Ant Hill Marketing

The Hood to Coast Relay is reputed to be one of the premier running events of its kind in the country. Twelve thousand runners come from nearly every corner of the U.S. and many countries around the world.  They pile in two thousand large vehicles and set out on a quest to cover 197 miles as fast as their bodies will let them.  And, to a person, they will call it one of the most fun things they have done in their lives.

I’ve run the race more than a dozen years myself and can easily say it is one of the highlights of my year. And I have always thought very highly of the management and organization of the event.  It is truly a feat to pull this off.  But the staff does not do it alone. Each team is required to provide three volunteers to man the 36 exchange points along the course at all hours of the day and night. It takes a lot of dedication for a person to get up at 2:00 a.m., drive to the middle of the Coast Range, and direct hundreds of vans and thousands of people who are sleep deprived and reaching their limits.  And for their efforts, each volunteer gets a t-shirt that just lets people know “I helped pull off one of the greatest running events around”.

The 2009 Hood To Coast volunteer t-shirt

That’s why I was more than a little disappointed in organization’s response to an obvious mistake on the volunteer t-shirts printed for this year’s event.  As reported in The Oregonian, the bright orange t-shirt proudly declares the person wearing it is a “Race Offical” rather than “Official”. It’s an honest, if not unbelievable, mistake. And our whole running team got a chuckle out of passing around the news.  But, at our final race preparation meeting last night, all we could talk about was the dismissive response of Robert Foote, Hood to Coast Relay president, who shrugged off the mistake and said it “is pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.”  What does that say about the Hood-to-Coast brand?  And how must the sponsors whose logos appear under the mispelled word feel?

I can understand and sympathize with the complexity of running an event like this.  It is a huge undertaking and, yes, a t-shirt misprint must seem like a small gaffe.  But, the dismissive public comment and failure to correct the mistake indicate leadership that fails to recognize the difficulty teams have in providing volunteers and the sacrifice those people make to help pull this event off. It also sends a message to event sponsors that the organization might not be as professional as it appears.

The only possible rationale for the decision I can think of is that it was too late to reprint the shirts once the mistake was discovered or the staff felt that the extra cost would take away from the donations that will be made to the American Cancer Society, the beneficiary of the event.  If either of those is the case, just say that rather than trying to dismiss the mistake as insignificant.

It is a lesson for all organizations (and people) that make mistakes, because we all do.  Own up to it.  Correct it. And stay true to your brand. Certainly the main event sponsor, Nike, understands this. And I hope the Hood To Coast staff has spent the last few days figuring out how they can quickly reprint the t-shirts for the 3,000+ volunteers who will be setting their alarm clocks, grabbing a coffee, and heading out to a place they’ve never heard of — all in the name of fun.

Okay, GMAC (General Motors Acceptance Corporation) hasn’t been wholly owned by General Motors for years, so I understand that the headline is a little bit misleading. But when you have a brand, your audience’s perception is a big part of that equation. And when GM sold their ownership share of the financial arm in 2006, there was no name change. By keeping “General Motors” in their name, it stands to reason that people would get confused.  And until recently, GMAC probably benefited from having that affiliation. But no more…

Since GM went belly-up – and let’s not forget the recent troubles banks are having – GMAC took a strategic move, and re-positioned  their brand. I know I am a little bit biased, but good for them for putting those TARP funds to good use.

During this banking crisis, GMAC made a decision to become a “trusted partner” with their customers. They drew a line in the sand, and are making the lofty claim that they are “a bank that will always be open, accountable, and honest.” Yes, honest!

It is certainly refreshing to hear a bank make these kinds of promises. Ally has already launched  a very fun marketing campaign that very clearly states they won’t “hide behind fine print” or “hold out” on you because “it’s the right thing to do.”

There is nothing wrong with setting the bar high. And I applaud Ally for having the courage to actually do right by their customers. If they can follow through with meeting their brand promise then they have an opportunity to really stand out in the banking brand landscape. After doing an unscientific brand survey on twitter, response to the service and new brand position has been favorable, especially when it comes to their promise about rates.

There have been some bumps in the road too, as seen on customer Ryan Finnie’s blog, where a rate switch caused him to question the brand by using their very own advertising. Or on the Suns Financial Diary blog, where their user experience with signing up for an account didn’t quite pan out to the friendly partnership they had hoped.

But regardless of these bumps, there is definitely something encouraging in both of these examples. Ally bank contacted each, and listened, if not to resolve the problem, but to help make all their customers’ banking experience better. And to me, that is definitely not banking as usual. The bank brand is still young, it will be interesting to see how they carry the brand forward.

It takes a lot today to differentiate yourself, your company, your brand from the competition. It takes courage to stand out from the crowd and take risks. It means having vision and the ability to see the larger picture. It’s having passion and the innate drive to be the absolute best. It’s laser focus that is unwilling to give up. It’s confidence in yourself, your organization, in your people. And, it’s the committment to walk the walk and deliver on your brand, every time.

Well, what if you sell beds? In the sea of retail, the only dry land tends to be commiditization. Come and get ‘em for the lowest price. Prices slashed. Two-for one. We’ll even throw in free delivery! Sometimes there’s good will and a donation or two. All that noise sounds like a car dealership. But, there’s a company in the U.K. called Benson for Beds. They aren’t selling beds – they are selling sleep. Something everyone wants but not everyone gets. Their focus isn’t on showing hundreds of beds on sale in a warehouse with giant-sized price tags (okay, yes they had some ads like that in the past). They focus on what you can do if you get your sleep. Sleep to Live. Check out their very cool intro spot on their site. http://bit.ly/i1p8f

Their brand screams “have all the fun in the world and at the end of the day you’ll get the best night’s sleep” or in other words, Sleep to Live. Brilliant brand position. They embraced their Sleep to Live mantra by shooting for the Guiness Book of World Records in mattress dominoes. Gimmicky? Perhaps. But, it does go to show that when you think outside the box, you can turn a simple idea into something that helps differentiate who you are and what you offer. It can help an organization rally around a common goal and ultimately help everyone deliver on the promise made to consumers. It can help you grow. And, in the end…might just help you sleep.

So here at Ant Hill we have created a new Friday ritual. We thought since Monday’s around here are known as bagel day, that Friday’s should be known as breakfast sammie day. I can’t think of a better way to start your Friday then sitting around the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, consuming a homemade breakfast Egg McMuffin (while having our production meeting of course).

Jon (being a chef in his previous life) runs the kitchen as we all sit patiently waiting for the delicious sammie to arrive in front of us.

Happy Friday Everyone!

Erin

Photo courtesy of www.portlandground.com

I love Portland. We’re not the city that never sleeps. We’re not the windy city. And, we’re not filled with tinsel, bleached hair and botox. But, we are overshadowed by other cities, especially when it comes to creative – and that’s a shame (or a sham depending on how you look at it). Creativity thrives here in our fair City of Roses (regardless of what Fast Company thinks). And with more than 1,500 companies, large and small, in the creative services industry, we contribute a fair share of professional services business revenue and jobs. Yet for some reason, we’re afraid to toot the horn let alone blow a low whistle (a little music once in a while is okay people). Maybe we think we’re great but need proof. Or we’re overly modest. Either way, consider this:

1. Creative services industry employs roughly 15,000 people in Portland
2. We have 344 designers per 100K residents – more than LA and Austin (according to Bureau of Labor Stats ’08 in Greater Portland Prosperity 2009)
3. The creative vitality here (based on the National Creative Vitality Index - yes there is such a thing) is more than twice the national baseline
4. Portland is among one of the most innovative cities, ranked 6 by Forbes for most patents, and 6th for both entrepreneurship and small business (Creative Capacity Project)
5. Creative industries generate nearly $2 billion and a payroll of nearly $1 billion annually (that’s no chump change) (Creative Capacity Project)
6. More than half of Oregon’s creative firms are concentrated in Portland (Creative Capacity Project)

Portland is a great place to be – to live and work. But we know that already. Even though we’re pushing through a rough spot and our state has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, we don’t have the brain drain other cities are facing. In fact, we’ve got some brain gain going on. More people are moving here from out-of-state than to our western compatriots (that’d be Seattle, Albuquerque, Austin, San Diego, Denver, San Jose, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacremento). The region is a magnet for all kinds of talented professionals – a chunk of them in the the creative industry and they’d rather be here than someplace else. Some get the entrepreneurial bug. It’s quite catchy here. Some freelance for local agencies or work directly with clients and supplement with other jobs. Baristas or bartenders are common, but more often they are artists, writers and musicians. Perhaps this is why Forbes dubbed Portland one of the best metro areas in which to ride out the recession. The great coffee, local microbrews, top notch wineries, and growing spirit distillers are definitely a bonus. And innovation abounds (the coffee, beer, wine, and spirits help) with the booming food scene, developing clean/green tech industry, the variety of arts and yes, our creative services industry. There’s no doubt the quality of life here is a big pull for newbies and the anchor for those of us here.  But to keep all this quiet, to simply sit idle hoping the great creative work gets noticed, isn’t the best strategy to help grow an industry sector. We all want good clients whether they reside here locally or in other regions – and other regions are touting their creative (some quite loudly).

So, what makes Portland such a great creative place? I posed this question (on Twitter) to fellow Portlanders and here’s a short list of what they said:

Portland is a great creative city because there are no rules. @DanFellini

Because Portlanders are real people. The lack of restriction and openness promotes a more creative and less stifled spirit. @massagepdx

It’s not that I don’t play well with others; I just want to choose where, when and with whom I play. [It's the] PDX attitude. @LogoMotives

Despite local chagrin, the influx of creatives from all over the country converging here brings broad perspective. @Metroknow

I have mixed feelings about it as a creative city. It’s like a college graduate: full of potential. Now it needs to find its way. @swestbrook

PDXers are curious and not too self-obsessed. Our lives are generally balanced and we leave room for non-work projects. We’re generally tolerant and open to new ideas=innovation. We’re risk takers and revel in a good fail-as-learning experience. @thisKat

Portland creativity=cuz we have twice the creative fuel with half the financial pressure. @vizeboogie

Because in PDX, there is life other than work, and that drives us to be more creative and inspired. @KevMurphy

We are passionate about living. We are free spirits. We celebrate…our ability to listen to ideas that we might not hold dear to ourselves. We live our lives out loud. @dtboyd

It’s this last point, living out loud, that strikes home.  Portland should take pride in our creative abilities and capabilities and not be afraid to shout them to the world.