Adam Williams

Advice for marketers and small business owners

How to effectively use horizontal brand positioning to beat your competitors

Before getting into the specifics of horizontal vs vertical brand positioning, let me start with some examples.

Since at least early 2014, Esurance has been running a new campaign with the tagline, “7 1/2 minutes could save you on car insurance.” And although the Beatrice ad does amuse me, I want to explain why the thinking and strategy behind these ads are flawed.

But to do that, we first need to talk about impotence.

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Does the music industry want authentic artists or physical appeal?

This is a guest post from a great friend Daniel Wilder. You’ll find his bio at the end of the post. Enjoy!


Modern Music: The Marvel of the Craft

Concerning the post on authenticity in the art of contemporary music, I felt the urge to not only comment on the presented analysis that deals in particular with genuine artistic and personal charisma, no, as an admirer and attendant in the field of music I felt the urge to give insight on the corporate strings behind the craft: a voice about the music we love and buy, the music we hate, but the music we cannot live without.

The modern music world underwent a tremendous shift where being a great artist is not the overt demand A&Rs or giant executive producers expect when you sign your future and become part of the music business.

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Is FCKH8’s f-bomb dropping little girls video an effective advertisement?

WARNING: Video is definitely NSFW

T-shirt company FCKH8 just released an extremely controversial video featuring young girls using the f-word repeatedly to make a point against sexism – and hopefully sell a lot of t-shirts in the process. But is using extreme, sensational tactics effective?

Although videos spread like wildfire on social media giving the impression of success, it doesn’t mean that they are actually effective ads (I know, after Old Spice it seems like that’s the case).

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The North Face challenges Korean shoppers to never stop exploring

In brilliant experiential marketing, or maybe better dubbed experimental marketing, The North Face Korea dropped the floor out from under shoppers. While some just plummeted to what appears to be foam, others took the challenge, scaled the climbing wall and jumped for a free jacket under the pressure of a clock ticking away the 30 second countdown.

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Domino’s pizza box wants you to look the cow you’re eating in the eye

My family recently ordered a pizza and we were surprised to find images of the cows used in the making of the pizza on the Domino’s pizza box. Really?! Did someone in legal actually approve that?

I don’t even know where to begin with everything that’s wrong with this. I’m not a vegetarian but I have issues with the meat industry (and the use of CAFOs).

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Does your brand have what it takes to be authentic? Learn from the least likely

What do a guy who looks like Marilyn Manson, a woman with Aspergers Syndrome and an overweight kid all have in common? They each have garnered tens to hundreds of millions of YouTube views as contestants on Britain’s Got Talent and America’s Got Talent.

Why?

Because they are who they are and not something else.

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The FAWC! Report: Ranking top ad agencies by social media performance

In my previous post Does size matter? Debunking PivotStack’s Top 50 Ad Agencies Ranking, I discussed how I recommend ranking ad agencies based on the performance of their own social media profiles.

Today, I’ve taken my own advice and created the FAWC! Report. I’ll let you figure out the name.

The FAWC! Report ranks top advertising agencies by mashing up the number of followers they have on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn and what I’m calling Social Goodness, which measures quality.

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