Company Snapshot

Lululemon Athletica Inc. is a well-known yoga-inspired, lifestyle athletic wear brand launched out of Vancouver in 1998. Lululemon now has stores across Canada, the US, Australia and a showroom in Hong Kong. In addition to retail, the company also sells via its own website and its wholesale ‘Strategic Sales’ partners. Lululemon is primarily targeted to the 32-year old professional woman, but also has offerings for men and children.

Online Marketing Strategy

The company has done a good job creating a strong, integrated online presence that is in line with its strategy and consistent with the brand. Lululemon doesn’t do traditional advertising –rather the company has a grassroots marketing strategy.  Lululemon builds relationships within its communities and with its customers and grows via word of mouth. The company is extremely customer focused – customer feedback is an important element of product development and company expansion. This strategy is well suited to online marketing with social networks.

Lululemon has an active company blog, Facebook page and Twitter account with dedicated staff online, and is also active on Flickr and Youtube. The company directly communicates with customers and uses online technology to:

• Ask questions – about new products and designs
• Obtain customer feedback – both + and – comments and suggestions. Lululemon staff are quick to respond and let people know they will pass feedback on to the design team.
• Answer questions – customers regularly post questions about product availability, locations, shipping, and so on
• See where customers are – and consider potential new markets to enter via a retail channel
• Educate customers – on products, fabrics, locations, new lines
• Promote events – Lululemon has used Twitter, Youtube and Flickr to promote warehouse sales, for example.
• Increase brand awareness – the company makes it easy to share its blog posts on social networking sites like Twitter or Facebook.

Lululemon has created an online space where customer engagement is high. Key reasons for Lululemon’s online success include: it is integrated into the company’s overall strategy, is responsive, and useful to customers.

by Ellen Brandt, Ph.D.

Many of those in my now-loyal audience first became acquainted with my work by supporting me in the Community Marketing site’s Great Blog-Off contest a few months ago. A number of people have asked me to write a little case study about my (overwhelming) win in that test, which illustrates some basic principles everyone who writes for the Internet should keep in mind: Hook ‘Em With Headlines. Keep ‘Em There With Links. And Remember You’re Only As Strong As Your Fan Base.

I’ve been a heavy-volume print journalist most of my working life. But after a several-year sabbatical from the field, I returned to find the world of magazines in disarray, Big Media under fire from Little Media, and the Internet emerging as the place where a busy and educated audience of professionals tended to go for both news and features.

I was also dismayed to find that the current dominance of a few major search engines tends to exclude from Internet visibility anything written prior to 18 months ago or so. Magazines are particularly poorly represented. So the more than 3,000 print magazine articles I’d published over a 30-year period were virtually inaccessible, in Internet terms. I was suddenly a journalistic ghost, while Buffy the Siamese Cat, with 14,000 Twitter “publications,” was now a media superstar.

What to do? Well, with the help of my cousin the Internet guru, I first scanned in a selection of about 50 of my magazine articles and placed them in a little virtual portfolio on the Web. Then I wrote a couple of articles for Internet “aggregators,” but soon decided they were pretty much pimps, and I was a lady, not a Lady of the Night.

So I decided to create a Web presence of my own by publishing and administering my own blogsites and developing an audience in the Brave New Blogosphere. While this idea was germinating, I heard about the Great Blog-Off contest at a website called Community Marketing.

Marketing is not my area of expertise, although I’ve done a few stories on it over the years. (I’ve probably done a few stories on everything over the years.) But this contest was not designed for marketing writers only. It welcomed all bloggers who professed to be “thought leaders” on any kind of subject matter. I had been contemplating starting my Baby Boomers-The Angriest Generation series, which most of you now know about. (See the latest Index at http://wp.me/pxD3J-2a )

I signed up for the contest, describing myself as a “thought leader” on the subject of Baby Boomers. The owner of the site asked contestants – there were a couple of dozen originally, although some turned out to be not very active – to come up with punchy little descriptions of themselves, a few words that would make us memorable. I offered the following:

Dr. Ellen Brandt – “Sophisticated Rabble-Rouser”

About my professional background: I’m an Ivy League-educated Ph.D. cultural historian and the author of over 3,000 magazine articles. I’m now a professional in the senior services industry – the fastest-growing sector of this economy for the next 100 years or so – while also resuming my career as a heavy-volume journalist.

When I’m not working: I’m a mezzo soprano trained at Juilliard Prep when it was at 123rd and Claremont. I like lighthouses, carousels, and botanical gardens. And my Dog-Nephew Garcia, named after Jerry Garcia, was – honestly! – the inspiration for the Obamas getting a Portuguese water dog.

My Pre-Blog-Off Blogsite

Said punchy blurb was accompanied by a photo and the notation that I would be the contestant representing Boomers among a field of mostly Gen-Xers and Millennials.

The punchy blurbs were posted about ten days before the contest proper was to begin, at which time I contemplated what kind of strategy might set me apart from the field, help win me a loyal audience, and address the essential differences between a static print environment and this dynamic sphere which calls itself the Internet.

I decided to establish a “pre-Blog-Off blog” at WordPress, where I now house the blogs I publish. The site was called “Preparing for the Blog-Off” with the subhead “Seeing What Works.”

It basically consisted of the same page repeated ten times with different headlines. More about the headlines in a second. The main purpose of the page was to introduce readers to the Blog-Off, with an easy link to the contest embedded in the text.

I also said a little bit about my background and stated that I would be the contestant representing Content and Experience, as befitted a Baby Boomer. On the blogsite’s About page, I offered further links to my Linked In profile, about 50 examples of my print magazine articles, and a wide-ranging interview about my career. (See Why This Blog at http://wp.me/sycK6-about )

This adds up to a whole lot of links! Which illustrates one of those three principles successful website owners should keep in mind: Don’t keep your Readers on one static page, in which case they might as well be sitting at their kitchen table reading a newspaper. Keep your audience moving swiftly from link to link, offering them choices of what to read about next. Make your site a textual Treasure Hunt, with riches galore opening before their eyes.

Now For Those Headlines . . .

All I needed now was an interesting topic for the site, broad enough to warrant several blog entries over the two-week period of the contest, and compelling enough to attract a brand-new audience previously unfamiliar with my work.

The Blog-Off winner would be the contestant who attracted both the most comments and the most clicks – or page views – on the Community Marketing site. So I conceived the idea of a series of stories about attracting both page views and comments via the strength of one’s article headlines.

The series would be called “Thank You For Clicking!” and would be based on the experience early in my career within the world of those Headline Hotshots, the tabloid newspapers. (See “In An Economy and World Gone Haywire” http://wp.me/pycK6-v )

No one does headlines better than the tabloids. Their titles may amuse you, intrigue you, infuriate you, or have you scratching your head – but they are superb at drawing you in and getting you to read the accompanying stories.

Looking at this exercise as informative, as well as fun, I decided to use ten Faux Tabloid Headlines representing different kinds of typical tabloid stories, which I categorized as The Big Story, Plausible-But-Off, Purely Ridiculous, and What-the-Heck-Is-That-About? You can read about these tabloid story categories – and I certainly hope you will – in the four-part series of blogs which made up my composite entry in the Blog-Off.

Here are the ten Faux Tabloid Headlines:

Corpse Found in Internet Guru’s Gym Locker

Pet Hamsters May Spread Swine Flu

Each of these headlines was placed on a separate page at the “Preparing For the Blog-Off” site at Word Press, with the exact same text accompanying each one. In other words, the only element that differed page-to-page was the headline itself. A reader’s clicking on any particular page instead of another would demonstrate that the headline on that page attracted that reader in some way. I also encouraged readers to comment on why they clicked on that particular headline.

Please click on this link to see what the “Preparing For the Blog-Off” page looked like: http://wp.me/pycK6-2h I have used “7 Out of 10 Blog in the Nude” as an example.

Finding Your Fan Base

At this point I needed an audience to read my Blog-Off entries. Several of the younger entrants in the contest publically stated they’d be concentrating on their Twitter networks as potential bases of fans. But I wasn’t on Twitter yet, nor was I active on Face Book.

So I decided to focus my efforts on my Linked In network – considerably smaller then than it is now – and my 50 Linked In Groups.

Starting about two weeks before the Blog-Off’s official commencement, I began to post each of the ten Faux Tabloid Headlines in turn, with a link to the appropriate “Preparing” site page, first in the News sections, then in the Discussion sections, of my various Linked In Groups. I made sure each of the ten Faux Headlines appeared in News and Discussion threads an equal number of times, meaning that an approximately equal number of site visitors would have the opportunity to click – or not click – on each distinctive headline.

Readers who did choose to click were encouraged to make comments about why they chose the headline they did. Many got into the spirit of this exercise and made comments which were sophisticated, insightful, and often quite funny.

It was also soon very clear who my own “fan base” tended to be: over-35; equally divided between female and male; well-educated; and with professional, managerial, or creative careers.

I’m quite happy with that audience. And, in fact, many of those who first “found” me and my work via the Blog-Off are now friends and members of my network.

A quick note about my Baby Boomers series: I intended to introduce the first of my Baby Boomers-The Angriest Generation articles towards the end of the Blog-Off contest. But I collected so much material from the Faux Tabloid Headlines exercise – most of which turned out to be genuinely interesting, as well as humorous – I decided to stick with that “mini-series,” consisting of four separate “Thank You For Clicking!” results stories, as my composite Blog-Off entry.

Here are links to the four stories in the series:

Thank You For Clicking! Part One: Corpse Found In Internet Guru’s Gym Locker http://wp.me/pycK6-2i

Thank You For Clicking! Part Four: New Reality Show To Feature Laid-Off Bankers, Lawyers http://wp.me/pycK6-2o

I urge you to read these stories in sequence, after looking at the Introductory page from the “Preparing For the Blog-Off” site, linked above.

This sequence of four Thank You For Clicking! results articles made up my Blog-Off entry. They were posted on the Community Marketing site at about three-day intervals over the two-week course of the contest. Other active competitors also posted about four stories on average, with three to five blogs being the typical range per contestant.

When the results were tallied, my articles garnered about twice as many page views on the Community Marketing site as my nearest competitor. But the number of page views on the “Preparing for the Blog-Off” site itself was over double that amount, meaning my total views overall, counting both sites, was between six and seven times as great as the next-nearest contestant.

Tell Me What You Think

The series of Thank You For Clicking! stories also did extremely well in terms of reader commentary, which I believe is one of the essential components of successful Internet-based publishing.

Internet gurus tell us that a comment-to-click ratio of 1-2 percent is the average among publishers across the Web. Adding together the approximately 200 comments the Thank You! series received at the Community Marketing site, my Linked In Groups, and the “Preparing For the Blog-Off” site, these articles had a comment-to-click ratio of almost 4 percent, considered an excellent showing.

The comment-to-page view ratio on the “Preparing” site alone, where I – and not other managers – had complete control of the blog and its content was similar, with close to 100 comments from readers, out of 2700 page views in a three-week period.

I am including a selection of original Reader comments from the Community Marketing site and the “Preparing” blogsite as an appendix to this case study. To see them, please click here: http://wp.me/pycK6-2q and http://wp.me/pycK6-2r

The superb reader response demonstrates how enthusiastic – and witty – an audience I was fortunate enough to make an acquaintance with during the course of the Blog-Off contest.

There were a few detractors. If you’ve read my serious humor piece about Malice on the Web, you’ll remember a small cadre of loonies at a couple of Linked In media groups – including a PR man! – who thought anything whatsoever to do with tabloids was just too undignified for Internet discourse. (See “Vultures and Stiletto Heels” http://wp.me/pycK6-5 )

But most readers loved the premise of the Faux Tabloid Headline experiment and understood that it was not only entertaining, but also told us some interesting things about which kinds of headlines readers respond to viscerally and why.

Even coming from a heavy-volume print background, it was essential for me – as it is for every writer and publisher – to discover just who my Internet “fan base” might be and how I could best appeal to them in future Web publications.

My gratifying win in the Blog-Off contest allowed me to do that.

Soon afterwards, I launched my Baby Boomers-The Angriest Generation series. (See http://wp.me/pxD3J-2V ) And “Tell Me What You Think,” a catch phrase I used throughout the Blog-Off, became the subtitle of my EllenInteractive site, a cornucopia of diverse stories designed to elicit above-average reader response. (For instance, see “The World is Divided,” a key question story which received well over 100 comments: http://wp.me/pycK6-n )

I’m now moving on to additional Internet publishing projects:

Media Revolution, a subseries of EllenInteractive, talks about how the entire media sector is undergoing a sea change of enormous proportions and how we must prepare for it. (See “Is Big Brother Here-And Is He An Algorithm?” http://wp.me/pycK6-1Y )

Romance After Fifty is a series on dating and relationships I’m developing with a Baby Boomer matchmaker. (See “A Chance for Romance” http://wp.me/pxD3J-R )

A Little Knowledge will look at Internet security and cloud computing from the perspective of an audience which is well-educated and has used computers for years, but which lacks information on some of the serious recent developments that are changing the Web as we speak.

And The Rest of US - pun intended – is a new blogsite I’m launching about and for political Centrists.

So there have been many interesting developments built upon the foundation of my Blog-Off win.

I invite my brilliant, sophisticated, and in-every-way-perfect audience to join with me in these new projects and others to come.

Any success I have is due to you!

Phil Defranco

• Began his YouTube Channel in 2006 during his finals at East Carolina University
• 6th most subscribed YouTuber with 757,020 Subscribers (as of Nov 27)
• Runs a daily “vlog” where he reports on odd news and shares his opinions on different issues that are in the news with a funny spin
• In January 2009  he stated that his annual salary exceeds $250,000, but says it’s from a number of sources on the internet, not just YouTube
• He has been paid by companies to create videos to promote Carl Jr’s burger and the US TV series’  Lie to Me and Fringe

Playing for Change

• Created in 2004 by Mark Johnson and Timeless Media Group
• Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music
• The group attempts to bring together musicians from around the world in one song
• The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people
• They built a mobile studio that used the same equipment that the major studios use
• Over the course of this project, they decided it was not enough just to record and share this music with the world; they wanted to create a way to give back to the musicians and their communities
• In 2007 they created the Playing for Change Foundation, a nonprofit corporation
• In early 2008, they established Timeless Media, a for-profit entity that funds and extends the work of Playing for Change.

The jeans trend never die, especially among the young generation. But how about those women over 40s who still want to look young and stylish wearing jeans? Solution? Tummy Tuck Jeans.

The Tummy Tuck Jeans mass produced by Not Your Daughter’s Jeans company are selling rapidly in the fashion market despite the current economic recession. The Tummy Tuck jeans satisfies the wants of the women that the jeans flattens the stomach area and distribute the fat to the back. At a price of $100 per jeans, the demand were expected to decline, but instead, the market sales are high, thus, indicating that the demand for the jeans is elastic. One factor of its elasticity may be because of the consumer taste and that the women have the money to spend on their wants because their spouses have stable jobs and their children are off to college. Thus, the women have the power to spend money.

As shown on the Graph, the Jeans’ demand is quite inelastic, thus,  the change in price of the jeans will not significantly change in quantity demanded of the Tummy Tuck  jeans.

Managing heterogeneous application on both SAP and non-SAP world is a complex task.  On a distributed platform, things are still more difficult.  Collaboration is the only way to reduce the complexity.

In this regard, SAP and IBM has signed a cooperative agreement to extend integration between IBM Rational software delivery platform with SAP’s application life cycle management solution.  Now we can work on with IBM Rational’s requirement definition & management, quality and change management solutions with SAP and non-SAP environments.  This provides an excellent automation scenario.  Also results in an excellent traceability for SAP requirement process and assets. Effective automation boosts the productivity and brings down the cost to present a better ROI.

Read more:

Read our world wide first case study on SAP test automation using IBM Rational Functional Tester.

PRODUCT PRESS RELEASE .pdf file(Link)

Kareena Promoting VAIO

Making Of Size-Zero Ad

Finished Product

Ad not shown in Indian market

By putting a tax on plastic bags, the Irish government quickly and effectively solved a pollution problem. they did not offend anyone, because they                                        didnt remove the choice. they did not hurt the economy, because the consumers had substitutes, and they didnt hurt the enviroment. taxing a product is similar to raising the price, the quantity demanded for the product will decrease. because it is a tax, the government can receive the money from any consumer who chooses to pay for the bag to be put into other project that can help society. This decision to tax plastic bags is a great way to lessen a societies’ baggage.

Photo by joiseyshowaa

Our offices will be closed on Thursday, November 26th and Friday, November 27 in observance of the Thanksgiving Day holiday. We will reopen on Monday, November 30.

If you are in town for the weekend, NYC has a plethora of events to celebrate the Holiday weekend! Here are a few favorites:

Macy’s Balloon Inflation on Thanksgiving Eve:
What’s better than watching the floating giants rise? For details and the inflation map click here. For information on the balloons, please click here.

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade:
Be part of the more than 3.5 million spectators lining the streets of New York City, and more than 50 million viewers tuning in nationwide to watch the famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The Parade boasts approximately 8,000 participants including balloon handlers, float escorts, clowns, marching bands, cheerleaders, dance groups and other performers.

The 2009 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade route will, for the first time in its history, bypass Broadway on it’s way to Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street. This is the sixth route change in the 83 years of the Macy’s Parade. However, this is the first time that the Parade will not travel through Broadway.

The Parade will begin at the traditional 77th Street and Central Park West kick off, it will travel down Central Park West to Columbus Circle, where it will veer towards 7th Avenue and march down 7th through Times Square. It will then turn onto 42nd Street to 6th Avenue marching down the Avenue of the Americas to 34th Street where it will turn and end at 34th Street and 7th Avenue.

Thanksgiving Meal
Eater.com compiled the best list of restaurants with reservations left, from fancy to down home cooking (and the prices to match), from the Upper West Side to Carroll Gardens – and a few right here in the neighborhood! Click here.

The Polar Express™ 4-D Experience at Madame Tussauds
The Polar Express™ 4-D Experience is back at Madame Tussauds New York, just in time for the holidays! This unique cinematic experience will enable you to smell the aroma of hot chocolate, feel the icy chill of snow brushing past your face, hear the roar of the locomotive and feel as though you are a passenger aboard the magical Polar Express as you follow the story of a young boy who takes an extraordinary train ride to the North Pole on Christmas Eve! It’s a full-sensory adventure that is perfect for the entire family. (Trailer)

Holiday hours are 10am to 10pm from Thursday, November 26-Saturday, January 2. Purchase your all access pass online, which includes general admission to Madame Tussauds NY, SCREAM, Polar Express, Madame Tussauds Story, and Behind the Scenes, to save up to 20%.

NYC Service:
Give thanks by sacrificing some of your time. NYC Service, run by the City of New York, knows that everyone has something to offer. They can assist you with using your time, passion, skills and willingness to help address New York’s most pressing needs. Simply visit their website, and answer this question: I want to help New York with: ________. You can search volunteer opportunities by a variety of variables such as date, area, and your specialties.

Ice Skating:
Ice skating in the City is a beloved seasonal tradition. Whether you are participating or watching, the only problem is which of our World famous rinks do you choose from?

Rockefeller Ice Rink is closed on Wednesday, and has a schedule change on Thursday, November 26, with sessions from 9am-12pm, 12:30-2, 2:30-4, 4:30-6, 6:30-8, 8:30-10, 10:30-Midnight. Normal sessions resume on Friday from 8:30am-1000, 1030-12 1230-2, 2:30-4, 4:30-6, 6:30-8, 8:30-10, 10:30-Midnight. Pricing for adults $19, children under eleven and seniors $12.50. Skate rental is $9 per session. The Christmas Tree is up, but not lit. The lighting ceremony is on December 2.

The Pond at Bryant Park is open from 8am-10pm. Admission and lockers are free. Skate rentals are $12, lock rentals are $9, small bag check is $7 and large bag check is $10. The line tends to be longer on holidays – but you can make a reservation online and skip the line!

The Wollman Rink in Central Park is open from Monday & Tuesday from 10:00am – 2:30pm, Wednesday & Thursday from 10:00am – 10:00pm, Friday & Saturday 10:00am – 11:00pm, and on Sunday from 10:00am – 9:00pm. Adults are $10.25 Monday-Thursday and $14.75 Friday-Sunday. Children are $5.50 Monday-Thursday and $5.75 Friday-Sunday. Seniors are $4.75 Monday-Thursday and $8.25 Friday-Sunday. Skate rentals are $6.25. Lock rentals are $4.50 with a a $6 deposit. The spectator fee is $5.

Flatiron High and Low:
Our very own Flatiron District’s rich architectural heritage is on display with an exhibition at the Van Alen Institute. The exhibit spotlights two centuries of building culture in the Flatiron district The exhibition is free and is open from M-F from 12-5pm at 30 West 22nd Street – through December 11.

Enjoy!

If you place an order for virtual office service online via our secure order form, please note that orders completed on a Holiday will be reviewed the following business day.

Make sure to check out our specials page for November’s NYC virtual office promotion.

With regards,
The Team at VH International Business Solutions, Inc.

Please contact us with any questions:
Tel: 1.212.627.8900
Fax: 1.646.861.6610
Manhattan Virtual Office

Since 1990.

VH International Business Solutions, Inc.
Follow us on Twitter: @ManhattanOffice

Beachwood Yacht Clubhouse on Compass Avenue, 2009.

Today’s entry is a contemporary event we feel captures a part of the times we live in and should be recorded into our borough history.

The Beachwood Yacht Club has been harnessing the power of the wind for almost century on the southern shores of the Toms River. Close to a hundred years of sailors have come through their doors since it was first opened in 1915, each one knowing the sheer delight of catching the wind in their sails. Starting the 2010 season and continuing through their second century, BYC will also begin harnessing the power of the sun.

The BYC will be the first yacht club on the river to go solar. “It makes perfect sense for us, as we have been educating young people on the benefits of sailing,” said Brigitte Hoey, Commodore and past student of BYC. “Sailing builds confidence through competition, reinforces a sense of independence, and also teaches environmental responsibility all while having a lot of fun. Now we can reinforce this very important environmental message with the next generation by having kids and their families spend an  entire day of fun just using the wind and the sun.”

The Beachwood Yacht Club anticipates the construction to be in full swing just after Thanksgiving, with its completion prior to Christmas.  Updates, photos and information on its progress and solar power conversion will be found here on the Beachwood Historical Alliance’s newssite as a way to record for future generations our current era and the growing worldwide clean energy movement as it grows to reach the Borough of Beachwood.

Check it out:

Tactical Asset Allocation Based on the Yield Curve

http://www.mebanefaber.com/2009/11/15/tactical-asset-allocation-based-on-the-yield-curve/

The Chase Bank Foundation is giving away $5 million in a novel way…through Facebook. In what appears to be one of the most democratic ways of supporting nonprofits, the foundation is asking organizations to register through Facebook, then the Facebook community votes for the most deserving groups to win $25,000. The top 100 finalists are eligble to win $100,000 or the grand prize of $1 million.

Pros: This will motivate groups to get on Facebook if they aren’t already. It seems more transparent than an unknown group of  board members at the foundation deciding who gets awarded. It’s viral, so it gives equal opportunity to small grass-roots nonprofits and large corporate-style organizations.

Cons: I am concerned that a small number of national nonprofit groups with highly-connected friends could overtake organizations with significant but local impact. I also wonder if this program will replace Chase’s standard annual giving. A well-grant proposal can show a lot of impact and shouldn’t be disregarded in favor of pure popular vote.

Here’s the link, FYI it’s a Facebook app so it will ask you to log in before you can check it out.

Author: Jason Pires
Source: MVC Agency

Situation:

After reviewing several agencies, Armen Art, a furniture design and manufacturing company, chose MVC as its marketing partner. Armen Art realized that MVC understood the severity of its situation and is passionate about helping its partner clients create powerful results in the face of adversity and change. MVC presented Armen Art with a powerful creative vision and an unprecedented strategic approach that would be essential to the company’s future. MVC’s strength in lifestyle marketing, modern visual style and strategic thinking served as the right foundation for the leading brand that Armen Art needed to become.

When Armen Art partnered with MVC it was facing an internal renovation that included a change in leadership at a time when the industry itself was experiencing a generational transition and a waning economy. In its 30 year history the company had not made any changes to its brand and marketing. From a sales perspective the word “Art” in the name Armen Art Furniture had become a misleading roadblock as the art and accessories market had grown into its own distinct and thriving segment of the industry. The old logo, two ribbon style and interlaced “A” letters, didn’t do much more to communicate the company’s values or even offer an idea of the type of products the company sold. To worsen the scenario, the company’s marketing strategy had ignored the web. In essence, the company was in danger of failing if it did not make immediate and drastic changes.

Solution:

MVC realized that Armen Art was in need of a complete reinvention of its brand, which would include a fresh new market position and a marketing strategy that leverages the power of the web.

MVC knew that to reinvigorate the company’s appeal it would need to connect with the lifestyles of modern day consumers even though it does not sell directly to consumers. It would also need to demonstrate to its clients within the industry that Armen Art Furniture understands what consumers want in terms of design, quality and price. With this mentality, MVC would go on to help Armen Living bridge the disconnect between its products and the end consumer as it was perceived in the minds of the buyers. Ultimately this would set the platform for consumer brand awareness that will drive the behavior of industry buyers and create further interest in the Armen Art brand and products.

To start the process of rebranding, the Arment Art company name and identity needed to offer a completely new and fresh impression of the company. Through extensively studying the market, Armen Art’s history and the vibrant new product line introduced by the company’s new leaders, MVC decided that to reposition Armen Art it needed project the company’s values beyond those of just a company that sold furniture.

With the understanding that consumers now look for furniture that can help them enhance their lives and express their unique personalities, MVC substituted the word “Art” for the word “Living” in the company’s name, and kept the “Armen” so as not to lose the company’s core personality, culture and existing brand equity. To compliment the new name “Armen Living (Furniture)”, MVC created the tagline “Furniture for Contemporary Lifestyles” to encompass what the company offers and that can be further qualified by the remaining facets of the company’s branding and advertising.

Having set the initial feel for the company’s brand, MVC would then create a modern logo that directly reflects the form and idea of furniture, and a color palette that exudes the warmth of a joyful life while balanced by an air of self-assured sophistication.

MVC would then bring the marketing to life with the campaign titled “This is Living” which gave context to the company’s new name and that is supported by custom lifestyle photography and images depicting the alluring aspects of a sophisticated contemporary lifestyle.

Through the use of a dynamic web video presentation that introduced the direction of the new brand and the vibrant new collection MVC succeeded in generating immediate buzz as well as new business for Armen Living. The video proved to not only keep viewers tuned in to its entire message, but it was also distributed virally through the internet by furniture enthusiasts and followers of the new brand.

Building on the “This Is Living” campaign, MVC created an elegant catalog designed to compliment and unify the eclectic and diverse nature of Armen Living’s new products. MVC also designed and developed a fresh new company website for Armen Living. The website not only features an optimized SEO framework but also social networking aspects that allow users to share the products and content on Facebook, Twitter and other networking websites.

MVC continues to expand the reach of the new brand through a carefully planned and executed marketing strategy which includes PR and advertising campaigns, email marketing.

After only five months of partnering with MVC, Armen Living experienced the best month in sales that it had in over 2 years. The company is not only steadily growing again, it is also poised to be an industry leader in the coming years. The partnership between Armen Living and MVC Agency has been a true success in terms of brand positioning, marketing strategy and most importantly in terms of financial growth for Armen Living.

To learn more about specific aspects of the new brand:

Logo/Brand Identity:
http://www.mvcagency.com/#/works/?cat=55&id=102

Video Presentation:
http://www.mvcagency.com/#/works/?cat=51&id=106

Website:
http://www.mvcagency.com/#/works/?cat=50&id=105

Catalog:
http://www.mvcagency.com/#/works/?cat=52&id=101

Today as ever brand marketers are wrestling with how much of their media spend to put online and are looking for case studies that allow them to “trust digital media” the way they do traditional media.  All of the unique visitor metrics and total impressions numbers aside, there remains a confidence gap until big brands start to circulate big cases where digital has delivered big results.

Now they are starting to come in like this one from Ford published in the WARC News Email:

In April, Ford, the automaker, asked 100 influential US bloggers to test drive its new Fiesta for a period of six months, and regularly post their opinions of the car on portals like Facebook and Twitter.

By October, it estimated that the resulting material had received 4.3 million hits on YouTube and 3 million comments on Twitter, while 540,000 people had viewed photos hosted on Flickr.

According to Jim Farley, Ford’s group vice president of global marketing, recognition rates of the Fiesta have grown rapidly, despite the fact it won’t be available until mid-2010.

“If you would have told me that we would have 100 vehicles in the US … and we would have 60% brand awareness in the segment, I would have said there is no possible way,” he said.

“To get 60% awareness in traditional media, it costs somewhere north of $50 million (€33.6m; £29.9m),” continued Farley, who added that the web is now a viable, and more low-cost, alternative to these channels.

“Online has become mass media. A Yahoo or Google page takeover actually gets more eyeballs than a network TV commercial now. That hasn’t happened before.”

In April, Ford, the automaker, asked 100 influential US bloggers to test drive its new Fiesta for a period of six months, and regularly post their opinions of the car on portals like Facebook and Twitter.

By October, it estimated that the resulting material had received 4.3 million hits on YouTube and 3 million comments on Twitter, while 540,000 people had viewed photos hosted on Flickr.

According to Jim Farley, Ford’s group vice president of global marketing, recognition rates of the Fiesta have grown rapidly, despite the fact it won’t be available until mid-2010.

“If you would have told me that we would have 100 vehicles in the US … and we would have 60% brand awareness in the segment, I would have said there is no possible way,” he said.

“To get 60% awareness in traditional media, it costs somewhere north of $50 million (€33.6m; £29.9m),” continued Farley, who added that the web is now a viable, and more low-cost, alternative to these channels.

“Online has become mass media. A Yahoo or Google page takeover actually gets more eyeballs than a network TV commercial now. That hasn’t happened before.”

Very cool article on Adage about how big corporations view Twitter and what is it for. Surprisingly low is the customer-service channel at 9%.

Even more telling is how companies apply currently traditional marketing practices to this new media channel, including:

• Twitter as a newsfeed: 26%
• Twitter as brand-builder: 24%
• Twitter as direct marketer/sales channel: 16%
• Twitter as thought-leadership channel: 11%
• Twitter as customer-service channel: 9%

Download the whole Twittervention study here:
http://www.webershandwick.com/resources/ws/flash/Twittervention_Study.pdf

In the other hand, users don´t like brands on twitter:

By john120 | Marlborough, MA November 17, 2009 10:34:57 am

I have to say, I’ve been playing on twitter for almost two years now, and it’s sad to see the decline in quality that’s going on. So many brands are using it poorly. Twitter is NOT a newsfeed, and I’ll be honest; I immediately unfollow most brands who only use it as such. Twitter is supposed to be a place for people to engage with each other. Any company that doesn’t respond to responses on twitter (and it’s a lot) should stop using it completely. 

How much longer to people think twitter will last as a powerhouse media? I know a lot of people, myself included, are considering leaving it. 

By jelefant | Indianapolis, IN November 17, 2009 09:55:22 am:

Twitter isn’t built for Brands, it’s built for people. I did a loose study of brand twitter accounts vs accounts of individuals who work at those brands. As example, the account for Suzy Tonini, the Manager, Member Firm Global Online Communications for Deloitte, has 3,373 followers. The Deloitte GLOBAL account has 2,615. People want to listen to and communicate with other people. Brands should empower their people, through a company social media policy, to use these new channels.

By cperry248 | Birmingham, MI November 18, 2009 01:38:54 am:

Fully agree it’s a personal medium. And that said, there’s plenty of opportunity to create more engaging interactions with people behind products and services we buy. There are examples, both human and branded if you will, where it works.

Photo by niseag03

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83rd Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2009 has a new route! For the first time ever, the parade route will bypass Broadway and travel down 7th and 6th Avenue’s to Macy’s in Herald Square.

Stars joining the line-up include Bello, Grandma and the cast of the Big Apple Circus, Andrea Bocelli, Boys Like Girls, Alan Cumming, Billy Currington, DJ Lance Rock and the cast of Yo Gabba Gabba!, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots, Gloria Gaynor, Sarah Hughes, Kermit the Frog and Tiffany Thornton, Jane Krakowski, Cyndi Lauper, Ziggy Marley with Judah Marley, Katharine McPhee, Miss America 2009 – Katie Stam, the cast and Muppets of Sesame Street, Mitchel Musso, Keke Palmer, The Pizzarelli Quartet, Jay Sean and Carly Simon.

Enchantment returns this November as Macy’s magical procession of pomp and pageantry ushers in the holiday season at the 83rd Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. From the trumpeting of the time-honored phrase Let’s Have a Parade. to the first glimpse of one of Macy’s signature giant helium balloons, the march of whimsy will delight more than 3.5 million spectators lining the streets of Manhattan and more than 50 million viewers nationwide. America’s Parade steps to the beat of its own drums on Thursday, November 26th at 9:00 AM bringing with it 8,000 participants including the nation’s best marching bands, jaw-dropping performance groups, cheerleaders, clowns, giant balloons, fanciful floats and the biggest star of them all, the one-and-only Santa Claus.

From a small band of Macy’s employees gathered in 1924 to commemorate the holiday season to a tradition that has delighted millions for generations, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is truly an icon of American popular culture. Changing with the times from a Parade of floats, zoo animals, clowns and bands that marched down a more than 5- mile route to a Parade filled with giant helium balloon characters, celebrities, and more; the Macy’s Parade this year will mark yet another milestone moment. Having marched down parts of Broadway for 82 years, the 2009 procession will be the first to bypass Broadway in the history of the Parade. Over the years, the Macy’s Parade route has changed five times as it traveled through Manhattan. From the initial Harlem step-off site in the mid 1920s to its current 77th Street starting line, the Parade route has evolved with the city.

The 2009 Macy’s Parade will begin at 77th Street and Central Park West, travel down to Columbus Circle where it will turn onto Central Park South. Once the Parade reaches 7th Avenue it will turn once more and march down 7th Avenue through Times Square to 42nd Street. At the famed intersection, it will turn east to 6th Avenue and begin its final march down the Avenue of the Americas to 34th Street, where it will turn towards Macy’s famed flagship and end at 7th Avenue marking a 2.65-mile march.

“This is a milestone year for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” said Robin Hall, executive producer of Macy’s National Events. “Dramatic changes in the mid-town landscape will divert us for the first time from the fabled Broadway route we have followed since our first Parade in 1924. However, our course will remain true and the Parade will continue to entertain millions as Spider-Man returns to the sky and the first new Santa Float in almost half a century makes its debut.”

The 83rd Annual Macy’s Parade will be an unparalleled crowd-pleasing spectacle that features 1,500 cheerleaders, dancers, singers and performers; 800 clowns; 15 giant character helium balloons; 35 novelty/ornament balloons, balloonheads and balloonicles; 10 marching bands; 24 floats; and a host of celebrity performers.

Rise of the Giants
The sky above the streets of Manhattan will be alive once more filled with colorful friends as the Parade’s signature giant helium character balloons soar on Thanksgiving morning. The line-up of giants features a who’s who of children’s classic characters from comic book superheroes to the stars of television, films and American pop culture. New arrivals to the Thanksgiving Day balloonfest are everyone’s favorite neighborhood super-hero™, the web slinger himself, Spider-Man®; the ever cute and cuddly Pillsbury Doughboy®; America’s favorite clown Ronald McDonald®; and the top mouse on deck, Sailor Mickey Mouse.

Making a vaunted return to the Parade to complete the 15 giant balloon line-up are some of the nation’s most favorite characters including Abby Cadabby, Buzz Lightyear, Dora the Explorer™, Flying Ace Snoopy, Horton, Kermit the Frog™, Pikachu™, Shrek®, Smurf, SpongeBob SquarePants™ and Supercute Hello Kitty®. These giant balloons are only one portion of the buoyant procession; the Macy’s Parade also boasts 35 novelty/ornament balloons and balloonicles, which can range in size from 12 to 25 feet tall and give the line of march a tiered perspective. The Macy’s Parade features a team of Balloonatics – balloon experts who create, maintain and inflate the Parade’s balloon line up. A fun bunch, the Parade Balloonatics are known to give lessons in balloon speak to spectators every year. Two very important facts should be known when referring to the Parade’s giant helium characters. One is that although the Parade’s signature balloons seem to float in the air, they are indeed balloons – not floats. The second and most important is that Macy’s does not blow up the balloons – that would be very disappointing to millions who would not get to see them fly on Parade day…that’s why they are inflated!

Floating Scenes of Wonder
Riding down the street on Thanksgiving Day will be the Parade’s magical lineup of floats that feature landscapes of fantasy. These moving stages transport millions of spectators on unexpected journeys. The new float line-up includes a salute to the heroes in our everyday lives on the Local Heroes Helping Everyday float; a magical land where friends come to life to play and dance on the There’s A Party in My City float, and the first new Santa’s Sleigh in more than 40 years.

The dazzling stages that ride down the streets of New York City each year take months of painstaking work by the skilled artisans of the Macy’s Parade Studio. The gifted Studio team design and build each float from the ground up. Wood, foam and other materials are the skeleton that gives life to this fleet of fantasy. In addition to the three new stages, 21 floats will make a return appearance to the line up this Thanksgiving.

The returning float roster includes 123 Sesame Street, Big Apple, Bridge To The Future, Bountiful Harvest Cornucopia, The Care Bears™ Winter Fun-derland, Castle of Dreams, Cele-bear-ate Hugs Worldwide, Doodlebug, Jolly Polly Pirate Ship, M&M’s® Chocolate Candies on Broadway, Marion-Carol Showboat, Musical Innovation Bigger Than Life, Pep Squad, Shine On, The Smurfs™, Snoopy’s Doghouse, Spirit of Liberty, Tom Turkey, The True Spirit of Thanksgiving, Winter Wonderland in Central Park and Woodland Family Gathering. In addition, the famed Speed Racer Mach 5 will be making a special appearance in the line of march this year.

Drum Roll Please
Strike up the band and pump up the volume, as the Parade’s signature marching bands hit the perfect rhythm this Thanksgiving. The musical heartbeat of the Parade, the marching bands and students representing their home states in this year’s holiday spectacular are the nation’s highest caliber musical and marching talents. Ready to step to the beat are Adair County High School from Columbia, Kentucky; Frank W. Ballou Senior High School from Washington, DC; Choctawhatchee High School from Fort Walton Beach, FL; Franklin Regional High School from Murrysville, PA; Harrison High School from Kennesaw, GA; Morgantown High School from Morgantown, WV; Pickerington Central High School from Pickerington, OH; Pittsburg High School from Pittsburg, CA; Towson University from Towson, MD; and Macy’s Great American Marching Band featuring students from all fifty states.

Taking Center Stage
Adding pomp, cheer, spins, flips and dips to the holiday revelry are some of the nation’s best performance groups. From the cheerleaders to a one-of-a kind group of peddlers, the Parade features a host of unique performers. Set to wow the crowds are performers from the Big Apple Circus, Chinese American Community Center Folk Dance Troupe, Mike Miller Dance Team, NETSational Seniors & NETS Kids Dance Team, The Purple Peddlers, Varsity Spirit, Spirit of Long Island Mounted Drill Team, Stagedoor Manor, and USA Jump Rope.

Stars on 34th Street
Celebrating the start of the holiday season will be performers from stage, screen and music riding down the streets of New York City to Macy’s famed home on 34th Street. The stars joining the line-up include Bello, Grandma and the cast of the Big Apple Circus, Andrea Bocelli, Boys Like Girls, Alan Cumming, Billy Currington, DJ Lance Rock and the cast of Yo Gabba Gabba!, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots, Gloria Gaynor, Sarah Hughes, Kermit the Frog and Tiffany Thornton, Jane Krakowski, Cyndi Lauper, Ziggy Marley with Judah Marley, Katharine McPhee, Miss America 2009 – Katie Stam, the cast and Muppets of Sesame Street, Mitchel Musso, Keke Palmer, The Pizzarelli Quartet, Jay Sean and Carly Simon.

Nationwide Star
From coast to coast, Americans will gather around the television to share in the magic of the Parade via the national broadcast on NBC-TV. One of the nation’s most viewed events, NBC’s Emmy® Award winning telecast of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will be hosted by TODAY’s Matt Lauer, Meredith Viera and Al Roker. The telecast will air from 9:00 AM to 12 Noon in each of the four time zones in the continental United States. Star power on Thanksgiving morning will include performances from some of the hottest Broadway shows including Billy Elliot, Bye Bye Birdie, Hair, and Shrek. In addition, the world-famous Radio City Rockettes® will return to kick in the start of the holiday season.

A Holiday Treat for Children Everywhere, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade’s finale features the biggest star of all, the one-and-only Santa Claus. As his sleigh comes into view, Macy’s will wish everyone “Happy Holidays” and a “Merry Christmas.”

Source and Photos: Macy’s

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Rebranding Representing All Women: A Case Study

A few years ago I started working with seminar speaker and dream coach Stephanie Beattie, owner of Representing All Women (RAW), a company dedicated to helping people reach their goals through insight and motivation.

When I started working with RAW, their corporate identity consisted of a background of baby blue sky with fluffy clouds and a pair of hands unclasping to release a butterfly. My client felt like it expressed her passion to help women learn how to have it all as they discover what they really want from their lives.

The Book

When Stephanie asked me to design the cover of her first book “You Can Have It All: Unleash Your Inner Diva”, we discovered that her existing brand image wasn’t really the strong, powerful image she wanted to portray. She likes strong colours and “a lot of bling”. She is a powerful woman with a lot of personality, so we needed to revise her brand identity to reflect that.

The cover design we settled on for the book consisted mainly of deep magenta and black–a clean design with colour that really popped. The text at the top of the front cover appears to be diamond encrusted, complete with sparkles to add the bling.

Corporate Identity

To carry that look through the rest of RAW’s identity and marketing materials, we updated the logo. The “Representing” in the company name was changed to a slightly different script font, and the colour was altered from a muddy red to 100% magenta, with the words “ALL WOMEN” modified to an updated san serif font. We wanted to update the logo yet not change it so much as to make it unrecognizable to existing clients.

With the logo redesigned, we then revised her business cards. A simple two pms colour printing process with an added spot varnish on an extra heavy stock made her business cards fit for a diva! The cards have a black background on the front, with a solid magenta background on the back. The all-over gloss varnish, with a diamond patterned matte spot varnish really made the cards look and feel impressive.

RAW | Representing All Women magazine

Our next project has been the most fun of all! Laura, my new business partner, and I recently launched Expressions Custom Publications. Since I’ve worked with Stephanie for the last few years, I knew she was the perfect person to approach about creating her own magazine.

As I expected, she jumped at the idea and committed instantly. Now that she and I are both comfortable with her new look, designing the quarterly magazine was easy. We kept the same colour palette and clean design of the book and identity, and created a new logo for RAW. We’ve designed the media kit and the first issue of the magazine is well underway, to be available in early February.

Website

I’ve already updated www.representingallwomen.com to reflect the new style and provide online registration for Stephanie’s workshops. Within the next few months, I’ll continue to revamp the look and add more features that incorporate the magazine and book such as excerpts, articles and some fun, interactive quizzes.

We need to create an effective website with quality content that has the functionality we’ll need to inform people about workshops and coaching services, sell the book, allow people to subscribe to or advertise in the magazine, and capture contact information from visitors.

We have created Twitter and Facebook accounts with Stephanie’s voice, and are also working on adding videos from her last workshop to YouTube to help people build a connection with the brand and Stephanie herself.

It’s not the end

Developing a brand identity is an ongoing thing that will continue to evolve. The Representing All Woman brand will continue to grow and add new products, services and events, so the brand will have to grow along with it. We’re ready for the challenge.