momorantings

This multiple award-winning advertisement from the 1980s indicates that it's promoting Silk Cut cigarettes solely by use of packaging colours and the visual metaphor of slashed material. It left the reader/viewer to work out the rest and thereby engaged them with a form of extrinsic gamification at a time before any marketers had heard that word. That's quite a contrast with yesterday's unsubtle approach that scans as poorly as the ubiquitous obtrusive QR codes which are flavour of the month right now. You can have engagement or you can have a shotgun wedding - we all know which is most likely to develop into a lengthy, meaningful relationship.

Ah the festive season. Family fun and a sense of bonhomie. Not in the hands of the marketers behind Ann Summers - UK high-street purveyors of "lingerie" and adult toys. "It's the dirty thoughts that count." Isn't Christmas the time for giving? So why not give your customers the opportunity to join the dots and engage with you a little rather than shoe-horning that dirty in there? It avoids the risk of appearing cheap and having a low opinion of your customers' literacy and, after all, don't they say subtle is sexier?

I’ve just returned from the National Arts Marketing Project Conference , the annual gathering of arts marketers convened by Americans for the Arts . I’ve gone to the conference for the past seven years to reconnect with colleagues, learn from case studies and catch up on new trends. As I return home this year, I am mindful that some arts marketers have limited control or influence over mission critical decisions, many of which affect audiences, revenue streams and branding. As marketers position themselves as growing agents of influence in their various organizations, I can’t help but think that perhaps our energies should be spent concentrating on the underperforming areas in which we can be the most impactful. In this new environment of reduced resources, the ability for an organization to identify its competitive advantages is vital. Some of which, marketers have no responsibilities for. Others, we lead. In listening to Scott Stratten's opening keynote address at the conference...