Sidewalk Life

Oreos Is The Third Most Engaged Brand?

Kraft is doing some great stuff according to this Mashable article. Looks like a lot of content: games, celebrity tie-ins, contests, recipes, etc. on Facebook and YouTube. Read more on the link.

Daffy's Dancers - Awesome!

Really like this 21st Century marketing idea.

• Engaging (who doesn't love dancing)?
• You get the feeling Daffy's really love what they do - provide affordable fashions for cool people.
• Makes people truly better off by giving them something to share (entertainment and a story to tell to their friends about their theater experience).
• Plus, good product demo. 

Bravo!

Piggy Backing

I'm not sure if piggy backing is a bonafide marketing practice, but it should be.  Here's a good example (it's been around since '08 so I'm admittedly a bit late):

The people at ColaLife want to piggy back on Coca Cola's distribution network - surely one of the most expansive in the world.  Their idea is to deliver medical aid to poorer parts of the world using an aidpod stuffed inside cola cases.

It's also a great opportunity for Coca Cola to use its corporate infrastructure for social good - and deliver on the 21st Century marketing promise of making people's lives better. 

Trying to Stay Ahead of Twitter

A friend of mine sent me a story from CNN's website and I noticed it came with the headline  "I just saw it on CNN."  The "I just saw it on" part felt a bit odd, like he wanted me to read it right away. So I sent myself a different story from CNN, and sure enough it also came with the headline "I just saw it on CNN." 

CNN must be feeling pressure from instant news sources like Twitter and trying to stay relevant by creating a sense of urgency with their news stories. 

BTW, creating energy from food scraps?  Doc Brown's flux capacitor has to be behind that.

Nothing For Sale

This marketing idea reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when George and Jerry pitch their idea to NBC: a show about nothing. 

Of course, the show never really was about nothing.  And neither is this cleaning product from Arm & Hammer.  The tiny bottle shrink-wrapped to the big one is filled with liquid concentrate cleaning agent.  (The big one in the picture is empty). The user adds his own water from home.

This is a good idea actually.  But it is a bit startling to see an empty bottle for sale on the retail shelf.  And more shocking to see how little cleaning agent is actually used in detergent. It makes you think about how much water we are shipping around the world at huge expense and environmental cost. I imagine this is an interim packaging solution for Arm & Hammer.  Putting the tiny bottle of concentrate on the shelves by itself might be a bit too big of a leap for consumers to make. 

Better to condition them that changes are coming and gradually make them more comfortable with buying less. There is also a practical reason to sell the big empty bottle along with it.  Most people buy a new bottle after they've thrown out the old one.  So if you did want to buy the concentrate you'd need to have saved your old bottle at home before heading to the store.

Harley-Davidson Takes A Hard Right Turn

It appears Harley-Davidson advertising has yanked the brand far to the right.  In a full page ad appearing on the back of today's USA Today sports section, the American motorcycle company has chosen the risky strategy of embracing political speech. 

The ad, whose copy reads:

"It's  A Free Country.  But Have You Felt Like That Lately?"  continues in red and blue typeface over an image of a biker flying the Stars and Stripes "Has the torch of liberty gotten a little dimmer?  Is it starting to feel claustrophobic inside the safety net?  Do we still live in the home of the brave?" 

The idea appears intended to stir up fears of alienation and feelings of working-class resentment most notably expressed by far right wing groups like the Teabaggers and Birthers.  The ad encourages readers to go to their website and upload their own message about freedom.  Clicking through the 400+ comments posted to the site, most of them are harmless reflections on the freedom of riding a motorcycle.  But some take the a decidedly "anti" tone.  Anti immigrant, anti government, etc.

  

It's a peculiar, and risky, strategy to align a consumer brand with political speech, especially at a time when aligning yourself with one side means alienating yourself from the other.  But maybe H-D doesn't care about half the country.  Maybe they've decided that only one kind of Americans are fit for their bikes.  

Americans Trade In American Cars for Foreign Models Under 'Cash For Clunkers'

NPR reports that the Top 10 New Vehicles Purchased under Cash For Clunkers were:

1. Toyota Corolla (Japan)
2. Honda Civic (Japan)
3. Ford Focus FWD (U.S.)
4. Toyota Camry (Japan)
5. Hyundai Elantra (South Korea)
6. Toyota Prius (Japan)
7. Nissan Versa (Japan)
8. Ford Escape FWD (U.S.)
9. Honda Fit (Japan)
10. Honda CR-V 4WD (Japan)

And the top 10 trade-ins are made by U.S. companies according to LA Times:

1. Ford Explorer 2WD
2. Ford Explorer 4WD
3. Ford F-150 2WD
4. Ford F-150 4WD
5. Jeep Cherokee
6. Jeep Grand Cherokee 4WD
7. Dodge Caravan
8. Chevy Blazer 4WD
9. Chevy Silverado 1500 2WD
10. Ford Windstar

The program seems to achieved its first goal of putting more fuel efficient cars on the road, but it also benefited foreign car companies more than helped the struggling Detroit car companies, it's second goal.

"I thought it was cooler to be interesting than to be pretty"

Good for you Winona.  We agree.   Interestingness is much cooler.
Read the rest of the quote on Jezebel.

Build a Supermarket out of Straw and Sheep

The folks at Tesco are planning to build a one-of-a-kind store in Slovakia out of sheep's wool, wood and straw. 

Let's hope they don't get a visit from the three little pigs.

Story found over at Evolving Choice.

Now That's A Mission Statement

Taken at the customer service station at a Gelson's supermarket in Westlake Village, California. 

I don't usually get excited about company mission statements, but this one is absolute genius.  It is nothing like most mission statements I come across which are usually vague, ambling platitudes approved by an upper management committee after having gone through half a million dollar six month consulting project which end up describing things the company is trying to do, but leave you feeling uninspired and like anybody could have said it.  

Here's an example found on missionstatements.com from a supermarket chain called Albertsons:

"Guided by relentless focus on our five imperatives, we will constantly strive to implement the critical initiatives required to achieve our vision. In doing this, we will deliver operational excellence in every corner of the Company and meet or exceed our commitments to the many constituencies we serve. All of our long-term strategies and short-term actions will be molded by a set of core values that are shared by each and every associate."

Huh?  Forgettable, uninspiring and I have no idea what it means.  Plus, it completely misses the point of a mission statement, which is to focus all the company's energy and resources toward accomplishing a specific goal.

What makes the Gelson's mission statement so great is:

It clearly defines what they're trying to do:  "To make shopping anywhere else unacceptable."  This tells every employee exactly what the company is trying to achieve and what's expected of each of them every day.  

It's specific.  It states how they are going to win: Through "quality products, cleanliness, convenience and personal service"

It defines an enemy: "shopping anywhere else"

It's memorable.  It's short and to the point.

It's fantastically inspiring because it's so ambitious.  It doesn't just set out to beat the competition or provide a "superior" experience.  They aim to make the competitors experience unacceptable.  

Finally, it's visible.  The sign is right out in front of all the registers in plain sight for all their employees and customers to see.