Ideas, Inspiration and a Creative Perspective on Marketing from Inside the Embassy



  1.  

    ST. LOUIS, Sep 30, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Moosylvania, the digital, branding
    and promotion agency with an on-site, globally-ranked research facility,
    released today its much anticipated XL Marketing Trends Report: Chapter 2 –
    Digital Video. The second installment of Moosylvania's six-chapter study defines
    the top digital video trends marketers must focus on now and well into the next
    decade. It is available for free.

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  2.  

    Series of Free Must-have Reports Show how Consumers and Businesses
    Will Find, Learn About, Buy and Build Loyalty for Products and Services
    Over the Next Decade

    ST. LOUIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
    What are the trends that are reshaping marketing now and for the next 10
    years? How will conventional media keep pace as ad revenues shrink and
    its audience is captivated by new and advanced forms of communications?
    How will brands recapture the hearts and minds of consumers in a
    post-recession economy?

    In its quest for answers to these questions and more, Moosylvania
    has conducted extensive research and categorized, weighed and measured
    its findings based on overall projected growth, impact on the market and
    ability to maximize spend vs. return. The groundbreaking work is the
    basis of the Moosylvania XL Marketing Trends Report, a
    six-chapter study that encapsulates the top trends marketers should
    focus on now and well into the next decade, that is available for free.

    The first chapter provides an overview of the top 10 marketing trends
    and taps into Moosylvania's frontrunner – mobile marketing and its
    related channels: geo-marketing; interactive tagging; search; gaming;
    video; texting; Blue Tooth and apps.

    "Our research uncovers an insightful look into each of the top 10 growth
    trends and uses best practice case studies to provide context around the
    discussion," said Rodney Mason, Moosylvania's CMO. "The report also
    includes access to a case-study engine available for brand marketers
    that is a regularly-updated resource of current programs in the market."

    To access a free copy of the Moosylvania XL Marketing Trends Report
    1: Mobile Marketing, go to www.moosylvania.com
    and click on "Insights."

    To share your thoughts and perspective, and to see how Moosylvania can
    fulfill your marketing needs, contact Rodney Mason at 314-644-7987, rodney@moosylvania.com
    or www.twitter.com/rodmoose.

    Go to BusinessWeek Article

     


  3. A few years ago, Cheesecake factory didn't need
    1) a loyalty program,
    2) a small portions menu,
    3) a catering business or
    4) Incentives tied to charities.

    Their $12M average store sales dwarfed the entire industry and made them a stand alone institution.

    Times are tougher now and they have had to adjust to the market. All
    four "didn't needs" now exist and they have stemmed negative trends
    keeping business pretty much flat over last year, thus far, based on
    recent earnings calls.

    What's ironic with the over-sized stores is that as Cheesecake Factory
    and their Grande Lux Cafe's have not delved more deeply into more
    social media and mobile platforms.

    The speak of new digital initiatives to drive revenues on-line. The
    could realize good revenues from a direct ship business, to markets
    that don't have Cheesecake Factory, understood.

    Think about it, they have, in most markets, huge locations. By taping
    into key social groups, they could do a better job of filling seats by
    catering to specific social groups. And by using mobile tools like Deal
    Chime, they could shoot geo and blue tooth based, time sensitive, down
    to the hour, messages in the retail districts and shopping centers they
    typically anchor.

    Both social media and mobile seem like low hanging indulgences that
    customers couldn't refuse. But, hey, they still have a good product,
    and they're doing better than most. Their customer service scores are
    up, they're paying down debt in accelerated fashion and they've got got
    growth on the horizon. 

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  4. Our art directors have some pretty mad skills, but Joe Wienke has developed one that has the Account Service team nervous to deliver creative feedback. If only we could divert his attention from snack chips long enough to create a few laser-cut dies…

     

     


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    Smart Moves;

    1) Buying up sponsorships at a value price while many in the category sit this year out.
    2) Going after the affluent while AMEX is reeling,
    3) Building better rewards when all others are being reduced and
    4) Providing synergies with branch banks and products for choreographed cross-selling.

    Local activation could make this a very strong play at branch,
    especially if Chase improves their internal back-end data to provide a
    more holistic view of their customers and builds a solid mobile
    platform.

    We've done a lot of work in the financial sector space and understand the emerging importance of mobile.

    Mobile is beginning to change banking in profound ways, and with GPS
    and Bluetooth opt-ins for special purchase messages and bonus rewards
    with very geo-specific offers, now is the time for an aggressive
    institution to strike.

    Our study, "XL Marketing Trends" will be released this month. It
    highlights the top 10 trends changing the marketing landscape and
    mobile is #1.

     

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  6. We do a lot of SEO work for clients and emphasize the importance of
    Organic SEO, because it is more relevant and natural for consumers who
    are searching for information. Organic SEO relies on a site to be optimized, but it's much more. It's
    about relevancy and being in the right places to assure a search leads
    to your product at the most appropriate moments.We have an important study we're about to release entitled "XL
    Marketing Trends" the "10 Trends Changing the Marketing Landscape" now
    and over the next 10 years.Organic Search is #4 due in part to the ever growing importance of
    search to consumer purchasing decisions. It's also more important
    because of Bing and the growth of mobile search.

    It's now more important than ever to assure your brand's mobile links
    and sites function properly on mobile devices. That's because by the
    end of next year, smart phone devices that are already equal in number
    to 60% of all computers in the US, will
    outnumber computers.

    Some thoughts for optimizing Bing;

    1) Focus on categories presented for your most key search terms. Use
    Bing's categories in your key words and in your site navigation.

    2) Domain Age is very important. Building micro-sites off your main
    site vs. independent new sites is key for Bing. Additional findings for
    Bing thus far.

    3) Text Rules
    Bing favors pages with at least 300 words of text.

    4) Linking Out
    Bing favors linking out more than other engines as long as the links
    are relevant to the overall context of the site and keywords.

    5) News Sites vs. Blogs
    Bing favors news source sites over blogs especially for breaking news,
    although major blogs are recognized by Bing as major news sources.
    Blogs with less significant traffic are not.

    6) Page Titles
    As with any white hat SEO strategy, page titles should correlate well
    with the primary subject and keywords on page. Bing seems to follow
    this more stringently than other web sites.

    7) Heavy Flash sites rank better with Bing than Google. A good strategy
    for a site with a lot of Flash is to emphasize SEO for Bing and
    continue your Google efforts. Bing and Google draft off one another
    indirectly as they are both continuously crawling off the web. That
    means Bing can help heavy Flash sites do better on Google over time as
    well.

    8) Don't overuse keywords in your content and also don't use irrelevant keywords to increase a page's keyword density.

    9) Place average keywords in your meta tags and content.

    10) Don't use hidden text or links else your website can be blacklisted and ignored.

    11) Avoid overused link schemes to avoid being banned.

    12) Enable MSNBot onto your site and submit URLs for all sub-pages as it doesn't automatically crawl all pages.

    13) Keep fresh relevant content on your site and update it regularly.

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  7. Excellent insight on peak view days by specific product category. Platforms like Klickable, which rolled out their updated platform, tracks information on where consumers are engaging most in the video, and how often the view and which parts.
    We have a study we're releasing this month entitled "XL Marketing Trends" that explores the top 10 trends changing the marketing landscape right now and well into the future.
    Video is #2 and current, existing technology now being embedded in televisions, on computers and mobile devices are quickly migrating video from a mass-audience only tool, to a truly one-to-one relationship builder.

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  8. The magic of search for any product be it entertainment or male grooming is a sense
    of discovery from credible sources.

    Paid search creates awareness, but it isn't special when used in
    conventional ways, unless a product already has so much hype around it
    that people are searching out access to a specified unique link.

    Organic SEO, where content is found in links from reputable
    non-official social networks, blogs and sites, holds more credibility
    and the propensity to be shared with others.

    That said, paid search, when approached with the right strategy, can
    become a very powerful engine for Organic SEO by driving a search to
    secondary locations where key content is located, but the product
    purveyor is not the primary source of the content.

    This translates well beyond entertainment and grooming products. But
    for this discussion, here's how an entertainment platform and a men's
    grooming product could both work with Organic SEO driven with paid
    search.

    Go to Google and type in "Iron Man 2." The first article that pops up
    might be something like "EW News" with the headline "Thor,' 'Iron Man
    2' still coming despite Marvel sale."

    Surmise in this case, the studio could give an "Iron Man 2" exclusive
    story to EW in exchange for the word "Thor" being placed in front of
    "Iron Man 2" in a headline to create awareness around the new "Thor"
    movie. Links to special video trailers to both could also be embedded
    in the article.

    You could also surmise it would be in a studio's best interest to
    provide paid search for the term "Iron Man 2," not that they really
    need it. But assume they do with links to portals well beyond their own
    website, that carry stories and video links about the popular "Iron Man
    2"but also cover newer, lesser known or hyped properties in the same
    article with links to view special exclusive peeks.

    Now switch gears to Men's Grooming, (or food, beverages, cleaning products, automotive etc.)

    You know that Fantasy Football fans (or mom's, or other audiences) like
    your products. You use key paid search terms like "Fantasy Football" to
    link to organic product mentions and links. Google search for Fantasy
    Football returns "Top 10 Ideas To Spice Up Your Fantasy Football
    Season."

    Click on the link to find a countdown list from the "Gaming Guru" which
    could include nice mentions for your new close shave product. It might
    even include a video link from this weekend's fantasy football kickoff
    in Las Vegas with your product featured in it.

    These are abbreviated examples of where your paid search can be driving
    to organic places where your product becomes part of a lifestyle moment
    endorsed by credible sources vs. a paid link to your web site begging
    for a view of a video trailer.

    We have a new special marketing insight report being released this
    month entitled "XL Marketing Trends" which highlights the top 10 trends
    changing the marketing landscape now and into the next 10
    years.

    Organic SEO is #4 and provides an in depth review of where it is now
    and where it's going. Paid search is a key component to organic search.
    It just requires strategy, coordination and reverse engineering to
    maximize results.

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