Charlotte's Best Kept Secrets?

To our multitude of national and international readers (Mom, Aunt Helen...you out there?), forgive me as we share a few of our local Best Kept Secrets!

First Fridays - Yes, we had to start with our own BKS. Chef Boy-AR-Neatstuff is grilling out on the back patio of NSU the first Friday of each month during the lunch hour. Join in for free food, fellowship, and possibly some brainstorming of all things promotional...and during certain times of the year, Tarheel basketball. Jump in this Friday, April 5th, if you're able! (You might just receive a very cool NEAT USEFUL THING if you join us). May 2nd is around the corner.

Tosco Music Parties - Live entertainment OR sitting on the sofa watching the boob tube...your choice. Several times a year the Tosco gang hosts an incredible evening of live music....our favorite is the annual BEATLES TRIBUTE. Twenty-plus DIFFERENT acts (solo artists, duets, rock bands, choirs....you never know) each do ONE Beatles song over the course of several hours...it's incredible...especially for around TEN BUCKS...next Beatles night is May 17. Several times a year, the Tosco Music Party (next one is Saturday, April 12) is the non-Beatles version of the same event. Individuals and Bands from around the country show up to give you their best shot. Creative Loafing described the TMPs as , "Think of it as the musical equivalent of walking into Ben & Jerry's and saying: "I'd like a spoonful of everything, please." http://www.toscomusicparty.com/ Special events at places like Spirit Square...nightly live music year-round up at NoDa section in the Evening Muse.

The Flying Biscuit - couldn't leave out the food. Located off of 485 and Rea Road ~ to the left of the Chik-Fil-A at Stonecrest. This cute little place features a varied menu including incredible all-day breakfast food ( a lot of organic stuff!) from 7 a.m. til 9 p.m. weekdays and til 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturdays. The Oatmeal pancakes with fresh peaches are the Chancellor's favorite. Don't skip the Creamy Dreamy Grits...even the Yankees like 'em. http://www.flyingbiscuit.com/

Fighting the Good Fight

I was in Cary, NC visiting our friends and clients at the V Foundation last week and Joyce Aschenbrenner, one of the ladies that tries to keep Nick Valvano in line, told me, "Anyone can be affected by cancer...and everyone can help." I was blown away to hear about the new Show Your Spirit campaign ~ a company, school or organization of ANY size can pitch in with each person participating contributing only FIVE bucks! It all adds up.

Check out http://www.jimmyv.org/showspirit/ for the scoop and get signed up today. Employees pitch in five dollars and can wear garb from their favorite school on a designated day. Most groups are doing March 20/21-the first two days of the NCAA first round games but you can push it back a week or so if you need to. Congrats to the Winthrop Eagles, by the way, for jumping into the Big Dance again!

Just to get you in the mood, our staff selected - at random - the photo (upper right) from a recent college hoops game...oh, look, it's UNC's Danny Green dunking on ("posterizing" is the official term, I believe) Duke's Greg Paulus. Oh well, it was all in fun, I'm sure. Go ahead and CLICK HERE if you feel like you need to see a video version to really get in the Spirit.

News Flash: Men and Women are Different.

Are men and women different? If so, are there different ways to market to women? Before we answer the last question, let's see if we believe the first one to be true. Some recent data from our Neat Stuff University Gender Laboratory:

Several days before the Super Bowl, a friend of my wife stopped by the house to chat (truth be told, Mother "A" wanted to have her teenage son meet teenage daughter of Mother "B"). As the "chatting" wrapped up, we were invited to their Super Sunday party. Our friend (Mother "B") mentioned on the way out the door that she wasn't too excited about the game but she always enjoys watching Brett Favre.

Well, I was silent for a moment and after taking a calm, deep cleansing breath, I shared with the ladies, "This conversation reminds me that men and women are different." The women gave me a quizzical look. I continued, "A woman cheers for Brett Favre because of his rugged, handsome looks. A man, on the other hand, considers the fact that the Packers were beaten by the New York Giants in the NFC Championship game two weeks ago and thus Green Bay and Mr. Favre will not be participating in the Super Bowl....nonetheless, we will still make plans to watch the game."

Back to MARKETING TO WOMEN...INC.com offers their thoughts in The Six Costliest Mistakes in Marketing to Women.
1. Mistake: Thinking that women are a "niche."
Reality: Women are the primary consumers in the United States. (Ties in nicely with Chancellor Maxwell's Wise Saying #5 - "Women Rule the World")
2. Mistake: Thinking that the female consumer marketing opportunity requires less funding. (Females require less funding? Is it just me or don't most men over the age of 16 have a clue on this already...HM). Reality: Women are no "specialty" market, so reaching them should be a budget priority.

Some stats from Mistake #5...Seventy-eight percent of women in the US use the Internet for product information before making a purchase and 33% research products and services on-line before buying offline.

Curious minds can check out additional thoughts and some interesting research in Mistakes 3-6. Go Packers.

Kootie Prevention and Kissing Wax

My first Quickie Post! (officially defined as "typing with one hand while doing another task with the other"). I'm packing my bags for three days/two nights in Old Towne Wichita for the Western Associates national sales meeting! (My wife hates me because I can pack in 3 minutes...unless I'm going to be gone for more than a week...then it takes 4 minutes).

We've just discovered a new dual-purpose promotional product and wanted to bring it to the world without delay. It's the item you've been waiting for....Kootie Prevention (spray hand sanitizer) on one end and Kissing Wax (avoid the heartbreak of CHAPPED lips) on the other. SUPER ITEM FOR TRADE SHOWS! Special Note: This device has only been found useful by individuals who engage in shaking hands and/or kissing. This product has NOT been tested on animals.

Click here to get more product info! Back to packing. Westward HO!

New Rules of Marketing & PR?

"Think about it," says David Meerman Scott, "You're watching your favorite TV show, so the advertiser's job is to craft a commercial to get you to pay attention, when you'd really rather be doing something else, like quickly grabbing some ice cream before the show resumes."

Thanks to the recommendation of industry colleague Bobby Lehew, Scott's book -The New Rules of Marketing & PR - is getting us to pay attention with simple and profound observations. "The web is different. Instead of one-way interruption, Web marketing is about delivering useful content at just the precise moment that a buyer needs it." Scott gives great insight into how you can benefit from strategically utilizing web content, blogging, on-line news releases, video, podcasts....good grief, most of these concepts didn't exist ten years ago!

A taste of the work can be found by checking out David's pdf The New Rules of PR - How to create a press release strategy for reaching buyers directly."

A final thought from Scott: "Reporters and editors use the Web to seek out interesting stories, people, and companies. Will they find you?"

A final thought from us: "Go get this book."

Dress for Success?

Fifteen years ago, we had regular requests for fifteen to twenty dollar embroidered golf shirts that our clients used for trade show uniforms, golf tournament prizes, customer gifts. One day, we asked a buyer, "Why not get a few less shirts, spend the same total amount of money, and get a really nice shirt that folks will ACTUALLY WEAR after the event is over?" We all scratched our heads for a moment and...Shazaaaaam! A new vision was born in the name of quality! We began showing higher-end apparel...even when we were given a specific, lower budget figure per shirt. The next thing you know our clients were getting great results using Cutter & Buck, Nike, Ping, Greg Norman, Ashworth, Bobby Jones. Of course, there is a place for an inexpensive shirt (Haines Maxwell, Sr., the custom home builder, taught me as a wee lad that "cheap" was no longer in the vocabulary and could be nicely replaced by "inexpensive"....we have provided tens of thousands of "inexpensive shirts" over the years to our favorite fast-service restaurant...and everyone seems to be quite happy).

Important observation: Notice how happy the couple on the bike seem to be wearing their high-quality Cutter & Buck shirts! Not sure how long the Ms. will enjoy riding on the back fender but I guarantee you she loves the shirt.

Today, our Charlotte sales team is meeting at 11 a.m. to share ideas from the promotional product show in Orlando and I'm going to do a survey of the most popular brands and get some feedback from our experts regarding the "what" and "why" of the world's finest apparel. The boss is even going all out and springing for PIZZA for the gang.

The results of this meeting will be delivered to YOU......free of charge...via BLOGGING and the World Wide Web....I love this country!

Inspired in Orlando

I'm sitting in the Orlando airport enjoying the compassion-filled announcement over the loud speaker that our flight back home to Charlotte has just been delayed...again. Having just attended 2.5 days worth of promotional product poop (I'm using "poop" as a good word here) at the annual Advertising Specialty Institute product show, I'm still stirred over the seminar I attended Thursday morning (it's Saturday afternoon as I type) on "Web 2.0 and Blogging." I had never read a BLOGuntil this past April (in fact, I just found out two days ago that it's short for "WEBLOG"). After checking out one of the country's fastest growing churches (Charlotte's rockin' Elevation Church-ear plugs available at the door...really... http://www.elevationchurch.org/) with a couple of my kids, I checked out their pastor's BLOG to get a better feel for what they were up to.

So...the next thing I know, I 'm writing my own blog. Actually, I'll be teaming up with our crew from Western Associates, Home of Neat Stuff University (http://www.neatstuffu.com/ will give you the scoop on what THAT'S about) to offer thoughts on marketing, branding, incentives, corporate fulfillment programs, why Cutter & Buck is the Charlotte office's favorite apparel line, employee recognition, and random things in the world that make us go "wow!" and sometimes "huh?". Speaking of "huh?"...what do you think about the campaign that Cingular Wireless ran a while back...the billboards declared that among major wireless carriers, Cingular had "Fewest Dropped Calls!" It's interesting to me that the best thing they could think to say about themselves could be summarized as "We suck LESS than anyone else!" That message dazzled me almost as much as the label I saw years ago on a nutritious beverage that bragged (?) "Contains 2% REAL fruit juice."

Well friends, we're off and blogging. The BSL (Blog Seminar Leader - I like to name things) told us the key to having a blog that folks other than your mom will read is HELPFUL CONTENT...we will make this our noble goal. (By the way, our newly formed BRT - Blog Research Team - has determined that it is a SCIENTIFIC fact that before BLOGGING, folks had more time to build model airplanes....note picture of Uncle Ed in upper right hand corner).

The folks from AirTran are calling...time to board the rocket to Charlotte.