What great films teach marketers

The cable TV went out and so I was forced to find entertainment from my selection of videos.  Mostly old musicals and of course the Audrey Hepburn collection – but I wasn’t in the mood for Sabrina for the 10th time and under a dusty pile I discovered The Best Years of Our lives with Myrna Loy and Fredric March. It features stories of the men returning to the US from WWll and trying to adjust to being home. (Best Picture in 1946)  The most significant moment for me was the scene where the Fredric March arrives home unannounced.  He hushes the children and from the kitchen Myrna Loy calls “Peggy who is at the door?”  Suddenly she knows that it is him.  She stands in the hall, he stands in the hall and then -- they rush to embrace.  There is tension and a full gamut of emotions expressed in that very short scene.  Marketers wanting to create an emotional response from their target audience should learn from this – the message can be in the pause.

Fun for Foodies

I love brands that create great concepts and deliver on them in their stores to the smallest detail. One of these brands is Fresh Market. They started in 1982 with a new idea about grocery shopping.  I am sure they have fine-tuned their concept over the years but the two stores that opened in my market are fantastic.  It is the only time I have ever really been happy shopping for food.  A friend in the design industry said the stores are too dramatic for her.  But, nothing can be too dramatic for me.  They provide a really pleasant (without trying too hard) experience. Adding to my admiration is the fact they carry the original Patsy’s sauce from Patsy’s in New York rumored to be Frank Sinatra’s favorite Italian restaurant.  Of course it is $8 a jar but well worth it.  My only disappointment is the web-site. It looks nothing like the store.  If anybody from Fresh Market reads this – please call me.

Resilient

So I attended a new year’s celebration service at New Thought Unity which like its name promotes new thought.  At these services they have you think of a word and then you select a word.  The two together become your mantra for the coming year.  The word I thought of was resilient.  The word I picked was power.  I have the power to be resilient.  After thinking of that word suddenly I found resilience everywhere.  And coming out of 2009 resilience was required.  Marketers had to be fleet of foot and flexible.  Campaigns had to have a certain spirit and toughness.   Hyundai claimed “We are all in this together” and Allstate asked “Was it the great recession or the recession that made us great?” Lo and behold – optimism back in style.

Diversity in Advertising and Entertainment

The advertising industry is sometimes criticized for its lack of diversity in the creative staff.  And although I do not have access to any data that supports that premise, based on my life experience in ad agencies, I believe it to be true.  But if you relied on the traditional news media outlets for your view of the world most minorities (outside of a few reporters) would be criminals or wrong-doers.  Advertisers and their creative agencies have always been very mindful of reflecting the majority of the minority populations - people who are working in jobs and raising their families just like everyone else.  In fact, I read an article that claimed the American people were more ready to embrace President Obama because television shows had already featured African Americans as the President and in other high positions. So kudos to marketers and brands and creative companies who support programs and commercials that reflect the real America.

A brand is a brand is a brand

Sometimes brand, branding and all things “brandish” can make me ill.  In all of marketing, branding, in all of its permutations, can drive a person insane.  And all the companies who claim to do brand work is crazier still.  Many of them have no business claiming to have an idea that will position a brand that will actually grow a company’s business.  I most recently worked for an architecture company that created retail stores.  Their clients didn’t really think of store design as brand work but for retailers, what is their brand if it isn’t their store – the place where people actually buy things?  I knew I had gone over the edge about branding though when I started telling my husband that I was a brand – but now that I look at this website, maybe I am.