Are your fans passionate enough about your brand that they would make your ads for you?  If you are Etsy, than the answer is yes thanks to their Handmade Moment contest. I don’t know about you, but if I saw this on TV, I would have never guessed it was “Handmade.”

Today is the official launch of “The Next Evolution of Marketing: Connect with Your Customers by Marketing with Meaning” by my good friend Bob Gilbreath of Bridge Worldwide. Since Pete Blackshaw did such a great job summarizing the book over at AdAge, I will save you another recap. After all, Pete summed up the reason to read the book best when he wrote:

The book is a critical, timely and enriching read for anyone looking to succeed in a world of consumer control, media fragmentation and content co-creation. It’s an honest diagnosis of advertising and marketing pains, but also a practical road map to digging ourselves out of our own hole.

I particularly love that last point because it is something I have touched on before, though not so eloquently. Since the advent of television, we as marketers have been obsessed with mass media and interruption advertising. We prided ourselves on being “better” or “best” and we shouted those claims in the face of consumers.

And we have dug a hole where many people have just stopped listening to us.

In “The Next Evolution of Marketing”, Bob helps shows us a way out of this mess. The book is packed with timely, real world examples and the experience is even carried through with a pretty nifty iPhone app so you can see the examples (not just read about them).

To give a peak, here is a link to download afree chapter of the book. If that isn’t reason enough, Bob himself provides a great summary in the below embedded video:

“The Next Evolution of Marketing” definitely makes my list of Brand Manager Must Reads (and not just because Hard Knox Life is mentioned on Page 265). But seriously, if you are a Brand Manager or Marketer looking to understand where the future is headed, you need to pick up this book.

Well done Bob and the whole team at Cincinnati-based, Bridge Worldwide.

I have to admit,this is one of my favorite print ads out there.  But then again, I seem to have a soft spot for great liquor advertising.

In the world of Consumer Packaged Goods, Knob Creek is going through what we call “allocation.”  And allocation is usually a bad thing for a brand… a really bad thing.  But the marketers at Knob Creek have taken the high road and used the shortage to reinforce their equity of “uncompromising quality.”  It would have been easy for them to start using some product that hadn’t aged the “full 9 years”.  But they did what is right in the long run for both their fans and for the brand.  That type of commitment to a brand is admirable and should be a role model for all Brand Managers.

BTW – Special thanks to Jason Falls for helping me get a digital copy of the above ad.

Up until just a few weeks ago, I had no idea what Aardvark was.  But then the ever helpful John Battelle introduced me to Aardvark co-founder Max Ventilla.  Since that introduction, I have become a huge fan of Aardvark.

So what exactly is Aardvark?  Well for starters, here are a few the one-liners the company says they have used to explain it:

• Aardvark is Social Search:  finding information from real people.
• Aardvark is a live channel to anyone in your network who has the knowledge and experience to answer your question.
• Aardvark is the IM buddy who always knows the right person to ask.
• Aardvark is a community of helpful people who share tips and opinions.

For me, Aardvark has become the perfect way to get answers to questions where I need an opinion / recommendation instead of just facts.  (more…)

A couple of weekends ago, Cindy and I headed down to Dallas for a little road trip.  Just outside of town, we decided to stop for dinner and try something new.  Thanks to this little bit of spontaneity, we discovered Which Wich? Superior Sandwiches, my latest entry in “Brands I Love.”

At first glance, Which Wich is similiar to Potbelly Sandwiches, one of the first “Brands I Love” write-ups here on Hard Knox Life.  After all, both serve toasted sandwiches and are aimed after the family.  And more importantly, both are growing quickly with Which Wich at 55+ stores and Potbelly opening store #200 in June 2008.

But Which Wich? gets distinction as a “Brand I Love” not because of the similarities, but instead because of their differences:

Which Which Order Bags

They make ordering your food something you tell others about: When you first walk into a Which Wich, you stand there a little confused.  After all, you are staring at a wall of brown paper bags, a menu on the wall and a cup of red magic markers.  But that initial confusion is actually what makes the experience so memorable and enjoyable.  It is an ordering experience that you want to tell others about because its pretty damn fun.  And judging by the excitement of the kids ordering in front of me, it is an experience the entire family will enjoy.

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