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All Posts By

Bob Nunn

Nov 08

Online Branding: The Power of the Google Doodle

By Branding, Digital Storytelling, Website Design No Comments

Working at a Toronto branding company, I’ve always loved the online branding power Google built through its Google Doodles. You know the…

 Google online branding

 

Some people say that Google built its brand without traditional advertising.

Poppycock!

Putting aside its current use of traditional advertising to market itself…(ahem)

…Google also was smart as hell to create awareness of which search engine you were using by occassionally tweaking the presentation of its name. Along with other little proofpoints of differentiation like the speed and quantity of its results…

…this creative way of building good ol’ fashioned brand awareness and corporate identity is one of the secrets of its success. Something Yahoo, AOL, Netscape and others missed. And something that continues to be missed by even big online brands today like Facebook.

(It’s also a great example to point people to who believe “no, our logo and corporate identity is carved in stone” point. It shows when and why you can play with corporate identity can be played with.)

Now comes some facts Read More

Oct 13

17 Statistics on QR Code Marketing

By Internet Marketing Tools, Mobile Marketing 5 Comments

Should you be adding QR codes to your marketing toolkit or is it all just hype? I wanted to know but most statistics I see are – ahem – slightly promotional (QR scans increased 2,340%!). Being a brand mechanic with a fondness for tools that work, I’ve been on the hunt for some real data and so I collected 17 stats on QR codes to share with you.

QR Code - digital marketing agency

What is a QR Code?

Quick primer: QR stands for ‘quick response’ and it’s basically a new type of consumer-friendly bar code that offers faster decoding and higher storage of data. Think of it as a secret decoder ring you give your customers.

Usage of QR Codes:

  • 58% of people say they aren’t familiar with QR codes. (Lab42 survey of 500 respondents, Aug., 2011)
  • 64% don’t know what they’re for. (Simpson Carpenter survey of 794 online respondents, 2011)
  • 28% of smartphone owners have used a mobile bar code scanning application like a QR code. (Mobile Commerce Daily, Jan., 2011)
  • Overall, 11% have ever used QR codes (Simpson Carpenter survey of 794 online respondents, Sept. 2011)
  • 6.2% of total mobile audience scanned a QR code in June (Comscore)
  • 47% of people who did scan found them very useful, 20% said they don’t offer any real advantage and don’t plan on using them in the future. (Simpson Carpenter survey of 794 online respondents, Sept. 2011)
  • The data on which gender uses them is mixed but usage clearly skews younger and high-income.

Barriers to QR Code Usage:

Read More

Sep 13

A New Marketing Co-Working Space

By Marketing Ideas 5 Comments

I’ve learned that it’s tough to convince someone whose job depends on not being convinced.

That’s why Brand Mechanics in partnership with Larter Advertising is creating a whole new marketing services model this month with the launch of a co-working space for York Region marketers.

Coworking Space York Region

Housed in the ‘Larter Building’ in historic Aurora, the introduction of this co-working space will create a brand new marketing model for a new era and we’re looking for partners to join us.

While the advertising agency model built in the last century is still financially and culturally dependent on recommending ‘big’ traditional media, this new model will offer clients a team of top specialists that work independently but share the same core values and beliefs in building businesses and brands.

This way, instead of having to recommend certain tactics to clients in order to keep the advertising holding company happy, clients get only what they need to solve their marketing problem.

Marketers who join this unique co-working space get the creative synergy of working alongside other top marketers and the business synergy that comes from networking and sharing leads and ideas.

CoWorking Office Spaces

Modeled after successful co-working idea incubators such as the Accelerator Centre in Waterloo and the MaRS centre in Toronto, co-working spaces such as this have the following benefits:

  • Enjoyment of the camaraderie and social benefits of working
  • Avoiding the distractions of working from home (60% report they’re more Read More

May 12

Online Branding Case Study: The Toronto Ski Club

By Branding No Comments

We were absolutely thrilled to see some of our recent branding work was profiled as Logo of the Week by Australian-based Logo Chief. Since the snow has now melted and there’s a couple of facts to set straight we should provide our own profile of this successful case study.

The Marketing Challenge

The Toronto Ski Club is one of the oldest ski clubs in Ontario. And, along with the Collingwood Ski Club, owns about half of the ski hill at the popular Blue Mountain Resort in Collingwood, Ontario. It’s private clubhouse sits at the base of Blue and was built in the 50’s after the founding members had strapped on their skies and discovered the superior skiing north of Toronto.

But the clubhouse needed a little work. About $3 million worth. And, in order to fund that, the club needed to put on a push for new members.

 

Example of Publicity for New Clubhouse courtesy of Escarpment Magazine

The Branding Strategy

The club had a lot of assets.

  • A great membership base famous for its warmth.
  • A rich and colourful history in pioneering skiing in Canada.
  • Access to the best ski resort in Ontario and, through it, potential exposure to tens of thousands of skiers and potential members.

But the club, despite its proud history, had been under-marketed and the research we conducted found that 40% Read More

May 05

If David Ogilvy Was Starting Today, He’d Be A Search Marketer

By Internet marketing, SEO 5 Comments

David Ogilvy was one of the godfathers of Madison Avenue. His book, “Ogilvy on Advertising” remains a marketing bible and his agency, Ogilvy & Mather, a worldwide force.

What’s interesting is how he got his start.

david-ogilvy-picture

He sold stoves door-to-door in Scotland during the heights of the Depression. In becoming successful at it, he became fascinated in how what he said made a difference between whether he got in the door or not.  He learned, tested new approaches and eventually became so successful they asked him to write the sales manual for the entire company. By the end of the 30’s he had followed his interest across the Atlantic to work for Gallup Research. He later cited their emphasis on meticulous research and adherence to reality as a major influence on his thinking.

 

His Approach

“I prefer the discipline of knowledge to the anarchy of ignorance.”

“Do your homework. Study the product you’re going to advertise.”

Read More

Apr 26

Internet Marketing Strategy: Do You Have A Tagline Or A Proposition?

By Internet marketing, SEO 3 Comments

Last week, in my monthly guest post on the Search Engine People blog, I provided the backdrop for taglines vs. propositions and made the point that, with the decline of interruption media and the rise of relevant media, the ‘Just Do It’ tagline era is over as you lose in internet marketing by being vague.

In this post, I’ll share how to find out what you’ve got and steps you can take to improve it and, subsequently, your online marketing performance.

Why Is A Value Prop So Damn Important?

Call it what you want: Unique Selling Propositions or Value Propositions. I think they call them props because they prop up an old business to keep it from falling down or, when done really right, they pull a business forward, increasing its speed to help it fly.

Value Proposition Definition Analogy

Whether it’s an email subject line, your Pay-Per-Click ads or the landing page, if you don’t have a good prop, your internet marketing is just going to fall down or just sit there.

How To Build A Strong Value Proposition

Here’s 6 steps to get you Read More

Apr 15

Sharp Example of Branding for Top Chefs

By Branding, Digital Storytelling No Comments

You know those little dividers in the grocery store that separate your meat from someone else’s potatoes?

Came across one yesterday that converted it from a regular, everyday item into an awareness-building medium. The Food Network in Canada is launching our own version of the hit U.S. show Top Chef. Some clever marketing folks found a way to promote it that interrupted an ordinary moment in a shopper’s day into a relevant little bit of interruption marketing.

Creative Branding Example

Marc Tellier, a friend and CEO I worked for in rebuilding the Yellow Pages and Auto Trader brands, called this ‘getting clever points’: the magical little moments that reward the consumer for the interruption and uses storytelling to stick to the brain and create FAME for the brand.

In a world where the power of traditional media has declined and fragmented it’s a branding strategy that’s becoming increasingly necessary.

Got any you’ve seen? I’ll profile them in an upcoming post on ‘small ways to create big brands’.

Mar 17

App Happy: How To Avoid Being A Mobile Marketing Failure

By Internet marketing, Mobile Marketing One Comment

“Let’s build a mobile app! It’ll go viral!”

This might make the list of top 10 Marketing refrains of the year. It has all the optimism of “Let’s put on a show! I’ll make the costumes. It’ll be fun!”. But by the latest count there are over 400,000 apps for Apple products alone. Even if you can manage to make it through that jungle of competition and get your target customer to download yours, will they keep using it? A recent study by Localytics, found that 26% of downloaded apps were never used again.

This post shares some tips on how to avoid App failure inspired by a great example I came across.

What Makes A Great App?

Whether it’s a widget, a mobile app or just a micro-site that provides a unique service, for internet marketing success I suggest there are 3 factors Read More

Mar 10

Tool Time 2! 10 Great Free Internet Marketing Tools

By Internet marketing, Internet Marketing Tools 4 Comments

In last week’s post – Tool Time: Getting The Right Internet Marketing Mix – I likened getting the optimal online mix to shopping at Home Depot and categorized 17 major  tactics into what they do so you don’t end up with a tool that looked cool but gathers dust.

One major type of tool I left off was measuring tools Internet-Marketing-Tool-Measurement . So in this post I’ll share the 10 favourite internet marketing tools of this mechanic when it comes to measuring how we’re doing and if we’re on the level. In order… Read More

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