ALL THE HUES THAT'R FIT TO PRINT

Our penchant for Variety-like headlines got inspired by the latest publishing news.

Which is that coloring books for adults have reached the 15 million mark in sales last year (from one million 12 months earlier).

Why the rebirth?  Psychologists position it as a form of mindfulness, even a block to distraction.  [Coloring inside the lines does, after all, take a lot of concentration.]

Others talk about its inherent creativity, pointing to completed pages posted on Facebook and Pinterest.

And a third group cites all things nostalgic, satisfying a yen for childhood stuff.

[Of course, there are detractors.  One calls it the sign of an infantilized culture.]

Regardless, this not-so-new trend has many pluses for us communicators and marketers, especially its work application.   It’s clear that our world today lives in the eye (and, yes, the “I”).  After all, most audiences prefer to receive visual communications, whether an infographic, a video, or a great series of photographs.  So adopting the ready-to-color book seems to be the next best thing to a business-focused graphic novel.

Some top-of-mind ideas:

• Why not, for instance, promote family-friendly products/services through a generation-spanning coloring book? 
• Or hold an internal contest (with a company-sponsored book) awarding prizes for children of employees?  
• Even educate new hires about the business using a series of illustrated, black- and-white outlined pages? 

It’s what we call down-to-earth doodling, for profit.

TAG. WHO'S IT?

Confused about the sell by and use by labels on grocery foodstuffs?  As well as the “I’m all natural” claims?

Rest assured.  You’re not alone. 

According to a recent Consumer Reports survey, nearly 2/3rds of respondents believe, for instance, that ‘natural’ implies the item is a better food and that it contains no artificial ingredients, chemicals, pesticides, or GMOs.  It’s food that is simple, less processed, and genuine (whatever that means).

Wrong.

Why?

The US Food & Drug Administration hasn’t defined it yet.

Which, of course, got us to thinking:  What about the labels we in the marketing and communications biz blithely toss around, like logo and tag line and slogan and campaign and … ?  Do our key audiences (for example, the C-suite) really understand what we’re talking about – and are we all on the same page?  And do all our labels result in further confusing the folks we’re trying to reach – and persuade?

You get our drift.  Obviously, we apply labels to simplify a complex world.  The words and phrases we use to describe things and ideas, according to a 1930s’ linguist (and proven true for decades and decades after), actually determine what we see.  Think of it as a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Twizzlers is a low-fat snack.  Natural cheese is simply that, without cellulose powder to keep it from sticking.

So is time to clear up our own noise – and, perhaps, set a great example for the manufacturers of this world?

OF SAGACITY -- AND LEADERSHIP WORDS

Bookstores overflow with ‘how to be a leader’ tomes, often with conflicting advice.

Never a month passes when the likes of Harvard Business Review or Fortune magazine doesn’t opine on the best ways to manage a merger or what to do during the first 90 days as an executive.

And then the consultancies go forward to conquer … (how could we forget?).

Yet there’s one recently published, probably overlooked modest collection of memos, penned by one of the original Mad Men, that we heartily promote browsing.  And remembering.

It’s Keith Reinhard’s Any Wednesday, one pagers written almost weekly to his colleagues at DDB Worldwide (now part of Omnicom Group) for some 23 years, covering not just advertising topics, but also musings around careers, communications, and the truth. 

Like this:  “Our management priorities should be … people, product, profit … in that order.”

Or acquiring new skills:  “… because the marketplace of the future will be one where advertising alone is not the answer to every client’s problem.”

And delivered with humor:  “The greatest human drive is not food, water or shelter.  It’s the obsession to edit another person’s copy.”

It’s not often (okay, almost never) that we recommend a read.  But it’s one that will net you a true ROI, in Reinhard’s words:  Relevance.  Originality.  And Impact.

SAY WHAT?

Straight from our advertising brethren: 

“The biggest barrier to engagement (according to a recent Association of National Advertisers’ survey) is the start-up’s inability to accurately describe its offering meaningfully, relevantly.”

The study goes on to say that even more than the 1/3+ of marketers who now work with marketing technology newcos – in social media, analytics, content development et al. – would do so … if they could figure out what the start-up did.

Shades of messaging 101.

Too many businesses, from our perspective, think that a tagline, a slogan, an elevator pitch, and a brand will tell a slew of audiences what it is and what it does.  Fallacies lurk in those assumptions.  Just ask yourself these questions :

• Is the ‘about us’ pitch broad enough, suitable enough to cover most (if not all) of the company’s products and services?
• Are spokespeople comfortable in delivering their sound bytes?
• How do managers and leaders tailor it for their needs – and does it still resonate with all stakeholders?
• Finally, do leaders agree?

One of the hidden benefits of developing the right messages is driving home consensus.  In other words, executives not only agree with the best way to describe the company but they also connect with it, bond with it, and get downright comfortable in talking about it. 

Yes, it takes a while.  It’s messy.  And noisy.  But afterwards, no one will ever ask you what your company does for a living.