Benedict Advertising - Business Building Solutions

by Donna Cooper, Jr. Copywriter

Should you put your own health at risk for the sake of the environment? Well, that is what PETA and other animal rights activists would suggest. I read in the New York Times today about PETA’s new ad campaign, calling out meat-eaters as the #1 cause of Global Warming. According to a study conducted by the United Nations, Livestock businesses are the #1 culprit for emitting greenhouse gases that are depleting the ozone layer, more so even than all forms of transportation combined. That’s a pretty staggering claim.

But, PETA, and other groups like the Humane Society of America is putting their own spin on it by demanding that we put down that chicken leg and pick up a tofu burger instead. All well and good if you’re not allergic to soy, or gluten for that matter. I know several people who used to be vegetarians until it came out that they were actually allergic to those ingredients that make up a vegetarians diet.

Being a vegetarian is not always a healthy alternative. The protein and vitamins that are found in meat can’t always be found in the same quantities in such things like lettuce, soy-based products, and bread. So, what can those people who can’t give up meat do to help the environment?

While I’m all for helping the environment, I don’t think discouraging the entire world from eating meat entirely is going to be very effective. I think the campaigns that are already out there, that are also being supported by Al Gore, Leonardo DiCaprio and many other famous faces, are sending the message loud and clear. I’ve already started to recycle every thing I can. I get paper bags at the grocery store instead of plastic. I wash my clothes with cold water, turn my thermostat down a few degrees, and shut off lights when not in the room, all to save energy. Yes, that saves me money, but it also cuts down on the overall consumption of electricity.

But, am I going to become a vegetarian? No. Cutting out meat entirely isn’t going to solve the problem, not if only a few people do it. Cutting back on meat is a more likely alternative than giving it up altogether. If more people cut back to eating meat only 3 or 4 times a week, it would have much more of an impact than a few thousand people across America who stop eating meat all together.

Though, every little bit helps.

by Drew Gillis, Finance Director 

I was asked to write something for our blog earlier this week. While I consider myself somewhat tech savvy (I am part of Generation Y) and I enjoy the many facets of the Internet (get your head out of the gutter), I have never written a blog. And although I do know what a blog is, I wasn’t sure how to go about writing one exactly, so I went to our own Benedict Advertising blog to see what my fellow colleagues had written about. The one blog that caught my attention was the one written by our resident nerd, Darin, about fantasy football. I too participate in and enjoy fantasy football, but that’s not what the beginning of the fall means to me.

See, I’m from the South (not to mention the fact that I’m a Gator), so this time of year means college football. I already have all my travel plans set and tickets lined up and it’s not even September yet. Despite my salivating as the first kickoff approaches, I’ve had to opt out of this year’s home opener up in Gainesville.

See, I guess the SEC (that’s the Southeastern Conference) has these contractual obligations and they thought it a good idea to have Florida play Western Kentucky at 12:30 PM in Gainesville (it don’t get much hotter than that). For me, the heat isn’t so much an issue; it’s trying to start tailgating at 8 AM. Trying to get up and tailgate that early in the morning in near impossible after a night out on University Avenue. Been there, done that.

One “noon time” game that I am looking forward to is when the Gators take on the Ole Miss Rebels in Oxford, MS. For one, I’m going to the game. And two, I can’t wait to exact revenge on the Rebels after they beat us on our last trip to Oxford. Of course Ron Zook was our coach then, but come on, Ole Miss?  That’s just inexcusable. But that’s neither here, nor there.

So anyway, I look forward to experiencing the Grove (as long standing tradition at Ole Miss as I understand it) and watching a Gator game in yet another SEC stadium (I’m trying to watch a game in each one, but I guess I might have to wait awhile to see a game in Sanford Stadium). So as I sit here and blog about college football, I’m realizing something, and I can’t believe it’s only a couple days away.

So, Go Gators!

And if you bet, just do the exact opposite of what Lee Corso says.

by Donna Cooper, Jr. Copywriter

In today’s celebrity obsessed society, the spotlight is pointed almost constantly, on what Hollywood is up to. In some cases, it seems a blatant invasion of privacy; say when Brad Pitt is taking his 6-year old son, Maddox to get a hot dog in New York City, where he is quickly surrounded by a mob of paparazzi and other passers-by hoping to get a snapshot. The poor guy can’t even enjoy a hot dog with his kid with out being placed under the intense bulb that is America’s true favorite pastime.

While it is a shame that their private lives are so relentlessly scrutinized by the media and their adoring (obsessed) fans, they do have a certain amount of responsibility to those people. I think the phrase “lead by example” is appropriate in these situations. Most celebrities, whether they be politicians, actors, actresses, musicians, athletes, or famous for no good reason, have a responsibility to those people who put them there. If we didn’t go watch their movies, go to their games, or vote for them, they wouldn’t be there, would they?

Being in that type of a position, where people listen to your every word and wait for you to make your next move (or mistake), you would think that some of those high profile people would act with a little more dignity and integrity. For example, Michael Vick is currently Public Enemy #1 at the ASPCA and PETA and many other animal rights groups across the nation, if not the world. What on earth possessed Vick who makes millions upon MILLIONS of dollars a year to catch a ball and run to get involved with torturing and killing innocent dogs?

Then there’s Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie and Britney Spears and the list goes on. These “women” are the heroes of so many little girls. They watch all their movies, buy all their CD’s, cut out any magazine that has their face in it and just simply idolize them. You’d think, knowing this that they would try to set a better example for these girls to follow. Who wants their daughter’s hero to be a self-obsessed, drug-addicted, unstable train wreck? Now, Paris and Nicole might actually be growing up a little after their “wake-up call”, but what is to be said for Lindsay, Britney, and the many train wrecks that will undoubtedly follow in their footsteps?

What celebrities need is a face lift. They need to start acting like Brad Pitt, who when he’s not making a movie or spending time with his family, he is out there trying to make a difference in the world. He realizes that in his position he is capable of impacting millions of people with his influence. And even if you don’t want to chance the world, at least set a good example. Take a few pages out of Reese Witherspoon’s book. Even in the midst of a divorce that the tabloids tried to write “SCANDAL” all over, she managed to keep her cool and remain as dignified as ever.

Being in the spotlight can’t be an easy job. But, in today’s society of celebustalkers (people who follow every move Hollywood makes) one should at least try to make the best of it.

by Darin Duehl, Traffic Manager

It has come to my attention recently, as an avid (nice word for obsessed) football fan, just how much impact fantasy football has made in the marketing world. This is to say that fantasy football has much more marketing potential then most companies realize.

First let me begin by telling you a little something about me. I myself am a San Francisco 49ers fan. I have been ever since I first watched Joe Montana take the 9ers past the Cincinnati Bengals 20 - 16 in Miami. I also have the distinct privilege of being the 2006 Benedict Advertising Fantasy Football League champion. But, enough about myself.

In recent years, the amount of free and for-a-fee fantasy football leagues on websites such as Yahoo!, ESPN.com, NFL.com, and so on, have grown immensely. People just cant get enough of the thrill of drafting their own team, benching players that do poorly, trading with other “owners,” and basically being a true part of the NFL. It makes the games themselves more fun, as people of all genders and ages become immersed in watching “their” player go for extra yardage or score a touchdown. I know personally that for the first time since I can remember I actually wanted a cowboy player to do well (yes I know, god have mercy on my soul). It is this type of reaction and total commitment that makes fantasy football a marketers dream.

There are many ways that marketers are buying into this phenomenon. The areas in which marketing dollars are being spent vary from traditional web banner ads on fantasy football websites to giving away free “picks” and added extras to people who buy there products. A great example of this is the Home Team Challenge from Subway. By joining the Home Team Challenge and purchasing drink cups from Subway, “owners” have a chance to win free picks, player updates, online stats, etc. This is just one example of the potential.

Who knows what the future may hold for Fantasy football and its marketing potential. All I know is that for now, the 49ers should be going to the Super Bowl within two years, Football season (and my life) will begin again soon, and I will hopefully repeat as the Benedict champion in Fantasy football for 2007.

by Christine Byelick, Production Manager

We all like to see our name on things.  Did you ever have a cup with your name on it?  Or a pen?  How about a post card?  I know that I have saved things from the Stone Age just because someone added my name onto it.

Let’s first talk about personalization in the print world.  In this day and age of digital printing, you can easily personalize a printed piece for a reasonable price. And by personalized, I don’t just mean a name.  You can put a name in one or more locations on the piece, but in addition, you can also personalize the graphics, or the copy.   It could be a post card, greeting card, flyer, or poster, just to name a few types of pieces.  You could create a piece that says something like “Joe Schmoe come visit us at your local SUBWAY® restaurant located at 123 Any Street, in any Town, any State for your free sandwich, and include a picture of a particular sandwich that is Joe’s favorite.  If you were Joe Schmoe and received that in the mail, would you go to that particular SUBWAY® restaurant?  I would.  One of my vendors emailed me a link to a site that I thought was pretty cool.  They had 16 different scenes in which you can personalize the art work with a name. The name can be written in the clouds, sand, bubbles, typewriter keys, grass flowers, snow, or on a billboard, again, just to name a few. You can check it out by clicking here.

How about personalized web pages?  I am sure you will come across these more and more.   Here is a very brief description of how it works.  An individual is given his or her own unique web address that is typed into their browser.  They can get this personalized URL (purl) from a direct mail piece, for example or email.  From there, a web page is then created and customized to that individual utilizing variable information retrieved from a database.  The personalization can include variable text, graphics, audio and video.  Now, you do not have to get fancy with this.  The landing pages can be the same for everyone except for the name.  Have you ever seen one of these?  They are pretty cool, especially if it has all the “variable bells and whistles” (never heard this term before, but I kinda like it).

Well why do any of this? In addition to having the obvious marketing benefits, with personalization, you will grab someone’s attention immediately, thereby increasing response rates.  I have heard response rates from personalized direct mail can reach as high as 40%! And as far as web is concerned, your content can be updated as needed or desired and will keep them coming back for more.   Now that is truly incredible.

by Donna Cooper, Jr. Copywriter

Here, at Benedict Advertising, we like to keep things competitive around the office. As you have probably seen on our contest page, you know how we accomplish this. From costume contests, to chili cook off’s, and mask making to egg decorating, its fun for everyone.

Our latest contest was recently revealed, and it’s one of epic proportion. We are making a movie! The first round requires each person to write a 10-minute script. The scripts will be narrowed down to the top 5, which will move forward to round 2, the production round.

Pretty cool, huh? But that’s not the best part.

On a date, that is yet to be determined, we will invite our clients, vendors, families and friends to view the five winning scripts, and to help us decide whose film is the best of the best.

Awesome!

Stay tuned for more details.

by Donna Cooper, Jr. Copywriter

As the “Fire in the Hole,” antics reached “hot button” status recently, YouTube reached an all time low in the poll that is my opinion. The reason is simple. The juvenile and cruel behavior of these people (with apparently nothing better to do than to harass people who are just trying to make a living) has put the kibosh on my creativity.

I have been working on a set of viral videos for one of our clients that will eventually find their way onto websites like YouTube and MySpace. I was humorously pleased with the concepts I had created and was eagerly waiting to reveal them to the account service team who are in charge of this particular client. I rehashed two of the concepts I had already pitched to them, and was getting into full swing of the third (NEW) concept (with smiles and heads nodding in approval) when the VP of Account Service took a gasp and started shaking her head.

Oh no! That’s not a good sign.

That’s when I learned about “Fire in the Hole.” The concept behind this stupid prank is that a group of teenagers (they appear to be the only ones dumb enough to attempt this) order drinks through a drive thru. When the drive thru employee hands them their drink, the person then yells, “Fire in the hole!” and throws the drink back through the window at the employee. It’s not even funny to watch.

However, since the perpetrators are now facing prosecution for their crimes, it would be in poor taste to produce viral videos for the same sites that are similar in content. While I understand this wholeheartedly, it still irks me, because those were darn good concepts.

At least, I thought so anyway.

by Donna Cooper, Jr. Copywriter

As I was reading the latest and greatest from Advertising Age, I came across an article about eBay and the Oxygen Network. It appears that eBay is breaking into the advertising industry by selling ads to networks for clients. Though, the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau (CAB) is not happy with this endeavor on eBay’s part, Oxygen (member of CAB) has plowed on nevertheless and became the first to sign on with one of the advertisers participating in the trial.

And in another article I came across a few days ago in the New York Times, it appears that advertising is going digital. According to David W. Kenny, the chairman and chief executive of Digitas, an advertising agency in Boston, with in a number of years ads will be completely digital. Numerous versions of ads will be produced so that by using data about consumers and computer algorithms they will be able to choose exactly which ad you will view when you use your computer, cell phone, and eventually television.

Weird, huh?

To read the AdAge article click here.

To read the New York Times article click here.

by Chris Leblanc, Creative Director

The days of Darrin and Samantha are over.

Traditional advertising has become withered and as malnourished as Nicole Richie, and as passé as Lindsey Lohan.

Where is this industry going? The birth of “New Media” has launched complete turnkey integration. Integrated media campaigns are the silver bullets we have been hoping for. The novelty of the Internet has passed and agencies are quickly seeing how an integrated marketing campaign can be measured in ways not thought previously possible. The birth of web analytics and viral marketing has spawned completely trackable data. This data was sporadic or undecipherable to us as little as a couple years ago.

But today, web analytics has enabled us to fine tune bad advertising/bad sales as well as examine successful campaigns and strategies. This really helps us find out what’s working and what’s not. Having the proper metrics and tools to gauge what affect the print ads, television, billboards, websites etc. have on our consumers pre- and post-conversion ensures that we always fine-tune our message and hit the correct triggers and patterns that result into repeat business and brand loyalty.

The understanding of traditional media as well as non-traditional media is vital to the success of a modern agency. The knowledge base of clients is always growing, and technology now is easily available to them. Clients seem to be losing the value of what we do as agencies, and that is a very serious problem. (The mighty OZ has been revealed behind the curtain) The difference is, we as agencies need to be seen as the experts that can formulate a successful strategy to piece all these mediums together and make it profitable for our clients, that is what we have to sell. It seems anyone with a computer these days thinks they can do our job, and they’re losing patience with traditional advertising agencies and all of its promises, this has led our clients to become desensitized and jaded to our advice. It’s not that our clients and consumers are getting worse; we just have to remember ideas/strategies are what we have to sell, and that what we create has to resonate and be successful.

Traditional media is the “Ugly Betty” of advertising. What do I mean by that? Traditional media is not the most exciting/beautiful thing to look at but it gets the job done. The problems that traditional media has faced is that it’s been severely fragmented. New media and full integration is the future and it is a force to be reckoned with. Couple that with the grass roots development of viral and experiential marketing, and you will clearly see old-school advertising and traditional media has passed on and kicked the bucket.

Simply put, the landscape has changed. In order to be profitable, advertising must evolve to survive or face extinction like swatch watches and denim shorts. Traditional advertising alone isn’t enough anymore. We must shift from the traditional advertising/marketing/sales strategies of the past to an all encompassing integrated marketing campaign/strategy that is trackable and then sell that strategy to our clients while educating them on the importance of proper branding and brand management. We must construct a persuasive experience instead of broadcasting so many mixed messages that we completely lose our brand and put bad experiences in the mind of the consumer. Companies that actively manage their brand/brand identity, along with a positive tailored customer experience from first touch to post-sale are the companies that will be profitable in the future.

The consumers may be “Bewitched,” but the business of advertising requires the right ingredients in the cauldron to make true advertising magic. We need to take a logical approach, like scientist, and learn to examine, research, collaborate and PERIODICally change the elements because there is so much more to advertising than the Ad-om* and the agencies that do this will have all the elements for success.

* The Ad-om (Ad-um) An ad-om is the smallest part of ad-vertising; the fundamental building blocks of much larger, integrated campaigns. When combined with strategic thinking and creative processes such as design and copy, the ad-om attaches itself to a product or service, helping the host (product or service) metamorphosize into something much larger and grander. The atomic mass of the ad-om is 386,255,1222, when it is added it will make your product or service more “consumable” by outside forces.

by Donna Cooper, Jr. Copywriter

Soon gone will be the days of Analog TV. I can recall being a kid trapped in the house during the summers and having nothing to do but watch TV. I didn’t mind so much, because I found myself enjoying old reruns of the Andy Griffith Show, Leave it To Beaver, Bewitched, and my favorite, The Munsters. Nowadays you can watch these shows on Nick-At-Nite, but back then we didn’t have cable, and I was just watching these shows on an old TV that still had two knobs, one with the primary channels, where you could catch episodes of Night Court, Married with Children, or Hunter, but on the lower knob you could tune into the more obscure channels where you could find that aforementioned shows playing into oblivion.

If I still had that old TV, and its “bunny ear” antenna, I bet I’d still be able to catch some of the same old shows. But, alas, those days will soon disappear forever…

As of February 19, 2009, analog TV will cease to exist. Not just “as we know it,” but completely and definitely. In short, it means that as of that date, in order to be able to utilize your analog TV and watch free over-the-air television, you must purchase an analog to digital converter to install on your television.

So, maybe those obscure channels and old shows won’t quite disappear forever. But, now they’re coming at a cost. Albeit, a one time cost, but a cost nonetheless for “free” television. The government, however, will be providing some assistance in that arena. They will issue two $40 coupons per household for the purchase of the converter, which will pinch your wallet for about $200.

It isn’t all bad news though. The reason is because (verbatim from the FCC website) digital is a more efficient transmission technology that allows broadcast stations to provide improved picture and sound quality, as well as provide more programming options for consumers through multiple broadcast streams (multicasting). In addition, all-digital broadcasting will free up many frequencies to be used for public safety, such as police, fire, and emergency rescue, and for the provision of advanced commercial wireless services for consumers.

For more information, click here