View Made to Stick on FORA.tv

In this video, co-author Chip Heath explains the concept of generating ideas that are ‘made to stick’. There is an interesing question and answer session in the end, do check it out.

No Comments | Creativity & Brainstorming, Generating Ideas & Ideation Techniques, Innovation Techniques, Marketing to college students, Marketing to young women, New Concepts & Ideas | Email Article | Share on Facebook | del.icio.us | digg this

After viewing the Super Bowl ads, Nationwide’s commercial featuring K-Fed was certainly my favorite. It was hilarious and also made you acknowledge that “life comes at you fast” because of the tangible pop culture example they gave. I think this was an excellent ad targeting Gen Y and may get them to actually think about the need for financial services. I would have liked more information about the company though and the service they provide because it did not get communicated to me prominently. I must say that I investigated it a bit after the ad aired though. I also think the self deprecating humor was a good career move for Kevin Federline. I actually liked the music, found my head bobbing to the beats and his flow, and checked the commercial and K-Fed’s website later during the super bowl! That says something about the ad as well…that I would leave the super bowl to watch a commercial again and visit K-Feds website! I think this ad was the best example of a great commercial and one that could become viral. I’ll be interested in seeing statistics of video views on YouTube. There also was a “stickiness” factor with this ad. The “Federline Fries!” shout by the manager at the end was a show stopper and memorable. I already hear buzz that this will be a memorable pop culture slogan. I quickly thought that this slogan would make a great domain name to have for this blog! This creative advertising idea concept seems like something that we would have generated at our brainstorm sessions with really creative Gen Y idea generators. At our brainstorm this past week we had fun with creating a whole variety of marketing messages such as these. It was excellent because the ad will live on virally through YouTube and in conversations. Authored by Darin Eich.

No Comments | Generation-Y wants, Gen-Y ideas, Marketing to college students, Marketing to young women, New Concepts & Ideas | Email Article | Share on Facebook | del.icio.us | digg this

We’ve all experienced it, the sudden change in production quality from a national ad campaign to the comparatively low production quality of an ad from a local company. Being someone who is already inclined to be dismissive of most national ads, the sheer (I don’t want to say it, but can’t think of a better word) ineptitude illustrated in so many market-specific ad campaigns is very frustrating.

With digital technology offering low cost production values and so many media-savvy consumers out there, the opportunity for hip, inexpensive local ad production is out there. My main point here is that there are resources in the form of Gen-Y folks who know how to produce videos and have ideas about appealing to consumers out there. Especially in local ads, too many companies rely on the tried and true method of having a semi-famous local celeb telling you about the great deals to be had. Local marketing campaigns should ideally serve as a testing ground for larger national ads, as states provide testing grounds for social programs.

To be competitive and to draw in new customers, locally based companies should employ the technological-know-how of Gen Y individuals and make use of their understanding of effective marketing techniques.

1 Comment | Generation-Y wants, Gen-Y ideas, Marketing to college students, Marketing to young women, Corporate Innovation | Email Article | Share on Facebook | del.icio.us | digg this

I am not sure why there is not something more on a local level that better connects businesses with college students with specific attention paid to the interests of the college student. I am envisioning a web-service that allows local business people to post specials by the hour according to the student preference. For example, if a local bar was barely receiving any business on a particular night they could post on the website that they were having a three-hour special of all you could drink beer for $X. This would allow for the bar to better control their flow of customers in a bar while giving the students an excellent value and option for the night.

Another use for this application would be to better control inventory in a store or restaurant. If I am the owner of a clothing store and I just got in the new shipment of clothes and had a bunch of leftovers, I could post on the website that I had these available sizes and it would get posted on the website.

For the actual model of the website, think a combination of http://jellyfish.com and http://digg.com. Jellyfish.com is a website which has a selling feature where an item has to go and the price gets lowered by the minute until the item is sold out. The website could have the option for such an auction of an item, but it would be on more of a local scale and might require the user to actually go to the store in their local area. It would relate to Digg.com by allowing user input to say whether this was a good deal or not, bad deals would get ‘buried’ and would not be shown to other users (which would address the issues of just using the website as an advertisement) while good deals would get pulled to the top for the user.

This service does not need to be limited to college students, but I know that as a member of Gen Y that the idea would be well perceived over the internet or a desktop widget because of the massive amount of hours that we spend connected to the internet. These are just some thoughts on a service that could be used to better connect students with businesses. Most of these thoughts are rough, but the underlying concept of having a service that better connects businesses to college students by advertising to their direct interests is something that could be very successful while benefiting the customer and businesses.

No Comments | Generation-Y wants, Marketing to college students, Marketing to young women, Open Innovation, New Concepts & Ideas, Managing Generation Y | Email Article | Share on Facebook | del.icio.us | digg this

I am currently reading through the new book “Made to Stick” by Chip and Dan Heath and ran across this awesome example of an ad that goes along with the chapter of Unexpected. This is a brialliant advertising scheme! It has had 70,000 views on YouTube. Even more so, you know that the people that won cars or talked to Tiger that day will go out and tell all of their friends about their unexpected experience. This is a story which will definitely stick as will the name behind the vehicle.

No Comments | Marketing to college students, Marketing to young women | Email Article | Share on Facebook | del.icio.us | digg this

It seems like this idea should already be out there, but I can’t think of any good examples of it, so I’m just gonna go ahead with my thoughts on targeted marketing.

What I’m envisioning is having companies have advertisements right next to or associated with some location or other company whose product or entertainment would be counteracted by company #1’s advertising. So for instance, you’ve got your local fast food joint. Right outside the fast food joint is a big billboard for a local gym or some dieting food. Or for example ski or snowboarding hills, you’re likely to fall at least once and injure yourself, so inside the lodge or right by the hill, you’ve got some ads for a pain medication. The possible pairings are virtually endless. Inside a bar, you’ve got some ads for hangover pills, or for a place with a nice greasy breakfast for the morning.

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It’s tricky being a girl out there in the world today. It’s especially hard being a girl in the world who is “one of the guys”.

I am one of these girls.

The trickiest part of being “one of the guys” is that the guys that I hang out with are all eaters. They eat allllll the time! From McDonalds to Noodles to the Olive Garden to ordering pizza, these boys can certainly put it away. However, being the health conscious girl that I am, I can’t eat these same quantities of food without consequence. After spending a summer of eating like a boy, I realized that my body didn’t like it- neither did my mind. All of those pounds of gummy worms were keeping me sluggish and weak- especially with my vegetarian diet.

What I want to see are products that are catered to the girls who are also “one of the guys”. Products that can be cooked or baked that taste great and like they aren’t good for you but definitely are. I want to see frozen pizzas that are healthy and ones that boys are still willing to eat.

Most of the guys I know are completely uninterested in healthy foods, it’s time to adjust their interests to the needs of their female friends.

Bon appetit

1 Comment | Generation-Y wants, Gen-Y ideas, Marketing to young women, Voice of the customer, New Concepts & Ideas | Email Article | Share on Facebook | del.icio.us | digg this

Earlier, I posted a comment on how women look for products to serve multiple purposes. Going along with this same train of thought, I would like to talk a bit about the quantity of products women use and then touch again on the genius of dual purpose products.

I know that for me, it’s a huge endeavor to pack for a trip. It’s even rough packing for an overnight stay. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard one of my girlfriends say how they hate packing not because of the act of organizing, but because of the impossibility of managing to both remember all of the cosmetic products they need and prevent said products from spilling all over their clothing.

Just to give you an idea of what a woman might need to pack IN ADDITION to her clothing, here’s a basic list: makeup (probably 5-10 items such as foundation, powder, blush, makeup brushes, eyeshadow, eyepencils, mascara, etc. etc. etc.), hairbrush, shampoo, conditioner, body soap, any facial care (lotions, soaps, creams), probably some sort of moisturizer, deodorant, any earrings or necklaces etc., tampons or pads, hairspray or gel, a hairdryer, a straightening iron or curler.

Just think about how much space all of those EXTRAS take up. It’s completely overwhelming.

Although some companies claim to be addressing these needs by making two-in-one shampoo and conditioners or foundation that finishes as a powder, women essentially know what they like and probably have some sort of routine they go through in getting ready. I’ve seen it with both the women in my family as well as with my friends.

What I would suggest is this: create ways to make your products ‘to-go’ and have them ready so that it doesn’t require the woman to use zip-lock bag to make sure that her shampoo doesn’t coat her sweaters in volume-boosting goo.

If there were a way that I could combine my brush with a dryer and a straightener or curling iron, that would be amazing! Or how about a wand that has eyeliner on one end and mascara on the other? What about some sort of packing bag that makes all of this easy to store, organize and keep from making a mess?

I hope to someday be able to pack for a weeklong trip like a man- one duffle bag, no zip-lock bags included.

No Comments | Generation-Y wants, Gen-Y ideas, Marketing to young women | Email Article | Share on Facebook | del.icio.us | digg this

Many advertisers will tell you that women are complicated. It can be tough to appeal to their sensibilities and tastes, as women are versatile, and as different as their fingerprints or handbags. An increasingly difficult sect of women to market to is young women, those between the ages of 15 and 25.

An article discussing ways and approaches to market to this booming young-female market was recently posted on BusinessWeek.com. The article was written by the women of 3iYing, a marketing firm that focuses on marketing to women ages 15 to 25. So needless to say the authors were spot on when describing problems with current advertisements targeting young-female consumers. Issues included arrogance, negligence and insensitivity.

And while they offered additional suggestions for marketing to young women, the key goal was missed, research.. Young women are a diverse group who have dissimilar interests, and can not be generalized into categories. Individualism is valued, but so is looking like the group. Complexity does not begin to describe the predicament.

This is where a company like BrainReactions is really allowed the chance to shine. BrainReactions has the power to research what young women want, straight from the target market. With Brainstorming sessions and idea generation, the BrainReactions team has the power to truly get inside the hearts and minds of this demographic. Companies could only be so lucky.

The missing piece to cracking the code on advertising to young women isn’t appealing to sensitivities necessarily, but rather research, brainstorming and interaction with the target market.

–Erin [erin.canty@brainreactions.com]

1 Comment | BrainReactions News, Generation-Y wants, Marketing to young women, Open Innovation | Email Article | Share on Facebook | del.icio.us | digg this