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Posts Tagged ‘msi’

Pinteresting…

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

Like me, an ever-increasing number of people are discovering the joys of Pinterest. Since joining, I’ve pinned tons of delicious recipes to try, lots of cool DIY projects and entirely too many ideas for fun ways to use mason jars. Outside of providing countless hours of entertainment and inspiration (and alerting me to my severe mason jar obsession), Pinterest is also proving to be a powerful tool for retailers.

Pinterest’s traffic more than quadrupled between Q3 and Q4 2011, bringing in 7.5 million unique visitors in December. With this influx of new pinners comes a significant increase in the amount of traffic sent to retailers’ websites. According to recent reports, among social networks, Pinterest is the fifth largest driver of referral traffic.

This post from Mashable has a cool infographic with stats about Pinterest and tips for how companies can use it to their best advantage – check it out.

And if you’ve ever got an extra mason jar lying around, I’ll gladly show you how to make it into a soap dispenser, a chandelier or a terrarium.

Tags: emily towey, marketing support inc, msi, Pinterest, Retailers
Posted in Mixed Nuts, Retailer Brands, Social Media | No Comments »

Test Your Creative and Avoid Brand Bashing

Monday, July 25th, 2011

Even the “highly creative” ad agencies like Goodby, Silverstein and Partners still overlook a basic marketing tenant:

Test your creative before you launch it.

When you don’t, the results can be disastrous as just what happened to an ad campaign for their client California Milk Processor Board. The core message of the microsite, featuring a guy nonetheless, was that “milk can reduce the symptoms of PMS” and said to men “your home for PMS management”.

It caused such a firestorm amid social media that it was pulled in three days.

As research director for MSI, I can’t imagine not testing ad messaging before spending a huge amount of money behind a campaign. We always recommend testing creative to our clients so that we are confident it resonates with our target consumer and ultimately will be more successful.

Tags: Ad Campaign Testing, Brian Arnold, California Milk Processor Board, Everything I Do Is Wrong, msi
Posted in Advertising, Marketing, Research | 1 Comment »

Bringing MySpace Back….

Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

In today’s top social media news, it was announced that News Corp. has sold MySpace to advertising network Specific Media for $35 million. That has to hurt since News Corp. paid a whopping $580 million to buy the site from its original owners in 2005. Of course, the hit isn’t a complete surprise since MySpace’s popularity and traffic has dropped drastically in recent years, but News Corp. was reportedly expecting at least $100 million.

What IS surprising is that Specific Media announced that Justin Timberlake is taking an ownership stake in MySpace and will have a direct role in reshaping the focus of the site. Apparently JT was inspired by his role as former Facebook president Sean Parker in The Social Network….ironically, just last week, Parker explained why MySpace failed in an interview with Jimmy Fallon at the NExTWORK Conference in New York.

Timberlake released this statement on his vision for MySpace, “There’s a need for a place where fans can go to interact with their favorite entertainers, listen to music, watch videos, share and discover cool stuff and just connect. MySpace has the potential to be that place. Art is inspired by people and vice versa, so there’s a natural social component to entertainment.”

It should be interesting to see how the new MySpace shapes up, and what it means for both users and advertisers.

According to MySpace, we should know more about what to expect later this summer. Stay tuned!

Tags: emily towey, JT, Justin Timberlake, msi, MySpace, News Corp., Specific Media
Posted in Social Media | 1 Comment »

World Champion Dallas Mavericks, Armand de Brignac Champagne and MSI

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011

Did you know that the World Champion Dallas Mavericks celebrated with Armand de Brignac Champagne? You may have seen “the ace of spades” or Armand de Brignac champagne in rap videos, print ads, or even out at the club. But, did you know MSI designed the bottle? Not bad huh?

So… if you would like to try a swig, you can pick one up a bottle at Binny’s for a cool $300!! Enjoy kids!

Now more on the Mavs celebration and Armand de Brignac:

The world’s biggest championships call for the world’s best Champagne. From baseball’s World Series to racing’s Grand Prix and now the NBA Championship, victors celebrate with Armand de Brignac. On Sunday night, the Dallas Mavericks did just that, celebrating their first Championship in grand style. Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki, owner Mark Cuban and the rest of the Mavericks team partied at Miami’s LIV nightclub, where the team ordereed 100 bottles of Armand de Brignac Champagne. Photos and stories from the celebration are everywhere today, including ESPN, The New York Post, Forbes, Yahoo!, The Weekly World News and others, with more still to come!

Please join us in congratulating the Dallas Mavericks on their hard-earned first Championship – and applauding them on their taste in Champagne. Nothing less than the No. 1 Rated Champagne in the World will do for a new World Champion!

Tags: Armand de Brignac Champagne, Dallas Mavericks, msi
Posted in Advertising, Brands, Design | No Comments »

The birth, and potential death, of QR codes

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

QR (Quick Response) codes, those little square matrix bar codes that are showing up on marketing materials everywhere, were invented in 1994 by a Toyota subsidiary to track inventory. Their advantage for marketers is that an enabled device can link to a web location just by taking a picture of the QR code.

Clever. Like speed dialing for the internet.

So clever that marketers everywhere have been in a mad rush to put QR codes (or the Microsoft equivalent – MS Tags) on everything from packages to ads to point of sale.

There are two issues though. One is user adoption. First, you need to have a so-called Smartphone (iPhone, Blackberry, Android, etc.). About 50% of the population has Smartphones. And, you need to download a QR reader. Though free and readily available, to date, only about 30% of Smartphone users have done so. 50% of users have Smartphones, 30% of those have downloaded a reader. If I do the math right, that’s 15% of consumers with the ability to use QR codes or the like.

Yes, that percentage is growing. More people are buying Smartphones, and more people are downloading QR readers.

But here is the other side of the issue: most QR codes ultimately send users to the marketer’s website to look at more information about the product they are considering. Or, QR codes send the users to the site’s home page. Great. Cool. Awesome. You’re at the store scanning a QR code and you can go to their website that most likely provides the same information about the product that is probably on the package in front of you. Or, the codes send you to the company’s home page to navigate to learn something. What? I don’t know, but something, I’m sure.

A handful of usage occasions like that and I’m done with QR codes.

The real issue is that, like the early stages of social media, every company feels they have to do it but few have a good plan. Companies used to slap up a Facebook page and wonder why no one followed then. Now they paste on a QR code and wonder why no one uses it. Perhaps because it does the user no good. Perhaps because there is no real strategy behind the marketer’s use of QR codes. It’s more like “we need to have QR codes so let’s put them everywhere” instead of “what would be something valuable for the user to get by accessing our site through a QR code?”

Some smart brands (probably the ones that made good use of social media early) are thinking about the user experience. Something we did recently for MSI plumbing client Fluidmaster involves QR codes on store point of sale that connects the user with a specific web page based on the problem they are having. The web page offers alternative solutions with the product needed, tools required, effort to accomplish, and easy-to-follow instructions provided for each solution. Here’s an example: FixThisToilet.com.

Unfortunately, this example is not common. Most brands are just serving up QR codes because they feel they should with no real thought as to how including QR codes will enhance or benefit the user experience.

Quick access to the web through a little printed matrix? Great idea. Sending the user to worthless information online? Bad idea. And the potential death of QR codes.

Tags: Dave Hamel, internet, marketing support inc, mobile applications, mobile media, MS tags, msi, QR, QR codes, QR readers, Quick Response Codes, retail point of sale, retail POS
Posted in Social Media, Web Development, interactive | 2 Comments »

They Got our Goose

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

So yesterday Goose Island announced that Anheuser-Busch InBev is buying out the brewery for just shy of $40 million dollars. As Chicago’s biggest and most highly acclaimed brewery, Goose Island being taken over by a corporate giant is less than exciting for several reasons.

In a time when buying local is an ongoing (and awesome) trend, it’s disappointing to see a huge Belgian company operated by Brazilians take over our local microbrewery – the one that pioneered Chicago’s craft beer market and has brought us countless bottles of unique, delicious beers. But regardless of who bought it and where they’re based, it’s no longer “ours” – which is hard to swallow for a city that likes to support its own.

There’s also the concern that Anheuser-Busch InBev will dilute the quality of Goose Island’s beers, especially since its brewmaster has stepped down with the acquisition. His dad, founder John Hall, is staying on as CEO at least, so ideally he’ll keep the Goose Island quality afloat. Messing with it would be a major misstep on InBev’s part, and surely they’re aware of that. But it’s certainly a possible outcome as Goose Island transitions from a passionate, independent brewery to one of many operated by InBev.

Although I seriously hope that the integrity of Goose Island is never compromised, I also won’t blame the Hall family if it is. However disappointing this buyout is, I’m not going to jump on the hater train and point fingers at Goose Island’s owners for not hanging on to their independence forever. Yeah, that would be great for those of us who would enjoy sipping our beers more if we were buying them from the brewery’s founders, but it’s unrealistic to ask that they turn down a $40 million offer if they’re comfortable with the deal and ready to sell. Over the last 23 years, they’ve built an amazing operation that has built an enormous following and achieved great success. And cheers to that. Not to mention the fact that they led the charge for other great Chicago microbreweries, which we’re seeing more and more of with Half Acre, Revolution, Haymarket, Two Brothers and Metropolitan.

On a related note, this is not the first time InBev has taken over a hometown brand for me. As a native of the St. Louis area, I grew up being a fan of Anheuser-Busch – even before I could drink beer, their name was on my favorite baseball team’s stadium, they owned and operated Grant’s Farm – the coolest place for a third-grade field trip and they had those awesome Clydesdales. Anheuser-Busch was synonymous with St. Louis and undoubtedly one of the strongest American brands in history.

Ironically, I just started reading a book about InBev’s takeover of Anheuser-Busch – Dethroning the King: The Hostile Takeover of Anheuser-Busch, an American Icon. At least at this point in my reading, I’d definitely recommend it.

And while the Goose Island buyout doesn’t appear to have anywhere near the level of drama that I’m reading about, InBev taking them over does take the craftiness out of craft beer.

Tags: emily towey, Goose Island, InBev, msi
Posted in Brands, Marketing, Mixed Nuts | 4 Comments »

No One Can Sell Menards Short

Friday, March 25th, 2011

For many years, Menards was shunned by brand name vendors with a strong trade following because of its pricing policies. Menards was known as a discount home center and prime trade vendors such as Kohler, American Standard and Echo outdoor power tools kept their distance. Vendors instead would offer secondary brands…Delta faucets used its Peerless brand, InSinkErator its Emerson brand, etc. but the Menard’s customer didn’t seem to care. However, more brand names, including Moen are now showing up at Menards because the volume the chain generates with its store growth is becoming harder to ignore. The chain is up to more than 250 stores.

Menards has long been known as being especially abusive to vendors, and we have heard some horror stories. But we also know manufacturers who have good business relationships with the merchants, and including John Menard, the founder who is still heavily involved in many details of what goes on the floor. However, those relationships aren’t personal relationships. If a Menards buyer accepts lunch from a vendor or shows undue favoritism, it means termination.

There is also a large segment of consumers and tradesmen in the Menards trading areas who have become highly attached to Menards… they think the people on the floor are of a higher caliber, like the chain’s pricing, and the unusual selections that Menards brings to the floor. For example, it now carries short lines of residential and office furniture.

MSI was recently involved in bringing the Eljer line of bath products to Menards. Years ago, Eljer was a significant MSI client, selling both the professional and retail channels. Since its acquisition by American Standard, the line has been given almost exclusively to Menards. MSI developed the new Eljer packaging for faucets and related products. This was a great solution for American Standard, whose brand, which is present in hundreds of higher end bath showrooms, could be depreciated by a Menards presence. Kohler would have to make the first move, and that may happen sooner than later.

Tags: American Standard, Dave Weiner, Eljer, Menards, msi
Posted in In-store Merchandising | 3 Comments »

A Big Return for Little Money in Local Retail Branding

Friday, February 18th, 2011

A friend who is in retail marketing at a local bank asked the other day – “We only have $5,000 to spend, what should we do?” I really wanted to tell her to go to a tall building, and after alerting the local television stations, throw the money off the roof for passersby to pick. I’ll give the client her money back if some local station doesn’t run it.

But here is the right answer – she needs to fix some key pages on her bank’s retail website. She needs to make the World Wide Web the Local Wide Web. It isn’t a very old site, but really isn’t very well made for search engines and didn’t show up in any of the obvious searches by location that I or any prospective customer might have done. She didn’t have to do a lot to improve the site: page titles, meta information, some keyword-based html text would have gone a long way to correcting the problem. All told, a handful of pages could have been re-written, re-designed, and re-built for about $5,000 (it’s not a fancy site). And instead of 15-seconds of fame on the late news, her local brand would have a higher search return so that when people looked for a bank in their neighborhood, this lady’s bank might actually show up.

While we’re on this subject, a local retail brand with multiple locations has got to make sure each location is listed in text that the search engines can see. People that want tires in Glenview search “tires in Glenview,” not “tires.” So, if you have a location in Glenview, make sure the search engines know that. If you have a retail location in the town next to Glenview, you can also get your share of people looking for “tires in Glenview.” A simple way is – with each retail location, include a simple phrase that lists the communities around your location. So, if your location is in nearby Morton Grove, add: “Serving Morton Grove, Glenview, Niles, Skokie, Des Plaines.”

In retail branding, with a little effort, you can get a huge long-term return by making the World Wide Web the Local Wide Web.

Tags: build local traffic, Dave Hamel, local web marketing, marketing support inc, msi, retail marketing, site optimization
Posted in Mixed Nuts | No Comments »

Steps to Follow to Get Research Projects Off on the Right Foot

Friday, February 11th, 2011

A research project begins by defining the problem and specifying the research questions. Once the objectives have been established, a research plan is developed to meet those objectives. A solid research plan typically includes the following considerations:

- Research objectives: What are the goals of the study?

- The universe for study: Who is the target market?

- Sample: How will the target market be reached? How many people will be interviewed?

- Research questions: What questions will be asked of the respondents?

- Research method: Will the data be gathered through focus groups, an online survey, etc.?

- Data analysis: What analytical techniques will be applied? How detailed will this need to be?

- Timing and costs? How will this be affected by the research approach?

- Reporting/presentation: How will the findings be communicated? In what form should the deliverables be presented?

As with anything, a little thought and planning will save you a lot of time and headaches.

Tags: Brian Arnold, msi, Research, research projects, research questions, research tips
Posted in Research | No Comments »

Adventures in Parenting

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

So, my first blog entry as a mixed nut…seems like such a daunting task! I have been neglecting my old blog lately so this will give me an opportunity to find an outlet. Let’s see, where should I start? Lately my life has been consumed by my child, to be quite honest. I imagine that I will be using this space to write about her, our life as a family, and how marketing plays a part in my child’s life, etc. (Hey, I gotta incorporate some work into this thing, right?!)

Right now we’re just starting to be mobile at home. Baby has decided that she can no longer be bothered to stay put, we must crawl, crawl crawl…to the dog’s toys, the I-Phone cord, the laptop, you name it. Basically anything but the soft, cuddly baby toys we’ve placed on the floor for her enjoyment.

Life with an 8-month-old baby has been pretty interesting and amazing. I can’t imagine how things will be when she is walking, playing dress-up, having OPINIONS and TALKING BACK. Those days seem so far away right now, but really, they are closer than I think.

Watching a person grow up before your very eyes, it’s all quite surreal. It’s so over my head. I don’t know what I am in for, I swear I don’t even remember babysitting all that much. To be honest, from what I do remember, I was not really that good at it. I remember my brother and I used to pretend kidnap our baby sister and make ransom notes for our parents using old magazine and catalogue clippings to make the words for the note. Yeah. Someone decided I should be entrusted with parenting.

Anyway, all kidding aside, I do think it’s quite amazing, this parenting thing. This miracle entered my life one day and completely changed it. For 32 years, I did exactly what I wanted, when I wanted. Now I’m on another person’s terms, and I’m quite okay with it. It’s a struggle to achieve balance sometimes in the working mother environment, and I have to admit there are times I wonder, can I do it all? But I think confidence and positive thinking are the key.

Stay tuned for more from my exciting adventures in parenting!

Tags: Jen Kanable, msi, Parenting
Posted in Mixed Nuts | 1 Comment »