The Stackpile » Kelly

How Simple It Can (Sometimes) Be.

Kelly — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:46:33 +0000

It’s hard not to think about branding and image advertising during any election season. Even more so this season. But now that election day is finally here, I thought I’d share with you a striking example of how very simple and uncomplicated branding can sometimes be. My five-year-old daughter voted last week. Not to worry, she wasn’t registered by an Acorn volunteer and using an absentee ballot or anything. The voting was completely unofficial and took place at her elementary school. Results were published in the school newsletter the next day. My daughter cast her vote for Barack Obama, and was very proud to tell us all about it when she got home. When I asked her why she chose Obama, she replied, “I heard of him first and I liked his name.” Well, okay. It doesn’t get much more simple than that.

Oh and for any of you who are interested in the results, the student body elected the democratic candidate in an admittedly less landmark, but nonetheless interesting, election. With excellent voter turnout, I might add.

To Block or Not to Block

Kelly — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 00:04:54 +0000

I don’t think I’m the last person to have heard of Adblock, but judging by the amount of coverage I’ve been able to read about it today, I must be pretty close. In case you’re one of the few behind me on this one, Adblock is a plug-in available from Firefox that does, well, exactly what you’d expect something called Adblock to do. Which is interesting, but hardly surprising to anyone familiar with technology, advertising, or the kind of personality that is attracted to pushing the envelope in either field. It seems like there wasn’t a lot of lag time between the advent of pop-up ads before we were offered pop-up ad blockers. More recently, I’m remembering that within two months of launching the iPhone, a hacker found a way to bypass the device’s network restrictions. Technology not only challenges itself, but challenges other industries as well. And in the advertising industry, we’re generally up to the challenge.

Inherent in being creative and capturing attention is the ability to find new and unexpected ways to reach people. I have no doubt that as ad-blocking technology becomes more pervasive, our industry’s response will become more sophisticated. In fact, some of the groundwork is already being laid as marketers launch new ways of presenting themselves through user-generated content and social networking. With about 2.5 million Adblock users worldwide to date, we’ve got some time to prepare for this next wrinkle in the growth of online advertising. Until then, we can continue to read about Adblock and browse through all the Google ads for ad blockers that run adjacent to the articles.

The latest in the battle for “share of wallet”

Kelly — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 17:13:04 +0000

On Monday, The Boston Globe ran a story on Fidelity Investments’ new high-interest checking account. Launched largely as a reaction to efforts by banks like BofA to woo brokerage house customers with offers of free or discounted online equity trades, the account has a number of attractive features. This news continues what The Globe has called the, “push and pull within the financial services industry as banks and brokerage houses try to top each other’s services….” Yet, the big banks and brokerage houses aren’t the only players in this field. What The Globe didn’t report on are the number of community banks who will also need to react to broadening offers of convenient, sophisticated high-interest checking accounts. Which is not to say that local, communty banks can’t compete. By doing what many do so well — interacting with their customers and responding to what they want, the saavy will continue earning new accounts and keeping customers happy. The trick is to always remind customers and prospects about what sets them apart, while staying on the leading edge of service and convenience.

A Good Idea (almost) Gone Very Bad

Kelly — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 13:17:38 +0000

At this point, no one can deny the success of 7-Eleven’s Kwik-e-Marts. Those Krusty O’s and Squishees are absolutely flying off the shelves. So I guess the folks at Disney just couldn’t resist jumping on the bandwagon. And what does this family-friendly brand come up with in a flash of cross-promotion genius as a tie-in to its animated hit of the summer? Ratatouille Chardonnay. Yes, wine. A 2004 French white burgundy to be specific. Now, the good news is that Disney and Costco decided to cancel the promotion after getting pushback from opponents of underage drinking. Not to mention California winemakers. Seriously, did nobody at Costco or Disney see this one coming? According to a Disney spokesperson, “We’ve been getting a trickle of inquiries and complaints.” I’ll bet they have.

“Buzz” Cola, Indeed

Kelly — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 13:47:25 +0000

Well, by now I think everyone in the free world has heard about those twelve lucky 7-Eleven stores that are being converted into Kwik-E-Marts to tie-in with the release of The Simpsons Movie. And how could you not have heard about it? I can’t recall a time that I heard so much about a marketing promotion, not just in the trade press and alerts I get daily, but in the mainstream press as well. I’ve noticed articles in the Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post and ABC News. Oh, and did I mention that they got just a bit of coverage on Fox News, too?