantime, the rest of us should get out there as well, schedule a few lunches, start talking to neighbors, put some good energy out there and make something happen.

JPL

Trust Me: Idea-ware in the Mirror?

If you haven't checked out the new TNT series Trust Me you should. It's on every monday night at 10pm. Couple of things I like about this show:

1.) Tom Cavanaugh - I've liked his work ever since he appeared on the NBC series Ed. Kind of guy that seems like he's never really acting, but just being his usual looney self.

2.) The Characters - It's the story of two best friends who work in a big Chicago ad agency. One is a copywriter and one is an art director. Kind of like me a George. Except in reverse. Connor the copywriter (Cavanaugh's character) is a nut job, flying by the seat of his pants, thumbing his nose at authority, pushing the envelope, often irresponsible, but also unbelievably creative and successful. That's George. Mason, the Art Director in Trust Me is serious, driven, corporate and always worrying about the client. That's me.

3.) The Partner Idea - The other interesting idea in this show - which George also found in a book about Saatchi and Saatchi that he is reading - is that all great agencies operate on this 2 person pairings of design and copywriting partners. In Trust Me, each character refers to his or her "partner" with the opposite skill set. It struck me that our advocacy model - pairing one designer (George) and one copywriter (me) - provides exactly those same resources and all the good synergy that comes form their interaction, without all the distraction of big agency politics that this show so painfully displays!

4.) The Marketing Campaign - Finally, they have a great campaign supporting this show. Not as cool as HBOs campaign for Big Love, but the do have a killer website that is made to look like it's the site for the fictional agency in the show (Rothman, Greene & Mohr), complete with staff bios and a client extranet you can access and watch hilarious videos of a "focus group" gone terribly wrong. George noted the irony that RGM isn't even a real business and yet their website is better than 95% of the businesses out there!!

JPL

Career Advice: "Hang a Shingle" and give every conversation two chances...

No surprise here but in the past few weeks I've had conversations with way too many friends and acquaintances who have lost jobs.  In each case they have expressed an interest in getting my feedback or help in a resume and job search.  And in each case I have suggested they approach things a bit differently...

Don't Shop A Resume

For starters, in this kind of economy you need to do more than network and pass around a resume.  A resume says simply "I'm looking for a Full Time Job with Benefits".  And those opportunities are disappearing faster each day.    

But if you network and shop around a list of well-defined, highly needed projects that you are experienced with and are available to do "for hire" all of sudden there is interest.  Part of it has to do with the fact that employers can't afford to hire full time employees but they STILL HAVE WORK THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE!  And getting in with project work increases you chances of being hired full time.  

Hang A Shingle Instead...

So I advise my friends to immediately "hang a shingle" and go into business for themselves as a freelancer - even if its not the ideal long term decision.  At least every person they call on they can have two conversations with: 1.) Her is my resume for a look at what I've done  - I'm interested in a full time position, but also 2.) Here are 3 or 4 projects I know how to do, and you know you need, and I can do them starting today at an hourly rate and you don't have to pay any benefits.   

There are other benefits to this approach as well:   They can make some $ along the way while they are still job searching.   They just may find out that the company isn't really one they'd want to work full time for anyway in which case they saved themselves from a big career mistake.  or, they may find like I did that they can do better on their own as a freelancer than working full time for some empty suit.

How To Do It

The next question they ask is "How do I hang that shingle?"  And that's where my skills come in.  I love to look over a resume and extract the 3 or 4 things that people know how to do and re-package it as a simple powerpoint presentation that outlines the well-defined projects they can do immediately.  

For instance, lets say you've been in sales management for 20 years.  You probably are a whiz at setting up and using Salesforce or another CRM package.  You probably know how to structure a sales compensation package that is both profitable to the company yet motivating to the sales person.  And you probably know how to set up and manage a sales funnel and good reporting using that CRM.

You would not believe how many companies DON'T know how to do those things!  But in this market a lot of them will need that right now as they re-evaluate how they pay everyone and look for ways to make sales more efficient.  And all three are simple projects you could structure on a simple hourly rate or flat rate basis.

So of course, update the resume, but before you start sending it out, hang that shingle.  A little creativity, repackaging and smart communications can turn a boring traditional job search into a revenue generating, networking exercise.

JPL

TerraCycle at CORE:

Got to see an incredible presentation from the 27 year old CEO of TerraCycle.net They are a 6 year old start-up that turns garbage - things like kids juice pouches - into products- like lunch boxes - that are sold at major retailers. The best part of their story was the business model - which seems to pay them at every transaction along the supply chain. Never seen anything like it!

I introduced myself to their PR guy and the CEO too. Hoping maybe to meet them and see their facility in person in a few weeks. But what an inspiring story...

JPL