An honor we embrace more than others…

By Robert Wheatley

Wheatley & Timmons is among the top 20 best agencies to work for in the US, following a national competition conducted by The Holmes Group.

This year has been pretty good in the awards recognition department. We also found out recently that our on-line video work for Nature’s Variety pet food took a Silver Telly award in the direct marketing category. Similarly our video blog productions for Sargento Foods won a Bronze Telly in the business-to-consumer category. But frankly, all of this pales in comparison to the Best Agency to Work For competition conducted by Paul Holmes of The Holmes Group .

The people who work here drive our business results. The triumphs and successes we see on behalf of clients, the great insights and strong ideas all originate with one important source: our client service teams and media experts. So we think that our organization wins and loses in the long-term based on how we recruit, grow and develop our people. Top priority for us is our team-focused business model and the investments we make in cultivating talent, guiding careers and adding to everyone’s knowledge and skill sets.

The Best Agency competition is pretty thorough. The management team must respond to a lengthy questionnaire about our mission, policies, procedures, development programs, benefits and culture. Employees take a confidential survey (executive team is not permitted to see the results) to assess their views. Out of this download comes the data and information reviewed by Paul Holmes and his staff to make their picks.

It is our mission to be a Best Agency to Work For. Bravo to the committed and extraordinarily talented people who make up the fabric of what the Wheatley & Timmons agency is all about. This kind of validation in our view supersedes all other forms of peer recognition.

Our next objective is to crack the top 10.

W&T comes up big in awards season

By Robert Wheatley

There’s winning and then there’s winning. Our firm struck gold twice for Nature’s Variety pet foods. And silver once for Thermos brand. It’s award season, the time when industry peers assess and evaluate the finest work out there to determine the campaigns worthy of a best-in-class trophy.

For W&T the win isn’t in the trophy. It is in the validation of our strategies, insights and work by those who arguably can tell the difference between medium and outstanding. Interestingly the Gold level recognition is for the same program on behalf of Nature’s Variety pet foods.

Bravo to all of our brilliant team members who made this happen and at the source of all the effort and great ideas that led to this outcome…

Publicity Club of Chicago has awarded a Gold Trumpet in the Marketing category to W&T for Nature’s Variety, and a Silver Trumpet in the same category for Thermos brand’s Hydration For All campaign. At the hotly contested national Sabre Award competition, Nature’s Variety is one of five finalists for the top prize in marketing, the Gold Sabre. Getting to this level is no easy task as the largest global brands on the planet participate. Our work bested a broad field of iconic household names with very deep pockets.

The Rotation Diet campaign for Nature’s Variety was an outcome of a close collaboration between agency and client. Our goal was to identify the right path to building distinction and differentiation into an emerging pet food brand that is fighting for growth and share. In the end the victory is found in the client’s business results. So here’s to 20 percent year on year growth at the bottom line! This outcome is really our finest hour. And importantly an hour now acknowledged by our peers and colleagues.

Likewise the strategic campaign for Thermos similarly helped fuel sales and distribution growth in a difficult economy. The core idea: leverage Thermos as part of the rising tide of consumer interest in moving off of drinking water in plastic bottles and on to more environmentally appropriate solutions. The project put Thermos in the center of public and media discourse on the evolution of hydration and water consumption.

As a former national award judge, I understand the criteria separating winners from the rest. It is not just a judgment on the freshness of an idea or its superlative execution. Rather, it is the result that weighs heaviest. The goal of marketing communication investments for any brand is acquiring and keeping more customers. The extent to which W&T’s work contributes to client business growth is the real measure of excellence. That our peers agree is just icing on the cake.

By Robert Wheatley

The clotheshorse is listening…

There’s this thing about target audiences that have a passion for something. They are paying attention. Their built-in interests open up the possibility of conversation and engagement on so many fronts. And they can be found in most CPG categories – if you’re paying attention to the possibilities around their points of passion.

Take laundry detergent. Forever and a day sold primarily on the basis of the ability to get whites whiter and colors brighter. The emotional payoff always resides in the satisfied glow of “Atta boys” from family members pleased with their sweet-smelling threads.

Both Reckitt Benckiser and Procter & Gamble are onto something bigger and probably better with their focus around fashionistas. Who better to pay attention to messages about cleaning and caring for apparel than those with a deep fondness for sartorial splendor?

In a recent Wall Street Journal story, P&G’s vice president of North American fabric care, Allesandro Tosolini had this to say: Historically we put too much emphasis on just getting clothes clean. More and more we noticed that for some people beautiful clothes goes beyond stain-free clothes.” In a recent study from Woolite brand, 70 percent of working women admitted to throwing away clothing at least once a year due to misinformed laundry decisions.

So Benkiser’s Woolite and P&G’s Tide Total Care elevate the whole laundry-speak “get cleaner” conversation to proper care and feeding of garments — so the fashions can retain their fashionable look much longer. Bucking traditions and timeworn principles of formulaic communication in their own categories, both brands strike out on their own to disrupt the conventional feature/benefit selling proposition.

One more with feeling: fishing where the fish are

Woolite creates an online manual for “finding fashion and keeping it looking fabulous without breaking the bank.” Within its pages TV style expert Stacy London dispenses ideas and how-tos on finding the just the right dress while also taking better care of it. Independent apparel boutiques around the country have also been recruited to feature the guide in their stores. Meanwhile Tide announces a marketing partnership with The Limited apparel chain while touting its own educational effort via online videos with Project Runway star Tim Gunn called “Dressed to the Sevens.” The videos reveal the seven signs of beautiful clothes, including shape, softness and finish.

The point is how to avoid laundry mishaps that can shorten the lifespan of your fashions while also taking better care of the garments you prize. London states: “detergent that keeps the integrity of the fabric and the shape of the clothes means more wears per cost.”

These brands are focused on an audience that cares about the subject matter and thus are paying attention. Further the effort to engage at the point-of-fashion in clothing retail stores is not only disrupting category conventions but also relevant to the moment of consumer behavior: when purchasing the clothes consumers must now care for.

If you’re trying to reinforce your value proposition at a time when people are trading down on commodity products, talk to the audience who will find your messaging meaningful and valuable. Why waste time, effort and precious assets on talking broadly to people for whom the message is less relevant (no point of passion) and therefore who are NOT listening.

Bravo to both brands for their efforts to mine insights about the fashion-conscious and their mission to help the style mavens do what they do best – look great. It will be interesting to see who is ultimately most effective in aligning the brand with their newfound fashionable followers.

What do you think?

By Robert Wheatley

New deal sets stage for music biz transformation

Continuing our ongoing celebration of great moments in brand Trailblazing, we take a departure to the world of entertainment where innovation and ideas are combining to form what is likely to be a transformation-generating business model in the music industry: Live Nation Entertainment.

Beverly Hills-based Live Nation this week announces its merger with Ticketmaster to form a new entertainment giant that, we believe, will no less than revolutionize the music and concert business over time.

We all know of the sea change precipitated by the development of Internet platforms that led to the collapse of the record business. For artists this re-shaped the entire model for distributing and monetizing their work. And in the process put new emphasis on performances and touring to fill the revenue gap. Historically, concert promotion has been mostly a regional affair run by entrepreneurs with roots in rock and roll. Throughout the value chain in the music business the principles of brand management and development have been haphazard at best.

Enter Live Nation and its quest to re-invent the business from top to bottom and in the process bring value creation to every aspect of the industry.

Live Nation, America’s premier venue promoter controlling more than 140 venues, has been at work consolidating various parts of the music business. Their strategies could eventually lead to a new form of “packaging” and improved business model for artists that rolls up management, branding, licensing, performing, recording and distribution into a seamless business.

Corporate brand sponsorship opportunities…?

The exciting part of this is the consumer win on the other end, as delivery of the immersive concert experience gets improvements along the way. On a parallel track the strategic moves at work here could offer better opportunities for consumer brand participation in what has to be one of the most important lifestyle connected businesses around – music in all its forms and genres.

Brands increasingly depend on authentic relevance to consumer lifestyle passions as the essential path to their meaning and value. The alignment of all these moving parts in the entertainment world and the better management of them could improve traction for corporate sponsorship of concert tours and venues. Business marketers can get uncomfortable in the murky world of live shows, venues and related promotion. The disciplines applied here to better manage the entire equation may act as a door opener to businesses that can envision benefits but have been reluctant to dive into the pool of involvement with music.

Best example: House of Blues…

Evidence of this more business-like approach can be found in one of Live Nation’s jewels-in-the-crown, their House of Blues club chain, which may be one of the most professionally and competently run entertainment businesses in America. Within the walls of the HOB venues is a well thought out mix of ambiance, experience and VIP treatment options via their Foundation Room clubs.

Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino was quoted on the Ticketmaster deal saying, “This combination will drive measurable benefits to consumers and accelerate the execution of our strategy to build a better artist-to-fan direct distribution model.” What has to be honored here is the vision and long-term possibilities, combined with a measure of intestinal fortitude to see the through. This is going to be fun to watch both on stage and off.

Recognition Follows Brains and Talent

Agencies love awards. Love getting them, love having them lined up in the office lobby. Love the recognition and validation of great work. Love the events (except maybe the rubber chicken and cold peas part) where we receive them and the opportunity to see other examples of top performances up close, all in one room.

As a former Sabre Awards judge you know what to look for in the “instantly recognizable” creative arena Read More»