Yes, we’re doing it, we’re jumping on the newsletter bandwagon. We’ve sent out a smattering of “newslettery” type blasts in the past, but we’ve decided as a team to commit to a once-per-month missive as an exercise in creative rigor, a taste of our own medicine, and yes, a tool for marketing our services.
Why do brands send newsletters? To announce new products or services, new features, new tools, new directions; to communicate discounts, benefits or offers that might encourage a specific action; to provide their loyal audience with entertainment or enrichment that strengthens positive associations—to name just a few. We may do all of the above, but we’ll tend to focus on three themes:
1) The Useful: what have we learned or encountered that can help you, our dear friends, current & former (& future) clients, and fellow marketers & creatives?
2) The Promotional: What are some of our most interesting and exciting projects past and present?
3) The Enriching:What are we digging, vibing, loving, not-loving, at the moment from any corner of art, science, technology, literature, etc.
We’re open to suggestions! Feel free to reply with ideas of what you would like to learn from us in semi-digestible newsletters (this one is probably too long).
We recently attended a talk by a retired executive from our local soap and candle company (P&G) on how he and his team turned around Folgers, the company’s worst-performing brand in the early 80s… in 6 months. Here's our dime store version:
Step one. Figure out what the hell was going wrong.
After defining a bunch of process acronyms, the speaker described how he and his team figured out a key reason they were losing customers: inconsistent taste from one tin to another leads to abandonment. While flavor quality is subjective to a person, one badly perceived cup is enough for a customer to switch.
Step two. Solve that problem.
Which they did. Using Science!
Step three. Get new customers into the top of the funnel.
The insight: 70% of all cups of coffee were consumed before 12PM, yet the category’s dominant advertising strategy focused on this weird and rather outdated flavor and aroma pissing contest fronted by “wives that really care about their husbands.” P&G decided to zag and developed a now-legendary ear worm that leans into the problem-to-be-solved: “the best part of waking up is…” you guessed it. Coffee’s job is to jump-start your morning, who’d a thunk?! Madison Avenue did not want to switch strategies, but once they did, they were quite pleased with themselves (even though it was P&G’s strategy).
Step four. Increase margins.
For this key ingredient to profitability, the corporation did what corporations do best and figured out how to put fewer grinds in the tin that were “more potent” so a customer could still get the same amount of Folgers in their cup, once brewed.
Step five.
Profit.
Epilogue.
What did we learn? Even if you need to accomplish something really big and crazy in a short period of time, a rigorous and structured approach, combined with a dispassionate and open-minded attitude, combined with a deep understanding of all sides of a profit formula, combined with a perfect jingle... will always win the day.
Enjoy a smattering of images of the website we created for one of our favorite clients, Tequila Ocho. The strategy: due to liquor laws, they can’t sell their product through their website, but they can sell their story. Tequila Ocho’s story is a story of family, of land, of the slow movement of time and the boundless landscapes of flavor. Their product is moving from IYKYK status to a household name and we’re helping them get there.
Not that you need more AI content in your life, but this arresting new development from Altman and the gang certainly caught our eyes. Shares of NVIDIA up 23% last month.
VR pioneer, Jaron Lanier's exquisite New Yorker article on why Apple's approach to immersive tech misses the point. Worth burning your free peak behind the paywall.
