"These Come from Trees"

So finally a little word of mouth advertising for the good of the planet instead of helping out a single company. I'm not saying that word of mouth for companies isn't a great thing but sometimes it is nice to see an environmentally friendly reminder through WOM and Guerilla marketing.

Pete Kazanjy, a product manager and designer from Palo Alto, California got an idea when he was having lunch and noticed the huge amounts of napkins people were taking. Even if they weren't being used people were still throwing them out. He decided that a simple reminder at the right time would be the perfect idea to keep people from wasting as many paper products as they do.

His idea was to place a sticker that says, "These Come from Trees" on all napkin and paper towel dispensers. He has started his own blog, http://thesecomefromtrees.blogspot.com/ where he is selling the stickers and talking about his journey. According to Kazanjy's blog, a single sticker will save up to 100 lbs. of paper per year, which is just about the paper volume produced from a single tree. What a great guerilla marketing idea! Perfect timing can really work wonders!

This is such a great idea and Kazanjy has also started a blog, as mentioned before so it is easy for people to spread the word. Seth Godin is a huge fan of the project and he has also blogged about the project that Kazanjy has started. So spread the word, "These Come from Trees" and we can start doing some good for the environment!

source: http://www.womma.org/womnibus/009234.php

U-Starvin?

We're all college students and when you go from living in a house, with your parents, and having them cook dinner for you it really makes it hard to transfer to living in a dorm room. Living in a dorm really makes you appreciate all your parents do for you. Kraft took advantage of this situation and made it into a good viral advertising campaign for their Easy Mac product.

College students that come from households where dinner was made all the time, they have a harder time learning how to make their own dinner when the time comes. It's not always the most convenient to start cooking since many students live in dorm rooms, as well. Yea, many have meal plans but what do you eat when you want a good snack. That's were Kraft Easy Mac comes in. Kraft Foods started a website www.u-starvin.com which is a made up university. This site shows what college students eat to curb their appetites until dinner. It also has a section that shows different, random, funny items that college students microwave when are bored and of course...when there is no Easy Mac around! They have microwaved everything from glue to crayons to Christmas lights! (That can't be safe.)

This site has funny stories and good ideas for when you are bored or (let's face it) procrastinating, Kraft does not forget why they are there and that is, of course, to advertising their product. They have letter templates, which are to send to your parents or guardian and let them know how you need Easy Mac to survive as a college student. Of course, YOU are their favorite college student so why not use the guilt trip to get your mom to send you some Easy Mac and who knows, maybe you'll get some extra stuff with that.

This site is extremely creative. They are able to keep students attention with the funny stories and ideas but once their done looking they will most likely send out the funny email to someone they know. I mean they may not even really want Easy Mac but what college student doesn't like getting packages or getting free stuff, especially food. It makes the package even better. If it works right this will up Kraft Easy Mac sales from college students, which is probably their biggest consumer group. They should probably start advertising on their Easy Mac packaging. This is definitely a way to get the attention of college students as well. Many already buy Easy Mac, but this would increase repeat purchasing.

Definitely check it out! It's pretty cool. The site also features an interactive video where you can make this college kid eat all different stuff!

source: http://www.womma.org/womnibus/009233.php

Tampax and Cheerleaders!

Tampax has a campaign going on right now that is advertising there Tampax Sport tampons. The commercials feature cheerleaders who show that they can be very active with or without their period. Tampax sport tampons will help them keep the level of sport. They are able to throw people in the air just as they would if they weren't worried about their period. I don't believe that tampax has revolutionized the tampon to make that much of a difference. You can back it up with plenty of information but when it comes down to it, a tampon is a tampon. Adding "sport" to the end of your product doesn't make it any better. Though it may help reach your target market and get the WOM circulating better.

Not only does Tampax have these new commercials, but to integrate their plan a little more they have used a site called Takkle.com, as a marketing vehicle. Takkle.com is a site dedicated to female networking which is perfect to target female athletes. What they have done is set up a competition for cheerleaders to send in their most extreme and crowd-rallying cheers. They are considering this an internet battle for cheerleaders. Users can then vote on their favorite routine. Which ever team gets the most votes wins $10,000 worth of cheerleading equipment.

All this is to spread the word about Tampax Sport tampons. I agree its an interesting way to spread news about the competition but does it seem like Tampax will have there name attached to it and get the credit that they want and deserve. Their commercials help tie them together with the online competition but is this going to be remembered in people's minds as a Tampax campaign? For tampax sake I hope so but that may not be the case.
Check out the battles: www.takkle.com

source:
http://www.womma.org/womnibus/009138.php

Adagio Comes to Second Life.

Adagio Teas is the company we have chosen for our final project. Doing a fair amount of searching and exploring Second Life, I have come to the conclusion that Adagio Teas could make a very nice home here. Second Life is a fairly new program that has a lot to offer to new and aspiring businesses or companies.

If I were to sit down the Michael Cramer, the founder of Adagio Teas, I would brief him on Second Life and tell him what this program could possibly do for his business. Secondlife is great place for businesses to leave a mark. Many, many businesses have their own islands here. Adagio could have their own island. There are no creative boundaries here whatsoever. They could make their island as crazy and they wanted and it would be fine. I would explain the Leo Burnett island. It was filled with huge trees and tree houses. It was very fantasy oriented. There is also he Kawaii Ku island which is really crazy. It was very child like, bright colors, big flowers, etc. Then there are places like Paper Couture which is a clothing boutique that was very realistic and classy.

Another reason to join Second Life would be the many different people you can target. You can also get many different people to visit your island. People today get very tired of commercials and interruptions when they are watching television, listening to the radio, reading magazines or even working on the internet. Here's a new way to gain people's attention without bothering them. They come to Second Life on their own, looking for new things. What a better way to gain interest by possible consumers than to have them stumble upon your amazing island with a great product to offer.

If that didn't sway him then I would explain to him how many different companies are there already. There are so many companies from Mercedes-Benz to many different ad agencies to clothing stores. Second Life has already started to grow and will soon be extremely popular, which is an excellent reason to get in there now and start up some interest.

Wii Would Like to Play.

Nintendo has gone through many different phases in my lifetime alone. The first system that I had was Super Nintendo. We then got Nintendo 64 and that's pretty much where my video game hobby ended. I thought that all the hype about the new game system coming out was ridiculous. People lining up in front of stores overnight just in hopes of getting a ticket to buy one of the limited number of them being made. The Wii is the newest system that has brought about this craziness and according to The Consumerist, a popular consumer blog, has great customer service.

Wii, the new system made by Nintendo, gaming now involves more physical activity then just sitting on the couch and moving your fingers. Getting up and moving around gives you a better chance at winning which ever game you may be playing. To play the games you hold the control and make the movements you would do if you were playing the sport in real life. They have tennis, golf, bowling and those are the games that just come with the system. There are tons of other games that you can buy as well.

Not only is the Wii a system a way to get the children off the couch but Nintendo has great respect for their customers. A customer located in Redmond, Washington had a broken Wii. He called customer service and they told him to come down to Nintendo campus and they would repair it. According to WOMMA, the customer's Wii was taken away and within 30 minutes it was brought back fully repaired with the warranty clock fully set back. After that, of course, the customer was completely satisfied.

Now, that customer of course told a friend who told another friend and immediately got the word of mouth off and running. Not many companies have such great service but if Nintendo keeps it up they can put the other companies to shame. Nintendo seems to be on the fast track to amazing success with a great new gaming system and great word of mouth advertising.

In Need Of Notoriety?

There are two coffee shops, each one on a different side of the road. One is Starbucks and the other is just a generic coffee shop. Which one would you choose? I'm sure many of you said Starbucks because I know I would. What if I told you the other store across the street let's you pay whatever you want for your coffee? Well, I'm assuming that would change the decision just a little and you're probably thinking that's a stupid idea. Well think again! There's a new coffeeprenuer out who is doing exactly this.

As I mentioned before, many little shops seem to always have to compete with the big companies no matter what there in the market for. Of course coffee shops have it hard because they have huge competition from Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. This just doesn't seem fair. So if someone wants to be successful in such a ridiculous market, how does one differentiate?

Ervin Peretz founder of the Kirkland, Washington Terra Bite Lounge came up with his unreal strategy, he allows people to pay whatever they want for their coffee! Now if that's not unbelievable then I don't know what is. He also doesn't post any prices of the items. Peretz feels that people are "essentially good" and that they will be generous during the course of their relationship with his shop. He also feels that the people who really enjoy a good cup of joe will pay a reasonable amount which will make up for the customers who are a bit more stingy.

Peretz hopes that since he believes that people are essentially good, he will be repaid for his generosity which will keep him in business for a long time. Let's hope that Peretz is right. His very risky company tactic is one that could really make or break his business. Everyone I'm sure, thinks this is absurd and leans toward breaking but people have definitely been wronged before. In the mean time let's just enjoy spreading the word!

source:

http://www.womma.org/womnibus/009100.php

Buzz Just Isn't Enough.

In today's age, just to get your advertisement remembered is enough for the company. But is it really? Many advertiser's are looking for publicity, negative or positive, it doesn't seem to matter much to them, they just want to be remembered. Though, as i remember from class, an advertisers job is to sell the product. As Benton & Bowles ad agency said first, "It's not creative unless is sells."

Many ads out today usually offend a small (if not large) percentage of the population, which is what people get to talking about. These crazy, rude, astounding (whatever you want to call them) ads are what get remembered and that seems to matter. An e-mail survey respondent said,"the bad ideas, bad creative and just overall bad taste of many of the ads are thrown in our faces today." Rance Crain agrees, "That's the image I have about too many of today's ads -- a pie thrown in our faces, not to provide a little sustenance, but to create a good old-fashioned food fight." Unfortunately, many people will side with them. So has the job of the advertisers changed from selling to just simply getting noticed.

This is a very interesting subject due to the fact that is takes a lot today for advertisements to be noticed. I believe that people ignore most advertisements today because they feel that they are just noise and clutter. So, if a person ignores something you are trying to sell, how do you get there attention. Well, it seems that advertisers will go to extremes to get there advertisements to come across loud and clear. Maybe this isn't the best way to communicate with the public but right now its the only way so until someone comes up with something more creative, I don't see a dramatic change anytime soon.

source:
http://adage.com/columns/article?article_id=115325