Hello Kitty and Taiwanese airline, Eva Air, have showed us how to take a marketing collaboration to new heights. In an effort to boost both tourism in Taiwan as well as Eva Air’s brand awareness, the airline provides an ultimate Hello Kitty experience for fans on boutique-like trips in a Hello Kitty jet. Everything from food to ticketing is Hello Kitty branded. Of course, there’s a Hello Kitty Eva Air website.

 For fans of the Hello Kitty brand, it’s a dream in flight.

 Read more about Hello Kitty Air.

Julie Meidam | Post a Comment

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A recent study found that consumers in their 20s (“digital natives”) switch media venues about 27 times per nonworking hour—the equivalent of more than 13 times during a standard half-hour TV show.

What does that mean for us as marketing professionals? At the most fundamental level, it translates to the fact that you have less than two minutes to grab an individual’s attention and invite them to further read your message. According to some scientific scholars, they’ve went as far as to say, you have someone’s attention for 8 seconds – that’s less than that of a goldfish.  Which means – content needs to be engaging and clutch the reader’s brain to want more. 

As we move further and further into the digital age, marketers also need to verify that they are reaching their audience from a variety of angles and grabbing their attention immediately. While traditional print may and will still work – there is a high possibility that the end user may be flipping through that magazine while watching a television show…only to put the magazine down and pick up a tablet. Our marketing strategy needs to ensure that all of these factors are taken into consideration, before we’re switched off and dismissed.

Angela Mork | Post a Comment

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I don’t like to spend time wondering what a certain brand means. Sure, I appreciate intrigue and wordplay as much as the next person, but the brands that really get me are the ones that have history and give depth to a product. Ones that have icons that signify something.

So, imagine my excitement while reading through this month’s Wired magazine and I come across an article that captures my attention. The headline? Captain Morgan.  I love rum, so I read on.  It seems that the well-known figure from my favorite happy hour drink was an actual, real live swashbuckler. In fact, he was Captain Blackbeard’s mentor, knighted by King Charles II and appointed deputy director of Jamaica.  He retired at the ripe age of 37 to become a wealthy planter and grow…you guessed it…sugar cane…to make rum. I think I have found my new idol in life. (more…)

Angela Mork | Post a Comment

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“In the past year, marketers distributed more business-to-business content on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter than ever,” according to CMI.  

Mashable.com has posted a great info graphic highlighting the Content Marketing Explosion, taken from the article Marketers who Share Content Drive Traffic, Gain Customers.

The graphic is a great illustration of where you can use content marketing strategies to enhance your brand awareness and convert fans and followers into sales leads and revenue generators.

Julie Meidam | Post a Comment

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Media companies rarely sell all of their available advertising space. This unsold space or time, referred to as remnant space, can be purchased by an advertiser at a cost often way below standard rates. But is that the best way to purchase advertising space? If you’re using remnant space as you’re primary strategy with your media buy, you may wish to proceed with caution.

The first drawback is that your media strategy and marketing program is on ‘stand-by’ each month. There’s never a guarantee that you’ll get remnant space in your preferred outlet, if at all. If there is remnant space available, media reps may give that opportunity to their bigger advertisers first – effectively bypassing you — or those that purchase ad space per the negotiated contract rates. Media reps do this to keep their top advertisers happy, for all the obvious reasons. (more…)

Karen Enriquez-Wagner | Post a Comment

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I was reading an article on the success of streaming music sites, such as Pandora and Spotify. One of these companies’ main concerns is the need to grow their ad revenue at the same rate as their popularity.  From an advertiser’s standpoint, as we begin exploring these new placement options, it needs to be decided from which of our current budgets (assuming they can’t be increased) will we pull money from to incorporate this new investment? Should the medium be viewed as digital media, or should it be viewed as a replacement for traditional radio.

(more…)

Rosalind Elliott | Post a Comment

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What’s the one thing that any PR professional absolutely needs to have to be successful? If you ask me – it’s the ability to write well. Almost everything we do as PR professionals centers on writing. Which is why I was rather surprised to read in a blog titled 2012 PR Prediction: 5 guaranteed (ways) to affect your resume, which implies that the ability to write is overblown.

In bullet point No. 1: PR skills will move beyond media relations, an excerpt from the blog says:

While a press release does not necessarily need to be well-written, a PR professional must now be able to ghost author a blog in a CEO’s tone and style. (more…)

Steve Staedler | Post a Comment

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Industrial companies (primarily B2B) are continuing to shift their marketing resources by investing more dollars particularly in content marketing, which is the “creation and distribution of educational and/or compelling content in multiple formats to attract and/or retain customers.” For example, it can include tactics such as: articles, social media, blogs, case studies, white papers, etc.

The Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs conducted a study on 2012 B2B content marketing.

One area that they addressed was budgets. B2B marketers dedicated about 26 percent of their total budgets to content marketing initiatives last year. In 2012, that number is expected to increase with 60 percent of respondents indicating that they expect an uptick in spending. As more B2B companies are implementing content marketing and seeing its effectiveness, it allows marketers the ability and confidence to invest more dollars in this area. (more…)

Karen Enriquez-Wagner | Post a Comment

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The website socialmediab2b.com lists its 12 B2B social media predictions for 2012. No. 3 on the list: social media lead generation taken seriously – is a prediction that I like. It contends that more companies will launch programs to generate leads through their social media campaigns, and that the results will make it easier for C-Suite executives to take social media more seriously. I fully agree with that prediction, but it’s a year too late. (more…)

Steve Staedler | Post a Comment

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Original Alphie, 1978

Angela Mork | Post a Comment

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