Saints Win! Who dat?
Posted on February 8, 2010 | Permalink
By Lane Casteix
Monday morning and New Orleans is recovering from an all night party. Many schools and business are closed or experiencing high absenteeism.
I predicted a win for the Saints by 7 and missed by a half. They clearly showed they have what it takes to be world champions. In the second half of the game you saw the powerhouse Saints with their mojo back. It was an impressive performance.
The Super Bowl commercials were not as good as in years past but there were a few winners. if you want to see them all, Ad Age has them up for your viewing pleasure.
Who dat?!
It's that time again!
Posted on February 4, 2010 | Permalink
By Lane Casteix
No, not the Super Bowl (but it is that as well). I mean the 2010 Winter Olympics!
And what does that have to do with advertising you ask?
Ever pay much attention to the "uniforms" of the different nations? Here are a few interesting ones to refresh your memory.
But this year Ralph Lauren designed them for the Americans. Remember how small the little polo player logo is on your RL shirt. Check it out now!
I guess Ralph really wants everyone to know who designed it? Or maybe every U.S. Olympic Team member is actually on the U.S. polo team? Including the winter team?
I sure hope they don't flip their collars up like that! Who decided that was cool? It isn't!
Wear Your Seat Belt!
Posted on January 29, 2010 | Permalink
By Lane Casteix
This ad was stolen from the AdGabber web site, where Steve Hall touts it as a having a powerful message, and I have to agree. This ranks as one of the most effective commercials I have ever seen. It reaches the heart with the message and drives it home in a memorable - and actionable fashion. Enjoy.
Find more videos like this on AdGabber
How are you going to refuse a starving, three-legged cat?
Posted on November 2, 2009 | Permalink
By Lane Casteix
Someone said yell at a dog and they will come back, but yell at a cat and that will be the last time you see it. That doesn’t work; I have yelled and they keep coming back!
I have been trying to get pet-free since my last dog died a few years ago. Only had one mean-as-hell, very old, inside cat left to go. Since then, the mean-as-hell, very old, inside cat is still alive, and getting older and meaner, plus I have managed to add three chickens and four feral cats to the program. That is down from six feral cats, so I guess we count that as progress?
The original six started out as kittens dropped in my yard by a neighbor’s cat. That got whittled down to two when one disappeared, two moved in with neighbors down the street, and another disappeared right after I had him fixed and spent $80 on him to help his poor eyesight. (Didn’t like my choice of frames?)
Two left! Then a homeless female shows up at the food dish followed by a very skinny, three-legged male. I don’t know how he lost his lower rear leg, but he gets along fairly well without it.
I am a sucker for animals, especially for things like skinny, three-legged, feral cats! In particular, the vocal ones who speak to me, and he is a talker! Took a while but I have tamed him, and he has become a very affectionate little cat, and putting on weight.
What is this all about? (You knew this was leading somewhere?)
The lesson my cat story can teach us is this: the things that touch our hearts are the things we will spend our time and money on. What that means is customers must care about the brand, because those customers spend their time and money on what they are passionate about. I am not suggesting you cut off a leg to gain sympathy, but unless the customer develops some kind of emotional connection to your brand, it isn’t really their brand. And if it isn’t really theirs, another brand can come along that gets them to care, and it will become their brand.
I didn’t want these cats, but they have become mine because they made me care. That is easy for animals to do, I know, but brands can do this also. Two classic examples of brands that really pull this off are Harley Davidson and Apple. The question is how do we establish that emotional connection? And I am not suggesting it is easy.
HD and Apple have relationships with their customers and always have. There is a bond there. They listened when others were telling. And they responded to what they heard. Social media is a tool that brands can use to develop better hearing. Some brands are using this new tool and discovering new things about themselves and their customers. And some are trying to use it but failing, because they are still telling and not listening. Are you listening or telling? Shut up, listen – then respond.
Prospering in a Down Economy, Part 5
Posted on October 28, 2009 | Permalink
By Lane Casteix
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
As you can see from the links above, I have written about businesses prospering in a down economy. Those that do prosper are the ones who don't pull in their marketing efforts but see the weak economy as a chance to steal market share.
And low and behold here comes evidence from this recession for what I have been preaching.
What Can Chickens Teach Us About Packaging?
Posted on October 19, 2009 | Permalink
By Lane Casteix
Some of you know I have become a “chicken rancher” after reading an article in the New Orleans Times Picayune about urban chickens. It is becoming quite popular to raise your own chickens for eggs even in urban settings. My flock consists or three Rhode Island Red laying hens I bought as two-day old chicks and raised myself. They live in a luxurious (for chickens anyway) coop I built for them that keeps them dry, safe, and cozy. The coop and fenced run cost me a small fortune, even though I used some recycled materials. As a result, these eggs are not cheaper than buying them in the store! But they are very good: richer-colored orange yokes, firmer less runny texture, and more flavor. I eat lots of eggs, but three chickens lay more than I can eat; so I give eggs away and make others happy like me.
I have been posting about my chickens on Facebook, and for no particular reason other than it seemed like fun. But as this process moved along, I began to realize that chickens, dumb as they are, can teach us many things as posted here and here. For example: Is there a package more perfect than the egg? It is elegantly simple in design, effective in protecting its valuable contents, pilfer-evident yet easy to open, and is sustainable green. What more could you ask for? Let’s take these one at a time.
Elegantly simple design –
The most effective package designs, from the standpoint of marketing and sales, are those that convey their message to the consumer without unnecessary bravo sierra messing up an otherwise tidy design. The egg communicates, and it does it very elegantly! It tells the chicken it needs protection and nurturing. There are exceptions for pure layers like mine; they lay the egg and shake out their feathers and walk away to feed and make another one, somehow expecting the egg to disappear, picked up by the egg gatherer.
The egg tells the egg gatherer, be he a person or a predator looking for a free meal, that he just found food. I bet someone or something that never saw an egg before would conclude this strange object was indeed food.
And if you think they can’t be branded, you are wrong. Different chickens lay different eggs. They may be different sizes and shapes, white, brown, spotted, or speckled; and there is even a breed, the Ameracuna, that lays colored eggs - pastel blues and greens, which is why they are also called “Easter-eggers”.
The egg conveys its core brand message without undue fuss. I wish all packages were that simple and that elegant of design.
Effective contents protection –
They look fragile but they are not. When I was a mere lad I read somewhere, probably “Boy’s Life”, that you could toss an egg over the roof of a house, and assuming it did not land on something really hard like concrete or my sister’s head, it would not break. Yeah, right! So, I tried it. I conducted my egg experiment at our summer home in Mississippi, which had an abundance of pine trees in the yard and not a lot of grass, at least not a thick layer. (My dad liked it that way; less grass to cut.) I tossed that puppy over the house and guess what? It DID NOT break! I did it twice – same results. That is tough! Then my mother caught me and took my egg away to serve for breakfast.
The egg comes out of the chicken with a wet coating, which is called a “bloom”. It dries in a matter of seconds; almost like it is alcohol. The bloom provides protection for the egg against invasion by micro-organisms through the porous shell, so you don’t wash eggs when you collect them. Eggs, unwashed and unrefrigerated, will keep for an amazingly long time with very little loss of quality.
Pilfer evident yet easy to open –
It is pretty obvious when the egg’s package has been compromised; the shell is cracked and often oozing. And if the compromise took place some time ago your nose supports the obvious visual clues.
But they are easy to open too. Some shells are harder than others, depending on how much calcium the chicken has consumed. Grocery store eggs tend to be thin shelled, having come from “egg-machines” living out brief lives in cramped spaces bordering on miserable. I feed my happy chickens grapes, strawberries, and cracked corn with their laying mix, and they get to free range and consume the big juicy and delicious (for a chicken) wood roaches we have all over south Louisiana. I also feed them crushed oyster shells for extra calcium. They self-regulate how much they need, and my chicken’s eggs require a goodly smack to crack the shell. (Bet I could toss them over a two-story house!) All packages should be this pilfer evident and yet this easy to open.
Sustainable green –
Can’t get any “greener” than an eggshell. They are organic in origin and can be easily recycled back into the bio-system, either as mulch in your garden or fed back to the chicken for reprocessing. Yes, chickens will eat their own eggshells, but it is best not to serve them up looking much like the whole egg, lest they figure out they don’t have to wait for you to bring the shells back. It is the ultimate returnable! And no deposit – unless you count the grapes, strawberries and chicken feed.
So, what do we have? Packaged goods producers and package designers can take lessons from the egg. Effective packaging need not always be complex and complicated. Simple is much better and more effective. (Someday, maybe I will get to design an egg-elegant package?)
Chickens make eggs, and man makes clamshell packaging. Have we have lost our packaging way?
