Miss America Brand Project

I want to tell you more about a project that we are working on. I am a big believer in cause related marketing. You can imagine how often we are asked to donate product and services. We do a fair amount of it to support our community. We get our name on the credits.

That isn't cause related marketing. Cause related marketing is when you pay for the opportunity to partner with the non-profit for the benefit of both the giver (business) and the receiver non-profit.

To demonstrate the concept we initiated our Miss America Brand project. We really believe in consistent visual image. By that I mean carrying a visual theme (color and background, fonts and alike through out a promotion. You will notice that.

We are also using the project to launch our shapes product. We can take any image .. sign, display board and cut it to the shape.

All of this by providing a service that is very much needed by this group.

On this blog, I will share with you the behind the scenes thinking as we roll out this offering.

I hope that by the end you will consider a cause related marketing program in your marketing plan and agree that a consistent visual image is important to any business or promotion.

This should be a lot of fun, so subscribe now.

Lean not mean customer service

There's value in suppliers who help clients make good choices then deliver precisely what is needed, on time, to where it is supposed to go. But, the true test doesn't occur until something goes wrong. Remarkable companies fix wrongs. Poor companies ditch their customers instead.

Bella Graphics is the presenting sponsor of Miss Wyoming 2006. A presenting sponsor pays for that designation with cash and in our case a combination of cash and services and product. To us it is a part of our marketing plan.

Two things are happening in January. Bella Graphics will launch it’s “shapes promotion” and we’ll send Miss Wyoming off to The Miss America pageant in Las Vegas.

By shapes we mean rigid print images on gatorboard for instance are cut into shapes or silhouettes to add a new dimension that will attract more attention. That is what Bella is in business to do, help our customers attract favorable attention!

We are featuring Miss Wyoming and her aerial talent performance in our “shapes promotion” As we do that we are promoting a real statewide send-off and we are doing that lean. As a newsworthy public service promotion.

There are only about 440,000 people in our entire state. Heck we could email each one of them and accomplish several things:

• 
  We would introduce them to Miss Wyoming and encourage them to visit the Miss Wyoming Web Site, show their support, buy something, book Miss Wyoming for a future appearance, and watch Miss America Pageant on CMT on January 29th.
  
• While they are at it they might be so inclined as to follow a link to our web site.
  
  Is this a good way of spend the marketing dollar? We’ll see. Cause related marketing is a fresh approach in an advertising age that is stuck in the mud with more and more of our messages tuned out, deleted, or thrown in the trash. .
  
  People are tired of one way marketing. That one way is usually “we have”, “you buy” TV or radio adds that try to be funny or cute but aren’t memorable. But it is only worth as much as you are willing to put into it. The good thing is you can get a lot of distance by investing time and effort. There are plenty of opportunities to standout out by helping out.
  
  Cause related marketing is much more creative and captures the curiosity because it can be remarkably different. You might view an email from a company like Bella Graphics as spam and have an entirely different perception of something that came from Miss Wyoming. Are bet is that our recipients will be curious.
  
  Curious and secure in the source enough in the source to open, read and click.
  
  To make cause related marketing work you have to know the difference between promoting the cause and shameless self-promotion. Self-promotion is sniffed out by the consumer like stink on a monkey.
  

Desperate Sign

What have we here? Trying to get our attention? Trying to draw us in?
I'd be afraid that once inside the owner would shout in my ear

Not my fault

From Seth Godins's Blog

Graphic Image Standards

Supporting the business’s reputation is important. A small but significant component that support is an accurate and consistent use of graphic symbols that stand for the business.Every business has an identity. This identity is influenced by the look of all things done by or associated with the organization—its programs, services, products, print material, advertising, signage, stationery, vehicles.

Because of this profusion of elements, it is essential that a graphic system is in place to clearly and easily identify the organization as one.These symbols include the logo and word mark, the use of “corporate colors” and the design of material such as letterhead, business cards, fax forms, address labels, etc. These elements may seem consequential and mundane, but they represent who the business is to the world at large. They provide a fast and easy cue of an official communication from your organization.Consistent and correct use of these graphic elements helps build a strong impression. Here are some examples.

• 
  Minimum size of the logo in print. Some logos are complicated and don’t reproduce well beyond a certain size.
• Name of typeface for business/product name. Sometimes the name alone is a strong brand. Good graphic standards will spell out what is allowed and what is not. For instance it’s probably not a good idea to “stylize” name in some wild and crazy never used before font to promote a special event.
• How and when can logo be used by itself? How can it be used in conjunction with other words or images?
• How the logo or name will not be use. For instance it is not a good idea to decorate your logo with Christmas lights for example.
• How name with logo will be used together what should be the size of logo in relation to the size of name.
• Determine which “acronyms” or abbreviated names can be used and how and when?
  Colors (specific pantone and now web colors)
• The use of your logo with the logo of others (same size or larger)
• Logo in “PowerPoint presentations”
• Use of logo in posters, banners, signs.

The Problem With Homegrown Design

I did it myself for 20 years. I mean I designed my own marketing materials and ads. I started Kennon Aircraft Covers out of my garage. Money was always tight. We spent $60,000 to $80,000 on ads a year but next to nothing on professional design.

• As I look back, here is how I rationalized it:
• No one knows the product better than me.
• I know how to scan images and use Adobe Pagemaker to layout the text. Might as well use what I know.
• I will save time if I do myself because I won’t have to communicate with anyone. In fact, I never have to leave my office. A few magazines occasionally "reworked" my ads. They must have been really bad.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but the quality of the ad design is a reflection of the quality of the magazine. They reworked the ads, and spared me the embarrassment of ad rejection because of poor design.

Things changed when I started Bella. Our graphic artists took over the design responsibilities from this novice and now I look back and see how silly I was over all of those years to spend well over a million dollars publishing my own poorly designed ads. I am a believer in professional design, not only because I own a business that provides that service, but because I was blind but now I see.