02Sep 2020 by Bob Cargill
Age Is Not Just a Number

Age Is Not Just a Number

Advertising, Branding, Leadership, Marketing
Age is not just a number. You can say that again. Age is not just a number. That’s the hashtag - #AgeisNOTjustaNumber – in a campaign recently launched by Grace Creative, an agency in Los Angeles specializing in marketing to women. Featuring a special Age Anthem video (which you can watch here) starring a number of women who talk about their respective career and life journeys, this ridiculously awesome new campaign asks women over 50 to “Tell us in a video or photo caption the journey your age has taken you.” This is an inspirational, motivational campaign that anybody of any age should want to get behind, especially women, of course, as this campaign is geared towards them. Ageism is real, after all, but everybody ages. Good for Grace Creative…
Read More
14Aug 2020 by Bob Cargill
Domino’s Homemade Film Festival

Domino’s Homemade Film Festival

Branding, Marketing, Restaurants
Free pizza for a year. Sounds good to me. What about you? Free pizza for a year. That’s the grand prize in the Domino’s Homemade Film Festival contest. To enter, all you need to do is submit a video of 60 seconds or less by August 21 at 3 PM ET at https://www.dominosfilmfest.com/. Between September 7-11, people can vote for their favorite homemade films about Domino's, and on September 18, the winners will be announced with $1,560 in Domino’s gift cards going to the grand prize winner, $500 in gift cards to the second place winner and $200 in gift cards to the third place winner. What a great idea! What a great contest! This is a win-win campaign if ever there was one. Domino’s is getting its fans to…
Read More
11Aug 2020 by Bob Cargill
A Few Words with Kathy McConnell

A Few Words with Kathy McConnell

Business, Marketing, Podcast, Social Media
In this episode of my podcast, I talk to transformational marketing professional, Kathy McConnell, about marketing, social media and golf - yes, golf. During our conversation, Kathy talks about how when she was about 10 years old, she "really started to fall in love with marketing because I opened up a lemonade stand." Don't miss the rest of the story!
Read More
30Jul 2020 by Bob Cargill
Go Engage Your Audience

Go Engage Your Audience

Branding, Marketing, Social Media
On your mark. Get set. Go. Go engage your audience like the organizers behind the TD Beach to Beacon 10K Road Race are engaging theirs. This popular road race, founded by the legendary runner, Joan Benoit Samuelson, in 1998, had to cancel its August 1 edition this year due to the pandemic. They decided not to go forward with a virtual version of the race, either. But they are doing something very smart and strategic to celebrate the race and engage everybody who’s a fan of it. They’re asking people to design their own version of the race’s start line on their driveway, take a picture of their artwork and share it on social media with the hashtag, #TDB2B10K. After the three most creative designs are selected, a winner –…
Read More
22Jul 2020 by Bob Cargill
Panera’s Free Coffee Offer

Panera’s Free Coffee Offer

Marketing, Restaurants
There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but there is such a thing as free coffee. Panera Bread has been offering free, unlimited coffee through Labor Day for a while now. All you need to do is sign up for it on the bakery-café’s website or app. Have you taken advantage of this ridiculously awesome offer yet? The consumer in me says it’s such a great deal! The marketer in me says it’s such a great campaign! In the infancy of the initiative, they were using Twitter to say they needed 500,000 votes for #FREECOFFEE4SUMMER to make the offer a reality. That got their audience’s attention - and the necessary votes. This subscription offer is classic direct marketing, signing up constituents for free, hoping to up-sell them,…
Read More
14Jul 2020 by Bob Cargill

Don’t Set It and Forget It on Social Media

Branding, Marketing, Social Media
Automating the publishing of some of your content on social media is a smart strategy. Automating all of it, not so much. Using an automation tool helps you maintain a continuous, uninterrupted presence online, but you don’t want to rely on it too heavily. You want to include plenty of authentic, real-time content in your social media stream, posts that show you have a personality, not just a pulse. You want to be conversational and opinionated, not simply factual, which is almost impossible to pull off if you’re simply setting it and forgetting it. Personalizing your messaging is where you’re going to see the biggest gains on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the like. The more engaging, the better. Don’t forget the social on social media. P.S. Don't have time…
Read More
18Apr 2020 by Bob Cargill
This Is the Time to Show the Human Side of Your Brand

This Is the Time to Show the Human Side of Your Brand

Advertising, Branding, Leadership, Marketing, Social Media
In these uncertain times, countless brands are adjusting their advertising and marketing messages. What about you? This is not the time to think you can just set it and forget it when it comes to communicating with your customers and constituents, especially on social media. This is not the time for your canned sales pitches. This is the time to reach out to your audience and ask how you can help them. During this pandemic, your business may still be in operation, but your focus should not just be on your bottom line, it should be on doing what you can for the greater good. This is the time to show the human side of your brand. This is the time to speak honestly about how the health crisis is…
Read More