So many marketers understand the importance of a “take away” - something that consumers are given after encountering a sales person, a piece of advertising, etc. The take away should have some use, which takes me to my example. American Express usually sends me direct mail advertisements to get on their credit card service. I already have a credit card and am not to fond of them in the first place so I usually don’t even open it…but in all of the AMEX letters is a magnet (I think I have about 4 so far…) Whats the beauty behind this? Well, I’m alwasys going to have a use for a magnet so it goes right on the refridgerator. I constantly see it, and use it to hang stuff up. I’m sure guests might notice it when they come over, but this doesn’t answer the real question as to why I feel its a valuable way to get attention. It’s simple, when I go to get a credit card and among the many different choices I’m given, I will see a credit card that looks exactly like my magnet. Why does this matter? It matters because we like things that are familiar…we don’t want to chance anything. American Express is already apart of us, even if it is in a tiny way.

Sometimes it takes an “in your face” approach to get a point across. This public service announcement that was awarded “Ad of the Day” on November 25, 2009 from Adweek does a great job at putting $50,000 pounds of wasted food in perspective.

I am a huge fan of guerilla marketing tactics and how creativity can beat a huge advertising and media budget. This appeals to the “good person” in us…how will we not notice this?

Verizon Wireless attempting to fight fire with fire…Many people may have an opinion of whether it was right or wrong, but I won’t decide that here. Creativity doesn’t necessarily mean coming up with something brand new.

Good advertisements don’t necessarily have to be solely for products. This is a great example of an ad that uses a sensitive and prominent issue in society and uses it as a call to action for Brita products.

This is a great example of a quick and creative competitive response. When competing in a market that you rely heavily on - in this case the auto market, which is an extremely competitive arena you must respond swiftly when being attacked. Audi starts the action and BMW responds decisively…and obviously win.

A good form of Guerilla marketing, making the biggest impact for smallest amount of dollars spent. I love how Fedex is able to make UPS look inadequate at the service they’re providing. This is risky business though, as UPS will no doubt respond with fiercely to uphold their image and counter any damage that Fedex has done to them. Great creativity is simple, but packs a hard blow.

The other week I received a peice of direct mail marketing. It was for a used car sales lot and how they had my information I have no idea…But what I thought was great about this thing was the fact that they put a sticky note on the envelope that had a handwritten message: ”Bill, I can make you a great deal.” They signed they’re intials and I honestly didn’t know the person. I knew it was a marketing attempt, but I was actually intrigued…”how do they know me?” So finally I opened up the envelope to see who this was and it turned out to be a used car flyer. although I didn’t take time to look at it, I couldn’t resist similing at the fact that they actually made me open it…well done.

So we all know that the daily newspaper that is delivered to your door is wrapped in a plastic cover so it doesn’t get dirty, wet, and ruined. The Sunday paper on October 18, 2009 came in an advertised plastic cover, which was the first time I’d ever seen it. I rarely read the newspaper, but this caught my eye immediately. The advertiser was Pantene Pro V and on the cover was a company spokesperson, and the copy, which I thought was pretty clever was “discover damage protection.” Along with the advertisement they gave free samples of the product to try…who doesn’t like free samples?? Customers love them and its a great way to induce a trial period of the product. If they like, maybe they’ll buy…if they don’t buy at least they were able to try the product and will remember somewhere down the road.

The past few weeks I have been noticing that the Oregonian is selling advertising space on the cover of their newspaper. It has the same heading as a normal cover would, but instead of carrying editorial content on it, an advertisers offering is displayed that takes up half of the front page.

Comcast advertised on this space on October 18, 2009 and it really caught my eye. I hardly read the newspaper, but I immediately noticed this…the genius thing about it…if you want to read the front page, you have to look at the cover and take it off. It makes it much easier to get impressions and maybe somebody to even take a look at the ad.