We’re excited to announce the addition of a new market leader to our client list – Taco John’s International.
Lawrence & Schiller started our Taco John’s journey in the spring of 2007. Our team grew up in Taco John’s country, recalling countless hometown Taco John’s stories, which led us to identify the company as a client we wanted to work with. Our account service team began building relationships with Taco John’s that led to the opportunity to respond to their agency of record RFP in October, pitch the business in November and win (!) the business in December.
The RFP called for a creative shoot-out, so in true 5280 style, we developed strategic creative based on a deep understanding of the Taco John’s brand. We visited over 100 stores, interviewed franchisees, talked to customers and studied any other research we could get our hands on. As a result, we presented three diverse concepts, and like true parents were very proud of the entire trio of brainchildren.
The creative selected will hit the airways in March, celebrating the hometown tradition that is Taco John’s. A few members of our Taco John’s team attended the Advertising Production Committee Meeting last week, where we officially kicked off our collaborative relationship.
Welcome, Taco John’s! We couldn’t be more excited to dedicate our time and creative energy to another brand that is such a big part of our lives.
To read more about this new relationship, click here.
Another edition of notes from my trip to the Interative Advertising Bureau’s MIXX Conference this past fall.
Ads Are Content
55 billion dollars are projected for interactive marketing in 2015; it will be the largest media category in the world.
Economic value of the internet: 3.1 million US jobs, and $300 billion to the economy.
Evolution of banners
Banner ads – circa 1995 – when display ads were put on banners.
Google changed it with small ads to small groups that it was relevant to.
Now, there are infinite inventory and places to advertise. Attention is worth more than money.
We have learned to tune out banner ads that do not speak directly to us – we need to make ads as content, that match that niche community’s site (no generic banner ads to all sites).
Get communities to talk about your product for you. Example of unique niche community – GeekDad.com – 1 million visits per month. Great example of a very niche, yet very popular site. So how do you engage deeply with all of these micro-communities? You can’t reach them all – you need to find a way to get that community to do that for you.
Embrace digital – your stuff is out there so make a community around it or make it easier for people.
Example: Monte Python – They faced a potential loss in DVD sales when some of their episodes starting getting put online by users. They embraced the fact that their content was already out there, and improved it by uploaded episodes to You Tube, making the episodes HD friendly, and organizing the collection online. The result? A renewed interest in the products, and increased DVD sales.
Back to the basics of Christmas is the approach used in the latest Lewis campaign. No hot toys or gadgets were featured this year, marking a somewhat different Christmas campaign than in years past.
A sound mix to “Oh Christmas Tree” and highlighting a breadth of products from all departments within Lewis lends a fresh, fun feel to this spot. Products from TVs and cameras to baby dolls, champagne and Doritos – it is made apparent that Lewis is your first stop for everything holiday. Whether it be for shipping and packaging, decorating your house for the holidays, gift buying or party planning, Lewis has it all.
More notes from the International Advertising Bureau’s MIXX conference.
Can you imaging spending 3/4 of your ad budget in ditial marketing? Adobe can, and they do. They have created proven campaigns, and alleviated concerns by sharing data and results. The first speaker of the conference, Anne Lewis, Senior VP of Adobe, set the theme with this statement: It’s ALL Advertising. When you think about it, it’s true. Every piece of material we put out there for a brand can either credit or discredit that product or brand. It’s important to make sure that what you are putting out there is relevant to your target audience.
Anne gave a great example of how it really is ALL advertising. This is all about brand engagement, and what is relevant to the consumer. If you haven’t been to their site lately (or ever), check out http://www.converse.com. The site allows users to ‘buy, make, or play’ and fully engage with the Converse brand. Users are able to create a shoe that is unique to them. In her example, Anne spoke about creating a pair as a gift for her son, and after engaging so closely with the product, she decided she needed a pair as well. Anne, on stage in formal business wear, certainly didn’t look like a typical Converse wearing customer, and she herself stated she had never owned shoes from that brand before, and never thought she would. However, there she was online buying a pair for her son and herself. It’s ALL advertising. What can you do for your client, that is so relevant for it’s target audience, that it doesn’t necessarily feel like advertising, but allows that user to engage and become sold and loyal to the brand?
