I apologize for the hiatus…moving in the most recent weeks from Boston to New York. I am currently settling into my summer position with Fleishman-Hillard’s Healthcare Group…so far going very well. I foresee myself in ‘absorption’ mode for quite some time, but it’s been honestly wonderful. I’m learning a great deal, and I’m very much enjoying public relations. I will write more soon! Enjoy the day.
This week, Business Week’s Burt Helm highlights R/GA, a company that is truly revolutionizing the world of marketing. The article, ‘Attention-Deficit Advertising,’ discusses how brands are providing services to customers.
One example is Motorola’s campaign in the Hong Kong International Airport, where soon-to-be passengers were able to view pictures and messages from the friends and family members they had just waved good-bye to. Intermixed with the messages of love, luck and best wishes were ads of various brands. By providing customers with one last message of home, advertisers were given a truly captivated audience.
I believe that advertisers need to get smart. They need to offer consumers something more - touching their humanity and exceeding their expectations.
An Ad Age article discussed Apple’s recent comments regarding NYC & Co.’s use of an apple (the fruit) as part of their logo for their “Green NYC Campaign,” began last summer 2007. Apple is concerned that consumers will get confused.
Personally, I would think Apple should be in favor of this. While I think Apple has a strong enough brand to differentiate itself in consumers’ minds, I also think this would be a positive association, if one was made. ‘Green’ is the trend, now, and Apple Computers would be seen as a part of this trend. Also, if anything, simply seeing the ‘apple’ logo around New York could be free advertising for the computer company, whether it was a true conscious thing or not.
It takes the brain seconds to comprehend the meaning of a paragraph of text. However, hundredths of a second to process that same message through a picture or visual image. I recently came across this agency, La Comunidad, which answers the question, ‘why la comunidad?’ through the use of stick figures. Check it out! (You need to click on ‘the way we think’ and then ‘why la comunidad?’)
The BBC today reports DNA testing companies’ increase in popularity in recent months. Companies such as 23andMe, DeCODEme and Navigenics are able to decode an individuals’ DNA, providing consumers with an idea of how prone they are to various diseases and more about why their body is the way it is.
While controversy exists within the field, some arguing it is a waste of money and others touting its potential uses for both individuals and pharmaceutical companies, I have to wonder about the ramifications this may have on the overall health industry if the information should be accessible to the public. 23andMe has said they would not sell the data, though I do wonder how insurance companies, or even employers who pay for insurance might react if they would get their hands on this information.
Might there be a lower cost for individuals who are considered “healthier” than others? Similar rate differences exist today between men and women when we purchase car insurance at the age of 16. Different rates exist for men than women, as men are considered more aggressive drivers at this age, yet, gender is something we cannot control, much like the DNA results from these tests.
Regardless, I think great potential lies in the practice of more and more individuals discovering more about their DNA and then acting upon those findings in order to live a healthier lifestyle. Preventative care would safe the health industry billions of dollars, so insurance companies would be wise to assist with paying for tests, such as this.
One final note that crosses my mind is companies using this information during the hiring process. While laws greatly diminish this type of discrimination, I wonder if that would be at all an issue, 40-50 years down the line.
Today I had the distinct honor of attending several events at Emerson College, which provided me the opportunity to meet and learn from some amazing individuals. First, there is Chris Montan, President of Walt Disney Music. After realizing he no longer wished to pursue a career with his Western History undergraduate degree, he decided to strap on his guitar, write music and has never looked back. He offered us a number of wonderful suggestions when pursuing our degrees, including the need to have passion, create that personal unique vision of who we are as an artist, and to be prepared and take every opportunity that comes our way.
He accounts for much of High School Musical’s success with the reach and distribution of the Disney Channel, a channel that ’superserves’ the tween age group. In an age where so many distribution media platforms exist, High School Musical was able to start on the small screen, spread its music through Radio Disney and the Internet, to end up as a full screen movie, now, several years later.
I also had the opportunity to hear Dr. Gayle Carson and Steve Shaw speak. Dr. Carson is known for being the ‘Spunky Old Broad,’ and she is not kidding! I have never seen a 70-year old woman so passionate and active. She told us about how her career (and she, herself) has evolved, her current membership site goals and the keys to her success. Steve Shaw also talked to us about his career evolution and his constant focus as a broadcast journalist in his young 20s, only to be burned out by the age of 26. However, he has since started his own business in Corporate Communications, proving that the ‘next best career’ can be just as good as that ‘dream job.’
The day ended with a truly memorable experience of bringing together Thomas Schumacher, Roger Allers, Chris Montan and Mark Macina to discuss the making of the movie, The Lion King. Whether it was discussing Elton John’s ‘the cheese sandwich’ song, Allers’ desire not to work on the movie, or telling us about the recent (very recent) start to the creation of The Newsies stage performance, the entire evening was entertaining and informative, though, above all, consisted of story telling. Although The Lion King had not hit it of with the ‘analytical’ executives at the time, its emotional draw and depth has pulled at family’s heartstrings for nearly 13 years.
In one of his talks today, he mentioned that a lot of individuals at Disney are the combination of business and creative. They wish to be that bridge, that link between the two. I believe I am one of those individuals, strattling both sides, desiring to belong to both ‘camps.’
I would absolutely LOVE to work for Disney! This is a truly innovative company brimming with driven, creative individuals, and at the end of the day, their goal is a smile…a laugh…a tear…and what better use of our time, then to evoke such emotion and resonate with others through the medium of storytelling.
Sam Fleming writes up an interesting article about the trends he sees in Internet Word of Mouth Marketing in the coming year in China. Here are some quick takeaways:
While at DLD, I had the opportunity to hear Richard Saul Wurman speak. Wurman is an architect and designer, and a visionary in how to provide information to people in a way that is understandable. I highly recommend checking out one of his projects, 192021.
In an ‘easy on the eyes’ format, he describes how populations will be shifting to create supercities, and the argument that cities need to change in order to adapt to this shift in population. Another example of effective communication with a complex topic.
Unfortunately, this map is from 2002; however, it provides good visual comparing daily newspaper circulation country to country.
Worldmapper is based on the principle that given a 150-word document, it would take our brains a minute or two to read through the entire text; however, that same information in visual form can be processed at 100ths of a second. Our brains are hard-wired to process visual information at unimaginable rates. This map emcompasses some of these numbers:
These statistics are not applicable today, as newspaper circulation has declined (currently in Germany, 80% of adults subscribe to newspapers, 33% in France and 15% in the U.S.).
Sir Ken Robinson spoke at the TED Conference in 2006 and provided a very moving speech regarding the importance of creativity in society. Here are some of the highlights:
