No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
A Dummy's Puppet's Ramblings - from Chip Martin, Puppet
I'm not really here writing my blog this week. I'm working at the Wisconsin Restaurant Show at the Society Insurance exhibit. (Well, working may be stretching the truth a bit.) I think this is the 12th year that I've appeared at Society's exhibit. For many attendees it's become an annual tradition to stop by the booth to see me. And without a doubt, Society's exhibit has become the most popular draw at the convention ... not counting the booths that give away free beer ... I mean, let's be reasonable in our expectations.
Society invested in a newly designed exhibit this year with a new game for attendees to play. I'll try to get some photos to post next week.
You may be interested to know that next to the Super Bowl Advertising Poll, my post about Dr. Jarvik generated the most emails of any article I've written to date. (It would be nice if you guys would use the "comments" section, but I understand that it's a pain to join the blog.) The executive editor of a business publication confirmed my story and said he had actually interviewed both Paul Winchell and Henry Heimlich. The editor also noted that he had never e-mailed a "puppet" before. His exact words were, "My God, I'm emailing a puppet." I think he meant it in a good way.
In any event, following are a few interesting snippets that I penned prior to leaving for the trade show.
Get Ready for a Rocky Marketing Ride
While the economy at large may yet dodge a bullet, many sectors are already in a recession ... automobile, housing, finance and others. Recessions are arguably the most challenging times for marketers. But like any sort of disruption, recessions can create opportunities. Here are some thoughts on how you can face the deluge better prepared.
- Look at the mess Detroit got itself into with all those rebates. The Japanese, on the other hand, stuck to brand building. Guess who's winning the battle? Smart marketers actually increase marketing investments during recessions and focus on their commitment to branding. Study after study shows that companies that stick to brand-building come out of recessions stronger than those who don't. (We've helped some of our clients do just that.)
- Mature companies tend to avoid risk. And for all that talk about wanting "Big" marketing ideas, the majority of companies prefer "safe" ideas. Don't act "mature." Stand out by daring to be different and then sticking with it.
- Looking like everyone else will do you no good in a recession ... or any other time for that matter. Make sure that your communication managers and partners are smart, nimble, creative and experienced. Then listen to them.
- For sustained growth in a recession, ideas are the currency of competitiveness. It's a good time to evaluate your marketing to see if it is cutting edge, or traditional.
Of course, B&M can help. We've helped many companies not only weather tough economic times, but emerge stronger.
Save the Bees ... Buy Haagen-Dazs
We all know that the humble honey bee, which is necessary for crop pollination, is an essential part of the food chain. But over the past couple of years honey bees have been dying off like crazy. In scientific circles the mass die-off is known as Colony Collapse Disorder, and nobody really understands what's causing it.
Now, Häagen-Dazs, a company that uses plenty of honey bee-pollinated fruits and nuts, has started a Help the Honey Bees campaign. It's a very cool and informative web site that offers a clear and simple explanation of the honey bee crisis, along with tips on how you can help.
From what I "gathered" from the site, the easiest way to help the honey bees is to buy some Häagen-Dazs ice cream. Okay, that's a little cynical. A portion of the proceeds from the company's new Vanilla Honey Bee flavor, as well as other flavors, will fund research of sustainable pollination and Colony Collapse Disorder at Penn State and the University of California-Davis.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
Last year I wrote a brief snippet in the B&M Newsletter about McDonald's Happy Meals for good grades. In a civic gesture, McDonald's offered to pay to print the Seminole County, Florida school district's report cards. Each report card included a drawing of Ronald McDonald and an offer of free McDonald's food for each "A" that a student earned. All the student had to do was bring the report card to the local McDonald's restaurant.
To me this seemed like a win/win/win program. The school district didn't have to pay to print report cards, students got rewarded for good grades and McDonald's got some good publicity ... I thought. But no ... I was wrong.
A small number of parents objected to the McDonald's "reward" and http://www.commonvoice.com/ called McDonald's program "the most ill-conceived, nutritionally horrific, jaw-droppingly bad deal". As a result, last month, McDonald's decided to drop the promotion. The kids no longer get rewarded for good grades and the school district (taxpayers) must now pay for the printing of its report cards.
However, comedian Stephen Colbert recently defended the Happy Meal school rewards program. In fact, his retort was so good that the Food Law Prof Blog has posted it; it's worth a look ... and a lot of laughs. Click on the link above to see the video.