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