idea > logic > magic

I recently came across the following article by Brendan Sinclair the editor of newsletter SitePoint Tribune, at www.sitepoint.com

Sahar Sarid, owner of the blog Conceptualist.com, posted a logo contest in the SitePoint Contests last week with a prize value of $2,500.

But here’s the thing – he’s not really buying a logo. He’s buying a story. Sahar says so himself: ‘Each logo must include a description of how you came up with it, what went through your mind when designing it. I want a story to go with it. I want to understand the small elements that make it powerful…’

By offering $2,500 for a logo, Sahar’s created a story about the contest itself, and generated a buzz that attracts far more than the usual number of submissions. He’s also creating a story for the future of the logo: ‘This is the logo I paid $2,500 for in SitePoint Contests.’ And of course, Sahar has attracted a ton of SitePoint members to his web site.

What fantastic value Sahar’s getting for his money. And you thought it was just a logo contest! I’m not saying that Sahar has anything other than a logo design in mind. What I am saying is that the approach we take to achieving our goals can generate significant benefits – that may be unusual or unexpected – for us.

A beautiful story indeed. And in my opinion, the innovation here lies purely in someone realizing that there are marketing opportunities to be explored beyond the obvious – he simply targeted a specific community of designers in a well-publicized forum, effectively leveraged their solid existing network infrastructure, generated huge traffic to his site and successfully created a hype around something that would  ordinarily be a simple agency design brief.

I believe that if you just keep looking beyond the mundane, you’ll find the magic…

Here we have start-up company playing in an already competitive space. CineSuite offers a database of iconic DVDs in direct competition with local DVD and video stores, and a few other players in the home delivery space.

So what’s the difference? Well, actually a few things. Firstly, the carefully-chosen selection of movies is sublime – they’re all  classics and represent the very best across several well-defined genres.

Secondly, their interactive process utilises all the possible response options, making life easier for the customer. Flyers are targeted toward a specific neighbourhood, and these are followed up with delivery of an exquisitely produced ‘magalogue’ to potential subscribers who respond to an SMS number on the flyer. And these movies can also be reviewed, chosen and booked through an interactive website.

Thirdly, the distribution and delivery model is based around empowering a burgeoning local workforce. ‘Riders’ from previously disadvantaged communities will both deliver and collect your selection of DVDs at a pre-determined place and time through a bicycle network. This initiative goes a long way toward building a local community of people who are keen to be involved in this business, and creates much needed employment opportunities.

This business model directly addresses the needs and aspirations of several market segments, delivering a high-quality service and product to a discerning market, whilst building an empowered community of distributors who are incentivised to go on and grow their market areas.

Hats off to an innovative and well thought out business model in a competitive market…

How does one business get to own a major segment of the highly-competitive security industry market in a country like South Africa – where the daily reality of crime is a huge problem? And how to achieve this within a mostly captive, albeit grudge-purchase market?

ADT Security realized that in order to own a major foothold, they needed to deal with not only their major competition Chubb Security, but also with a plethora of small competitors out there.

It was somehow inevitable. They simply bought out all the minor players and small competition and re-branded them under their own ADT identity. And with this buy out came automatic access to their infrastructure and brand equity for these small businesses.

By doing this, ADT leveraged a two-fold advantage and arguably provided a win-win situation for all. The previously small alarm and security companies now had access to logistic support and the marketing infrastructure of a major international brand. And of course, ADT Security now had a footprint which included the market of their previous, small competitors.

And yes, this tactic obviously raises all sorts of questions around competitive practice. However, they contrived an innovative response to a situation that would have been difficult to address in almost any other way. If you can’t beat them, buy them…

It’s a certainty that as a cigarette manufacturer and distributor, your market is pretty secure – people who smoke cigarettes will smoke them. And often, brand loyalty is influenced by availability – If you can’t buy your favorite, you’ll probably smoke just about anything. However, what do you do when legislation prevents you from actively advertising and marketing your particular brand?

Well, for a time, Lucky Strike created and promoted a series of hugely successful ‘secret’ live music events in South Africa featuring a number iconic international bands.

In order to actually be ‘invited’ to the event, aspirant concert-goers had to find a ‘hidden’ contact number on the advertising posters and then SMS a response to engage in a process whereby if you stayed the distance, the location, time and date was revealed, and your ‘ticket’ was secured.

These events became legendary, and people who were present associated the brand with a rewarding emotional outcome beyond the satisfaction of the just the product itself. And they went on to tell people who missed out.

Lucky Strike created memorable experiences that engaged participants in an aspirational and wholly interactive way with their brand…

Here’s a great example of innovative thinking with regard to raising financial investment whilst also building your brand profile. Imagine your business has developed for example, a ‘scratch removal solution’ for the automobile industry, and you need to raise one million rand for a television commercial to market this product directly to consumers. So, how do you make this happen this without breaking the bank?

You think differently, and you successfully persuade one thousand distributors of your products to contribute one thousand rand each to a proposed television campaign. This commercial then directs interested consumers to an 0800 number where an operator will redirect enquiries to their nearest participating supplier.

And, guess what? Everyone wins. Your brand and product – which is now rolling out a national television campaign, the distributors who go on to sell this product and who are now also attracting customers to their business [and are reaping the benefits of national exposure through this campaign for a fraction of the cost], and of course the end user, who can now with just a single telephone call, find the nearest supplier in their area.

A brilliant and innovative financial and marketing concept…

A now hugely successful and iconic brand initially languished on supermarket shelves for years in the late 1940s until a forward-thinking customer, Brownie Wise, sensed an opportunity that was to redefine the way retail products were sold at the time. And into the future.

She bought a range of Tupperware products and invited friends around to her home to demonstrate the advantages of these containers – and then convinced them to buy these from her, there and then.

The next logical step was to build a community of re-sellers who would acquire their stock from her and sell these in the same manner to their friends as well. And then for this burgeoning community to go on to bring in even more sellers, for a commission on their profits.

She went directly to the distributors and they loved the idea. And thus the concept of the original ‘Tupperware Party’ was conceived – the beginning of network marketing as we know it today. This changed the lives of millions of women by enabling them economic freedom, and Wise went on to become Vice President of the corporation.

All it took was for someone look at something from a fresh perspective. This innovative approach went on to create arguably the most successful and much emulated sales systems of all time…

Robynn Weldon in London sent me a ‘viral’ mpeg from YouTube which is currently doing the rounds. It features a ‘gorilla’ sitting behind a drum kit and the music is Phil Collins’ ‘In the air tonight’. It’s attention grabbing and the twist is that you don’t realise he’s going to drum until that iconic intro which launched a thousand short-lived drumming careers when it was first released, kicks in…

She observes: ‘I love it, but it’s also really interesting to me in that it’s so obviously an ad designed for YouTube. A kind of viral, really, despite being ostensibly a TV ad. It used to be common wisdom that no matter how cool or funny your ad was, if there wasn’t a clear link to the product, it wouldn’t “work” (although it might win awards!) Now, this has pretty much nothing to do with the product, but it’s going to get the ad – complete with branded book-ends – seen a squillion times. So, has YouTube changed the rules? Just a thought…’

Robynn adds, ‘It creates an emotional association with the brand (joy) that is appropriate to the product and can be strengthened with further, unrelated ads… Honestly, I’ve also always been very suspicious of ads that don’t really have any clear connection. I’m just wondering…’

Well, it resolves to a pack shot and logo for Cadbury’s ‘glass and a half’ chocolate. Admittedly the ‘campaign’ was ‘brought to you by Cadbury’s etc, but I’m wondering if this is actually innovation, or just opportunism? It could be argued that any opportunity to get your name out there is always a good thing.

But does this really add value to the brand? Personally, I don’t think YouTube has changed the rules, they’ve merely created another accessible medium for marketing your brand.

Go and look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLXHB0mooo0 and see what you think…