Marketing Today

The Julie & Julia Project: From Blog To Book To Movie

Julie & Julia is the bestselling memoir of Julie Powell, a woman who is living in New York City, nearing 30, and trapped in a dead-end secretarial job.  On a trip home to see her parents, she happens upon Julia Child's legendary Mastering the Art of French Cooking and can't stop reading the book.  Back in New York, she decides to cook all of the 524 recipes in the book in one year.  To keep it interesting, her husband suggests that she blog about the experience.

The Julie/Julia Project Blog

Julie Powell started her blog in 2002 when blogs were relatively new.  (In 2008, Technorati reported 133 million blogs were in existence, up from 4 million in late 2004.)  Several times a week, she wrote about her experiences making a meal using Julia Child's recipes and instructions.   As far as blogs go, there's no audio, video, or photos, it's just amateur cook with a salty vocabulary writing prose about her experiences on this project from weight gain (Julia Child uses a lot of butter!), to adventures with bone marrow, to handling new found fame acquired through the project.  What makes it interesting, is that you are reading a real person's view on what it's like to take on this project and you see her life change along the way.  Then, there are the comments from the loyal fans she picks up through writing the blog which can be as interesting as the blog itself.

The Julie & Julia A Year of Cooking Dangerously Book

By the time the "project" ended, blogger Julie Powell had been featured in the Christian Science Monitor, on CNNfn, on CBS, in the New York Times and many more places.  The success of the blog led to a book contract.  As she wrote the book, she took some parts straight from the blog.  The addition verbiage involves Julie Powell adding color based on her personal life which includes: her ever-supportive husband, collection of New York friends, family, and ever so interesting co-workers who were part of her life throughout the "project". Of particular interest to me where the random comments throughout from her 'bleaders' (blog readers), who cheered her on throughout the project.

The Julie & Julie Movie

Coming out on August 7th, the Julie & Julia movie features Amy Adams as Julie and Meryl Streep as Julia.  The screenplay was written by Nora Ephron who also directs the film.  What makes this movie interesting is that it's based on two stories:  Julie & Julia by Julie Powell and My Life in Franceby Julia Child.   The movie contrasts two women who lives are similar in that both had adoring husbands, no children, and both were stuck in that they wanted a meaningful career, but hadn't quite figured it out yet.  For both of them, mastering the art of French cooking and writing about the experience became a life changing experience.

Ads I Love: Knob Creek Says "Thanks for Nothing"

I had to smile last Sunday as I was reading the New York Times when I came across a full-page, full-color ad announcing that Knob Creek was out of bourbon until November.  The "Thanks for nothing." ad tells loyal fans of this premium Kentucky bourbon that demand has outstripped supply.  Because Knob Creek bourbon batches need to age for a full nine years, customers may experience a shortage when you head to the liquor store.  So, thanks for understanding.

"Thanks for nothing." Direct Mail

Accompanying the ad was a direct mail piece to press who write about drinks & spirits along with top Knob Creek loyalists who write about the brand.  They received a "mysterious shipping box" that contained an empty Knob Creek bottle and a note that read:

"For the next few months Knob Creek Bourbon is in a unique situation -- our product is so popular that we cannot keep up with customer demand. As a result, our supply will be running low over the next few months, And, in some cases, we may experience temporary stock depletion. But, instead of compromising quality to meet demand, we have chosen to let the supply run low. In deference to Booker Noe and his vision for Knob Creek, we will age all our bourbon the full 9 years. The next batch will be ready in November of this year...Again, with all the success we've had, we've still come up empty. Thanks for helping make it happen."

Turning Problem Into Opportunity

I love this campaign because it takes advantage of what most would consider a bad situation.  Nothing like letting people know in a very creative way that a) they need to stock up, and b) they might want to pre-order so they make sure to get their Knob Creek bourbon as soon as it's fully aged.  By advertising in major publications like the New York Times and sending out packages to their top brand ambassadors, they've got loyalists helping to spread the message through blogs (and there are plenty on this campaign if you do a search on Google) and in print.  Bravo!

Marketing Tang, the Powdered Drink for Astronauts and You

On this day, 40 years ago, man first walked on the moon.  This historic event got me thinking about Tang, a product that I drank as a kid to "get my vitamins just like the astronauts." Tang is a powdered drink with a name that was taken from "tangerine" because the product initially was orange-colored and citrus-based.  Developed by General Foods in 1957, Tang has been on supermarket shelves since 1959. In 1962, when astronaut John Glenn performed eating experiments in orbit, Tang was selected for the menu, which took an obscure product and tied it to the United States Space Program forever.

According to Wikipedia, a NASA engineer working with the Gemini Space Program explained the story of how and why it was used:

"... There was a particular component of the Gemini life support-system module which produced H₂O (water) among other things. This was a byproduct of a recurring chemical reaction of one of the mechanical devices on the life-support module. The astronauts would use this water to drink during their space flight. The problem was, the astronauts did not like the taste of the water because of some of the byproducts produced, which were not harmful of course. So, they added Tang to make the water taste better ..."

Today, the Tang brand is owned by Kraft Foods. It is available in 38 flavors and is sold both in over 30 countries either in powdered form or pre-mixed in a can. In 1985, a sugar-free version of Tang was introduced to the market.  Originally marketed as a breakfast drink, Tang is usually served cold or it can be heated or added to smoothies.  It can be mixed with Jim Beam bourbon to make a cocktail called "Moon Beam."

And while every marketer dreams of new uses for their products, we may not want some of these:

• Dishwasher Cleaning Agent:  a household tip says Tang is an excellent dishwasher cleaning agent due to its high citric acid content.
• Methadone Alternative:  Some authorities have attempted to deter addicts from overdosing on methadone by packaging it in combination with Tang.
• Ingredient in "Russian Tea":  a holiday hostess gift  made with Tang, instant tea, ground cinnamon and cloves, and served hot.
• Liquid Explosive Component:  Tang was a component of the liquid explosive allegedly intended for use in the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot.

Of interest to Tang fans, the inventor of Tang, William A. Mitchell, also invented Pop Rocks.

TD North Runs The Famous Willy Wonka Golden Ticket Promo

Yesterday in Boston, to celebrate the name change of the Boston Garden to TD Garden, the Delaware North Companies ran the famous Willy Wonka Golden Ticket Giveaway promotion.  In all, 19,600 (because that's how many seats there are at the Garden) chocolate bars at each of their TD North retail locations starting at 12 noon.  Five lucky winners would find a golden ticket in their candy bars just like Charlie from the famous book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

What Was the Prize?

Even better than a tour of the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory, one of the TD Garden Golden Ticket winners won season tickets to every TD Garden event, including regular season Boston Bruins, Boston Celtics, and Boston Blazers games as well as concerts and family shows.  And hundreds of other prizes will be awarded in the TD Garden chocolate bars including tickets and suites to sporting events, concerts, family shows as well as Garden Gold cards, TD Banknorth Visa® Gift Cards and discounts to the Boston Bruins ProShop.

How Did the Promotion Work?

There was a website for the promo as well as a Twitter stream that this blogger followed throughout the day.  The promotion got some great press, but most importantly, it worked!  Fans lined up like crazy outside of the TD Garden and waited over an hour for their free candy bars.  By about 4:00 p.m. all of the Golden Tickets had been found (just in time for the local evening news!)  Next steps include a backstage tour for the five lucky winners and then one of them will win the grand prize.  In my opinion, this promotion has been a grand success...and it's not over as there will be another press opportunity to follow up at the grand tour.  And, if anyone didn't know that the Boston Garden had been renamed (again!), they do now.

What? You Ordered Employees to Post Fake Reviews?

Today's New York Times reports that "Lifestyle Lift, a cosmetic surgery company, has reached a settlement with the State of New York over its attempts to fake positive consumer reviews on the Web."  According to the press release, Lifestyle Lifts was also ordered to shut down websites they created to look like independent consumer site like myfaceliftstory.com where Lifestyle Lift employees were posing as satisfied customers in forums and typing in comments as well.

What I found really interesting about the article is that the Attorney General's office found an e-mail message that told employees to “devote the day to doing more postings on the Web as a satisfied client.” Why did this e-mail go out?  Because the company felt that negative reviews found on the Internet were hurting Lifestyle Lift's reputation.  (For the sake of this blog entry, let's pretend that those reviews were written by real consumers and not their competition.)

Value of Online Marketing Reviews

In the interest of full disclosure, let me say that I have participated as a BzzAgent, a word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing network for new products, and epinions,  a consumer review site, in the last several years.  Unless I'm really angry about bad product or bad service I've received, I will rarely write about or endorse anything that I don't really, really like.  I believe most people are the same way which is why I rely on the advice of independent consumers when making a purchasing decision about a particular product.  When companies like Lifestyle Lift and Carbonite encourage employees to post fake product reviews as if they were satisfied customers of their own products, it ruins the value of consumer review sites for everyone.

What Kind of Marketing Strategy is Posting Fake Reviews Anyway?

Lifestyle Lift operates 32 centers that offer a procedure that "specifically to tighten the jowls and neck, and reduce frown lines and wrinkles."   Their website features plenty of before & after photos of clients and a free consultation.  There are plenty of logos from TV shows and magazines where Lifestyle Lift or Dr. Kent, the founder, have been featured.  Oddly, there doesn't seem to be a link to "News & Events" on the site even though after being ordered to pay $300K in penalities to the State of New York over the false consumer reviews they clearly have a crisis PR issue on their hands.

When the product or service you are marketing is based on trust in the organization performing the service, what does writing fake reviews do to build trust?  Do you really think no one will catch on?  What's more, would you let someone perform a procedure that is going to permanently change your face based on something you read on the Internet?  If the day comes that I consider that, I want to speak to people who have actually had the procedure done and examine the work done up close.

Note:  The image used in this blog post was taken from the Lifestyle Lift home page where it is prominently placed next to The Lifestyle Lift Code of Internet Conduct and Assurance.

Videos I Love: Enlightened Stupid Marketer

If this video was a book, it would qualify as light summer reading.  "Enlightened Stupid Marketer" is a video created by Kevin Nalts, a career marketer and self proclaimed "viral video genius" and it's very funny.  This "educational" video was created to help you "understand the mind of a marketer, and what shapes our decision making, workplace behavior and marketing mix." and asks the question "Can you become a marketer, or are they born?"  What ever we marketers are, if we want to keep them fooled, we need sprinkle in phrases like "customer portrait" and "value centricity" into our concalls.  Oh, and we must always walk fast, carry a notebook, and a Blackberry.  Enjoy!

Who's In Control of Your Brand? (Hint: Probably Not You)

One of the most fun projects in marketing today is working with a creative team on logo design for your brand.  You head out to an agency to do a brainstorming session with members of your team.  Everyone comes up with answers to questions like "If my brand was a car, it would be a ______."  Or everyone gets to shout brands they admire (Starbucks!  Google!  Nike!) and tell why that is.  Then, the Creatives head off with the information; design some cool stuff; present it back to your team; you pick a design; and begin building your marketing communications around that.

Branding doesn't stop with logo design though.  Your brand is communicated by your entire organization and everyone you interact with.  While you might control how the logo gets placed on letterhead and t-shirts, you're not really in control of your brand.  You can aim your brand where you want it to go, but it's up to others to interpret and communicate your brand.

Not Feelin' Good About Hood.  I got to thinking about poor brand communication the other day when I realized that, for over a year now, when I go to the store to buy milk, I'll always grab the alternative to Hood products.  Now, Hood milk is perfectly fine.  Their image is friendly.  My friend's dad used to work for Hood and he's a great guy.  So, here's the issue for me.  Twice, in the last 18 months, I've been cut off by a Hood milk truck as I was working my way to a toll booth between the Massachusetts Turnpike and 495.  Poor driving has soured me on the Hood brand.

People Can Get Crazy Impressions of Your Brand.  Just like my milk buying habits have changed, you may find people avoiding your brand for some reason you have no clue about.  Are your customer service people rude?  Are your stores less than clean?  Are you getting a lot of negative press?  Are your suppliers not getting paid on time?  How do you know how people feel about your brand if you're not doing research or having good, old fashioned conversations with them?

Branding isn't a one-time activity dedicated to logo design.  Branding is an on-going activity demonstrated by behavior.  Constantly test opinions about your brand.  You might be surprised by the results.