Alberta Business Marketing

A few posts ago I opined about the brilliance of the colour forecasters at Pantone – who have successfully been selecting the colour of the year, year after year after year. The Pantone colour for 2011 is “Honeysuckle”. The process for selecting the colour of the year appears to be quite intelligent – it’s about the “narrative” and getting the story right.

The narrative for Honeysuckle made sense very early in 2011: “In times of stress, we need something to lift our spirits. Honeysuckle is a captivating, stimulating color that gets the adrenaline going – perfect to ward off the blues."

2011 was supposed to be the year of calm after the storm – i.e. the big recession. And before 2012 the year of conflict (due to the election in the U.S.) and who knows what else.

Well, as it turns out, 2011 is turning out to be one of the most conflicted years we have seen in a long time:

• The European sovereign debt crisis is a never ending issue.
• The Middle East is in turmoil – and in transition.
• The U.S. government is conflicted and trying to solve a short and long term debt crisis.
• Japan (the third largest economy in the world) has had to deal with a triple whammy – the largest earthquake in its history, a tsunami and a nuclear disaster.
• And never mind the rising cost of oil and food and other global commodities.

...The moral of the story – predicting is as complicated as I always thought.

Ruth Lukaweski

Tags: Strategy, This and That
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As Canadians we have a good reputation around the world and are viewed as accommodating. A strength to be sure but isn’t it time to individually and collectively be our personal best and stop settling for second best.

Recently I heard Brian Williams speak at the Entrepreneur of the Year award and he talked about “the winds of change” he witnessed firsthand at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Brian noted the changes he began to see before the games and an interview with skier Jennifer Heil, a gold medalist 4 years earlier in Turin. She said “for Canadians it’s not just enough to show up anymore, we’re better than that”.

We live in a country filled with natural beauty and numerous resources. We are a diverse mix of people with multiple skills and talents. It’s time to rise to the occasion and bring our passion to the forefront. We can do it as individuals and while that is a part of it, the real magic comes in collectively pulling together. It’s time to stop waiting in the background for the government to do something, or the economy to get better. It’s time to find ways to make a difference and then quietly or not so quietly go about doing just that.

So I’m putting my money where my mouth is and sharing with you my vision (that I am actively working towards each day). My vision is through collaboration, every workplace in Canada (hek North America and the world) will be a place where people:

• Can be their personal best
• Align to a shared purpose
• Find solutions where none previously existed
• Strive to achieve organizational greatness.

An ambitious goal and vision to be sure, but a worthy cause I believe. I encourage you to formulate your vision, blue sky it, then write it down and develop a plan of action. BTW, I’m actively recruiting advocates to help spread the word and make my vision a reality. I’m doing it in my work with clients, my volunteer efforts, and doing my best to get it “viral”. So feel free to join in.

The words of Nelson Mandela sum it up “There is no passion to be found in playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”

Shelley McQuade

Tags: This and That
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We’ve all heard the saying “knowledge is power”. While this is true, taking-in “knowledge” has its limits. Whilst looking to “live the dolce vita” on my recent trip to Italy, I found myself with information overload.

We had a fabulous tour guide that knew Italy inside out. And that was just the beginning. An avid history buff on a good day, our tour guide would forget more about ancient history than I could ever hope to remember. Passionate and enthusiastic, he shared his knowledge with us at every opportune moment. On day three of the trip, my travel companion turned to me and said “enough” – I’ve got to unplug – literally (we had been given headsets so in a crowd we wouldn’t miss a thing).

They say “there is no such thing as a coincidence” and strangely enough I was mid way through the Heath Brother’s book “Ideas that Stick” and it got me to thinking I’m guilty at times of “feeding my clients with a fire hose” so to speak.

The Heath Brothers refer to this as the “Curse of Knowledge”. Once we have a “deep knowing”, we forget what it was like not to know and assume others (and we all know what they say about assuming) need to know everything we know and in a fraction of the time it took us to hone our craft.

Combine this with neuroscience’s finding that it takes up to 25% more energy to take in new information (due to the use of our executive frontal cortex vs. subconscious part of our brain) and you’ve got a case for information overload.

Next time you find yourself sharing knowledge or information deploy the KISS method and whittle your information down to the core – identify what matters most and deliver that nugget. Those on the receiving end will thank you – and as a bonus, retain the information.

Shelley McQuade

Tags: Human Resources, This and That
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Tell me if this sounds familiar. There is a major campaign and the marketing team of a company gets together. If they have an agency they brief them.

The team brainstorms on ideas, creative, copy, content and concepts. Everything comes together swimmingly. And as we're in an increasingly digital world we coordinate our offline marketing efforts as part of the campaign also. Print. Televsion. Radio. Billboards. You name it. All integrated into one ecosystem.

Someone on the team then gets hit by a thunderbolt during the process. You know those moments when a brilliant idea or tagline hits you when you are in the shower – and you get a brilliant name for the campaign. It's simple, to the point and memorable. Everyone agrees the proposed tagline is brilliant. And getting consensus is difficult if not bordering on impossible with so many internal stakeholders. Creative work starts and all systems are go! Full speed ahead. Damn the torpedoes!

And then a few weeks later as you steam ahead into the wild blue yonder someone has the temerity to ask the question "Has the website domain name for the campaign been registered?" Full stop. Evasive manoeuvres! Torpedo coming straight at you.

It's very common where marketers seem to put the registration of the domain name (I.e. website address) at the very bottom of their checklist – if it's there at all. And the consequences can be disastrous.

I once worked at a company where another department was working on a major marketing campaign. Our digital team wasn't involved as the other department 'had things totally under control'. A conservative estimate was that they had spent tens of thousands of dollars in creative, development work and media buy.

They then went to register the domain name – let's call it 'lightbox.com' - two weeks before the campaign launched. Guess what? The domain name was taken. Someone else had already registered it. They tried to get the legal department involved but no dice. Their case was tenuous at best and time was a commodity in short supply. Which isn't ideal when dealing with legal issues. Not to mention the CMO basically said "Figure it out. Or someone's head will roll."

The team then tried to purchase lightbox.com because all of the promotions and advertising led back to that website address. A website address they were not in possession of. Fortunately, the team managed to purchase it 12 hours before the national campaign went live. (They also paid through their nose and the ROI objectives of the entire campaign became a little more harder for no good reason.)

My question is why? In an age where digital, social and mobile are such a critical and integrated component of marketing – why do marketers seem to leave the domain names to the very end? These days that is akin to launching a campaign without creative. You just can't do it. And whether you are on the client side or agency side – it's completely irresponsible to overlook as a marketer. And don’t cop out and say that kind of thing is the responsibility of the IT department. It’s yours.

My rule of thumb has always been, as soon as you get alignment on a name, rush to the nearest computer and register the domain name immediately. Candidly, I border on paranoia where I refuse to tell people the name because you don't want word to get out until it's registered.

"That's great advice" you say – but what happens if I don't leave things to the last minute and the domain name is already taken Sulemaan? That could very well happen. In fact it's happened to me before and these days most .com website addresses are already taken. So here are some suggestions based on my experience:

1.Try to see if the website address is expiring anytime soon. Perhaps you can silently wait and then renew it for a minimal amount. Using a domain dropcatching service like NameJet or SnapNames vastly increases your chances here.

2.Pick an alternative domain name. Or instead of using a .com address, you can go with a .ca or .co address.

3.Use an intermediary to purchase the domain on your behalf. Why get someone else to do it? Isn't that more expensive? It might add some costs but if you directly contact the owner of a domain name you want and they figure out you work for 'Big Company X' or 'Huge Agency Y' - guess what happens to the starting asking price? Think helium balloons. So for years I've used Bill Sweetman from YummyNames. He's purchased domain names I’ve coveted from $24 all the way up to six figures. He's reliable. He's honest. He knows domains better than anyone I've met.

In this increasingly digital marketing world – whether you are planning a marketing campaign, launch or promotion - don't make registering your domain name(s) the last thing you do. Make it the first. That way you avoid unnecessary torpedoes.

Sulemaan Ahmed

Tags: eCommerce, Get it off your chest, Strategy, This and That
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Economic recessions are not that bad after all! According to a recent article in The Globe and Mail, U.S. research has indicated that increases in state-level jobless rates are associated with a drop in mortality rates. This research has now been Canadianized and the conclusions are the same.

New findings show that a one-percentage-point increase in the jobless rate cuts the predicted mortality rate of people in their 30s by approximately two percent. It also lowers the death rate for women close to retirement. Economic professors at Wilfrid Laurier University pointed out that the data suggests “a strong relationship between unemployment and mortality rates of middle-aged Canadians – in other words, baby boomers.

After analysing Statistics Canada mortality rates from 1977 to 2009 along with unemployment rates, they’ve concluded there are differences in conclusions between the U.S. and Canadian numbers. South of the border, recessions tend to cut mortality rates of infants and seniors, but in Canada, the effect is more pronounced among the middle-aged.

It’s surprising to me that physical health sometimes improves during recessions. Smoking and obesity decline during temporary economic downturns, while leisure-time physical activity increases. Heavy drinkers tend to reduce alcohol consumption and people also tend to sleep more when the economy is tanking.

And this is also true outside North America. A 2004 German study found mortality drops in recessions due to decreases in cardiovascular disease, pneumonia, car accidents and suicides. Among 23 OECD countries, deaths tend to rise when economic times are good. The Canadian results seem to parallel in conclusions – individuals tend to take on behaviours that are harmful to their health when economic conditions are good.

So in spite of the doom and gloom about recessions, marketers in the health and wellness sector should perhaps leverage economic downturns to focus on further improving the physical and mental well-being of people.

Lina Ko

Tags: Strategy, This and That
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