Brand naming is the extreme sports of marketing
A brand name is the first one on the scene in a marketing situation. You typically know the name before you know much else. You see it in when you’re scanning search engine results, or hear it when getting a …
Clearing up the QR code conundrum
It seems like everywhere I look these days, there’s a QR code…magazines, bus stops, t-shirts, menus, Facebook ads (riddle me that!)—even on dogs. As they continue to grow in popularity, I’ve been left wondering if they’re really worth all the …
Marketing ideas: say something nobody else will
Every industry has norms about the content in sales materials, and it’s often the case that companies imitate each other instead of thinking about what customers really want to know. If you’re a service firm, for example, try posting your …
Every document is a positioning document
Want to strengthen your position in the market and reinforce your internal brand alignment? One helpful step is to stop thinking about your company’s operational documents as, well, merely documents. Every document your company produces is an opportunity to emphasize …
Lowering the limelight: Using screencast videos to remove the pressure of presenting
The time has come. You’ve slaved away at those new sketches or website comps for days, and now its time to put the pencil, pen, or mouse down and share your ideas with the client. How do you translate your …
What happened to Kinko’s? Company names you’ll never forget
Businesses change names. As customers, we have to evolve with the change, but it affects our emotional side. Why do businesses change their names? What makes memorable names catch on? Take Kinko’s. Founder Paul Orfalea gave us the name Kinko’s …
Tribal marketing: brand rituals
In tribal marketing, “rituals” are physical actions or processes that evoke, represent, or recreate aspects of the tribe’s beliefs and values. These rituals can be small, simple actions, such as breaking a Kit-Kat candy in half, twisting apart an Oreo …
The subtle secret of modern marketing: humans crave humanity
One of the most common themes in popular science fiction is the feeling of technology and/or corporations squeezing the humanity out of the human race. It’s easy to find examples of dehumanized futures in film: The Matrix, Equilibrium, Brazil, A Clockwork …
Tribal marketing: the elements of doctrine
In tribal marketing, a brand tribe’s “doctrine” is the consistent set of beliefs and ideals held (and promoted) by its members. This tribal doctrine can include the following: Creed: The core of the brand tribe’s doctrine is its creed: a simplified, …
Marketing ideas: aim for a different market than your competitors
There are always other tribes of individuals who are just dying to hear about your product or service. Yeah, they may be a bit smaller than your main market, but think of the possibilities associated with targeting a few select …
Getting past the defaults (and why you can’t sell customer service)
When we first ask a client about what makes them unique, their initial response often falls within a set of ideas we’ve lovingly come to refer to as “The Defaults”: Service Quality Respect Honesty Integrity Fairness Teamwork Reponsibility Trustworthiness etc. …
ROI is what actually happens
Executives tend to be short-term thinkers. Their career has grown through easy-quantifiable successes, and they’re constantly pressured — by other short-term thinking executives — to base their actions around short-term metrics. It’s all about what happened last quarter, or last …
Detektor lights our fire with a new brand and marketing materials
Sonoran Professional Services (parent company of our client Guard-O-Matic) came to Forty for help on a new brand of alert tools for firefighters, police, and other public safety professionals. They needed to develop their brand’s appearance and figure out how …
The Häagen-Dazs conundrum
Is the Häagen-Dazs brand fundamentally inauthentic? The name “Häagen-Dazs” doesn’t actually mean anything. It’s not an ancient Danish city, or the name of two Swiss ice cream masters, or anything of the sort. The name was made up by Jewish-Polish …
Tribal marketing: thinking beyond “us and them”
Traditional marketing philosophies divide people into two groups: “Us” (executives, employees, etc.) and “Them” (customers, leads, etc.). The notion of “tribal marketing” removes these distinctions. Everyone involved with the brand is a member of the tribe. With this in mind, …
Forty’s morning standup: getting in sync with Hinge
We’ve talked previously about Hinge, our project management system based on Post-it notes. Now, we wanted to share one of the ways we interact with our Post-it boards. The most important meeting of the day is our morning Standup, which …
Get loud during Fortissimo, a celebration of humanity!
The Fourth of July has come and gone, the heat is oppressive here in the desert, there’s only bad news on TV, and Labor Day just doesn’t have the same spark it did in 1894. All we need is an …
Marketing ideas: get emotional!
As much as we’d like to think that our decisions are all rational and logical, they’re typically more driven by fears, ideals, gut instincts, a desire for affection, and a medley of other emotional promptings. The three biggest “human factors” …
Market research vs. gut instinct: who should you listen to?
One of the great dilemmas in marketing is whether to trust your instincts over what the research is showing you. Both the agency (“we know how people think”) and the client (“we know our clients”) have important insights that might …
Marketing ideas: get in there early!
A potential customer shopping around may visit ten other websites (or stores, or offices…) before making a decision. Typically, you would put on a good show and hope they eventually come back to buy, but there are often ways you …