Easy button campaign tapped frustration with useless customer service, poor product quality.

But over time, we have little choice but to boil over. That’s why I scrapped my DirecWay Internet service and had my home and office wired for cable.

It had only been about a year since I was gleefully praising the DirecWay customer service team and how quickly their installer arrived. They clearly wanted my business. “Take

that, Comcast and all your service outages!” I remember thinking. But DirecWay just didn’t work. I don’t mean it just didn’t work out. I mean it failed to operate. The modem died twice during the year and we were stuck with at least a dozen service outages that lasted anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Unacceptable. Snow on the dish. Ice on the dish. Rain water in the dish. Even a hornet’s nest on the dish blocked service. Not once was the tech support team in the overseas call center able to restore my connection. Their best effort was always to request a service call from an area installer who is supposed to call within 3-5 days – “but I should call them back if I haven’t heard from them in that time.” Only once of the eight or nine times did the installer call within the 3-5 days.

I’m still surprised that any company could make the cable company look good. I had one of the first high speed cable connections years ago and though it was fast, it was plagued with outage after outage.

The root of our frustration is that things just don’t work. They’re supposed to work. But they don’t. DirecWay’s ad campaign pushed the speed of the connection but who cares how fast a page could load if there is no connection? My first DVD player worked for a few months. Then it didn’t. An early digital camera worked very well for 10 months. Then it didn’t. My combination scanner/printer/color copier worked very well for about six months. Then it didn’t.  And I had to get a new scanner and printer, which I’d been trying to avoid in the first place.

Product designers are scrambling to pack everything full of bells and whistles to get consumers excited. What they really need to do is focus on the problem their devices are supposed to be solving and solve them. Bells and whistles don’t matter if the sound card doesn’t work.

This process equipment ad effectively taps the same frustration.

Reader Warns – Stay Active In Government Affairs!  

Dear Editor,
Just in case any readers went right for the practical operations knowledge and skipped through the Newsline, Chairman’s Message and Centennial Remembrance on Advocacy in the January issue, I’d encourage everyone to take a closer look at these three articles.

Monumental efforts are required today to keep even more burdensome government involvement from decimating our companies, and as Woody Ostrow stated, “There is NO ONE else who will speak on our behalf.” Yet as challenging as this environment seems, “Advocacy – There from the Beginning” points out that we’ve been faced with this situation for 100 years. Only our active, ongoing, non-stop involvement in the regulatory and legislative processes can help keep these wolves at bay.

I would encourage everyone to help TRSA keep up the fight by getting personally involved at the local level where the actions of even one person can have a substantial impact. It is far more effective to know our elected officials today rather than be forced to scramble after a bill has been introduced.

Paul Entin, epr Marketing

Bloomsbury, NJ

Tell your advertising, marketing and public relations partners about the good news as it happens. It may verify the strategy is working as planned and trigger new ideas plus it keeps people inspired to perform at a high level.

1. Your agency is your ally, working on your behalf to help you succeed and to make you look heroic to your customers, to your boss and to your board of directors. Tell the whole story and try not to hold information back about competitors, new products in the pipeline, internal politics or failed strategies. Your agency values every bit of information and sometimes having knowledge about failed projects or internal strife can mean the difference between presenting the killer idea or presenting the idea that gets us all killed.

2. State your opinions firmly. You are undoubtedly an expert in your industry and only you can offer your unique perspective. Don’t worry about hurting your agency’s feelings. Not only is your agency professional – they can handle it – but they should also welcome your candor and use it to get more on target.

3. Provide the real budget number. A financial planner will most certainly recommend a different asset allocation strategy for a $1 million investment than he or she would for a $10,000.00 investment. Your agency would do the same – recommending very different courses of action if given very different budget figures. If you value the agency’s recommendation then just say the real number. Don’t feel embarrassed that it’s not as high as you’d like it to be and don’t inflate it beyond what you’re truly willing and able to invest. It’s ok to start small and grow. An ad agency that requires you to start big probably isn’t your best choice as a marketing partner.

4. Don’t let the agency do any work without your approval. You should be signing off every step of the way from a written estimate to a comp layout, proof and so forth. This ensures everyone agrees with the direction and execution of the project as it moves forward. It may seem bothersome to sign off on minor text revisions or on low-cost purchases but these are the day to day cases where written approvals are most important. If your agency is not asking for approval to spend your money on the little items then they may not be asking for approval on the big items either. Pay attention to where the dollars are going. Set a formal budget, demand accountability and focus measurement efforts on the line that matters most: the bottom line.

5. Give your agency the good news, too. When your new customer says he or she was impressed by your brochure and Web site and they were important reasons they selected your company, tell your agency. Or if you’ve logged a record month or were nominated for a local award, don’t hide the good news. They’ll feel good and inspired to work even harder for you.

This controversy would've been quite predictable for an experienced media planner. Did Lowe's failure at media planning cause this fracas?

Media planning – not crisis communications? Sure, some PR person will soon write up a case study declaring what the Lowe’s PR team did wrong amid the uproar over the company’s decision to pull its advertising from the TV show All-American Muslim. To summarize, Muslim groups have organized a boycott of Lowe’s as punishment for responding to the demand from a Christian group that the company pull its advertising from the show. I drove by a Lowe’s in Pennsylvania yesterday, btw, and saw no protesters (and few customers).

Yet the fatal failure in this fiasco falls not upon the crisis PR response but upon the media planning. If the case for advertising on the show was sound and advanced the interests of the shareholders then at least have the courage to stand by the decision when asked to pull the advertising. Instead, it appears Lowe’s caved pretty quickly, likely for fear of a boycott.

If it wasn’t a sound decision then the media planning failed and invited the costly controversy. Oh, what little care and consideration seems to be spent in deciding where to advertise!  It’s unfortunate that in many ad agencies and in-house marketing departments, media recommendations are entrusted to novices who lack the wisdom and experience to understand the ramifications of where their advertising dollars are placed. In fact, it’s scary to think how many people at Lowe’s with marketing and advertising job titles either never anticipated this situation, or worse, decided not to speak up for fear of appearing less than politically correct.

There is more to smart media planning than just numerical ratings, circulation and impressions. The mere act of supporting a show or publication suggests support for the content regardless of the organization’s actual positions, if any. Media planners bear a great responsibility to everyone in an organization that goes beyond delivering the ad message to the right people at the right time at the right place at the lowest cost. If this boycott grows legs and actually hurts Lowe’s then stores may be closed and good people put out of work. That’s the extended impact of media planning that needs to be carefully considered before media plans are approved and ad space is placed.

For anyone experienced in media planning, the backlash should’ve been completely predictable.

Superior architecture like Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water achieves a desired result, such as a house that makes guests feel comfortably right at home or a doctor’s office that makes patients feel…patient – without the guests or patients truly knowing exactly why they feel comfortable and patient. Superior graphic design affects prospects in a similar way and influences their decision to buy.

After a few months of reading about architecture and a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water, I happened upon a manufacturer’s spec sheet and it occurred to me that the art of building design is very much like the art of graphic design. Architects consider how to create a mood from outside the building, then guide people inside and direct the traffic flow to suit the purpose of the building. At Falling Water, for example, many of the ceilings become progressively lower moving from each room’s doorway towards the windows, always guiding the eye outside to striking views of the waterfall.

Superior architecture achieves a desired result, such as a building that appears as a natural part of its environment, or a house that makes guests feel comfortably right at home or a doctor’s office that makes patients feel…patient – without the guests or patients truly knowing exactly why they feel comfortable and patient.

Likewise, superior graphic design creates a mood upon first glance then guides the eye from one place to another, directing the flow to suit the purpose of the literature, ad, sign, Web page, direct mailer or other material. Superior graphic design invites people to read the copy and gives them permission to absorb and be influenced by the message. It helps achieve a desired result, such as converting a reader into a lead or a lead into a customer.

We see scores of examples of architecture and design every day but don’t often realize the full extent of their influence. How we feel inside an office, for example or how much we spend in a retail store are influenced by the strength of their designs. Whether we read a spec sheet or direct mailer and take action or discard them to the trash is also influenced by the strength of their designs. We don’t always recognize superior graphic design until we see examples that don’t measure up, which is what sparked this post.

In looking for examples worth emulating, I gathered 12 of my favorite examples of superior graphic design in one place. Click here to see all twelve:

Just because you put 250 words on letterhead and call it a press release doesn’t mean it’s going to help your business. If you want your news to get published then you need to pay attention to what the editors pay attention to when reviewing written materials.

to earn as little attention as grammar, usage and punctuation. “Who cares about commas and sentence structure? Who cares about replacing ‘is’ with an action verb, you ask?” Well, consider these actual bios of just a few of the trade magazine editors who get to read these press releases – they also decide whether to use them or hit delete (the names and their magazines have been removed):

• …editor-in-chief…earned a Masters in Journalism from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a B.A. in English Literature from Harvard College.
• … joined as editor from the University of Akron, where she had taught English composition for three years after earning a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. She also has a 1985 master of fine arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis.
• … editor graduated from Ohio’s Bowling Green State University with an English degree
• … joins as editor after two-and-a-half years as a News Editor and has also been a high school English teacher and graduated from Northern Illinois University with a B.A. in English.

Editors care about words and notice when other writers do not care as much. Even one of the more respected chemical industry magazines has only a single chemical engineering degree on its entire editorial staff. The others studied English and journalism. Now see this introduction in an editorial by Anna Wells, Executive Editor, IMPO:

“As someone who spent the better part of college studying modern literary theory — a vocation so rich with complexity yet sparse in practical application — I can sympathize with the other liberal arts devotees out there: the ones with the music performance or art history degrees. Perhaps when I have a child in college and I am footing the bill, my understanding will lessen… but I hope not. For the sake of erudition (and the ability to use words like erudition in a sentence), I don’t regret the essays on Death in Venice, or the day I read The Sound & The Fury in UW-Madison’s Memorial Library stacks.”

Now, you can better see how a background in English affects how press releases are read. You can better see why it’s important to know when to use ensure or insure, and to know how to use the active voice and the passive voice (and which one to avoid in a press release). Just because you put 250 words on letterhead and call it a press release doesn’t mean it’s going to help your business. If you want your news to get published then you need to pay attention to what the editors pay attention to when reviewing written materials. I’d put words at the top of the list.

When my six-year old daughter Cassie saw the Subway logo on a sign on I-80 somewhere in central Pennsylvania, and was reminded that she’d exclaimed just the week before, “this is the best turkey sub I’ve ever had!” about a Subway sub, we turned off at the exit and ordered the same turkey sub. She took one bite and ate no more. Though the logo had communicated a series of expectations about the product and level of service to be delivered, logos don’t actually select the quality of the turkey or flavor of mustard nor do they stand behind the counter making sub-par subs. It seems Subway is having trouble ensuring consistency from one location to another. This disconnect

Logos instantly communicate the sum of every exposure to your company and trigger a positive or negative reaction that helps determine whether or not to buy.

between the customer’s expectations and actual deliverables creates uncertainty at the time a buying decision is to be made – it makes the decision feel especially high-risk and it carries on forever. As a result, people avoid making the decision by going somewhere else. Some might cross the street to the A & W.

The big, brown logo at the A & W meant nothing to my daughter but my wife Shannon was transfixed as nostalgic memories from her childhood flashed before her eyes. Simply seeing the logo triggered positive feelings that drew her towards the restaurant. Convinced the modern version of A & W would not come close to meeting the expectations of her romanticized memories, I saved her from experiencing the painful disconnect that occurs when a company fails to meet the expectations set by its logo (I drove away). Later that night, Cassie pointed out the light fixture in the T.G.I. Friday’s was shaped just like a Chevrolet logo.

It’s clear logos take root in the subconscious at a very young age. As adults, logos instantly communicate to your customers and prospects the sum of every exposure to your company or brand and trigger a positive or negative reaction that helps determine whether or not to buy. How significant is the impact? Try to think about how you react to every logo you see while in the car today. Favorable or unfavorable? Think about how your customers and prospects might react when seeing your logo. And in eleven years I’ll reveal what kind of car Cassie wants to get – it just might be a Chevy (used).

Winning awards such as this Best Recycling Container award yields a credible logo that may be used in your marketing materials forever.

While some busy editors may delete your press release even before reading it, they’re quite careful to review entries to their awards programs. In many cases, these editors have personally conceptualized and developed their awards programs, they have sold the idea to their publishers and have an interest in the program’s success. They’re actively seeking products worthy of an award and will devote time to reading about your product when presented in this format.

Some awards programs charge a fee to enter, others are free. If your product wins then you’ll enjoy a wave of publicity that generates qualified leads and boosts credibility while providing an award logo for use on your Web site, in your brochures, advertising and in other materials – forever. The nomination alone provides material for your social media program. And the photo of you taken with the award at the black tie gala will be the talk of Facebook. But settle down. It’s more than likely that your product won’t actually win the award, which is fine, because the goal is simply to capture the editor’s attention, which you will. And if the award entry is well written and well presented then your next press release will likely get the attention it rightfully deserves. Then you’ll not only get the publicity you need but you’ll enjoy having an editor actively seeking your material month after month.

Here are several awards that might be worth entering for your company:

Plastics News Process of the Year

Processing’s Breakthrough Products of the Year

R&D 100 Awards

Chemical Processing Vaaler Awards

Medical Design Excellence Awards

Bizbash Event Style Awards

ISRI Design for Recycling Awards

IADD Awards

Call epr for entry preparation guidance at 908-479-4231.

When faced with lackluster response they conclude, “advertising doesn’t work,” or “direct mail doesn’t work, we tried that.” “Next time, we’ll focus a higher percentage on publicity,” for example. It’s easier to blame low response on the decline of print media readership, the use of email spam filters or on the consumers’ short attention spans than it is to blame the strength (or weakness) of the message.

If the case for the product/service is so strong that it’s worth manufacturing and/or selling then maybe it wasn’t presented or described as effectively as it could have been. Maybe the message wasn’t integrated or leveraged effectively across the multiple channels. Many marketers overlook that a wide variety of different factors beyond the media mix affect the response rate and that the method of message delivery is but one of these factors, despite the disproportionate amount of attention it’s often given. Consider these other factors:

• Does the product/service meet a need?
• Does the message clearly solve that need?
• Does the visual design capture attention and support delivery of the sales message?
• Does the copywriting hold attention and lead to a response?
• Is the message being delivered to the right audience?

Imagine a financial planner obsessing about the ideal asset allocation ratio among stocks, bonds and cash. It isn’t enough to conclude that 50 percent of assets need to be in stocks. To be successful, the planner needs to know in which stocks. For marketers, it isn’t enough to conclude that the budget needs to be allocated among different channels by a given ratio. There’s more to it than that. Marketing success demands the right message is delivered to the right audience with the right presentation at the right time. And that’s true whether the message is delivered by advertising, direct mail, publicity or any other channel.

How to determine the ideal media mix to follow in a separate post.