Sunday, August 29, 2010

THE 360 DEGREE CAMPAIGN - SETTING THINGS STRAIGHT

Does your brand have a just a multi-media Campaign Idea, or does it have a 360 Degree Brand Activation Campaign Idea? What's the difference, you may ask? Well, we think there IS a difference - an important one. Sure, we know that marketers just about everywhere are buzzing about going beyond traditional TV and Print Campaign Ideas - mostly in an effort to catch up with what's happening, almost at light speed, with the social media revolution, but we think there is even more to developing a true 360 Degree Idea than injecting a facebook or twitter component into its implementation. Read on to get the straight story.


The DISPATCHESTM for August 29, 2010 can be found here:

THE 360 DEGREE CAMPAIGN - SETTING THINGS STRAIGHT

A printer / handheld friendly version can be found here:

THE 360 DEGREE CAMPAIGN - SETTING THINGS STRAIGHT

It is also available in PDF here:

The360DegreeCampaign.pdf (PDF File)

Sunday, August 22, 2010

DEVELOPING A MORE PRODUCTIVE CREATIVE BRIEF - PART 4

August 22, 2010
DEVELOPING A MORE PRODUCTIVE CREATIVE BRIEF - PART 4
"What the hell did we do to deserve this?"

Tony Hayward, CEO of British Petroleum, was quoted in the New York Times, following the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico, as asking his executive team, "What the hell did we do to deserve this?" Similarly, many senior marketing executives, whose marketers seem to be unable to develop leadership advertising (the kind that not gets noticed but develops a positive ROI), should be asking themselves the same question. Perhaps, it would be very wise for these same executives to reflect less on their marketers and more on their corporate culture, and their leadership role in shaping it.

This is the final installment in a four-part series of DISPATCHES articles titled "Developing a More Productive Creative Brief." It deals with the role of dysfunctional corporate culture and lack of leadership in the failure to develop Creative Briefs that provide strategically appropriate, single-minded direction for the development of leadership advertising, and its subsequent assessment.

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The DISPATCHESTM for August 22, 2010 can be found here:

DEVELOPING A MORE PRODUCTIVE CREATIVE BRIEF - PART 4

A printer / handheld friendly version can be found here:

DEVELOPING A MORE PRODUCTIVE CREATIVE BRIEF - PART 4

It is also available in PDF here:

DevAMoreProductiveCB4.pdf (PDF File)

Sunday, August 15, 2010

POSITIONING EYE CANDY - OR THE MEDIUM IS REALLY NOT THE MESSAGE

Just a few weeks ago, we made the assertion in these Dispatches that "Added Stuff Does NOT Equal Added Value." Following along that same line of thinking, this week we take a look at some of the Pro's and Con's of using a new or different medium to portray the brand positioning statement. There is definitely a trend these days toward moving away from the traditional, "classic" brand positioning statement - expressed in short paragraphs - toward going with a clever icon or "structure" to fill in. But, as you'll see, our take is that no matter how clever or eye-catching the format, it's the content that simply must measure up.

To view this article in its entirety directly from our website, please click on the appropriate link below. We have also provided a pdf link if that is your preferred method of viewing.
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The DISPATCHESTM for August 15, 2010 can be found here:

POSITIONING EYE CANDY - Or The Medium is Really NOT the Message

A printer / handheld friendly version can be found here:

POSITIONING EYE CANDY - Or The Medium is Really NOT the Message

It is also available in PDF here:

PositioningEyeCandy.pdf (PDF File)

Sunday, August 08, 2010

PAPER TIGER POSITIONINGS

Time constraints and foreign travel partnered this week to prevent the creation of a brand new DISPATCHES. Instead, we are reviving an issue first published in 2006, but still relevant for your reading enjoyment...

As the world nervously watches the nuclear brinksmanship emanating from North Korea, an old notion somehow comes to mind?that of the "paper tiger." The phrase itself is actually an ancient one in Chinese, meaning something which seems as threatening as a tiger but is really harmless ("toothless" would be a good, common synonym in today's usage). The modern use of the term seems to trace back to Mao Zedong, who in 1956 said: "In appearance it is very powerful but in reality it is nothing to be afraid of, it is a paper tiger. Outwardly a tiger, is it made of paper, unable to withstand the wind and rain. I believe the United States is nothing but a paper tiger."


The DISPATCHESTM for August 8, 2010 can be found here:

PAPER TIGER POSITIONINGS

A printer / handheld friendly version can be found here:

PAPER TIGER POSITIONINGS

It is also available in PDF here:

PaperTigerPositioningsRev.2doc.doc (PDF File)

Sunday, August 01, 2010

DEVELOPING A MORE PRODUCTIVE CREATIVE BRIEF - PART 3

A few weeks ago we began a four-part series of DISPATCHES articles titled "Developing a More Productive Creative Brief." We are using the Deepwater Horizon ecological disaster as a metaphor for what goes wrong in the development of the Creative Brief. (And what can go wrong will go wrong!)

The DISPATCHESTM for August 1, 2010 can be found here:

DEVELOPING A MORE PRODUCTIVE CREATIVE BRIEF - PART 3

A printer / handheld friendly version can be found here:

DEVELOPING A MORE PRODUCTIVE CREATIVE BRIEF - PART 3

It is also available in PDF here:

DevAMoreProductiveCB3.pdf (PDF File)