From the desk (and BlackBerry) of Keith Parnell

I attended a pre-proposal meeting this morning that our agency was invited to. Without divulging too many details, this city commission asked several regional advertising agencies, marketing agencies, new media agencies and communications firms to participate in their RFP process. JASE was selected to be a part of this prestigious process.

As I quite often do, I exited the meeting wanting to call every person on our team and begin brainstorming ideas instantly. As I ran through this list of people in my head I noticed the types of folks I wanted to talk to - creatives, operational, techies, thinkers, and the list goes on.

Now to make my point - I promise there is one.

In order to keep your agency in the running during the bidding process of a project, both right-brain folks and left-brain folks are equally important and must work together. One side out maneuvering the other would be catastrophic. What do I mean?

Left Brain

Your initial contact (in our case, the written Answer to the RFP) with the potential client is all about convincing them that you belong on their pitch process. They need to see:

• Your team’s professionalism and confidence in your work.
• How your team thinks logically, strategically and on-task.
• The quality of your team’s credentials.
• Examples of successful campaigns.
• The creativity your team can demonstrate.

Right Brain

Once your pitch has made it through the cut process, you must then address the more emotional senses and concerns that will differentiate you from the next agency. They need to see:

• The passion your team has for their project.
• The overwhelming innovation your team’s brainstorming processes have produced.
• Your team’s creative concepts have aligned with their strategic goals.
• The working chemistry your team can share with the client.

We hope to have a very successful bid process on this particular RFP. And hopefully these points can help you. Good luck in your agency’s next pitch.

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to Take Five by Acoustic Alchemy.

Look at this very neat video of a stunt that Coke put together on a college campus. Happiness is definitely viral! Hang on to the end. The best is at the 1:51 mark.

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra.

Thanks Cigar Jack for the link to the Johnnie Walker video. This one is a cigar connoisseur’s must-watch!

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to Like a Hurricane by Neil Young.

Get your mind out of the gutter.

Below is a picture of my laptop and coffee hanging out at Panera Bread in Pembroke in Virginia Beach yesterday. Between the weekly Coffee with the CEO sessions, the coffee and lunch meetings, the many virtual work sessions at local coffee shops, and various social media networking events, my laptop sees an estimated 500 fresh pairs of eyes per week. That’s over 2,100 people seeing the stickers on my laptop per month and 26,000 people per year being exposed to my brand.

What is that kind of exposure worth to your company? We’re talking creative advertising at its finest. Let’s talk.

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to White Flag by Dido.

According to Net Applications via the Macintosh News Network, Internet surfers substantially prefer the Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

Microsoft Windows: 92.52%
Apple Macintosh: 5.27%

Wow! If you listen to the propaganda machine called ‘Mac vs. PC’, the latest Apple advertising campaign, you would think Macintosh is in the game. Obviously they are not.

The point to this message is not to rub my Apple fanboi friends the wrong way but to ask that we all pay closer attention to doing our own research. Don’t take the insinuated word of a well-crafted advertising campaign.

What do you think? Did these numbers surprise you? Do you use Mac or Windows? Or both? By the way, we use both.

Photo credit: pixelzooi

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According to Advertising Age (magazine), October 27th, 2009 is the 15th anniversary of the first banner ad. The ad appeared on Hotwired.

AND THE WORLD WAS NEVER THE SAME! How has online advertising changed your life or business?

The Banner Campaign that Started a $24 billion Business, and Got a 78% Click-through Rate
Oct. 27 marks the 15th anniversary of the industry’s first banner display ads, which appeared on Hotwired.com. To the many of you reading this who weren’t in the business back then, that’s not a typo; I’m not referring to www.HotWire.com, the travel site, but HotWired — the first commercial digital magazine on the web and the offshoot of Wired magazine.

Read the full article here on Advertising Age.

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Let’s talk about mixing the two worlds of offline advertising and online advertising. Don’t allow advertising budget segregations to not let inbound marketing do its job. Inbound marketing is a money maker for any size business.

Watch the free video here.

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I found myself this afternoon driving around Town Center in Virginia Beach looking for a parking space before a lunch meeting at Gordon Biersch. For those of you that do not live in Virginia Beach, Town Center is ‘the’ business mecca in Southside Hampton Roads.

In front of me at a stop light was this (photo below) mobile truck advertisement. With a quick glance you can tell the ad is for a television program. I can make a logical guess that the advertiser just wants me to tune in to the tv show.

But what if the advertiser were to display a website address (URL) on the ad. Wouldn’t that make more sense? A website builds community. A website builds loyalty. A website builds a list of consumers that like you that could potentially buy from you. A website creates a location for more (lesser expensive) advertising. A website provides a location for past shows on video. I could go on but you get the picture.

Don’t miss out with your advertising. Don’t think that inbound marketing sources are only from online tentacles branching from your web hub. Use your offline techniques to build a more loyal online community.

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A good internet video, says Kelsey Group (www.kelseygroup.com) analyst Michael Boland, can be more powerful than traditional advertising because viewers are sitting at their computers instead of on their couches.

Watch a TV ad, and you’re likely to do no more than make a mental note of the product. Watch an ad on YouTube, and you can immediately search the company’s website. “It’s that lean-forward medium,” Boland says.

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According to a Harris Interactive poll, 42% of 18-to-34-year-olds and 33% of 35-to-44-year-olds are at least somewhat interested in receiving opt-in mobile alerts from their favorite places.

Would you? From your favorite restaurant or shoe store?

I sent out this quick tweet last night to my JZ, Twitter and Facebook network but thougth I’d run it by you guys in the blog network to see what your thoughts are.

TBS MLB playoffs are “presented by BlackBerry”. Not Rim. Product brand recognition bigger than company brand. Good thing?

What do you think? Should a company make it standard practice to spend millions of dollars to brand one of their products rather than their company name? Should the MLB playoffs on TBS be “presented by Rim”?

Social Media is You. Social Media is Me. Social Media is Us.

New Media Conventions
September 18, 2009
Virginia Beach

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R60ezttKDDA

Credits:

Video Production: JASE Media
Audio Mixing: JASE Media

Photography: Alison Creamer (@bzibee), Cara Mandart (@caramandart), Keith Parnell (@parnellk63), Damien Steiner Smith (@damienSS)

Music: Wait for the Dawn, Dan O’Connor.

Funny. How much of this sounds familiar?!

From Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions.

New Media Conventions
September 18, 2009
Virginia Beach

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R60ezttKDDA

Credits:

Video Production: JASE Media
Audio Mixing: JASE Media

Photography: Alison Creamer (@bzibee), Cara Mandart (@caramandart), Keith Parnell (@parnellk63), Damien Steiner Smith (@damienSS)

Music: Wait for the Dawn, Dan O’Connor.

Never miss an opportunity while you’re out in the community to talk about what you do everyday. If you have the passion, if you love your work, if you live for the success of your current project, why wouldn’t you want to shout it from the mountain-top?

I just dropped our new (used) car off at the local station for a state inspection. While the car is being inspected, I’m here at Starbucks (photo below taken now) working. Back at the inspection station I had my JASE book bag hanging over one shoulder so I could bring the laptop. Right on cue, the station manager asked me about the JASE logo on my bag. Hooked. Good conversation ensued that couldn’t be bought with the best advertising dollars.

Marketing message: Never miss an opportunity, triggered by tactful advertising, to talk about your passion. Connections are connections. Networking is networking. And everyone has friends who have friends. Talk your wares every chance you get.

“Wares” definition:
Marketable skills: skills or talents offered as a service or a commodity.