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Author Archives: LaVonn Schlegel

Purpose of a Spokesperson

  By LaVonn Schlegel | March 22, 2007 - 8:41 am |
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I don’t get it. Why would a company want a spokesperson that doesn’t clearly add credibility to their brand. Have consumers become so brand educated that they can get past the lizards and cavemen (yes, I am picking on Geico today) to the knowledge that Geico is an insurance company that they would want to consider purchasing? (Yes that is a purpose of advertising to create awareness and move a prospect to the consideration phase.) And, even if a brand chooses an odd spokesperson (a clown, a cow, a over-baked actor) shouldn’t the ad still be about the brand/product benefits that differentiate it from competitors? Instead we get ads that are about the spokespeople and their trials and tribulations (or games or love interests) and, at best, only vaguely refer to why someone should consider a product/service/brand. Have consumers gotten to the point where the brand qualities don’t matter but … Continue reading →

Finding The “What” In Your Marketing

  By LaVonn Schlegel | March 19, 2007 - 8:39 am |
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“It’s what you say, most of the time, not how you say it.” (Seth Godin – Seth’s Blog – 3/14/07) In a recent post Seth Godin nailed what I think is the “missing link” for many marketers. The “what” should always carry the day. I think that is something a lot of deep pocket marketers have gotten away from because they feel they can. So, as I pointed out in an earlier post (Frog Blog – 3/10/07) “Too many times ads seem to be created for their shock values and for the entertainment of the account executives or the creative directors.” But smaller, less well-funded marketers don’t always get it right either. They just tend to err on the other end of the spectrum. “Tell them everything in every piece.” Just as the “what” can get lost in the glitz and glammer it can also get lost in too many words.

Another Advertising Rant

  By LaVonn Schlegel | March 11, 2007 - 8:38 am |
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Last night we had a discussion while watching the Big 10 Basketball Tourney. An ad for a car (and none of us could remember the brand) had many men — all ages and shapes — shedding their clothes on a busy street so they could touch/wash/rub up against a car full of young women. Why? no one even ventured a guess The message? it takes very little for men to make fools of themselves Did it inform me? no Did it entice me? no Did it entice the men in the group? Way no Did it entice the women in the group? H*&^ no Did it improve my awareness of this car? no Too many times ads seem to be created for their shock values and for the entertainment of the account executives or the creative directors. What a waste of marketing budget.

Doing More With Less

  By LaVonn Schlegel | January 11, 2007 - 8:30 am |
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The mantra of senior management across all industries, across all disciplines has become “do more with less.”  Budgets and personnel continue to be cut while the need for increased revenue and margin continues to grow. You can continue to successfully perform in the market using this mantra if you are thoughtful in how you approach your marketing resources and your management’s expectations.  Here are “10 Ways To Do More With Less.”   1. Plan. Plan. Plan. Solid performance in general comes from a good plan that serves as a guidepost for what you are doing in market.  When times get tough, you must revisit your plan and decide if your strategies are still appropriate or if they need adjusting.  This will provide your team with a beacon they can use to make decisions, set direction and apply resources.   2. Re-Evaluate Where You Are Spending It is time to go … Continue reading →

What Is Your Company’s CCC Quotient?

  By LaVonn Schlegel | December 4, 2006 - 8:26 am | Uncategorized
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Why can’t we be more creative? Simple question certainly but the answer is usually a lot more complicated and a lot more work than managers want to hear. Building and maintaining an organization that is successfully and productively creative has to start with the basic understanding of what creativity is and what breeds it. Creativity is about building something new out of what you have: “I have a broken chair and a roll of duct tape.” “I need a solution to our dependency on foreign oil and I have corn.” “I need a way to read at night without the risk of fire and I know a bit about physics.” “I have a nation that needs something to energize and unite them and I have scientists who are smart and a moon waiting to be explored. Most organizations want the “something new” but have trouble understanding the process to get … Continue reading →