All Points Connect Blog

A new German company has succeeded in taking socially responsible advertising to a whole new level – using a message as the brand.  Their “Stop the Water” line of shampoos and shower gels do not have traditional labels or a brand name, instead, the products display the message “Stop the Water While Using Me” as the brand.  The message urges users to turn off running water while doing basic tasks such as brushing your teeth or lathering on shampoo, therefore decreasing massive amounts of water being wasted.  It is a valiant effort to reach a large target audience and encourage more eco-friendly behaviors in unusual places.

This company certainly practices what it preaches.  The products are all made with organic and/or natural ingredients, packaged in biodegradable containers, and overall are manufactured with environmental sustainability as a top priority.   As of now, they are also working on releasing toothpaste to add to the line.

Featured on Springwise.com in their weekly newsletter (http://springwise.com/weekly/2010-06-30.htm#stopthewater), readers can find a link to the company’s online store, as well as contact information for retailers who may be interested in selling the products.   This concept using a message instead of a traditional brand name is creative, eye catching and something worth thinking about!

Just when you thought you were up to speed on the newest and most unique marketing trends, Unilever and SapientNitro come up with an amazing idea, a smile activated ice cream machine to promote their “share happy” campaign. 

What does that mean?  Simple, if you smile, you get ice cream!  The way it works, according to a recent article in Springwise (Ice cream vending machine activated by a smile), the machine senses motion and engages people to come closer.   If your smile is wide enough according to their “smile-o-meter”, you get free ice cream! 

This machine also has face recognition that can recognize a person’s age, gender and emotion.  Not satisfied with just that!  You can also take a photo of your smiling face to be uploaded to Unilever’s Facebook page.   What will they think of next?

Event Marketing and Grass Roots Marketing are not only unique tactics used to create brand awareness but they also offer completely different results from your traditional marketing.  And with that, different measurements for Return On Investment (ROI).  Sure, you can hand out coupons at an event or run an enter-to-win contest that collects data from customers you will later contact to show ROI for that event or promotion.  But how can you measure how effective an event will be before you commit to the expense? Or, how can you prove it to be effective if you don’t have deliberate measuring tools in place. 

Many marketers face those same questions; especially when you are looking to commit to event where you will likely accrue expenses such as print, advertising, venue contracts, giveaways, etc.   I came across an interesting tool created by eventmarketermag.com that offers a great solution to this.  They created a sheet called the Grassroots ROI Tabulator.   This sheet focuses on 17 main grass roots pieces from event attendance to sponsorship costs.  If you take a deeper look at the 17 pieces, you can enter in the data you have into their nifty bracket (how fitting while we are in the midst of March Madness) to determine what your ROI is or could be. 

While in some cases this can only an estimate (if you are not selling any products on site), I think it helps reflect how successful a promotion or event can be.   Whether or not you have a measurable tool such as coupons, email registration or on site sales, you can consider things such as attendance, average age of attendees and marketshare to determine how successful an event is and if you will get a good return on that investment.  

Click here to view the Event Marketer Grass Roots ROI Tabulator!

When planning out a grass roots or nontraditional marketing campaign it is easy to monopolize on the warm summer months for marketing outdoors.  However, some very large markets are greeted each year with months of snowy weather.  Which leads to the question “How can you utilize grass roots marketing in snowy, winter months?”

It may be a surprise to some but there are plenty of options for a unique, grass roots marketing campaign during snow covered months.  I’ve broken it down into two categories: Indoor and Outdoor. 

Outdoor:
Stamping custom messages in the snow
Custom window decals
Car decals
Word of mouth and sign messages using street teams on busses and trains
free snow shoveling or plowing
pole signs in piles of snow
Feel good promotions: hot chocolate carts, free coffee, free car wash

Indoor:
Wild postings
Custom floor decals/graphics
Flyer distribution in indoor areas such as shopping malls, walkways and parking garages
Branded quarter drops
Branded street teams at local sporting events   
Grocery store sampling
Tradeshows

As you can see, nontraditional marketing doesn’t have to take a back seat during the winter.  In fact, the winter can be one of the best times to put your message in a unique, eye-catching place where a large audience will notice it!   If you are looking for help with this type of marketing,  the experts here at All Points Connect can assist!  Contact us today!

I recently read an article in Chief Marketer Magazine, “Why Aggressive Marketing Spending Makes Sense in a Recession”,  that led me to thinking about the application of this in the event marketing world.   After all, there is something to be said about the notion of taking risks in a time of recession.  Does it make sense? 

Writer Jamie King states, “It’s riskier not to take a risk” during these rough economic times.   The more I thought about it, the more I agreed and could see how this could apply to marketing; specifically, the benefit of non-traditional and grass roots marketing.  Right now brands are vying for consumer attention more than ever because consumers are in a sense, in charge.  They are saving money with coupons and spending more time bargain shopping.   Some are even willing to change brands to save money.   The recession is creating opportunities for companies to grab these new customers.   So, if it’s a recession, and we have limited spending, how can we afford to take the risk to get these customers? 

One thing you can’t help is a set budget.  Every company has one.  Whether or not you are a small company or a large company, you have budgets.  But, if you use them on smart marketing, it can have lasting results.  Perhaps it’s sending out a street to personally interact with your target audience or creating a custom event team to create buzz and excitement about your products at target events.  At a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing, you can directly reach consumers, hand them your product and get immediate feedback.   Once you’ve made that connection you are in the running for their business and continued loyalty.  How will you do it?

[The article mentioned above is available at: http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/penton/cm_20090809/index.php?startpage=14#/14]