You Never Know Until You Ask

Courtney created a great survey we've sent to all past and present clients. We really want to get a read on what we're doing well and what our clients value, but also where we stand to improve. The responses have been insightful and have given us much to think about as we look to 2010.

As Megan blogged earlier, the upcoming year holds some exciting projects for us. It is my new year's resolution for MBM that we are careful to really listen to and learn from the survey feedback.

Maybe you have a suggestion or constructive criticism for us? Please let us know!

Holiday calm before the storm

As 2009 is coming to a close, it's hard to believe that January is just around the corner. In our business (like most others), late December can be fairly quiet - annual budgets are spent and everyone's just trying to wrap up the year. It's easy to forget that those first quarter 2010 projects are just around the corner...

A couple things on the horizon - Courtney and I will be busy as we initiate the second phase of a major branding campaign for one of our bank clients. We'll also be continuing to shape identity and sales support materials for a new senior living client. And undoubtedly, there will be a campaign or marketing need that hasn't yet be anticipated.

Looks like 2010 will be off to a busy and creative start!

Bah Humbug?

A holiday update from the person at MBM who doesn't particularly care for Christmas:

Last week I saw Richmond Triangle Player's Scrooge In Rouge. It was a laugh riot!

This week has been quiet, with Megan taking vacation time for the week. And Kelly is taking time next week. After a client giving me a hard time, I decided there's no need to be open 1/2 day on Christmas Eve so the week is winding down quickly.

Lori from the Greater Richmond Chamber and I spent the afternoon outlining a marketing plan for their 2010-2012 strategic plan. We finished off a tin of Chex Mix and she left me with a bottle of bubbly for later!

MVYRadio has been interspersing more and more holiday songs so I'm actually almost getting in the mood. Who doesn't love The First Noel as sung by The Crash Test Dummies?

A few more gifts to purchase, a few more friends to toast with and then off to North Carolina where the Christmas joy of my 5 year old nephew is sure to be infectious.

Have a good one, ya'll.

The Deets

This week, it has been all about the details for me. I've been focused on a mailing for a banking client that has multiple parts, quantities and pieces. And of course there are numerous options for printing and mailing. So at this point, I am weighing and comparing all the costs to see how we can produce an effective and impactful piece, while printing and mailing in the most efficient manner. So lots of deets.

Kelly trivia: "The Deets" is also one of my favorite question categories on the board game Seinfeld Scene-it!

Congrats Virginia Partners Bank!

It is an exciting week for one of our clients, Virginia Partners Bank, as they open their brand new Main Office building in Downtown Fredericksburg. The new building is beautiful so if you are in the area you should stop by and check it out.

We started working with Virginia Partners Bank when it was just Bill and Lloyd working out of a borrowed space. MBM had the pleasure of assisting with marketing materials from the ground up including the capital raising process, brand and logo development, and general marketing/promotion of the Bank.

Virginia Partners Bank celebrated its one year anniversary in August and has experienced great success in a short time. The Bank has opened two offices and has more than $89 million in assets.

Congrats VPB on your success!

Procrastination, Overconfidence and The Crud

Courtney's on the back end of her sinus infection, I'm on day 2 of antibiotics for bronchitis and Kelly's at the beginning stages of whatever's going around. Megan is blissfully germ-free as I write this.

I can only speak for myself, but today is a week and 2 days after I woke up with a sore throat, which progressed daily. I procrastinated, I was overconfident that my immune system could win the battle...and obviously, I ended up with The Crud. I'm old enough to know better and now I (and everyone around me) am suffering the consequences.

When I feel better, the first thing I'm going to do is revisit my goals, plans and to-do list. I have a feeling there are a few other items out there that I'm procrastinating or overconfident about.

Through The Looking Glass

As much as I'd like to start this blog with one of the classic quotes from Alice in Wonderland, it just feels too cliche today. Anyway, what I'm thinking about is the difficulty of holding a mirror up to your own company. Although we've done some of our best ever brand, logo and culture work this year for clients, we just can't seem to clarify MBM's brand. We've tried every tactic on ourselves but somehow we just can't seem to articulate who we are and what is special about us. It's frustrating but we're not giving up. We just put the finishing touches on a survey for current and former clients and hope they'll give us that extra insight we need to finalize our work. Stay tuned for updates and probably a new website when we get it right! And if you're struggling with the same issue, let us know. Maybe we could help each other?

PS - how cool is this film going to be?
http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/07/22/tim-burtons-alice-in-wonderland-teaser-trailer/

Annual Reports

This week I will be working on a creative brief and design concepts for a client's 2009 Annual Report. Can you believe that 2009 is almost over??

Annual report season can get kind of crazy since they all need to be completed, printed and mailed to Shareholders around the same time. And it is one of those projects that sort of sneaks up on you because of the holidays.

So I'm trying to not be swayed by elves, sugar plums and other fun holiday distractions and get this 2009 report started. I think we've got a great initial concept - look for updates in early 2010!

Oh, and did I mention that we won first place for one of our Annual Reports in 2007 from the American Bankers Association? Call us if you need help with yours!

New client website

So, I have to share a new client website. Maggi, Jason, and I spent the summer and fall working with Creative to provide a fantastic new website. Their brand has been evolving over the last few years, and they needed to update their website to reflect this evolution.

Be sure to check it out - Creative's new site.

SWAG

Now that we are headfirst into December and the holidays are approaching, 'tis the season for holiday premium item purchasing! For most companies, purchasing a logo-imprinted premium item for holiday gift giving has been the norm. And we're not talking cheap. But with the current economic client, will premium item vendors be begging for some business?

Over the past few weeks, we've been struggling with the holiday gift giving dilemma, and decided that gift giving is appropriate, but on a more conscious level. We'll tell you what our gift is later in the month, as to not spoil the fun!

Speaking of premium items, we have also been researching free giveaways for one of our banking clients who will be offering a checking account promotion next year. Did you know that you can purchase a toaster that toasts your logo right onto the bread? It's true. You can buy just about anything and put your logo on it (one location only, and add an additional $0.20 per piece for more than one color in your logo). :)

Michael Scott from The Office says it best,

"Swag! Stuff we all get. I basically decorated my condo for free with all of my swag."

Traditions

Since 1677 Virginia's Indian tribes have presented the governor with wild game in lieu of taxes. The ceremony is held on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving at the Governor's Mansion and this year I attended. It was very special and meaningful, with several tribes represented. Over the years the meaning behind the event has evolved to represent a mutual respect among the various people who live in Virginia.

At MBM, we have traditions too. From storytime and Catch Phrase to champagne toasts and quarterly outings. Each of these provides us new opportunities to get to know each other and respect our differences and special talents.

I think next year we're going to add this Native American tribute to our outing plans. And in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I continue to be thankful for all the MBM family - clients, staff, vendors, spouses, friends and families.

More Budgeting!

So, it's that time of year when our clients are starting to think, "Where did 2009 go?" They then start thinking about all the things they will need to have planned for 2010.

This is where MBM comes in.

We had a few big meetings last week with some of our clients, mostly to discuss next year's marketing initiatives. I'd like to say that we have things pretty organized when it comes to budget discussions. And we know our clients appreciate the work that we put in to develop a firm budget for them to follow for the year.

It also looks like we'll be busy planning some large campaigns for one of our banking clients - some fun checking account promotions and Grand Openings. Get excited for 2010!

Champ-agne!

We're knocking off at 4:30 today to pop a cork of bubbly. It's a celebration of a new client, Kelly's 2 year anniversary at MBM, the launch of a fabulous new website for another client, Richard's birthday and, oh, because it's Wednesday. We try to celebrate whenever we can - birthdays, anniversaries, new clients, awards and sometimes just because we made it through the day. Because I'm a sentimental nerd, I save all the corks and write the date and reason for celebration on them. I have no idea what we'll ever do with them. But sometimes it's just nice to look through them and remember all our accomplishments, and all our celebrations together. Sentimental? Yes. Corny? Yes. MBM? Yes!

New website?

Creating websites for our clients has become a mainstay service that MBM provides. Whether it's a website for a new company, a new website to replace an outdated one, or offering a copy/graphics/usability refresh to an existing site, we've done it all. And now it's time to tackle the website of the toughest client of all - ourselves!

We're having a team meeting later today to review our website for some new flavor. Our site's been good to us these past few years. But, like any company, our message, along with our style, evolves over time. Plus, with some of the good-looking websites we've been creating for our clients, we can't help but itch for a new site as well.

A sampling of brand new client sites from 2009...

::Solid Ground Yoga
::Riverstone General Contractors
::Virginia Partners Bank


MBM's loved our website's bright colors and celebrities with their well-appointed quotes - but it's time for something new. Stay tuned...

Working Through

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So I've taken up Ashtanga Yoga (that is not me in the photo by the way) and it's making a big difference in a lot of ways. I'm more fit, losing weight, more relaxed and centered.

But it's also a constant challenge. Trying to find time to practice daily is tough with my schedule. And I'm finding my body has a weekly response to the poses.

But as I've found that I'm committed (maybe addicted) to the practice, I find that I can continue to work through the challenges and come out stronger and healthier on the other side.

It's the same way with the challenges we face at MBM - being creative, keeping a work/life balance and managing a business in this economy. And our clients are challenged as well. Maybe you are too.

My advice? Keep working through it!

Planning Meetings and Budgets

It's that time of the year again - time to take out the old budget, polish it up and make it shiny for 2010. Some people dread this type of stuff but I enjoy a good budget. Particularly when I'm working with clients who really use it as a planning device for the year.

One of the key things we deliver here at MBM is a full view of the overall marketing plan. We like to get into organizations and really understand what their goals are, how they might best reach them, and what it will cost. Understanding what we've got to work with and what we're working towards is really helpful to get the most out of our clients' budgets. And I don't mean that as in help MBM get the most - sure we want to make money but its not about us!

I like budgets so much that I have a worksheet I update monthly that categorizes all of my family's expenditures for the month. It's a bit of a sickness.

So if you need budget help (personal or professional) call me! I love to make people get organized.

Family Feud!

We just finished some sales training for a client today and had a great time! It was a great time effort internally with Courtney finding prizes, Kelly creating the boards and Megan coordinating it all. We used the Family Feud game concept and found it really engaged our clients and helped them think about the topic in a fun and interesting way.

Not everything we do is fun, but whenever we can we find ways to make it fun.

And the client's new website is launching later this week. Megan has been intimately involved in it, and Jason did gorgeous design work. Kudos to Ben for copy and Marcus for quick turnaround programming! I"m sure Megan will blog more about it soon.

I'm crazy about teamwork and how we work as a team here. No feuding, just family!

Freelancers

Megan recently held a Lunch & Learn where we discussed and evaluated our freelance connections. We sure do have a long list, and in the past few months have been contacted by many new freelancers who want us to take a look at their portfolios in the hopes that we'll want to collaborate with them on new projects.

Well, we went through designers, copywriters, web developers and programmers that we've worked with in the past and talked about what certain things we liked (and didn't like!) about working with each. We evaluated each of the freelancers on how they communicate, how creative their work is, cost, and any other things to note. So, to freelancers out there, it's not just about your portfolio. Of course we want to see your work, but as an agency, we also like to know how responsive you will be, how you work best, and what past work you've done that relates to clients similar to ours.

Recently, I had a request from a client and I found myself in the need of a copywriter, and quick! After a slight panic of thinking to myself, "how am I going to get this done professionally and quickly?" I sent an email to a copywriter that we work with on a consistent basis, and no more than 10 minutes later, received a response that he was willing to work on the project and have something for me to review in the next 2 hours. Talk about responsive - problem solved!


We welcome freelancers to share their portfolios with us - Don't you want to be on our go-to list? Give us a call or send us an email (mailto:info@mbmmarketing.com

Happy Halloween!

A look at customer service, take 2

Reading back over one of Maggi's posts, I was thinking about the world of customer service. Recently, I've had some negative customer service, but each business went out of their way to resolve the issue and leave me as a happy customer.

Kroger -
I think Mercury must have been in retrograde, but my normally very friendly Kroger was particularly grumpy and rude during a recent visit. Bothered by the experience, I left a comment with Kroger's customer service online. Soon after, my local Kroger wrote me a letter, assured me that the customer service issue had been discussed with their team, and provided a $10 gift card.


Healthy Choice -
Given the number of Lean Cuisines and Healthy Choice frozen meals consumed in our office, it was only a matter of time before a package showed up with an issue. Upon opening a lunch, I discovered the plastic was unsealed. A quick online comment later, and Healthy Choice sent me a letter and gift card in the mail.


Panera -
This one's by far the best. Recently, we ordered lunch in for an office meeting. While divvying out our orders, I discovered that Panera had forgotten my sandwich (lesson learned - ALWAYS check your order). With no time to return and pick up my lunch, I called Panera to make sure I'd at least get a refund. Their manager got on the phone and arranged to have the sandwich delivered to the office, along with a selection of desserts for everyone. REALLY awesome.


Point is, no one's perfect, and no matter what you do, something's going to go wrong for a customer or client at some point. But if you show concern and genuine effort to resolve the issue, your customer may end up even MORE impressed with your brand than if everything had gone correctly in the front place.

Explaining Social Media?

His royal highness, Roy Williams The Wizard of Ads (www.wizardofads.com) had a PS in an email last week, requoting that ""Twitter and Facebook and all the other social media are like a party. You don't go to a party to sell things. You go to a party to initiate relationships. Sometimes you meet people at a party and later invite them over to your house where they can see what you're all about. Your blog is your house."

I like that explanation and think it works well for what we're doing with our blog - bringing you into MBM and what makes us tick. So that means sometimes we talk about our work, sometimes how we're enhancing the work experience for ourselves, and sometimes what we're thinking about and planning on doing together.

So, welcome! Come in, make yourself at home. And as we say in the South: ya'll come back soon, ya hear?

Kids These Days

I have heard a lot of different sources talking lately about the changes in the next generation of kids and their attitudes/perceptions. What I'm hearing is that there will be a cultural shift coming towards more volunteerism, respect for the environment, and overall a much higher BS monitor. What that means for marketers and businesses in general is that transparency is of utmost importance and whatever message you put out there had better be "real".

I've seen some of this in the 20-somethings I know but wasn't sure if I really believed it was going to be as transformational as the "experts" said it would be. That is until I got to hang around some middle school kids lately. It's amazing how unselfish these kids are! They are collecting books for kids in India, volunteering at local organizations, and overall doing things for other people instead of it being all about themselves. Weird. :)

Well, it might just be a microcosm of kids that I've met but I think it is really cool. And I think everyone trying to market a product or service should start thinking about how these cultural shifts might effect their business when these kids grow-up!

Clever Ad

I saw this ad over the weekend, and really liked the clever use of everyday objects making faces. Take a look - it's the new campaign from American Express.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m56F4EKN9hg&feature=related

What's A Girl Gotta Do?

Seriously, I had two really disappointing customer experiences this weekend and it makes me wonder what people are thinking. Both were in the services industry - a beauty salon and a restaurant. I'm thinking these are both industries challenged by current economic times so wouldn't they be bending over backwards? Or at least be accommodating? I had to wait 15 minutes at the salon while the employee put on HER OWN Makeup! I mean really, it was 12:30 in the afternoon - what had she been doing all morning that a paying customer had to wait for her. The store was not crowded, in fact my girlfriend and I were the only clients in there. And yet WE waited for THEM to get pretty before they could make us pretty. The same afternoon a restaurant/bar couldn't be bothered to open 1/2 hour early, even though I had a group of 30 thirsty wedding attendees standing at their front door pleading for an over-priced cocktail. We walked an extra block and the staff at Tarrant's went out of their way to make us happy - and were rewarded handsomely.

I left both disappointing shops knowing I'd tell the negative story over and over again - meaning my friends and coworkers won't be at their doors anytime soon. It's a shame, really. But it reinforces our commitment to client services here at MBM. In the end, our long standing relationships are because of the way they treated and the experience they have working with us. And it better be positive, or else - right?

Rebranding?

Richmond news sources have been busy covering the area's new minor league team - in particular, the naming of the team. 6,000 voters submitted name suggestions, which were narrowed down by the team's management. As an additional wild card entry, CNBC gathered votes and picked their favorite. The new baseball team faces these options for a new name:

Richmond Rhinos


Richmond Rockhoppers


Richmond Flying Squirrels


Richmond Hambones


Richmond Flatheads


Richmond Hush Puppies


Richmonders remain a twitter at the poor ballot of names. Rhinos plays off alliteration, and the other options try to play off of Richmond/Virginia, but they seem to be falling flat. Although 1 funny/cool name option might have been well received, voters might have reacted more warmly to a better variety of names.

Oh, and lay off the food options!

When we help a client work on their identity, we offer well-rounded options, whether its studying a variety of color palettes or examining a range of font treatments, from the edgy to the traditional. If you've got a client with more traditional style, it doesn't do any good to provide them with 6 edgy logo choices - and vice versa.

If an identity treatment doesn't properly capture how a client feels about their business, they're going to feel frustrated and as if they've been misunderstood. They're also going to be concerned that their brand won't be properly communicated. It seems to me, that's what's happened with the baseball names.

After all, who wants their city summarized by an ugly fish, a soaring rodent, deep-fried bread, meat, or creatures jumping over rocks?

Gritty in Pink

NFL teams use any means necessary to get into each other's heads. Big, mean, tough men with dark uniforms and ferocious logos designed for intimidation.

That said, it was hard not to notice each NFL player supporting the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign in their own creative ways during the games this past weekend. Some with pink cleats and gloves, others with pink mouth guards, wristbands or shoelaces. No matter how they each chose to 'enhance' their uniform, the message was clear and also somewhat amusing. Large, scary beasts in pretty pink accessories to support a good cause.

Breast cancer isn't a laughing matter and I know first-hand that it touches many of our lives in some capacity. But sometimes the bold and almost awkward contrast of how a campaign is presented reaches a much broader audience, and in a way that's impossible to ignore. Advertising that's so effective that it doesn't need any icons, images or even words. Just 1 color and the awareness is there.

The WeWe Monitor

I recently came across a website that will review your website and check to see how much you are "WeWe-ing" on yourself. Sounds funny but it is pretty smart. It is sometimes difficult to turn the tables from thinking about what you do to thinking about how that impacts your customers.

We come across this a lot with clients and sometimes find ourselves getting into that same mindset. Tools like this help to quickly distill down what's being said to visitors on your homepage. Cuz if you don't get them within a few seconds once they hit your site they are gone!

You can't read the prescription from inside the bottle; sometimes you just need to let an outside perspective take a look at what you do and how you could be doing it better. (This is the part where I "WeWe" on myself and tell you to call MBM!)

Here's the link: http://www.futurenowinc.com/wewe.htm

Stock Photos

To make our clients' print ads more exciting, our graphic designers usually add a stock photo image of some sort that relates to the message in the ad or keeps with the brand consistency of the client. So, to provide some direction to our designers, it's easier to do some initial stock photo searching for what we know our clients might go for ahead of time. And as Client Services folks, we really know what our clients like and don't like (no images that use people, use the logo only, etc.). This week, I've been struggling over the "perfect" image for a community-focused ad that will run in a non-profit's event program.

If you've searched for images on stock photo websites like http://www.istockphoto.com/, then you know that there are thousands of choices, colors, illustrations, and photos. Well it can be time consuming and difficult, especially if you have an idea of what you're looking for in your head, and it's not there!

We came up with 6 ad layouts, all using a stock image that says "community." That's a hard one, right? We'll see what the client chooses!

Solid Ground Yoga!

I've spent the summer working with a new client - Solid Ground Yoga. Solid Ground is a brand new yoga studio in Midlothian, and I've had a blast working on it.

My other clients include businesses like a community bank and a construction company - they're great to work with too, but it was a fun change to be thinking about yoga poses and soothing colors! Plus, since Solid Ground is a totally new studio, we were starting from scratch on everything.

I'm really proud of the design work Jason did - check out the Solid Ground Yoga website.

Interesting Video

Last week I attended the Wizards on the Road conference about "Business Building Strategies". I have to admit that at first I was skeptical about what I would learn (and not looking forward to sitting in class for two days) but I really enjoyed it. I also realized that my brain hasn't been in learning mode in a long time!

The conference covered a ton of subjects including social media. This subject didn't actually get much attention because it would have required a lot of time to go into detail adequately. The big takeaway was this: social media isn't going away and you better adapt your communication with customers to incorporate it.

Check out this video from socialnomics.net with some interesting stats on the social media "phenomenon". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8

Well we have decided on the next MBM Outing - Haunts of Richmond! We will take a Ghost Tour of Shockoe Bottom next week, which will be full of ghost stories about the haunted streets of downtown Richmond. It should be a fun filled evening for sure.

Baseball is back in Richmond, which means that MBM may have to take another Outing to the Diamond, come spring! We ventured to a Richmond Braves game in April 2008, but it won't be the same since the new team has yet to be named... Our office is so close to the stadium, it's almost silly NOT to go!

Tempus Fugit

Can it really be a Thursday evening, late September, in 2009? MBM is into its 11th year, and we just revisted our trade show booth panels from the past. Our very first one read "our core belief is that Return on Investment is the true and best measure of advertising success." Now we say "advertising ought to have an effect or it's not worth doing." The more time flies, the more some things stay the same at MBM. And that's a good thing.

Lessons

Today is one of those days where you keep having challenges thrown at you that require research and thinking. And it is a Monday - painful!

Acutally, those challenges have taught me some new interesting things. I discovered a more efficient way to share information through an online file sharing program. Then I learned how to submit new URLs to Open Directories to help with search engine optimization. I'm wrapping up the day with weird cat pics so maybe in the end it was a successful day.

Later this week I'll be continuing my quest for new knowledge as an attendee at the Wizard of Ads conference about Business Building Strategies (www.wizardsontheroad.com). Hopefully I don't leave looking like this cat. Look for an update on what I've learned next week!

Technology

I was thinking the other day that in 20 quick years, I've seen an amazing evolution of technology, yet I'm less satisfied than ever.

Riding the bus to middle school with my Sony walkman and huge Koss headphones seemed so easy and fun. One mix tape, about 25 songs, and a play/stop/fast-forward button trio was all I needed. Today I have a much thinner iPod with 4000 songs that I can sort, shuffle, and create custom playlists. And with all these 'enhanced' features, I find myself skipping through most songs as I drive, disappointed I can't find anything to listen to.

Setting the VCR to record was always easy enough. And with about 20 channels to choose from, there wasn't a whole lot you'd miss. This past weekend, I was frustrated with my DVR while 3 shows and a movie played simultaneously but overlapped the same time slots. As you may know, DVR only allows you to record 2 things at once. Out of 900 channels?! C'mon cable.

Who knows, maybe I just need to read more.

Conference Time

Maggi and I are heading to the Virginia Bankers Association conference for community bankers next week in Roanoke, as well as visiting with a Roanoke-based company for a new business discussion. It's nice to get over to Roanoke in the early fall - it's a smaller city, but there's a lot going on over there.



I'll let you know how the trip goes...!

A Seasonable Outing

I've been looking for some fun things to do for our next quarterly MBM Outing, and there's a lot of neat stuff going on in Richmond over the next few weeks. What's an MBM Outing, you say? Just another way to keep us a vibrant, cohesive team (like our story times). We at MBM, take some time during one day each quarter to do something fun, like go to the Richmond Metro Zoo, Movieland Cinema, Braves baseball game (last year), Kings Dominion... you get it. Oh, and spouses and significant others are invited as well. So it's always a decent sized group!

Anyways, since the weather is cooling down, there are some things to do outside now that it's not so hot. We've narrowed our list down to a Hollywood Cemetery walking tour, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden butterfly exhibit, Capital Ale Oktoberfest and Haunts of Richmond ghost tour. Looks like we will be voting next week for the winner in our traffic meeting - there's only a few more weeks in the third quarter, so stay tuned!

Too bad there's only one MBM Outing each quarter, right?

Household Shopping get an Online Makeover

It's pretty crazy what you can do on the internet. You can track down everyone you've ever met on Facebook, order shoes/plane tickets/pizza, learn about news updated faster than any other media, watch movies, balance a checkbook, research anything...

Well, this week, I learned how easy shopping for supplies can be on the internet.

I'm all about online shopping - eBay, Craig's List, Amazon, Etsy, Zappos, Ticketmaster, whatever. But I never had explored buying household goods.

I'd heard of buying bulk dry goods and whatnot through Amazon, but it all seemed a little odd to me. I don't buy a lot of food in bulk (single gal, single gal sized apartment), plus I'd still need to go to the grocery store for perishable items.

Recently though, I started hearing a lot of good things about Alice.com, an online household good retailer, which bills itself like so:

"Tired of carrying that load of household goods out to the car? Alice helps eliminate the chore and avoid impulse store purchases to boot. Set up Alice and we deliver just what you need, when you need it. It’s time to take household shopping off your to-do list."

Basically, you sign up for a free acount and make a list of things you normally buy (Johnson & Johnson dental floss, Puff tissues, Pledge cleaning wipes, etc). Items are comparably price to the drugstores or grocery stores (at least compared to mine), and there are also various online coupons available that are automatically applied.

As you select items, Alice asks how often you go through an item in order to remind you to order more at a later date (I'll be reminded to order more Aquafresh in 6 weeks). Package up your order and it ships to you within 2-3 days (free shipping).



The idea is that by planning ahead and not being tempted by impulse buys, you can save both time and money. And if you're really into saving money, your free acount includes all sort of charts and graphs that break down your spending history. As far as time goes, I'll still be making trips to the grocery store, but I won't be loaded down with as many items (that single gal apartment's a walk-up with street parking).

Plus, as a bonus, the design and interface is amazing! The drag-and-drop products to shopping cart is just cool, but all the tabs and windows of info are useful, not busy.

I received my first shipment today and already even used my new dental floss. So far, so good.

Deadline Shmedline

Why is it that we always get our best motivation, and inspiration, right near deadline? I think it's partly the creative process: our subconscious is thinking and plotting and planning and won't let go the baked idea until the very last minute. I also think that some of us are just born procratinators and rarely finish anything prior to its due date. An old boss called this "practicing avoidance." Whatever it is, I need to get back to it.....

Banking Across the Pond

Since a handful of our clients are community banks, we keep an ear out for all things banking - news, new regulations, successful marketing tactics, and more. On a recent trip across the Atlantic to Greece, I noticed one Greek bank that was everywhere - ATEBank. I'd liken it to a Wachovia. Anyways, I liked their Greek iconic logo and checked them out online when I got back in town.

Pretty much your typical bank, but take a second and think about your current checking account. Do you know what the name of your account is? I happen to know that mine is "Crown Banking" - pretty boring. How would you feel if your account was the ATHENA Student Account or HERMES Monthly Interest Savings Account? Or the DEMETRA Premium Account or the ESTIA Current Account? Feeling Greek god empowered? What fun ATEBank!

Here's what you missed from the cliffs of Santorini :)

Fall Networking

So this is the first week of September, and to the delight of many in the area, there's been about a 15-20 degree drop in temperature, which is really making it feel like summer's ending and fall is here.

I don't have any kids and none of my friends are in school anymore, so "back to school" isn't on my radar at all. However, the massive uptick in networking events is certainly signaling the change of season.

As Programming Director for the Richmond AIGA, I know the conversation each group has had when it comes to planning: "Everyone's on vacation in the summer, kids are home from school, it's too crazy for events."

But once September's on the horizon, the tune changes: "Kids are back in school, students are back at VCU, everyone's in back to school mode which means they're ready for EVENTS - let's schedule something great to start the (school) year."

There are some interesting things on my radar, even if I can't attend everything:

> Ad Club's annual golf tourny, AddyShack

> AMA's September luncheon with Martin Agency's Walmart CD, Bruce Fougere

> Richmond AIGA's screening of Milton Glaser: To Inform & Delight (link coming)

> CS - The Creative Change Center - has kicked up multiple events over the next 6 weeks

> RAUG (RIC Adobe User Group) has a panel event as well

> The Greater Richmond Chamber's kicking off it's Extraordinary Women's Exchange series

And I keep hearing whispers and rumors about RIC's Social Media Club (SMCRVA) but had trouble finding their website. Even Richmond BizSense held a PR event last night at Planet Zero.

Sounds like a busy way to start fall!

Wishful Thinking

The great thing about this business is that it's often subjective, the challenging thing about this business is that it's often subjective. On Friday, Megan and I presented some great concepts, which we (along with creatives Ben & Jason) felt were strong and addressed what the client was trying to communicate. Somewhere along the line, we missed a key image that the client felt strongly represented their differentiation. Unfortunately, not even the client can agree on what that image should be. We're now locked in an epic internal struggle to try and interpret what they want to communicate. This is the great part of our work - pushing creativity and thinking to the limits, all the while making sure what we communicate is clear, direct, understandable and actionable. Wish us luck - and stay tuned!

Blah Blah Blog

For my first MBM blog I'm sharing a new book that I think is pretty funny, called:

There's No I in Office: 4293 Meaningless Phrases to Keep Your Coworkers Smiling While Avoiding Actual Conversation by Jacob Lentz, Paul Koehorst

(first few pages on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Theres-Office-Meaningless-Coworkers-Conversation/dp/1569757011)

The real reason I like this is because it shows how uncomfortable people are around each other at work everyday, and really how much of our lives is spent with meaningless phrases to void the silence. We're constantly saying things to each other that don't mean anything. "How ya doin?" "Well I keep on, keepin on" or "Another day, Another dollar" or "Workin for the Weekend." Even more amusing is when people try to be creative with their nonsense, saying stuff like "De Ja Vu all over again!" C'mon, really?

The chapters include multiple responses for just about any office situation. From casual fridays, to when someone's office chair breaks. The book looks like a huge waste of time but still a great read. I guess you could just carry it around and catch up on a chapter whenever someone asks how your weekend was.

Time

We had a friend come visit this weekend who we hadn't seen in eight months. That sounds like a really long time but it didn't seem like it had been that long. Then I thought about it in terms of my son - he was only eight months old at the last visit and he's changed a lot in that time! It is really amazing how time flies.

Before we know it 2009 is going to be over. I guess it is about time to pull out the spreadsheets and start budgeting meetings. Then there is that inevitable September/October panic that's going to set in. You know the one where everyone tries to finish all the things we outlined back in January when the year seemed like it would take longer to get through than it did?

Whatever, I'm ready for it, come on fall! I can't wait to rake leaves, carve pumpkins and sing holiday songs to my son... after I get my work done, of course!

Presenting

Maggi and I are presenting web site elements and basic designs to a client tomorrow. Presenting is not one of my biggest strengths, but I'm looking forward to it because we're giving them a lot of very cool, very "them" items to look over. Even our different color swatch options make me thing of being in a candy store with lots of interesting, solid, saturated colors.

I also just realized that my last blog post was about color, so I think I'm seeing a trend. Apparently I like to muse about color... but really, I think there is nothing more exciting then colors coming together, especially when different colors and tones unexpected complement each other.

For fun, check out Adobe's kuler.

Communication

So I spent the weekend with a good friend and business associate - I'm on her company's strategic advisory committee. Turns out she's been frustrated trying to find the right marketing company and just happened to mention it in the course of casual conversation. For the 8 years we've known each other, socially and professionally, I've felt confident she knew what MBM does - turns out I was very wrong. So lessons for today are (1) Never assume someone else knows what you know and (2) just because you do a good job marketing your clients doesn't mean you do a good job marketing yourself. I'm sure there's a lesson (3), I just haven't processed it yet....

RFPs!

Wow, it has been a crazy few weeks of RFPs. If our clients are any indication of the economy, I would say things are improving. SIQ, SOQ, RFQ, RFP - you name it we've seen it.

It's definitely exciting to see things picking up and hopefully our hard work will pay off for our clients. I also find it interesting the things that we do as a marketing agency that traditional advertising firms wouldn't touch. MBM Marketing is sort of like the Army, "Be all you can be."

Now onto a PowerPoint for an RFP interview/presentation...

Color wheel

So I was looking at some potential colors for a client's website, and I realized I might be in a bit of a color rut. I love blues and greens (and of course, their combo - teal), so naturally, those are the first colors I think of for ANY project (see MBM's interior photos below). It made me wonder though - what is it that draws people to certain colors?

So I googled.

At first, I found various responses about how people who love water like blue, and people who like to feel serene like green. I'm not really buying that. I understand that there are associations with certain colors, but I'm not thinking about dirt when I see brown or sunshine when I see yellow.

What I'm looking for is more scientific information than I seem to be finding online - like, is it psychological or simply hard wiring in our brains?

Beyond that, is a website or product packaging more influential if it's in your favorite colors? Subconsciously, are you less likely to linger if it's in colors you dislike?

Strengths

Sometime back, we all took the Strengthsfinder profile. Today Kelly did a Lunch & Learn to help us better understand how we can work together in groups -- and what strengths we have in common. And she had us guess what our distinct strengths were. It was pretty funny, other than pegging Courtney on "discipline" (her photo is next to the word on wikipedia) we don't know each other as well as we thought. Which provides us with another great opportunity to learn! Yea! (yes, "positivity" is one of my strengths). Maggi

New MBM Photos

MBM's celebrating our ten year anniversary. Our official anniversary is August 1, but as with any birthday - why celebrate just one day when you can celebrate for months on end? We kicked off the anniversary year with a delicious dinner at Maggiano's for the MBM team and some plus ones.




Also - once upon a time, I hinted that we were going to be dropping some new fun colors on select walls in the office. We've been enjoying the new colors for a little while now, but just haven't gotten around to taking photos. Enjoy these quick previews from my cell camera:

Lock and Load!

We love happy clients! And you know you've nailed a new logo design when the client responds to it by saying,"That's what I'm talking about!" Then adds a "Lock and Load!" next. Now that's what I'M talkin' about!

Also, I ran into former MBMer Steven this morning at a favorite bagel joint. We hope the non-profit world is treating you well, Steven!

Thursday?

I totally forgot it was Thursday until I read Maggi's post...

It's been a crazy week, particularly with the passing of everyone's favorite Chihuahua advertising icon - Taco Bell's Gidget.

Thursday at MBM

So today I've had a great meeting with our business advisor Steve Lux, a great conversation wtih a new client, and fresh figs brought by mom in North Carolina. The kick off brainstorming session for the Leadership Team of the VMFA Business Council is this afternoon, then off to a UVA sports marketing event this evening. A great way to begin wrapping up a good week!

Zoo Trip

Yikes - 1 month since our last posting. I blame it on summertime - that's what happens when the weather's warm and the living's easy.

Our second quarter MBM outing took us to the Richmond Metro Zoo, followed by a delicious lunch at Hot Tamale Cafe featuring a smattering of Mexican beer brands. Not sure what the highlight was - feeding a Giraffe or feeding myself with 3 baskets of chips and salsa.



Also, if the orangutans or the chimps are freed from captivity and send back to the wilds of Africa, we swear it wasn't MBM.

A little summer revamp

Nothing makes you feel more like part of an office team than the ability to redecorate. Stamping your personality all over your desk/cubicle/computer/area helps make you feel more comfortable and at home. From time to time, the "stamp of personality" can mean way too many cat calendars and ridiculous amounts of Kermit the Frog paraphernalia (I've seen both in action), but for the most part, family photos, a plant, or small nick-nacks seem to do the trick.

When you are actually allowed to take your desire to redecorate office-wide, that's really something. Jason (designer dude) and I, along with input from the rest of the team, are spearheading the MBM design project.

Now, we're pretty lucky to already have a cool space. It's open and bright with cool art and modern furniture. We only had small tweaks we wanted to make. Mainly, we wanted to paint some accent walls and replace a desk space with a seating area for brainstorming meetings.

We're currently deciding between this color palette:

Wall #1 - some sort bright but not too bright green:
Either GECKO GREEN or GREEN TEA

Wall #2 - bright blue (already in action in a couple other spots in the office)
PEAK-A-BOO BLUE is the official chosen color

Wall #3 - some sort of golden neutral/orange/yellow
We are looking at TOASTED HONEY, GOLDEN MOON, HOMESTEAD RESORT GOLD, or DEL CORONADO AMBER

Who comes up with these names? Must be in cahoots with nail polish namers.

Next week is the painting week (mainly cause the boss lady and second-in-command boss lady are out of the office - we're going to wow them upon their return). I'll be sure to post before and after photos next week.

The search for furniture for our seating area hasn't really hit full swing, but if you see any nifty, comfy, modern furniture, let us know.

Ghost?

Recently, I moved into a new apartment over in the Fan. It's super convenient to MBM - on nice days, I can easily walk. Aside from being convenient, it's also full of 1920s charm, as the building was built in 1926. I live in the apartment with my two cats, collection of hand-me-down family furniture, and too many shoes.

When lounging in the apartment, I typically sport my comfortable ballet-flat style slippers. They're pink fabric slip-ons with a safety-first rubber sole. When the time comes for me to put normal shoes back on, I just rip off my slippers and carelessly toss them on the floor in my bedroom.

Recently, I noticed that my slippers seemed to keep ending up in the hallway just outside of my bedroom. I didn't think that much of it, figuring that my cats were maybe bored and knocking the slippers around.

However, as the slippers continued to migrate from bedroom to hall, I wasn't able to catch a cat in the act. Also, it seemed a little bizarre that the slippers kept moving to the same one spot in the hall and never any further.

One weekend recently, it really began to sink in how often the slippers mysteriously moved themselves into the hall. After finding them in the hall 3 times within a 16 hour period, I opted to deliberately place them for tracking purposes (as any good marketer would do).

I left the slippers sitting on a bench in my room, stacked neatly on top of each other, and went to work.

When I came home at lunch and opened the front door, the slippers greeted me silently from the hall. They were neatly stacked on top of each other, just as I'd left them 3 hours prior.



Quickly, I processed the possibility of one of my cats pulling the slippers OFF of the bench, into the hall, and leaving them perfectly stacked. Determining that this was NOT very likely, I embraced the more likely possibility - my bedroom was haunted!!

After a brief freak-out phone call to my mother, I left the slippers in the hall and went back to work.

Upon leasing the apartment in January, I had been "warned" by the previous tenant that the downstairs apartment was haunted by a 1920s man in a bowler hat. As I replayed the image of my neatly stacked slippers in my head, I was annoyed at myself for foolishly thinking that ghostly occurrences would be limited to the first floor.

Over the rest of the day, I wondered about my next steps. Do I tell my landlord and hope for discounted rent? Does ghostly activity allow one to break a lease? Should I be contacting FX to schedule a ghost hunt television show to come by? Did my ghost have issues with my feet? Would a pedicure fix everything? Is my bedroom the gateway to hell?

After work, I returned home, only to throw open the front door and discover that the slippers had disappeared from the hallway. Fighting the urge to run outside and throw a scared temper tantrum, I entered the apartment, discovering 1 slipper back in the bedroom and the other missing.

The MIA slipper was nowhere to be found. After searching the floors and various low-level knocks and crannies, I began searching inside dresser drawers and closets. Does the ghost really feel that strongly about my slippers?? Had it really sucked the slipper away to the seventh portal of hell?

Shortly after, I discovered the missing slipper under my bed, in a favorite nap located of one of my cats. My hope of an appearance on Ghost Hunters dwindling, I realized I was actually a little disappointed not to have a ghostly roommate.

Muse is Over

Well, Maggi (the boss lady) and I have been part of the event committee planning the 2009 Muse Awards. The Muse Awards are an annual award (un)gala put on by the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. The VMFA's Business Council organizes the event, which recognizes creativity in Virginia businesses. You can read about this year's winner here.

Maggi and I, along with our illustrious co-chair Karin, spent the last 6 months or so planning the gala that surrounds the awards. I've attended before, but I had no idea what went into planning the party! The Muse Awards typically is a themed party, complete with costumes, and this year was no different.

The last 6 months meant developing a theme and translating into the event. The theme was focused on 3 eras in the museums's history: the 1930s (when the VMFA was built), the 1980s (when the West Wing was added), and 2010 (when the new McGlothlin Wing will be finished). The 2010 era focused on international marketplace and world fusion, with special focus on the South and East Asian that will be housed in the new wing.

We arranged music, dancers, lighting, decorations, invitations, programs, signage, costumes, and more. Are we going to sign up for the craziness again next year? Who knows. But those themed champagne cocktails sure were a sweet reward. Check out some of the pictures below!

60 Seconds

I usually work on the Client Services side of MBM, but I went to a Business Development lunch today to mix things up. These lunches often involves presenting some sort of 30 or 60 second "schpeel" about your company and/or what you do - the infamous elevator speech.

First, I need to say that I hate speaking in public, even for 30 or 60 seconds. I can talk all day long with small groups or an individual, but the minute I have to stand up and have the attention of a room, my face goes beet red.

Second, clearly condensing what you do can be really challenging. Within a brief window of time, you need to clearly explain your business, but you also want to capture the attention of your listeners and be memorable. That's a lot of pressure for a minute or less!

The suggestion I've gleaned for describing what you do?

Get someone else to do it. Seriously.

An objective friend, client, family member, or professional acquaintance is perfect - anyone you don't work with. These people won't necessarily know the technical terms of your trade, so they can help you come up with more "user-friendly" ways to explain yourself.

Successfully explaining what you do is crucial, as it's often the first impression people have of you and your company.

It's also a marketing device that's free to create, maintain, and update. Doesn't get much better than that!

Tuesday is the workplace stress day

A insight into office stress from the Unclutterer blog.

Tuesday is the workplace stress day

Posted using ShareThis

MBM's favorite non-work-related websites

We may work hard, but none of us can get through the week without venturing into one of these favorite websites or blogs.

MBM's Favorite Business Sites:

Richmond BizSense
Although not as intense as CNN.com or TimesDispatch.com, Richmond BizSense has the best pulse on local and regional businesses.

GonzoBanker
Creatively provides information about technology, vendors, strategies and other things that affect the banking industry.

EMarketing and Commerce
Features various articles about online marketing, social media/networking, and e-commerce.

The Motley Fool
Various interesting financial articles.

MBM's Favorite Entertainment Sites:

CNN
Everyone's favorite news site.

People
For any necessary celebrity information.

Lost Fanatic Blog
A few of us in the office at Lost fanatics - if you are too, you should be reading this blog.

MBM's Favorite Humor Sites:

Passive-Aggressive Notes
Real life people send in photos of some of the craziest (and super hilarious) passive-aggressive notes out there.

This Is Why You're Fat Blog
Photos submitted show some of the most ridiculous food that real people actually eat. Our favorite? The meatloaf modeled after carrot cake, complete with mashed potato "icing" - be amazed here.

Funny cat sites
One of the weirdest on the web, this site takes funny cat photos and inserts funny captions.

Got anything else we should be reading? Let us know!

Snuggie Success in a Recession

All across the board, it seems like clients of all shapes and sizes, of all types of industries, are feeling the effects of the recession. Sales are down, as is consumer confidence. For marketing firms, we're caught in a limbo - clients know they need to continue advertising to keep the money coming in, but it's hard to keep up when budgets are being cut. The story's the same no matter your location or your industry.

But, there is one product out there that is having a record year - the Snuggie.


You've probably seen it on TV. A hybrid of a blanket and a coat, the fleece blanket has arms. The infomercial-style commercials show how Snuggies are perfect for reading at home (arm-less blankets are simply inadequate) or even attending a chilly sporting event (why settle for a coat when you can now be wrapped in a blanket in public?). A Snuggie can be yours, along with 2 FREE reading lights, for $19.95.

The Snuggie campaign launched in October; looking back, it seems their timing couldn't have been worse. Yet the bizarre product has garned cult-like national attention - it's simply funny to think about utilizing a blanket with arms. And funny or not, sales have been through the roof.

The success of the Snuggies really roots back to successful marketing - delivering the right message at the right time.

First, it's a product that gets people talking (hey, I'm writing a whole blog entry on it!). Word of mouth has kept this product in everyone's minds.

Second, the ad campaign focused on a topic that has been extremely important to people - saving money. Keep the heat bill down by using a Snuggie.

Third, the campaign benefited from excellent timing. Many advertisers have been pulling back this past year, which opened more advertising slots and allowed Snuggie to really drive their campaign home.

And if these basic marketing ideas can sell a blanket with arms during a recession, they can sell just about anything.

The Dreaded First Entry

Starting a blog is a very awkward endeavor. Although MBM's got plenty to say, it's a bit tough to funnel these thoughts into one extremely clever, highly interesting, hook-you-so-you-read-more entry.

Beyond that, what exactly do we plan to share with you? Marketing tips? Information about the fields our clients are in (banking, IT, non-profits, etc)? Our favorite cat video on YouTube?

Well, I haven't decided yet. Maybe a little bit of everything.