Koroberi Blog

As the New Year rolls around, everyone inevitably compiles the usual list of resolutions: lose weight, eat better, Tweet more often, watch TV less, etc. Here at Koroberi, we’ve compiled a short list of resolutions that we feel will bring more value to our clients in 2010. Below are my media and marketing resolutions for the New Year.

1. Don’t let clients engage in social media without them knowing why.

Too often, B2B companies see social media as simply creating a Facebook page, adding a Twitter account or uploading videos to YouTube. It’s our job to help them see the big picture. Identifying key objectives, understanding customer behavior and devising a detailed strategy are paramount to any successful marketing initiative, so why shouldn’t that apply to a social media campaign?

2. Create measurable metrics for all social media activities.

Once upon a time, social media was seen as the “immeasurable medium” that offered no identifiable metrics, therefore making it impossible to calculate ROI. Those days are history. With tightened budgets and uneasy executives making marketing decisions, creating quantifiable metrics and demonstrating ROI can make the difference between a successful social media campaign and one that never gets off the ground.

3. Move beyond email marketing.

I won’t go as far as saying that email is dead, but there is an oversaturation of email marketing in the B2B space. What was once an affordable, fairly simple form of advertising has deteriorated into a spam-ridden vehicle utilized by many and read by few. So what’s next? SMS advertising? Social search marketing? Online video sponsorship? How about a return to direct mail now that the receipt of a letter has become a rarity?

Back when surfing was just beginning to catch fire in southern California and elsewhere, there was an intrepid band of film producers from this region (themselves legendary surfers, like Greg Noll) who were contributing to the sport’s popularity by making a series of films that documented the first big wave riders and their assault on Oahu’s fabled North Shore.

Complimenting this furious output of homegrown moviemaking was a series of film posters that more than anything else serve as a time capsule to the early days of  surfing and the artistic sensibilities that surrounded our culture at that time.

The posters in many instances have a common type usage and format similar to the popular film posters of graphic designer Saul Bass but begin to play off in wildly imaginitive tangents, each one a small document to the heady days of the burgeoning surf scene.

The films themselves had their world premieres in locales such as the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and Van Nuys High School. The venues may not seem that impressive in comparison to their Hollywood counterparts, but these locations, these movies and these incredible posters all played a seminal role in influencing generations of young surfers and skaters – such as the legendary Z Boys of Dogtown – creating a youth culture phenomenon that continues to this day.

It’s that important. Go. Read. Share.

The news that the 200-foot wide asteroid dubbed DD45 2009 narrowly avoided a collision with the earth earlier this week got me thinking.

Sure, the economy sucks, the advertising and marketing job force is contracting at an alarming rate, my 401k is shrinking faster than a pair of silk undies laundered on hot, and my follicle-challenged pate now has way more salt than pepper in it. But, on the other hand, I didn’t have my molecules rearranged on Monday by a concussive force equivalent to a thousand atomic bombs. You can whine all you want about the current state of world affairs (and I’ll continue to contribute to the cacophony myself, to be sure) but you have to admit, we still have a lot to be thankful for. Sometimes it just takes a bolt out of the blue to remind us.

Advertising and PR firms are often the canaries in the coal mine when it comes to economic indicators. Because we work on the cutting edge of production and consumption, we often see, and are affected by, economic downturns and upturns earlier than more general service industries. So for all the folks who thought we were crazy talking about a downturn back in late 2007, oh well….

But now that we are all here, let’s talk about survival.

Surviving in a downturn means taking the same medicine as our clients - controlling costs, being fiscally responsible, and providing value for money.

The first responsibility is to stay solvent. If this means cutting agency travel, perks and even staff, then you just have to bite the bullet. Observing the impact of some recent agency bankruptcies provides well-managed companies a chance to capitalize on Koroberi’s history of fiscal responsibility, good credit and strong cash position - credentials and references that are of equal importance to good work. Nobody wants their trusted business partner to go under, and even less so to go under owing money already paid by the client in good faith.

But in addition to sound financial management, you’ve got to proactively provide clients with more for less. Don’t wait for the budget cuts, they are going to come. Instead, look at ways you can help your client succeed in spite of the budget pressures they face.

If you are able, offer to assist with client cash flow management through delayed or accrued billing.

Keep negotiating with publishers and other vendors for better deals and discounts, and pass these on to the client. Of course, you need to have great credit and a good paying history to get these discounts, which reinforces the need for sound fiscal management mentioned earlier.

Develop program and package bundles that allow you to pass on savings in return for longer term client commitments. We are all in the same boat, so be open about what you are doing and why. Publishers, media companies and printers intent on survival would all rather have some business at some price than no business at too high a price.

And finally, don’t be afraid to ask for help. There is nothing like sharing the bad times to build relationships.

With a little help from our friends, we can all survive to thrive another day.

Really breakthrough stuff in bringing the look and feel of Flash to the iPhone, although we all know iPhones don’t (and in the near future, won’t) support Flash. Read on…

While watching the inauguration on TV with some of my agency co-workers Tuesday, I was struck by the realization that this historic event, in addition to representing a sea change in America’s socio-political dynamics, also represented a remarkable example of lost workplace productivity for an economy that is already staggering under the weight of a recession of unprecedented proportion.

Even if you concede that, statistically speaking, in the neighborhood of seven percent of the million or so employment-aged souls massed between the steps of the Capital Building and the Washington Monument no longer have jobs to go to, that still leaves a significant number of inaugural attendees who were presumably workplace MIAs.

Whether you regard that phenomenon as a sign of optimism that things will get better soon, or indicative of a “things can’t get much worse, so I may as well call in sick and take in the spectacle,” attitude isn’t really important. What is important is to realize that a new administration alone isn’t going to make things right. Now that the inaugural flags have been folded, the bunting stowed, and the echoes of the newly elected president’s speech have faded, it’s up to “We the people” to get back to work, grab a metaphorical shovel, and do what we can to help dig our way out of this economic mess.

For me, that means looking for every opportunity to enhance my value to my agency and to our clients. Taking on additional responsibilities. Delivering more than what’s expected. Working harder, smarter—and yes, even longer—if that’s what it takes to keep the revenue spigot flowing. In an economic environment in which it’s becoming a privilege and a blessing to still hold a job, how could anyone feel good about doing anything less?

I’ve been thinking about some of the downturns I’ve worked through in the ‘80s, ‘90s and earlier this decade. I’ve re-read articles published during those periods and found a common theme—this time of uncertainty is an Opportunity.

Advertising is an investment just like a machine that cuts production costs. Consider the lead time of sales in the B2B space. Few industrial products are purchased on impulse. Especially when every dollar spent is being scrutinized. Current advertising affects your future. At worst, advertising now facilitates a holding pattern. Advertising keeps your product in front of your customers; without advertising, a vacuum of information starts to develop.

Stopping your advertising has eroding effects. When advertising is cut out, the result is always diminished company and product awareness, fewer in-bound calls, fewer sales appointments for your reps to go to, fewer sales, decreasing share of market, less revenue, less profit and so on. Maintaining your share of sales and market now is much less costly than trying to rebuild them later. Once your momentum stops, you start over from scratch later.

Also remember, there’s always turnover at your customers and prospects. New specifiers might be starting today, next week or next month. Do they know anything about you yet? Advertising to these new influences is critical especially when they’re trying to maximize their impact and make their mark.

One of the most compelling considerations about advertising in a recession is the opportunity to steal sales and market share from a competitor who’s thrown the brakes on their own advertising. Think about the double whammy you can score: less competition in the marketplace of ideas from them means more impressions and more potential sales for you.

Jeff Asher is the Regional Sales Manager of New Equipment Digest, published by Penton Media, Inc.

Although it’s likely not a topic of interest outside the writing professional’s circle — and possibly of waning interest even there — the serial comma and its usage are nevertheless of abiding interest to this long-in-the-tooth copywriter.

Also known as the Oxford comma or Harvard comma, the serial comma is the comma used immediately before a grammatical conjunction that precedes the last item in a list of three or more items. Having started down my career path back in the days when pencil, legal pad, and a copy of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style were the basic tools of the trade, I’ve undoubtedly passed the millionth serial comma usage milestone several times over.

But, alas, there’s a conspiracy afoot to banish my hard-working little friend. Aided and abetted by the wankers behind The Associated Press Stylebook, the assault on the serial comma extends even into the ranks of the young. One of our interns, an earnest, committed, and eager-to-learn English major, reports that profs at the UNC School of Journalism regularly rail against the serial comma. Although I have no idea why journalists are so repulsed by the diminutive and ever-so-useful character that they’re willing to sacrifice clarity of expression for paucity of punctuation, I’m incensed, outraged, and just plain hopping mad at the blatant abuse of authority teachers of journalism display when dealing with an impressionable audience.

As an integrated agency engaged in both pr and advertising, Koroberi has adopted a schizophrenic policy regarding serial comma usage: press releases, magazine articles, and other material intended for publication toe the AP line (as misguided as I believe it to be) and are produced sans serial comma — albeit reluctantly on my part. But when it comes to everything else, the serial comma reigns supreme, sublime, and, I hope, eternal.

Thanks largely to the infectious influences of mass media, technology-induced shorthand, and a language- and vocabulary-challenged commander in chief, proper grammatical usage is in a state of rapid decline in the USA, with the quality of both spoken and written communication overall becoming ever more abysmal — even among the ranks of so-called professional journalists.

That’s why it’s time for all writers who truly care about their craft to draw a line in the sand, throw down the gauntlet, and confront the enemy in his own backyard. Only by being steadfast, determined, and unwaveringly committed to preserving the sanctity of the serial comma, will we succeed.

Bruce B. Olive, CEO of Koroberi, was named a 2008 Marketing Impact Leader by Business Leader Magazine.

A North Carolina native and CEO of Chapel Hill-based integrated marketing communications firm Koroberi Inc., Bruce B. Olive has spent a lifetime helping clients communicate complex subject matter clearly and concisely. With nearly 30 years in the advertising industry, Olive began his career as a copywriter, working overseas at some of the world’s largest international advertising agencies. He started Koroberi 10 years ago, with a determination to build a leading technology-focused, business-to-business marketing firm. Koroberi has since become one of America’s leading business-to-business agencies, leaving Olive justifiably proud of his business, his employees and the industry leaders who make up his clients. Outside of the company, he is active in Durham’s Saint Philip’s Episcopal Church, where he serves both as verger and on the vestry, and enjoys organic gardening and flying his aerobatic airplane.