Wingspan Repartee

Marketing Cars to Women: Light Blue Vs. Pink Thinking?

Springwise recently reported on a new way of marketing cars to women, in the form of Vancouver, British Columbia-based Clutch - a retailer with a beautifully designed showroom and a very deliberate, female-friendly sales approach.  The photos of the space are gorgeous and all the background about how it came to be make a lot of sense.

There is no "cars, for women" label in the tagline, nor is there pink on the web site .  Instead, light blue is the core color and the tagline is "more than a purse."

To read more go to: http://learned.typepad.com/learned_on_women/

7 Ways Marketers Can Use Twitter

posted by Ann Handley

Ad Age calls Twitter "asinine." Is it for everyone? No. But Twitter has a real use for media companies and social-media-savvy brands.

* * * * *

On Monday, Mark Simon drafted his list of The 10 Most Asinine Trends and Why You Should Avoid Them in his Ad Age article, “Ditch the Web Lunatic Content Crazes.” Rolling in at #9 was “Twitter and its Microblogging Ilk.”

to read more go to: http://www.mpdailyfix.com/2007/09/7_ways_marketers_can_use_twitt.html

Beyond Viral: 3 ideas for Co-Creative Marketing

posted by Karl Long

So this is some early experimental thinking here so feel free to poke holes, call bullshit, or add your own take in the comments.

I’m using the term co-creative marketing here as I think it’s a better more holistic term than “viral”. I still think viral is a totally valid tactic, but I don’t think it’s a strategy. Viral in most cases is not much better than a 30 second spot except it’s distribution is cheaper, I guess that’s why marketers and advertisers are so generally comfortable with the concept.

To Read more go to: http://blog.experiencecurve.com/

Anon Bloggers: A Hop To Or From Credibility?

What’s a business blog mean to you? Okay, I’ll go first. One big factor for me is an opportunity to build a relationship with a person who may be otherwise clocked by the Wizard of Oz curtain that goes up with traditional marketing communication. 

However, in some villages of the blogosphere people blog anon – anonymously. This type of genre is not like a character blog, where the tonality of the blogger may be a different style than if the blogger was writing in her own voice; however,the identify of a character blogger is frequently disclosed.

To read more visit Diva Marketing Blog at: http://bloombergmarketing.blogs.com/bloomberg_marketing/marketing_strategy/index.html

Are you in a branding tug of war?

posted by Chris Wilson

It’s a battle we all know too well, design versus business strategy.

Designers don’t want to clutter up their designs with marketing mumbo jumbo.

Marketers don’t want to water down their messages for the sake of design. The problem is that many times brands will be stretched by both parties in different directions until they are completely unrecognizable to consumers. (How do you like the drawing I did this morning to illustrate this point? I’m no Hugh MacLeod, obviously, and this isn’t the Gapingvoid, so it’s unlikely to see many illustrations like this here.)

So, who’s right?

To continue with this post visit: http://www.freshpeel.com/

Who else thinks that most press releases are a waste of time?

posted by Todd Ebert

The "Bad" - thinking that B2B press releases get read, or in the remote chance they do, that it's by a customer

As a B2B marketer whose worked in numerous technology companies I've worked with people who think that a marketing launch consists of a press release and a brochure.  I'll bet most of you have had the same experience.  As if that isn't funny enough, these same people think that customers actually read press releases.  Maybe a few financial analysts who track the stock scan the releases for relevant info (usually finding nothing of any real consequence) but customers, come on, who are we kidding?  How many times do you read the releases of your suppliers?

To Read more go to: http://toddebert.typepad.com/bad_marketing/

The "Bad" - thinking that B2B press releases get read, or in the remote chance they do, that it's by a customer

As a B2B marketer whose worked in numerous technology companies I've worked with people who think that a marketing launch consists of a press release and a brochure.  I'll bet most of you have had the same experience.  As if that isn't funny enough, these same people think that customers actually read press releases.  Maybe a few financial analysts who track the stock scan the releases for relevant info (usually finding nothing of any real consequence) but customers, come on, who are we kidding?  How many times do you read the releases of your suppliers?

To Read more go to: http://toddebert.typepad.com/bad_marketing/

BK supersizes its costumes for Halloween

Posted by David Gianatasio

Burger King is marketing new Halloween costumes based on its brand icons, the King and the Subservient Chicken. (The King mask was a big deal last Halloween, but this year’s offerings include deluxe editions and full regalia.) “The King and Subservient Chicken have scores of loyal fans, so it’s only natural that people want to step into their shoes to celebrate Halloween,” says BK vp of marketing impact Brian Gies......

To read more link to adfreak at http://adweek.blogs.com/

Buying Radio Advertising for Pennies on the Dollar

Below is a piece written by Martin Lee, I thought it would be of some interest to our readers:

Recently, I came across eBay Media Marketplace - Radio, a site that allows you to buy local or national radio advertisement slots at a great discount. How it works is that you select the region, demographics and type of radio show you want to advertise on, put up a bid and the radio shows will compete for your project by bidding down the price!

Continue Reading » Buying Radio Advertising for Pennies on the Dollar

Link to more of Martin Lee's posts at http://www.abrahamclub.com/blog/

Invitation to Participate in Convergence 2007 Discussion

Business Development Institute and PR Newswire have partnered together to produce several conference focused on future trends of communications.  Over 2,000 communications professionals from the PR, advertising, marketing, media and technology industries have attended our past events.

We have joined again to bring to you a full day conference entitled, Convergence 2007: The Future of Advertising, Communications, and Media at The Graduate Center/CUNY 365 Fifth Avenue in

New York City

. This conference will gather the best and brightest minds to explore how the communications industry is converging.  The internet's impact on advertising, pr, and media continue to create major changes in the way organizations and individuals interact.  Businesses and consumers are embracing social media, web video, and environmentalism.  Communications professionals are challenged more than ever to measure ROI on their initiatives while embracing new and sometimes immature cutting edge tactics.   We will explore case studies and provide a platform for highly regarded thought leaders to share their successes, failures and lessons learned.  We will also invite the best of breed product and solution providers to share their perspectives on the changing face of communications.

The days events will feature case studies presented by Heather Oldani, Director of Communications, McDonald's, Melissa Keklak, PR Director, Casio, Geoff Cook, CEO, myYearBook.com followed by breakout sessions with speakers such as Michael Clemente, Executive Producer, ABC News, Jason Rissman, Google, Bruce Ertmann, Corporate Manager - Consumer Generated Media, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. and more from the communications spectrum. These breakout sessions will specifically focus on Measurement & ROI, Authentic Communications - Examining Social Media and the Online Conversation, Web Video - The Corporate Communications & Advertising Opportunity, and Green Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility.

For more information on the conference go to http://bdionline.com/convergence2007

If you have any comments, questions, or a contribution of knowledge towards the topics at hand, they are utterly appreciated.

Dove" Family Approved" Movies

Well we can all rest easier now...No longer will we have to worry about our kids getting their hands on movies that have objectionable content. Thanks to a new partnership between Twentieth Century Fox Entertainment and The Dove Foundation (www.dove.org ) all movie titles marketed nationally by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment that have been approved by The Dove Foundation will bear the foundation's signature white-and-blue logo of a dove.

The "Dove FAMILY APPROVED Seal"  will make it easy for consumers to identify movie titles that the foundation deems appropriate for family viewing.  Dove's criteria gauges the levels of sex, language, violence, drugs, nudity and occultism in a film.

This makes sense since most ratings don't really tell parents what to expect in a given movie. I must admit however, I feel a little uneasy about having movies being censored by an organization called the Dove foundation.

We shall see if this is a trend that picks up with other movie studios and other media such as TV and Music.