YOU ASKED FOR IT

“A two-year-old is kind of like having a blender,but you don’t have a top for it.”

—Jerry Seinfeld

May 7, 2013SANDWICHES, PENNEYS & MOMS

BRAND OBSERVATIONS OF THE DAYFrom my random collection of info sources, here are some highlights related to the brands of our times...

• Got a hankering for a sandwich? Join the “club.” Sales in the sandwich category are up 4.8% over the last two years, according to the 2012 Sandwich Consumer Trend Report. That’s good news for Jimmy John’s, Subway, Firehouse Subs and Jersey Mike’s!

• If you’ve been scratching your head over the J.C. Penney “It’s No Secret” ads, I finally found the genius in it. First, the background: They hired former Apple exec Ron Johnson to come in and shake things up as CEO. He did. And customers seemed to NOT like the changes. So what did J.C. Penney do? They fired him and admitted their “mistakes” (that’s the actual word they used) and asked their core customers to come back. So, where’s the advertising genius in this? It wasn’t necessarily in the ads, but in the publicity ABOUT the ads, as the story about the campaign was carried by news outlets around the world! Conclusion: A retailer apologizing for its mistakes is VERY rare. So rare, it may be newsworthy. Therein, perhaps, is the genius.

• And in recognition of moms everywhere (particularly mine who has always been my biggest fan), try watching this ad from Publix without getting a lump in your throat... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwPInEIkVS0

JIM HUEBNERj imh@huebnerpetersen.comCELLULARTELEPHONE970-420-3382

Hmmm.

Brought to you by popular demand of a client, my mom, and some folks I met at a church potluck

From the remaining gray matter of Jim Huebner

Information that will make you smile, groan or think...

* SIDE EFFECTS INCLUDE: extra skin,

loss of appetite, reverse tanning effect...

Happy Mother’s Day, mom!

© 2013 Hmmm by Jim Huebner

When I started this business in 1989, we were advertising in five basic ways: TV, radio, outdoor, print, and direct mail. The “Internet” was just a gleam in Al Gore’s eye. The word “email” was simply a typo. And “social media” happened around the water cooler, the kids’ ball games and church potlucks.

And then came 1994.

That was a big year for Huebner Petersen. We bought our first office building. We were awarded the local chamber’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award. And I logged onto AOL for the first time. Little did I understand—or did ANY of us understand—the eventual impact the Internet would have on nearly all of our daily lives. And specifically, the impact it would have on our business over the next couple of decades.

Just as radio and TV had squeezed their way onto the scene as legitimate advertising mediums decades earlier, the Internet was destined to do the same. The challenge for us would be to determine where the ever-changing digital marketing tools (SEM, social, online videos, web banners, etc.) fit into the overall media mix. And after nearly 20 years, it seems that the dust is STILL settling.

We do know this: traditional advertising still plays a vital role in brand building. Research shows that 63% of new car buyers, for example, begin their search for a new car with a brand already in mind. Where did they become familiar with that brand? More often than not through traditional media.

Traditional media is great at helping create familiarity with a brand and its differences. That familiarity results in trust. And trust leads to brand preference when other things are equal.

Can all of that happen with digital marketing? Yes, but it hasn’t yet reached the same level of acceptance by the consumer. A study done by Zussi Research claims that 69% of consumers say traditional advertising is relevant to them, versus just 45% saying online advertising was relevant. Surprisingly, among 25-34 year olds, the gap was even greater at 81% vs. 51%.

Do I think it will stay this way? No. In fact, brand-relevance-building exclusively online is already happening in many digital pockets. But for our clients, TODAY is what matters. And for now—until consumers generally view online advertising as more relevant than traditional—balance between the two will still be vitally important.

So what is that balance? Well, in light of the Morrill Study which concluded, “Advertising with adequate frequency can reduce selling costs by 10 to 30%,” we approach it this way: Let traditional media “warm” the consumer up to the brand so when digital media asks for the sale, the consumer says “okay!”

Jim Huebner is President of HuebnerPetersen Integrated Marketing.The firm was established in 1989 and specializes in making companies heroes to their distribution channels through strategic brand positioning, integrated marketing, and front lines marketing services. You can each Jim at jimh@HuebnerPetersen.com or on LinkedIn.

Traditional vs. online media: Finding balance

...and on its way to the HuebnerPetersen blog...! PAGE2

WORDS TOLIVE BY

But prove yourselves

doers of the word,

and not merely

hearers...

–James 1:22