Blog Posts by Tag - Promotion

Burgess Advertising Goes MAD!!

August 25, 2010
If there’s one thing I know about branding, it’s that it needs to be authentic. This week’s example of “Smart Branding” comes directly from the second floor of Burgess Advertising! So, what do you get when you cross: 1. A modern-day advertising Creative Director who happens to have “old school” skillswith A TV show (AMC’s Mad Men) about the…
Read More

It Takes More Than "Word-of-Mouth"

August 5, 2010
I just read another article entitled, “The Best No Cost Marketing Available – Word of Mouth!” and I have a bone to pick with this concept. But first, let me acknowledge: referrals from current and happy customers are important. That said, if you depend solely on current and happy customers telling others to buy your product or use your service, don’t plan on busting off…
Read More

Brand Anniversary? It's Time to Celebrate!

July 29, 2010
If your company has been around for 5, 10, 15 or more years, you have a wonderful opportunity to mark the occasion with employees, customers and potential new customers. Anniversaries provide the perfect chance to reinvigorate your brand, reignite interest in your brand, reintroduce your brand to new markets and – if you play your marketing cards right – get free exposure for your…
Read More

World Cup, Super Bowl and YOUR Brand!

June 30, 2010
Can the World Cup outshine the Super Bowl for brand awareness? A number of big traditional Super Bowl advertisers think so, including beer-favorite, Anheuser-Busch, Visa, and Coca-Cola Co. These advertising giants, along with Sony and Samsung, developed World-cup-specific television ads and let their media budgets loose to influence the 100 + million viewers for 30 days over 64 games. (For the…
Read More

Rebranding Isn't Just for Products!

May 24, 2010
If you find yourself downsized, laid-off, replaced by a robot or with enough time to have six small meals a day and watch Dr. Phil, maybe it’s time to make like a product and re-package, re-brand and re-launch yourself to the marketplace! (Hey, if Gatorade can reinvent itself as a health drink, imagine what YOU can do!) First... Look at Your Package You may have been a vice president or…
Read More

The Dark Side of Social Media

April 27, 2010
We are all encouraged to dive into the social media maelstrom. Get a Facebook page for your business! Write a blog! Tweet your big news! Sure, it’s great to get information on your products and services out to potential customers and clients who turn to the web for information. But the problem with social media is that it is, well . . . social. It’s interactive. Your Facebook page and…
Read More

How Wonder Bread Can Help Your Business!

April 7, 2010
The “Balloon Bread” is back! And, it’s every bit as healthy as it was in 1950. Yes...I said “healthy!” Or at least that’s the branding story of Wonder Bread! Here’s how it reads: Wonder Bread, circa 1925 – the message: America’s first sliced bread. Wonder Bread, circa 1950 – the message: fortified with 8 essential vitamins and minerals…
Read More

It's All in the Packaging!

March 23, 2010
I’m struck today about how easily we are influenced not only by what we see, read and hear, but more importantly by how it’s delivered. I ran across a statistic today: having quotation marks in your headline results in a 28 percent increase in response rate. What? You’re kidding me, right? But, what if the quotation marks were around a misstatement of facts? Does that matter?…
Read More

Consumers Have to Power to Change a Brand

March 16, 2010
Remember the TV commercials over the past 6 months from the “corn people” (aka the Corn Refiners Association) explaining that high fructose corn syrup isn’t really bad for you...that’s it’s just corn? Looks like the Make-High-Fructose-Corn-Syrup-Look-Benign branding project may well have seen better days. Educated moms still don’t want their kids to ingest…
Read More

Give Viral Marketing a Try!

March 1, 2010
Recently, here at Burgess Advertising, we’ve had two companies ask us: “How do I do viral marketing? You know, get everyone in my email address book to forward a clever video about my product/company to all his or her friends!” We all get ads disguised as funny, cheeky videos, and we all forward the good ones. So...how do you create a good one? 1. If you don’t have the…
Read More

Valentine's Day in the "New Economy"

February 1, 2010
The reality of how people choose to spend their more limited dollars in our “new” (read cash-poor) economy continues to reveal itself with each passing holiday. First, the buzz was all about retail spending around Christmas – would it be more, or less? More online or more in stores? And so on. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, a number of unusual gifting options…
Read More

Beyond the "Social" in "Social Media"

January 18, 2010
Social media is a lot more than “social.” Your interactions with clients or customers via social media forums can sometimes replace more traditional media touch points. For example, a customer may learn what they need to know about you from your facebook fan page and skip right past your paid banner ads. But more often than not, your social media channels complement, rather than…
Read More

Is there a "Hol" in Your Marketing Approach?

January 11, 2010
Maybe there should be! It’s a new year! And I have a challenge for you. Between now and March 1, look at your company’s marketing efforts through the lens of holistic marketing. What does that mean, you ask? It means taking a 10,000-foot view of everything you do to sell your products or services – and I do mean everything. Most businesses get caught up in focusing on the price…
Read More

Cultivate a Team of Strategic Sellers

December 28, 2009
The year 2010 will require all of us to work smarter. Working harder just won’t cut it. In the past, we’ve taken great pride in being strategic thinkers and planners. Now, we need to integrate strategy into what we actually do and how we sell. I came across a white paper from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business entitled: “Strategic Selling”, by John Monoky…
Read More

Is Your Brand Contributing to the Future?

December 14, 2009
We talk a lot about what’s next: Will sales go up in 2010? Are things looking better? My question to you is: are YOU looking better? What have you done to position – or even change – your products or services to better meet the needs of your customers or clients in this nebulous “future”? Do you get the difference? It’s not about getting ready to take advantage…
Read More

Trade PowerPoint for Pencil and Paper?

November 30, 2009

Picture this...you’re on your way to an important client meeting to present some innovative concepts that will greatly improve their bottom line. Things couldn’t be better. You are prepared, informed and ready to give the most engaging presentation of you’re life …with only a pen and paper.

Read More

Are You Ready for the "New Normal"?

November 9, 2009

I don’t know what the “new normal” is just yet, but I can tell you if you have guided your brand successfully through the past 12 months, it’s time to look out from under the covers, dust yourself off and get your business and your brand ready for 2010.

Read More

Simple Ideas Create Huge Brand Loyalty

October 26, 2009

Imagine a company that encourages you to give their product to Goodwill as part of their strategy to get you to buy it in the first place!

Read More

Stop Talking about "Bad Times"!

October 19, 2009

Guess what? Consumers don’t want to hear about the economic downturn in your ads! So many companies are trying to hitch a sales event to “bad times” that the consuming public is beginning to feel used!

Read More

Do Banner Ads Work?

October 5, 2009

We all like to think we are immune to advertising? Yeah . . . we might SEE an ad, but it doesn’t affect our buying decisions, and we don’t really READ the ads or LISTEN. Nowhere is this attitude more pervasive than when applied to how we feel about online advertising. In our way of thinking, banner ads simply exist . . . they are part of the background noise that doesn’t affect us. Right?

Read More

Is Summer a Better Brand than Winter?

September 28, 2009

When it comes to the Olympic Games . . . the answer may be “yes!” Advertising gurus on Madison Avenue say that selling ads and sponsorships in the upcoming winter Olympics is proving more difficult than anticipated.

Read More

How the Economy Affects YOUR Brand

September 21, 2009

We all know that if you are a non-profit, you don’t want to produce anything printed piece that’s “too flashy” or “too slick”, because your members will cry foul . . . declare that their “dues” are being wasted, etc.

Read More

Celebrity Endorsements...Believable?

September 14, 2009

Do you really believe that celebrities use the products they hawk? Does it really make any difference to you if Bionic Woman, Lyndsey Wager, really sleeps on a Sleep Number bed? Is THAT why you bought one?

Read More

The Government as Brand Expert?

August 16, 2009

There are many things one can say about the federal government, but “branding expert” has NEVER been one of them...until now! The “Cash for Clunkers” program went from a wrestling match in Congress to a “see-if-it-works” first round program to an advertising slogan that appears in virtually every car dealership ad in America! Now THAT’s branding!

Read More

Does Traditional Media Still Matter?

August 4, 2009

I’m not big on advertising another group’s programs on my blog. But this FREE webinar by The Public Relations Society of American (PRSA) was too good . . . too on target . . . to pass up! (And apparently, it’s FREE for PRSA members and nonmembers alike!)

Read More

Is Your Brand Ready for the New Economy?

July 12, 2009

Is the recession over? Have we hit bottom? Are things getting better? My personal belief is that things are, indeed, looking up, but that “things” – whatever that means – will never be the same as they were before. The economy won’t “go back” to the good times. The new “high” will be lower than it used to be.

Read More

Setting Your Brand Apart!

June 8, 2009
It’s one thing to have a strong brand. But, what if your competitor’s brand is equally strong? Comparison advertising might be the answer. At the national level, we’ve all seen Campbell soup go head-to-head with Progresso. And, you’ve probably seen the Dunkin Donuts ads touting the results of their national taste test with Starbucks. Finally, over the years, there have been…
Read More

Extend Your Brand on Facebook!

March 16, 2009
Sites like Facebook and MySpace can be used for fun or for serious business networking. First, for businesses who want to connect with Facebook’s core members (age 18-24), it makes perfect sense. Nationally, 59 of the top 100 retailers already have “fan” pages. These include Nike Shoes, Abercrombie & Fitch, Dell computers and, yes, Wal-Mart! (To check them out, type in, for…
Read More

Should You Advertise on Facebook?

March 9, 2009

Social networking is all the rage right now. It’s like that huge bash that everyone has been talking about for weeks, and you desperately want to be there even if you’re not quite sure what’s really happening.

But is it right for your business?

Read More

Trimming the fat on your advertising budget?

February 20, 2009
Let’s face it, the recession has hit hard for many businesses in Maine and across the country. But, I’m a big believer that smart businesses can make money in a down economy. You see, there are two types of businesses: 1.The businesses that wring their hands and wait until the proverbial “other shoe” drops. They are virtually paralyzed . . . waiting for the bad economy to…
Read More

Categories

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Post Archive

2013 (11) 2012 (9) 2011 (16) 2010 (20) 2009 (33)