By Cyndi Pyburn

Like many Canadians, Victoria Day weekend, at least in the southern Ontario market, is the weekend to stock-up on all your gardening needs from soil and mulch to flowers and shrubs.  So I made my way to Sheridan Nurseries to begin my inspirational search for this year’s garden.  As a novice gardener, I do feel a little overwhelmed by the great selection.  I spent a good deal of time at the nursery studying and reading about the specifications for growing the plants I was considering.  And I wasn’t alone.  What could have been a very frustrating experience given the throngs of would be horticulturists, actually turned out to be a very enjoyable one.

Sheridan had anticipated the crowds of gardeners and the level of staff available to assist you was terrific.  They hire university students which I found very courteous and helpful.  In chatting with a few, I can see that Sheridan looks for ‘vested’ students ….budding landscape architects, environmentalists, land use planners, and geography majors.  Smart.

Clearly Sheridan had done a few things right.

• They anticipated chaos and were over-staffed to help out.
• They had organized the store for wider aisles so that carts (they are large) could get around and pass one another.
• The ‘nursery’ area had great signage so you could easily see if the plants were sun or shade needy.
• There was much help in the bulk section to load soil/mulch in your car.
• There were several managers on the floor who could answer my questions.
• The staff was well-connected with walkie-talkies to ensure the help required was immediate.
• The ‘store’ area had many outdoor vignettes that truly provided inspiration …. I wanted my backyard paradise, well to look like a backyard paradise….. I was able to gather some good ideas

• The outdoor vignettes not only inspired me, but really made me want to buy so the impulse aspect of this was working very well I would say.

• An off-duty police officer made it easy to get in and out of the parking lot as well.

So what started out as a dreaded task, ended up being a walk in the park.  Now the hard work lies ahead ….. preparation of the beds and yard and pool.  SIGH.  However, thanks to Sheridan’s seductive taste of what it could look like, that vision will spur me on to complete this task as my backyard oasis beckons me.  I will plan with the precision that Sheridan does.  A valuable lesson for all retailers.

By Amber Hudson and Luke Sklar

The following scary facts came screaming across my desk the other day.  Before we go there let me just say…I get it.  Today’s music industry is a massive machine; what was once all about art is now professionalized.  And technology has enabled people to shout about a mediocre product louder than the few who quietly follow quality.

But still, these stats surprised me:

1. Creed has sold more records in the US than Jimi Hendrix
2. Led Zeppelin, REM, and Depeche Mode have never had a number one single, Rihanna has at least 10
3. Ke$ha’s “Tik-Tok” sold more copies than ANY Beatles single
4. The Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling” is more popular than any Elvis or Simon & Garfunkel song
5. Katy Perry holds the same record as Michael Jackson for most number one singles from an album
6. People actually bought Billy Ray Cyrus’ album “Some Gave All…”  20 million people in fact. More than any Bob Marley album

(source:  buzzfeed.com) 

Regardless of what direction your music tastes lie, here’s what we can learn from today’s music industry:

• The market is fragmented:  therefore by definition so is your brand.  So the question is how to break out from the noise. Identify the tools and technologies that allow you to reach a large number of your target.
• It’s lifestage marketing to the core:  To truly understand your target, whether it’s a Millennial, Gen X or Boomer, you need to understand their teenage years.  Go back to the 70s, 80s, 90s to see what really inspired and resonated with them.
• Understand “passion topics”:  by understanding your target consumer’s point of view on music, sports, Hollywood, sex (tread carefully please!) you’ll uncover insights into what motivates, moves, excites them.  Okay, forget I said sex!

And at the end of the day you need to be great to survive.  Today’s artists may reach a lot of ears now, but most don’t have the staying power of the Beatles or Hendrix.  Stick with delivering a meaningful, high quality product to your core target and they’ll stick with you for the long term.

By Amber Hudson and Luke Sklar

Amy’s Baking Company Bakery Boutique & Bistro is a small restaurant in Scottsdale Arizona.  Quiet and unassuming (I’m assuming)…until its owners Amy and Sam appeared on Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares last week.  That episode will go down in history as the first, and so far, only restaurant Gordon Ramsay has walked out on.  Maybe it had something to do with the fact that “they cursed out their customers, mocked them, threatened to call the police on them and kicked them out for making the most basic of complaints. If a pizza is undercooked, Amy intentionally burns it. If something is sent back as bland, she makes it so spicy that, in her own words, “I hope it hurts him.”

It could have stopped there.  But it didn’t.  After the episode aired viewers turned to Facebook…and Yelp…and Reddit to voice their opinions of the couple.  It could have stopped there.  But still it didn’t.  Amy and Sam took to Facebook to defend their company, giving readers a front row seat at the unfurling of a tit-for-tat meltdown of epic proportions.  For example:

The name calling, taunts, threats…I mean really.

So this week’s EIM lesson?  It’s simple.  Do. Not. Do. What. Amy’s. Did.

We wrote a post on what happens if your brand is hijacked.   One lesson was “take a moment to breath; immediate reactions are often too emotional”.  If that fails scream “we’ve been hacked!!”  Or not.  No one falls for that one anymore.

By Amber Hudson and Luke Sklar

The Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer:  an obscure little kitchen utensil that arguably does not address a single unmet need.  Knives need not be worried.  But if you thought something like this would fly under the radar, purchased only as a gag gift for new home owners you’d be wrong.  The brand has been hijacked by Amazon.com customers and the results are hilarious.  The time and creative energy visitors have spent providing reviews and telling stories is impressive.  Click here to see the reviews.   Sure, it’s blatant product mockery.  But Hutzler is getting press and it kind of makes me want to buy one!

Cristal is another brand that was hijacked by consumers.  Lauded by the hip hop community for years until the makers of the expensive champagne said they didn’t like the brand being associated with the “bling lifestyle.” (Enter Jay-Z’s boycott of the brand).

Then there’s Beyoncé; people started posting rather unflattering pictures of her performing at the Super Bowl.  Her request to have these images taken down was met with disdain.   Now during her world tour she’s only allowing her own photographers.

Are these good examples of protecting your brand?  Or an over- reaction that generated even more negative attention?  There are many examples out there and much written about brand hijacking.  But at EIM we think the lesson on this is:  as part of your marketing plan spend 10 minutes to answer the question “what might we do if our brand is hijacked?”  And if your brand is hijacked, take a moment to breath; immediate reactions are often too emotional (case in point, The Gap over reacted when their new logo was slammed by a small few).  Then go with the flow and enter the conversation with confidence and conviction.

By Amber Hudson and Luke Sklar

“It’s tragic.  It’s tragic and it’s inevitable, I guess, in terms of the way things have been managed in some of these countries.”

–Galen Weston, Chairman of George Weston Ltd, in reaction to the factory collapse in Bangladesh where Joe Fresh clothes are manufactured

We at EIM are stunned by this quote.  We love Galen and Joe Mimram; Joe has done a bang up job of bringing fashion excitement to the tedious task of grocery shopping.  We have no doubt Galen is devastated over what happened to those workers and their families.  And we have no doubt of the sincerity behind wanting to make amends by compensating (a yet to be disclosed sum) the workers’ families.   But “It’s inevitable, I guess.”  Really??

By the way, is it just me or is the word “compensate” (their word, not mine), a peculiar choice?  Don’t airlines “compensate” for lost luggage?

Anyway…

If Galen believed it was bound to happen should Loblaws / Joe Fresh not have acted to prevent this tragedy? Should they be held accountable?  Is the offered compensation an admission of guilt?  Or is it good PR?  The answer, in fact, doesn’t matter.  Even if you are not responsible….the lesson is you are responsible.  High profile brand guardians should have a war room and contingency team available before anything like this happens. And, should the worst happen, speak fast, take responsibility and do the right thing. At minimum, fund a program that makes a tragedy like this less “inevitable”…

By Luke Sklar and Amber Hudson

Let’s do that little word association game.  Here we go…Canadian Politics…GO!  Sorry, did I just catch you yawning?

Exactly.

Unlike the UK (sex scandals!), the US (sex scandals!  war mongering!  celebrity hobnobbing!), and Russia (poison tea!), Canadian politics is a tad dull.  Just look at Stephen Harper, dull as a moss-green sweater vest (although one does have to give him plenty of credit for being responsible, steady and prudent – he’s done Canada a lot of good).  But if you look on the horizon there is a bit of sizzle over yonder.   Justin Trudeau was recently named the leader of the Liberal Party. He’s young, he’s fresh, he’s dare I say cute – the complete opposite of Canadian politics.  Could he be the leader that bridges the gap between the young and old:  leveraging his youthful energy to be relevant to Millennial voters, and the recognition of the Trudeau brand to remind Boomers of the idyllic times of his father?

Or is he just sizzle?  He really has no experience and so far very little (a.k.a. nothing) in terms of any point of view.  And sizzle scares many; have you seen the attack ads by the conservatives?  Makes you just want to vote for Trudeau just to teach the Tories a lesson about the Golden Rule.  But maybe sizzle is what we need.  I’m not talking the fried chicken-sizzle of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.  I’m talking honest, energizing, exciting, inspiring sizzle.

So, what do you think?  Will Canadians vote for the sizzle of the Trudeau name over the reliable steak of Stephen Harper?  We hope steak trumps sizzle.  So we’d like to predict Stephen Harper will win (and you know how good we are at predicting).  But what does all this mean for your brand?  Ideally your brand has both, a lot of steak with a bit of sizzle.  But if your brand can have only one, we say go for the steak because it can stand the test of time.   Sizzle fizzles.

By Amber Hudson and Luke Sklar

No doubt you’ve been in a state of suspenseful anticipation, eager to lay eyes / ears on Psy’s follow up to his massive global hit Gangnam Style.  Well folks, it has arrived.  Gentleman was released this week and, thanks to curious viewers like you, it is already breaking records, hitting 100 million views in 3 days (Gangnam Style took 44 days to reach this milestone).

The Wall Street Journal predicts it will hit 12.6 billion views in less than 3 months:

We get the curiosity, we were one of those 100 million hits.  But we don’t get the video.  It’s rude, weird, gross, misogynistic ….oh wait, that sounds like any video from the Billboard Hot 100.  But Psy took over the world with a kitschy, oddball, very catchy video that had 5 and 85 year olds alike throwing down the invisible horse dance.  So why did Psy choose to go in this direction for his follow up?  Was it a shrewd, calculated move to target young viewers, to give himself a bit of edge?  (His manager is after all Scooter Braun who didn’t make Justin Bieber rich and famous through dumb decisions).  Or are we seeing a classic case of gimmicks replacing creativity?  Maybe we’re missing something here, maybe he’s satirizing those other videos.  Regardless, we believe if your brand is a success and is asked to the table for Act II you must be major league.  Sure Psy may be dumbing down to win with a specific target.  But we say you don’t need to go down market to win fans.

As we did with the Biebs (hey, we’ve still got time for that prediction to come true) we predict Psy Act III will be a flop.

]]> http://www.sklarwilton.com/resource-centre/everything-is-marketing-line-extending-with-style-not-sleaze/feed/ 0 http://www.sklarwilton.com/resource-centre/the-dirty-face-of-the-new-upscale/ http://www.sklarwilton.com/resource-centre/the-dirty-face-of-the-new-upscale/#comments Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:00:41 +0000 Tasman Richardson http://www.sklarwilton.com/?p=5103 Read more »]]> By Tasman Richardson

If you want a great watering hole you don’t need to walk far from Piss Alley to find it. I’m not being crude, that’s the nick name for an area in Tokyo crammed tight with skewer stands, shot bars, and a single, crowded public toilet. That was 10 years ago and even then, these tiny micro bars were so old they were virtually heritage sites. Shot bars have extremely limited seating, often no more than a bar top and a bench that fits eight. The dimly lit nooks are skillful examples of differentiation through decoration, a fusion of burlesque, retro junk sale, and pirate treasure.

Flash forward to Toronto 2013 and the relentless gentrification of Dundas West in the wake of the Ossington boom. A new generation of young revellers are taking on multiple roles of patron, vendor, and decorator. These new watering holes look anything but new. Rustic and rusty are the order of the day, with salvaged wood and tin ceiling tiles being prominent design features.  None of this shabby chic is a result of neglect. On the contrary, it’s as carefully curated as mix tape for a high school sweetheart. The Dive bar as you knew it has been upgraded.  For boomers, it’s as confusing as playing a game of hipster or homeless. Given the sophisticated tastes, disposable income, and highly educated nature of Millennials, why do they pass up shiny new interiors in favour of sipping a bevy in an antique shop? Is it nostalgia for a simpler time? An ideal hinted at in old postcards, tin cans, and matchboxes? Or is it a deeper need to reconnect with some kind of cultural credibility? In his book “Bobos In Paradise, The New Upper Class and How They Got There”, David Brooks describes the cross pollination between bohemian counter culture of the 60s and the bourgeois social climbing of the 80s, (get it, Bobo?). Normally I’d insert a pithy quote from the book here but it turns out there’s an amazing article by on Drunkard.com by Rodger Cambria that sums up the attraction to the new dive bars perfectly:

How, then, do Bourgeois Bohemians demonstrate to themselves that while climbing the social ladder they have not become all the things they hold in contempt? How do they convince the world they haven’t completely sold out their ideals? They reconnect with the bohemian half of their Bobo selves. They call on the free spirits of Bukowksi and Burroughs for inspiration. They admonish the culture of newness, surrounding themselves with rootsy artifacts (see the roughly hewn Tibetan rug woven from obscure mountain grasses), distressed furniture and vintage clothing. ‘We prize old things whose virtues have been rendered timeless by their obsolescence,’ says Brooks, adding, ‘In our efforts to climb upwards, we have left something important behind.’ Something they can certainly find in a dive.

Let’s repeat a bit of that “We prize old things whose virtues have been rendered timeless by their obsolescence”.  This philosophy goes beyond the furniture. It includes the drinks themselves. Knowing this, it’s no surprise that there’s been a steady rise in crafted beer made in small batches by enthusiasts who love what they do. Of course, you’re probably saying “if craftsmanship is so important then why are cheap trashy beers like Pabst Blue Ribbon doing so well?”. That’s the flip side of all this… irony. Yes, hipsters and irony are virtually inseparable. To quote a slightly less refined news source (Cracked.com):

All these beer-snob hipsters ironically drinking this “cheap” beer has ironically driven up demand to where it is no longer cheap, costing nearly twice as much as it did 5 years ago.

So, where does that leave breweries? Two extremes: Produce a high quality, crafted, small batch brew, formulated by bearded die-hards instead of guys in lab coats. Or, repackage your oldest, cheapest, mass market, tough guy, working class beer, the way it looked on the first day you sold it. The older and cheaper the better but most importantly, it must be unchanged and therefore timeless. So if you don’t have an old fashioned salt of the earth legacy beer, or a rare batch of brew carefully crafted for selective niche tastes, you’re out of luck. With beer, as with most things, lukewarm doesn’t appeal to anyone.

Additional links:
Photo: The Communist’s Daughter (early pioneer of shabby chic) http://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2009/06/50_essential_bars_the_communists_daughter/

The Rise of the Dives
http://drunkard.com/issues/06_06/06_06_rise_of_dives.html

New York Times book review: Bobos In Paradise
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/brooks-bobos.html

Cracked: Pabst Blue Ribbon
http://www.cracked.com/funny-3185-pabst-blue-ribbon/

By Sarah Liverance

My name is Sarah and I’m a talent junkie. There it is. I’ve confessed.

I religiously watch American Idol even though we know it peaked about 6 years ago and has been on a downhill slide ever since. But…second true confession: I have a full-on crush on Keith Urban so I have to hang in there for this season. The pleasure of watching and listening to him somehow makes sitting through heartbreakingly pathetic auditions and lousy Charlie & Lazaro performances worth it. Recently some friends who recognize my talent addiction convinced me to watch The Voice. “You won’t believe it”, ”you’re gonna love it”, ”it’s waaaay better”, on and on.

So last week I watched The Voice for the first time and I was pretty surprised by how differently the same arguably tired plot is approached. The key difference is how the guys/gals in the power chairs see themselves in relation to others.

On Idol, I’m a judge. I’m critical. I have all the answers and I’m here to tell you how it should be done. And…you’re probably not good enough to make it through to the next round.

On The Voice, I’m a coach. I’m celebrating, applauding, supporting, and recruiting you for my team. I believe that together, we can win this thing.

The difference in the energy is palpable. Our dogs’ reactions are proof.

So what type of energy would you like to have in your work place or your home (those with teenagers especially) – critical and patronizing or upbeat and collaborative? The good news is you’re in control – pick your role – judge or coach.

Click HERE to read the full article from Businessweek.