Super animation of Dan Pink’s talk on “Drive”:
Turns out that motivating creative, conceptual behaviour from workers is a very different animal than we once thought. Put away the stick and carrot, it’s time to give people more freedom, not more money.
Marketing is perceived as a “nice to have”, especially in leaner economic times. When faced with tough decisions about where to cut, marketing is usually first in line before programs that are seen as more critical to economic development health. But this view may be shortsighted.
Research shows that companies that consistently advertise even during more conservative economic times perform better in the long run. A McGraw-Hill Research study looking at 600 companies from 1980 to 1985 found that those businesses which chose to maintain or raise their level of advertising expenditures during the 1981 and 1982 recession had significantly higher sales after the economy recovered. Specifically, companies that advertised aggressively during the recession had sales 256% higher than those that did not continue to advertise.
Further, this is a unique opportunity that is not available in a healthier economy: As reflected in a Kellogg School of Management study, increasing advertising spending during economic expansion often yields no improvement in market share, because 80% of your competitors are also increasing their spending. Conversely, the Association of National Advertisers found that at least half of businesses reduce their adverting spend during an economic downturn.
When it comes to the Canadian economic development profession, a recent survey found a widening gap between EDOs that chose to increase or decrease marketing spending during the economically tumultuous conditions of 2009. According to the study, 62% of those that increased their marketing spending in 2009 planned to continue increased spending in 2010. In contrast, only 25% of those that cut back in 2009 planned to increase 2010 spending. Almost 30% of 2009 decreasers planned to further decrease budgets in 2010.
According to the Place Marketing Group:
“While some EDOs see little choice but to slash marketing spending, it is a step that risks a loss of future growth opportunities. Experts agree that those who maintain spending often emerge the strongest when things pick up. Cuts in marketing will show the most and help the least.”
The reality is that even under the bleakest economic conditions, clients and customers don’t stop making decisions. Given their own budget challenges, these decisions are likely being made with greater discernment and consideration. For economic developers, this means that dropping out of the race of promoting your municipality to save money in the short term puts you at a disadvantage compared to peers who choose to maintain marketing and communication efforts.
So what about your community? Are you spending for long-term success or cutting for short-term savings?
Municipalities have finally begun to embrace mobile apps as another important marketing tool. The offerings vary from safe to zany, but the presence of these apps signals an inevitable shift in how communities need to think about promoting themselves. Here’s a look at a few of the mobile offerings recently released:
Hastings County recently released the first Canadian iPhone app for economic development. Dubbed “iHastings”, the app allows users to view news, events, videos and link up with Hastings County in various social forums like Twitter.
iHastings
The City of Calgary has also come out with a “Build a Pass” app that allows citizens to create custom recreation passes for individuals and families. It would be nice if there was a way to actually purchase the pass as part of the app, but perhaps that feature is coming with future versions.
City of Calgary Build-a-Pass
Calgary also has a great walking tour app of downtown public art, complete with maps and audio descriptions you can play while you stand and admire at your own pace. Walking tour apps are a dime a dozen, but this is one of the first I’ve seen developed proactively by a municipality rather than a travel or GPS company.
City of Calgary Downtown Public Art Walking Tour
Chicago has partnered with foursquare in one of the most innovative social web offerings we’ve seen come out of a city. It has both tourism and economic development applications to it, not to mention the value that comes from leveraging such a popular social platform.
As time goes on, expect to see mobile apps for cities become as commonplace as annual reports and brochures. GPS-enabled smartphones make this a perfect medium for showing off what a city has to offer.
So what does on3 predict for municipal mobile apps? We’re glad you asked. Here are some of the things we’d love to see cities develop:
Have any other ideas? Leave them in the comments!
This is such a great concept – beautifully executed and so simple. Be sure to watch it to the 1:15 mark to see what I mean.
TIme for the publishing industry to think differently about their audience to save itself. Great spot.
We are thrilled to announce our expansion to Atlantic Canada! This summer, we will be opening our doors in our new home of Summerside, Prince Edward Island:
SUMMERSIDE, April 19, 2010 – On Three Communication Design Inc. recently announced the expansion of its operations to Summerside, Prince Edward Island. The marketing company, headquartered in Hamilton, Ontario, is currently exploring office space options in the city, and hopes to open its doors in June 2010.
“The growth and opportunity in Atlantic Canada is what motivated our decision to come to Summerside,” explains Jim McGimpsey, partner at On Three. “We have enjoyed our work on the Island immensely, and it’s time to hang out our shingle and continue to grow our business here.”
Although its Summerside location is new, On Three is no stranger to the Island. “We have been working on marketing initiatives in Summerside for years,” says On Three’s Heather Ciere. “We’ve come to love it here, so opening a Summerside location feels a little bit overdue actually. Once the decision was made we knew it was the right one.”
Ciere and McGimpsey are the minds behind projects like the Summerside commercials that aired during the Canada Games, the “Brick” Health IT business investment campaign, and the Summerside branding initiative that won national acclaim from the Economic Developers Association of Canada. On Three hopes to build on this portfolio with a larger group of clients as a result of their Atlantic Canada expansion.
Click here to view our Media Release and announcement of a Youth Business Contest.
Over the years, we have reviewed many approaches to branding places – from tourism to economic development logos, from small cities to entire nations. Some got it right, and some got it horribly, horribly wrong. We’ve captured our most popular reviews in this post for your enjoyment and inspiration. Read on to see what we thought about these place branding winners and losers:
Here’s an example of a community that really gets destination branding. Kirkland, WA is a town on the shores of Lake Washington that has embraced and nurtured a strong artistic community. This is evidenced by its many galleries, events and a thriving public arts program. It has also embraced its proximity to the water, designing the town around walking trails that facilitate shopping and dining by the lake. So when it came time to launch its new look, Kirkland identified and married these two elements of their community in a well-executed identity… Read the whole review.
A very nice new visual identity out of Copenhagen that was posted over at Brand New. It’s logo design done right under the constraint of having to serve many masters: attract tourism, attract business, create civic pride, promote sporting events… a challenge certainly not unfamiliar to economic development professionals… Read the whole review.
The figure is a “Mocko Jumbie” – a traditional stiltwalker that represents the culture of the USVI. The three stars represent each Island. It is striking as a shape when it is in one colour and the individual applications for each island balance a unified look and feel with some individuality. It feels tropical, culture-rich and laid-back. Very well done. Read the whole review.
Belfast has unveiled a new logo and set of taglines to brand itself as a safe, welcoming and enterprising place to be. Although the heart has been done before (think I love New York), it also works as the letter “B”, and a variety of taglines and colours gives different groups flexibility when using the new brand, similar to the approach taken by the City of Summerside, PEI. You can read more about it over at Brand New.
Alberta has unveiled a strong new identity to the world. The branding initiative will cost $25 million over three years, and it is a bold undertaking indeed… Read the whole review.
Creating an identity for an entire city or region is a tough undertaking. You are trying to please many different stakeholders. You’re trying to communicate many different messages, but with limited real estate to do so. And you are creating something that is sure to be scrutinized very closely by many, because they have a stake in their city’s brand, and often some concern about how much public money is being spent on marketing activities. With all these challenges, it is very tempting to do something safe and easy, which is exactly the trap that Philadelphia fell into. In fact, this new logo serves up a lot of place branding “don’ts” in a single creative execution… Read the whole review.
I don’t love this tagline, but I do think it was smart to put “Australia” right in the tag, as it shows an awareness of the need to market globally and not everyone knows which Brisbane is being referred to here without it. Read the whole review.
Although it made our winners list, Alberta deserves a mention here as well for getting caught in an embarrassing situation involving one of its promotional videos. From our blog post:
After coming our swinging with a $25 million campaign slated to roll out over the next three years, Alberta finds itself dealing with some unfortunate negative publicity. Today’s Globe and Mail ran a story about Alberta being caught red-handed using stock photography in a promotional video. Read the full review here.
Melbourne gets mixed reviews, with a thumbs-up on the colourful approach and a thumbs-down on the PR surrounding the launch and the single-colour verison of the logo. Read the whole review.
What do you think? Does the logo trip over its own attempt to be all things to all people? Read the review here.
Beautiful logo, but tough to read. Points for the tagline though: In Egypt’s case, this generic tagline is actually quite meaningful. See the review here.
Foursquare is a location-based application that lets you “check in” at various locations to earn points and special deals. For users, it is largely a social app that lets them broadcast their whereabouts and connect with friends on “nights out”. For cities and businesses, foursquare represents an opportunity to capitalize on the application’s popularity to bring in customers and promote tourism.
The City of Chicago is the first community to formally take advantage of this new social medium, one that is still under the radar for most despite its explosive growth over the past few months. Chicago’s decision to make such a significant investment so early is a strategic one, as it takes time to establish a presence on Foursquare, largely because content is user-driven. As other cities come onboard, Chicago will already be well established as a destination for Foursquare users.
Chicago is using Foursquare to promote tourism and offer specials at local businesses, and has created 60 check-in locations and 200 “tips” that provide background about landmarks or alert users to live music or restaurant specials.
Visitors to the Windy City can earn Chicago-themed badges, like the on-location “Bueller Badge” for visiting sites from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, or the “High Fidelity Badge” for cruising the record shops featured in the film. There are also badges for visiting the city’s many blues clubs and for sampling its iconic hot dog stands.
The result is another tool for promoting tourism and stimulating local business in Chicago. As the prevalence of smartphones and the popularity of Foursquare increase, expect to see more cities and regions taking advantage of the GPS-based game to promote their community. You can view Chicago’s Foursquare presence here.
- via National Geographic
We are thrilled to introduce 3mail – a new service from on3 for Canadian Economic Development Professionals. It’s been months in the works, and we’ll be highlighting some of 3mail’s features, resources and case studies on this blog over the next few weeks. We hope you’ll give it a try and tell us what you think.
With 3mail, you’ll know exactly how your campaigns are performing. See who opened, clicked and forwarded your email. 3mail lets you:
1. Create and send your own beautiful email campaigns
2. Manage and grow your recipient lists
3. Review powerful reports and campaign statistics
Check it out here and start sending amazing email campaigns today. Thanks for your continued support. We hope you love this new service as much as we do!
- The on3 Team