In times where brands respond to customers within seconds via Twitter it makes sense that brands try to stay on top of the movement by providing a personalized experience to their customers. It is good to try, but if you try too hard, you die trying.

Some policy changed at Peet’s Coffee & Tea for example and all of a sudden a random ‘barista’ shouts ‘Good Morning’ to the crowd, which feels very awkward as everyone feels like they are being talked to, yet no one feels addressed. Another awkward new habit is to have employees at stores such as Nordstrom, and even Barneys, use their downtime to write strange postcards that look like they are written by a pre-teen, for a pre-teen, to their customers.

Brands, be careful out there. Unless you really understand who your customer is and how you can take advantage of a more unique outreach that is truly personal and honest, it is best not to try too hard and stick to the conventional ways you already mastered. It can only backfire.

Why is it that the more prestigious the design competition, the more it costs to enter?

Prices for a single entry can be around $120. But once you are selected to either receive an award, or be published in the awards annual, which after all is part of the exercise, there will be an additional fee of $280 – $400. And that is for just one single entry.

Sure, we play along. Sometimes. As we see fit, and for projects we feel deserve to be honored. But we too draw the line.

Let’s not forget that we are an agency, we have a PR budget and cash flow. How about all the students, freelancers, micro design firms, nonprofits and other entities that may have the big, creative, genius ideas that we should all be drooling over? The ideas that really look different because they come from folks that may not have ‘corporate’ breathing down their necks, or they do it for free, out of passion and just for fun? Isn’t that often when truly great ideas happen? They will never be in any of the ‘big’ award books showcasing the best, the brightest and most amazing ideas. The books that design students get for christmas, that turn into their text books of what they ought to measure their own creativity with, are lacking to showcase just that, the unconditionally best creative endeavours. Read the rest »

The current economic climate brings out the best, and worst, in marketing practices. A bold approach was taken by The Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles, where the management team decided to give away 200 complimentary stays over weekends in March and April. With a night averaging $250 and the hotel being associated with one of the largest hospitality brands in the world, Starwood, this counts as quite a big step which most traditional marketers and hoteliers would have immediately strayed away from. What Bonaventure understands is brand value. Their business is down 20%. The hotel most likely feels empty, even on weekends. Of course this marketing stint will bring in 400 guests who will be exposed to the brand and spend money on the property’s bars and restaurants, but more importantly thousands will try to score that free night, thousands will read about the promotion, and at the end of the low-cost, yet highly viral, campaign tens of thousands will be reminded of the fact that there is a forward thinking hotel in downtown L.A.. Maybe to keep in mind when relatives come to town, or for an in-town (=economic) weekend get-away, or to just check out and grab a drink at the bar, either way the brand is on your mind. The recession has all of us rethinking traditional approaches to brand marketing, and many more great ideas will be born. And we will see lots of in-your-face, nearly pathetic, approaches of small businesses trying to hang on to that one more sale that will drive them into the ground and make the ones who understand brand-strategic thinking stand out.

When I drove into Sedona, Arizona, one of my very favourite places to recharge, I was surprised to see the main road being completely redone to make it into a more congestion-preventive, cycling friendly and nicely integrated two way street. While driving to my hotel, I passed one of the larger – and more unique – souvenir places (Son Silver West Gallery) along the road – it happened to be on the side of the road that is hard to access since it is still under construction. I thought that, eventough better for business in years to come, they must see that inconvenience reflected in sales over Thanksgiving.

When I drove by again today, during business hours, it made me smile to see that there is always a reason why great businesses survive despite tough times: They understand the situation, analyze it, and come up with a solution that might, like in this case, be a bit out of the box.

Just brilliant! For the first time today I saw a print ad where I could taste (Yes, TASTE!) the actual product.

Image, check. Text, check. Sample taste, check.

Okay, first it was an obvious evolution since we already had breath mints that came in paper sized ‘strips’, and second it really was not an ad featuring an actual product, it was an ad for the company that produces these ad(d)-on features that goes by the name of ‘First Flavor’. It is called Peel ‘n Taste and it does work. Their sample was for Welch’s Grape Juice and it tasted just like the product.

I am amazed about the opportunities that this little invention presents to marketers.

Now try to suck on this onscreen. (Yes, I heard the rumours, but I doubt it will happen anytime soon.)

I received the second issue of ‘Deliver’ in the mail. The magazine with the sub title ‘a magazine for marketers’ is quite nicely designed, and interesting at most times, but…it is published by no one else then the United States Postal Service with the sole purpose of getting us ‘marketers’ to not completely forget about the good old direct marketing vehicle, the snail mail. The article ‘value in volume’ about an Atlanta marketing firm that created $600 a piece books to mail out to NYC’s fashion world in order to, may I add successfully, enter a very harsh and incestuous market, caught my attention. Not only because we experienced how hard it is to enter not only New York’s Design & Marketing market, but especially the fashion world (We now successfully formed a relationship with New York City Designer John Varvatos – we designed johnvarvatos.com), but also because of the crazy idea of spending that much on a single direct mail piece.

It’s crazy.

Crazy good, if done right.

Not only do people mainly receive junk and bills in the mail, but in an increasingly online world, receiving an amazing marketing piece, one that you know you will at least lovingly hold on to and braggingly hand around the office, is something special. Special enough to at least allow for a conversation with the sender.

When I designed an Open House Invitation to spend a glamorous evening at MGM’s CEO’s private residence in the year 2003, I went so overboard (on design and budget) that the client ended up hand delivering each of the ~250 invites of fear of damaging them during transportation. My idea was to replicate a film strip that showcases classic party scenes from the MGM archives, while creating an amazing first impression. When catering to Hollywood celebrity clientele, it is hard to stand out, and a smart idea like this one surely did the trick. As many jobs I hand off to our printers, this one was an all around challenge. And it was pricey. But in the end it worked wonders, just like the example ‘Deliver’ writes about.

The End Of Print?

Not in the world of Geyrhalter Design. Here, print does still ‘deliver’.

P.S.: You can subscribe to ‘Deliver’ free of charge here, just FYI.