So, what are your QR codes doing tonight?

In the past year, in large part due to its simplicity, low cost of implementation, and shiny-new-thing factor, QR codes have appeared everywhere. In marketing, we can use QR codes to our advantage in that critical blink of an eye we call conversion.

It seems everyone has been slapping QR codes on packaging, signage and collateral – even taking over entire buildings. But have they been effective? It depends.

Demystifying the QR code
QR codes actually date back to 1994, when they were developed by a Toyota subsidiary. They’re nothing more than one of the next generation bar code formats, with the ability to store more information. Their purpose is to simplify a request or transaction.

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How honest are you?

This isn’t exactly the type of question you’d expect a brand to ask you. But for Honest Tea, it’s all part of having an experience with the brand.

I recently attended an event featuring Max Lenderman, author of Brand New World and Director of OuterActive at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, talking about experiential marketing.

The example he highlighted that stuck with me the most was from Honest Tea. When most of us hear the words “experiential marketing,” we think of a huge semi truck that rolls up fully outfitted with multiple ways for people to experience the brand its promoting. We also think about huge budgets.

That’s not the case for Honest Tea. They set up simple stands in major cities full of their product. There’s no company representative around, just a sign that asks you to pay $1 for a bottle of tea and a locked box to put the money in. It’s based on the honor system. It perfectly aligns with their brand. And it couldn’t be a more cost effective way to provide a genuine experience.

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In the kitchen of advertising, it’s the chef – not the ingredients

The connection between cooking and advertising was made clear to me the other night as I stood, looking aimlessly at the kitchen of my recently purchased house, thinking, “Man, I’ve got nothing to make for dinner.”

Although I’ve graduated past the ramen noodles and 3 a.m. gyros of my college days, the responsibility of being a homeowner has taught me a number of important lessons — namely, how to be more resourceful.

Fifty minutes later, I had a dinner that, while it didn’t quite make me an iron chef, was pretty respectable: seasoned chicken roasted in a balsamic reduction, steamed veggies and a warm loaf of Italian bread. Not too shabby given what looked to be a dire eating situation just one hour before.

So there I stood, marveling at my culinary masterpiece. And it made me think of the parallels that exist between cooking and advertising. Even when the ingredients of a project seem less than appetizing, it’s the creativity and resourcefulness of the chef that makes a project a success or not. The same holds true in advertising.

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Make no little plans

Daniel BurnhamOver the next several months, Chicago is commemorating the centennial of architect Daniel Burnham’s legendary “Plan of Chicago.”

In 1907, 36 years after “The Great Conflagration” (the Chicago fire of 1871), at a time when Chicago had been the fastest-growing city in the history of the world, Burnham and his partner, Edward Bennett, were commissioned to prepare a perspective on how the city might evolve to better handle the needs of its inhabitants. Burnham and Bennett held nothing back, developing a comprehensive vision for the modern city, including detailed proposals for access to the 24-mile lakefront, public parks, civic buildings, as well as fundamental infrastructure such as transportation. Presented in 1909, the plan not only helped shape the city of Chicago, it revolutionized urban design.

Over the previous four decades, Burnham had already played a significant role rebuilding the city after the fire. Also, he had overseen the development of The World’s Columbian Exposition, which was the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Plus, he had built the world’s largest architectural firm, responsible for hundreds of buildings across the country — including the world’s first skyscrapers, as well as many of the largest buildings of the time.

What can we learn from Burnham?

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Marcom A to Z — G for Global

Digital channels that easily link people and businesses around the globe create a feeling of connectedness. Even issues are more global from cause to effect — energy, climate change and “green,” for example — thereby unifying people from different countries. While the corporate world is growing smaller in terms of connect-ability (person-to-person, BtoB or BtoC reach), it’s growing larger in terms of virtual and global expansion opportunities for businesses.

I’ve read a slew of articles recently about global business growth. Of them, these stand out as interesting trend indicators:

• A recent CNNMoney article by Beth Kowitt confirms that emerging markets have become a choice investment option due to developed countries’ stagnant economic situation relative to the growth opportunities in developing parts of the world.
• The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) unveiled initial research findings about the growth in global business travel through 2013: Global Business Travel Spend Projected to Exceed $986 Billion by 2013. “The study predicts that growth of business travel in China and Japan will exceed U.S. growth over the next five years. In addition, developing nations, like India, Vietnam, Iran and Indonesia will experience significant compound annual growth rates over the same timeframe.”

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Ingredient branding — The ultimate marketing communications thrill ride

I cannot count the number of times I have heard an ingredient or component manufacturer express how they wish their product could be featured much like “Intel Inside^®,” which is often considered the gold standard for ingredient branding.

While most materials that enter into final products lose their identity along the way, ingredient brands are an essential part of the end product and maintain their own brand identity.

It’s easy to understand the desire to have a product featured like Intel Inside, Gore-Tex^®, Teflon^®, NutraSweet^®, or any other successful ingredient brand. The rewards can be tremendous. The ingredient manufacturer establishes a differentiated brand, which can deliver better profit margins, help expand and open markets, strengthen relationships in the value chain, and contribute to the company’s overall reputation.

But for all those who express a desire to present the next Intel Inside, few can meet the necessary reality check.

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Marcom A to Z — E for e-

Pick your favorite digital application: Web sites, e-mail, Facebook, Twitter. If you’re unfamiliar with and aren’t learning about these tools, you’ll become professionally obsolete. It’s that simple. Technology drives the entire marketing industry today.

I’ll focus on PR in this post. These new channels add tools to the arsenal that facilitate information collection and distribution, as well as conversation and dialogue. To Grant Thekan’s point in his post, Digital marketing lesson from Sir Alex, it’s important to strategically choose the right e-channels for a given situation. Failing to at least consider all available channels is to practice PR in a vacuum.

Today, it’s do (adopt and evolve) or die (by becoming irrelevant).

I read an interesting blog post recently by Valeria Maltoni about Google Wave, a new online communication and collaboration tool to be launched later this year: Will Google Wave Eliminate the Need for PR as Media Relations? Threatening! Will PR lose a tool or part of its strength with the next technological evolution?

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Marketing budgets — How much is enough?

The marketers I work with spend enormous amounts of time and energy outlining business goals, assessing market opportunities and developing comprehensive strategic plans to win customers and increase market share. And at the end of this exhaustive journey, the final step requires them to belly up to the boardroom table to request the resources required to ensure success. But how much should they ask for? How much is enough to make an impact? How much is a good investment?

Percent of sales is a common place to start. Many companies establish budgets in the range of 2% to 10% for marketing activity. But one size does not fit all. Therefore, it’s important to assess your situation and consider a number of factors to help you determine the right budget.

Ask yourself the following questions:

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Marcom A to Z — D for Differentiation

A silver lining to the sleepy economy: proactive, smart companies have committed found-time to assess their strengths, future potential and competitive environment in preparation to leapfrog the competition when business starts to flow again. The assessment process is a great first step toward guaranteeing future differentiation. It delivers, among other things, a good understanding of a company’s current brand identity and competitive set (close competitors), its aspirational brand positioning and future competitive set, and a clearer articulation of how the company should differentiate itself.

Although with so many companies assessing, strategizing and investing in plans for future growth right now, the competitive landscape may look entirely different a year from now. To put it another way, if two currently competing companies study their relative position now and strategically plan to move toward an altogether new brand position (within a new competitive set), will either be closer to truly understanding its competitive positioning and differentiation a year from now?

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Marcom A to Z — C for Crisis

Forget death, Ponzi schemes, CEO compensation, an inflammatory YouTube video, product malfunction or corporate malfeasance. The most terrifying crisis that should keep you up at night is not the worst-case scenario itself, but the inability to respond strategically and at lightning speed.

Your CEO’s reputation and that of your company mutually define one another, more so today than ever before. If you’re charged with protecting that reputation, your reputation then is at stake if a crisis communications plan isn’t written, discussed, distributed, tested and, most importantly, understood throughout the organization.

Ten-plus year ago, we talked about the need to respond quickly. Today, we define quickly in minutes rather than hours or days. Consider that an inflammatory article could be re-tweeted and blogged about immediately after its original posting, taking it from a local situation to a global discussion in five minutes flat.

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Marcom A to Z — B for Brainstorming

I intended to write this post about structuring a productive brainstorm. As often happens during a good brainstorm session, I’ve ended up in a different place altogether. Here’s the kernel that interests me now: If a company claims to be innovative, does it encourage (and do its employees practice) big-picture thinking on a daily basis? Said another way, is there a fundamental connection between a company that brainstorms well and its penchant for creativity and innovation?

I did a quick online search of 20 companies, big and small but all leaders in their respective fields. More than half of them use the word “innovative” (or a derivative of that word) either in the About Us section on their Web site or in its primary navigation. Of the remaining companies, many talk about innovation using different terms. It’s either a very over-used word or a great goal for companies to work toward. The latter, I believe. So for companies that define themselves as innovative, does that type of culture pervade the companies’ actions and its employees’ approach to projects, issues or ideas?

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Marcom A to Z — A for Associated Press

A client recently asked if the Associated Press has gained influence and prominence as a result of shrinking newsroom budgets and staffs at media outlets across the country, and what effect that might have on our PR strategy. Here’s my response.

Like most businesses, media outlets have seen income drop in the last year. With fewer companies funding large advertising programs, and consumers and businesses getting their news via non-traditional sources such as online news sites, blogs, etc., outlets have balanced the budget by cutting staff (along with other fixes: decreasing the size of their print format, providing content only online, closing all together). To keep papers full, they’ve secured additional content from the AP and other syndicated sources.

Undeniably, the AP’s influence has grown. Look at any daily newspaper’s Web site or Yahoo! News — chock full of AP articles. So what effect might this have on your PR strategy?

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Twitter enables virtual tour of NeoCon tradeshow

The tight economy has challenged many companies’ travel budgets, hampering attendance at NeoCon, the annual business interiors tradeshow at the Chicago Merchandise Mart. The show, which runs from June 15 through 17, has seen a 25 to 50 percent drop in attendance (depending on the source).

Our client at OM Workspace, the contract furniture division of OfficeMax, recognized the opportunity to be the eyes and ears of their customers and sales people who were not able to attend by tweeting live from the show. Together with OM Workspace, we used Twitter to make top line observations of interest at the show.

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MIMA panel advice on business use of Twitter

The Milwaukee Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) held a panel discussion recently in an attempt to get to the bottom of what it calls, Twitter 2.0 – The business case for Twitter. Panelists included our own John Gilbert, vice president of digital solutions, (@skyhawke); DeAnne Boegli, public relations manager for TDS Telecommunications (@tdstelecom); and Tarik Moody, a.k.a. The Architect, of 88Nine Radio Milwaukee (@RadioMilwaukee).

Each had different objectives for why they tweet for business. Tariq utilizes his Twitter network to find new bands, connect with listeners, and garner national exposure for 88Nine. DeAnne uses Twitter to make stronger connections with reporters who tweet, and to provide customers with service updates. John tweets for networking and tips sharing, which helps him provide strategic counsel to clients about their digital marketing strategies.

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Brand portfolio strategy and M&As

While the recession may have put a halt on many mergers and acquisitions, it has also put more pressure to succeed on the M&As that are getting completed. Both domestically and internationally through our BBN (Business Branding Network) partners, we develop effective brand portfolio strategies for clients going through M&As. Analyzing a company’s brand portfolio strategy is a critical, yet often overlooked part of the M&A process. It provides the structure to manage and leverage a valuable asset beyond buildings, machines, technology, logos and people. A brand portfolio strategy provides the structure to leverage the brand.

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