Seperately, Left of Madison is tasked with elevating awareness and promoting  this New York-based band to record label executives in an effort to get a recording contract for the band.  Visit flyingpoints.com to hear and learn more about this sensational new band.

Flying Points: (L-R) David Bradley (guitar), Belding Barnes Benson (vocals), Kellie McCormick (bass), and Jonathan Julian (drums)

For a quick example, brands like JC Penney, Limited Express and Levi’s are investing heavily in online while Nike, Quiksilver, and Mountain Dew are moving on.

Many cutting-edge brands– the brands who were early adopters and innovators of online advertising and marketing in the early 2000′s– who needed to reach and early-adopter consumer for their line of beverages, clothing, etc. are now retreating from online marketing.  They are not evicting themselves from the Web entirely.  They certainly will sustain their Website, support offline marketing programs and employ basic block-n-tackling efforts, but in large they are leaving.

We see this as foresight that online marketing is beginning to find its balance.  It just will take 3-8 years for the bigger brands to catch on.  The consumer insight is that people just are not spending as much time online as once perceived.  Also, with the growth of mobile functionality, many people are Facebook-ing, but rarely eve going to their home page on a computer.  Follow me?

Why is the shift occurring?  Simply, the World Wide Web is too crowded and losing the cost-effective impact it once had in connecting with a early-adopter consumer.  Making meaningful connections with consumers no longer lives online.  Meaningful connections equals consumer loyalty, preference and referrals leading to profitability.

The online lead funnel just isn't nearly effective because the challenge to drive people to your Website is increasingly more difficult and more expensive. Many marketers seek a long-term emotional connection with consumers creating loyalty.

Where are they shifting their online funds?  In short, they are reverting back to offline channels.  This includes print, outdoor, direct mail, events, and more.  They are also digging deep into guerrilla/grassroots marketing programs like pop-up stores again as well as festival sponsorships and other product sampling opportunities.

Many are reinvigorating their somewhat stagnant influencer marketing efforts which may include VIP events and product placement.  The product placement we refer to is not the type you will see in a Britney Spears music video or on next episode of The Apprentice.  This product placement is hand-to-hand.  Putting product into the hands of key influencers and decision-makers.

All Teenagers are the same.

All Blacks, Latinos and Chinese are the same.

All Gay people are the same.

These are some types of ways advertising agencies and their media buying counterparts wrongfully see the world.  They are convinced that their client’s product will be relevant to a target audience and judged equally.

To theses agencies and media buying companies, the general market is everyone, and everyone is the same.

To these same agencies/media companies who believe that they are truly targeting a subsegment, like females age 18-49 or Hispanics age 24-54 or another– they still see the total audience as the same homogeneous sub-group.  Are you with me?

If this is the case, press your agency and media buying company immediately.  They are guiding you down a super highway where they make easy money for themselves off of you.  There, I said it.  They are riping you off by spending untold millions of dollars against a portion of the target audience that is simply not interested in your product.  Wasteful media spending.

Ask your agency the big question.  Go ahead.  It can be something like, “Within the reach and frequency calculations, what percentage of that audience will be most relevant, reactive and/or responsive to my marketing message.  They won’t be able to answer the question.

People do not consume media the way media planning buys it.

The agency can’t answer the question because the target audience needs to be able to answer two simple questions: (a) what is it? and (b) how does it fit in my life?  Answering ‘what is it?’ can be achieved through smart advertising– to any target audience.  The real fork in the road that separates media plans is how they focus on the second question ‘ how does it fit in my life.’

While general market agencies seek to reach as many people as possible making their life easy and their fees high, there are multicultural agencies who have been preaching the nuances about a race or ethnic group. We offer a different approach.

Lifestyle Marketing is a solution that maximizes marketing spend.  It’s an approach that focuses on a consumer audience segment that is made up of people who share similar behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, consumptions patterns, and more.  Lifestyle Marketing may be seen as a polite way of saying, “Let’s target the gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals.”  It’s not, at least not in our approach. By the way, all GLBT are not the same either.  Read on to see what we mean.

An ad buy combining MTV, Rolling Stone, local urban radio, and social media is not enough to reach all teens or any teenage audience segment.

Lifestyle Marketing is the ability to align a client’s brand, product or service to a specific lifestyle audience segment that will be most relevant, reactive and responsive to a marketing message.  There is little to no waste on the marketing spend.  This audience will overwhelmingly connected to the brand through proper messaging and communication channels.  75-90% of the lifestyle market audience will embrace your brand, product or service.  This is achieved through a unique creative, messaging and communications filter.

Brands are attracted or repelled based upon 3 types of relationships with the lifestyle segment:

• Organic: the brand has a natural fit with a lifestyle segment; in most cases the brand has already been adopted by a influential segment within that lifestyle segment.  The brand owner simply has unrealized potential that can be gained through a dedicated marketing communications program focused on that lifestyle segment.  There are numerous examples of where this has occurred (e.g., Ecko Unlimited, Red Bull, Subaru, Lady Gaga). A good example of future opportunities include: Apple and Sunkist orange soda.
• Artificial: the brand has the potential for a natural fit with a lifestyle segment, but often times lacks a particular consumer feature-benefit that would bridge the gap. Once the gap has been recognized and resolved, the next step is usually marketing this brand to the key influencers and decision-makers of that lifestyle segment. A good example of where this has occurred includes: Gucci, Cadillac and Mountain Dew.  Under-leveraged opportunities include many such as: The Gap, Harley-Davidson, Porsche, American Express, IBM, Best Buy, Beretta, and just about any brand within the Jarden Corporation portfolio (Sunbeam, Mr. Coffee, Oster, etc.).
• Contrived: the brand has an un-natural fit with a lifestyle segment, but through sheer force, the brand seems to persuade the audience segment through messaging and media buying.  It’s the foreigner in the room who looks to fit within the crowd, but as soon as they open their mouth they are noticed.  Noticed, not necessarily embraced.  As the case with the hypothetical foreigner, the brand may get limited attention and embracement.  The reality is the brand should disengage with this audience and seek a better fit or create a better opportunity. A good example of where this has occurred includes: Dr Pepper, Ford and Chevrolet as well as KFC, and Colgate-Palmolive.

Through a decade of consumer analysis, we determined that there are five core lifestyle segments depicted in the chart below (chart A).  We have carefully defined sub-lifestyle segments within these core 5.    The are represented by the moons which orbit each of the 5 core lifestyle segments.

(Chart A) Left of Madison identifies 5 Core Lifestyle Segments. It also depicts the relation of multiple sub-lifestyle groups and 3 life stages.

We have also determined and defined that there are five co-op sub-segments.  These are lifestyle segment groups which share the behaviors and attitudes of two lifestyle segments.  Transcending across all five core lifestyle segments, we have a identified three shared life stages: adult, new parent, empty-nester.  The monumental life stages dramatically alters the person’s lifestyle and should be considered when looking at your overall communication plan.

Lifestyle marketing segments can be measured by the very media that they can consume.  For example, when looking at targeting Urbans, combine the total reach a media plan that includes, but is not limited to:

• TV: BET and MTV3 plus portions of NBA games, ESPN SportsCenter, and select on demand programing

• Radio: local urban contemporary, hip-hop/R&B stations

• Print: Vibe, The Source, Complex, Essence, Ebony, King, Urban Latino, etc.

• Social Media: BlackPlanet.com plus parts of MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn

• Mobile: Mobile .wap sites for many of the above

De-duplicate the audience to get total unique audience.  Left of Madison estimates that the total estimated audience of Urbans within the United States is 36 million people.

Media planning can also consider the hang-outs, events, stores they shop in most frequently.

To learn more about Lifestyle Marketing and our approach to transform brands, please contact us here.

Whatever advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) or anyone else seems to do, they can never seem to nail the multi-year ad campaign idea.  A solid, multi-year campaign is essential because it means that people “like the ads” and proves that it resonates with consumers at some level.  The perfect benchmark is Absolut or Michelin among many others.

Below is the results of a recent scout of competitive advertising for Johnny Walker.  Below that is a grouping of advertising for a smaller player, Maker’s Mark.  Little known ad agency and friend of ours, Doe Anderson, has been the advertising engine for Maker’s Mark for 20+ years.  In the past few years, it has really gotten good. Take a look.  Johnnie Walker first, followed by Maker’s Mark.

Lady Gaga

Just like Olympic gymnasts have a lot to teach us about physical training and corporate CEOs show us how to overcome massive challenges of their jobs, popular pop icons can teach us significant lessons about branding, segment targeting and viral marketing.

Left of Madison generated a similar post focused on Marshall “Eminem” Mathers a few months ago.  See article here.

The notion is not entirely novel. Madonna has become the subject of more than one university course study both because of her longevity as a pop-icon and her ability to morph with time in step with her core audience (and if you think this does not apply to mainstream business think of the transformation of the Toyota Celica sports car).

Lady Gaga is of particular interest because, as we speak, she has made US chart history by becoming the 1,000th number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 and by succeeding in just over two years to go from promising, new, pop-icon to global megastar using the latest real-time web tools and viral marketing technology.

So, how did she do it?  Her success, as you might imagine, is no accident. A careful analysis of her business model reveals a consistency of approach and a grasp of her target audience which would put many a conglomerate to shame.

Take her wacky appearances for instance.

Being classically trained in music she can play the piano and sing. With her qualifications and quality beyond question what has become her trademark is her ability to be so consistently outrageous and it is this which her fans have come to expect.

Born This Way, which Lady Gaga performed at the Grammy awards over the Valentine’s Day weekend, is only the 19th single to debut at number one in the Hot 100′s history and with digital sales of 448,000, the track also broke the record for the largest amount of downloads of a song by a female artist in its first week on release.

She also utilizes real-time web tools to achieve just the kind of connection with her audience which leads to shortcuts in achieving huge sales, brand recognition and success. On Twitter alone, Lady Gaga has 8.2 million followers and each video released on YouTube gets to tens of million of views. Bad Romance, for instance, released just over a year ago has clocked a staggering 340 million views on YouTube.

Her success in the online publicity stakes then makes her newsworthy which feeds into the general wave of publicity being generated about her which, in turn, allows her to further shape and guide her public image to fulfil the needs of her target audience who, in turn, become some of her most fervent viral marketers.

The lessons we can learn from all this which you can apply to your own business are:

1. Be consistent – No matter how often you appear to change your marketing (like Lady Gaga changes her appearance) you need to make sure that the core value of your message remains the same.

2. Be innovative – Use the latest low-cost technology to enlist the help of your customers in increasing the reach of your brand.

3. Be engaging – Lady Gaga tweets to her followers and, when interviewed, is always careful to present information which helps them engage with her.

Apply these principles to your business model and watch your brand value begin to rise.

by David Amerland

While not new, it’s gaining popularity in today’s economy and fragmented media than ever before.

As a University of Minnesota undergraduate, Thuy-Vy Bui spent three semesters as a Windows 7 and then Verizon Wireless brand ambassador. As a campus rep, she was required to go to events, do conference calls or contribute to viral marketing campaigns, all on her own schedule and between classes.

“It’s a unique experience and a good way to showcase your skills on your resume,” she said.

At the end of her employment, Bui got to keep the Droid phone and Lenovo laptops she used.

Windows 7, Verizon Wireless, Coke Zero and Sony have all used University students to campaign for their products on campus.

But some people have criticized the marketing practice for polluting a learning institution and paying students to voice an opinion that may not originally be their own.

“It does raise an ethical flag, but there are many things marketers do that raise flags,” University marketing instructor Kristina Durante said. “Peer influence exists whether marketers are capitalizing on it or not.”

Durante said her research has shown that peer influence can be one of the most effective marketing tactics, especially for young adults 18 to 27 years old.

“This is the time when your brain is unconsciously looking to your peers to make sure that you have a certain level of esteem,” Durante said. “It really comes back to finding the best mate. We look to our peer groups to let us know how attractive we need to be.”

University senior Shayla Henderson, who worked with Bui as a Verizon ambassador, said she didn’t think the practice was unethical.

“It’s pretty normal, especially in a big city,” Henderson said.

“Students enjoy it and we’re really friendly. We’re not pushing the products but having a good time.”

Henderson has worked with Twizzlers, Tron and Bacardi as a brand ambassador. While working with Verizon, she was flown to Chicago for an all-expenses-paid trip to promote the product.

“You meet a lot of people and do a lot of personal growth [as a brand ambassador],” Henderson said. “You’re forced to step out of your comfort zone and it opens your mind to the way society works.”

Left of Madison partner Bee Nguyen who is one of the pre-eminent Ambassadors for Belvedere vodka and Amp Energy drink.

Henderson said the companies usually hire students who are heavily involved on campus and have a certain look and attitude. Brand ambassadors are typically paid between $10 and $25 an hour, depending on the level of responsibility, Henderson said.

Though not a brand ambassador himself, University junior Paolo Espanola said he has learned how to take advantage of the ambassador programs.

Holding a number of leadership positions on campus, including being the president of the Philippine Student Association, Espanola said he’s found fundraising with brand ambassadors to be much more effective than cold calling companies for sponsorships.

“The days of bake sales are over,” he said. “It’s tough to do that so we try to get as much help as we can [through other means].”

While his partnerships with brand ambassadors haven’t been as profitable as asking companies for big donations, Espanola said it can be much more convenient to work with his peers.

“We shy away from getting corporate sponsorship because it’s kind of tough to do that,” Espanola. “But Verizon was able to help us out simply because we contacted the brand ambassador.”

Espanola said brand ambassadors are more able to vouch for the student groups with their superiors and leverage the relationship so that the partnership can be a mutually beneficial opportunity. The groups get their sponsorships, and the brand ambassadors are able to promote their products.

Nick DeLeo, a member of Omega Nu Alpha, has been able to work with Monster, an energy drink company, to make some extra cash.

Each month DeLeo picks up a free shipment of Monster for his fraternity in exchange for taking pictures of the fraternity members using the product. DeLeo then assembles a report with the pictures twice a month, personally receiving $100 for each report.

“It really helps us as a house,” DeLeo said. “It kind of brings people over. A lot of people, especially college students, like free stuff.”

DeLeo also said it can help the fraternity save money on drinks for events like Sweetheart Week.

In addition to the drinks, Monster will often give the fraternity free coolers, posters, T-shirts and even Monster condoms occasionally.

DeLeo said he believes this kind of relationship is fairly common among fraternities.

“Coke sponsors the campus and that’s kind of doing the same thing,” DeLeo said. “You see a lot of Coke stuff and there’s commercialism through that [too], but college, to me, is an atmosphere where you can choose what you want to do.

“We’re not going to push you and force you into drinking it,” he added. “We don’t commercialize it that much. We do some, but I don’t think to a very large extent.”

Jennifer Bissell

In September, Taschen Books released an amazing hard cover book called “Trespass: History of Uncommissioned Urban Art.”  It is a heavy book filled with today’s artists who use the landscape (or cityscape) as their canvas.  Their perspective on space would make an ad agency media planner cringe.  Their message is thought provoking.  The work is inspirational.

We highly recommend this book to art directors and creative directors in the ad agency world.  Buy it.  Keep it.  Put on your table and regularly thumb through it.

These aren’t your graffiti punks– although many have emerged from that bad habit.  These artists appear in some of the top galleries around the world.  Most have their own shows.  More sell prints, T-shirts, etc.  Documentaries and movies are common place.  As Taschen wrote to introduce this book:

“In recent years street art has grown bolder, more ornate, more sophisticated and—in many cases—more acceptable. Yet unsanctioned public art remains the problem child of cultural expression, the last outlaw of visual disciplines. It has also become a global phenomenon of the 21st century.”

Same goes for alternative energy.  Can you name the last TV spot, direct mail, print ad, or radio spot  you that you came into contact with that promoted either– a green product or alternative energy?  No?  Me either.

Which brings me to the next point.  These new products cost more than the alternatives.  Advertising creates the pull demand.  Consumers are still out-to-lunch on the topic of global warming.  Consumers are still in wait-n-see mode.  Consumers must be provided rationalization to make the purchase decision.

So why has no one, except for maybe Chevy Volt, made any serious move to advertise solar panels, wind mills, e-cars, etc.?  It just seems so weird that there isn’t anything.  You would expect pop-n-circumstance as it were a new product launch from Apple.

On a side note: Had Chevy delivered the Volt concept car that looks like the new Camaro, it seems highly probable that they would have sold 100-times as many than the boring Cavalier-looking sedan they actually placed into showrooms.

Only… NASA didn’t make it.  More after the jump (past video).

It was actually created by a YouTube user “Damewse” who “got fed up with NASA” and decided to create something on their behalf.  From the description on the YouTube page:

“NASA is the most fascinating, adventurous, epic institution ever devised by human beings, and their media sucks. Seriously. None of their brilliant scientists appear to know how to connect with the social media crowd, which is now more important than ever. In fact, NASA is an institution whose funding directly depends on how the public views them.”

To help show NASA the opportunities they’re missing, Damewse took footage from a host of sources–including BBC’s Planet Earth–and edited it all together with a nice little speech from Sagan.  If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth stopping what you’re doing for the next three minutes.

Which brings me to a long format TV commercial.  Not a direct response TV spot (DRTV), but a 60-second or 120-second long branding spot.  As of today, the NASA fan site on Facebook has 271,624 people who like it.  I’d be curious to see the response rate and whether this viral video contributed to it… and by how much.  Imagine if it ran on TV.

Statue of Christopher Columbus wearing a cape in front of New York State Supreme Court building in Downtown Brooklyn at 330 Adams St. on Jan 5, 2011. (Photo: Chapman for Daily News)

The statues seem to receiving mixed reviews. Some people think they are interesting, especially when the capes alone adorned the statues, before the podiums arrived. With the cold weather and snow covering NYC, it seemed an artistic endeavor to keep our history warm, once the podiums arrived, that warmth seemed to evaporate.

Some of the statues and podiums have been vandelized as well, which is expected when you create marketing that blurrs the line between what should be sacred or ‘unbranded’ and what is acceptable for branding. Apparently, the Eleanor Roosevelt statue’s cape is in tatters and the podiums have been knocked over and moved.

The NY Daily News covered it here, citing a few of the concerns.

The company paid $120,000 to NYC for the chance to create the campaign, and with the price of production, installation and upkeep, the total is probably double that or more. The image of the statues, covered in capes is quite compelling, I think the podium tying it so blatenty to the show is where I could see people having issue with it. Then again NY is a town where people love to complain, so you can’t do much in the way of creative marketing without a bit of backlash.

- Sam Ewen (See additional images below)