60 Second Articles:

1. Crack The Marketing Code By Answering These 10 Critical Questions
2. Look Who’s Talking — Not The Movie
3. The 60 Second Close: Is It Time For “Retro” Marketing?

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1.  Crack The Marketing Code By Answering These 10 Critical Questions

1. Does your company have a unique “story” to tell that makes it stand out from the competition?
2. Does your company offer a product, a service or an experience that is not only of value, but is memorable enough to break through the advertising clutter and be heard by your target audience?
3. Does your company employ a team of goodwill ambassadors who have a passion for the company’s culture, philosophy and the product?
4. Does your company understand what business it is really in? (Southwest Airlines is not in the airline business, but in the business of providing people a safe, fun and memorable way to get to their destination.)
5. Does your company understand the lifetime value of a customer and the exorbitant costs of gaining new customers versus retaining current customers? Does your company have a customer retention strategy?
6. Does your company know who its best customers are, not by demographics, but by their first name? How is your company rewarding the best customers for their valued loyalty?
7. Does your team have not only an intimate knowledge of your product and service, but an understanding of what’s most profitable — not in terms of percentages, but in real dollars and cents?
8. Does your company strive to make a difference in your community, where your customers live and work?
9. Does your company have a “face” – a personality, a CEO, a President or an owner to which customers can relate to and readily access?
10. While everyone loves first impressions, does your company leave an everlasting final impression with customers that creates memorable conversations and encourages repeat purchases?

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2.   Look Who’s Talking — Not The Movie 

• Here’s an instant and reliable way to find out if anyone’s talking about you or your company on Facebook or Twitter. It’s a new search engine called Kurrently, at www.Kurrently.com.
• Test it yourself by sending out a tweet and then go to Kurrently and do a search for a keyword within that tweet. Presto, you’ll be found. Now, test it with other keywords that are relevant to your business. It’s quite possible that people are talking about your product without you even knowing about it.

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3.  The 60 Second Close: Is It Time For “Retro” Marketing?

• Incorporating TV, radio, print, direct mail and billboards into your advertising plan almost seems “retro” because no one talks about traditional advertising anymore. It’s not the “in-thing” and it just doesn’t seem glamorous like it used to be.
• Contrary to what the many pundits are saying, we strongly advocate that when targeted properly, “retro marketing” still works and it works even better once you’ve cracked the all-important marketing code.
• Crack the code then develop your sales-building plan. It’s your model for real growth and profitability. Need some help? We can show you how to get there … now much faster than ever. 

Mark Willis, Northlich’s chief conversation officer, is quoted in a recent article  in the Business Courier of Cincinnati about this rising trend and how the strategy is a win-win for companies and its retailers.

To read the full story, click here.

“These promotions reflect our focus on the two most important elements of client management – developing strategies that change consumer behavior and fostering brand engagement,” said Kathy Selker, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Chief Strategy Officer

Brian Newberry has been tapped as Northlich’s first Chief Strategy Officer.  As the architect of Northlich’s proprietary strategic planning approach, Rehavior™, Newberry will be responsible for leading strategic planning, insight development and analytics for all clients and media channels. He had previously served as the agency’s Chief Brand Engagement Officer.

Newberry is a 25-year advertising and marketing veteran who specializes in creating campaigns that drive measurable behavioral change.  His constant quest for new ideas and behavior changing strategies has revitalized brands like Long John Silvers, Bird’s Eye Foods, Motrin IB, TheraFlu, Gorton’s Foods and General Mills.  He was the strategic leader of the highly successful stand campaign, which empowered anti-smoking activists to reduce tobacco use in Ohio by 40 percent in five years.  Prior to joining Northlich in 2002, Newberry worked for nationally recognized agencies Doner, The Gotham Group and Publicis.  He has also served as Vice President of Marketing for OfficeMax, where he developed the strategic blueprint that turned a start-up division into a $120MM cash cow in just 18 months.

Newberry serves on the board of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and holds a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Georgia, Grady College of Journalism.

Vice President, Director of Brand Engagement

Angie Fischer has been promoted to Vice President, Director of Brand Engagement.  In this new role, she will lead all agency brand engagement communications.  She had previously directed Northlich’s health care professional communications to dermatologists, veterinarians and health care educators for consumer brands including Olay, Head & Shoulders, Gillette, Always, Tampax and Iams.  

Fischer is a 14-year marketing and brand engagement veteran who specializes in bringing unique customer insights to life.  Prior to joining Northlich in 2009, Fischer served as an account director at GyroHSR, where she managed integrated marketing campaigns for the agency’s largest accounts — First Data and Bright House Business Solutions.  She also helped establish the HSR Business-to-Business office in Chicago as a group vice president.  Fischer has extensive digital experience and has worked for nationally recognized companies; Broadbase, E.piphany Inc. and Bridge Worldwide.

She holds a B.A. in Psychology from Harvard University.

Awareness as a success metric is a cop-out. It continues to be used because creating a consumer action requires consumers to change their behaviors. That is no easy task. Few of us enjoy change and even fewer want to instigate it.

In most product categories, consumers are locked in automatic behaviors. Creating consumer behavior change requires that marketers break through the inertia and create new behaviors. This task is not as daunting as one may think. It starts by deeply understanding a consumer—not only their wants and needs, but how they make decisions.  A familiarity with their mental models is essential because it allows marketers to discern the opportune times to disrupt consumer inertia. It is then possible to provide consumers compelling rationale to act. Good marketers go one step further—they give consumers a reason to keep acting.  (Action always trumps inaction, remember?)

Marketers are not always judged by the degree to which they change behavior. They should be.

What they get in return is a spot on the brand’s website and massive bragging rights for being a White Castle craver. It’s simple – give consumers ownership over a brand and in turn they’ll help spread the word. It’s not every day that a brand spotlights its biggest asset – the customer – and fully embraces the passion and creativity these customers bring to the brand. And of course every successful website must feature functionality that keeps users happy, so the combination of a unique retail locator and intuitive navigational path have ensured that cravers everywhere get the information they need within a couple of key strokes.

Collectively, these insights drove the site redesign and we’re thrilled at the results to date. Site traffic has increased by more than 25 percent in less than three months and continues to grow to unprecedented levels. The customer database also increased by 50% and the White Castle Facebook page has nearly 115,000 fans. So how are you extending your brand’s digital presence?

It looks like the big thinking has paid off as initial sales results have been phenomenal – no doubt aided by a $212 million dollar jackpot the opening weekend of sales. The integrated campaign featuring Powerball characters can be seen on TV, digital OOH, wallscapes, banner ads, a dedicated microsite, and tons of retail POS. We also conducted a state-wide flash mob tour the day before tickets went on sale to help drive awareness, consumer engagement and media coverage.  The team hit up nine cities across the state popping up on college campuses, at sporting events and key retailer locations.

Click here to check out some coverage of Northlich and the Ohio Lottery’s efforts in a profile of the Powerball launch in Lottery Insights May issue.

The idiosyncrasies, both rational and irrational, of consumer-brand relationships often rival that of Hollywood’s most salacious couples. It is no wonder why those of us in the marketing community spend so much time trying to better understand them.

Consumers are not always ideal partners. They expect a lot from their brands, but are not always good at communicating their needs. When brands don’t deliver on some expectation, the consumer may employ the silent treatment, or worse, give in to another brand’s advances.  The consumer of course, may say—“it’s not you, it’s me,” but we all know that’s a ruse. It’s always you.

Even in the best environments, the consumer-brand relationship is a tumultuous one to manage. Unfortunately, we are not living in a best-case environment. Greece is facing financial ruin; the results will undoubtedly wreak havoc on all global markets. The gulf coast may soon become an ecological and financial disaster thanks to the millions of gallons of crude oil that are currently flowing out of what’s left of BP’s oil rig.  The unemployment rate continues to hover at 10%. We just cannot catch a break.

The consumer-brand relationship mirrors real-life relationships. Added stressors create tension, miscommunications, hurt feelings, and some nights on the couch. Speaking as a relationship coach–it is a good time to re-evaluate what you’re bringing to the table.

We at Northlich conducted in-depth consumer research to understand what lingering effects the recession would have. Our findings surprised us, especially in regards to the changing dynamic of the consumer-brand relationship.  Now is a great time to revisit it. Click here to view the PDF.

CINCINNATI (May 21, 2010) – Northlich, a brand engagement agency with offices in Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland, was honored with eight awards, including three coveted Gold Awards at the 2009-2010 District 5 Regional ADDY Competition. The Regional ADDY Awards feature a compilation of the best advertising work completed in the region during 2009, including Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky.  Northlich’s three gold awards were the only work from Cincinnati to automatically qualify for the National ADDY Awards competition.

“It’s always nice to be recognized by the advertising industry for the time and dedication our staff has committed to this work,” said Jeffrey Warman, Executive Creative Director at Northlich. “These awards are a true testament to our clients who have shared our passion for creating exciting work for their brands.”

Northlich was recognized in a variety of categories for its works across several industries.

Gold Awards

Hunters Pile of Money for the Kentucky Lottery Corporation

A Little Luck, A Little Fun Hot Dog Bazooka for the Kentucky Lottery Corporation

Hunters Pile of Money & Hunters Track for the Kentucky Lottery Corporation

Silver Awards

Magical Place New Seafood Meals for Birds Eye Foods

A Little Luck, A Little Fun Hot Dog Bazooka for the Kentucky Lottery Corporation

Northlich Spirits Microsite Vodka Ad Generator for Northlich self promotion

True Value of PR for Northlich self promotion

Hunters Track for the Kentucky Lottery Corporation

Gold Awards

Hunters Pile of Money for the Kentucky Lottery Corporation

A Little Luck, A Little Fun Hot Dog Bazooka for the Kentucky Lottery Corporation

Hunters Pile of Money & Hunters Track for the Kentucky Lottery Corporation

Silver Awards

Magical Place New Seafood Meals for BirdsEye Foods

A Little Luck, A Little Fun Hot Dog Bazooka for the Kentucky Lottery Corporation

Northlich Spirits Microsite Vodka Ad Generator for Northlich self promotion

True Value of PR for Northlich self promotion

Hunters Track for the Kentucky Lottery Corporation

Since then, legislation has been introduced that requires food chains in certain geographical regions to post the calorie counts on their menu boards; the “heaviest” states now boast obesity rates greater than 30% and we know that in fact childhood obesity rates tripled in the last 20 years.

Now, we are staging a Revolution against Obesity.  British chef and television personality, Jamie Oliver has become the visible advocate of the Food Revolution—charging that American kids need better food at school to improve their health prospects. Michelle Obama agrees.  She has taken the charge with a goal of reducing childhood obesity from nearly 20 percent to 5 percent by 2030.

Undoubtedly, there will be casualties in the obesity revolution. (We all know obesity is a big business.) The food industry is at the front lines, but the White House is now calling on food marketers to curb the marketing of unhealthy foods to children. The recommendation is a part of a report, released Tuesday, that outlines measures to fight the national epidemic. The report additionally recommends that the Federal Communications Commission consider stronger regulations if these recommendations are not implemented.  The battle has begun.

To learn more, click here.