Modea Speaker Prep

Strategic Issue

           

One strategic issue I read about online was the building of a new office in downtown Blacksburg.  A couple of questions this poses are: Is this taking available resources away from potential clients? And are you having to add a lot more employees to fill the vast improvement in space?

Customer/Consumer Perceptions

          

From everything that I saw on Facebook and Twitter, EVERYTHING was positive and full of praise.  One thing that was refreshing to see was that a lot of the feedback was from employees commenting on the positive work environment and how much the company gives back.

Questions

Is it hard for potential clients to take you seriously seeing as you are not located in a major city? Does size play a role?

Does the growing role of digital media play in your favor as far as attracting potential clients?

Manly Targeting

So you can't watch ESPN for longer than 30 minutes nowadays without seeing the most manly Weight Watchers commercial ever.  And I absolutely love it.  Not necessarily because its genius advertising or anything like that, I think it's because of how hard they target men, and not only that, but it's interesting to see what they think matters most to men.

For instance, they accentuate a new feature on the Weight Watchers website called the "virtual cooler" (awesome) in which you can drag things like burgers, steaks, light and dark beers, etc. into the cooler and they will give you the details on how many "points", carbs, fat, etc. each item has.  They have to know guys won't partake in any diet that prohibits beer and steaks.

Another thing about the commercial I find hilarious is how the guys in it act.  They talk about getting joked because the common perception is that Weight Watchers is for women.  His retort to that is something along the lines of "Oh yeah, well I look a hell of a lot better than you do right now" as the shot cuts to him fist bumping with his buddies as if he had to world's greatest comeback.

All in all I think it's the insights they had on men rather than the content of the commercial as to why I love it.

P.S. I wish I could find the commercial on the internet, but I've had no luck.  My apologies

Instragram New Key in Branding?

I recently read an article on how Johnnie Walker, the popular whiskey brand, successfully launched a social media campaign via the social media outlet Instagram. Instragram is like a twitter for pictures.  It allows users to follow others to have posted pictures show up on their feed.

Now what does this mean for companies using Instagram?  Well, it allows them to share a story using images.  It shows the true personality of the brand and shares with consumers what the brand stands for.  Personally, I follow quite a bit of brands on Instagram, and I've found that the essence of the brand tends to shine through quite well.

Johnnie Walker is on the front lines of this movement and a lot of companies can learn from their successful campaign launch.

Here is a link to the original article.

Reebok Supports Infidelity?

Need I say more about this bit of advertising Reebok decided to showcase?  Now I don't know how it got through the planning phase, or maybe it was purposefully made to get the talk going on Reebok's entry into the "crossfit" realm.  Either way, it's easy to see how this could be offensive, not only to women, but to men as well.

I think it goes without saying that I am not a fan of this bit of creative.  But I guess it's true what they say, "any press is good press."

Ships Watch Logo

This is going to be yet another logo blog, but what can I say, I can't get enough of them.  

Ships Watch is a subdivision on Highway 12 that I pass every time I head down to the Outer Banks.  I can't exactly put my finger on what I love most about the logo, but i consider it one of my favorites.  I think the fact that you see the ship image of the logo first, and then come to realize that the ship itself is made out of the subdivision initials.

I could just be partial to the logo because of the location and the emotional connection I have to the place, but either way, I love it!

Salt Life simplicity

So I'd like to start my blogging career discussing one of my new favorite companies and how their simple yet effective logo and basic marketing technique have grown Salt Life dramatically.

I'd love to talk about their logo, which is the first impression I ever had of the brand.  The logo seems to fit the image of Salt Life perfectly, from it's rough, jagged edges to its grainy almost sloppy look.  To me, it personifies the gritty lifestyle that the company wants to embody.  They were able to achieve all of this simply by picking a well-created font.

From what I know of the company, they came from humble beginnings, starting with a simple auto decal of their logo.  They were able to have these decals placed in bait shops and pier shops and surf shops all along the east and west coasts.  People who had no idea what the brand was knew that they loved the "Salt Life" and purchased the stickers and business grew from there.  Last time I purchased something from their website in December, they had maybe 10 men's shirts to choose from.  Now, they have close to 100 men's short sleeve shirts alone! If that doesn't show drastic growth I don't know what does.

Congrats to Salt Life on knowing their target market and knowing how to appeal to them on a basic level.