Benedict Advertising - Business Building Solutions

by Donna Cooper, Jr. Copywriter

Ever notice how when you share an office with a person, or three, everyone starts to feed of each other? Wondering what I mean? Of Course, you are.

It just so happens that I share an office with three other people. We are considered the “creatives,” which means that there is a fragile coexistence than can be shattered at the slightest upset of order and harmony. Not really, but it was fun to say. But, something peculiar happens in the office from time to time that I find quite amusing.

Every so often one inhabitant of the office will make a joke or a comment, and the others immediately pounce on it and give it a life of its own. What is even funnier is what sometimes happens when an outsider (non-creative) passes by our office and makes a comment. The creatives all respond, simultaneously, with the same sarcastic remark.

This type of synchronization, and ability to play off of each other’s jokes, is what helps maintain the symbiotic relationship that is so important, and so rare, in an office environment. As odd as it is, it’s how we roll!

by Amie Dreibelbis

Advertising.com recently did an analysis on consumer behavior and shopping for 2007 holidays.

Basically, it boils down to Internet advertising and shopping being the major influence on holiday shopping. The Internet is second to retail stores but gaining popularity. The main reason consumers go online is to find discounts and savings. These may include free shipping, sales, coupons, rebates, etc.

Top three reasons for going online are: to find discounts and savings, save time, it’s convenience, and compare products and prices.

Half of consumers use search engines when researching gift options and features for the holidays. Only 35 percent go directly to the website to compare. Men are more likely to use search engines while women will go directly to a products website.

Another interesting find was shopping patterns by gender.  Males tend to procrastinate more, with 25 percent of men waiting until December to start shopping versus 12 percent of women. 21 percent of the male respondents wait until the third week of December to start their shopping. Interesting…I can definitely relate to this! ☺

Consumers do not make impulse buys on the Internet. They instead browse gift options, research and compare products, and educate themselves before purchasing. Sometimes it does not result in an Internet purchase but an in store purchase. The consumer uses the Internet to do all the research on the products but feels more comfortable purchasing in store.

The average time spent researching a product is anywhere from 1 to 3 hours. During that time at least 3 to 5 websites are visited. The surfing from site to site makes it clear that behavioral targeting is a critical strategy. This will keep specific brands and products on top of consumer’s minds as they browse many sites. Behavioral targeting retargets consumers who have visited their site and drives them back to make the final purchase.

When it comes to building awareness, television commercials have the greatest impact. TV advertising offers the most effective brand impact. Another vehicle is the online video, which has the same emotional impact of TV commercials and allows the consumer to immediately research and purchase the product.

So, while the holiday shopping season is still far enough off into the future, it doesn’t hurt to keep this data in the back of your mind.  Christmas will come sooner than you expect.

by Donna Cooper, Jr. Copywriter

Recently, several members of the Benedict Office attended multiple seminars and conferences related to their careers. At our last EBE (Eat, B****, and Educate Meetings) they presented what they had learned. A lot of great information came from these educational conferences that we hope to utilize in our office, and a few ideas for blog posts (this being one of them). It got me to thinking…conferences and seminars are a great tool for advanced education.

In the advertising industry specifically, there are many types of conferences to attend. One for each specific role in advertising. For example, the most recent conference that was attended by a member of our staff was the HOW Design Conference in Atlanta which was primarily for Graphic Artists and Designers. There is also an AE Boot Camp for account executives. Even finance people have their own seminars.

People who usually attend conferences to fine tune or brush up their skills, or to see the latest and greatest methods and practices in their respective fields, do so in order to do their jobs more efficiently and advance their careers with in a company or industry. It’s the next best thing to going back to school and getting a higher degree. There’s nothing better than job-specific, hands-on training that you can apply directly to what you do everyday.

Not only can conferences and seminars teach you new skills, and brush up on old ones, but also it can be a great way to network with other like-minded, similarly employed people from different agencies, or even different industries. Networking is a very useful tool you can use to meet other professionals, throw ideas around, and even open up the door to new business opportunities for your company.

Seminars and Conferences can be very enlightening and education experiences. They can also be the refresher you need to breath new life into your job performance. They energize you and get you excited about getting back to work.

What employer wouldn’t want that?

It’s no secret that most agencies suffer from Multiple Personality Syndrome. If you think of an agency as a giant brain and each employee as a separate, totally unique personality, you’ll know what I mean. No two are the same. It’s not exactly a bad thing to different personalities milling around inside a confined space, but at times, it can be difficult and unproductive if each personality doesn’t know how to effectively communicate with one another.

In order to better communicate with the different personalities, you must be able to recognize them. According to William Marston’s DISC assessment there are four main times of personalities based on behavioral preferences and behavioral styles. The tests classify four aspects of personality by testing a person’s preferences in word associations.

DISC is an acronym for:

* Dominance - relating to control, power and assertiveness
* Influence - relating to social situations and communication
* Steadiness - relating to patience, persistence, and thoughtfulness
* Conscientiousness - relating to structure and organization

The D and I share the top half of the quadrant as they represent being extroverted. C and S share the bottom half and represent introverts. D and C share the left half which indicates task oriented personalities, while the right is shared by I and S who focus on the social aspect. Everyone has traits from each of these categories, but there is typically one category that ranks higher.

People who score high in the intensity of the D styles factor are very active in dealing with problems and challenges, while low D scores are people who want to do more research before committing to a decision. High “D” people are described as demanding, forceful, egocentric, strong willed, driving, determined, ambitious, aggressive, and pioneering.

People with high I scores influence others through talking and activity and tend to be emotional. They are described as convincing, magnetic, political, enthusiastic, persuasive, warm, demonstrative, trusting, and optimistic.

People with high S styles scores want a steady pace, security, and don’t like sudden change. Low S intensity scores are those who like change and variety. High S persons are calm, relaxed, patient, possessive, predictable, deliberate, stable, consistent, and tend to be unemotional and poker faced.

Persons with high C styles stick to rules, regulations, and structure. They like to do quality work and do it right the first time. High C people are careful, cautious, exacting, neat, systematic, diplomatic, accurate and tactful.

Your personality dictates how you relate to other people and how you talk to them. Understanding where you rank in these four categories can help you understand your personality, your personal communication style, and how other people perceive it. You will also learn how to recognize other people’s style of communication and be able to adapt to effectively communicate with people who are different-minded.

When you don’t understand your coworkers, and they don’t understand you, it’s easy to get frustrated. It creates a communication breakdown, which in turn affects productivity and harmony, leading to a stressful and miserable workplace. Creativity is definitely stifled in this type of environment.

So, to quiet the voices in your head (the office) take the time to figure out where you fall in the DISC assessment and ask your coworkers to do the same. Once you recognize how you are perceived you, and your coworkers, can learn to communicate more effectively with each other.

DISC Assessment

by Alicia Fisher, Account Executive

I was driving down I-95 this morning and saw a billboard for KB Homes with Martha Stewart’s face on it. There was no quote or mentioning of why she was there, but automatically I knew she had partnered with them in some way and was intrigued enough to figure out how.

Now, I’m not in the market for a home, nor am I a die hard fan of Martha Stewart’s, but my immediate association was that Stewart’s products and design elements were used in the creation and decoration of new KB Homes. Even though the only information I had to go from was that Stewart’s face was on a billboard, my assumption was correct.

That’s the power of celebrity endorsements. Businesses and corporations all over the world are teaming up with the brand equity and likeness of celebrities to promote their own products and services… and its working.

Although the billboard I saw only had an image of Stewart’s face, I didn’t need anything else. I automatically knew who she was, what she stood for and who her target audience is- making her association with KB Homes logical.

The key to a successful endorsement partnership is to do it correctly.

Working from the business side, it’s important to first recognize and personify your brand image before “piggy backing” on someone else’s. What does your brand stand for, who does it speak to, what do you want others to feel about your brand, etc. Upon defining your own brand, it is important to do your research and establish goals for a celebrity endorsement partnership.

Partnerships between Lorena Bobbitt and Ginsu Knives, or between Rachel Ray and AutoZone may not be the best ideas for celebrity endorsements. Sure the names would generate attention and publicity, but does it fit and match the goals without creating any negativity or complete disconnect for the consumer?

Celebrity relevance, credibility and image are very important items that consumers need in order to buy into an endorsement campaign.

Once the match has been made and the goals established, it is important to fully utilize the likeness and name recognition of the celebrity to successfully increase awareness, sales and loyal consumers of your product.

Many successful stories of endorsements include Nike and Tiger Woods, Salton and George Foreman, Jessica Simpson and Proactiv® Solutions, and so on.

However, there is always a risk that the celebrity can overshadow the product and message, do something that will negatively impact your brand outside of the endorsement or have a decline in popularity during the partnership which may create a disconnect.
So if you’re considering a partnership with a celebrity be sure to ask yourself about your own brand, do your research and choose wisely. KB Homes has been successfully developing Martha Stewart inspired communities since March of 2006 and will continue this year to expand into areas all across the country.

So congratulations to KB Homes for utilizing Martha Stewart to expand their brand and create a strong connection with consumers. “It’s a good thing”.

I’ve recently had the fortunate opportunity here at Benedict Advertising to work on a celebrity endorsement deal. Since we just received the contract today, I’ll use my next blog opportunity to give an update on my experience in creating strong brand awareness and recognition of a product by utilizing a celebrity’s brand equity and likeness.

Until next time…

It isn’t always easy coming up with some new and interesting thing to write about day after day. Some days an idea just surfaces as I’m flipping through a magazine or a news paper. But, others it doesn’t matter how many articles I read or what I listen to, nothing inspires an idea. The best I can hope for is that at some point through out the day I will see or hear something that will turn on the light bulb, and get the creative juices flowing.

Today is no different. What inspired me today, was in fact the very thing that prevented me from writing in the first place: Writer’s Block. It simply feels like there is a little beaver swimming around my head damning up all the creative juices for its benefit. So, I decided to write about ways to overcome writers block and get the creative juices flowing once more.

There are many reasons that the creative juices get damned up. In order to punch through the damn, you’ve got to find that mischievous little beaver that keeps building the damn. Usually, its just that there are too many of ideas floating around in there, bouncing off each other, clogging up the flow, and making a mess of any sensible idea. Sometimes there just isn’t anything interesting to write about. And at other times, it’s not a subject I feel particularly knowledgeable about.

They are very common and justifiable reasons for not being able to write. But, there are solutions to removing the damn and restoring the natural flow of creativity. One way to make sure that your ideas don’t get too jumbled up is to write them down. If you don’t have access to paper or can’t write (because you’re driving), try using your cell phone to record your thoughts. Organize your ideas into clear, concise thoughts and draw up an outline. This will help you stay focused as you begin to write. Writing your ideas down and drawing outlines will help you stay on track and not develop writers block midstream.

In the case of non-interesting subject matter there is really only one solution…keep searching! Something is bound to interest you. If it’s a subject that you HAVE to write about then try to find something that is interesting about it, or tie it to another topic that is of interest to you.

When you find yourself having to write about something that you are not an expert on the best advice is RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH! Talk to the experts, surf the internet (for credible sources of information) and read up on it as much as possible. Once you have compiled all the information you need, organize it into an easily understood outline to keep your focus.

Writer’s block can add a tremendous amount of stress, especially when you’re working on a deadline. But, even when you’re writing at your own leasure it can be frustrating. But, by using these tips, you might be able to over come your writer’s block quicker. You might even find yourself encountering those blasted beavers less and less. Before you know it…your creativity will be flowing freely all over your keyboard (or paper, which ever you chose).

The How Conference was a unique, exciting experience. People came from all around the world to sit through the various workshops and presentations. The classes ranged from new functions in creative suite 3 to more in depth workshops on adding video and buttons in indesign and creating style sheets on steroids. They also had classes on work communications, principles of design and dealing with stress. As the conference grew, I became more inspired and refreshed from meeting various people that all worked in graphic design. Some alot weirder than me, but still fascinating. I was truly pleased to go and I was reaffirmed that I picked right industry to start a career in.

Erik Peterson

Graphic Artist

Recruiting Guest Speakers for 2007/2008 Ad Fed
I have been asked and am asking each one of our team members to post a blog on our new website. So here is my first official post (other than comments made to our daily blogger Donna’s articles) for all to enjoy. I am working on speakers for the Daytona Beach Advertising Federation 2007-2008 year. As of now we have tentatively scheduled Vince Carter to tip the year off and discuss celebrity marketing and how to structure endorsement deals. This will be an excellent beginning to the year and continue our longstanding tradition of getting high caliber speakers to the Daytona Beach are for the ad club. I am working on targeting YouTube, the Daytona 500 team, Myspace, Adobe, Atlanta Falcons, Jared Fogle, Disney (Yellow Shoes), and possibly a new business coach. We’ll see how they come along.

Michael Benedict

President and Owner

I just finished reading an article about Dan Rather’s “sexist” comments regarding Katy Couric and her role as the first solo female news anchor and at the end of the article, in seemingly unrelated news, was a blurb that impressed upon me the growing influence of bloggers and other Internet users.

It came as a shock during last months Network Upfronts in New York where they announced the line up for next fall that CBS was cancelling the critically acclaimed show Jericho. But now, according to the news article, thanks to an Internet campaign started by disgruntled viewers the show has been given a second chance. As part of the campaign, organizers delivered thousands of pounds of peanuts to CBS’s corporate offices (which was a reference from the season finale).

I don’t know if you have heard of this relatively unknown singer, Esmee Denters, but I came across her on YouTube only about two weeks ago. Today, I saw a news article about Justin Timberlake signing this YouTube Phenomenon to a recording contract. She became hugely popular on the video repository by singing her favorite songs including JT’s “What Comes Around Goes Around”. She racked up over 3.5 million views to date.

There is certainly an untapped resource in the blogging world with regards to advertising and marketing. Recently, we posted a link on a blog site and asked the bloggers to check out our website and tell us what they thought. We also posted a video on YouTube from our recent Taco Eating Contest. From the blog location we received nearly 300 unique visits and a ton of comments. The video on our website was viewed 78 times from that same portal, and the one posted on YouTube has resulted in 150+ clickthroughs to our website.

Now, if bloggers can get a network to reinstate a cancelled show, get a girl from the Netherlands a recording contract, and can generate a considerable increase in website traffic just from one post, think of what else they can do? I’m going to postulate something here and say that maybe one day bloggers will rule the world! If they don’t like something they will stamp it down! If they love it and you try to take it away from them…they will bury you in peanuts!

In today’s society, especially with the generation Y coming of age, we expect more from the things we purchase. Everything should serve more than one purpose. Take cell phones for example. Used to be that cell phones served only one purpose: to allow you to get them on the phone, or for them to reach you, when you are out and about. Now, Cell phones not only give you the capability of reaching anyone anywhere in the world at any given time, but you can text message them, check your email, take pictures, record videos, keep track of dates, and even listen to music. That’s just the shortlist of what cell phones are capable off.

Electronics aren’t the only things we expect more from. In fact, it’s the name on that piece of electronic equipment that has the task of meeting and exceeding our expectations. When you buy a car, you consider a number of things before you decide on a particular make or model. But once you’ve chosen a brand, your next car is likely to be from that same family…if the car company has succeeded in making you a loyal customer to their brand.

And how do they do this? Not only by providing you with a quality product, but just by purchasing that product you have purchased a piece of equity in that brand. The longer you stay loyal, the more you get out of that brand. Lifetime oil changes, or free loaner cars when your car is in the shop, for example.

The best example so far of a brand working for a consumer is Nike. The new Nike+ “is revolutionizing marketing,” says Nick Law of R/GA, “people are beginning to expect more from a brand than a witty narrative, and Nike+ redefines how a brand can reach it’s audience through meaningful enabling experiences.” Nike, however, didn’t do it alone. While they are the driving force behind the campaign, they partnered with Apple’s iPod to introduce an innovative system that uses the athletic legacy of the Nike brand and the technological mastery of the iPod to broaden both the individual and interactive sport of running, says creativity magazine.

The Nike+ campaign has successfully changed the way we think about brands. With their integrated campaign you not only use their product (the shoes), but then you sync the receiver to your computer and you can connect to others like you from around the world and compare statistics and compete against each other.

It works by placing a sensor in your specially adapted shoes and a receiver in your iPod. Once you activate your shoes, (yes, I said activate your shoes) the sensor begins to communicate with your iPod, giving you up to the minute information regarding your speed, time, distance, and calories burned. From there, you begin running, listening to your favorite running music. By pressing the center button on your iPod, you tell it to play your “power song” to give you that extra boost you need to get your energy up.

Today, a company’s brand is its meal ticket. If consumers aren’t loyal to the brand, or if the brand stops providing it’s consumer with quality products and reasons to keep coming back, it will disappear. With a company like Nike, the brand is pretty well established. But, just because it’s been around for a long time doesn’t mean that it can’t fade from people’s consciousness. If they didn’t continuously strive to give their consumers, more Nike wouldn’t be the success that it is today. It’s with award winning ideas and campaigns like Nike+, and connecting their brand with such forward thinking companies like Apple that takes Nike to the next level, and keeps them at the top of the heap, among its competitors.

Part of offering more to the consumer is providing fully integrated marketing campaigns. By partnering with Apple, Nike was able to make its product interactive and allow the user to connect with thousands of likeminded consumers around the world. It has provided a setting for runners to go and chat with other runners and compare notes. This also translates into a great Word of Mouth campaign as users will tell their fellow friends about the product who will pass on the message to more of their friends.

Today’s consumers are smarter than ever before, so you can’t rely on the same tactics that used to work in the past, such as basing a campaign on a single Unique Selling Position (USP). Consumers are way too savvy for that. Now, you have to start by identifying the brand, then define a position (or positions) that keep on working for the end user. Campaigns need to use several messages for selling the same product, not just one.

What we do at Benedict Advertising is work with our clients to help identify their brand. Once we have identified their brand we strive to manage it so it constantly resonates and is always up to date with its consumers wants and needs. By providing an identity, and unique experiences that allows our clients to interact with a brand, we build a base of consumers that are loyal to our clients. That is the goal of any agency.

Let the revolution begin.