WOMEN & BEER

No, that’ s not the start of a bar song.

In the spirit of the season, we turn our thoughts at Bandwidth to food and spirits. And
this new beer line caught our attention.

As you may know, women are becoming a bigger part of what was traditionally a male
market for beer, in the US and abroad.

Some beer manufacturers have lowered the carbs and the calories to women, but Polish
company, Carlsberg Polska, is making a bold move to create a beer just for women,

Their brew, Karmi, brings sweet flavors and complexity to the palette without pumping
up the calories or alcohol content, so it’ s more in line with what health conscious women
are looking for in a beer.

So far, Karmi comes in a handful of flavors: Classic (caramel), Poema di Caffé (coffee),
Selua (pineapple/piña colada), and Lamai (guava, dragonfruit and mint.) All are sealed
up in a luxurious bottle that feels far more elegant than most dude brews.

Clearly time to cue up a Dudes and Daquiris bar song after Auld Lang Syne.

Happy New Year!

Leadership Lessons in a Rock Fan's Dance

Many of you may be familiar with TED videos, the online video library of  great talks from the TED (Technology Entertainment Design) Conference.

This talk in particular was great in its simplicity. Far faster  than Gladwell's Tipping Point read, and just as cogent in its dissecting  a video of a concert dance to make a point about how group movements  start.

The lessons for marketers, leaders, teachers, party-throwers are  readily apparent: it's the second "follower" that has real guts,  turning the bleeding edge into the leading edge.

The second person to follow a lead:

   
• turns a solo into a group
   
• commits his or her credibility to a possible lone wolf, person, or idea
   
• enables the more risk-averse to join in

It's time to value that first convert in following the lead or idea. Seconds, anyone?

Sample Pack Rats

Takahiro Kawano took traditional free sampling to a new level -- the ground floor retail level.

He created Sample Lab!   It's a store that allows consumers to explore sample products, bringing  a fresh concept to “tryvertising”. 

The 'lab' is filled with lots of unreleased goods in food, beverage, and beauty products.  

There's a store front.  A demonstration room.  A woman's powder room to try out cosmetics.  Experimenting is the key in this lab.

After sampling, members (15 and up who must register) are required to fill out surveys via cell phone.  If they really like the item they may buy it if it's available.  If not, they can take up to 5 or 10 samples home. 

The brand, designers, and manufacturers use the surveys to improve and tweak their product before release.  Sample Lab!’s unique system not only offers brands consumer feedback but also helps generate word of mouth buzz and excitement for new products. 

The franchise is still young, but Sample Lab! has around 700 consumers walk into the Harajuku store a day!  Stores aren't located outside of specific Asian countries, but there is definite interest in opening Sample Labs! internationally. 

Anyone up for trying one?

http://springwise.com/marketing_advertising/tryvertising_lab_in_tokyo/

http://www.samplelab-international.com/why.php

http://www.pbs.org/nbr/site/onair/transcripts/080327e/

http://www.japaninc.com/mgz_october_2008_sample-lab

Don't Go Away Mad, Men.

Yes, now that we're in the heat of summer, it's time for Don Draper and the whole Ad gang to hit our home screens again.  Complete with commercial interruptions.

If you don't know the TV show Mad Men, on AMC network, you are either far too busy, don't care about marketing, loathe serial dramedy, or all of the above.  Not that we'd fault you for any of that.

For the Mad Men neophyte, the show is all about the 60's NY ad game. Stylishly shot.  Very well acted.  And great writing, with lines like these:

You know what my father used to say? "Being with a client is like being in a marriage. Sometimes you get into it for the wrong reasons, and eventually they hit you in the face."

Now in the 4th season, the hits in the face keep coming.  Along with stiff drinks, and all the other Rat Pack longings.

You can catch up on it here:  http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/

And when you do, or if you have, you'll find this faux periodic table amusing and creative:

http://flavorwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/PeriodicTableofMadMen-Flavorwire-Miethner.jpg

Almost as useful as a cocktail recipe book.

Just Draw Me Some Kind of Poster! Can't You Push Your iMac Layout Button?

The attached 'email interchange' is amazingly funny.  

Not to turn everything into a lesson, but buried in the humor are a few pointers:

• be very clear on what you want when you ask for a creative solution to something

• creatives want to make something useful and memorable -- if you don't want invention, do it yourself

• good designers are a rare breed of eye and thought -- the best work appears effortless, and thus often in dollar terms is undervalued

• writers always have to turn everything into some deeper meaning -- so forget the points above now and just laugh when you see this:

http://www.27bslash6.com/missy.html

So What's Anti-Social Media?

Bloggers love to write articles on how to leverage social media to create a movement.  They call this going viral, creating a tribe or creating a following.    

Many draw from success stories.   Then they seem to imply that by following a set of rules, one can achieve the same success.  

Casey Hibbard wrote an excellent article about Lance Armstong's uber-popular Live Strong movement for the Social Media Examiner.  

Her article is full of great advice about the intelligent social media tactics used by Live Strong to achieve social media success.   

But while the lessons are sound, she and other denizens often forget to ensure one asks a basic question to start:  is you company or your industry 'socializable?'   

Can Live Strong's success be recreated using some of the same tactics?  Yes, if your company, your initiative or industry can galvanize people in the real world.   To create a following online there has to be a real reason to follow.  

Ideally, you have to nail one of the following attributes: 

• create something entertaining

• enable people to show off

• help people connect, re-connect, or FEEL connected

• indulge some voyeuristic tendencies

• ensure one will feel 'left out' if not participating

And to some extent, if you are bringing the next Sham-Wow or 3G light bulb to market, don't hold your breadth for 1 million twitter followers or 3 million youtube views. There is most likely no compelling reason for consumers to give their already fragmented attention or time.  

In some ways, any type of marketing, social or no, comes down to the same simple phrase:  what's in it for me?

Product or Service? Or Both?

P&G, the globe's pre-eminent goods marketer, is testing a branch into service businesses with their brand names.

Leveraging brands that have long dominated the shelves, P&G now runs 'Mr. Clean' car wash and Tide Dry Cleaners.  Can Iam's Pet Walkers be far behind?   Pantene Hair Salons?

The advantages are many:

• an experiential play on brands/goods that heretofore only went from retail shelf to kitchen or bath cabinet

• another 'advertising' vehicle 

(Side note:  we at Bandwidth helped to use Taco Bell's stores as billboards for many years, given the dearth of media spend compared to the bigger burger chains)

• a great way to test new products within or outside of the title brand's portfolio

• a built-in name brand that can possibly rise above the Mom & Pop shops without a name or reputation

The downside?  Making sure that quality stays consistent and the experience is a good one.  

Many a real service company has fallen hard when the human component comes into the equation.  Delivering in the service realm goes far beyond making sure your package looks pretty and gets to Aisle 2 on time.

But, that said -- good luck, P&G.  Always good to see a big behemoth take a small chance on something different.  

Source: http://adage.com/article?article_id=142898

When Lit Goes Rap Sampler: Hip-Hopifi-fiction?

Interesting article in Sunday's NY Times book section about, among other things, the lifting of famous authors' words to create new works.  Almost music sampler style.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/books/21mash.html?th&emc=th

So the mash-ups so popular in music might appear in the literary world?  Copyright and trade infringement effect everyone, though the lit class has somewhat dodged the sampling bullet, maybe because its a sleepier, older, and less profitable world to begin with.

I'm sure an attorney could argue against this statement.  Or for it, as attorneys do.

Anyway, in our creative way, it got our mash up brain's thinking:  where else can one sample and combine for a synthesis of new off of the old?  Brands?  Sure Buckeye BBQ sauce Lays chips is just a start.  Maybe Intel Potato Chips?

Food for thought there.  

Mash ups are here to stay.  And cool stuff can be created...out of recreating.

In fact, this recreation is a fave of ours, for any of you who are amused by Charlie Rose, this is even more amusing:

In Your Face Book

You know online marketing is important. And social media's all the rage. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube...and, now, fantasy March Madness.

But where are consumers spending the bulk of their online time?

According to recent findings by Nielson Company,

Of the 116,000,000 visitors per month to Facebook (4th overall online), the average time spent on it is 7 hours per month.

Yahoo! is a distant second, with only 2 hours 28 minutes per month.

Amazingly, 11.6% of all time spent online in January was spent on Facebook.

Clearly, this Facebook has great eyeballs.

Add in the fact that you can customize ad campaigns by:

• Location
• Age
• Sex

• Keywords
• Education
• Workplace

• Relationship Status
• Relationship Interests
• Languages

That said, just as in the old TV ad days, eyeballs and engagement are two different things.  This says nothing about click through, let alone conversion.

But the reach and dedication of users here is undeniable.  Just another eye buy to consider....

Source 5 New Studies Show Facebook a Marketing Powerhouse

great logo by herb lubalin

iPhone App$$$

Would you pay $1000 for an iPhone App?  Maybe if it helped you pass the Bar Exam.

A new category of ultra-expensive Apps have hit iTunes -- education Apps for professional exams.  

Offline versions of same often hit $3-4K, if not more -- so there's a savings.  And, if the interface and interactivity are well-designed, this could spur a whole new valuable breed of App-ware.

Imagine this applied to Doctoral studies, Pre-med training, etc.  In fact, any college or professor with a killer curriculum might look into a way to package class up and make it mobile.  

The base versions of 'offline' classes have been done for years, from PBS-esque video series to Podcasts to more.  So leveraging the uniqueness of the iPhone will be key.

Imagine an architectural school creating augmented reality tours of key city structures.  Or a veterinarian prof doing an augmented reality tour of the zoo?

You listening, Career Education Corp.?  DeVry?  Hah-vahd....

Source:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/17/most-expensive-iphone-app-barmax/