Blog - Converge by Bader Rutter

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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Tuesday

11Aug2009

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Make no little plans

Mark Williams |

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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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Monday

03Aug2009

Monday, August 3, 2009

Marcom A to Z — G for Global

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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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Friday

24Jul2009

Friday, July 24, 2009

Ingredient branding — The ultimate marketing communications thrill ride

Curtis Gorrell |

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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Monday

20Jul2009

Monday, July 20, 2009

Marcom A to Z — E for e-

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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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Wednesday

15Jul2009

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Marketing budgets — How much is enough?

Linda Hogan |

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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Monday

13Jul2009

Monday, July 13, 2009

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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Monday

06Jul2009

Monday, July 6, 2009

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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Monday

29Jun2009

Monday, June 29, 2009

Marcom A to Z — B for Brainstorming

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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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Monday

22Jun2009

Monday, June 22, 2009

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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Tuesday

02Jun2009

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Brand portfolio strategy and M&As

Rodger Jones |

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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Wednesday

27May2009

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Getting the best work from your agency

Mark Bjorgo |

Celebrating our 35th anniversary earlier this year got us thinking about some of the secrets to our success. The first thing that comes to mind is that we align ourselves with strategic and smart client partners. There are some similarities in our client/agency relationships that always seem to have the same result — exceptional, idea-generated work. To that end, we’ve developed a quick list of ways to cultivate a meaningful and successful client/agency relationship.

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