Random Post Time

The 6-month (!!!) span between this post and my last entry correlates with a lot of activity on the home front and at work. I've also struggled finding topics to cover. I've always tried to center on advertising techniques that I find interesting or tactics that I want to learn more about. The point of this post is to bust the atrophy off my writing muscles. I'll do that by touching on a few topics that I've considered covering on this blog. Maybe I'll expound on these topics in their own posts. This post, however, scores off the Randometer charts. Sorta like this Bitmoji.

(Some friends at work introduced me to Bitmojis, which may or may not have contributed to that 6-month span.)

Sports Cards and Marketing

Growing up, baseball card collecting was a huge hobby of mine. I spent hours reading the stats on the back of cards and looking over every last detail of the photos on the front of the cards. It's hard to imagine getting so much enjoyment out of pieces of cardboard. The internet was not a thing yet so all that I learned about the hobby came from interacting with my friends. I was recently served the following ad while killing time on YouTube.



Sports cards have changed and so have the marketing efforts of card companies.

Instagram Frustration

I want to keep my Instagram profile public so I can continue embedding posts from my account. Unfortunately, some very questionable accounts have declared open season on my profile. Anyone can follow my public profile without requesting permission and boy do I attract some weirdos. I'm certain these are not actual people - they're obviously phony profiles. Each one has zero posts and zero followers but are following several hundred accounts.

I'm blocking most of these followers but if you know of a way I can fend off these weirdos while keeping my profile public, please leave me a tip in the comments!

NIKE Golf

So NIKE just announced that they will no longer manufacture golf clubs, balls or bags. They will continue to make golf shoes and apparel.

I think a lot of people share my stance on NIKE's equipment. I don't think the lack of equipment will hinder the success of their shoes and apparel. I've been a fan of both and have never owned a NIKE club.

Yep. Played on the Farm Links greens today!

A photo posted by Nick Baggett (@nick_baggett) on Aug 12, 2014 at 3:23pm PDT

Jim Varney

I was flipping TV channels the other day and came across the description for the 1993 Beverly Hillbillies movie, in which Jim Varney played the lead role. I never realized that he starred in any movies other than his "Earnest" films. Where a lot of people remember him for his movie roles, I remember Varney more for his 1980s television commercials. I've written before about the risks of celebrity endorsements and the safety of character endorsements. Reading up on Varney, I learned that he was a central part in a unique marketing strategy that enabled him to gain acting work across the country because he was not (yet) a nationally-recognized figure. This interview touches on that concept:



This approach allowed the commercial directors to use the same story frame for multiple ads and products.

For example, here's a local ad for Doubles Pizza.



And here's the same type of ad for Mello Yello.



Wonder why Vern was always on his roof?? And will we see a return to this kind of simple character endorsements?

OK, told you this post was going to be chopped full of randomness. I hope to return to consistent posting now!

My Return to Facebook

Unlike a lot of people, Facebook was not my introduction to social media. I actually used Twitter first and it wasn't until I created a fan page for my employer that I started dabbling with Facebook on a personal level. Twitter quickly became my favorite outlet and, just as quickly, I came to see Facebook as a collection of photos of other people’s babies and cats. Lots of cats.

One of the purposes for my blog is to give readers an opportunity to learn more about me by providing access to my social media pages via the widget in sidebar. Until recently, I didn't include my Facebook profile on that widget because...well, there wasn't much to share. Not only have I not posted much to my Facebook timeline over the past few years, I rarely even look at it. Facebook was so unappealing to me that I turned off all notifications and didn't have the app on my phone.

“OH WOW” MOMENT

I was content with continuing this approach to Facebook until a recent reminder that lots of people (especially Boston Red Sox fans) use Facebook. There’s no denying the fact that Facebook is still the top dog and if I want to be known as someone worth his social media marketing salt, it’s would behoove me to get active on Facebook again - and fast.

WHERE TO START? 

I decided that my first step would be to boost my Facebook activity with a combination of manual posts and cross-posting from other social media apps like Instagram. Automating posts using IFTTT recipes has also helped.

Side note: it's been interesting to see how the cross-posting has helped me gain Instagram followers. Many are already Facebook friends.

STAY ACTIVE

Earlier in my career, I worked in a marketing role for a financial institution in south Alabama. Each week, the local newspaper featured interviews with citizens having fun at the Escambia County Senior Center. The questions were always the same, including one about the secret to a long life. So many of the responses explained that the key was remaining physically active.

I try to apply this mantra to a lot of areas of my life - including blogging. It makes sense to keep my writing muscles in shape. Even though I don’t really know Carson V. Heady, his recent tweet reaffirms this notion.

Keeping your mind alert provides longevity.
— Carson V. Heady (@cvheady007) April 1, 2015

I have enjoyed my return to Facebook, even though I'm still seeing a lot of cat photos. That's OK - I look forward to catching up on some of the features that millions of other people have already discovered.

Product Placement in Modern Times

A core purpose of advertising is getting your message where it can be seen and product placement has been a go-to method for many years. While television shows and movies still provide many opportunities for companies to feature their products in action, modern marketers now have even more venues for this technique.

In an earlier post, I discussed a company that makes it possible for new ads to appear in old episodes of your favorite TV shows. Now I want share two recent examples of product placement in social media videos.

I wanted to dive into this topic more when I noticed the following post in my Instagram feed.

You can search our new small video for Canon Company. Search Come and See #canon #comeandsee #ontheroofs #dubai

A video posted by Vadim Makhorov (@makhorov) on Feb 14, 2015 at 9:12am PST

I enjoy videos and photos that depict people doing amazing things that I could would never do. That's what makes Vadim Makhorov a must-follow in my book. Makhorov and Vitaliy Raskalov are a talented duo of fearless photographers that make up On The Roofs and share incredible photos from hard-to-reach places. Their photography skills have caught the attention of Canon, who hired the pair to showcase their cameras in a smart campaign titled, "Come and See." It's primarily a UK campaign but the website is worth a look.

Dude Perfect has made a name for themselves in the world of trick-shot videos. Their YouTube channel (a must-subscribe) is full of well-made videos, which feature sponsorships and product placements at an increasing rate. Pringles called on the guys of Dude Perfect to promote the Flavor Slam, an accessory that transforms an empty Pringles can into a mini basketball hoop.


Since the Pringles Flavor Slam is only available at Walmart, the giant retailer also gets an appearance in the video.

These types of partnerships are win-wins. Companies get unique exposure for their products and entertainers get to continue their craft. It's great to see such an adaption - can you think of any other examples of product placement in modern times?


{Top Photo: Courtesy}

Wedding Hashtags

In 2009, my wife excelled at her calligraphy hobby so quickly that she began receiving requests to write invitations and address envelopes for weddings in the Birmingham area. I’ve always been impressed with her skill and dedication. After particularly large jobs, I like to pick her brain about any new trends that she noticed. When she recently shared an example of a modern communications tool elbowing its way into her time-honored craft, I wasn’t surprised.

It seems that more and more brides are featuring social media hashtags as a way to further memorialize their special day. And why not? A quick hashtag search on Twitter or Instagram can be a great way to harken memories of your wedding day years from now.

My wife was sweet enough to answer some additional communications-type questions about wedding hashtags.

Prior to hashtags, have you noticed any other examples of people incorporating digital or social media into their wedding? 
Wedding websites may not be as common as they once were but they were the first real example I noticed. I would say that Pinterest plays a huge role in wedding planning these days. Pinterest is great because it gives access to ideas and concepts that brides-to-be may have never considered. 

Do these brides indicate a specific social media platform through which these hashtags are to be used? 
I haven’t seen where they specifically say where to use the hashtag but Instagram seems to get the most activity. 

Are these hashtags being featured on wedding invitations or kept to less formal places? 
I recently wrote a hashtag for a sign that was placed by the guest book at the couple’s wedding reception. I think that hashtags will be regularly featured on wedding announcements like “save the date” cards and maybe on the wedding program. I also think it will be a long time before we see hashtags on formal invitations. 

As a calligrapher, what suggestions would you give brides-to-be when they create their wedding hashtag?
You might want to be mindful about using numbers in your hashtag. If your calligrapher has a more formal style, chances are he or she will write out the house, street or apartment number on your invitations and envelopes. For the sake of space (and hand cramps!) you probably don’t want numbers in your hashtag. 

Did the “#” symbol already exist in the world of calligraphy or did you have to build a version from scratch? 
I work best when I have an example to study. I Googled “calligraphy hashtags” and quickly discovered that there aren’t many samples to go by. I ended up creating a hashtag from scratch that looked nice and formal. I would say that it worked - one recent hashtag I wrote helped generate over 100 uses on Instagram alone! 

It was very interesting to learn about this case of old school communications clashing with new school media and I’m thankful that my wife shared some of her observations. Please be sure to visit her calligraphy blog if you would like to see some of her beautiful work.

Thanks for reading!