1.         What it is

Corporate identity can project three things:

• Who you are
• What you do
• How you do it

Corporate identity manifests itself primarily in three major areas which you can see:

• Products and services - what you sell
• Environments - where you sell it
• Communications - how you explain what you do

and one which is not visible

• Behaviour

The fundamental idea behind a corporate identity programme is that in everything the company does, everything it owns and everything it produces, the company should project a clear idea of what it is and what its aims are. The most significant way in which this can be done is by making everything in and around the company - its services, buildings and communications - consistent in purpose and performance and where this is appropriate, in appearance too. 

Outward consistency of this kind will only be achieved if it is the manifestation of an inward consistency - a consistency of purpose within the organisation.

The basic elements that make up the visual system of a corporate identity are:

• the name
• subsidiary names (if appropriate)
• symbol/logo
• major typeface
• subsidiary typefaces (if appropriate)
• colours

The items over which the visual elements are applied include (abbreviated list):

• Products and services
• Environments including interiors/exteriors of all buildings, signs
• Clothing
• Communication materials including stationery, forms, publications, vehicles, advertising, giveaways

These must all be treated consistently.

2.         Who it’s aimed at

            Internal and quasi internal audiences

• All staff
• Trade Union representatives (if appropriate)
• Shareholders - in a quoted public company
• Directors
• Pensioners
• Families of employees

External audiences

• Customers
• Competitors
• Suppliers
• Central and local Government
• Opinion formers
• Potential recruits
• Trade and industry associations

3.         Identity structures

Monolithic

One name is used across all businesses eg IBM, Sony, Eddie Stobart etc

Endorsed

Companies forming a group are perceived to be part of that group eg General Motors - Vauxhall, Opel, Cadillac etc - rather as ToM is now

Branded

Where the Company operates through apparently unrelated brands eg Unilever, Proctor & Gamble etc

Companies with a monolithic identity tend to:

• Have grown largely organically
• Operate in a relatively narrow band of activities
• Tend to be proud of their products
• Operate at the upper end of the market

Companies with monolithic identities tend to have high visibility because they are only promoting one clear and consistent identity.

Companies which project an endorsed identity tend to have the following characteristics:

They have grown by acquisition in a number of different sectors

They are frequently multi sector eg manufacturing, services, retailing etc operating in a wide band of activities

They wish to retain the goodwill of the separate brands and companies

They have certain audiences they wish to retain and/or impress

They may operate in different countries where services/products and reputations vary

On the one hand they want to project a clear idea of a multi faceted organisation and on the other they want the identities of the separate businesses to flourish - this can be a difficult balancing act.

Branded companies tend to be those with a wide variety of brands, frequently in different markets and where the parent company name has no particular reputation among buyers of the brands eg Unilever, Proctor and Gamble selling fast moving consumer goods into different markets etc

•4.                  Why and when to introduce it

Sometimes the identity has been developed intuitively, in a fragmented perhaps muddled fashion. often the identity is a manifestation of the personality of the founder - it bears his or her name and imprint.  There can come a time when this gets out of step with reality - for example

• When the original business is declining and the newer parts are growing
• The company changes direction
• When the company is seeking to project its real size and strength
• When the company seeks to create more effective co-ordination within its disparate parts when dealing with the same customers and /or suppliers

Corporate identity can be a massive catalyst for change - it can be the corporate strategy made visible.

5.         How to introduce it

A Corporate identity programme is managed at two levels. Without Board commitment it will not get off the ground and be sustained. Without tight middle management control it will get bogged own and dribble away under the assaults of other middle managers who may see it as a threat. There needs to be an executive in charge of the programme.

Ideally a corporate identity programme should be carried out with the help of professional design consultants with a proven background in identity work

The stages

Stage 1 - Investigation, analysis, recommendations

Stage 2 - Developing the visual identity

Stage 3- Launch and introduction

Stage 4 - Implementation

Stage 1 - Investigation, analysis, recommendations

This covers research internally and externally on how the company is perceived. It also includes a design audit ie how the different parts of the organisation present themselves in terms of graphics, products etc.

The outputs from this will include, whether to keep the existing name(s), whether to strengthen the existing visual identity or create an entirely new one etc, how to handle internal communications etc

Stage 2 - developing the visual identity

This will cover logos, typefaces, colours etc. The issues likely to affect the decision to change will include:

• The nature of the business
• Plans for growth and development
• The extent to which the perceptions of the organisation are in line with the realities

From this some alternatives for ideas can be worked up for how for example logos can be treated/look on the side of vehicles down to lapel badges. From this a number of options can be worked up for stationery etc. Finally, once agreement on style has been reached, all the elements will be codified into a design manual/set of rules covering all the major applications of the new identity.

It may be necessary to research whether new names are available or if they are linguistically acceptable in certain territories

Stage 3- Launch and introduction

To be successful, it clearly has to be launched with enthusiasm and commitment. It will take place in two phases.

People inside the company must be committed to the new identity before the external launch. The internal launch normally takes the form of seminars, av presentations, while the external launch involves advertising, brochures, sales meetings, public relations and a launch at say a prestigious event.

Stage 4 - Implementation

Clearly cost, time and method schedules have to be prepared for the launch in parallel with the detailed design work.

The issues here include:

Who is going to be in charge within the Company?

At what speed is the change going to take place  - overnight, controlled change over say a year, gradual change over say 2-3 years, ad hoc replacement. The more dramatic the change, the more rapidly it should be introduced.

Implementation needs to be the responsibility of an executive. It can be very easy for an identity to be diluted by junior staff making unscheduled changes to colours or how logos are treated, printers making unilateral decisions on layouts etc.

Costs

These can cover:

• Consultants fees
• Cost for creating new materials eg signs on buildings
• Launch costs
• Replacement costs - for material that would need to be replaced anyway eg stationery

6.         Risks

Usually these include inadequate support at a senior level, rejection by divisions, failure to convince staff of the need for change.

•7.                  Benefits

Introducing a new corporate identity can:

Allow change to take place more quickly

Allow a company to tell customers who they are, what they do, what they stand for etc

Internally it can improve morale, attract a better calibre of employee and encourage people to work together more effectively

Externally it can encourage customers to look more favourably upon the Company, encourage suppliers to operate regularly and consistently, enable the company to establish itself more effectively in new markets, allow for more cost effective expenditure in terms of marketing activities and promotion

 8.        Comment

Clearly a number of issues face the Company. Do you retain XXX of YYY plc for the holding company and move to a set of names for the operating units as you are tending to do ie XXX Logistics, XXX Hire, XXX Truck, XXX Warehousing etc with the label “a XXX of YYY company”  or  do you move to a brand new name. There is also the issue of what you do with the logo. Does it need to be amended?

I think it is important to do something. If you do not, then you will end up with the worst of all worlds. A proliferation of company names, dilution of whatever awareness there is of “XXX of YYY” and its corporate identity and confusion in the market place and in the minds of your staff of who you are and what you do.

The temptation is to regard the project as something that can be done quickly and easily and when the time comes to repaint the ZZZ, order some new stationery etc. As you will know from your own experience and I hope from these notes, it is not as simple as that.

 See also article on branding strategy at http://www.bookerhopkins.co.uk

Who can provide advice on using Google Adwords on a tight budget please? One of my mentees runs a children’s wear company and is having problems making Adwords work effectively.

Thank you to all those who replied I thought the advice was so good that it should be shared more widely.

The answers are not listed in any particular order of importance

Flyn Penoyer

Before your friend spends money on an adwords campaign, I highly suggest they make sure that they have a powerful message on the page where folks will land.

If they don’t yet have a call to action or value offer that would get the visitors to engage on that landing page, they are wasting their money.

There is an excellent report available at the link below called - How to dominate Google adwords. (see link)

Additionally, if you go to Frank Kern’s blog site and look back a month or so ago he interviewed the fellow who did this report.

Links:

http://dayjobescapologist.com/coursematerial/DominateGoogleAdwords.pdf

Jeremy Dent

Business Development at Juice Digital

IMHO, a Google Adwords campaign, on its own, may be the wrong place to start.

Have they done the marketing and online basics? In other words, defined their market differentiators and related them to a keyword list.

PR is a good suggestion but online PR has search engine implications and an in-house, dedicated online PR programme (buzz monitoring; social media engagement; social media press releases;email marketing to an opt-in list; blog; website…even on a modest scale) will bring natural search results.

A Google Adwords campaign based on the market intelligence from an online PR push, and allied to it, will get results.

Ral Purina

Manager at Offsite Onsite Group

Different marketing techniques work better or worse for different companies within different industries. If your organization is not benefiting from using Google Adwords, if this marketing media is not delivering for you, then discontinue using it.

Focus your ad dollars where you know they will drive your sales. There is nothing sacred about any one media, use what actually works for you. No organization should waste its budget on ineffective solutions.

There is too much hype around Google in general. It is not a universal solution to everyone’s problems, as so many seem to think. Evaluate a broad spectrum of potential solutions and utilize the one(s) delivering the best cost-benefit impact for your unique organizatuional structure.

Clark Taylor

Internet Marketing Consultant at WSI

Lots of good advice but no one really gave you specific answers about what you can do with the limitation of a tight budget.

1. Limit the geographic area you’re targeting. It is impossible to run an international or nation campaign on a tight budget.

2. Do extensive keyword research to identify some highly relevant and specific keyword phrases with little competition.

3. Don’t use the broad matching option (default in Adwords). Opt for exact match or phrase match.

4. Create Ad Groups with landing pages specific to the product you are selling and the keywords relevant to the product. This can help increase your Quality Score and reduce the CPC.

5. Make sure you have Google Analytics or other analytics package installed and setup goal/conversion tracking so you’ll know for sure which keywords, ads, landing pages are generating ROI.

6. You might not need to be in the top position to generate results. But you will not know this unless you have goal conversion tracking properly setup.

7. Add negative keywords to keep your add from appear on non-relevant searches.

Victoria Ipri

Expert SEO-focused Copywriter & Editor

How is the company’s website? Does it engage prospective customers? Is it fully optimized? AdWords can be a great tool, but if the website or other marketing materials are ineffective, no advertising campaign will fix that.

My company offer a free mini-analysis for websites. I would be happy to help this company determine where their available funds can best be spent to get the biggest bang for their buck. When budgets are tight (and whose isn’t?) this analysis can be invaluable.

Once they have this information, they can then determine if AdWords is worth the investment/risk, or if other less expensive vehicles (blog postings, social marketing, site optimization, etc.) would bring a higher conversion rate.

Feel free to contact me.

Links:

http://www.OneStopSEOShop.com

Seth Romanow

Strategic Marketing, CRM and Analytics Consulting

Great questions. I faced a similar issue and actually had to cut AdWords completely because I was not getting the productive leads vs other avenues and was faced with enormous budget constraints/cuts. However, here’s how I was optimizing the use:

- set up testing on various adwords for the category and review every two weeks, depending on traffic.
- test messaging as well, every two weeks depending on traffic…may have to be monthly if low traffic.
- determine where the clicks are coming from on Google Analtyics
- Use Google to search for competitors and see what descriptions they use, words, etc. Also, see which competitors come up when doing basic category search terms. If there are a lot of paid results…then probably a popular term/word.
- Use Google tools to determine which phrases, words are used most often within a category.
- Keep testing.

Bryan Eisenberg has a great book on Google Analytics. www.webmama.com is another great source for info along with SEMPO.ORG.

Seth

Links:

http://www.sempo.org

http://www.webmama.com

Keith Swiderski

eCommerce Marketing Guy

Analyze, Analyze, Analyze!

Use Google Analytics to see what exact keywords your users are typing. Make sure that you are not using broad match for terms that are costing you a lot of money.

Use conversion events through Adwords and Analytics in order to see if your clicks are getting you the conversions that you desire.

Try using long-tail terms (not “childrens clothing”) to eliminate clicks from people that are too early in the purchasing cycle.

Do not use the content network, or if you do make sure to make a very small bid (5 cents or less).

Remember…Adwords is a great way to generate clicks, but Google’s goal is to make you spend the most money possible! You need to analyze your ROI daily to make sure you are getting your money’s worth.

When I began testing SEM for my own business, I started using MSN in order to see if I was getting ROI. This is a good way to “dip your toe in the pool” without spending too much money. Then you can transport your learnings to Adwords and move into the deeper end of the pool.

Good luck!

Jamie Perry

Head of Marketing and Communications at The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum

http://www.shcl.co.uk/

Susan Hallam Associates specialises in this - but will charge.

Flo Powell

Executive Director at The Tourism Society

Speak to TEAM Tourism Consulting, in particular Peter Varlow - petervarlow@team-tourism.com, failing that Andrew Pozniak from Google is very helpful and also a member of the Society - andrewpozniak@google.com!

Richard Kemp

Project Manager (Special Projects) at Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

I know people think its great, but it hasn’t done me any good at all. Use PR instead. Cheers R

Carl Timms

Project Manager at Made Media Ltd

Made would be able to help out on this one as we have staff experienced in running Adword campaigns on a small budget and can therefore advise on many of the dos and don’ts.

I would suggest an hour to research how they currently have things set and come up with a list of suggestions, and then a couple of hours face to face to go through the suggestions and generally advise.

Gareth Edwards

eMarketing Specialist at The National B2B Centre

The PPC workbook on the B2B website might help to put in place a reasonable process for setting up a campaign. http://www.nb2bc.co.uk/images/download/file43.pdf

There are lots of reasons that PPC can be ineffective - our experience is that it is often because the keywords chosen are too generic and/or that they aren’t set to “exact match”. This can mean lots of clickthroughs (which burns through the budget) but low conversion (because visitors are browsing rather than buying).

If the business has a specialist product then keywords should reflect the specialism (and the match set to exact). Traffic levels might be lower but the visitors will be prospects not bouncers.

John Short

Owner, Web of Knowledge Ltd  023 9259 3487

Get the basics right!

Matthew Hidderley

Marketing & Sales Manager at Aston Science Park: For all your SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, INNOVATION & INCUBATION requirements.

Try Hugo Russell, Project Manager of iCentrum at Aston Science Park.

Last year he ran a lot of Adwords, Google Analytics & SEO courses in conjunction with various partners
His number is 0121 250 3504 hugor@astonsciencepark.co.uk

Links:

http://www.astonsciencepark.co.uk/online-marketing.html

Reid Greenberg

Director of Marketing & Ecommerce

I’d first like to point out that it’s okay, and probably a good idea to run AdWords campaigns even before your site is fully optimized for organic search. By doing this, you’ll have a better idea of what keywords are driving traffic - better yet - conversions to your site. Then you can obviously optimize for these terms (for organic search) after several months of data, depending on traffic.

In regard to the AdWords campaign, make sure you know what your ad spend budget is and set your daily limits in your campaign settings. Next, understand what ROI or ROAS (return on ad spend) numbers you are shooting for. For example, a 4x ROI (you sell 4 times the amount you spend on ads). And third, you must make sure to be attentive to your adwords campaigns daily. Remove under performing and costly terms. Make use of negative keywords. Be sure your users land on relevant pages. This is both for the user experience and for Google’s quality score.

At some point, AdWords should be self-funded and once you figure this out the budget can slowly increase.

Hope this helps!
Reid Greenberg

And one more point to ad: Make sure you go after the long tail terms which are the three or four word phrases that will typically bring in less traffic but more highly qualified and likely to convert. For example, instead of “children’s clothing” where you’d be competing against Wal-Mart, Target, Amazon, think about more unique terms your company is offering. “Hemp pants for children” (or kids). Leverage your unique selling points.

Jim Kimmons

Real Estate Broker, Writer, & Technology Consultant

I let it lapse, but was previously a Certified Adwords Individual, and I’ve used it and consulted with others for years. Though a book could be written on effective use of Adwords, and I’ve done a course on it for a client, there are just a few major points that will improve results dramatically:

1. Use the keywords tool in the account and identify peripheral and long tail key phrases that show less competition. They will generally be a lot less expensive, and I’d rather have a very focused key phrase of five or six words at a lower price. You need to do at least “phrase matching” or “exact match” and most, though clicks are cheaper, waste money on “Content Match,” so turn it off.

2. Try to work your bids to maintain a 2 through 4 position, with 3-4 being optimal. Thus, with three ads on the top, yours will either be the bottom one there or the top on the right. It’s far more economical. My real estate site phrases stay at around 3.5.
3. Word your ads with some or all of your target search words, especially in the title. Google has proven this is better. Your CTR (click through ratio) should be improving, while cost per click (CPC) is coming down. Google gives higher quality scores to ads with higher CTR, and this score will move you up in rankings while actually spending more. I consistently see a 40% or greater drop in CPC on new sites with well-worded ads and after a couple of months for the CTR to improve. Position goes up, and cost goes down.

If they’re doing all of that and still unhappy, then PPC may not be a good strategy for them.

Jim Kimmons

Sorry, but one sentence should have read “Google gives higher quality scores to ads with higher CTR, and this score will move you up in rankings while actually spending LESS.”

Igor Gutierrez (16012)

CCO/Creativity/Branderbest & Co./ The Creative Company

The message you put in the ad is the most important issue.
A good creative message makes a whole lot of difference.
Has to be relative to the keyword, adding to what the keyword is.
Spend time and effort finding hot market keyword spots, have to be studying the thing for a while, adjusting what works and what doesn’t. Constant analysis of the results are vital here. After a litle while you will exactly know what is getting results.

Of course implement other online marketing strategies apart from simple adwords. Blog your site and blog others, network it and soon you will start to see better results.

And finally: Work the website to fullfill whoever drops by.
Really turn your traffic and transform into conversions or at least members of your network (Be creative here, offer something interesting). This way you can still grasp some of these visitors at a later time.

The major problem is turning your investment in adwords to work for you in all ways…not only sales, but in fans of your blog, fans of your network, fans of your products.

Luck!!!

Mady (Mudassar Shaikh)

PPC & Internet Marketing Specialist

Its very easy to loose your money in adwords, however you should be ready to do so in beginning.

1. Select only few but specific keywords
2. Bid them high, and when your quality score is built up, you’ll pay less cpc for high position
3. and then ad other keywords

This way u can bid on more keywords for good position and at much less cpc

take baby step, don’t just make huge list of keywords and start the campaign in adwords, it will eat up a lot money

Hope this helps

Jonquil Coy

Director at Drum Resourcing Communications and Owner, Drum Resourcing Communications

You have some great answers here - but if your mentee wants some solid reading material I can highly recommend ‘Get to the top on Google’ by David Viney - ‘the SEO expert’. It is an excellent and comprehensive resource and one of the few books on this subject written this side of the pond.

Mike Fogarty

Owner, Kokopelli

I read a lot of the responses below and I seem to have a different POV. I think AdWords is the cheapest, most effective way to be right in front of a prospective customer at the exact time they are trying to make a purchase.

I would recommend 1.) using the various free-ware keyword suggestion tools [based on the content on your site and your compeitors’ sites] to generate a list of only 10 keywords, minimum of a two-word phrase each, 2.) add negative keywords (-jobs, -career, etc.), 3.) write ten text ads and set them to rotate to see which are most effective, 4.) make sure the ad links to the exact page on your site to which it relates [DO NOT SEND THEM TO THE HOME PAGE], 5.) geo-target to an area in which you feel there is the highest probability of success, 6.) IMPT: Opt-OUT of the content network; only choose Google and the Google Search Network, 7.) make sure you set the campaign to turn off when it should be off [overnight, etc.], and 8.) set a limited budget to test.

AdWords works for my agency and my clients, so I certainly would suggest you give it another attempt.

Good luck!

Links:

http://www.keywordspy.com/

http://www.keywordlizard.com/

http://www.wordtracker.com/

Erica Friedman

Bringing your message to your market with Microniche Marketing

I found Google Adwords to be useless for my business. Small and niche businesses aren’t really what Adwords is suited for. Adsense was even worse. I knew there were a number of companies advertising in my industry, in my keywords, and all I got were weirdly irrelevant and sometimes really *poor* choices for ads.

Peter Brill

MD, Net.Mentor Ltd - content, e-learning, media relations and communication strategies

It depends on how tight the budget is. I am working with THE man on adwords - Peter Hawtin at Brand New Way. He’s a PPC genius and has demonstrated huge ROI on ad spend for driving web traffic. He’s also a marketer so he understands the non-techie bits. Although he’s not the least expensive, you really get what you pay for.

Links:

http://www.brandnewwaysme.co.uk

John Stansbury

Director, Analytics and Testing at Creditcards.com

Do exactly what Mike Fogarty recommends. He’s got everything in his response your associate needs. Your mentee will also need to focus on natural rankings as well–like it or not, for now, the only way customers navigate is through search. Run the other way if someone tells you AdWords won’t do anything for you.

Debbie Levin

Sr Account Executive-Red McCombs Media- Transparent Online Ad Network SEM/SEO capabilities

….one of the first things we talk about with our clients is “what is the call to action once a consumer is brought to their site from search”. Is it to sign up for a newsletter, join a “savings club”, or make a purchase. Once we know these things, we supply pixels so that we can see what keywords are leading to the consumers taking the desired action. This helps us to eliminate any keywords that are costing us money and not generating the actions we are looking for. We then continue to evaluate the keywords and the text copy to make sure we are get the most relevant, traffic possible. I would be happy to talk to your mentee about this and our search team. Sometimes, people think they can save money trying to do it themselves, but, it is extremely time consuming and the small cost to have professionals do it, ultimately saves them money by narrowing the keywords and making better ROI decisions. Hope that helps…feel free to call me, Debbie

Debbie Levin | Red McCombs Media
Senior Sales Executive-Atlanta
Work: 512.529.1060
Fax: 512.380.9689
Debbie.Levin@RedMcCombsMedia.com
www.redmccombsmedia.com

Nathan Gawel

Associate Director, Program Management

I am guessing by “effectively” you mean a high ROAS or ROI. If you have limited spend, I would concentrate my efforts on targeting the campaign. If you have an analytics tool I would only turn on my campaigns in cities that are producing sales to start. Tighten bugdets on areas where there is low to no return, and push the spend into your tail terms or areas that are returning. If you do not have analytics, try Google Analytics as it is easy to install and free. There are lots of different approaches to test, but make sure you are always testing.

Links:

http://www.google.com/analytics/

Ed Hart

Director of Your Financial Business Support

I would suggest you ask Nikki Pilkington - http://www.nikkipilkington.com/

She is very approachable - especially on Twitter! @NikkiPilkington

Links:

http://www.nikkipilkington.com

Patti Brestel

Media Director at Azzam Jordan
Google AdWords can be reaaaally tricky. For a web-based children’s wear company, I’d opt for Facebook instead — you can very finely target based on age/gender/geo/keyword, etc., it’s the same kind of text-based ad, and you can pay on a cost-per-click basis. Tell them to watch their daily performance and be ready to adjust, don’t just let the same copy/bid rate ride. In our experience with Google and Yahoo paid search and Facebook, the pattern we see is that the message “hits” with people early in the flight, and then usually response rates drop off sharply. At that point, you’ve gotta change the message and see if that does it. If it doesn’t, then increase the bid rate some and see if that works. They may be best served targeting a market or two and experimenting, to gauge conversion rates etc. once a user clicks through to their site. There are a bunch of other tactics too, but without more info, etc., this is probably enough for now.

Yell with any ??? and hope this helps,
Patti

Mat Greenfield

Web Marketing Strategist

I would suggest using a small number of keywords, then as you produce an ROI, begin to increase your budget and the number of keywords. I’d also suggest:

1. Increase your quality score to ‘Great’ by using small adgroups and ensuring that your keyword appears in the ad and on the landing page.
2. Bid for position 3-5 so that you are not over-paying for clicks.
3. Use conversion tracking and be ruthless about cutting keywords that aren’t performing.

I’ve also listed some articles that might help.

Best of luck,
Mat Greenfield

Links:

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/564-Google-AdWords-Get-Em-Where-…

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/555-Google-AdWords-Structure-For…

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/613-Biggest-AdWord-Mistakes

Michael Stewart

Online and digital marketer at The Black Hole Creative Co

I’m convinced that with proper planning, the right experienced marketer and consideration of the factors that are at play in their business that your mentee has a great opportunity with Adwords.

It needs to be a softly softly approach that minimises wastage, proves the model and gently rolls out.

Adwords success isn’t just about Adwords management there are any number of factors that are in play with this technique but I see no reason why Adwords shouldn’t allow them to recruit within their parameters.

Xurxo Vidal (PPC/SEM Expert)

Co-Founder, Search Marketing Strategist at Bloom Search Marketing | xurxo@makeitbloom.com

It would be a pleasure to take a look and give your mentee some top level observations that can help them make Adwords work more effectively on a tight budget.

We help a number of companies with a wide range of budgets to optimize their performance on Adwords so I’m confident we can offer some assistance in this area.

Feel free to have them get in touch with me:
xurxo@makeitbloom.com
1-888-225-7932

Links:

http://www.makeitbloom.com/clients

http://www.makeitbloom.com/blog

Based on the novel of the same name by Christopher Buckley, published in 1994, it tells the story of Nick Naylor, a tobacco lobbyist during the 1990s.

Naylor is the chief spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, a tobacco industry lobbying firm that promotes the benefits of cigarettes. He utilizes high-profile media events including appearances on television shows you will recognise and an intentionally provocative rhetoric in order to highlight what his clients view as the unfair crusade against tobacco and nicotine products.

The political satire is heightened by Naylor’s informal association with lobbyists from other industries that are subjected to routine vilification in the media such as Polly Bailey, a lobbyist for the alcoholic drinks industry and Bobby Jay Bliss, who represents the firearms industry. They all get together as the M.O.D. Squad, a reference to the title of a police drama, although in this case, “MOD” stands for “Merchants Of Death.”

A pivotal point in the plot occurs when Naylor is kidnapped by a clandestine group who attempt to kill him by covering him with nicotine patches. The search for the perpetrators of the crime leads to some surprising results.

While the characters in the movie are essentially the same, the plot differs in some significant ways. Most noticeably, Naylor’s relationship with his son is given a more prominent role, and the kidnapping conspiracy is downplayed.

The title is based of course on the popular saying “Thank You for Not Smoking,” and the cover of the DVD case is modelled on a cigarette packet.

Whatever you think of the tobacco industry, “merchants of death”  or an industry carrying out a perfectly legal trade that provides significant revenue to the exchequer and employs tens of thousands of people, this film and the book is both very funny and poses some good philosophical and thought provoking questions on many aspects of public relations.

How do you answer the difficult questions and what do you do when there is a powerful lobby against what you doing eg coal fired power stations, gas guzzling cars etc!   

Should be compulsory reading and watching for all public relations executives!

How do you define leisure and visitor attraction marketing? The subject covers many sectors of course including:

travel and tourism

museums

theme parks

historic houses and stately homes

parks and landscapes

hotels and resorts

and many others.

Many disciplines are involved including:

Strategic business strategy and planning

Reviewing business options; evaluating and determining the optimum strategies; financial and business feasibility evaluation

Marketing

Strategy, planning, demand forecasting, branding, corporate identity, promotional programmes, audience development, visitor strategy and segmentation

Marketing research

Quantitative research including “on street” and CATI (Computer Aided Telephone Interviewing); Qualitative research including focus groups and workshops, depth interviews, exit interviews and mystery shopping/accompanied shops

Operational

Performance reviews including evaluation of specific or overall business operational areas; efficiency studies; cost reduction programmes; organisational structures.  Benchmarking to determine best practice; quality, introduction and implementation of management systems.

Funding

Fundraising, fundraising strategy and bid writing for such organisations as the Heritage Lottery Fund and charitable trusts

Interpretation, Exhibition Planning, Collections Management

Concept and storyline development, research, copywriting, design, oral history, access audits, documentation and database systems, conservation, intellectual property income generation

For more information and help on all these aspects of marketing and management consultancy and business development for the leisure, tourism, museums, heritage, visitor attraction, hotels and resorts sector the web site at  www.attractmarketing.co.uk/ has articles and more information on this important industry.

Development and Marketing of Heritage Tourism Products

The range of workshops/seminars include the following topics

What is Heritage Tourism?

Topic 1: Basic Concepts - Setting the Scene

Topic 2: Audience Development – what is it and who will come?

Topic 3: Interpretation - developing themes and story lines

Topic 4: Access for all - physical and intellectual

Best Practice in Heritage Tourism

Topic 5: Collections & Conservation ManagementPlans

Topic 6: Heritage Learning

Topic 7: Feasibility Studies - key elements

Topic 8: Applying the theory - Case Studies

Visitor Issues

Topic 1: Creating an Audience Development Plan

Topic 2: Operating the Heritage Attraction

Topic 3: Creating a Learning and Access Plan

Topic 4: The Marketing Campaign Plan

Case Study based on a visit to a local attraction - Making it better

Topic 5: Analysing the problem - Writing the brief

Topic 6: Developing a new offer

Topic 7: Making it work

Topic 8: Launching the revamped attraction

For further information including availability and fees contact Nick Booker - on 01926 864900 or nick@attractmarketing.co.uk