Do You Twitter?

Westergaard Advertising does. I think it's safe to say that everyone is still figuring out this intriguing mobile micro-blogging service that, as John Kenyon of the Corridor Business Journal says, "approximates a modern-day police scanner or back-fence conversation." As we all learn to leverage this tool in 2009, we invite you to follow WA on Twitter.

P.S. Need help getting started and/or creating a branded background and themes? Give us a holler ... or a tweet.

A New Voice for '09

Today Pepsi revealed a new TV and online campaign that will kick off 2009 at the center of the action - Times Square. The campaign strikes a light and optimistic tone using bold colors, upbeat music, and positive sayings, all of which are accented by their new smiling logo.

At the risk of this becoming the Pepsi/Walmart blog (check out the last four posts), I think that optimism in messaging will be key to staying ahead in 2009. Recent research shows that 81% of Millennials are hopeful about what lies ahead in the new year. We all must remember to address the downturn without dwelling on it.

Like Walmart, this is a great example of finding a relevant way to talk to people about the challenges we face. In doing so in a positive way, they build a strong association with their brand that I wager will last longer than a campaign built on fear.

Growing from the Gut

It's (about to be) the New Year and what do we all want to do after last week? Loose some weight, take care of that spare tire, etc. I myself was thinking of this as I got ready this morning. I had the news on in the background and heard a commercial about loosing weight AND saving money. Hey ... I think as my attention is captured amidst my struggle with my belt, who's promising this now ...?

None other than the subject of our previous post: Walmart (my friend McKinze reminded me after the last post that they dropped the hyphen as part of their recent brand overhaul). They even say at the end It's cheaper to loose weight at Walmart. And the scary thing? This is probably true. I really don't mean to dwell on Walmart as I am not a huge fan but the recent messaging has been spot on. First, sad as it is, the time has really come for their 'Save Money. Live Better' message (though it should be recognized that this is a more topical riff on their previous and somewhat threatening brand promise of 'Always Low Prices. Always.'). Second, they peel off topical campaigns such as this New Year weight-loss TV message which  they tie together with a keyword campaign (Google 'cheap weight loss' and see who's near the top) which leads to a targeted microsite on healthy living. 

Again - I am not a fan of the company but this strategy seems like it could encourage current customers to spend even more and motivate potential new customers to come on in in one fell swoop. Which strategically watches their vast backyard while also positioning for growth by capitalizing on our current need to save more money than ever and our post-holiday resolve to curb the growth of our respective waistlines.

For Your Holiday Village ...

In the post-holiday malaise, I was confronted with a simple truth -- sometimes Wal-Mart is the only option. I have all of the standard gripes about Wallyworld (or Deathmart as my friend Mike has crudely dubbed them after the unfortunate death of an employee on Black Friday) so I won't bother to elaborate on them here.

My wife's family lives in rural Iowa, and for many essential items Wal-Mart is the only option. And so it passed that my wife, sister-in-law and I set out for food staples, grab bag gifts for an upcoming Yankee Swap, and miscellenous gift items. For part of the visit I was left to my own devices and wandered the aisles. Because I am insane and think of such things, I took in the modern facelift of the new Wal-Mart logo along with other in-store promotionals proclaiming the giant retailer's slogan -- Save money. Live better.

Say what you will about it -- it's basic, it's dirivitive on Target's "Expect More. Pay Less." -- but I think this slogan ultimately meets it's needs and is relevant now more than ever. I found myself reading it aisle after aisle, end-cap after end-cap and thinking -- "That IS what I want." And right now that's what we all want.

Don't get me wrong. I think the company and the way it operates are often times reprehensible and I don't think that a slogan that happens to be more topical now can somehow reverse or offset that. What I do think is that right now, Wal-Mart is doing an OK job of talking to a lot of people.

(Just to be sure to get one quick dig in -- the photo I took above slays me. Now you can add a small, quaint Wal-Mart to your picturesque holiday village. The irony of course is that once you put the Wal-Mart out you'd have to remvoe the small town drug store and toy shop from your quaint main street ...)

Westerblog | A blog about IDEAS+ACTION from Westergaard Advertising

The Middle Circle

I am a bit of an anomaly. I can give or take Pepsi or Coke. I'll drink either one or be perfectly content to have a root beer or raspberry ice tea. So I don't have affinity for either brand but sometimes I feel like drinking a soda and end up purchasing one or the other. Recently I was strolling down the aisle of my local grocer when I saw the much discussed new Pepsi logos. Neat, I thought and put a couple of two-liter bottles in my basket. I don't love Pepsi or hate Coke. It just struck me as new and interesting so I made the dive. And I'll bet I'm not alone.

The new logos have generated much discussion. Some love the new "smile" while others resent this very modern overhaul of a classic American brand. I won't get into my personal opinion because I'm not sure it's fully formed yet. I say that because even if I don't find them visually appealing, they may end up doing their job: moving the needle. By adding a little bit of sizzle, the new logo system may cause enough people like me to stop and say "Look! Something shiny and new."

I'm sure someone is reading this and thinking "if this guy doesn't care about soda then why should his opinion matter?" My opinion matters because in the soda wars I am a key demographic. It's the same reason pundits say that undecideds win elections. Products or personalities battling for share of mind in the public sphere each have a dedicated faction of brand loyalists. But there is almost always a third center circle in the ven diagram - and often it represents a larger group. The undecideds. The unloyal. In politics, these are the people who aren't as well read on the issues and vote a certain way because they didn't like someone's odd glance in a fleeting moment of a debate. In product marketing, these are the people who stop and buy the new thing because it's different and exciting. 

I think it's important to point out (especially as a huge advocate on the power of branding) that I am not advocating focusing on little flashes in the pan to piece together a winning strategy. The logos (might) work for Pepsi because they have the core bucket of brand loyalists who they take care of. This is a strategy designed to grow and challenge market share but you cannot gravitate to the middle circle without first establishing a strong brand.

Lessons from the Doghouse

By now almost everyone has seen "Beware of the Doghouse" - a great viral marketing video from the jewelry store inside JC Penny's first brought to my attention by Westerblog co-blogger Dean and colleague Larry.

This is indeed hilarious on many levels. The one aspect that I keep thinking about as a marketer though is what the pitch for this idea must have been like. We have an arguably funny premise on its own but within the specific context of driving holiday jewelry traffic to a fairly average mall anchor store, this sketch could seem like a bit of a stretch. Really an "outside of the box" idea. It only features the brand name once at the very end (if you blink you could miss it). Even the microsite the video drives traffic too is subtle (funny? yes; a traditional Penny's merchandising site? no). To the guy or gal at the end of the table whose job it is to give something a thumbs up or down, this was risky decision.

Now in the end it paid off. BIG. The video has been shared over and over and is a runaway success. Hindsight being what it is, one cannot think of a better way to make Penny's standout from the cluttered jewelry retail crowd. But months back, to the guy at the end of the table and the team pitching the idea, this probably had a lot of folks reaching for the Rolaids. Well played.

Can I Help You?

You walk up and down the aisles of a store ... Can I help you?

You call up your trusted business advisor ... Can I help you?

Can I help you? This is the battle cry of the service trade from front line customer service to skilled professional service practitioners. Whether you work in a call center or a hospital, your exchange with those you serve usually begins with some variation on can I help you?

Given the current economic climate, this phrase takes on an even more complex and urgent meaning. Our customers' circumstances have changed, people are making decisions differently, and - most of all - our lives are more complicated. Now more than ever, people are looking for help beyond having their basic needs met. We all need to ask ourselves, is there something more we can be doing to serve our customers. Even something small ...

Earlier this week I got an email from Staples with the subject line 'Will Office Depot closings affect you?' which included a brief news re-cap about the closings and info on the stability of Staples. Initially I thought that this was a shrewd move – capitalizing on the weakened status of a competitor. But then I thought about it for a bit. Maybe there's not a lot of brand loyalty in the office supplies business. Staples vs. Office Depot vs. Office Max. Maybe people just duck into what is closest to them. And with one of the giants fallen, maybe someone's already-complicated life could be pushed even further if they didn't know where to get their paper clips. People are looking for security and reassurance. And in one little email Staples went a long way toward communicating that.

Staples took a step back and asked can I help you? When you consider this with the fact that Staples has built it's brand on ease of use (Staples - that was easy) it becomes more than obvious that this was a brand-savvy, customer-centric move in a critical time when we all need to need to be doing that. When we need to remember to ask - Can I help you?

The Westerblog Is Back

Hello blogosphere! The WesterBlog is back. We are relaunching this blog that I first started in 2005 as a team blog for our agency - Westergaard Advertising. Dean and I will be sharing our thoughts on advertising, marketing, new media, traditional media, and everything in between. For more details feel free to watch the video above. We hope that you'll all join in the conversation.

A Domain Name Oops!

Last week it was reported that the developers of the upcoming George W. Bush Presidential Library bought back the domain name GeorgeWBushLibrary.com that they had originally purchased for $3,000 for the princely sum of $35,000. Ouch. Big ouch. The real kicker? The company that sold it back for $35K bought it online for just $10 after it had expired. 

Now I am often the one at our agency responsible for purchasing and managing domain names for our use and for the use of our clients. And once you factor in all of our clients and all of the primary and campaign/microsite domains that everyone has and the fact that they weren't all registered on the same date, this can keep a person fairly busy. However, I was bolstered on the importance of this job by reading the story above.

It pays to have someone to keep track of your domains. You can also flip the Bush library story the other way - if you buy and renew early at a price more in the ballpark of $10-$20 you might as well go ahead and buy any additional domains you can think of as well that a competitor/extortionist (like the one above) might buy out from under you later. We go through this often - should we really buy those other names as well? - and ultimately we come up with the logic that if its just $10 per additional domain, then it is money well spent.

So to keep with the political metaphor, you could say that domain registration and renewal is like voting ... do it early and often.

If you are interested, you can read the full story on the Bush library domain here.