The Story

As advertisers, we are always thinking of new ideas for marketing to different parts of the community. There are all kinds of categories in which people can be bunched: male, female, parent, cyclist, automobile owner, dog owner, couch potato, active, young, experienced and so forth. Many of these qualities overlap and finding the right tactic […]

Embrace Failure
Don’t be afraid of failure, it’s part of the creative process. Platform2: Art and Social Engagement, launched the Failure Support Group, an open forum to discuss failure and it’s relationship to art and production. Guests were invited to share 5 minute presentations about their failures and then discuss them with others.
On a related […]

There are so many amazing guerrilla marketing innovations out there. Sometimes they exist solely to get people thinking. The fact is that regardless of the purpose, guerrilla will be noticed. Guerrilla works. It’s easy to share, memorable, and generates talk. So take a look at some of these ideas and think, what point do […]

Hotels get it…and slowly, banks and credit unions seem to also.
At last week’s MAC Conference, we were lucky to be in a pretty nice, swanky hotel - one that understands the impact of multi-sensory marketing.
When you walk into the lobby of the Newport Beach Marriott, you instantly notice a distinct aroma - a calming, mellow […]

Yesterday, I attended the AMA’s Forward 08 non-traditional marketing event. There was a notable concentration on word of mouth marketing - what works, what doesn’t, and why it’s important. The importance is pretty obvious (people trust their peers more than they trust advertising). But some people might still be asking: what creates […]

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to do a field test on two taglines for a credit union client. What a branding experience indeed. Not only did I get to experience first-hand what their current and potential target market audience responded to (and not to mention what they looked like and sounded like), […]

Recently I’ve gained a new level of respect for the challenges our clients face. Not because of the economy, not because of competition, or anything like that. More because they’ve got me constantly harping at them, telling them to prove their stories…preaching that they need to have a spine, stand up for what […]

My last mini case study explored the fluffy French power room that is Anthropologie. This time I’m going to concentrate on a slightly-less-feminine company called Tao of Tea. Not many of you have probably visited Tao, since it is a local Portland establishment. However, you may have heard of the tea house, […]

I recently had the chance to stay at the Nordic Hotel Forum in Tallin, Estonia - a new, hip, modern hotel. I was really impressed by the way the hotel stayed true to its brand through their interior design choices. They had a clear nature theme, which contrasted (pleasantly) with the […]

I’m sure you’ve heard by now that Starbucks is undergoing a lot of changes in an effort to get back to their core. (Check out this article about Howard Schultz’s return in TIME magazine.) One of the changes includes getting rid of the popular breakfast sandwiches - a truly sad moment for several […]