Combating Digital Fatigue with Direct Mail (piworld.com)

Why are marketing campaigns so effective? What is the secret behind the good ones that people remember and talk about (REI’s “Opt Outside”)? Quite simply, a BIG IDEA. The best marketing and advertising over the decades have always been driven by a singular great idea (“Got Milk?”). A core idea that ties everything together. An idea that resonates with the audience and makes them think about your product or service in a different way. Remove that big idea and all you’re doing is selling products, just like the other brands. Blah. But when you build your marketing efforts around a campaign, and use that “big idea” consistently across all touch points, it’s more likely to get noticed, more likely to be remembered, and more likely to engage people on a human level. In other words, campaigns work. It’s no secret that I’m a huge Beatles fan, so once again, I will use them as a way of illustrating my point. When Paul McCartney was thinking about a different way to go about recording a new album in 1966, he came up with a big idea that would drive the entire creative process. What if the four lads took on a different persona, actually changing the name of the band? What if they reinvented their identity just this one time? much more at: https://www.jschmid.com/blog/campaign-building-blocks-the-big-idea/

Dilly dilly. I’m lovin’ it. Get a Mac. Why is it so easy to rattle off the brands that introduced us to these catchphrases? Because Bud Light, McDonald’s and Apple are among the best at telling stories, catching us off guard and even making us laugh. They understand the power of a campaign and how disruptive a “big idea” can be. And how powerful it can be—helping us consider their products for the first time, or again in a whole new way. But for a campaign to reach—and disrupt—the most people, it must be executed across all touchpoints (in digital and in print). Which means your latest campaign absolutely belongs in your catalog. And not just on the opening spread. A catalog gives your brand multiple opportunities to separate itself with a big idea, and I’ll take you through three examples to prove it. See all 3 at: https://www.jschmid.com/blog/disruptive-catalogs-part-4/

A while back I wrote a blog about price as an often-overlooked brand positioning tool. Marketers are always looking for ways to influence how consumers perceive their brands in an effort to build relationships that are more than simply transactional. They know that effective brand positioning helps separate them from the competition and not just capture, but keep a larger share of both consumers’ minds and wallets. Here are six of the most common positioning strategies that companies use. Depending on the product category, some will be more effective than others and all come with some potential drawbacks. Learn more at: https://www.jschmid.com/blog/lets-talk-about-brand-positioning/