Is It Really Fall Already? 

Not yet, but quite soon. 

I am confident that you will forgive me for having taken off August. (Some may actually be grateful!)  We've done some travelling--we managed to dodge both heat waves here--and are ready to begin another year. The kids are going back to school (some have already started!), organizations are starting up their meeting calendars again, and companies are looking at the last few months of 2013 and wondering where the year went!

If you have been contemplating some research on a new brand or communications campaign, give us a call--we've got time! 

Marvels of Marketing

I don't know if the original settlers of Iceland invented marketing, but they were certainly early adopters. Two Viking farmers (looking at the fellow to the right, that seems like an oxymoron but it isn't) arrived around 874 and found a verdant land with a climate moderated by the Gulf Stream. They promptly named the place Iceland to discourage others from coming there. Instead, they pointed to a larger land mass just to the West and called it Greenland, although the names should rightly have been reversed. This reverse marketing ploy limited competition for years. Vikings were masters of aversion therapy. A brief look into history will show you that the people in Britain, Ireland, Lombardy, and Normandy, among others, knew this very well.

The evidence of Viking travels shows up in DNA tracing, a popular course of study here because of the homogeneous population. It seems that 60% of Icelandic women can trace their maternal heritage to Ireland while 80% of males trace their patriarchy to Norway. Hmmm. So how did all those Irish women wind up in Iceland, and did they emigrate voluntarily? I doubt the Icelandic Vikings spent much time or money on travel brochures.

Fast forward about 1100 years and we find Icelandair, the national airline, employing a brilliant scheme to enhance tourism to their country: fly anywhere to or from Europe and stop over in Reykjavik at no additional cost. And their fares are quite competitive with other European airlines that serve the same markets. Perfect.

So we went to Reykjavik on our way to Copenhagen. Although it was July, the temperature never went much above 60 degrees, and it rained a lot. But we found interesting geology (tectonically, Iceland is half in North America and half in Europe!) and charming people but very high prices (an average dinner entree was $35-$40). I now know why so many visitors to New York shop at high end department stores and think they are getting a bargain (a marketing hint to East Coast retailers). You can also visit Iceland's geo-thermal spas and energy plants.

Iceland is a testament to the adaptability of human beings to their environments, and to the success of clever marketing.

The Three "A"s That Spell Success      

No matter what you are selling or promoting, success requires three phases:

• Awareness
• Acceptance
• Action

Awareness is fundamental: no one can buy what you are selling if he or she doesn't know it exists, or where they can find it. Awareness includes:

1. Name recognition, or brand awareness: if the product is sold through retail or e-tail channels, you want people to ask for it by name.
2. Logo recognition: ideally, you want your audience to recognize the brand simply by seeing its logo--regardless of where they might see it.
3. Location, location, location: the proverbial three things that are essential for success if you are a bricks and mortar organization. That can include hospitals and other healthcare facilities, banks and credit unions. Nowadays, it can include online presence and your web address. Ideally, your web address is simple to remember and not too long to type.