Here we grow again.

Growing business, by creating effective marketing and advertising, is what we do.

When your client is in the growing business, it makes the work twice as satisfying. Our client, TNLA (Texas Nursery & Landscape Association) puts on The Nursery Landscape EXPO each year, which is South Central US's largest gathering of Nursery/Landscape Professionals. The show has a new theme every year and takes place in major Texas city.

Our job is to create the marketing collateral for this successful industry show, based on each show's theme. We attend the show each year to completely understand and service our client. Attending trade shows, learning the latest trends about the gardening industry, meeting fun people like ELVIS and attending parties is hard work, but we do it!
 

Every year we learn something.

This year we learned: mulch MATTERS and how you present yourselves to your customer and attendees makes all the difference in "growing" your business! We were also reminded how fortunate we are to have such a wonderful client like TNLA. Great clients MATTER.





Growing never stops. We are already planning EXPO 2011 in Dallas.
See you there.

The most interesting ad in the world?

Ads come and go. 

Never to be thought of again or missed.

But every once in awhile, an ad campaign comes along and grabs us so hard, the ad becomes part of popular culture. 

Got milk? and the endless parade of milk mustaches spurred so many imitations, the imitators started imitating the imitators. Budweiser's wassup campaign had all of us screaming the cooler than cool greeting, 24/7 to anybody, anywhere. The list is long, you get the point. 


The current Dos Equis' ad campaign - The most interesting man in the world, is one of these ads. This ad, like many, either resonates or irritates, but it has several strong components which cannot be denied, making it a successful ad campaign for the past 4 years.




1.
High recognition factor:

A larger than life character who people can aspire to and laugh about.






2.
Unique approach:

A character who openly admits he does not always consume the product being advertised, which in turn conveys honesty. We like this sort of unusual honesty.






3.
As strong on screen as on air.

A campaign that works as well on tv as it does on radio is not easy to accomplish.






4.
Two, not one, great tag lines:


"I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis."
"Stay thirsty my friends."

(Yes, a lot of us have uttered these words at a party while drinking Dos Equis)






5.
The most important: 

Proven success. The ad campaign has increased sales and market share and that is what advertising is suppose to do.




Whether you like the ad campaign or not. It works on many levels.

Stay thirsty for creative ads my friends.

Hi, my name is Norman.

Have we met?

My name is Norman.

You will see me on the Marketing Matters (MM) website, You will see me on the MM facebook page as well as my own facebook page. You will see me around the office, but you have to be quick, as I move fast.

Who am I?

Just another hard working, multi-tasking, purpose driven, creative type who represents the very best of what MM offers. Like the company, I can do it all. Copywriting? No problem. Web design? In my sleep. Branding? My favorite. Radio jingle? Pass the microphone.


"I love what I do. I do what I love." 
        (Credit to Life is Good for this favorite quote of mine)



Are you doing what you love? If not, make a worthwhile investment and dig deep inside yourself to discover what really inspires you, then go do it! I am inspired by creative genius and MM serves this up daily.


Try some.
Now taking orders.

A good case for wide open space.

There is a place and time for utilizing space. Chopping down forests to build faux chateaus is not one of them. Shopping malls have lots of place, some of which goes to waste. This is not suppose to rhyme, I promise.

The 3 dimensional ad structure by American Eagle clothing above is a great example of utilizing available space in a tasteful manner. Trust me, it is not easy getting inspired at a shopping mall these days. Carts upon carts full of widgets nobody needs (ever), stores and stores overstocked with over priced average stuff and food courts serving the best bland food possible, is enough to keep you away from malls for long periods of time.

It's nice to see the occasional clever advertising execution to get inspired after a long day of buying nothing.

 

Homework works.

Now that school has started, there will be homework coming home to our homes with our kids. This is a great reminder for all of us in business to DO OUR HOMEWORK!




If you want a new client.
Do your homework.


If you want to create advertising that is truly effective.
Do your homework.


If you want to get better at your job.
Do your homework.




Homework works!!!

Normal ads are boring.

Ok, we said it. 

Someone had to.

Old patterns, behaviors, ad strategies are hard to break. "The company has been running conservative ads in trade journals for 50 years, we aren't going to stop now." 


Why not?


It's getting harder and harder to get noticed through the massive amounts of clutter and noise out there in that big world of ours.  


It's time to shake it up. Do something different. Get bolder and braver with your marketing. It's time to push the creativity of your advertising. It's time to really get noticed.


One of the best television shows ever created - Seinfeld, a show about nothing, had an episode where one of the characters, George, decides to do THE OPPOSITE of everything he normally does. He starts by changing his lunch order, then notices that a beautiful woman in the restaurant, orders the exact same lunch. Normally George would do nothing, this time he walks right up to the woman and tells her:


"My name is George, I'm unemployed and I live with my parents."


The woman responds in a sexy voice "I'm Victoria, Hi."

It's time to move away from normal. 

Do the opposite.

Here are some inspiring, anything but normal ads: 

Location. Location. Location.

Austin, Texas.

Home to Sweet Leaf Tea.

We all know this brand and most of us drink it.




Whammo!

Snapple Tea ad in downtown Austin.

Rule #1 - go to where your competition is.

Rule #2 - once you get there, make a strong impression.


Drink up. It's hot out there...