award winning
INNOVATION: Thinking Outside the Cigaret Box.
Friday, June 29th, 2012 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Innovation is a term that’s almost a throwaway today. Every company and every leader stress the importance, value and impact of being innovative — the mantra being, either invent the next great product, or service, or experience. Or die.
At NOISE, we’re no different (although we admit the term is becoming a little threadbare). We, too, trumpet innovative thought and place it on a pedestal, challenging and demanding our very talented staff to not only think outside the box, but turn it upside down and even break it apart if needed. But sometimes, as Ogilvy Asia proves with this anti-smoking campaign in Thailand, being incredibly innovative is pretty simple stuff.
The setup? Children on hidden camera, brandishing cigarets, walk up to adults and ask them for a light. The adult responses are remarkable — for their candor with the kids, and their reactions following the payoff from the children.
It’s creative that’s innovative, powerful and effective — simply. That’s a lesson all who strive to achieve these results can learn from.
SOURCE: NOISE, FoundFolios.com
SOCIAL MEDIA: What’s Not to Like? Or Unlike?
Thursday, November 11th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments
What are the most effective ways to motivate social media consumers to like your brand? Engage with your brand? Share and actually purchase your brand? Equally important, what are the mistakes to avoid if you want to keep ‘em in like with you? We know the secrets, and we’re telling.
According to a newly issued Cone Inc. survey, as reported by Mark Dolliver of Adweek, the average social media consumer engages with brands for the following reasons (in order of influence):
• 77% Offered Incentives (Promotions, Discounts, Free Trials, etc.)
• 46% Solved a Problem (Customer Service, etc.)
• 39% Solicited Feedback (Surveys, Research, etc.)
• 28% Entertain the Consumer
• 21% Market to the Consumer (PPC)
The payoffs are big. With a positive brand experience, 60% of social media consumers feel better served by the brand they engage with, and 59% are more likely to buy that brand.
On the flip side, consumers will quickly and eagerly thumbs-down and unlike a brand. Here are the three biggest mistakes to avoid:
• Don’t Act Irresponsibly Toward Consumers
• Don’t Over-Communicate (Begins to Feel Like Spam)
• Don’t Become Irrelevant
With studies suggesting the average marketing value of every Facebook “like” at $130-plus, there’s a lot to gain here. And a lot to lose. Choose wisely.
SOURCE: Cone Inc., Adweek, NOISE
E-MARKETING: In Defense of the Lowly Ol’ E-Mail.
Tuesday, November 9th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments
The KISS principle. At NOISE, we believe there’s still a lot to be gained — even in today’s complex, multi-channeled communications world — by keeping it simple, stupid. And we can prove it.
Take e-marketing. Over the course of any given year, NOISE creates, produces, delivers and measures (in-house) more than one million e-blasts for our clients. And the outstanding performance of these highly branded campaigns — which annually deliver clickthroughs exceeding 400% of industry average — demonstrates why we’re passionate advocates of creative, engaging, visually- and verbally-motivating html-based messaging.
So imagine our antler dance when testing of simple, text-only campaigns rocked those numbers — generating clickthroughs almost 800% greater than industry average, as well as numerous social community mentions and referrals seldom seen by traditional campaigns.
Now, there’s a strategy to text-only campaigns that (as a service to our clients) we won’t reveal here. But suffice it to say there’s strong evidence that as sophisticated and studied as e-marketing has become, there’s still a time and a place — even today — for selectively pulling out the KISS principle.
Ask your marketing partner. Or even better, ask us.
SOURCE: NOISE
CREATIVE: Whatever It’s Worth.
Monday, May 17th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments
As we’ve written here before, NOISE North hosts a garbage can in our conference room, a shiny receptacle that stands as our symbol of the value of award-winning advertising, interactive, social media, public relations or any other brand communications — without results.
So last week, when NOISE South had the great pleasure to share with a number of our outstanding clients the exciting news that four of our creative efforts this past year were judged worthy of “Regional” Addy Awards — three more than any other agency in Southwest Florida, and hot on the heels of our local 19-Addy-awards 2010 performance, which included two Best of Show Awards and a Judges Choice Award thrown in for good measure — we announced the news with a low-key memo simply entitled: “For whatever it’s worth.”
For the most part, the reactions of our clients were what you might expect. Excitement. Praise. Hearty congratulations. Then, we received a note from a client leader whom we’d describe as the “toughest sell” of this award-winning group. To paraphrase his message: “What’s it worth? I believe it translated into positive sales for us.”
We wrote the words “for whatever it’s worth” because even today, given the delicate state of the economy and the incredibly high value of every marketing dollar that you will spend, there are still many marketers who fail to understand that the better the message in, the better the reaction out — unlike the all-too-common very opposite of this that we see all too often in advertising today, which is: garbage in, garbage out.
So to our clients, congratulations on your award-winning work. We’re extremely pleased you see the value in them, in the truest business sense of the word.
SOURCE: NOISE
MOBILE: Where the Web Is Headed.
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Four years from now, where will the majority of us hop online?
If Morgan Stanley analysts are correct, more users will access the Internet in 2015 via mobile devices than our computers.
Impossible, you say? Or at the very least, hard to imagine? Not really, when you consider the widespread acceptance and exponential growth of smart phones; the proliferation of faster 3G mobile service, combined with affordable pricing; and the rapid rollout of innovative and exciting new mobile applications, technologies and uses.
From its introduction in June, 2007 via the iPhone and iTouch, mobile web in less than three years has become the standard for anywhere and anytime access to friends, games, video, entertainment, shopping, sharing, mapping, research, wireless home appliances and much more tomorrow. In fact, the average iPhone user today spends less than half of his or her on-device time making phone calls!
As the landscape changes for web marketers, the challenges will be many. But so are the opportunities. So charge up your smart phone now.
SOURCE: Morgan Stanley, Mashable, NOISE
SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook Goes Sally Field-Like.
Monday, March 29th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Clearly, one of Facebook’s most brilliant strategic moves in its amazingly brief (only since 2004) yet consistently brilliant corporate history was the decision less than two years ago to move its social media model into full-blown business tilt, with the introduction of the “Fan” page with its ubiquitous “Become a Fan” button and lexicon.
In that time, innovative marketers everywhere have jumped on the Fan bandwagon, grabbing and retaining thousands of passionate, vocal consumers who are engaged with their brand, hardly shy about sharing it with others, and motivated to visit their favorite websites and up the value (perceived or real) of social media marketing.
But now, along has come a radical new marketing initiative that Facebook is betting brands — or at the very least, Sally Field — will like, really like. It’s new nomenclature and a new option for consumers to “like” a brand instead of “fanning” it. According to Facebook, people are more than 200 percent more likely to click “Like” than “Become a Fan” (which effectively rested in peace on Monday, April 19, 2010).
One month into the changeover, the early returns suggest that once again, Facebook has chosen wisely. To date, more than 10 million new users have joined the FB ranks, and more than 10,000 brands have adopted the “Like” button.
If you’re an innovative social media marketer, stay ahead of the changes ahead and how you can, like, use them to your advantage.
SOURCE: NOISE, Mashable, MediaMemo
INNOVATION: Giving Your Customers What They Want.
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Okay, you’ve probably just read this headline and scratched your head. After all, giving the customer what they want is about as old as dirt and simple as it gets.
Well, old it is. But simple it may not always be. That’s where the innovation part comes in.
Innovation as we all know can take many forms. Most innovation today manifests itself in new science and technology. But innovation can also be born when bold thinkers like you and me ask daring questions of the seemingly obvious like “why?” or “why not?”
It’s the simple questioning of the status quo, and the ability to look at something differently, that can just as effectively create fresh new ways of doing business, creating demand, satisfying customers and improving sales. Case in point is a new program launched this fall by NOISE client Fort HealthCare, an integrated, progressive health network that serves Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin and surrounding communities.
Through focus groups conducted by NOISE, Fort HealthCare learned that a source of frustration for new patients was the lack of empowerment they felt (in past experience elsewhere) in choosing a physician. So the innovative minds at Fort HealthCare marketing huddled together, enlisted a bunch of daring docs and launched a new Physician Interview Program called “Meet Your Match” — a free, 10-minute one-on-one interview with any or all participating providers.
Imagine that. Telling the doctor, basically, to open wide and say ahh.
Science? No. Technology? No. Common sense? Yes. Innovative? Yes yes.
Is there something about your operation or organization that would better satisfy your customers? Think about it. Then think about it differently.
SOURCE: NOISE
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: How to Share (If You Dare) With Facebook.
Monday, September 28th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
By now, only the most sheltered from the world of you have not been exposed to the marketing power of Facebook, to socially and positively extend a brand’s reputation, reach and results (caveat: when used correctly). But I’ll bet very few of you are aware of a free, traffic building and customer satisfaction enhancing application called Facebook Connect.
Facebook Connect is an API (application programming interface) that can serve as a click-to-use “forum” for your consumers to express and share their love of your product or service — in other words, a no-charge, user friendly, extremely social customer satisfaction section of your website.
Bonus for you: your consumers don’t have to be Facebook members to post their praise of you on your website, using Facebook Connect.
Bonus bonus for you: if your consumers are Facebook members, they can click-share their kudos about your product or service with all of their friends in the FB world.
Bonus bonus bonus for you: if said friends read Facebook Connect praise, a direct link back to your website automatically accompanies the posting — which, if you’ve done everything right and your consumer loves you, will drive new customers to your website to learn more.
NOISE client ‘Tween Waters Inn Island Resort has implemented Facebook Connect on its exciting new website (view here under “Raves and Reviews”). Since launch, an average of three comments per week have been posted and shared, expanding the resort’s reach, reputation and (hopefully) results.
But be forewarned: like any social media outlet, if you screw up, people will shout it from the mountaintop. Only with Facebook Connect, the mountaintop will be found right on your website. So rock your consumer’s world, and earn their praise. It’ll come back to you in spades.
To learn more, ask your agency. Your web developer. Or better yet, contact us at NOISE.
SOURCE: NOISE
COMMUNICATIONS: In Praise of the Postal Service (Huh?).
Monday, February 23rd, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Probably like you, I’m someone who seldom has something nice to say about the United States Postal Service. Well, please allow me to eat my words, the paper they’re written on and the envelope I’d mail ‘em in.
Deliver is a bi-monthly marketing magazine that’s (dare I say) contemporary, topical, timely and useful. Its design and layout is very hip, its articles interesting and well written, and the variety of marketing information provided — news, trends, case studies, essays — is practical and valuable.
What’s most impressive about Deliver is that its creators aren’t one-dimensional about their unspoken mission to get you to buy more stamps, but understand and champion the multi-channel nature of marketing today. In fact, Deliver’s editorial approach is so horizontal and unbiased in addressing integrated branding and marketing — be it interactive, broadcast, social media or really any tactic — that you, too, might do a double take when learning that the United States Postal Service is the publisher, as I did.
Finally, the old USPS is even smart enough to put it all online, at a hip website you should explore at delivermagazine.com. You can even sign up for (what’s the stamp world coming to?) an e-newsletter.
So thank you, post office. When was the last time you said that?
SOURCE: NOISE
WEBINARS: Talking the Leadership Talk.
Monday, September 8th, 2008 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Who are the leaders in your organization? Odds are, they’re not just c-suite professionals anymore. Leaders today are emerging on all levels within progressive companies — creating newness, discovering solutions, winning awards, garnering attention or otherwise rethinking the way things have always been done.
In branding your company, there isn’t a better place to be or positioning to adopt than that of the leader. And NOISE believes the best way to communicate your leadership is to exercise every opportunity possible to get your leaders talking the talk.
Take webinars. Today, webinars allow interested parties from around the country or the world — literally in any location anywhere there’s internet access — to sit in as active, interactive audience participants in a presentation of interest.
Mary Parodo, NOISE president, was one of three honored panelists in a September, 2008 webinar on health care marketing, hosted and promoted by HealthLeaders Media. With some preparation and a little polish (as in professionally-produced PowerPoint slides and video, example here), Mary was able to benefit health care marketers throughout the United States with her knowledge and insight — as well as position NOISE as an industry leader to hundreds of potential clients.
There are lots of ways your leaders can show off their leadership, from webinars and blogs (like this one) to white papers and feature articles. Interested? Let NOISE lead the way for you.
Source: NOISE
Reported by: John Sprecher
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