Keeping it Simple
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Sage Thoughts
If You’re Local and Small, Leverage That
I did a podcast!
I was a guest on Digital Madvertising, Episode 16. We talked about the places I’ve been and the things I’ve seen in my marketing career. It’s 49 minutes of Mad Man fun and nostalgia.
A post of mine remains popular, year after year
In April 2014 I wrote a post about Ozarka water being bottled in Texas, and proudly branded as such right here in Arkansas, where my intuition always (and incorrectly) told me Ozarka came from Arkansas, land of the Ozarks.
Click here to see the original post.
The post is likely to reach 600 views in 2022, breaking the annual record of 592 set in 2016. Like Lionel Messi and Tom Brady, this old boy keeps on scoring, year after year.
Blog content doesn’t die. Sometimes it keeps getting more popular. Who knows, maybe “Ozarka is made in Texas” will hit 700 in 2023.
The ARC of Marketing
I just looked up MARKETING on Wikipedia. I have a headache. Here’s what Wiki says;
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emphasize in advertising; operation of advertising campaigns; attendance at trade shows and public events; design of products and packaging attractive to buyers; defining the terms of sale, such as price, discounts, warranty, and return policy; product placement in media or with people believed to influence the buying habits of others; agreements with retailers, wholesale distributors, or resellers; and attempts to create awareness of, loyalty to, and positive feelings about a brand.
That’s one sentence. It has one period, which comes after the late and singular appearance of the word “brand.”
Maybe we need something simpler and more memorable. How about this: Marketing is an ARC: The business of Acquiring, Retaining, and Cultivating CUSTOMERS.
Acquire: Attract customers you don’t already have.
Retain: Keep the customers you have, work to keep them satisfied.
Cultivate: Grow spending and engagement from the customers you have.
What do you think?
I’m Three Degrees of Separation from Don Draper
I came across this “baby” at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in DC last week. https://geogallery.si.edu/10002811/rosser-reeves-star-ruby
The Rosser Reeves Star Ruby was donated to the Smithsonian by Mr. and Mrs. Rosser Reeves in 1965. Rosser Reeves was an American advertising executive and pioneer of television advertising. His ads were focused around what he coined the unique selling proposition (USP), the one reason the product needed to be bought or was better than its competitors. These often took the form of slogans such as M&M’s “melts in your mouth, not in your hand.”
Don Draper, the main character in Mad Men, is based on Rosser Reeves. It was Reeves who created the “It’s Toasted” slogan for Lucky Strike cigarettes. In “Mad Men,” Don Draper saves the Lucky Strike account with his last-minute “It’s Toasted” pitch.
Now, here is where it gets local. Rosser Reeves son, Rosser Scott Reeves, Jr., was our neighbor right here in Little Rock. Not only was Reeves Jr’s dad the real-life Don Draper, but his uncle was the even-more-famous David Ogilvy. Talk about a marketing pedigree!
And that’s how I’m three degrees of separation from Don Draper.
Testing Microsoft Word and Office 10 Dictation: Meh.
I thought I’d try my computer’s ability to take dictation, using Microsoft Word’s Dictate function and the speech recognition tools of my new computer and Windows 10.
I carefully and slowly recited, with painfully obvious pronunciation, the lyrics to an old classic. (No, I didn’t sing.) Here’s how it came out:
like the rolling stone by bob Dylan once upon a time you expressed so fine through the bombs and dined in New York flying that didn’t you? People call, Sadie where doll, you thought they were all kidding you. You used to laugh about everybody that was hanging out. Now you don’t work so well do know you don’t seem so proud about having to be scrounging for your next meal. How does it feel? How does it feel? To be on your home and what rolling stone a complete unknown with no direction home.
Mediocre, at best. Good thing I didn’t try “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” If anyone has suggestions on how to make this work better, I’m all ears.
A half gallon of oxymoron
Kroger sells a product they call “Fat Free Half & Half.” Half & Half is supposed to be half cream, half whole milk, with a butterfat content of about 12%. TWELVE PERCENT. What’s the story, Kroger?
I invite spokespeople from Kroger, all members of the dairy industry, and anyone who has ever tried this product to comment.
A unique selling proposition it is
If you don’t live in Arkansas (and there’s a good chance you don’t) you’re missing the fun of Arkansas advertising. Today in my fair city of Little Rock I was listening to a local radio station and the spokesman for a Chevrolet dealership pitched the Impala as “the car for the man who’s not trying to impress anybody.”
I doubt that’s what the folks in Detroit had in mind for copy, but you have to admit it’s unique. Not unique in the way Rosser Reeves intended for a USP. I’d bet nobody else positions it the way we do in Arkansas. The 2014 Impala. Shown here in Razorback Red.
The 2014 Chevy Impala. It’s nothing special, and that’s what’s special about it.
It’s Academy Sports, NOT Sports Academy!
Its name is simple, its logo features a capital A, but too many people call it “Sports Academy.” WRONG!! It’s Academy Sports. OK, officially Academy Sports + Outdoors (with a plus sign). Maybe people confuse it with Sports Authority, a smaller competitor with little to no retail presence in my neck of the nation. Drives me nuts. It’s a good store with good stuff. Get it right.
Have a nice day, and enjoy the 4th of July weekend, States United of America.
Paul Sage - Marketing 