Great article by Garrick Schmitt on QR Codes and examples of marketing campaigns utilizing this new technology.
Harold Henn – Follow Me On Twitter
Chief Marketing Officer
Interesting article covering the Fortune Brainstorm: Tech conference in Pasedena, CA.
Funny…it takes a Recession to realize sound marketing principles and responsible allocation of media dollars based on ROI potential????
Any of you reading this that have ever taken an engineering or business class on manufacturing, logistics, inventory control, etc. will know immediately that JIT stands for “Just In Time,” invented first by Henry Ford and used extensively by the Japapanese car companies, such as Toyota. The principle, also know as lean manufacturing, reduces inventory levels (thus saving on plant costs, labor costs, etc.) by delivering the part right as it is needed in the manufacturing process.
Endeavour had an awesome opportunity to view sequencing software used in the JIT car assembly process while making a video in Canada and Michigan for one our clients InSequence.
Okay, back on track here. The reason I’m using JIT in the marketing realm is that we had a situation about a month ago when a new client needed to launch a new marketing campaign in a ridiculously sick turnaround time. I’m talking two weeks!
This included research, planning, video, direct mail, a sequential email campaign, microsite development, social networks, public relations and more. Yo! For the average agency, this would have been met with a “We simply need more time,” but we like to think of Endeavour as a “weapons-grade” marketing agency and we loved the challenge. We’re also a little crazy and totally love what we do!
I use the JIT analogy because of the impossible timeline in this case. We had to deliver each asset literally as it was needed in the campaign. Meaning some assets had to be approved and uploaded 30 minutes before they went out. Now this is by no means an ideal way to run every campaign but sometimes it’s an absolute necessity. Especially if there is no other option. The Greeks used to burn their ships on the shore so there was only one option for survival: Win. Retreat was not an option.
In this case, none of it would have worked had we not spent a LARGE part of the SMALL 2-week window on planning, implementation schedules, marketing vehicle selection and most importantly, total buy-in AND sign-off from the decision makers once the plan was set. This ensured that all of our ships were sailing in the right AND same direction once we began the marketing process. One thing that we had to be sure of was that once an asset was developed (like a direct mail piece), nobody questioned “Why are using that” or “Who are we mailing this too.” Explaining it would have taken about as much time as we had to make it!!!! Having only to count in 1-2 rounds of creative and copy revisions allowed to us to keep churning.
Why is this important for a marketing agency? Well because sometimes, as the agency, you have to not only be responsible for developing the overall strategy but sometimes you also have to become somewhat of battlefield commander. A commander in the field has the strategy and tactics from up top and all they need to do is execute with the resources they have. In this case, as the agency, you have to know the plan backwards and forwards, have the courage to make decisions in real time (sometimes in a vaccum) and deliver the pieces as needed to meet those campaign launch points…and the client has to trust you and get out of your way.
Bascially, it means, “Does your agency rack up hours upon billable hours in meetings and development time?” Or do they “Execute?” Don’t get me wrong, there is something to be said for taking the time to do it right…or “measure twice and cut once” as my grandpa used to say, but in the fast-paced world we live in with the 24-hour news cycle, real time communciation, etc., sometimes you just need an agency that can execute.
What kind of agency do you have?
Thanks for reading and till next time,
Harold Henn
harold@endeavour2m.com
Endeavour Marketing & Media recently spent a week in Knoxville (GO VOLS!) shooting video for one of our clients. The week after the trip we started the magic of post-production and while we were all very pleased with what we were seeing take form in the editing bay, that led us to think of what the fundamentals of great video work were (at least according to Endeavour!). So here are the “Endeavour 8:”
1) Outline – you should start with a very succint brief from the client about their objectives, target audience, distribution points for the video, etc. THEN, you as the agency get to work with the client adding, deleting and massaging that brief (after all, that’s why they hired you…for your experience).
2) Storyboards – From this client and agency-vetted outline, succint storyboards should developed that will help your actors, camera operators, audio engineers, etc. know how they need to set up. Can’t tell you how many shoots I’ve been on (before I got to Endeavour) where literally hours were wasted because nobody knew where the next shot was, the lighting was an issue, etc. I’m a certified scuba diver and we have a saying “Plan your Dive, Dive your Plan.”
3) Scouting/Advance Work - while the outline and storyboards give you a good roadmap, extensive scouting of your locations can make all the difference in the world. I call this phase, the “smell test.” Is that conference room the client told you about really impressive or is it a closet? Does that great outdoor shot, have a highway running right beside it or a neighborhood dog that loves to yap? Again, scouting these ahead of time can save you time and get you the best shots. In my former life, I spent 5 years on political campaigns and I worked for one of the best advance men in the business, Rick Ahearn.
4) Scripting – Professional Talent needs and thrives with a script for on-camera or voice-over work. If you’re interviewing the CEO, a customer, etc. avoid a script like the plague and instead offer an outline of what you’ll be looking for during the shoot. Non-professional talent takes a script, memorizes it the morning before in the shower and regurgitates it on camera, leaving no room for lateral thinking (don’t even try asking them a question they didn’t prepare for!) or ad libbing. Some of the best lines we’ve ever put on a reel are off the cuff remarks or “I forgot to mention” type lines. Give your non-professional actors an outline so they can think laterally about what they need to talk about
5) The Director – having a great Director can make all the difference in the world. The Director should know what they want from the beginning to end and have the gut to stop and readjust if need be. Most of all Directors should make decisions and be decisive. Timid Director = Wasted Time = Inferior Product. The Director should not be a dictator however. They should encourage and solicit feedback from the crew during the entire process and then take that data to make the best decisions. A great Director should also be the guiding force in what they are getting from the talent, helping them find the right emotion, mindset, etc.
6) Post-Production – having a skilled and experienced editor is important, nuff said! Don’t hire an intern, get a pro. Focus on the message and not silly little effects, animation, fog machines, etc. The message is key!
7) Marketing – having the marketing execs in the process is essential to ensure that the message applies to the product, the company, the campaign, etc.
Scalability/Distribution – your audience consumes media and video across multiple mediums from websites, to social networks like YouTube, cell phones, etc. Make sure your core-video can be sliced up and reformatted for viewing on multiple touchpoints.
We’ll post the video campaign talked about above on this blog later (and our various social networks) so you can see if we hit the “Endeavour 8!”
Later,
Harold Henn
Chief Marketing Officer – The Endeavour
…but is it enough considering the ad budget and with Google seeking to attack Microsoft’s strongest flank of Operating Systems?
In the age of big conglomerates, consolidation and globalization, most marketing messages these days are as bland as can be. “Sterile and safe” seems to be the mantra.
We have the priveledge of representing a food franchise with less than 20 locations as one of our clients. We develop, deploy and integrate an overall quarterly marketing plan but also take great efforts to work with each franchisee (that wants the help!) in developing unique campaigns and outreach efforts that takes into account the unique opportunities and problems for that individual market.
One of the marketing efforts that we are giving more weight to, moving forward with this client, is online marketing. There are many reasons for this including low upfront cost, high ROI, word of mouth and many others. As the first prong of this effort, we developed unique restaurant “microsites” within the main corporate website where customers could go and find unique menus, comment cards, directions and unique store promotions and coupons. Aside from giving each franchisee their own “localize and personalize” medium, it’s had a great effect on that store’s “Search Engine Optimization” helping that microsite come up on the first page for search results related to specific keywords. The next phase of this online outreach is a targeted effort towards the social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, etc. and some franchisees have already embraced this.
One restaurant franchise that has really embraced this effort, whole-hog, has been Smokey Bones. Smokey Bones appoints an actual employee to manage the store’s microsite which includes a blog function for upcoming events, facebook pages and more. Not only have they have embraced the localize and personalize effort in the online medium but they have also ensured that the effort is managed, not by some faceless corporate employee, but rather by an actual employee with a stake in the game.
We will be testing some online initiatives with the client mentioned above in July and August and I will keep you posted.
Harold Henn
Chief Marketing Officer
Endeavour Marketing and Media, LLC
In the course of developing marketing and advertising campaigns for our clients, Endeavour Marketing and Media, sometimes includes Social Media/Networking as a component, depending on the client, their objectives, their audience targets and internal capabilities.
The advantages presented by Social Media/Networking are numerous and include but are certainly not limited to:
1) Minimal Expense – most social networks are free
2) Word of Mouth/Viral Component – people doing your marketing for you
3) Credibility – 3rd party reports on your brand/product/company are always more impactful than coming from you (but beware the negative ones…see below)
4) Customer Engagement – they give the brand/product/company a forum to address any customer concerns in near real-time, reward customers, offer incentives and more
While Endeavour creates and manages many Social Media/Networking for an array of our clients, we really have never taken the time to take advantage of this marketing vehicle for our company. Our clients keep us too busy! And for that we are thankful…especially in this down economy.
So we are launching the Endeavour “30 Days of Social” on July 13. The goal of this experiment is to develop a case study of sorts with data that shows the effectiveness of engaging social media for your company. Also, it gives us a way to test some new ideas we’ve been developing at Endeavour labs so we’re the Guinea Pig on this one!
Starting July 13, we will be engaging and maximizing our existing social networks for the company, adding some new ones and testing some new ideas. We hope you follow along, give us feedback and at the very least check back on August 14 (give us 2 days to pull and process data!) to explore the results.
Follow Endeavour and the “30 Days of Social” experiment on the Following:
