Great Marketing Starts from the Inside-Out

March 31, 2010 in Advertising, Branding, Marketing, That's Kinda Cool, Traditional Media
Tags: bags fly free, employee ambassadors, flight attendant, happy customers, happy employees, internal branding, Internal marketing, Southwest Airlines

If you’re like me and you’ve watched any of the NCAA Basketball tournament the past couple weeks, I’m fairly sure you’re as tired as I am of seeing jiggly body-painted, middle-aged airline baggage crew members touting the fact that, at Southwest Airlines, bags fly free.  Let’s just say, based on the number of times they [...]

Paul Lessing: On to Boston

March 30, 2010 in Advertising, Iowa, Lessing-Flynn, Marketing, Paul Lessing, That's Kinda Cool
Tags: agency founder, ama iowa, american marketing association, amtrack, Boston, Des Moines, Fenway Park, Holy of Hollies, Iowa, Lessing-Flynn, olde main, osceola, Paul Lessing, Treasure House, Voo Doo

Iowa Admen, 150 strong are sending a train half way across the continent to attend the Seventh Annual Convention of the Associated Advertising Clubs of America. They are going to learn – and to teach – advertising. Not one of the hundreds of advertising men who attend this meeting but will bring back priceless knowledge [...]

Buck’s Take: Friend Requests

March 30, 2010 in Cartoons by Buck Jones, Social Media
Tags: batman, Buck Jones, facebook, friend requests, joker, riddler, robin, Social Media, Social Media Cartoon, the penguin

Buck Jones, award-winning illustrator, cartoonist and all around funny guy has been considered one of the best in the business since 1985.  On Tuesdays, he puts on his flight suit and joins the Ad Mavericks for a brief flyover on marketing and social media topics. Connect with Buck! Online Portfolio Pet Cartoons Web site Twitter [...]

Under-promise – Over-deliver

March 29, 2010 in Advertising, Branding, Marketing
Tags: beer, beer marketing, beverage market, Branding, bud light, Busch Light, drinkability, miller lite, Natural Light, Old Milwaukee, taste greatness

The best business advice I ever received was “Under-promise – Over-deliver.” There’s nothing worse than saying you are going to do something than failing to meet a deadline or expectation. Conversely, if I exceed your expectations, chances are you’re going to want to work with me again. Unfortunately, Miller Lite has not learned that lesson. [...]

Worst of the Week: Lessing-Flynn

March 26, 2010 in Advertising, Des Moines, Iowa, Lessing-Flynn, Paul Lessing, Worst of the Week
Tags: Ad Pros, Addy Awards, Addys, advertising awards, Community Choice Credit Union, Des Moines, Des Moines Ad Pros, Iowa lottery, Lessing-Flynn, Matt Meszaros, Paul Lessing, Red Dot Design, Roy Flynn, Saturday Mfg, Sayles, Strategic America, ZLR, ZLR Ignition

So, how lame is this?  For at least the tenth straight year, and while everyone else in town is dusting to make room on their award shelves and swimming in the ink of recent press clippings, Lessing-Flynn was shut out at the Ad Pro’s Des Moines Addy Awards. An overwhelming 132 awards this year and we’ve got [...]

Be Memorable

March 25, 2010 in Des Moines, Iowa, Public Relations, Self Promotion, Social Media, Social Media Capital of the World
Tags: 80-35, Andy Brudtkuhl, claire celsi, Crush it, Dallas Moore, Des Moines, Des Moines Music Coalition, foursquare, gary vaynerchuck, Jill Haverkamp, john pemble, Lessing-Flynn, mars cafe, Michael Libbie, Mr. Dallas J. Moore, onpitch, Paul Lessing, top gun

I stumbled into the aviators. I mean, when we photoshopped the Top Gun original photo, I agreed to be Goose (you know, the one who dies) because taking the role of Maverick, the main character, well, that’s not my style. I’m a little out there but try to stay somewhat humble. Plus, a Flynn has [...]

Player of the Game: Heineken

March 23, 2010 in Advertising, Event Marketing, Marketing, Online Marketing, Social Media, That's Kinda Cool, Traditional Media
Tags: Advertising, Event Marketing, guerilla marketing, Heineken, integrated marketing, marketing media, Social Media, social media content, traditional marketing, Traditional Media

Imagine what would happen if your wife, girlfriend, boss or professor expected you to attend a poetry/classical musical event on the same day and same time as “the big game.”  That’s exactly what happened to more than 1,000 unsuspecting soccer fans in Italy when Heineken hatched their plan.  They enlisted a couple hundred accomplices to [...]

Buck’s Take: Love @FirstTweet

March 23, 2010 in Cartoons by Buck Jones, Social Media
Tags: 140 characters, advertising cartoon, Buck Jones, Social Media, Social Media Cartoon, twitter, twitter love

Buck Jones, award-winning illustrator, cartoonist and all around funny guy has been considered one of the best in the business since 1985.  On Tuesdays, he puts on his flight suit and joins the Ad Mavericks for a brief flyover on marketing and social media topics. Connect with Buck! Online Portfolio Pet Cartoons Web site Twitter [...]

Paul Lessing: Do You Cut Your Own Hair?

March 22, 2010 in Advertising, Paul Lessing
Tags: ad agency founder, Advertising, advertising motto, Des Moines, hair cut, Iowa, Lessing Advertising Agency, old time barber, parable, Paul Lessing, why use an ad agency

No? Why not? It’s your own head and you know more about how it ought to be cut than any tonsorial “expert” possibly can. This sounds foolish but we’re speaking a parable. This article is written for consumption by those business men who insist on writing their own ads on the ground that they know [...]

Worst of the Week: Michigan Meatout Day

March 19, 2010 in Public Relations, Social Media, Worst of the Week
Tags: ag day, Ag week, Agriculture, beef, beef industry, beef magazine, chet culver, facebook group, fail, farm, governor or michigan, HSUS, Iowa, jennifer granholm, michigan, michigan meatout day, national steak out, Peta, stupid, Worst of the Week

Imagine Iowa Governor, Chet Culver doing a press conference announcing that for one day every year Iowans should not eat corn products. With as many people who grow corn in the state a day without corn would create serious problems for the agriculture industry, the image of our state and Culver’s chances of a second [...]