The Objectives:

• Create an out of the box digital marketing campaign that connects a strong positioned brand with a new market demographic
• Target the new market demographic within the digital space
• Spend no additional marketing dollars on the digital media portion of the promotion mix
• Measure return on investment by sales and earned media value.

The Solution: Social Media as a form of Branded Content

Create a unique digital persona that connects with Portland’s highly affluent urban creative segment.  Build the marketing campaign so that it extends the new persona beyond the digital space and  into a spokes personality that promotes the value proposition of the brand to the market.

The RoseWarrior:

The RoseWarrior twitter profile was created as a fictional luchadore character, training in preparation for the City’s first outdoor lucha libre wrestling event.  To become true branded content, the wrestling event was added as new feature to Portland’s largest attended cultural event, the Cinco de Mayo Festival.

• The RoseWarrior twitter personality interacted with targeted profiles which have a high degree of  influence within the market
• The RoseWarrior dressed in full lucha libre costume made physical appearances within the city
• The “real” luchadore’s built on the RoseWarrior hype through a series of on-air appearance wrestling television personalities

George Brands was privileged to provide the following consulting services to Portland’s most attended and longest running cultural event, Cinco de Mayo

• Social Media Campaign
  
• Event Sponsorship Development and Sales
  
• Public Relations Planning, Writing and Pitching
  
• Brand Planning and Positioning
  

George Brands was charged with delivering an integrated  marketing communications  solutions for the world’s largest augmented reality event.  We were humbled, honored and excited to work alongside some of the brighest minds in the world from Ori Inabr to Tish Shute and Bruce Sterling to Vernon Vigne.  It was a marketing ride we will not soon forget.

The Objective

Delivering a marketing experience that energizes the brightest minds in technology and the most forward thinking marketing strategists in engagement branding. Deliver this experience in way that drives press, mazimizes sponsor value,  online mentions, social interaction and are2011 event revenue.

The Solution:

Tell the story of how Augmented Reality Fiction has become Augmented Reality Fact. Bruce Sterlings visions of the future, Vernon Vignes science fiction, the mind of Atari creator Jaron Lanier and the gaming genius of Will Wright.  Combine this technology vision with the big brand’s power to engage a market as discovered by PepsiCo.  Tell this story of science fiction becoming science fact. Bringing meaning to Pure AR Goodness.

The Results:

• Front page business coverage within USA Today
• Blog posts within Wired, Read Write Web, The NY Times and GigaOM
• A Facebook community reaching over 40,000 users
• A twitter base of over 2,200 followers.
• Facebook campaign reaching over 1.3 million targeted users
• Guerrilla and Viral Video Content Curation: ARE 2011 is disrupted by the Space Liberation Front!

 George Learning:  Connect the storytellers with the story distributors.

A series of interviews with leaders behind the brands.  First up a talk with the CEO of Elements Naturals

As I continue to evolve my hopefully somewhat unique and effective approach to world of marketing, I draw both ideas and inspiration from the entrepreneurs who take their remarkable idea to market with the goal of winning hearts and minds.  I’ve been lucky to work alongside bright minds and highly energetic creative leaders and for the next couple months, I’ll be spending some time to capture their thoughts through “Straight Talk with George”.

My first conversation is with Linda Naerheim who is the Founder and CEO of Elements Naturals. (Perhaps the best word combination for a brand name since Federal Express).

If you were part of the HOMS marketing team with Linda (a.k.a “Muraski”) back in the day you’ve already experienced the strengths that have allowed her to launch a national brand.  You’ve experienced her creative talent, her combination of patience and scary directness as well as her genuinely caring personality.  Sounds like a good combination for creating a line of sustainable baby products.  And if you have not worked alongside Linda you will get a glimpse at her approach to our marketing world in this interview.

Please enjoy, be kind to my skype editing ability, say Howdy to Linda and be sure to pick up a few packages of Elements Naturals 100% Natural and Compostable baby wipes.

Leaders who transform organizations do so by tapping into people’s minds and hearts. They powerfully communicate their vision but know that what they do has a more lasting impact than what they say…

-John P. Kotter (in Harvard Business Review July-August 2010)

About Elements Naturals:

Elements Naturals, LLC develops products with both babies and the environment in mind.  The company’s first product, 100% Natural and Compostable Baby Wipes, are the first fully compostable, 100% plant derived wipe on the market. Elements Naturals baby wipes are made from Ingeo (TM) fibers, the world’s first man-made fiber created from 100% annually renewable plant resources. They are free of harsh synthetic chemicals and preservatives, and their production requires significantly less fossil fuels and produces fewer greenhouse gases than traditional oil based brands.  An ethical and socially responsible company, Elements Naturals products are never tested on animals and a portion of their proceeds goes to 1 % FOR THE PLANET, an organization that encourages businesses to contribute 1% of sales to environmental groups to drive positive environmental change around the world.  The company is also a proud signer of The Compact for Safe Cosmetics.

For more information, visit www.elementsnaturals.com

Now in 2009, the AFLAC Duck, one of America’s most loved icons hits the road to duckument the life’s of the people who have been put under his wing.

The Aflac Duckumentaries chronicles the Duck’s travels and the real stories of real people from the east coast to the west coast from the northern lakes to the southern gulfs of America.

In a quest of the Duck’s love for his customers, his compassion for humanity and his unique zeal for pursuing life no matter what is thrown his way.  His journey and the stories of the people on his travels will bring lasting inspiration to each of us.

The Objective:

Connect the consumer with local solar success stories and show how solar power is part of the communities culture to be sustainable, energy efficient and financially beneficial.

The Solution:

Develop a story of how the places you love most in Portland are powered by solar and the numerous choices available to go solar are both easily explained and convenient to implement.  Becoming part of the solar community and benefit from solar power is just one Solar Expo visit away.

The Manifesto

We believe in the Power of Yellow. We believe Yellow is, was and will be strong. Yellow is everywhere. When you sleep Yellow is working. Turning dawn into daylight and daylight into energy. Cars, windows and Golden Retrievers are powered by Yellow.

Yellow preservers. Yellow can be rain boots, umbrellas and solar panels. Yellow chases the rain and decides the weather. Yellow dictates the currents from ocean to ocean. The Power of Yellow can heat your home and warm the water. Yellow inspires. Ancient ruins and the home next door harness the power of yellow . We believe that Yellow is the future. Yellow will change everything.

Here comes the SUN.
The NW Solar Expo

The Market:

• Age 35-53, affluent college education with $75k plus HH income

Solar Powered – Full on Involved in sustainability, researches, reads blogs and has a good understanding of the power of solar. Is constantly aware of solar messaging. Reach through targeted direct, online and grass roots messages, Reads non-fiction and is inches from being off the grid, active in clean energy community

Solar Ready – Interested in sustainability believes that it works, wants to understand how and the economics behind the concept. Lives within Portland’s creative class. Family, Gen X, Active in the community, reads and enjoys the outdoors.

George Brands is proud to provide the following consulting services to the Northwest’s largest solar event, the  NW Solar Expo:

• Media buying consultation
• Creative Direction
• Trade Partnerships
• Public Relations
• Brand Planning
  

“The most powerful brands deliver more than just a product or even an image; they deliver a coherent customer experience. Winning companies are developing “experience” brands” – Boston Consulting Group

Marketing communications is simple – listen to our market’s needs, build the right product and then
package your brand to exceed expectations. Wham, Bam, marketing in a nut shell.

Of course there are fancier words from brand culture to brand experience but at the end of the day it comes down to packaging the personality and value of your brand so a consumer knows why to choose your products/services.

Take the time to understand your market, your brand and how you can communicate your value at every touch point to you audience, from a front desk phone call to six months after a purchase. It will make a difference and if you are looking for help, advice or ideas call me and let us help you with our overall marketing awesomeness

Today’s Edge Rick’s Pickles

Today’s edge, highlights how a small pickle retailer attacked the market from the moment you walk into the market. He’s the pide piper of pickles and his pickles are pickalicous.

I had the opportunity to speak with Rick Field, the Rick in Rick’s Pickles, the other day here in the rose city. (editor side bar: for your edge fans from outside Portland, rose city is a nickname for our lovely town, as is stumptown, bridge city and 101 miles to the greatest football team on earth, okay I made the last one up.)

After Rick gave me the tour of his brand from pickle to okra to beets and roughly 200 sampling toothpicks later, we can confidently break down Rick’s brand.

Step 1 – Product Features and Names: Differentiate and be Unique

Your packaging should include the actual products, certain features and their names

.

Each product line is unique and compliments a wide range of food. Extending what you would normally think of a pickle. (At one point you thought a phone was for making calls incomes Apple and iPhone). The same with Rick, you thought pickles and cucumbers, he brings in okra.

Rick names the product within a clever naming architecture that leverages the entire brand and builds a nice synergy between the products.

• Mean Green Beans
• PHAT Beets
• Smokra, and soon to be released
• People’s Pickle

Step 2 -Brand Logos/ID/Product Packaging
Each piece of your ID from logo to label, to napkins at a function to in store signage, everything needs to work together to tell your story.

Rick is all about the pickles, the stars of are in the jars. So he made sure his brand ID shows the beauty of his product and the boldness of the taste.

• Simple straightforward and bold.
• The labels make up very little of the jar
• Not the same lime green look of your superstore pickle

Step 3 – Collateral:
Rick extends the value of his product through his collateral. He turns buying a pickle from a rational decision on price/taste into an emotional decision through stories, recipes and pickle how tos.

• continues the look and feel of the packaging
• includes recipe cards for each pickled product
• lists of how you can use pickled products
• the story of Rick’s pickles.

Step 4 – InPerson and Merchandising:

This starts with Rick himself, his PHAT beet tshirt, cool hat and personality that showed his passion for pickles. At one point he gives a jar of just the pickling juice to a lady and explains that it can be used to pickle several other items and gives details on pickling carrots, radishses and even pork.

GEORGE HINT: You sometimes forget that one of the most important aspects of your brand is the personal interaction between employees and the consumer. If you have staff at trade shows make sure they demonstrate their passion for your product, and that they look and talk like your brand. All the best marketing in the world can end right there with the wrong experience)

Step 5 – Measurement:
Yep Rick measures his success at every corner. Did sales go up after a tasting, how many emails do potential customers receive until they buy? What is the coupon conversion rate. Without measuring you have no way to know if your efforts are working and more importantly which efforts are the most profitable.

Brand Lesson
From the moment you saw Rick and his PHAT Beets t-shirt you wanted to experience the brand. And from that initial contact he took you on a pickle journey. For me a journey had that made me decide to save money by buying PBR so I could also purchase gourmet pickles. Who would think, pickles over beer.

Rick is a smart marketer and understood that if he carefully coordinated every aspect of his brand with his brand promise he’d gain sales. If a company can build a brand experience with a pickle, you can do it with any product/service. Remember to pay attention to all the details in your packaging efforts and build your brand with everything you do.

In honor of Rick, a proposed recipe for his next event:
Ryan’s Rocking Red Beer

• One very cold PBR
• One chilled pint glass
• Rim lined with chili salt
• One lime wedge
• Two of Rick’s mean green beens
• Tomato juice

edge tv style: the @PeggyOlson Interview

With the new season of Mad Men on air what better way to celebrate the world of marketing than sit down for a series of edge TV interviews with Carri, the twitter personality for the Mad Men character Peggy Olson.

So my fellow marketing fans, sit back, fire up the new episode of Mad Men on the television and click play on your new episode of edge TV to get your complete Mad Men fix.

You will learn quite a bit from Carri’s twitter experience and find her story of becoming the twitter personality of Peggy Olson quite fascinating. The first interview provides a good background on how Carri become Peggy Olson and the last two interviews dive into more tips and tricks on becoming a super star twitter tweet twitterer type person. I will be posting interview 2 and 3 over the next week.

A little about Carri:

• She is the founder of Big Deal PR
• Won a national Shorty Award for best twitter produced content
• President of social media club pdx
• Interviewed on Advertising Age TV (a not quite a cool version of edge TV, out of New York City)

Marketing lessons learned from Carri Bugbee:

George Learning 1 -Be spontaneous:

Bring your brand to life on twitter with spontaneous tweets and updates that drive dynamic conversations with potential customers. This energy and tone will build twitter connections and relationships to grow your online community of followers.

George learning 2 – Be Authentic and True to Your Brand

People want to interact with your brand’s authentic personality and know they are building loyalty with the real brand and not just a set of programmed content.

The secret to being spontaneous and authentic:

Do you research and build a really good understanding of your product, service and brand personality. This research and thought will turn your updates into “smart authentic spontaneous” tweets and all consumers want to work with and buy products from smart brands.

Keep on Marketing and make sure to follow @peggyolson to keep up with the online world of Mad Men that is happening between Sundays.

Business beware! Social media is now luring at every corner. Tweets, Friend requests, Blog post. Your boss, your customer, your next door neighbor’s kid are all telling you, “embrace social media or peril.” And now it’s up to you and you alone. What do you do? The George Survival guide provides models for developing a consistent strategic approach to social media marketing. The survival guide provides a social media road map, an initial overview of social media networks and useful resource guides.

Yet web2.0 is a place worlds away from that to which most of us are accustomed, and is governed by it’s own physical laws that can not be ignored. You are responsible for your own survival. Remember George Brands is your essential marketing companion. And armed with the power of fundamental marketing mixed with out of the box creative thought, you will survive. You will flourish. Download the guide – George Survival Guide

Be Prepared – survival guide excerpt

Download here – George Survival Guide

Social Media is the next evolution in new media marketing combining two of online’s most powerful tools. Content and community. Where the content is being created with conversations between consumers and brands. Marketers have strived to create this simple but magical relationship for years, starting with forums, email lists and the typical corporate web site. Brand marketers have been dreaming about discovering mediums this impactful and inexpensive since the first cave drawing of the wheel.

The new explosive growth of social networking is related to a change in consumer’s expectations to have an experience with your brand not a one-way relationship. Go beyond the traditional one-way communication of an advertisement telling an audience about your features and benefits. Consumers are now directly engaging in relationships with brands to become part of the story. Becoming loyal purchasers of the companies that engage in a real conversation about needs. As a culture, we have out grown the typical branding advertisement that started with the Marlboro man print ads after WWII. Lifestyles and brands have merged.

And this is good news for companies that decide to develop a consistent, thoughtful, relevant and useful marketing approach to the evolving world of social media. Companies that build conversations, understand why they are using the media tools, responsibly follow up, measure results and be true to their personalities.

Communication Tips:

• Provide relevant and useful information to your audience
• Listen and respond
• Be authentic and real
• Create a quarterly communication calendar

Survival Guide Road Map:
Before you jump beak first and become a twittermaniac, with a tweet here, a tweet there, everywhere a tweet tweet. Approach social media with your business hat tightly secured to your entrepreneurial head and build a mini-marketing plan. Asking along the way, “For what job has this been designed to do?” and “How do I convert this activity into leads that become future business?”