A recent AdRants noted an article about “the monkey story” and how it relates to BDAs (Big Dumb Agencies).  It could also apply to SDAs (Small Dumb Agencies) or SDBS (Small Dumb Bike Shops) or MDPs (Medium sized Dumb Publishers) or any some such. 

Point is if you’re stuck doing the same old same old all the time (even if you’re not) you need to break that cycle so you can come up with new ideas, new solutions, be creative! 

The system, the man, you gotta break away from that in some way (that you can get away with) to spark those creative juices.  So park in a different parking spot…it’s a start…

Funny how AdRants related the story to BDAs but in reality it can be anything and “the monkey story” can apply to almost any situation….  It’s about bucking the automatic trend, the tried and true, the “way it’s done around here.”

 So, go forth, be bold, be creative, be funny, put baloney in your shoes!!

I just finished my last bit of fruit cake.  Fruit cake always reminds me of LSD.  LSD as in Long Steady Distance. 

When I was racing bicycles, each new season started off with a period in January and Feburary doing LSD.  These rides were part of a year long training plan and built a strong base on which to build more strength, speed, sprinting or climbing ability, etc. 

Often on these several hour long rides I’d have a chunk of fruit cake in my back pocket.  This was good fruit cake though…my wife and my step mother make awesome stuff.  Not the kind that’s re-gifted for years, employed as a chock for the VW bus with the failing emergency brake or used as a door stop. 

Packed with moist, fruity, calories, this is good stuff – softer than a Clif Bar and freezes at a much lower temperature than a Power Bar.  After a few hours in 30 degree temps, these were key issues that put fruit cake at the top of my food list for LSD rides. 

Long Steady Distance put miles in the mileage “bank” in your legs.  Cyclocross Nationals were usually held around Christmas-time.  After that event, I’d take a little time off and then start LSD in preparation for the next racing season. 

Basically, the whole year was planned out.  When you wanted to be at your peak for certain events, when you worked on speed, when you took time off, when you did LSD. 

In a way it is like much like planning a year of marketing.  Let’s take an imaginary destination or hotel for example – imagine it’s full during its busy time (winter) so doesn’t need more visitors then but wants to fill in the slow (summer) season. 

Let’s say, generally, that travelers to this destination book their trips 50 days before they leave which means advertising, pr, promotions and offers must take place in advance of that 50 day window.  So, basically, there’s the plan right? 

In the NYC metro area there was (is ?) the Central Park Series each March.  These were god-awful early in the morning road bike races around the loop in Central Park in the freezing cold (sometimes snow!).  For me, they were good for adding some speed to my LSD rides (and reminding me why I only recognize on 4:00 each day). 

Problem is, in a race, it’s easy to over do it and push youself beyond the “steady” part of Long Steady Distance.  See, if you are working too hard too early in the season you are breaking down your muscles too much when at the point in the schedule you are supposed to be building them up (only to break them down later in the year with hard training and racing). 

So I needed to control myself, control my efforts and remember the long term plan for the year.  Too much too soon or too little too late isn’t the recipe for racing (or marketing) success. 

As I mentioned, the imaginary destination needs to be marketing prior to the booking window which means January, February, March and April.  To do that, funding needs to be ready to go several months before January in order to meet production and material closing deadlines for advertising to begin in January. 

Like cycle racing without miles in the “bank” marketing without funding at the right time is a challenge.  Now throw a monkey wrench or flat tire or crash into the scenario – the destination works on a calendar year and funds have not been scheduled to match the timing of the marketing schedule….  

As with bicycling competition – you adjust, you learn, you anticipate, you take advantage of situations presented, you limit damage as often as you can and you improve for the future.  Things change - marketing goals, race schedules, event profiles, budgets…. 

The challenge is to take what you have for the moment, work with it, be as successful as possible and gain knowledge that can be applied immediately as well as used to adjust for the near term and long term.  

Sound like fun?  It is.  And, in marketing, you never have to worry about your fruit cake freezing.

Promo magazine reported in an e-newsletter this morning that Aeropostale, “has rolled out a cause marketing campaign with its teen non-profit organization, Do Something, to raise awareness around the homeless teens in the U.S. and Canada. Under the Teens for Jeans program, the company is asking shoppers to collect more than 100,000 pairs of donated jeans from Jan. 22 to Feb. 10. In return, Aeropostale will give donors 20% off discounts toward a new pair of jeans. The firm also plans to donate 10,000 pairs of new jeans to the cause.”

It’s shocking that one in three homeless are teens (according to the Teens for Jeans website).  Too bad more can’t be done for them…. 

Here’s the video Public Service Announcement: 

A recent eMarketer article, well worth reading in its entirety, discussed three hidden trends for 2008.  It closed noting that, “The new ad model is about creating great content and finding clever ways to embed it in the fabric of communities and content platforms where consumers are hanging out and actively participating.”  Reading between the lines of “hidden trends”, it seemed to say that ad agencies weren’t quite up to speed yet.  I let it go thinking maybe I was crazy but then, AdWeek, excerpted in Marketing Vox, wrote in the Jan 16 issue that ad agency inability to evolve has put media buying industry in a tenuous position.  Big guns, like Google and Yahoo, have built direct-buying capabilities and outflanked traditional agency buying models. 

It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out in reality….at least we won’t have to wait too long.

The National Retail Federation predicts slow retail sales growth for first half of 2008.  The Nielsen Company also reports that US consumers are reducing spending by eating at home and shopping locally or online.  Both entities point to high fuel costs as the reason for the reduced spending.  Likewise, many delegates at the recent Caribbean Hotel Association Marketplace in Nassau, Bahamas expressed concern that fuel costs (for heating and autos as well as air travel) would slow of leisure travel.  With  the writers strike still lingering (and new programs weeks, if not months, out from any agreement) music could be the inexpensive, accessable escape for the time being….

Do US consumers trust the Internet?  59% of online adults turned to the Internet – instead of their doctor – for health information according to a recent ORC study (1,000+ responses).   Symptoms, diseases and courses of treatment were among the top searches.  Info is power.  If consumers are reserching their new toys, dream vacations, CPGs and everything else under the sun it makes sense that they’d want some info before heading to the doctor (or deciding whether or not to schedule an appointment).

Or, maybe it has something to do with the cost of health care…

An old comic had a man and woman beneath a tree at a romantic picnic.  The man asked the woman, “Do you like Kipling?”  Refering, of course, to author Rudyard Kipling’s work.  The lovely lady answered, “I don’t know.  I’ve never kippled.”

So we come to stippling - the art of drawing with only dots of ink to form the image.  I’ve always been amazed at these drawings (and similar line/dot drawings such as appear every day in Wall Street Journal) and impressed with “the power” of the “simple dot” when assembled by someone who knows how to do it well.

But now the dot is complete in my mind and its true strength has been revealed in this commercial for Guinness.  A Dot can be anything…if I ever have a daughter, I will name her Dot (also because I love Pee Wee Herman’s girl friend Dotty…)

As I write this a giant toy convention is taking place in Hong Kong.  It will be interesting to see the news and reports coming from editors and trade in China.

A recent issue of trade mag Plastics News (December 17, 2007) looked into US toymakers attempts to capitalize on recalls of Chinese made toys.  In it John Gessert, President of American Plastics Toys company, predicted that, “in the abscence of more recalls, consumer confidence in Chinese-made toys could return in time for the next Christmas season.”  Only 7% of parents noted LEAD, 3% RECALLS and 2% CHINA as concerns in a poll before Christmas by Anderson Analytics.  According to this report ‘confidence’ wasn’t lost but was replaced with indifference.

“Toys from China will continue to be dominant in the US market, where they hold about 85% market share,” according to Frank Clarke of the Toy Industry Association.  Brian Dobson - a PR guy with ties to the toy industry and prez of Dobson Communications - noted that for many years, ”the toy industry has basically closed its operating plants in the USA for offshore production.” 

For all the chatter on this “Made in China” issue, Plastics News offers an interesting perspective by pointing out that, “the 25 million toys recalled this year represented less than 1% of the US $3 billion annual toy market.”  Maybe consumer indifference is justified?

Either way, they didn’t stop shopping.  In the weekend of December 21 to December 23 retail sales rose 18.7% compared to the same period last year.

In my last post, I noted an article that said, “given the popularity of mobile phones and social networking among teens, it is not a giant leap to expect them (teens) to use the two technologies together.”

Another factor weighing on this is that about 3 out of 10 people between the age of 18 and 29 don’t even have a land line!  That’s twice as many as the 30 to 44 set and 3 times more than 45 to 64 year olds according to eMarketer.com.

Clearly, mobile devices are quickly taking over for wired ones leading not just to mobile social networking but for all forms of on line activity done through a wire or cable – browsing, getting news, gaming, shopping, banking, etc.

Watch the police and the tax man miss me, I’m mobile.  Mobile, mobile, mobile, yeah!

Compared to 2006, social media ad spending more than doubled in 2007 and is expected to grow another 75% to $2 billion in ‘08 according to an eMarketer.com report.  It is expected double again by 2011! 

Right now, about 37% of adult internet users and 70% of teen internet users use a social networking site.  The Pew Internet & American Life Project says, over 70% of all teens have access to a PC and more than 60% have a cell phone. 

 So, “Given the popularity of mobile phones and social networking among teens, it is not a giant leap to expect them to use the two technologies together.  Early data suggest that is the next step” says eMarketer.com.

Mobile social networking?  Huh?  Does that make social networking from a desktop PC immobile social networking?  What about social networking from a laptop while riding in an automobile?

Anyhow, it is interesting how terms like “mobile social networking” develop.  Reminds me of “ultra supercritical” from mid-West power company AEP that I just read about in Audubon magazine (Jan/Feb 2008).  A quote in the piece expects, “the next increment to be ‘ultra-magnificent supercritical’.”