Interesting recent discussion in the media, courtesy of the American Association of Advertising Agencies conference, a discussion about brands becoming media properties. As the landscape for many products and services becomes larger and larger, brands must align themselves with congruent media properties that align with their specific demographic. Keith Weed, Unilever’s CMO used the example of an Axe branded phone in Latin America.

Absolutely true and accurate, and in a world today with so many distractions, the general public is going to absorb brands in their own right.  Brands should continue to seek to be seen organically, and naturally rather than via traditional manners – whether social media, gaming or mobile.

Content for brands can be anything from social media to gaming. Public Relations is at the forefront of brands being properties, and this PR firm has always seen the value of aligning brands with content and it will only increase.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

The annual “State of the News Media” by the Pew Project for excellence in journalism was released yesterday. Amongst other findings in the study, was the rise of tablets and mobile devices has expedited the rise of online news, to the point where the online audience has finally surpassed print.

Tom Rosenstiel, the director of the study, said “People are just becoming accustomed to having the Internet available in their pockets on phones or small tablets. In December, 41 percent of Americans said they got most of their news about national and international issues on the Internet, more than double the 17 percent who said that a year earlier. Everything is now mobile, and information is everywhere.”

It’s really now all about instant gratification – and the once daily deadlines, have now become hourly ones… It wouldn’t surprise me to see a 24/7 PR Agency very soon… The PEW study also stated that in January, seven percent of Americans owned electronic tablets; nearly double what it was three months earlier. This is the fastest growing technology ever, even ahead of cell phones when they first started to appear.

As information and news media are changing, so is Public Relations – Information is everywhere and digital media is here to stay.  The development continues today as people get their news from all over – Successful Public Relation firms are the ones that understand the changing landscape and craft their strategies to deal with it on a proactive basis.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

What good can possibly come out of longer lines at the doctor’s office, higher health insurance premiums and higher gas prices? Ask Hybrid, the Vitamin Shoppe and Whole Foods… Companies who market “natural”, “health” and “sustainability” are benefiting from the escalating mess in both healthcare and energy costs.

The “natural products expo” kicks off this week, the countdown to Earth Day, Week, Month is well on its way, the first mass-market electric car just launched in the US and Subway with “EAT FRESH” slogan has now become the number one largest restaurant chain worldwide. That said, I thought it would be apropos to discuss the enormous opportunity in the natural marketplace and its burgeoning demographic.

Wondering if you fit in? Let me ask you this: Do you visit a vitamin store more frequently than your pharmacy, do you get in line at Whole Foods which by the way is longer than the one at the DMV and do you consider your chiropractor or acupuncturist as your general health doctor? If you checked yes to one or all of the above, you are likely to be a well-educated consumer who is interested in healthy, sustainable living and green or ecological products and services. Therefore, you are a prime target for what marketers have now dubbed as the LOHAS demographic (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability).

U.S. LOHAS spending in the general market sectors for 2010 is as follows:

Personal Health: $145 billion (includes natural/organic food, personal care, supplements, holistic medicine, natural homeopathic OTC’s etc.)

Green Building: $130 billion (includes certified homes, Energy Star appliances, etc.)

Alternative Transportation: $28 billion (includes hybrids, diesel vehicles, electric vehicles, car sharing, etc.)

Eco-tourism: $51 billion (includes travel spent on excursions in nature)

Natural Lifestyles: $11 billion (includes home furnishings, apparel, etc.)

Alternative Energy: $1.2 billion (renewable power)

All the above categories combined, the LOHAS demographic is one who spends upwards of $350 billion on goods and services that are healthy, natural/organic, environmentally-friendly and/or socially responsible. You know you’re a LOHAS target when: you see buzz words like “naturally” and “green”, you’re being made aware the importance of taking personal responsibility and the tone is often less glossy and polished. The choice of words and images has an unfinished, slightly scrappy and “organic” feel, it’s somewhat crude or handmade in feel, but in an appealing, upscale way. For example, look at Mrs. Meyers and compare it to Clorox. Mrs. Meyers chose basic apothecary-style packaging over bold colors, heavy packaging and loud fonts like that of Clorox.

Why such a basic approach to such a sophisticated customer? Because LOHAS are apparently too smart to get suckered into obnoxious campaigns that shove brand names down their throat. LOHAS want a non-abrasive, authentic feel and they’re willing to pay a little extra for it. For example, “Whole Foods” is commonly referred to as Whole Paycheck. Even the marketing is subtle and more based on word-of-mouth and viral campaigns rather than a media blitz and full-page ad in a magazine.

SO while it’s an exciting marketplace to be in right now don’t act too excited and keep your cool. Just remember LOHAS will turn their back if they feel they’re being “green washed”, so if you want to get to them just do it naturally… and if you need help, this PR firm, 5W Public Relations does a lot of work in the space…

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Like most dads, I give into badgering. When my daughter is “bugging out” over “Minnie Mouse”, Ariel or the latest game, I often give in and want to calm the delirium. Last week I visited Disney with my daughter, and realized the similarities to Vegas are uncanny: you can’t get out of a ride without passing merchandise; temptation is everywhere and it’s hard to say no.  It’s the same as Vegas, only the temptations are different.

With Toy Fair approaching in NYC next week, I’ve been thinking about the “sucker-cessful” children’s brands that can motivate any child to “bug out” and “sucker” a parent into purchasing. As a marketer by trade, I think the strategy is simple – yet brilliant and timeless.

Kids brands must touch different cords to sell products – Kids and parents. The kids, while not buying the product directly, are the sweet innocent puppy-dog faced ones badgering mom, dad and grandma to buy. Of course for parents, send messages we are ok with (For example for me, an over-protective, traditional father, sexuality for me instantly turns me off.)

Kids have strong purchasing power and don’t forget, they’re the adult consumers of the future. If you want to have staying power as a kids brand, you have to appeal to the child and the future adult. For example, now as an adult consumer my perception of “Mickey” is a pestering varmint that gets me to spend money often. Yet as a father, I consider Mickey a loveable character that triggers the imagination because of Mickey’s influence in my own childhood. So as Mickey and Minnie became items in my household, I concur and agree because I have pleasant memories.

Here are just a few strategies marketers can employ to get kids to “bug out” over their brand:

*Create a disruptive movement:* Silly bandz is a perfect example. A very simple product that created a movement by being everywhere at once. Their marketing scheme was a collaboration of word-of-mouth buzz, community-level promotion and aggressive media coverage right out of the gate. You couldn’t move without hearing about it.

*Building allegiance a.k.a. the “Mickey factor”:* Marketers plant the seeds of brand recognition in very young children, in the hopes that the seeds will grow into lifetime relationships. I like to call it the “Mickey” factor. According to the Center for a New American Dream, babies as young as six months of age can form mental images of corporate logos and mascots. Brand loyalties can be established as early as age two, and by the time children head off to school most can recognize hundreds of images including logos and the products themselves.

*Engaging through Social Media:* The challenge for marketers is to cut through the intense clutter. Companies are engaging consumers directly through social media, a platform that targets a very activated and interested consumer. Social media allows marketers to monitor conversations, trends and behavior at real-time speed and react to it. Social media is “the” direction of the year for marketers and the best way to insert the brand and activate consumers en masse at rapid speed.

*Grassroots & Buzz Marketing:* The tried-and-true “word of mouth” method. The idea is to find influencers in a community and have them use or wear your product in order to create a buzz around it. Buzz, or “street marketing,” can help a company to successfully connect with the savvy and elusive teen market by using trendsetters to give their products “cool” status.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

I read this post from a venture capitalist and found it to be true as an entrepreneur today at the age of 36, owning 1 of the 13 largest independent Public Relations firms in the US, and pondering what’s next:

http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2010/05/from-hopes-and-dreams-to-the-real-thing.html

I don’t think there’s ever a time an entrepreneur isn’t scared. I know that I am with 24,000 square feet in a prime NYC Class A building, a small office in LA, and a lot of employee salaries for which I am responsible. In the last 6 months, there have been more acquisitions of PR agencies than there were since I first founded the agency in 2003, and it has made me wonder: “Was I right to turn down the countless acquisition offers I’ve received since Day 1?” I think about this over the last 30 days as two of my professional mentors have had major financial shifts: one bought a huge company to further grow his already successful business; and another bought back his company from the publicly traded company he had sold to some years ago.

After reading the VC’s post, I realized its main points rang true for me and my business: “we have become a real business” and “as an entrepreneur… we have gone from hopes and dreams to the real thing. There is nothing as satisfying in entrepreneur land than having a profitable growing sustainable business that doesn’t need another dime of anyone else’s capital.”

We are profitable, successful and as we start our 9^th full year in business, I realize that we simply need to get better and learn from mistakes, as we have. With a great team around me, I feel poised that my company will have huge success in 2011. Really, it’s confidence and maturity that we haven’t had before and reading the article made me realize it.

Fred Wilson, a VC and principal of Union Square Ventures whose blog post I referenced above, says, “I enjoy watching an entrepreneur and a team spend a decade or more building a real business that creates sustainable value for everyone. And that process is never pretty from start to finish. Don’t worry about that. Embrace it. It is just another challenge to be met. You can cross the chasm from hopes and dreams to the real thing if you have the tenacity, the team, the plan, and the right capital partners. And when you do, it is the greatest feeling.”

I agree with everything he said – and it’s really something which has defined our history. In many ways, we will be going full circle this month – and I will be doing the same, both personally and professionally for reasons that I won’t name. We are now in the big leagues and I feel confident saying big things abound at every level.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR