The Big Picture

Stamps to Become a Marketing Vehicle?

In an effort to make receiving mail "more interesting to consumers," the U.S. Postal Service has begun offering some companies personalized stamps with their own company logos or pictures. Hewlett-Packard was the first to bite.

Gary Elliott, vice president of brand marketing for HP, said stamps were a new "brand canvas." The cost starts at about 10 cents extra per stamp, with the extra money going to vendors who manufacture the stamps. Personalized stamps have been around for a while, but advertising was prohibited until earlier this year when Congress overturned a 19th-century law barring commercial images on stamps (the 1872 Mail Fraud Statute).

Only three companies, Endicia, Zazzle and Stamps.com, are approved to print corporate logos on stamps. They all use HP Indigo presses to create stamps with a unique bar code - a feature that is required and carefully mandated by the USPS. HP chose Zazzle to make their stamps.

National study concludes Generations X and Y value mail

The Gen X, Gen Y, and the Mail study commissioned by the U.S. Postal Service examined the attitudes of Generation X and Generation Y towards mail and found that over three-quarters of these generations read and respond to mail just like their older counterparts.

The findings conclude that young consumers are more likely to read and respond to printed material such as fliers, circulars, catalogs and newsletters that reach them through the mailbox. 

This would be an interesting read next to the report I read a few days ago, where or with whom I cannot remember, about how the extra two cents for postage that began this month will drive even more marketers to the Web.

What the USPS study does not distinguish, though, as far as I can tell, is mail received at the office via mail received at home. I am much more forgiving of junk mail at home than I am at the office. I don't understand why, but it's true. A piece that might at least get a cursory glance at home before going in the trash goes straight to the bin at work. But at work I'm more likely to open an e-mail that might be a solicitation, but might be junk mail. (On my personal account, I would just trash it if I had the slightest clue that it might be selling me something.)

Is it just me? Do others out there have different attitudes towards business and home mail?

10 Ways to Create and Manage Experiences

This article is about creating and managing experiences - which I think is a great way to look at your annual meeting too. I'm going to keep these in front of me while I'm designing the events and materials this year and see if it helps. (And maybe it will help me convince others that it should all tie into the experience too - which is usually the harder part.)

1. Experiences don't just happen; they need to be planned.

2. Think about the customer experience first—and then about the functional features and benefits of your brand.

3. Be obsessive about the details of the experience.

4. Create a small touch that sums up and stylizes your experience. (The Conrad Hotel in Hong Kong places yellow rubber ducks in its bathrooms—a quirky, memorable touch.)

5. Think situation, not product: "Grooming in the bathroom," instead of "razor"; "casual meal" instead of "hot dog"; "travel" instead of "transportation."

6. Strive for holistic experiences—experiences that are sensory, emotional, thought-provoking and relevant.

7. Track experiences across media: logos, ads, packaging, advertising and websites.

8. Use multiple metrics—from quantitative to verbal to visual. Be explorative and creative and worry about reliability, validity and methodological sophistication later.

9. Consider how the experience changes as the brand expands onto the Web or across international borders.

10. Add dynamism and "Dionysianism" to your company and brand. Most brands are too timid and too bureaucratic. Be ecstatic, passionate and creative.

Source: The EX Group

Viral Marketing in Health Care

The Kaiser Family Foundation is using the tenets of viral marketing, usually reserved to garner attention for products, to "spread the know" about HIV/AIDS. It's an interesting use that I thought might be applicable to other areas.

This is the e-mail I received from KFF:

What if knowledge were spread instead of disease?

Viacom and the Kaiser Family Foundation are pleased to share the latest installment of the KNOW HIV/AIDS campaign: The Know Is Spreading, which features new targeted television, radio and outdoor messages and a new online marketing effort to encourage young people and those at higher risk for HIV to get tested.

KNOW HIV/AIDS collaborated with The Barnstormers, a collective of young New York- and Tokyo-based artists, to transform a city block in Philadelphia as a temporary canvas to paint a mural encouraging young people to learn more about HIV/AIDS and get tested. This original artwork and the people who created it serve as the backdrop for the campaign’s latest television ads.

You can help "spread the know" by forwarding  http://www.spreadtheknow.com to friends and colleagues.

The site features various interactive content, including a virtual graffiti wall on which users can create their own art, similar to that of The Barnstormers. Users can also download screensavers, view behind-the-scenes video of the television shoot with hip-hop artist Common, and "spread the know" themselves by forwarding the site to others. Most importantly, the site includes information about HIV/AIDS and an HIV testing center locator so users can find a testing site near them.

About KNOW HIV/AIDS

KNOW HIV/AIDS combines the power of Viacom’s media brands and unmatched audience relationships with the public health expertise of the Kaiser Family Foundation to foster awareness of the disease and its prevention. Every Viacom division is involved in the campaign, and 123 messages have aired to date, totaling $600 million in media value. Additionally, Viacom properties, including CBS, UPN, MTV, BET, VH1 and Showtime, have produced more than 46 television shows with HIV/AIDS themes seen by millions worldwide. For more information about the initiative, visit: http://www.knowhivaids.org

For more information contact Rob Graham at (650) 854-9400 or robg@kff.org.

They probably could have added more viral elements to the campaign (besides just asking readers to "spread the know" about the Web site), but it's a start at least.

Jupiter word of mouth study

Gary Stein, senior analyst at Jupiter Research, is conducting a study on best practices in word-of-mouth, consumer content, blogs (vlogs, podcasts, etc) and evangelist marketing.

If you are a company or brand marketer, take the survey here.

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It

Georgia’s new economic development and tourist promotion logo was unveiled at a tourism conference in Valdosta. Ga.

Probably because I am in the association field, I pay attention to city, regional and state marketing more than most. (Show of hands...how many of you in the association world have been contacted by someone from a convention and visitor's bureau somewhere in the last week? I thought so.)

And Georgia is now a classic marketing example for the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" textbook.

Ray Charles' "Georgia On My Mind" has been the state slogan since 1979. But the economic development folk decided they needed something newer, hipper, more in keeping with the future to attract even more tourists and to encourage businesses to expand or relocate to Georgia. The only problem is they unveiled "Put Your Dreams in Motion" as the new slogan - in conjunction with the new logo shown above, "a more colorful rendition of the traditional Georgia peach logo with leaves blowing back as if in motion." The changes are part of an almost $6 million dollar branding campaign the state launched to make over its tourism and economic development marketing.

Initial media reports had indicated the new slogan would replace the beloved “Georgia On My Mind” (rather than adding to it, as it is purported now to do).  Within hours, 92 percent of people responding to a poll on an Atlanta radio station’s Web site said they opposed “Put Your Dreams in Motion” in place of the old slogan. Some even compared the new slogan to the new Coke marketing debacle of the 1980s.

Greg Lisby, professor of communications law and ethics at Georgia State University, said successful slogans need a connection with the subject they are promoting. But the new slogan says nothing about Georgia, he said.

I agree wholeheartedly.

To me, it sounds like a slogan for a self-help publishing empire, not a state. I think I would have played with the "on your mind" aspect. Everyone knows Georgia is on his mind. You could add "Money on Your Mind" etc. etc. Or turn mind into "mine" somehow. A transitional phrase rather than a clean break with the past.

But they didn't ask me. ;)

Old School Word of Mouth

Church of the Customer writes:

To grow its enrollment via word of mouth, the small, liberal arts school Olivet College didn't hire a PR firm. Or a buzz agency. Or create a game-based viral campaign.

Its word of mouth strategy was about improving operations:

* Rconnecting with alumni
* Asking for the alumni's help to identify ideal high school students
* Personalizing the recruiting and admissions process

As a result, enrollment is up 31 percent. The Lansing State Journal has more details.

The school grew by reconnecting with alumni, by focusing its attention on the sort of students who traditionally do well at Olivet and by taking a personal approach to the process of recruiting.

Associations could learn a lot from this school - without ever enrolling.

Soothe Sayers

cmo had an article today that really hit home to me how special the relationship is between associations and our members. The article talks about the unsettling times we live in now - and delves into how to market laundry detergent to folks who are wondering if the subway is going to blow up on their way to work.

"When a customer is anxious, you can prove your worth to them," says Sean Fanning, senior vice president of global marketing and communications for the Electronics Marketing group at Avnet, the giant B2B distributor of semiconductors and electronics components. In other words, convince customers that your company will be there when they need it.

"As a marketer I look at all the emotions—anxiety, uncertainty, apprehension, stress, worry," says Fanning. "If you’re attuned to them, you can approach them accordingly from a positioning perspective. I mean, what is marketing but understanding needs, and being able to touch and affect the emotions of your audience?"

Our close relationship with our customers makes it much easier for us to convince them we will be there when they need us and that we are looking out for their best interests. But because they know this, we often have to deal much more with the anxiety, uncertainty, apprehension, stress and worry. In fact, as a trade association, it's often our job to tell them what they should be anxious, uncertain, apprehensive, stressed and worried about... today and next year.

Even though the association world is not always held up as a shining example of innovation in the business community, I find it interesting that more and more marketing campaigns for consumer products are using "association" tactics to market products: sign up for our newsletter, let us find out more about you so we can tailor our product to your needs (fill out this questionnaire, register your product), we're not just selling you something - we're educating you, we care.

Something to think about.

'Shoes for Spanish-Speaking Fat Ladies

As I mentioned in earlier postings, I have been pondering Lowell Catlett's (and Seth Godin's) musings on segmentation and differentiation and how this will apply to the big picture in the association world. But while reading a book review of Umberto Eco's new book, I see that this differentiation and segmentation has been going on in New York City for at least 30 years now. Eco says:

When I was in New York 30 years ago, I saw a shop with a sign that said it was selling 'Shoes for Spanish-Speaking Fat Ladies.' There was a special market for them! So I thought of my book in this way.

My question for you...Have you got the science of differentiation down to this kind of art in your association? I've been working on it for a few years now, but after reading this, it makes me see that I've just begun to scratch the surface.