August 2008 Archives

I remember when I first heard the term "branding" images of heated metal rods with farmers' initials on the end traipsed through my head. How many countless sheep and cows and pigs and the like were burned every day in the marketing world? Obviously I didn't think marketers actually branded animals with their corporate logos, but I did have a strong association with the word already in place, which is fitting because that is exactly what the term branding entails: Association.

Earlier today I noticed the tattoo on the ankle of a guy in the bank ahead of me in line. He was wearing the garb of a runner: nylon shorts, low top running shoes, a light colored t-shirt and had an i-pod or some other mp3 player hanging off of his pants with the headphones still in. His tattoo was of the Adidas logo. Those three ascending bars, colored gray, with a green background were on the outside of his ankle just above his anklet sock.

Web Designers and Developersin the Lafayette, West Lafayette and Indianapolis, Indiana areas, what is the best news you could possibly hear today? No, Adobe did not announce a three day grace period to download a fully licensed version of CS3 (although that would be pretty sweet). The breaking news is that Stormfront Productions, your favorite online media development agency, is hiring! Due to our ever increasing list of highly reputable clients, we are looking for an experienced designer / developer to join our team.

Recently I did an article entitled "Dress the Part: Appearance is Everything" about a company's appearance. First, I used the illustration of a fresh graduate on the path to the professional landscape. By explaining the bare necessities that one must use to acquire a job, I was able to relate what consumers look for in a prospective company (retail or otherwise). My basic thesis was that appearance is everything. To delve a little further into the subject, today I'm going to talk about specific expectations when it comes to marketing to those consumers.

Who can forget Sprite's popular motto, "Image is nothing"? My first impression to this topic came from the old campaigns with Grant Hill and the wrestler "Sting". In these and many other commercials, there were often "posers" trying to take on these larger than life superstars in their respective sports (we won't get into the recent accusations of NBA officiating being about as real as Pro Wrestling). Almost always they reached for a sprite in a spoof of popular sports drink commercials before they attempted to defeat their goliath opponents; of course they were shut down every time, and the screen went back to the "Image is nothing - Thirst is Everything - Obey your thirst" catchphrase.

These commercials worked for a lot of reasons. And I think they worked for exactly the opposite reason they stated in their end-of-clip phrase. Image is everything. They were funny and people talked about them, and they promoted the image of sprite. It's a soft drink, not a nuclear-enhanced chemical superhero energy mix meant to alter your DNA. That's why over the years this campaign has changed face but it hasn't lost its overall message. Sprite commercials are still funny and they've branded well.

Now for a recent faux pas I can't help but write about. Gucci, internationally recognized as a brand for the upper class, used James Franco for a commercial so serious I was confused. James Franco, whose break out role came in a show where he was part of a group labeled "Freaks" and then starred in the Spiderman trilogy as the mentally and emotionally unstable Harry Osborn, and who most recently starred as a burnout in the movie Pineapple Express has a 30 second spot that makes him look like a French Rockefeller.



This in my mind can only be considered a very expensive mistake. James Franco is great, and I'm sure he was able to add a nice indoor pool to his mansion with the money he made from this commercial, but in all honesty it's a joke. I'm sure that being a young, professional male I'm part of Gucci's target demographic for this product, and yet I am in no way more incensed to buy this cologne. In fact, I think I'm less likely, because they confused me.

Whenever you're planning your next commercial campaign, make sure you don't treat it like you're trying to win a Sundance Film award for the 30 second spot, because consumers want to be intrigued - not confused. It's like showing a bunch of images of people bowling followed by monster trucks played to the moonlight sonata and then hoping people will buy bananas. With a commercial like that, they're probably more likely to buy a monster truck with bowling ball friendly back seats.

Well I've linked pages to our about section numerous times and made mention of what's going on at the office a couple times as well, but I can't shake the feeling that most of you just don't know us yet. So today I'm going to type up my own version of a mini-bio on each of us and let you all in on the secret that comprises Stormfront Productions.

Using the order of the picture from left to right, I'll tell you about each of the members of this unique organization.

Aaron VanSchyndel (pronounced Van-Skine-Dle) is a multimedia specialist now in his final year at Purdue. Since he has taken all of the courses necessary to graduate in his major (Computer Graphics Technology) and is pretty much just sailing through this year on electives, Aaron was a rare find in the world of interns. His past work and resume were stellar and his addition to the company has been seamlessly impressive. Many of our projects were tirelessly developed by this greenhorn. The word Greenhorn is also a bit of a pun, since Aaron is the office vegan. A humanitarian and earth-wise activist, Aaron often rides to work on his bike to save from fuel emissions while carrying a triple stacked peanut butter and jelly sandwich in is backpack. Oh yeah, plus he's 6'8".

Brandon Beatty, Stormfront's CTO, is a native of Michigan who stayed in Lafayette after graduation from Purdue to work with the University and Stormfront. Beginning his position with the company in 2006 and taking a full-time position in the company in 2008, Brandon's expertise in database development and web applications development is invaluable. His love of music is eclectic to say the least. Everything from Drum and Bass to Reggae to classic hip hop, Punk Rock, and Frank Sinatra can be heard at any given time when Brandon is in the office. As fun as he is, this guy is all business at work, yet he's the type of all business we at Stormfront love. Our media servers run without a hitch and his skateboarding stories are always entertaining.

Robert Theodorow is the CEO and founder of Stormfront Productions. A graphics master who has been interested in everything web since high school, Rob has developed his own brand of modern-era web pages. Always up to date and often ahead of the curve, Rob's websites have garnered awards from all over and international attention. His recent wedding was accompanied by another marriage in the family just a few weeks later. The Theodorow parents must have been exhausted from their son and daughter's highly attended, beautifully conducted weddings! Rob is an outdoor enthusiast, and loves to fish, hike and camp in nature when he's not developing high tech web apps or designing eye-catching web pics.

I (Tommy Miller) am of course the shortest member of the squad, accentuating my only recent addition to the team. In these last three months since I've joined up I've seen some pretty amazing techniques and learned more than I did in half of my college career. With a fair amount of experience in working with startups on marketing plans I had what it took to get on, but that didn't mean I was prepared! After putting in several long after hours sessions I felt I was finally ready to help pull the marketing department up by its bootstraps and in working closely with Rob we were able to make some significant improvements to the SFP schema.

So there you have it. You now know us like our parents do, and we love you all the more for it. Please come back and continue to read our ever-interesting blogs and feel free to comment about your own lives or suggest topics you'd like to hear about. The Digital Buzz is your chance to experience online media with us, your grateful hosts.

The year 2008 has been intensely productive for us here at Stormfront Productions. Besides growing considerably in the number of employees, projects undertaken and our largely increased share of internet real estate, Stormfront Productions has began many programs and initiatives that we all deeply care about. Needless to say it has been very edifying to each of us to see some of our projects get underway.

Some of these I'm sure anyone who has even some familiarity with the company would recognize. Of course there was our campaign to plant trees for every new web hosting client we gained during the months of June and July, which turned out to be so successful that we have continued to offer the option free of charge well past the initial ending period.

Our involvement in the community is of course known locally, but how can we resist letting the rest of the public in on our accomplishments? Hopefully anyone reading this blog post in the position to do something similar can get some assurance that it is definitely worth it - if not monetarily than definitely in the simple feeling you get from helping out your community (although you should note it's almost always a good business practice to become active in the community in which you operate).

Nearly completed is our work for the local Weed and Seed program. This program has many facets all aimed at cleaning up the less fortunate aspects of society and offering assistance to those most in need. Our project, although not a public website, is intended to help catalog some of those whose needs are being serviced in a way as to be accessible by all those involved. Our database will help keep several homeless from slipping through the cracks so to speak.

The Young Professionals subsection of the Lafayette City Chamber of Commerce has a new website which launched this month. This very chic website, done in the model of the members (young, professional, attractive, etc), became a priority recently when Tippy Connect contacted Stormfront to remedy a web emergency. Mr. Theodorow put on the garb of doctor and picked up his digital scalpel to make the cut. Needless to say the surgery was a full blown success and with a little time Tippy Connect should be booming. Interestingly enough, at the site's launch lunch, a real doctor spoke about his recent exploits as a mountain climber.

Also, if you get a chance, go ahead and read the article about founder and CEO of the company Robert Theodorow in the local magazine "Harry." If you can't get a copy because you're not here locally, check it out on our website. This month featured three local businesses that have been recognized for their talent in their respective fields.

We here at Stormfront promise to keep offering full media solutions in future and a dedication level to our community that few else could boast (although we hope that those not already up here will join us soon).

What were you taught to do after graduation in preparation for finding a job? Well, most people who have their ducks in a row have already attended job fairs and put together a healthy resume and a quality list of references. Furthermore, they are taught to dress for the job they want. By looking like you belong with a company, you place yourself ahead of the competition - it isn't hard to imagine how you'd look at work with company x every day.

Now it's time to get nitpicky, those who dress the part are still judged on minor characteristics, even if that judgment takes place on a subconscious level. How does the resume look? Is it short and to the point? Is it aesthetically pleasing and is the content relevant to what is expected of the applicant? How was eye contact, hand shake, and were the fingernails clipped (really how was the hygiene overall)? Was the applicant confident? Cocky? Did they have a sense of natural ability?

This process is by no means any different than what consumers look for in a potential company. They want an air of professionability. From the smallest start up to the largest corporation, if you don't meet the expectations of the consumer right away, you're probably not going to get their business. In other words, don't tell a potential customer not to judge a book by its cover, because they are going to whether you like it or not. That's why here at Stormfront we put forth our professionalism up front. We show tell you who we are and then we back up our claims with a comprehensive site chalk full of information, references, tools and helpful resources.

Why is it so important for businesses to have a good reputation? For the exact same reasons you would expect. People do their homework. And if anyone is interested in you they are going to check your references. They will check your portfolio, the BBB, your website, your competitors' websites, and they're going to ask around. Of course none of this is new information to most marketers, but it is these basics which elevate a company from mediocrity to excellence, and they aren't even hard to do, yet I constantly see them being overlooked.

I recently had a couple of different friends asking me for help on their startups. One company was very small in scope - local landscaping that wanted to target commercial properties. The other company wanted to target medical companies in the New England and East Coast for consulting. Obviously these two companies are very different, yet I found myself giving virtually the same advice to both. And I was astonished that they hadn't even considered some of the possibilities I was offering them.

When you enter into an interaction with a consumer you are entering the beginning stages of a business transaction. Something is being bought and something is being sold. If you want to keep their interest then you need to keep in mind what they are looking for. Often times, you can have quality products and a poor presentation, and you'll lose out on business that could have been yours to someone who looked better than you. Don't let that happen, dress the part.

In all of the online marketing articles I read, in all of the most recent magazines, in all of the blogs that so happen to buzz by me, I have noticed an overwhelming amount of attention being focused on "mobile marketing." So much in fact, that I feel like mobile marketing should be THE preferred method of advertising by now. I mean, every time I look down at my phone I should see like eighty billion messages from Starbucks, Nike and NBC. This, however, does not seem to be the case.

The truth of the matter is mobile marketing is new technology, and a lot of the kinks are still being worked out. For example, not everyone who has a phone has the ability to accept multi-media messages let alone the ability to pay for a message from every sporting store trying to get them to pay more money to buy a new pair of shoes. Did I mention you have to opt-in?

Furthermore, I've heard issues with businesses wanting to use this technology to send out coupons to potential customers walking in the vicinity of their store. Several informed articles I've read have questioned that method's viability. The technology isn't advanced enough to differentiate between people walking by the store and those already in it. So when someone is already in line in a store ready to pay full price and they receive a coupon on their phone, the store loses out twice when they pay for sending the message and they lose the difference of the original price. I won't even go into the fact that very few of this country's 300 million citizens live in places where heavy foot traffic occurs.

So aside from these miniscule setbacks, what else does the future of mobile marketing entail? Well the obvious answers lie in the present. What do we use in e-mail marketing to catch attention? Subject lines, effective use of screen real estate and targeted demographics to name a few important items, but most importantly you need to have a large budget to try something like this out. You're really not going to get that big of an ROI sending 100 text messages out (if any), and you need to be able to follow up and continue with similar campaigns in conjunction with your mobile messages. So for now, let's just continue to read all the hype and wait until it becomes a practical vehicle for small to mid-sized businesses before hopping into any untested waters.

Most people don't believe in ESP, but I can tell you that right now I know exactly what is on your mind with such pinpoint accuracy you may be afraid I am your long lost twin with that special twin connection you always hear so much about on the Lifetime Network. So what are you thinking you're asking me? You want to know exactly what's been going on at the office of Stormfront Productions. Fear not readership, I will give you all some healthy updates.

The biggest news of course is www.stormfrontproductions.net's birthday Wednesday! Yes indeed, the big 5-point-0. A mere sixty months after the initial site was launched and all we have to show for it is a huge list of satisfied clients and an ever expanding business. Of course you can always read more about our achievements in the last five years and we won't hold it against you.

Mr. Robert Theodorow, CEO and outdoor enthusiast recently missed a weekend camping trip with Brandon, his wife and several of their friends, but is now planning a fishing trip with fellow outdoorsman Aaron VanSchyndel, that is, right after Aaron gets back from his cross-country road trip to California. The two often chat in the office about their latest catches and what type of gear they are planning on buying/using/showing off etc. But don't worry, if you're a nature lover you're not alone. Rob and Aaron don't catch fish for waste, rather they promptly releases them back into the water, perhaps a little wiser of lurking bait.

Brandon Beatty, the resident CTO for Stormfront, has been jumping around like an automatic pogo stick with no off switch. Brandon has been moving from the house he's lived in for the last three years to a new place a little down the road, in a little more populated area. On the heels of several recent trips back to his home state of Michigan to see family and friends as well as a wedding in Ohio, Brandon welcomes the rest he'll receive after the move.

As for me, I'm busy being a homebody these days and working on some new books that have grabbed my interest. It's been quite a while since I've sat down and read as many books in a week as I could physically stand, and I'm currently trying to break an old record. Maybe I'll update you and let you in on my success. That's it for office news this month. We'll get back to you about us in a few more weeks. But for our next posts, get out your pens and notebooks and be prepared to learn some awesome info again.