CHBlog

posted by: Mel Campbell / President of Campbell, Harrington & Brear

If you are ready when the next economic recovery starts, your company will be well positioned for years to come. Now’s the time to start planning.

As the experts say, it is impossible to predict when an economy is going to turn around.

Companies have no control over that.

But companies do have control over preparing for the economic upturn. And it is essential that you be ready when the moment is right.

Well-prepared strategic marketing and advertising plans – and production of the items necessary to execute those plans – take time. Shorter timelines are certainly possible, but it typically takes six to nine months to turn initial talks into well-oiled campaigns with products “in the can” ready for launch.

In most cases the prep work doesn’t require big dollars - probably 10% of your normal advertising budget. But it does require a schedule and your commitment to get it done.

The important message here is: Start planning now.  In fact, looking at the present positive economic indicators, if you haven’t started by now you are already falling behind the eight ball.  Not a good place to be for the next cycle.

So time is of the essence.  The market turn is just around the corner – we see encouraging signs in many different industries – and the companies who are ready, completely ready, to promote will reap the rewards for many years to come.

And the rewards will be huge.  Companies that can launch their programs as the economy turns on again will achieve greater revenues, garner broader profit margins, build greater brand recognition and, most importantly, capture significant market share.

I may not be telling anybody anything new here, but time and time again I have seen companies hold back and hold back, waiting for the moment when they are assured the tide has turned.  It’s human nature.  But by then it is too late.  If you have a single competitor who has planned ahead and is ready to the pull the trigger before you do, then your company will be relegated to catch-up marketing and, worse, a lower market position.

Here’s some additional wake-up information … a lot has happened over this stagnant fourteen month-plus period.  It’s a changed world, with new ways of marketing and advertising, new helpful communication products, new media, new customers … all of which need to be taken into account by your plan.

What’s the big deal if you are late for the next party?  At the very least your company will under-perform during the entire cycle.  Worst case scenario?  Well, let’s not go there.  The point is, it doesn’t have to happen.

Congratulations to the YMCA of York County.

This morning, it was recognized for its “Be Moved” campaign at the annual Non-Profit Innovation Awards ceremony. The campaign, conceived and executed in partnership with Campbell, Harrington & Brear, was honored in the Brand Identity/Unique Marketing Campaign category.

The awards ceremony was held in the Valencia Ballroom in York, with nearly 400 people attending. The honored non-profits were culled from a seven-county area, including Lancaster, Dauphin, Cumberland, Adams, Lebanon, Perry and York counties.

“We’re very proud of the partnership we have, the work we’ve done for, and the impact we’ve had on the YMCA of York County,” said Angela Wenner, CH&B director of new business and a member of the corporate board of the YMCA of York County.

Click here for more information on the “Be Moved” campaign.

On paper, mobile marketing is a pretty sweet weapon, especially now that mobile devices are selling at four times the pace of PCs.

If you see value in Internet ads, mobile marketing delivers that and more. Specifically, it gives you the ability to:

• reach people who have already expressed interest in your brand

• reach them immediately

• reach them on a device that’s as convenient, personal and ever-present as a hand

• track your ad’s effectiveness.

First, the basics.

The consumer’s engagement in mobile marketing begins with your ad, email or social media message that explains your promotion and convinces the consumer to respond to your short code. That response is your invitation in.

The basic components of the mobile marketing exchange include:

Short code: your promotion’s unique mobile access code number. It’s like a phone number – only it’s typically five digits.

Keyword: the unique word that users text to your short code. For example, when you text the keyword HAITI to 90999, a $10 donation is made to help the earthquake victims. For the good feeling you experience, $10 is added to your monthly mobile phone invoice.

SMS (short message service) message: These are text-only messages, limited to 160 characters, that are sent from you to mobile users who have responded to your marketing message. Other platforms allow you to employ images and video similar to Internet banner ads, but not all mobile devices accommodate them. SMS offers the widest reach.

How to get invited in.

To be effective, your mobile message must provide immediate relevance, otherwise it is intrusive, puts a bad taste in the recipient’s mouth, hurts your brand, and gets you dispatched into the opt-out bin.

So it’s important to ask yourself, what would make a customer give us their number? What is the incentive? Is it enough to convince customers to invite you in?

Make sure your mobile marketing message offers a tangible, exclusive and immediate benefit. For instance in retail, success is found with chances to win, discount coupons, or limited-time offers that recipients can carry with them to your store, restaurant or place of business. Mobile messages have also been used effectively by the real estate industry to share the features of a particular property with potential buyers while they are house hunting.

B-to-B is no different. You still initiate the engagement through an email or an ad. And you still keep the door open by sending only messages that are targeted, brief and relevant.

This is only the most rudimentary introduction. There are legal issues, logistical issues, and security issues, to say nothing about broader strategic and budgetary issues. But if you’re interested in learning more, click here to email Angela Wenner.

Posted by Angela Wenner

I recently had the opportunity to see a celebrity chef in action. Chef Pippa Calland was the first winner of the Food Network’s reality competition show, Chopped, and appeared at the York Builders Home Show in early February. Campbell, Harrington & Brear handles the advertising and promotion of the Home Show, and had made the arrangements with Pippa to appear on Sunday of the show. (Thank you to CH&B designer and fellow foodie Kristina Sheetz for the suggestion!)

A temporary kitchen island with an electric induction cooktop was provided by L.H. Brubaker Appliances. Pippa had no sink, very little counter space, and only a few ordinary ingredients from which to demonstrate her culinary skills. Her challenge was to prepare a weeknight meal using typical ingredients found in everyone’s kitchen.

I quickly realized that there was a second, even bigger challenge facing her: to educate and entertain for an hour while preparing a meal without the familiar accoutrements that she is accustomed to using in her own kitchen. The smooth surfaced electronic cooktop, while high tech and beautiful, tended to shut off just when Pippa needed it to be on, and the nonstick cookware provided by L.H.Brubaker created the potential for some unexpected results.

The ingredients she was given included boneless chicken breasts, a box of spaghetti, a few potatoes, an onion, a pepper, a stalk of celery and some breadcrumbs. Pippa instinctively knew that the demonstration would not be a lesson on creativity, but rather, about techniques and the importance of using high quality ingredients. (She’d shrewdly packed a few extra things like imported olive oil, kosher salt, some fresh herbs and a pepper mill).

She started with a technique called “sofrito”. Essentially this is a combination of vegetables (in this case, finely chopped onions, red peppers and celery) which are sauteed in olive oil to a stew-like consistency. Seasoned with only a couple of pinches of coarse Kosher salt, sofrito can turn an ordinary can of tomatoes into a rich tomato sauce in just a few minutes, when whisked together with some additional olive oil and simmered.

While this was simmering, Pippa opened up a package of plain boneless organic chicken breasts and seasoned them with coarse Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper before placing them in a hot pan with olive oil. When applied generously to raw meat, coarse Kosher salt helps to dehydrate and carmelize (add a nice brown color) the meat during sautéing.

Next, using very thinly sliced potatoes, Pippa created a layered “gratin” with olive oil, some fresh sliced garlic, more coarse salt and fresh ground pepper in a frying pan. After baking for about a half an hour, this cake of potatoes can be flipped onto a serving plate and sliced into wedges as a side dish.

Pippa’s final dish was spaghetti with toasted bread crumbs. Tossing together olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, she added several spoonfuls of the cooking water from the pasta, which instantly created a light sauce. A little chopped fresh parsley added “brightness” to the dish. Pippa tossed and turned the pasta with tongs until every strand was drenched in the rich garlic flavored sauce. The pasta was then topped with panko bread crumbs that had been browned in a frying pan with olive oil.

I learned a lot of things in this fast paced hour, and not all of them were related to cooking. In my role as an Account Executive, I am often required to speak to groups where I present our agency’s ideas and expertise, make recommendations and answer questions on the fly. Other times, we are challenged to come up with a creative solution to a problem, with very few working materials provided to us. So here are my takeaways:

#1…Be cheerful, even if you’re stressed and thrown some curveballs.

#2…Be prepared to shift courses if unexpected circumstances arise.

#3…Buy the best quality that you can afford. It will pay off in the end.

#4…Experts, when given free reign, can take a few simple ingredients and turn them into a brilliant idea.

#5…Know your audience, and tailor your message to their needs.

#6…Use the right tools for the job. And if you don’t have the tools, hire someone who does.

If you are interested in some of the cooking tips that Pippa shared, send me an email and I’ll see that you get them.

In business, it helps to have your head on a swivel.

That’s how Preventech, a CH&B client that develops and markets preventive care products to the dental industry, became aware of important changes in the fluoride varnish category.

The category leader – with 82 percent share – was swallowed up in an acquisition and the new owners promptly released the leader’s sales force. Other brands had evident product problems or little enthusiasm for marketing.

Knowing the varnish application process is a pain for the dental hygienist, Preventech created Vella™, a fluoride varnish with innovative application tools geared toward simplifying the process.

Working with the client, we created a strong, differentiating ad message that sells simplicity and touts the way Vella eliminates problems common to the competition.

The product was launched this summer with CH&B providing packaging, trade ads, a sell sheet, digital ads, web updates and PR.

Vella was the third of three products Preventech launched in the first seven months of 2009, joining PediaGel and Dayli. CH&B is proud to have helped to draft the strategic marketing plan and orchestrate the Q3 unveiling. As sales and market share results develop, we will discuss them on our blog.

Teeth-bleaching has been taking off. Yet studies show more than 80 percent of patients experience sensitivity during the bleaching process.

Market share for take-home products to treat that sensitivity is up for grabs. The category was shaken up following an acquisition, changes in distribution channels, companies losing focus and a general marketing malaise.

Preventech sensed an opportunity for a proven marketer to partner with supportive dealers to capture more of the market for the distributor network.

They developed and introduced Dayli, one of the only competitors to offer a colorless formula. CH&B took that advantage and helped to package it as a clear advantage for products used on teeth that are being bleached. Meanwhile, the business model clearly works too: Dealers sell to dentists who recommend Dayli at the point of sale.

As with Preventech’s other two launches (PediaGel and Vella) during an active seven-month period, CH&B helped to make it happen through strategic consultation, packaging, trade ads, a sell sheet, digital ads, web updates and PR.