Get To The Grapes

Friday, December 3, 2010

Great video content can drive sales, awareness for your small business

Sacramento Business Journal – by Debi Hammond, Contributing writer, Marketing

I am not the typical mom type. Not that it is a bad thing, it’s just that I’ve never really been that into kids, moms groups and the like. In fact, when at parties or events, you would always find me anywhere the kids were not. So, of course, that goes for mom- and parenting-type commercials, videos, magazines and more.

My, how one’s world changes once you actually have kids. As a mom to a 2½-year-old daughter and 9-month-old son, I’ve grown quite fond of children (even other people’s) and have a true appreciation for the jokes, jabs and simply humorous life we parents live.

Now, let’s talk about minivans. There is simply nothing humorous about minivans. In fact, after having our second child, my husband started talking to me about the practicality and convenience of a minivan. I responded without any hesitation that it would be “over my dead body” that we EVER buy a minivan.

Then came the “Swagger Wagon” , a hilarious video on YouTube brought to you by Toyota. Granted, Toyota spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year on advertising, but this video went viral due to its organic roots, not advertising. Why?

Because it is hilarious and touched an emotional chord with its audience. It touched an emotional chord with me, and remember, I’m not the mom type and minivans would be “over my dead body.” But somehow Toyota made a minivan kind of cool. The video seemed to say, you can be a parent, own a minivan and still be cool! Sounds childish and rudimentary, I know, but they’re on to something. But the question is, what?

The answer: content.

Want your video to go viral?  You don’t need a  sexy product (or person for that matter – although it has been known to help. “Hello, Old Spice’s Mustafa”) for great success.  Don’t believe me? Just ask the people at Blendtec.   Blendtec is a small blender manufactuer who’s “Will it Blend” video series is the most viewed viral ad campaign of all time (according to AdvertisingAge and Visible Measures).

Who else has had great success? Here are the top 10 viral ads ranked by unique views:

1. Blendtec – Will It Blend – In-house: 134.2 million views

2. Evian – Live Young – BETC Euro RSCG: 103.9 million views

3. Old Spice – Responses – Wieden & Kennedy: 57.1 million views

4. Pepsi – Gladiator – AMV BBDO: 46.7 million views

5. Microsoft – Xbox Project Natal – World Famous: 42.7 million views

6. Dove – Evolution – Ogilvy & Mather: 41.1 million views

7. T-Mobile – T-Mobile Dance – Saatchi & Saatchi: 35.5 million views

8. Doritos – Crash the Super Bowl 2010 – Goodby Silverstein & Partners: 34.2 million views

9. Old Spice – Odor Blocker – Wieden & Kennedy: 34 million views

10. DC Shoes – Gymkhana Two – In-house: 32.9 million views

I love this business! There is nothing better than developing the strategy and creative and then begin production.  Here are a few pictures from our most recent photo shoot.

Brenda making sure it's perfect!

Let me tell you, as someone who drinks more than 128 ounces of water a day, I know a thing or two about the importance of clean water.

As a company, we at Merlot Marketing have taken small, yet significant, steps to become more socially responsible, by offering our employees, clients and guests filtered tap water instead of bottled water. We feel it is our responsibility to provide the highest quality of service, right down to the H2O we provide our clients.

We must say, we are a bit biased when it comes to the water filtration we use.  Our client, Everpure, has led the water filtration industry as the number one provider of commercial grade water filtration throughout the world for more than 75 years.  So, naturally, we serve Everpure filtered water to all of our guests from national, regional and local media representatives to industry influencers and beyond.

On a much more serious note, we shouldn’t take having access to the best-tasting water possible for granted.  Did you know that wars have broken out for years around the world due to a lack of access to clean water? According to a report dating back to 1999 and sponsored by the UN Development Program, fighting over the scarcity of water, over the next 25 years, will possibly be the leading reason for major conflicts in Africa, not oil.  This is why we are getting involved in today’s Blog Action Day 2010.

During today’s celebration of Blog Action Day 2010, we ask you to take a moment and consider the amount of water you and your family consume each day.  While we of course don’t recommend cutting down on (Everpure filtered) drinking water (yes, that’s a not-so-subtle hint), we do ask that you think about how much water you’re consuming other than drinking water.  To get your juices flowing on how you can help reduce water waste, I’ve included a list below, provided by Treehugger.com, on the many products we each buy and how much water it takes to produce them.  I realize that water is a necessity for the things we eat, drink and use everyday, so I’m by no means saying we shouldn’t manufacturer or consume these products, but the statistics below should at least get you thinking about just how water is consumed and how we might be able to help conserve it.
Car
It takes an estimated 39,090 gallons of water to make a car. It’s unclear if that includes the more 2,000 gallons used to make its tires–each tire takes 518 gallons.

Pair of Jeans
It takes around 1,800 gallons of water to grow enough cotton to produce just one pair of regular ol’ blue jeans.

Cotton T-Shirt
Not as bad as jeans, it still takes a whopping 400 gallons of water to grow the cotton required for an ordinary cotton shirt.

Single Board of Lumber
5.4 gallons of water are used to grow enough wood for one lumber board.

Barrel of Beer
In order to process a single barrel of beer (32 gallons of booze), 1,500 gallons of water are sucked down.

To-Go Latte
It takes 53 gallons to make every latte.

So, what do you think? Can we make changes in our lifestyle so that there is enough water for others in the world?  I’m not saying to reduce your lattes, after all, your latte-drinking provides jobs; however, I am saying to think about your overall consumption and where we all might cut back, i.e. watering the lawn, letting your water run while doing the dishes and brushing your teeth. If we all make small changes, we all can make a big impact.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Biz Savvy

Focus should be on messaging, usability, personality, then design

Sacramento Business Journal - by Debi Hammond Contributing writer

Ah, the wonderful world of website design. A place where everyone you talk to is either an expert or knows someone who is. And a place where everyone wants to share the great deal they got on the design and development. And why not? I mean, it’s just one of the most important parts of your brand. The place where most of your customers and prospects will visit to learn more about you and your business.

The fact is many business owners are frustrated with their websites because they’ve put their brand in the hands of these so called “experts,” usually a graphic designer, or a website churn mill, where templates are applied to something that should be treated with the utmost care and attention to detail.

After all, your website is an extension of your brand. It should reflect who you are today and what kind of company you want to be five years from now.

I’m not here to belittle or begrudge graphic designers or their craft, as they are absolutely an integral part of the process. But a website is so much more than aesthetics. A website is visual and it should be visually appealing, but the design should be the last phase of your website, not the first.

So, whether you’re getting ready to build a website from scratch or redesigning an existing one, follow these five steps to make it successful. (more…)

It was a great week for local press coverage! Our client Smashburger expanded its menu, so of course we capitalized on it by sending fresh menu items to the local media, and, thanks to Fox40 for the amazing coverage – minus Joe’s finger incident.  Want to know what I’m referring to, check it out here.

Follow Me to the best new restaurant in Sacramento!

We also just launched a promotion for Ten22 to celebrate the fact that the restaurant was voted “Best New Restaurant” in Sacramento by Sacramento Magazine.  And let’s face it, for most of us, Old Sacramento is out of sight and out of mind. Not anymore… We are bringing Old Sacramento to you! Starting October 4th, you’ll be able to follow a caravan of five Smart Cars to the ‘Best New Restaurant’ in Sacramento! Take a photo of the cars and show it to your server and receive, what else, but $10.22 off your food order of $25.00 or more.  Want more details?  Check out the coverage in the Sacramento Bee! Missed the cars? Send me an email to request a $10.22 promotional discount card and I’ll send one to you.  Offer expires November 30, 2010.

People continue to talk about the “death” of print media.  And although I don’t think print is dead, there are a lot of carcasses which makes for an ominous landscape. (Recently shuttered magazines include Gourmet, Southern Accents, Domino, Green Business, Oprah at Home, Teen, Metropolitan Home and more) With more and more content available for free online, it’s making it difficult for print mediums to carve a unique space for themselves.  And even more difficult is creating a business model that garners similar profits as the traditional one.

One publication making some daring changes is Forbes.  In an effort to adapt and stay relevant, Forbes redesigned the magazine and is changing the way it creates its content.  In fact, Forbes.com will be utilizing a vast network of bloggers who will actually be able to publish straight to the Web, rather than going through copy editing.  That is a huge shift for a magazine of Forbes stature.   In fact, they have already been criticized, noting that the content quality may suffer and thus start to erode a brand that has been more than 90 years in the making. Not surprising, social media will play a huge role in promoting the website and the brand. They are planning a steady stream of posts and links to social sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

I think it’s an innovative approach and I just might start subscribing! Read Associated Press article here.

More and more marketing dollars are moving online and for good reason: it’s often the first place we go to look for information.  Whether it’s LivingSocial trying to drive more traffic or BP attempting to enhance its crisis comms plan, here’s an example of what the ‘big guys’ are spending:

Want more? See full article at AdvertisingAge.com

Via www.AdvertisingAge.com

Juro Osawa/The Wall Street Journal

Technology never ceases to amaze me.  And as a marketer, I love it when it can truly enhance our work by taking the guess work out.  Imagine running a print ad campaign and being able to truly track who’s reading your ad and how they are taking in the information.  Well, although you can’t track it in print, yet, you can with billboards and vending machines.  It’s already being done in Japan, which means you’ll see it here very soon.

Check it out via The Wall Street Journal.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Social media allows businesses to create a customer connection

Sacramento Business Journal – by Debi Hammond Contributing writer

Many companies tout their customer service, but few deliver. Deliver and they will come. I hear so many business owners and CEOs talk about how they want to be the Nordstrom of their business sector. In fact, one of the best-selling books on customer service is titled “The Nordstrom Way.” Yet so few companies actually deliver.

Great customer service is all about the experience people have with your brand. And that experience takes place at every point of brand interaction: From the quality of your product or service to the way the receptionist answers the phone (that is if you even have a live person answering your phone — which you should!). Here’s a quick tip: When it comes to “pressing 1,” people hate it. No, really. They actually hate it and do not consider that good customer service.

There have been many articles and books (like the one mentioned above) that talk about great customer service in the traditional sense. But what about online? Can you even have a truly great online customer >service experience? The answer is absolutely!

MODEL SERVICE

Here’s a personal story to illustrate the point. My husband and I went on a leisurely bike ride a few weeks ago and as we were riding my eyes were drawn to movement near his feet. When I looked closer I saw strings, lots of them, dangling from his Chuck Taylors, and flapping in the breeze as he peddled. I was thinking I should really buy him another pair. Now in defense of his tattered “Chucks,” he does wear them as if they are his only pair of shoes. By the time we got home from our ride, I had long forgotten about my thoughts of replacing his favorite shoes. Later that evening, I went online to check my e-mails and this is the message I received: (more…)