the thought

April Thayer

We made it! Thayer Media has completed the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer and lived to tell about it!

Diane Svoboda (L) and April Thayer (R) – pre walking, all smiles

Saturday was the 26.2 mile day and it was longer than any of us had ever walked before. Elizabeth, courtesy of her triathlon training, probably fared the best, followed by Diane because she's a Marine's wife and, as everyone knows, they are tougher than Marines. Stacie and I were experiencing pain in places we didn't know pain could come from. But we all made it into camp in one piece.

From left to right - April Thayer, Elizabeth Rector, Stacie Bogan, Diane Svoboda

We got changed and went to eat (I had a brief layover in the medical tent, primarily due to hunger, I think) and basically they could have fed us anything - we were hungry and tired. As we were about to leave the dining tent, a storm came up that was as violent as anything I've ever seen - I had visions of winding up in Kansas. Which would have made for a very long walk the second day.

The temperature dropped about 25 degrees, it hailed and rained and the wind was blowing at least 50 miles an hour sideways. Everyone was clustered as close to the center of the tent as possible - which kept us from completely freezing - but it was frightening. We were dressed in flip-flops, shorts, t-shirts - not in rough weather gear.

When the storm finally dissipated (yeah right, we need the water) we went back to the sleeping tents, which were no longer in the rows that we left them in. Stacie and Elizabeth's tent was pancaked under two other tents, completely collapsed. Diane and I couldn't find our tent at all for 15-20 minutes - we were just wandering in circles sticking our heads in every tent to see if we recognized anything.

Elizabeth and Stacie – with collapsed tent, still smiling

In the meantime, I called my brother-in-law and Stacie called her husband, Travis, and we asked them to please come get us. When we finally found our tent, everything was strewn all over the tent and it was all soaked through. But Bob came and helped us get out of there (we had to squish through the hail/rain/snow water in our flip-flops to get to the cars... popsicle feet!)

Diane, Elizabeth and Stacie were good soldiers and went back the next day to do the final 13.1 miles. I stayed home and nursed my road rash (my legs look like I've had an encounter with kerosene and a match) and kept moving for fear of seizing up every muscle in my body. They are each tough as nails and are a testimony to the statement that "GIRLS RULE!"

And, if I should happen to mention that we should do this next year, hit me in the head, please.

(By the way, Elizabeth was the #4 finisher on Sunday. Don't be surprised if she wins her triathlon.)

As promised, a picture of our “after walk, thawed out” feet…

01:55 PM | Permalink

Thayer Media, one of the largest media planning, buying and placement agencies in the Rocky Mountain West, has added Jennifer Sanchez (left) and Victoria Czarniecki (right) to the agency.

Jennifer joins the agency as a media buyer and will be working on the John Laing Homes, Qdoba, and MoneyGram accounts. Jennifer comes to Thayer Media with six years planning and buying experience in multiple markets for political clients. She is a graduate of the University of Kansas where she received her degree in business administration with a concentration in advertising.

Victoria is a recent graduate of University of Colorado at Boulder with a degree in advertising and a certificate in technology, arts and media. Her experience includes working with Buzz Marketing and PennyDrinks.com to promote new products through grass roots efforts. She will be working on the Practice Builders and AIMCO accounts.

A thirteen year-old agency with annualized billings in excess of $25 million, Thayer Media has grown to become one of the largest woman-owned firms in Colorado. Thayer Media represents a broad spectrum of clients in local, regional, and national media.

01:37 PM | Permalink

Stacie Bogan

I always thought my feet were perfect… and the basis for my claim was because each toe following my big toe descended in perfect proportions. I seriously believed I could be a foot model... until I developed bunions at the age of 13 because I shoved my poor little tootsies into unmerciful shoes.

My dream was crushed. I was crushed. And my feet were crushed, literally. I had to abandon my celebrity dream and do something grand with my feet.

So I am joining three of my courageous colleagues, April Thayer, Elizabeth Rector and Diane Svoboda, in an event that makes a difference - the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer http://www.avonwalk.org. The event is taking place June 24th-25th and will cover 39 miles of metro Denver. Our mission is to raise $7,200, train for the big walk, and, of course, shop for some new shoes to carry us through the weekend.

We did the shopping first. We walked over to the Boulder Running Company http://www.boulderrunningcompany.com to find some new shoes (actually that is a lie, we work too far away to walk to BRC).

Boulder Running Company is a leader in solving problems associated with bad footwear. At the BRC, our stride was videotaped and analyzed to ensure the perfect pair of shoes would be matched to our feet’s needs. Of course my stride was practically perfect with the exception of my left foot. I never did like my left foot.

Each of us then tried on more than a handful of shoes and we all left with the perfect pair in hand. I chose the hot pink Asics – I loved the color because it will match my Avon Walk for Breast Cancer t-shirt on walk day. http://www.asics.com

The BRC helped me find some shoes that will be comfortable and take me to the finish line, imperfect left foot and all.

Speaking of the finish line – the walk is this Saturday and to be honest, I’m frightened. 2-days and 39 miles of terrain is a lot for a pair of feet to handle. And I just got a pedicure. (at the best little nail store off Kipling and I-70; personalized DVD players for each person!)

As of June 20th, our team has raised $7,287. The proceeds will support medically underserved women and men, giving them access to the care they require. We have the shoes, we have the donations, and we have the passion for the cause.

In honor of our soon-to-be tired tootsies our team took a before picture…

…and we will be taking an after picture.

I’m hoping to only acquire a couple blisters and zero lost toe nails…but it’s all worth the fight.

10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Katie Bastian

In 2003, Cristal was the most mentioned drink in pop music. Artists such as
Jay-Z, Sean Combs, Snoop Dog, Kanye West and Trina have mentioned the champagne in their lyrics. The hip-hop world has given free publicity to this company for over a decade. http://www.allhiphop.com/hiphopnews/?ID=2780

Recently, Frederic Rouzoud, Managing Director of Louis Roederer, parent company of Cristal Champagne, says that the attention his product has received in rap songs is unwelcome. In a special summer issue of The Economist magazine, the interviewer asked if the association between Cristal and the "bling lifestyle" could be detrimental. Rouzaud replied, "That's a good question, but what can we do? We can't forbid people from buying it.” On it’s own website, http://www.champagne-roederer.com/ Cristal is described as “elegant.”

Don’t “elegance” and “bling” go hand in hand?

The goal should be to sell more bottles, not to create negative publicity for your product. It’s obvious that this company wants to reposition their brand to appeal to a different demographic. Marketers spend hours behind the scenes designing campaigns they hope will appeal to their target demographic. So, how do you go about repositioning your brand without alienating customers that have been loyal for years?

I guess we shouldn’t ask Cristal, who has high profile artist, Jay-Z, vowing not to support any of Frederic Rouzoud/Louis Roederer products through any of his brands or in his personal life.

03:51 PM | Permalink

Kathleen Destino

Picture From: http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/first-bo-reports-on-da-vinci-code/

The Da Vinci Code was a hot commodity for a while there, and some of the marketing madness is lingering. I know there are reasons this marketing trend started, but I checked out the facts just to be sure.

The book http://www.danbrown.com/ has been on the New York Times best seller list for over 161 weeks. The movie http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thedavincicode/ experienced the second biggest worldwide opening of all time, making $224 million in the first weekend (just behind Star Wars 3 at $254 million). And the Catholic Church could not debate the story enough, while the media outlets couldn’t possibly cover more of the debate.

The Major Madness
Some big time marketers are cashing in left and right, and taking a gamble at the same time. You can not only read the book, see the movie, and debate both, but you can go on the Da Vinci Code diet http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_4876.asp or buy the Da Vinci Code video game. You can even tune in to “Treasure Hunters,” http://www.nbc.com/nbc/Treasure_Hunters/ the Da Vinci Code inspired reality TV show from NBC.

The gamble comes in to play when we consider the sustainability of a trend such as movie hype. We’ve seen the major fast food chains do it for years. They promote movies on packaging and with toys, games, and promotions. It seemed to work for them as we saw it become a continuous pattern in their advertising and marketing campaigns. But can it work for everyone?

The Minor Madness
With the Da Vinci Code, the marketing trend didn’t end with the multi-million dollar marketers or fast food chains. It seemed to take off on a local level as well. I was driving home from work shortly after the release of the movie, and I passed my local liquor store where they were advertising Da Vinci wine specials on their sign. In the same block the local food store mentioned Da Vinci something or other.

I felt like I was so bombarded with Da Vinci Code marketing that I didn’t even know what they wanted me to do. Did they think just because they put the name of the book/movie on their signs that people will come flocking in cult like fashion as they did to the book?

Perhaps. Or perhaps they were just trying out this movie hype thing for themselves. Some might call it a test, others would call it jumping on the bandwagon.

So how long did the movie hype last and what did it mean for our major and minor players in the Da Vinci marketing game?

The Decline of the Madness
In the second week, the movie fell 40%, making $92 million. For our major players, the media hype fell away with the dwindling box office numbers - the NBC Da Vinci Code inspired reality series debut averaged 2.8 (18-49) ratings, and I have yet to hear of anyone trying the Da Vinci diet. But here they are, stuck with their big investment in a well-hyped and marketed movie that didn’t end up doing quite as well as these big companies had hoped.

Our minor players, on the other hand, don’t have quite as much invested as our major ones. The Da Vinci Code message may have struck the community as annoying, uninteresting or generic, but when the movie sales slowed and the audiences lost interest, they could easily take down their signs and reposition their message.

The Moral of the Madness
It’s okay to try new things, to take a risk and analyze the results. Just be sure not throw your annual budget into one movie, event or otherwise that may be well hyped, but is actually a stinker.

03:57 PM | Permalink

April Thayer

My 17-year old son says we’re on the way out as a civilization – he’s referring mostly to the American version of civilization here. He may have a point.

We are a consumerist, self-indulgent society. That’s probably a pretty apt description of Rome before it fell.

If some is good, more is better, all is best. We’re obese, we’re overindulged and we’re far from happy. The child’s biggest complaint is that we have too many choices. He has too many choices, and he’s still just a child (a large one, but a child nonetheless.) Imagine if he could see the adult choices that are around the bend for him.

Barry Schwartz, in his article titled More Isn’t Always Better in the June 2006 Harvard Business Review, references “choice paralysis.” One would think that the axiom holds true: The more choices, the better. Turns out the opposite is true for a lot of people. The more choices we have, the less happy we are with the one we settle on. Sounds like a boom in buyer’s remorse is in the offing.

So what does this have to do with media? Too many choices is a great theme for the current mindset – too many programs on your computer, too many games on your Xbox, too many email newsletters to read, too much direct mail to read, too many shows to watch on television, too many radio stations, too many magazines, too many billboards, and on and on. There’s too much me-too advertising, as well. Is there anything there’s too little of?

There’s too little time, too little thoughtfulness, too little paucity, too little perspective, particularly big-picture perspective. There’s too little client-specific research, too little focus on competitive differentiation, too little patience.

Note: the things on the “too little” list lead to better decisions about the things on the “too big” list.

Is it getting warm in here? Who has the sheet music?

10:39 AM | Permalink

Elizabeth Rector

While rifling through my pockets prior to doing laundry today, I stumbled upon the ticket stub from the Rockies v. Reds game I attended and reported on here http://thethought.thayermedia.com/out_and_about/

I don’t mean to be negative, but if stadium advertising is a swing and a miss, then this particular execution of ticket stub advertising on the backside of Game 14’s ticket is strike two.

A local company slapped their black and white logo on the bottom quarter of the ticket, displayed a hollow offer and referenced their phone number. Because I don’t recognize the company and am not immediately able to surmise what products or services it provides, I assume I am not in the market. I did a Google search for the company (which I had to modify several times to get the right results) and found that though I am not in the market, I can see how many people might be.

If you are going to spend money, spend it right, spend it thoughtfully. Go ahead, be risqué and give consumers just a touch of information about your product/service so they can determine if one month free service is a worthwhile offer. And if you find that a 2” x 1”, b/w nub of ticket isn’t enough to do the job, then go ahead, re-evaluate. The chances are good that there are 1,000 other ways to spend your ever-dwindling marketing dollars. And if you can’t come up with any good ideas there’s this great term paper site…

10:00 AM | Permalink

Kathleen Destino

I recently read an article that referenced the following statistics taken from a study by Mintel International.

44% of people reported that they typically avoid watching TV commercials
40% change the channel when a commercial comes on
37% say that all TV advertising annoys them
37% say they don’t like advertising in general
33% remember the products when shopping (yeah for advertisers!)
29% say they find TV advertising interesting
26% say advertising is a waste of their time

What’s with all the negativity? Mintel’s study attributes it to the growing number of networks and channels to watch as well as the growing popularity of DVR services which allow viewers to skip commercials.

I think maybe it’s because of the negative nature of the statements. The majority (71%, in fact) of these statements are positioned negatively. Perhaps, if the respondents had been presented with more positive questions, we would have a more positive view of the way people understand TV commercials.

So I ask… Do you like commercials that make you laugh? Do you like commercials that make you think? Do you pay attention to artistically inclined TV commercials? And will you talk about those commercials to your friends and co-workers later? It is, as they say, all about engagement these days.

09:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Elizabeth Rector

Recently, my sister Sarah and I attended the Rockies v. Reds ball game at Coors Field. It was a chilly 44° at first pitch, a light drizzle began around the 4th inning and fans mustered up an enthusiastic “Take me out to the ball game” during the 7th inning stretch. The final score was 7-1, in favor of the Reds.

Throughout all this excitement, I was also bombarded with hundreds of marketing messages, but there were only three I consciously took note of:

1) Coors
Below is an actual conversation from the game:

Sarah: I love Coors Field! What other stadium in the US has an arboretum in center field?

Elizabeth: Perhaps none, but Chase Stadium in Arizona does have a pool in center field.

Sarah: Oh really? That’s cool. You want to grab a beer?

Insight: It doesn’t really work to say, “You want to take a dip in the pool? And after that, let’s find the Chase credit card street team, fill out applications, and if we’re lucky, get a free, oversized, worthless Chase t-shirt.”

It just doesn’t have the same ring as, “Let’s grab a beer.”

Way to go Coors. Instant gratification - it works. Cheers!

2) Shane Co.
I can’t be sure, but I think Shane Co. http://www.shaneco.com sponsored the instant replays. I distinctly remember that the Shane Co. is the diamond dealer of the Rockies. That’s cute, because, you know, they play in a diamond. But at this point in my life, I feel like Shane Co. has sponsored everything from my first baby steps to my graduation from college. I doubt the needle would be pushed in a negative direction if the Shane Co. was not the official rock merchant of the Rockies.

Insight: Tom, you should have sat this one out.

3) Verizon
At one point in the game a player hit a pop-fly straight up from home plate which careened into the 10’ x 3’ Verizon http://www.verizonwireless.com billboard posted directly behind home plate. The impact from the ball shook the sign slightly off it’s frame.

Insight: I couldn’t recall if Verizon had the least dropped calls, the largest network, unlimited text messaging or great family plans. They should have told me something on the sign other than “Verizon” because in the end the most interesting thing about that billboard was the dent the ball made.

Points number 2 and 3 got me thinking: When did stadium advertising become so boring? Or was it always?

I did a Google search for “stadium advertising” and the first result was from a term paper website - www.academon.com. Paper #047104 on “Athletic Stadium Advertising and Signage” is 2,785 words long, sources 5 references in the MLA style and can be acquired for a mere $89.95. The term paper claims to review the “leading-edge signage” found in major league stadiums and to proffer insight on how signage offers marketing opportunities “beyond mere branding.”

Sounds thrilling, but honestly, stadium signage isn’t even in the same ballpark as leading-edge. For the price of the term paper you could also buy 2 Rock Pile seats, 4 Coors Lights, 1 Rockies dog, a nachos and a bag of peanuts. The experience of the game would be enough to tell you about the progress – or the lack thereof - of stadium signage.

Insight: Stadium marketers must not have received last year’s memo on integration. Why didn’t the Verizon sign ask Rockies Fans to send a text message for a Rockies-fan only special offer? Why didn’t Shane Co., in addition to being the official Diamond Dealer of the Rockies, showcase a quick montage on how landscapers keep the Rockies Diamond in such pristine order - followed up by an invitation to fans to come see how Tom keeps his diamonds pristine? I’m just spit-balling here, but if the signage I saw was supposed to represent anything “beyond mere branding” then it was a swing and a miss.

01:55 PM | Permalink