November 23rd, 2009
So less than a week to Black Friday, YAY! I’ve taken part in this madness a few times over the last 10 years and only woke up really early (or just didn’t go to bed) about three times - once just to go with a few people to hang out and twice to actually buy some things with family. Once + twice = thrice right?
This is prime people watching time, all types of people come out of the wood works and it’s great. I remember working in retail during this time of year and would eat it up but I would also get so pissed at the deal crazed shoppers coming in and messing up the store on that day and over the entire weekend. There was one year when I was working at Target and I actually saw a mom smack her kid across the face because she was crying and that obviously made things worse. Maybe she was crying because her you woke her up and the butt crack of dawn to go shopping. Oh the joys Black Friday brings to everyone.
Anywho, on to the advertising/marketing side of things. I love this year how Kohl’s deals were “leaked” and next thing you know other companies followed or were just beaten to the punch. Oh darn, someone accidentally pushed the publish button and their deals were accidentally sent out to be public facing. Many companies, big and small are extending their hours more so than usual to maximize their sales as much as possible. Some are actual even doing midnight madness types of promotions which could end up working but they are making their employees get upset because of the different and longer shits. At least they still have jobs, it’s not like they are being asked to work the whole day without a break. I’m sure there are some people out there who would work those hours rather than being unemployed.
I hope these companies and/or their agencies have done their home work and planned accordingly so they are successful. There definitely is the chance to get noticed because of the strategy used and achieve better sales than the competition.
I will enjoy sleeping in and spending time with my family at home, wondering why our Detroit Lions lost again and continue to be so horrible - not in crazy long lines or overcrowded stores.
Posted by: Greg Posted in: Advertising, Internet, Marketing
Tags: Advertising, Black Friday, Detroit Lions, Kohl's, Marketing, Sales, Target
November 19th, 2009
Kermit the Frog always said “it’s not easy being green”. Although, small incremental moves by companies across the globe can collectively add up to a larger positive affect on the health of our environment. Simple, easy stuff, like the following example.
With so many companies of various scales and across a wide variety of industries conveying “green” messages, creating sustainable solutions and all of the other ubiquitous environmentally responsible messages flying through the stratosphere, I was pleased to stumble upon a little gem of a service offered by a longstanding American company, which beyond the surface, is actually a highly “green” offering.
My oldest daughter enjoys tossing the football around in the back yard with me on weeknights, and asked if we could get a “real” football rather than continuing to volley the dog-eared Nerf we’ve had for a long time. I remembered a vintage collegiate football that I had stored in our basement, made by Wilson Sporting Goods. It’s a great old ball, but had seen it’s better days - the ball could no longer be inflated, and the lacing had deteriorated. Being one to always get a thrill out of restoring, renovating, and/or making something out of nothing, I decided to bring new life to this cherished icon of my childhood.
The only suggestions I received from sporting goods giants like Sports Authority and others was to “just buy a new ball”. Uh huh. Buy a new ball - which equates to roughy $90 for one of similar quality. With some digging online, I found that Wilson will restore your old ball for $15 - shipping included. I sent it to Wilson without a second of hesitation.
Two weeks later, I received the reconditioned ball, postage paid and carefully packaged with a small tag attached to the new, perfect lacing. The tag, in handwritten script, read “August 12, 1968″. Not only had they reconditioned the exterior of the ball, replaced the inner inflatable bladder and re-laced it, but they took the extra gesture of care and had provided the birth date of this little relic. For $15. Wow. I was so moved that I immediately felt an allegiance with the Wilson brand. For me, brand loyalty was immediately established, without multi-million dollar ad campaigns or extensive digital marketing. Even better, Wilson’s offer to restore the ball, with or without their knowing, is an incredibly powerful environmentally responsible message. Rather than chucking the ball into Thursday morning’s trash pickup, I was able to reduce the somewhat crazy cycle of purchase, consumption and disposal. Yes, a small carbon footprint was created due to the shipping to/from Wilson, but nothing compared to the carbon footprint created by the material manufacturing, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, retail, purchase and disposal cycle related to the purchase of a new ball.
In the future, I’d love to see more products that are designed on the front-end to be fully serviceable and restorable when they have neared the end of their lifecycle, to enable more consumers to take a simple step like this in the direction of re-use. With a little more foresight in design and creation of simple re-use instructions and services rather than new revenue trumping environmental responsibility, we’d have more walking the green walk as opposed to talking the green talk, and increases in brand loyalty would come free of charge. With this, it wouldn’t be so hard to be green - even for Kermit.
Posted by: Dave Posted in: Inspiration, Marketing
Tags: Brand Loyalty, Environment, Environmental, Green, Kermit, Recycle, Reduce, Renovate, Restore, Reuse, Wilson Sporting Goods
