Pixie Stix and 5 Senses of Your Brand

I went back to my high school for alumnae night at the musical (High school version of “Grease”… no Rizzo did not have a ‘bun in the oven’ and no ‘There are worst things I could do’). I graduated 25+ years ago, and the place still smells the same! It took me back to the early 80’s of cheerleading, research papers and plaid skirts! I doubt this is a conscious branding effort by the nuns but it made me think about customer experience and how people can engage with your brand through all of their senses. This is not a new concept but it’s on my mind with refreshing our brand at work.

Smell: I saw Steve Wynn speak at a marketing conference a few years ago, and he said this was definitely a factor when designing the brand experience for his resorts and casinos. My family frequently visits Las Vegas and we ALWAYS stay at the Mirage (yes, we are the Griswalds). The Mirage was one of his first ventures on the strip. When you walk into any entrance, you immediately smell the tropical air and get a relaxing, ‘vacationy’ vibe. Even after they renovated, the smell stayed the same.

Hear: How many people can mimic the three-belled NBC chime? Or combining music and lyrics in the new Subway $5 Footlong song! Has that ever gotten stuck in your head and you find yourself singing it like karaoke? The next time you’re trying to figure out what to have for lunch, that song leads you to a $5 footlong Sub Club on wheat with lettuce, tomato, onion, green pepper, spinach, S&P, oregano and vinegar no oil.

Touch: Remember Pixie Stix? Those awesome paper straws filled with flavored sugar? I bet if you were blindfolded and someone placed a pixie in your hand, you would be able to identify it by touch…both the little single servings, or the gi-normous plastic version ! Or think about the difference in the paper stock of Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair. Somebody chose that paper for a reason. Wouldn't that be an exciting job?

Taste: Can anyone tell the difference in taste between Dasani, Dannon, Poland Springs, Evian and FUJI water? I bet you can tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi. What about Skippy and Jiff?

See: Simply said, if you drove by a restaurant that looked like a McDonald’s but the arches were purple, would your kids eat there?

Goal for 2010: Check

So I set the Go St. Louis 5k as a goal for 2010. Growing up I was a gymnast, dancer and swimmer. I never did anything that required running any distance… no soccer, no track, zero running. In high school we did the presidential physical fitness award. The only task I had to redo was, of course, the mile run.

About 10 years ago I did a 3k. I remember hearing someone behind me running flatfooted. As they began to pass me I noticed it was a little girl, maybe 8 years old, wearing purple Keds and pink glittery socks. Yes, she and her father passed me and finished the race ahead of me.

I’ve been run/walking and swimming at my local YMCA. I’ve also been taking yoga to improve my strength, flexibility and balance. Every morning I look at my vision board and see the goal of the Go St. Louis 5k. That's really kept me focused.

The race was this past Saturday and an absolutely glorious day! I started the race with all my co-workers who are seasoned runners. I quickly realized I could not keep up with their pace so I dropped back. No Ipod, no friends, just me and 3.1 miles in Forest Park. Running on asphalt and up and down hills is extremely different from a flat, indoor, padded track! My goal was to finish under 45 minutes. My official time was 44:40! If you’re into numerology: I was in the 40-44division, I’m 44 and my time was 44:40…let me know what that means!

The photo above is at the finish line, surprisingly athletic looking! That was taken right before I crossed the finish line. I ran/walked throughout the race but was definitely running when I finished! Feels gratifying to have set a lofty goal, work hard and actually finish the race running much more than I walked! Of course my body is still aching two days later, but now I’m thinking about what my next big athletic goal for 2010 will be… What’s yours?

Resume tips from a hiring manager

We are hiring several people into our marketing department. I received a large pile of resumes (50+) from the postings on Monster for an Internet Marketing Specialist. Having been laid off last year, I realize that each resume represents a person who may also be laid off and is looking for that next great opportunity. I have a lot of empathy for their situation and I want to give them the same respect I hoped for when applying online.

Wow, do people need help! Marketing experts applying for marketing jobs are failing miserably at effectively marketing themselves. So from the perspective of a hiring manager, here are a few resume tips:

How do you stand out? If you apply online through a service like Monster, your resume will be one of potentially hundreds of resumes received. The photo on this post shows the actual pile of resumes I received from one posting.

How do you scan? I’m looking for candidates with very specific skill sets. The first thing I did was scan the cover letters and resumes looking for candidates with my specific skill sets. Those key words were clearly identified in the job descriptions. Most resumes don’t have those skills or failed to use the obvious key words.

Does your resume deliver the job description? I repeat, I am looking for candidates with very specific skill sets. These were clearly identified in the job description.

• Just like you customize your marketing messages to your target audience, you should customize your resume for the position to which you are applying. I’m not saying you need to completely redo your resume. Simply highlight your skills that relate directly to the job description; use the same key words; some postings are scanned by a computer before they make it to a live human being.


• Rather than apply to 50 online jobs with a generic resume, apply for the 10 that are a good fit and take the time to customize your resume for each one. Why would a lawyer with 20 years of legal experience apply for an Internet marketing job where we only ask for 5-7 years experience. Don't waste your time.

Is your resume easy to read? Start with a brief summary not a giant paragraph. Think about how hard it is to read full paragraphs that stretch the full width of the paper (and don’t forget it’s being read with 50 others!). The reader gets fatigue if it’s too difficult to go from line to line.

• The font you choose isn’t going to make you stand out—the content of your resume will. Don’t use the funky or artsy fonts and please don’t go all caps on the entire resume.


• Spacing, indenting, bold, italics, underline and all caps: all helpful if used properly and consistently. E.g. company name: bold, underline all caps; title: bold; job description: italics.


• Typos? Blank, floating bullets? Really?

What's in it for me (the hiring manager)? Don’t just give me a laundry list of the tasks you did; what was the result?

• Be careful with generic phrases like “managed marketing projects.” What does that really tell the reader? What kind of projects? What were the results? How did it benefit the organization?

I want you to put your best foot forward. You might be the perfect candidate for this job but your resume doesn’t tell me that. Good luck.

Product Placement

One of my favorite shows ended a fabulous and exciting season this week. Burn Notice rocks! Lots of crazy action, explosions and of course, a cliff hanger. A really cool scene included two of the characters crashing a new car into the living room of a guy who built a bomb.

Before the show, they announced the finale was ‘presented by the Hyundai Genesis Coupe’ so I didn’t mind the obvious product placement. The show is really campy, part of it appeal. The way they wrote the car into the show was obvious campy and fun. Hyundai also had a few regular commercials during the show and had been sponsoring an interactive, online game. Fun, smart, integrated marketing campaign. Props!

The opposite of this would be the completely annoying red carpet show. Ridiculously over-paid zillionaire actors, getting free stuff by ‘plugging’ the designers. Both E! and ABC are turning into QVC for Michael Kors, Gucci, Jimmy Choo blah blah blah! Embarrassing.

Cure for the common cold

Can’t someone discover a cure for the common cold? I’m so sick of blowing my nose and coughing. It’s going on two weeks. In the last two weeks I’ve spent who knows how much money on Sudafed, Robitussin, Cold Calm, Kleenex, Mucinex, Diet Sprite, EmergenC, Alleve, Afrin and generic Tylenol and Vapor Rub. I'm wearing out the neti pot!

I think the ‘cold symptom industry’ is a racket against a cure. Come on, people go through cancer treatment and live a long healthy life cancer free, why can’t they cure a cold? Think about it. If they come up with a vaccine, that eliminates a whole aisle at Walgreens. All those scientists, package designers, box suppliers, and marketers would be out of a job. Huh. And how much is spent on advertising? Can “this economy” take another hit? Probably not. So we’re stuck fighting the mucus. Uggh.

Everybody cut, everybody cut...

Have you seen the commercial for the crazy new toe-nail clipper with a light and magnifying glass? The Sure Clip commercial is hilarious and so is the product. I wish I could have been in the product development brainstorming session when they came up with the idea.

“What problems are we trying to solve?”

Problem: “I hate it when I clip my toenails and the clippings hit me in the face or go flying onto my friends!”

Solution: “How about we add a clipping caddie? It will store all the clippings, eliminate the mess and people can easily recycle if they want!”

Problem: “When I clip my toenails, I can’t really see the toe jam with the angle of my hammer toe.”

Solution: “Why don’t we add a magnifying glass?”

Problem: “It’s really hard to see when I clip my nails in the movie theater or on an overnight flight.”

Solution: “Why don’t we add a light to the magnifier?”

Awesome!

So last night I’m at a work party at Sky Lounge listening to the band, “Vote for Pedro” an 80’s-90’s cover band. The TV next to the stage is tuned to ESPN Sports Center (target audience: sport junkies afraid to get a pedicure)…and the commercial comes on while the band is playing “Footloose” featuring the lyrics “everybody cut, everybody cut.” Are you kidding me?! Priceless.

A night without TV...

Gasp! Shocking I know. Just the thought. But it happened in the Scherting household!

Monday night, I walked the dogs, a friend stopped by to bring me some Delicious tortilla soup (yum, thank you Fern!) and I went to the gym. Came home around 8:30 and thought to myself, let’s try a night without TV!

I’ve been pondering the idea for awhile. Now I love the water cooler chat over why Russell should have won Survivor. I love the witty banter of my favorite Monday night nerds on Big Bang Theory. I love comparing episodes of the Office to real work-life with my co-workers. A night without TV is blasphemy!

I didn’t stop there! No music, no Internet. It was just quiet time with some old magazines from 2007, working on my new vision board…cutting out words, phrases and pictures. Thinking about what I want this year. (btw, 2010 It’s All About Me!)

So you are a marketer, how do you get your messages to me? No TV, no radio, not online. Hmm. Magazines were out-of-date. The database marketer in me says direct mail! I was actually cutting up some mail pieces and catalogs. With everyone relying on e-mail, e-newsletters, Twitter, Facebook etc. a really good mail piece, with the right message to the right person can still work.

Direct mail isn’t dead yet. But don’t take any lessons from credit card companies. Seriously, how many of those checks are they going to send me? Sometimes I get two of the same mailer on the same day. Don’t they de-dupe their list? What a waste! But the AT&T piece with coupon codes for Video-On-Demand movies…now we’re talking. And B2B…I rarely get a compelling message in my physical inbox on my desk. I get annoying cold call voice mail messages but nothing tangible and relevant to support the message. How hard is that?