They're saying it's the ‘The Gap comeback that might actually be working’. 

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The Gap is an iconic symbol of Americana, known for staples like denim, cozy sweaters, khakis, and classic sweatshirts. However, since 2014, the brand has faced serious challenges, leading to declining sales and a reduction in its North American store count.

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In the fall of 2023, CEO Richard Dickson shined his Bat-signal for a transformative figure to revive the brand, Zac Posen stepped in. Known for his elegant designs and innovative fabrics, Posen is best known for his high-end red carpet creations. As Gap Inc.'s new creative director, he aims to refresh the brand’s image and direction.

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This kind of collaboration is no new news; major brands have previously partnered with big names like Michael Jordan for Nike, Beyoncé for Pepsi, and Virgil Abloh for Louis Vuitton. The question remains: can a celebrity designer like Posen refresh Gap’s relevance and attract both new customers and old friends?

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As a young professional living in NYC, I’m genuinely excited for the Gap. The high-energy new commercials featuring dancers in stylish day-to-night streetwear truly catch my eye, and I appreciate the high-quality pieces with accessible price points — especially in today’s economy!

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This collaboration could reinvigorate a beloved brand that appeals to everyone, from grandparents to grandchildren. Good luck, Gap!

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Source

A few years ago, we had the pleasure of working with the one and only Simone Biles and soon-to-be Olympian Jordan Chiles on a brand campaign for BMC Software. The idea was based around the similarities of business performing at the absolute highest level by using athletes who perform at the highest level. We called this campaign "The A-Game."

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While these women were certainly A-Game material then, they are even more so now. Simone is back for her third Olympic Games and Jordan back for her second. They're stronger, hyper focused and more dominant, rising not only to the occasion of the games, but also raising the bar for the entire sport. Darling is looking forward to watching them along with the entire US Gymnastics Team bring home the gold! Good Luck A-Team!

Naming is a science. It looks so easy and yet, with almost every URL accounted for, it’s practically impossible to get what you think you really want. Plus, it’s one of the most subjective things you do for your brand. But there are a few ways to get there.

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Start with these five high-level principles and you'll be well on your way:

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1. Have the user in mind: Who are you naming for?
2. Don’t make it too smart so nobody gets it.
3. Pick something that stands out.
4. Tie it to the product or service you’re offering.
5. Ask people what they think of your name. (Mom included)

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Also, the best way to start the naming process is to make it a process. If you’re thinking; “Oh well, we can do this ourselves.” – you’re wrong. You can’t think independently about your future brand. You need outsiders for that. An independent opinion will surprise you, and will tell you straight up what’s right and what’s not so right. This year we named quite a few services, SaaS platforms etc. And honestly? The winning name of two of these projects popped up a few hours before presentation time! But we couldn’t have pulled that off without a rigid and strategic process.

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That’s naming.

Over the last few years, diversity has been pumped up to the ‘Oomph’ dimension. Wonderful. But age discrimination is still rampant.

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Harvard Business Review found that among gender, racial or cultural bias, age bias stood out as the highest. And when asked by Deloitte to go deeper and research 10,000 companies how they felt, the result was that over two-thirds of those companies considered older age a ‘competitive disadvantage.’ This all being consistent with data from the AARP. At this moment, in New York City, Indeed shows 178 ‘senior’ jobs available. Hahaha (we can’t stop laughing about this stupidity).

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‍Monster.com is waking up: “It turns out that the most knowledgeable and reliable portion of the potential workforce is also among the most overlooked: older workers." But America is a funny place. We are quick to follow trends and listen to research. Luckily, plenty of trends and research-ignoring companies out there know better. Grandma (and Grandpa) work harder. Bloomberg, thank goodness, is saying the total opposite. About a year ago, they spotted 70-year-olds leaving 30-year-olds in the dust. And Bloomberg predicts a 96.5% growth of ages 75+ in the workforce. I don’t know exactly what that means, but it sounds amazing.

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Grandma is motivated and wants to work. She brings experience and a kick-ass attitude.

Hire her.

Non-profit organizations struggle with branding. Heck, they often believe they don’t need it as much... they’re busy supporting a great cause and all they need is a ‘walk’. But we think that branding is actually critical for a non-profit’s success. A great brand will...

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1. Capture the attention of major and smaller donors.
2. Generate enthusiasm among volunteers and key partners.
3. Create an identity that’s easily recognizable and attracts media.
4. Avoid the color purple or pink. (Seriously, the amount of NGO’s out there using pink or purple is staggering and brand confusion is rampant).

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By creating a unique identity with a distinct idea, combined with unique non-formulated messaging, a non-profit can make its case more effectively, secure more donations and inspire action. Non-profits should consider branding as the most important investment in their future, just like they would with any other business initiative. Branding your non-profit isn’t optional. It comes before the research, service or cause you champion.  

Data allows marketing, media, and ad agency teams to really know their audiences. From habits to behavior, from personal tastes to aversions to intimate secrets. This knowledge has served brands well. They haunt their customers and potential customers every day with messaging that they think is appreciated. All of us are exposed to texts, endless emails, unasked-for popup windows, super annoying clickbait, and, on top of that, the old-fashioned cold calls.

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That’s Brand Stalking, as we call it, at darling. Like a bad date after you break up. The boy or girl doesn’t get it. It’s over. Didn’t we break up? Should I get a court order? Should I get an order of protection?

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Data is like a drug. Too much, and you’re hooked. Go easy now. Step away from your data fountain. Just because you’re sitting on a wealth of consumer insights doesn’t automatically mean you should use all of it. Filter that data and think slowly and carefully about what to use and what not.

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We suggest prioritizing your consumer data insights by:

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1. learnings that can influence your products and service
2. learnings that can influence your messaging

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You may say, “Hey, I’m doing that already.” We say: “Maybe, but you may be overdoing that already.” Not every data point has to be turned into messaging. Stop the stalking. Go for quality. Not quantity. No one, including yourself, wants to be stalked. It will lead to an order of protection. Also known as ‘reducing your brand to the spam folder.’

If you’ve been following the financial industry, you know that big banks are slowly losing customers to agile fintech startups. And it’s not just the young people who are flocking to these new digital-only companies — even older, more established customers are making the switch.

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So why are they leaving?

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1. Big banks are slow to adapt to change. They’re still using legacy systems and processes that make innovation in new services very difficult.
2. Big banks less customer-centric. Startups are all about providing a great customer experience, and that’s something that big banks aren’t set up for.
3. Startups are constantly coming up with new, innovative products and services, while big banks have no way of catching up.
4. Big banks charge high fees for everything from account maintenance to international transactions.
5. One of the most important reasons, is lack of transparency. Have you ever tried to understand the fine print on your bank statements? Startups tend to be much more transparent when it comes to fees.

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We do believe that bigger institutions can compete with younger and smaller digital-only banks, but they must do it through true product innovation. They need real ideas. A glossy, smart-ass campaign won’t do it to overcome the inherent distrust bigger banks suffer from. Big banks need to innovate again and go after a younger audience by introducing meaningful products that make a difference in the lives of these new generations.

A brand’s reputation is the most at stake between Friday and Monday morning. That’s pretty much common sense since we all buy stuff most of the time during the weekend. During the weekend, we put brands to the test. We buy new brands, and we read up on what brands we should check out and not. This is where brand management comes in. Most brand managers, including their agencies, are busy having a good weekend and don’t manage anything.

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“Hey man, have a nice weekend,” they’ll say on their way out. Yet, their brand is bracing for a busy few days. And these are also the best days for social listening. Traffic is highest, and comments come pouring down. Analytics are flying, and there are lessons to be had. Or not, according to most agency people and brand managers we asked.

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“Hey man, enjoy the weekend,” they told us. Do firefighters take off? Neither does your brand. Only you can make sure the weekend will be a nice one…for you and your brand.

The healthcare industry is under immense pressure. You know that. Costs are skyrocketing, patients are becoming more informed and empowered, and the competition is only getting tougher. You knew that too. In this climate, marketing communication is more important than ever before. Brand ideas or a new marketing campaign often sound like the last thing a hospital network or healthcare insurance group needs. At the surface it looks like the healthcare industry only needs lead-generation - or lets call it patient-generation. Not brand-generation. A hospital or pharmacy needs patients, while an insurance group needs customers that hopefully don’t become patients.  

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And they all should be using a strategic marketing agency that:

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• is nimble, adaptable, and focused on immediate results.
• can quickly pivot in response to changes in the market or feedback.
• is structured in a way that encourages collaboration and open communication.

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Understanding the challenge of building a brand faster while making your precious budget bring in immediate results as well, is what’s called for.  That’s a tricky operation. On one hand your budget needs to build up your brand and bring in, and hold on to customers at the same time. That’s a triple marketing bypass if you ask us. And, maybe you should ask us.

This is the first time a social media platform is being attacked politically, front and center. We’ve seen the other platforms being fined or slapped on the wrist, but this is different.

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From Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ):

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• In 2019, the FTC fined TikTok for knowingly collecting the names, email addresses, pictures, and locations of children under the age of 13 without parental consent.
• In 2022, TikTok agreed to a class-action settlement for harvesting U.S. personal data from users without their consent.

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Harvesting data is nothing new. There wouldn’t be any data without it. But when it’s done by an adversary – which China has become – it’s different. Meanwhile, business loves TikTok. Business loves it because 13-year-olds and older seem to love it too. All 100 million of them. That’s a fertile business audience, regardless of age. It’s become the Wild West of social media because everything goes. But the ones who love it most are the Chinese. And that’s the scary part. Never before in history has there been a way to peek into people’s lives and their bedrooms and grab any info you want.Congressman Gottheimer continues:

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• In 2022, TikTok confirmed that China-based employees could gain remote access to Americans’ data, including public videos and comments..
• Chinese law obligates TikTok’s parent company to  “support, assist, and cooperate with state intelligence work.

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Enough proof that the threat is real. This is not Google getting a multi-million Euro slap on the wrist by the European Commission or Meta being a bad boy again; this is getting far more personal. This is business not knowing when to stop. And this time, it must. We all do.

Brands better take grandmas seriously. We are still getting strategic briefs with age specs. Like – ages: 22 to 54. Who thinks that up? Data? Your call-it-in research? Brands need to forget that stuff. Brands need to embrace everyone, including our grandmas.

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Don’t forget; it’s your grandma who smoked weed. Illegally. That makes her way cooler than you. And don't worry – if a 70 or 80-year-old wants to wear that new Levi’s trucker jacket. It’s super cool on her since she tie-dyed her own clothes and painted peace signs and flowers on her fading 501s back then. Grandmas and grandpas are any brand’s greatest rule-breakers—the anti-audience. They wear shoes and jeans meant for 18-year-olds. They were the first to embrace the MINI cars (in Florida, of course).

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That’s why Levis doesn’t get them. Apple doesn’t get them. Samsung doesn’t get them. Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, or Neiman Marcus sure as hell don’t get them. They represent the aging hipsters. You know hipsters 1.0, before the annoying hipsters 2.0 of recent. And boy, are they spending. According to VISA, the boomers are still outspending the millennials. Online as well. AARP found they spend at least $683 on non-essential items each month.

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Just understand that putting all ages into that strategic brief of yours allows you also to put them on your casting lists. Show these grandmas off in your campaigns. It will not hurt your brand perception. And it’s one more step towards true diversity.

In the last ten years, branding and ad agencies have been telling CMOs that they need to:

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• be an authentic brand
• be an inclusive brand
• be a socially responsible brand

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But with the arrival of A.I. as a creative shortcut, all that cramped-up realness may be wiped away fast. In a discussion with a former 'camera' photographer who boasts her new skills as an A.I. ‘artist,’ the authenticity question came up: “How do you defend humanoid models showing off dresses as authentic and as part of your audience?” After a brief silence, she was absolutely sure that we shouldn’t stand still in time – while this unavoidable technology would take over anyway. Not an answer to the question, of course. Models by A.I. are models created by collected data. You know that already. So what’s acceptable?

CGI? Yeah, that’s ok. Fantasy backgrounds in movies. Extras that aren’t extras. Actors that aren’t actors – to tell the story – call it ‘creative license.’ But Brands aren’t a story. Brands represent real people making and providing things for other real people. Customers want to be able to rely on brands. Many years ago CMOs were told that they should be a trust brand. Using A.I. in marketing will start eroding trust really fast, as in what to trust about your brand and what not.

Practically no one is asking where AI’s bottomless information is coming from. Or, let’s say this differently; every AI-generated image or suggestion is basically based on the past. That makes AI the greatest cliché-devouring monster out there. Totally artificial, with no creative intelligence. The last time I looked, being original in the ad and design industry is still significant.

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Originality is one of the things we get paid for. So is future-forward thinking. An actual invention born out of imagination is what we invoice. It’s what the idea industry runs on. And it’s what AI feeds off a day or so later.

The intern season is coming, and we hope everyone is helping them all out. Hire an intern. Meanwhile, companies are wondering if they should get that ChatGPT thingy this summer. CEOs are asking CFOs, who are asking COOs, who are asking CIOs, who are asking CMOs what to do about this ChatGPT thingy. They Googled it first and got as far as ‘Chat…’ to see Wikipedia immediately pop up with some kind of an answer. A deep answer, as judged by the 123 references of contributors Wiki puts at the bottom. That’s just the last two years (obviously). One of those references points at the Atlantic, quoting an article written by Will Douglas Heaven for the MIT Technology Review: “When OpenAI launched ChatGPT in late November 2022, the San Francisco–based artificial-intelligence company had few expectations. Certainly, nobody inside OpenAI was prepared for a viral mega-hit.

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Without knowing it, the company opened the door to newness. And anything new, mysterious, and potentially big gets hyped fast in the tech world. No one really knows what's behind that door. It’s like an intern people are talking about in the hallways. No one really knows what she/he does, but the hype has taken over.

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“We should hire her/him before the competition does,” says someone.
“Great idea,” says someone else.

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And there you have it. The unknown or fully understood has become irresistible. Irresistible to speculative writing. So I’ll stop here, adding only these words; calm-down-people. A.I. is not an intern. Only an intern is an intern. Book one today.

Writers, painters, illustrators, and designers fear the general acceptance of A.I. and how it will smother their idea industry. When the business world smells an opportunity that will replace costs, in this case, people, all hands are on deck and all jump aboard. Three years ago, Forbes announced that notable news organizations like The Washington Post, The New York Times, Yahoo! Sports, and the Associated Press are already producing A.I.-generated articles. Not many cried foul. Yet, if you think of any of these publications using a machine to write, we all should be up in arms. In our ad world, it’s perhaps a little easier to share a desk with A.I. A lot of creatives are testing what ChatGPT can do and are flabbergasted by the results: excellent illustrations, photo adaptations, and not as sucky copy as expected.

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But here’s what’s at stake.

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A.I. doesn’t fabricate new; it rehashes the old. Machines don’t learn the new; they re-learn the old. So far, A.I. is a creative thief who gets by stealing from old awards annuals – and hopes no one notices.

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Just don’t fire the human creative team yet.

Call your mom first.
Call A.I. next.

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CMOs and their teams expect you to write, respond, rate, review and call their bots back. That’s normal, no?

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CMO: “Hey, me, my team, and A.I. spent tons of money on this. Now we’re under the gun. So why aren’t you calling?”

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The consulting and tech industry has exploded with platforms claiming to help you get more customers. And it’s exhausting for marketing teams – but even more exhausting to consumers in general. Here’s why it’s not helping your brand.

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Today, my car is in the garage for a regular check-up. Meanwhile, I’m getting messages and DM cards from the same car brand telling me that they have a great soon-to-run-out deal for me. I know the person whose signature is on these messages personally; she already sold me two cars in the past. So? I responded to let her know that I’ll be in the garage today and that she could tell me what the deal was. Forget it. A.I. was using her name, and A.I. decided to get back to me later. That may be a small example to you, but it’s a big disappointment to any loyal customer expecting some kind of brand loyalty.

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You see, in practice, A.I. isn’t loyal.

People can be.

Relax. Your brand is fine if it’s not NEW.

NEW is overrated. NEW can actually hurt your brand.

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Just remind yourself of the proven psychology behind familiarity. When consumers walk through the supermarket aisles and need detergent, their go-to brand is no longer a consideration but instead automation. They don’t really read the labels; they scan them measured in milliseconds. They know the color, look and shape of your branded bottles or packages and just grab them. Yet too many CMOs and their teams constantly feel pressure to update their goods.

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Stop. Think. Relax.

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Tweaking is fine. But changing things into the NEW can be disastrous. NEW disturbs that consumer automation you paid for dearly in marketing. That’s why more than once, we have talked our clients out of going NEW. Instead, a fine tweak is much more beneficial and rewarding. It says; we are who we are and always will be, but we stay with the times. And consumers appreciate just that.

Nothingness is all around us. How many ads, or whatever, have we seen that start with ‘Be’?

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As in: Be bold. Be yourself. Be free. Be powerful. Be cool. Be the change.

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We call that nothingness. Especially brands telling you to ‘be the change.’ Cause-Branding or Purpose-Branding relies on this kind of writing a lot. Take luxury brands who are trying so much to ‘Be Cool.’ But how many people can afford to ‘Be Cool,’ ‘Be Bold,’ ‘Be Themselves,’ or ‘Be The Effing Change,’ wearing a Gucci jacket or carrying the latest Louis Vuitton bag?

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Countless new drinks are introduced every year, telling you to ‘Be conscientious,’ to ‘Be Aware’ of the environment, and to ‘Be Seen’ with their recycled bottle in your hands. This kind of marketing removes the urgency of true purpose and real causes. It’s trendy. It’s a cop-out. And it will always ‘Be Conceptless Nothingness.’

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So uh…‘Be Aware,’ and please ‘Be Real’ in your marketing.

Last night was the annual State of The Union address – a beautiful American tradition few other countries have. President Biden outlined achievements and plans from large to small to kitchen table issues. It’s something each brand should do.
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The State of The Brand. Your brand.

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Writing the speech alone will help you realize the possibilities - and face its shortcomings. Write it like an address. Don't make it as long as President Biden’s, but try to pack it all in. The positives first. Next, the issues where you can do better. But avoid writing it from an opposing point of view. Don’t go negative; that won’t do any good. Look at the bright side and where your brand can go.

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Next, find an audience. And ignore anyone heckling you during your address. That’s just a sign of weakness. And you are the opposite of weak.

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You are an American brand, kicking ass.

It’s President's Day, and you shouldn’t run a sale today. It harms the meaning of the day set aside to honor our presidents and is yet another meaningless sale. Here’s an example: next door to our office on 14th Street in NYC’s Meatpacking District, a new store opened last month. That same week they ran a sale. How’s that possible? How do you introduce a new store (aka, new brand) in a prestigious neighborhood by running a sale the minute you open the door?

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There goes the brand value.

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American brands spend billions on sales. This not only erodes the brand but also:

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a/ undermines investing in your business

b/ undermines investing in your people

c/ causes you to retract and overcharge on other issues

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Do Americans even trust sales anymore?

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According to the Pew Research Center, over 75% of consumers buy online using their phones. This means that if you put up a sale, consumers will check prices elsewhere first as if they’re in a bidding war. On top of that, how valuable or well-made can an item be if you manage to give 75% off? Genuine sales, like a few seasonal ones, can bring in your loyal clientele and put a smile on their faces. But take that sale sign out of your window for the rest of the year and replace it with creative ideas that explain why someone should buy your products.

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There are plenty of luxury and other brands that stay away from sales and yet sell out fast. Start building yours to be one of them.

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Can you imagine an MLK-day sale soon?

We hope not.

Today’s the day everybody writes about their opinions of the Superbowl spots. No worries. Not here. We just want to bring up one point: value. Instead of producing expensive and forgettable spots while paying 7 million for a 0:30 in media, here’s what you can do with these astronomical budgets:

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1. Keep your staff.
2. Hire young people.

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And here’s what you can say to your agency:

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1. Give us real ideas.
2. Make our marketing enjoyable, smart, and flat-out great.
3. Turn our budget into real value.
4. And do this every time.

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This shouldn’t sound half as boring as some of the commercials we all watched last night. This should sound exciting.

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Value isn’t bad comedy in 30 seconds.
Value makes you laugh all the way to the bank.

Not everyone has to love your brand. If you get nervous looking at reviews and comments coming in, take a break. Stop looking. Start dating.

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Think, most established big brands were born out of an idea and not out of trying to please everyone. Plus, like any human relationship, love comes and goes. Brand love is about the same.

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Sitting back and wondering why some don’t love your brand is reactionary. You should ignore all of that and rather be 100% proactive. Your daily question should be: What can I do to find new ways and light up the candle again?

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No, not a coupon. A coupon would be considered a cheap date. We’re talking about recognizing the customer's status, length of being a customer, or purchase frequency. One of us at Darling just got an email from American Express thanking them for being a member for 25 years. That’s it? An email? That’s not how you celebrate birthdays, is it? A gift of some kind (points, miles, or whatever) is a demonstration of appreciation and will rekindle that flame brightly.

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Remember, for the customer to love you, you have to love your customer first. Brand love is a two-way street.

Within three months, many companies fall out of love after launching their website. That’s ok. It took you much longer than three months to get there. So yes, site fatigue sets in quickly.

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Maybe what you need is not a site but a Scroll Site. It’s a hybrid between a full-fledged website and a simple landing page. It’s a totally mobile-friendly, singular page that lets a visitor scroll and scroll some more. It’s built with small panels. (We start with a minimum of ten.)

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Here’s why that’s super cool:

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1. It takes away navigation because you’re mostly scrolling
2. It forces you to edit yourself by keeping your blah blah blah short and sweet
3. It allows your story to move from panel to panel with common sense
4. It lets you design the panels in fun, colorful, animated, and meaningful ways
5. It still allows you to have side pages without navigation

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But best of all, you can shuffle or update these panels to avoid site fatigue. You can now add panels super fast with last-minute announcements, edits, or new products – without the need for lengthy meetings.

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The Scroll Site. Not too short. Not too long. Just right. And a pleasure to analyze and optimize.

Warning: people are able to see through a glass door.

This actually has a lot to do with your brand.

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You see, glassdoor.com has this fantastic business model that allows jobseekers to look into companies (think your brand) by looking at their employees’ reviews and scores. That’s how you know in under one minute that 80% of Amazon’s employees approve of the CEO. While at Walmart, that same criterion counts for 56%.

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What does that have to do with your brand?

We think – everything.

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You see, glassdoor.com often appears on page one of a Google search. So now, they’re in your customer’s face when searching for unrelated terms, like light blue flip-flops.

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Think this. A potential customer wants some info about your flip-flops. They’ll search Google and learn from Glassdoor within 10 seconds that you suck at making your employees happy. This proves (rightfully or not) that you must have issues. That your future flip-flops are made or provided by unhappy employees. And these are the same people a customer deals with throughout the sales journey.

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Some of these customers may flip-flop on you. You don’t want this. And there’s a way to fix it. It requires an employee-brand effort based on your unique circumstances. A turnaround that’s possible within six months. We’ve done it and seen it before. You don’t want to wait on this one.

An annual checkup on your brand promise is a great idea. When was the last time you blew off the dust of your brand book or style guide? It forces your company to take a look at itself. Best yet, it shows you how close or removed your messaging is from your promise. It helps evaluate your brand promise against:

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1. societal shifts
2. your customers
3. your employees
4. your products or services
5. your brand language
6. even your package designs

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It’s a thorough checkup. Do it once a year at least. Schedule it now.

As if reviews aren’t bad enough, now brands are asking us about our buying experiences.

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How was your experience: buying our rubber chicken purse? buying our dachshund-gnome garden statue? buying our 5-minute toilet timer?

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The last one got over 15,000 5-star reviews. The endless requests are rolling in through emails and texts. We don’t know about you, but buying something online isn’t much of an experience for us. Click, click, click and you’re done.

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Gartner tells us that; ‘The buying experience is the most important thing in sales and marketing.’ Defining it as; ‘The buying experience includes the entire process the buyer engages in as they move from status quo (before they embark on the buying experience) to purchase (the final step that moves someone from buyer to customer).’ True. The final click is the most important one. But please consider this: you’re asking your customer to rate you, you’re asking your customer to write a review, and now you’re asking your customer to comment on their buying experience

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We understand the infatuation with customer data, but hey, don’t overdo it. You can undo a great buying experience by simply asking too much from your customers. Ask us.

Please! Not another New Year’s Resolution List. Don’t we hate them because we break them? Maybe so, but your brand needs one. A fresh list of what’s necessary to keep it…fresh. Not a strategy, just a bunch of ‘what-ifs’ turned into realities.

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Let’s do this together and say aloud:

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1. This year we’re going to send less emails.
2. This year we’re going to send better emails.
3. This year we’re not going to post quantity.
4. This year we’re going to post quality.
5. This year we’re not on TikTok.
6. This year we’re on TikTok only when it makes sense.
7. This year we’re not on Twitter.
8. This year we’re definitely not on Twitter.

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See? That was easy. You can do it.

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Meanwhile, we’re standing by, the moment you think about breaking these resolutions.

Can we keep TikTok pure?

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I once loved social. Social media was a happy place for me. I spent my days watching grumpy cats, listening to Tay Zonday singing Chocolate Rain, asking all my friends called Charlie to take me to candy mountain, admiring double rainbows and attempting to recreate the evolution of dance. Blissful.
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Then, as with all things, the dark side emerged like 007 emerging from the sea; provocative, sexy, but ultimately dangerous. Trolls arrived to hate and poke fun at unsuspecting people tweeting and posting, brands ignorantly got involved, politics wormed their way into once positive conversations and mob mentality arrived.
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Mob mentality is nothing new. Our history is strewn with examples (The Salem Witch Trials, The Holocaust) our literature uses it as plot points (Lord of the Flies, Beauty and the Beast, Frankenstein, The Scarlet Letter), and now it feeds social media. Every hour there is a new mob attacking someone for daring to post an opinion.
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And so my sunlit world became murky with only a few occasional bright moments: what color was that dress? Chrissy trolling John, Ryan Reynolds trolling the world, ASMR [can't stop watching], record-breaking eggs, giant cows, Chewbacca Mom, bottle flipping, flossing, fish tubes, and finding my classical art doppelganger...I think that is everything.
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But like Arnie rescued those people that one time, a savior came to rescue me - TikTok.
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TikTok is a place of unbounded joy, a place of laughter and no ego.  This is a place #fail videos are popular, but not because everyone wants to laugh at someone else's misery. People post their own fails and invite you to laugh along with them. It is not about the final beautifully edited piece of content, it is about the journey to get to it, warts and all.  It's raw, it's real and it's that overly-used A word - authentic. People pour joy into this platform, and therefore joy pours out of it - the social media circle of positivity. I promise you it exists.
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Comments are not easily found, and it's timeline isn't chronological - making it difficult for those trolls and all that hate. And you can't be mean to a person who laughs at themselves - go on try it - it's impossible because they don't care. Yet, while I write this another potential enemy is closing ranks on my oasis - the brands.
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I say potential because brands doing social can be brilliant. I follow many brands myself for various reasons - information [Food 52, Antropologie],  inspiration [The Strand Bookshop, Barbican Center], and entertainment [New York Public Library and Netflix]. BUT brands can also get it wrong.  The saying goes, when a brand creates a trend, it is the signal that the trend is dead. Since TikTok monetized the platform, brands have been hesitant to jump on the bandwagon, it's as if they recognize that this community will not react well to brands inserting themselves into the conversation.
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Obviously some have ventured, the brave few, and for the most part it has been under-whelming. Why? Because they have done what brands have been doing since social came into being - they have not understood the platform, they have not recognized what makes it great and so have not found success. Just as marketers back in the day [and a few still] tried to make their OOH and TV advertising fit into a format not designed for that type of content, they are now trying to make their Instagram content work on TikTok.  If you are a brand and are currently attempting this - stop. Stop it right now, I beg you.

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If you need help to understand how to make this work, then look to E.L.F who created a hashtag challenge for TikTok, which included producing an original piece of music tailored to the 15 sec limit per video and to the hashtag challenge subject. The tune was catchy, the challenge simple and the output was hilarious.  WIN!
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So, brands if you are listening, please help us keep TikTok pure. Do your research before venturing.  You can contribute to the conversation, but you have to be savvy - got it?

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Helen Simpson

In 1930 the Coca-Cola Company started illustrating Santa, showing him happily enjoying their refreshing soda. They’ve never stopped. Since then, countless companies have invited St. Nick to sell their products. If it fits under the tree, it’s understandable, like chocolates, beer, cigarettes, liqueur, tons of toy brands, and even Pepsi. (Which didn’t last long.)

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And? Does Santa work? We know he works his tuches off. But does he work in marketing today? Well…do influencers?

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Hell yes.

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Santa is the ultimate influencer, historically flying around just during the month of December - while today, many retail companies are starting to abuse him from Halloween all the way till the beginning of January. Exhausting for him. Exhausting for us.

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It’s a creative team's nightmare to find new ways to use the old man. But for a client, it’s the go-to for obvious reasons.

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a/ Santa is his own 200+ year trust brand

b/ Santa crosses every age group

c/ If Santa uses the product he peddles, it must be good

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For many brands, including Mercedes, it’s become that year-end tradition. As if we all can afford to buy a luxury car in December. It doesn’t matter; for marketing teams, it’s an annual budgetary question; Can we afford him this year? Not that Santa is getting royalties, but temporary campaigns and ad buys are prohibitive.

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We say we welcome the challenge. Santa, done up anew and on different platforms. Why not? Just treat him like an influencer. He’s got the energy. He’s got the looks. He’s got the following. And he’s coming to town. What more do you want?

Your company’s style guide should never be static. As your brand changes and grows, so should your style guide. A new or ongoing campaign, small or large can fall apart fast when there aren't any strict rules written in stone. But often, a style guide is missing answers to questions about new developments, products, or sales.

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Consider asking yourself these questions:

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• What tone and voice do we use when talking about new features and benefits?
• What is our visual strategy for expanding into new markets?
• What is the approved tone and voice in social media when we expand?
• Are we changing the target demographic and do we have style guide answers for that in place?
• Who are our new competitors and does that influence our look and feel, or tone and voice?
• In general, are we still differentiating or are there new competitors too close to our style?

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Obviously, your style guide is a reflection of your brand. It should be updated regularly to keep up with the times. Don't let it become stagnant – keep it fresh, relevant, and most of all…alive.

Running a food company? Then, you need to follow this key recipe: Un-bore it. Your recipe output that is. You have no other choice. Writing about recipes is exhausting. But the thought of stopping coming up with recipes is like a car maker not showing a car driving in their commercials because it’s done by everyone. The marketplace is incredibly competitive - which means you've got to un-bore your recipes and by that; your company. Keep it interesting. Just keep coming up with new recipes.

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Ingredients:

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• Add a new spin on an old favorite. (Just a twist is worth the post)
• Add a fun and quirky company video. (Doesn't have to be Hollywood - here, authenticity speaks volumes)
• Celebrate an unexpected ingredient, spice, or secret prep in a dish. (It makes your posts even more personal)

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So get creative and un-bore your food business.

Let’s talk ‘Brand Stalking.’ Research says: Customers don’t remember 99% of the brand messages they are exposed to each day. Yet, most companies send out email after email to their past, present or just acquired customers. Most companies react to a first-time online customer with an average of 5 emails (that’s being conservative).

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1. A purchase confirmation.
2. An email promising to keep them up to date on the status of the package.
3. An email welcoming them to the company.
4. An email with a ‘next-time’ offer.
5. A request for rating the experience.

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We call that ‘Brand Stalking.’ Imagine that in real life. I enter a store. I see what I want, I purchase it. Next, a person runs after me asking me tons of questions.

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• How was it?
• How do you rate the store?
• What do you think of me the salesperson?
• Can you give me a good rating?
• And don’t forget to follow us on (fill in the blank)!

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Would you go back? Doubtful. If we don’t remember 99% of brand messages we get thrown at us during the day, the one thing customers do remember is a company overdoing it. That’s Brand Stalking for ya.

This is a proposal to all the stores in the world. Let’s make Friday the 13th a day to get a flat 13%-Off-Everything-Day.

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Friday the 13th has a bad wrap. Is it a lucky day? Or…as many feel, is it doomsday? The hell with it. Let’s just turn this day into a shameless shopping day, and cast all bad omens away.

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Friday-the-13%-Off-Day.
(Hmmm, sounds almost catchy.)

I don’t know what you sell or who you serve. But I know one thing: you’re in the business of customer service. Like a hotel or restaurant. At the exact moment you start offering products or services to customers, whether B2B or B2C, your business also turns into the business of customer service. It’s the most important aspect of any business. It can make or break a company, and it’s something that should always be top-of-mind for business owners and employees alike.

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The reasons are simple:

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1. How you treat your customers correlates directly with the perception of your brand.
2. Just like a hotel or restaurant, only the last interaction decides your customer’s satisfaction.
3. Only happy customers lead to repeat business and referrals. Unhappy customers immediately loose their brand loyalty.

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You can’t be in business anymore without focusing 100% on your customers. They’re the #1 priority if you want to stay in business. What rules do you have around customer service?

Everyone who has an American Express Card knows how you can get past that annoying "female" bot voice that insists on you putting all your info in before any help. And most of us know that by pressing zeros or any silly combination of a hashtag or star followed by a zero, gets us awarded with the coveted status of; "OK. REPRESENTATIVE."

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It's a ritual that Amex is not fixing. And whether you have a green, gold or platinum card, this awful treatment is the same. It's what the Wall Street Journal calls the "breakpoint" – the point where technology shows customers how bad companies treat them through technology. Amex and all those other bot-service-depending companies must know this. You see, once you're past the Amex bot-lady, the representatives are trained to make excuses, and aren't shy to act out your pain. They also immediately get into the famous Amex person-to-person action which keeps you thinking that we're all a victim of the bots – even those who work for the company that serves those bots up.

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There is a solution to erasing the "breakpoint" problem; it's called refining service. Better and improved service has always been the answer to better marketing, better bottom-lines and better acquisition numbers. But somehow we've falling in love with technology so much, that we're willing to lose customers over it. Read Sharon Terlep's article and let's grow marketing by refining technology on behalf of all customers (read; you and me), rather than leaping to the next trend.

Oops. You’ve just missed the boat on the latest social media trend. The antidote? Don’t hold up the bandwagon with your internal approval process. Here’s what we constantly notice at darling advertising + design:

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1. Something is in the news or is trending that’s relevant to the client.
2. Our team works fast to come up with a creative idea and shares it.
3. It gets held up in a company-wide approval process for a week or more.
4. By the time we get the approval, we’re too late to the party.

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Bottom line: Don’t hold up the bandwagon with a slow internal approval process… Give your social team the power to make quick decisions so you can be sure your brand is part of the buzz. That’s what your competition does.

By 2025, we’re looking at 180 zettabytes of data. We don't even know what a zettabyte is. But it has endless zeros. And these 180 zettabytes of data won’t just magically appear. Data is created, captured, copied, and consumed. Why? Because we’ve collectively fallen in love with data. We tweet, we shop online, we post on TikTok, and we unlock our phones with biometrics. We share pictures and videos, ask for directions and track the stock market. And it’s all data waiting to be consumed.

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Data has become the No.1 vital asset in business for marketing, innovation, distribution, and manufacturing. The one department that suffers from too much data is your marketing department. Marketing is technically the opposite of numbers. Not sales numbers but insight numbers. That data is as untrustworthy as ‘bad’ data. That data has also led to performance marketing instead of building your brand.

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Take Airbnb. Since 2021, they have shifted spending from performance marketing to brand marketing, and it’s working much better. They (read: the brand) discovered their roots again. Airbnb is a human-to-human brand. It relies on friendliness and stories. Not exactly data.

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So ask yourself this: is it time for a brand evaluation? Is it time to look at your brand from the heart instead of through numbers?

If the first thing your company does in the morning is to check data numbers, it’s suffering from datanitis. Also known as inflammation of data. Not exactly a real word. But in our opinion, a real condition.

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Any startup or well-established company uses data to make decisions. Data is also customer feedback, social media engagement, sentiment, market trends, etc. Many, if not most, companies rely on this data way too much. By that, we mean people starting to become their own data. Next, the company is running on data instead of by people. And that’s how companies slowly lose their brand values.

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Your brand is a gut feeling your customers get when they see or hear your name. And that feeling is based on everything from the company's values to how its employees interact with customers. Not your data.

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Maybe it’s time for you to do a brand evaluation and ask some simple questions:

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1. What do you think your company stands for?
2. What do your customers think your company stands for?
3. What do your suppliers think your company stands for?

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Data can answer these questions. So can humans. We prefer the latter. Giving data a few days off is always a good business practice.

A Common Sense Reminder: Collaborations and celebrity endorsements can raise a brand’s awareness faster than almost anything else. But that only works when the collab or celeb is the right choice for the brand. Establishing this from the beginning seems like common sense, but often it’s not. Here are three reminders.

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1- Be authentic.

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Start with your customers first. Customers feel authenticity. Take Target. When Target announced the Missoni-for-Target Collection over a decade ago, people were at first confused. But that didn’t last long since the two fit together perfectly thanks to Target’s initial philosophy: Design for All. And what’s not more joyful than a first-rate Italian couture brand made especially and affordably for Target customers. That’s why it sold out within a few days. And when the mix is right, it leads to other designers joining in. For the past 11 years, Target has had an incredible, highly coveted revolving door of high end brands looking to collaborate for the masses.

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2- Match one’s characteristics with the character of your brand.

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No one can exclude Michael Jordan from Nike. In fact, a new generation is growing up buying ‘Jordans’ without necessarily knowing the man behind it. Nike has stuck to their brand philosophy tighter than most other brands and their collabs are always within their first-rate athlete roster. First-rate athlete = First-rate shoe.

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Nespresso’s choice of having George Clooney goofing off in their commercials, may come at first glance from left field. But it’s easy to understand that Clooney’s on-screen and off-screen persona is somehow always about doing the right thing – all the way down to demanding the right cup of coffee. Classy person = Classy coffee. At the same time, Clooney feels at home and certainly believable wearing an Omega watch interviewing astronaut Buzz Aldrin or NASA legend Charlie Duke talking up Moon Watch stories. Outstanding science = Outstanding watch.

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3- Measure the risk factor.

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Here’s a checklist:

a/ How often is the celebrity you’re thinking of in the news?

b/ How often does the celebrity create their own news?

c/ How has the celebrity behaved on social platforms?

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It’s very tempting to want a celeb with millions upon millions of followers. You also pay for that. But it doesn’t mean that this celeb’s audience is your audience. And even if it were, the celebrity’s self-imposed pressure to be the news can lead to catastrophic endings. I think we all know who I’m referencing here…

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Finally, you need to consider how long this celebrity will represent your brand. Is it a one-night-stand or a long term relationship? The latter is what takes real work, brings real risks and where the real dough comes in. To make a partnership like this successful, to find your brand’s Darling as we say, it starts with one’s character.

Most financial companies say: “Here’s the brief…” And most of the time it’s anything but brief. It’s everything but the kitchen sink.

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Yet, it’s called a brief for a reason. Just like customers don’t want to read anymore, your brief also should set the tone for brevity. If you can’t get it on one page (with double spacing), it will cause problems during ideation. That’s why we as creators strive for two things:

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1. Edit yourself. Than wait a few hours and edit yourself again. Just keep asking yourself; what is really important here? Than edit some more.
2. Finally, stick to the one page rule. Pop your final brief in 11 point type with double spacing on a page and do not use the back. (That would be cheating).

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It’s not easy. (We know). You think you can pull that off?

Insurance isn’t funny. Insurance is mostly mandatory and therefore a commodity. But in marketing, for some reason, most insurance companies have gone funny. They call it humor. And for their customers in need of a check it ain’t hitting the funny bone. So the field is wide open for real emotion. To show life. The beauty of real people.

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Don’t you yawn.

It can be done. (Years ago I did it with Ernie Schenk, and we blew the lid off a real campaign for Liberty Mutual.) So to those insurance companies looking to enter the marketing fray we say:

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1. Define your purpose: Don’t out-funny the others and get into a comedy competition.
2. Humanize your brand: Go emotional. Go real. (Add real idea here__________________).
3. Be relevant: In an industry where trust is so important, speak from the heart and out-perform the mega-spenders with a real message.

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We can help you bring 1,2 and 3 to life. We’re not trying to be funny. (Sing this in the tune of Liberty Mutual: Hit us up, hit us up… hit us up. Hit us up.)

Healthcare insurance companies have a bit of a problem. Your B2C customers can't understand your jargon. Your B2B customers are bored by reading the same jargon as your competitors. They get blurry-eyed reading your websites and dizzy trying to understand your marketing. And it's not just the medical terms. There are a whole host of industry acronyms and abbreviations that make it difficult for customers to understand your messaging. The pressures of SEO have driven companies to think they have to speak the same language. Now everyone uses the same lingo and it causes confusion and sameness.

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Three reasons why this is a problem:

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1. It alienates potential quality customers who don’t understand what you’re talking about.
2. It makes it challenging to convey your ‘brand’ value proposition.
3. It makes it easy to ‘walk away.’

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What companies can use is clear communication with straightforward language that anyone can understand – ‘no medical degree required.’ It's time to ditch the jargon and start communicating in plain English. Your customers and patients will thank you for it.

Small food companies versus big ones have one thing in common: Shelf space. This is a fierce fight, measured in inches (or centimeters), and often lost to the bigger food companies. Distribution is king. Distribution is a money business. Distribution is what smaller companies often can’t afford.

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The dream scenario is a customer going to the front office of a supermarket and asking in what aisle that ‘new’ product is. One customer won’t make much difference, but ten can raise eyebrows. But does that still happen? Do consumers still do that? Do they take the effort to complain?

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Yes. Online.

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We call this ‘Digital Shelf Space.’ And we’re not just talking about being featured on page 1 of Amazon’s Whole Foods Market page; we’re talking about reposts, followers and good old inquiries. So now the fight between small vs. big is over pixels (instead of inches or centimeters). And the smaller (as well as the larger) companies need:

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1. a long-term strategic outreach plan balanced between ‘paid for’ and organic.
2. a team that’s committed to quality content creation.
3. and that’s committed to jump on news and trends.

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That’s where a good affordable marketing and design partner comes in. To take away some of that never-ending content-creating pressure. Because in the end, we know that people are very passionate about food. Especially new or alternative or local food products. And while they may not ask a supermarket manager if they have “it” any longer, they are super capable of finding directions to someone who does shelve it, online.

Ah the pain of creating content. Content has been on the rise forever, with the last 5 years seeing a crazy upswing. It’s on the Must-Do-List of every company. And it’s a real pain. Once you start that ‘content’ journey, it’s a total commitment and never-ending.

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Here’s what you cannot escape doing:

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• Social Media postings.
• Your company’s announcements.
• Handy downloadable 2 to 4-pagers.
• That video from the company’s volunteer day in May.
• And, of course, all your (paid-for) outbound comm.

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That, and more, is what most companies feel compelled to push out, because everyone is doing it. And obviously, LinkedIn is one of the favorite platforms to park these mountains of sameness. Sameness, because it all looks and feels the same. It often has very little original thinking behind it. And it’s why we are all starting to scroll faster and faster to avoid it faster and faster on LinkedIn. Don’t blame us. Blame sameness.

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Here are some ways to fight it:

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1. Talk instead of writing. Act as if you’re talking to an acquaintance in an elevator. Don’t give yourself much time.
2. Give us a quick insight into your company. If you’re a beer brewery, then tell me you just brought in the hops, and will keep us informed on progress.
3. Stick your neck out. Seriously, give me your opinion. Most companies write with vanilla ink.
4. Celebrate people. Tell me that Susan just broke a sales record. And leave it at that. We don’t need to know Susan’s life story.
5. If you’re stuck, ask your followers what else to feature. (We aren’t kidding. Be honest about being stuck.)
6. Be honest.

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Are we leaving anything out here?

A few years back, we were asked to advise Toys”R”Us on what we would do with the brand from a marketing standpoint. Since some of us are parents, we all remembered taking our kids there. Sometimes to buy something very specific and sometimes for no reason at all. The latter was their secret sauce; the experience. To me, as a dad, Toys”R”Us was my amusement park around the corner - which came with a guaranteed “good time.” Often I made a pact with the boys; here’s the budget, now go, go, go. And going they did, often running through the aisles not knowing what to look at first. Through their tiny eyes, the shelves must have looked endless and as high as the sky.

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That’s what the brand forgot.

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When we made our presentation and reminded them of this, they were quiet. They responded that they were in a retail war and needed retail advertising. We responded that you cannot fight internet-retail pricing, let alone Amazon’s pricing. That if you are brick and mortar, you need to use that square footage to your advantage. One idea we offered up: have a dollar section in the back of the store, so that every parent from every background can afford the experience. We told them that Amazon couldn’t match the magic of running around Toys”R”Us online. We told them they should advertise from the inside out. Their competition was weekend boredom, long drives to nowhere and the mall. Their opportunity was to rekindle that Toys”R”Us feeling inside the kids who were soon to be parents themselves. We told them.

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“Hmmm, said one of the clients.”

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We didn’t get the account.

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PS: Since that presentation, Amazon has opened over a dozen brick and mortar book stores which also sell toys. Go figure.

In a way, the initials NL are a brand in itself. Growing up in Holland (sorry, I call our country by its ‘touristy’ name), when seeing a foreign numberplate on a car, we looked for the oval sticker on the back to guess its origin. We knew the D stood for Germany, the F for France, CH for Switzerland, ES for Spain, and so on. And sometimes we even saw a GB from Great Britain. As the iron curtain fell, the initials became more interesting guess work; P for Poland, MNE for Montenegro, even RUS for Russia. And yes, sometimes a USA sticker – the driver being usually an American military stationed in Germany.

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Looking at these official car stickers, it’s ‘NL’ that has grown into more than a destination. NL has become a designation. A trade mark guaranteeing surprising graphic and furniture design. Remarkable solutions in engineering, architecture, and marine-industry breakthroughs. And don’t forget; worldwide respected DJs pushing the envelope in electronic music.

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A new generation knows what ‘NL' is - and they’re always on the lookout at what ’NL' produces.  

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Since the Club’s name has been ’The Netherland Club’ for over a Century, I thought we should be part of what these initials evoke. After all, the club’s mission is to be a bridge between NL and NY bringing you art, culture and events. Our design speaks for itself. The N in orange, tips our hat to our King. The shortened L forming the red, white and blue - is our flag. Couldn’t be simpler. Couldn’t be more iconic. And hopefully will prove itself memorable.

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(Jeroen)

This winter feels extra cold now that inflation keeps rising. Brands can help keep the cold out. Show empathy. Show your customers that you know that the price of milk has gone up.

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Seriously?

Yes. It will show everyone that your brand wants to make a difference.

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How?

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1. By lowering your prices where you can.
2. By becoming an economy-alert brand.
3. By showing empathy in action.

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In our recent research while working on a paycheck-to-paycheck, audience-focused product, we learned some pretty harsh realities. For instance, $6,50 for a dozen eggs is a big deal. And while brands can’t stop inflation, they should make it part of their messaging. Acknowledging it is a good first step. Doing something about it strengthens your brand value in a meaningful and lasting way.

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Up for it?