Golden Opportunities

Posted on January 26, 2012 by admin

To some, it’s just a job. But for Kendall Titiml, the man with the golden voice, it’s a golden opportunity.

Walk into the McDonald’s in Wayne, America (that’s in Nebraska, but look at the water tower and you’ll understand the nomenclature) and you may be greeted by a smile wider and brighter than the arches outside. That “I’m Lovin’ It” personality belongs to Kendall, 22, a marketing student at Wayne State College. Kendall entered the Voice of McDonald’s IV, a contest to recognize McDonald’s employees for their singing talents. As he made it through the public voting to be one of the U.S. finalists, news organizations in Nebraska, Iowa and Palau (Kendall’s home and an island nation 500 miles east of the Philippines and 2,000 miles south of Tokyo with a population several thousand less than Aberdeen, SD) covered his journey.

But a lesson in PR (and life): don’t assume you know the whole story.

As we worked to share Kendall’s story (and help him get votes), we got a chance to interview him. He chatted about his philosophy in life, love of music and excitement that he would use his winnings to send his mom to his sister’s graduation and he may even make the trip home as well.

But then he mentioned something else.

At five-years-old, he became ill with Guillain-Barre syndrome and needed to be taken to a larger hospital hours away in Hawaii. While there, his family stayed at a Ronald McDonald House. Kendall told us how grateful he became back then for the chance to recover and he believed McDonald’s gave him two opportunities in his life.

While we thought we just wanted to share the story of a hard-working college kid with a great voice and passion to perform who loved to inspire people with his positive personality, we found another story. A young man grateful to share his talent and endlessly appreciative of people he never would know who gave his family a place to call home while he recovered.

Next up, Kendall heads to Orlando in April where he competes for international bragging rights singing with 16 competitors from around the globe, all hoping for their golden opportunity.

- Jolene Loetscher

From FMOT to ZMOT

Posted on January 13, 2012 by admin

For those who haven’t heard of the First Moment of Truth (FMOT), essentially it’s the moment in which a consumer is in a store deciding between your brand and the next guy’s. For years this has been a profound moment for businesses and marketers – a final fight to the death between two gladiators. Who will win? Lucky Charms or Cap’n Crunch? All of your branding and marketing efforts have led up to this moment. If your efforts were good enough, you’d close the sale and bask in the glory of the crowd’s roar in the Coliseum. But if you failed, you’d lose the sale to your competitor and fall to your death.

Although FMOT is still significant, it is yet another victim affected by digital technology’s wrath. Recently there has been a lot of hype around our office about a new book called ZMOT: Winning the Zero Moment of Truth by Jim Lecinski.

Now that you know about FMOT, the term Zero Moment of Truth refers to the moment of competition before the consumer reaches FMOT, and it takes place online rather than in the store. For example, if you were thinking about buying a new TV, whether you plan to buy it online or in-store, would you first conduct a little research online to learn about your options? You may compare brands and prices, read customer reviews about the potential candidates, or even consult your Twitter followers for suggestions. If you’re behind the times like me and still have a cathode-ray tube television, you may even do a little research to learn about HDTV’s in general before moving on to comparing brands, specs and prices. The instance in which you are conducting all of this research, from learning about the product category to the brand options, is the Zero Moment of Truth. And it’s becoming increasingly important for brands and businesses to be present at this moment and to take advantage of the opportunity, especially in today’s digital retail environment where some consumers may not even leave the couch when purchasing your product. And if they do, there’s a good chance that they’ve done some online research before coming to your store. And this is why your business needs to be there during that decision process.

I’ll give you an example from the book. It’s not enough for businesses to only be present when their brand name or product category is typed into a search engine; there are more innovative ways to be present as well. To illustrate this strategy, the author points out a popular Google search phrase – “What’s in dog food?” Now if you were a dog food company, wouldn’t you want to be present when a consumer has a question like this? Who better to answer it than you? Maybe you could start a “What’s in dog food” campaign and educate your consumers. Plus, it’d be a great way to stand out among your competitors.

And that’s the kind of stuff you’ll find in this book. It’s a short and simple read, but incredibly insightful. The author presents numerous case examples and offers tools, tips and ideas on how you can apply and implement ZMOT in your business. The Zero Moment of Truth concept is no doubt a monumental, game-changing notion for the field of marketing. Although this book is a great way to get acquainted with ZMOT, I have a hunch that it is a subject that will only receive deeper analysis in the future as it becomes even more important and more relevant to business and advertising.

The book is available in about every format you can imagine (I downloaded the app on my iPod touch). And the best part is – it’s free! Again, it’s a painless read, nothing compared to the pain of being struck down by a gladiator. So check it out, before the caged lions get you.

- Andrew

Advertising Books Have All the Fun

Posted on January 5, 2012 by admin

I have yet to have someone launch into a rave account of a so-called “business book” without experiencing a shudder. The very term conjures up images of suits sitting around a conference table discussing how to “seamlessly integrate value chains” and the “leveraging capabilities of management synergies.” On the other hand, if someone walks up to me and says something along the lines of, “So, I bought this business book, but it turns out that it’s all about advertising and who really cares about that? This is so lame,” my ears perk up. As soon as they leave, I pull the book out of the garbage, dust the coffee grounds off of it, and crack it open. I am one of those frustrating people who learn by example, which means that a book full of case studies will be more useful than a textbook, and more fun than a trip to Disneyland (gross exaggeration there).

So, what books get my heart racing faster than a Kentucky Derby winner? I have to admit I may have been influenced by employers and professors both past and present, but here are three of my favorites.

1) Juicing the Orange by Pat Fallon and Fred Senn. Maybe it’s because Fallon started in my home state of Minnesota, long before notable agencies existed off of Madison Ave, or maybe it’s because I love their work (especially the Sony Bravia rollout), but this is one of my favorite reads. Juicing the orange refers to the fact that there is only so much juice (profit) in a piece of fruit and it must be leveraged to the last drop in order to get great returns. Each chapter is devoted to a client with a problem, something all agencies can relate to. Fallon approaches these advertising solutions with an artistic air that is sometimes lacking in mainstream advertising, and I think their answers tend towards the elegant without sacrificing utility.

2) The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell. I have to admit that I’m a Gladwell geek. His books drip with statistics about things that I actually care about, like buying behavior and what makes a product cool to consumers. Yeah, there aren’t really stories about little advertising agencies triumphing over the big dogs, but it’s still full of little nuggets of knowledge. True, there are stories and stats about crime rates and what made Hush Puppies famous, but The Tipping Point also discusses what makes social epidemics happen. Think of it as going viral without involving YouTube. Gladwell also discusses “connectors, mavens, and salesmen,” three groups of individuals that could come in very handy in the world of advertising.

3) Then We Set His Hair on Fire by Phil Dusenberry, former chairman of BBDO North America. Phil is probably best remembered as the man responsible for igniting Michael Jackson’s hair. In addition to stories about incredibly famous ads, he explains the difference between an idea and an insight and how an insight can fuel an entire campaign. I love the book, but I have to admit that you won’t find any words of wisdom about digital marketing. Instead, think of this as celebrating that place somewhere between Mad Men and the modern age of marketing. Just remember, a great insight is still a great insight, and some things about advertising never change.

Since my calendar says that we are entering the dark days of winter (despite the thermometer refusing to drop below 20 degrees), why not try perusing one of these books? It’s a little old school, but at least you can read them on your iPad/kindle/nook while lamenting the lack of snow.

– Elizabeth (aka E)