Awesome High-Speed Video! Pedigree Dogs at 1,000 FPS!
Published March 4, 2010 | 
Team Altman Great High-Speed Video Shot at 1,000 FPS!
Viewing a video in slow motion at 1,000 FPS is like viewing art that’s come to life, and can be quite moving, like viewing the pedigree dogs shot in this great video, and it’s a video so cool to watch that you have to view it more than once.
As always enjoy, and share the Dogs at 1,000 FPS!
How to Craft External Strategy
Published May 26, 2009 | 
External strategy is about your approach to communications and it is built from the outside in, from the customer backwards, and positioning theory provides the body of knowledge for crafting this type of strategy and its focus is purely strategic as opposed to the creative the orientation of internal strategy.
Positioning is used as a communication tool to reach target customers in a crowded marketplace and as advertising executives have begun to develop positioning slogans for their clients, positioning has become a key aspect of marketing communications, and while positioning begins with a product, it’s not what you do to the product, positioning is what you do to the mind of the customer.
Since the concept a positioning is really about positioning a product in the mind of the customer, strategy is therefore planned in the mind, not the marketplace, and marketing then becomes a battle of perception not products. This approach is needed because consumers are bombarded with a continuous stream of high-volume advertising and the consumer’s mind reacts to this high-volume of advertising by accepting only what is consistent with prior knowledge or experience.
In a very general sense, there are only a few generic external positioning strategies including getting into the mind first or finding the niche, positioning yourself to the leader, or repositioning the competition.
The easiest way of getting into the mind is to be first and for proof of this concept answer questions including who was first to fly solo across the north Atlantic? Charles Lindbergh, right? Who was a second? Who was the first person to walk on the moon? The answer is Neil Armstrong, of course. Who was second? What’s the highest mountain in the world? Mount Everest in the Himalayas, right? What’s the second highest? What’s the largest selling ever published? Of course the answer is The Bible, right? And the second largest selling book? Who knows?
It is very easy to remember who is first, and much more difficult to remember who is second, and even if the second entrant offers a better product, the first mover has a large advantage that can make up for other shortcomings, however, all is not lost for products that are not the first as it’s not being first physically to the marketplace, and by being the first to claim a unique position in the mind of the consumer, a firm effectively can cut through the noise level of other products.
If a product is not going to be first, it didn’t must find an unoccupied position in which it can be first, for example, at a time when larger cars were popular, Volkswagen introduced the Beetle with the slogan “Think Small,” now Volkswagen was not the first small car, but they were the first to claim that position in the mind of the consumer.
Consumers rank brands in their minds and if a brand is not number one then to be successful it somehow must relate itself to the number one brand, and a campaign that pretends that the market leader does not exist is likely to fail, as Avis tried unsuccessfully for years to win customers, pretending that the number one Hertz did not exist. Finally, it began using the line, “Avis is only No. 2 in rent-a-cars, so why go with us? We try harder.” For 13 years in a row Avis lost money and after the campaign, Avis quickly became profitable, and whether Avis actually tried harder was not relevant to their success, rather, consumers finally were able to relate Avis to Hertz, which was number one in their minds.
Remember, you must own your niche and own it out right and no one else can occupy your space, and if you can’t own it, especially from a marketing expenditure outlay, then decrease the size of niche until you can, and if somebody else occupies your chosen space you must try to reposition them.
All successful external strategies must start with the mind of the consumer and then work backward and this is true because the answer is not contained within the product or service itself, and no amount of creative thinking or analysis will result in the insights needed to successfully position your company, product, or service. The answer rests instead in the mind of your customer and you must begin with what’s already there and then work backwards, or outside in to create your external strategy.
Ask yourself, “What position do I own now?”And remember external strategy is thinking in reverse, so instead of starting with yourself, you start with the mind of the prospect and instead of asking what you are, you asked what position you already own in the mind of the prospect, and changing minds in our over communicated society is an extremely difficult task, as it’s much easier to work with what’s already there.
Next, ask yourself, “What position do I want to own?” Then ask yourself, “How can I be the first to claim a unique position in the mind of my customer?” And here is where you try to figure out the best position to own from a long-term perspective, and “Own” is the key word, as too many programs set out to communicate a position that is impossible to preempt because someone else already owns it.
How to Reposition the Competition
Published April 15, 2009 | 
Sometimes there are no unique positions to carve out, and in such cases, authors Ries and Trout suggest repositioning a competitor by convincing consumers to view the competitor in a different way, and repositioning the competitor is different from comparative, as comparative advertising seeks to convince the consumer that one brand is simply better than another and consumers are not likely to be receptive to such a tactic. There’s a psychological flaw in the advertiser’s reasoning which the prospect is quick to detect, “If your product is so good, how come it’s not the leader?”, and a look at comparative ads suggests why most them aren’t effective, as they fail to reposition the competition.
Tylenol successfully repositioned aspirin running advertisements explaining the negative side effects of aspirin:
“For the millions who should not take aspirin, if your stomach is easily upset… or you have an ulcer… or you suffer from asthma, allergies, or iron deficiency anemia, it makes sense to check with your doctor before you take aspirin. Aspirin can irritate the stomach lining, trigger asthmatic or allergic reactions, and cost small amounts of hidden gastrointestinal bleeding. Fortunately, there is Tylenol…”
Six words of ad copy before any mention of the advertiser’s product, and sales of Tylenol took off, and today, Tylenol is the number one brand of analgesic.
Consumers tend to perceive the origin of a product by its name rather than reading the label to find out where it really is made and such was the case with vodka when most of vodka brands sold in the US were made in the US but had a Russian names. Stolichnaya Russian vodka successfully repositioned its Russian sounding competitors by exposing the fact that they all actually were made in the US (by listing the cities they were produced in) and that Stolichnaya was made in Leningrad, Russia.
When Pringle’s newfangled potato chips were introduced, they quickly gained market share, however, Wise potato chips successfully repositioned Pringles in the mind of consumers by listing some of Pringles non-natural ingredients that sounded like harsh chemicals, even though they were not, and Wise potato chips of course, contained only “Potatoes, vegetable oil, and Salt.” And as a result of this advertising, Pringles quickly lost market share, with consumers complaining that Pringles tasted like cardboard, most likely as a consequence of their thinking about all those unnatural ingredients.
It may come as a surprise to you that one of the most effective ways to get into a prospect’s mind is to first admit a negative and then to twist it into a positive, and first and foremost, candor is very disarming and every negative statements you make about yourself is instantly accepted as truth, but positive statements, on the other hand, are looked at as dubious at best, especially in an advertisement. For instance, successful campaigns include “Avis is only No. 2 in rental cars.”, “With a name like Smucker’s, it has to be good.”, “The 1970 VW will stay ugly longer.”, “Joy, the world’s most expensive perfume.”
Some years ago, Scope entered the mouthwash market with a “good-tasting” mouthwash, stating that Listerine’s leading product was responsible for “medicine breath.” What should Listerine do? It certainly couldn’t tell people that Listerine’s taste wasn’t all that bad, because that would raise a red flag that would reinforce a negative perception, instead, Listerine brilliantly invoked the law of candor: “The taste you hate twice a day.” Not only did the company admitted product tasted bad, it admitted that people actually hated it, and to set up the selling idea that Listerine “kills a lot of germs.”, and a crisis was diverted using a heavy dose of candor.
What is Positioning?
Published April 8, 2009 | 
One of the best-known names in American advertising circles is David Ogilvy, who after spending several billion dollars on advertising, listed 32 things his ad agency had learned, and of the 32, he said that the single most important decision involved positioning the product, as he claimed that the marketing results depend less on how advertising was written than how the product or service was positioned.
In their 1981 book, Positioning: the Battle for your Mind, Al Ries and Jack Trout describe how positioning is used as a communication tool to reach target customers in a crowded marketplace and as the flow of information through modern media continues to escalate at an exponential pace it grows increasingly difficult for a business to communicate with its potential and existing customers. Only companies that can cut through the clutter by careful positioning in the mind of the customer will be seen and heard in the overcrowded marketplace, and not long thereafter, Madison Avenue advertising executives began to develop positioning slogans for their clients and positioning became a key aspect of the marketing communications.
Positioning starts with a product, a piece of merchandise, a service, a company, or even a person, but positioning is not what you do to a product, positioning is what you do to the mind of the customer. That is, you position the product by the prospect, strategy is therefore planned in the mind, not the marketplace, and marketing then becomes a battle of perceptions not products.
All successful positioning strategies must start with the mind of the consumer and then work backward in this is true because the answer is not contained within the product or service itself, and no amount of creative thinking or analysis will result in the insights needed to successfully position your company, product, or service. The answer rest instead in the mind of your customer, and you must begin with what’s already there and then work backwards, outside in, to create your strategy.
As every school child knows, the man who discovered America was poorly rewarded for his efforts and Christopher Columbus made the mistake of looking for gold and keeping his mouth shut. Amerigo Vespucci didn’t, and Amerigo was five years behind Columbus, but he did two things right, with the first he positioned the “New World” as a separate continent, totally distinct from Asia. Second, he wrote extensively of his discoveries, both brilliant positioning strategies, and as a result, Europeans credited Amerigo Vespucci with the discovery of America and name the place after him, while Columbus died in jail.
Marketing on a Small Budget – Return on Imagination Part 3
Published March 18, 2009 |
Advertising agencies earn their money by receiving 15% discount from publications and broadcast stations where they place advertising, so what do you do if your business is too small to require the service of an ad agency? Set up your own in house ad agency, for example, if your business is called ABC Manufacturing, just call your agency ABC Advertising , get an Assumed Name Certificate (DBA) at your county clerk’s office, and with a separate checking account and some stationery, you are ready to save 15% on almost all the ads you place for yourself.
Invest in high-school students on bicycles, for example, a roofing business might pay students $1.00 for the address of each home in the community that needs a new roof, and a gardening business might pay $1.00 for the address of each home that could use some quality landscaping, or a paving business might buy the addresses that need driveway work and so on.
A jeweler wanted to attract attention to his business during the holiday season, so he invented outlandishly expensive gift ideas, such as a Frisbee with a diamond in the center for $5,000, an hour glass that used real diamonds instead of sand for $10,000 and a jewel encrusted backgammon set for $50,000. Of course, they rarely sold such items, but he attracted regional and national publicity and sales soared.
People often want things they can’t have, a tendency the luxury goods industry has long exploited and today other companies are increasingly using to their advantage. Walt Disney carefully controls the availability of its videos through its “Disappearing Classics” campaign by retire certain videos, and bringing them back every ten years for a new generation of young viewers. Consider making collectible versions of your products and limiting their supply to increase demand, for example, there are two words that help demonstrate this human tendency: Beanie Babies.
Lists are potent tools for creating buzz because they’re effective road signs for information-besieged customers who don’t know where to focus their attention. In 1998, Modern Library, a Random House company, surveyed its editorial board to compile a list of the top 100 novels of the 20th century, and within months, more than 1,000 articles and editorials had appeared about the controversial list. Four of the top five novels made their way on to Amazon.com’s weekly list of paperback best-sellers greatly benefiting Modern Library among other publishers.
When Phillips Electronics was developing a portable radio-cassette player for teenagers, the company conducted focus groups with its potential young customers, and the player was designed in two colors, yellow and black. The overwhelming majority of the teenagers said they would prefer the yellow colors, and after the focus group was over, Phillips thanked the participants by giving them a free player. A pile of yellow players and a pile of black players were placed outside the testing room, and most of the teenagers chose black.
Always trust internal logic over that of conventional wisdom, for example, in Detroit most product-development dollars are spent on improvements to existing products and most market research dollars is spent on studying what customers like among available products. Hal Sperlich, the father of the minivan stated: “In 10 years of developing the minivan we never got one letter from a housewife asking us to invent one. To the skeptics, that proved there wasn’t a market out there.”