February 3rd, 2009 → 4:49 pm @ Jim Kukral // 0 Comments
Probably the best, most attention getting Superbowl ad in 2009 was from Denny’s. Here’s the commercial, with the result below.
Denny’s, the restaurant chain, appeared to hit a grand slam with its Super Bowl ad, offering a free Grand Slam breakfast for patrons dining between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. Eggs, pancakes and meat at no charge!
(Source)
Great idea? Right? It really was. Look at the Google trends map for that day. People were talking about Denny’s! I bet more than they were talking about the other Superbowl ads two days after the event.
From the USA Today piece on this. “The News quotes Nelson Marchioli, president and CEO of Denny’s, as saying he expects at least 2 million more customers today. “In this economy, people will respond to free,” he says.”
Indeed… free works.
Here’s a video from an ABC affiliate of people waiting in line for the free meal.
So, did you like the ad? Did you go and get your free meal? Share your experience here in the comments.
January 28th, 2009 → 10:57 pm @ Jim Kukral // 0 Comments
Inc.com is running a great piece called small business advice. I was reading it and was taken back by the commentary of George Naddaff of Boston Chicken. If you read the little story he tells, he basically confirms that by putting some people in some character suits out in front of his businesses, he was able to increase sales by 8 percent.
8 percent is a lot! This is attention marketing at its finest. Sure, cheezy, but it works!
George Naddaff, Boston Chicken
Bring Back the FunBack in the days of Boston Chicken, we had a very effective promotion for slow periods. We had a chicken suit designed. Boy, that thing was chickenlike. One of the employees would slide into it. And then we would “put the chicken on the street.” The chicken, armed with coupons, would chase women with strollers, flapping its wings. And the street would suddenly pick up. People would start honking their horns at the chicken. Giving the chicken the thumbs-up. It just made everyone more upbeat.
So I was thinking, What can I do to get more people into my new business, UFood Grill? I went to the guy who designed that chicken suit. And I said, “Bob, I want you to design us some French fries” — we call them UnFries — “in a box. And I’ll put a person in the box. And I want you to design a cup that looks like my UBerry yogurt. And I’ll put a person in that. And we’ll put them on the street. We’ll create some action.”
I put these things in front of our store in downtown Boston. People walking by, wanting to shake hands. Drivers raising their hands, calling out: “Hey, fries!” You create something where people are laughing. People don’t laugh today. They’re walking around worrying about their 401(k)s.
The suits cost only $2,500 each. We are getting a real bang for the buck, as they say in the trade. It has produced a good 8 percent increase across the stores. We are using the characters in front of all six of our stores in Boston, and we are going to ship them out to our franchises. We have five franchisees opening a total of 16 units. So we have three fries suits and three yogurt suits, and each unit gets to use one set for a week, and then they pass it on. We like to keep the fries and yogurt together because they get along so well.
January 28th, 2009 → 4:32 pm @ Jim Kukral // 0 Comments
So this guy who owns a bakery is selling what he calls drunken negro cookies in honor of our new President Obama. Here’s the video report.
Leaving the politics, or potential racism out of this discussion… can you consider this “good” attention? In other words, is all attention, good attention?
It’s interesting to see the viewpoints of people. Personally, as a person who believes branding, I can’t see any upside in associating yourself or business with something like hate or racism. So for me, this is an example of bad attention and I think it will come to hurt him in the end. Especially in today’s fast-moving social world where the word is spreading, fast.
What about you? What do you think? Is this good, or bad attention?
Hat tip to Shoemoney for calling my attention to this story.
December 28th, 2008 → 4:32 pm @ Jim Kukral // 0 Comments
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Here’s an interview I did with Scott Ginsberg, the Nametag Guy.
Scott has built an entire brand around wearing a nametag 24-hours-a-day, etc… He wears it everywhere, all the time. In the interview, we talk about how he came up with the idea for the brand, and how he has turned the idea into a big-time business for himself (books, speaking gigs, consulting, etc…) One of Scott’s most interesting talking points is “approachability”, which is essentially what wearing a nametag does for him.
It’s a great interview, so please enjoy.
December 21st, 2008 → 11:31 pm @ Jim Kukral // 0 Comments
Over at JimKukral.com, I wrote about how my project called YourPitchSucks.com has gotten written up in all kinds of major media publications like Entrepreneur, Forbes, INC. Magazine, Brandweek, and The Wall Street Journal… all because of the name.
The point is, the name matters, most of the time. Here’s some tips for you when considering a name for a project or business.
Brainstorm It!
Sit down with a piece of paper and write down the craziest and most outrageous names you can think of. Don’t hold back. If you’re in a room of people, make sure everyone understands that you’ll be considering everything and nobody should worry about coming up with something off-limits.
Test It!
Take that list afterward and take it home to your spouse, or family member and read them off. Share them with your employees, peers or customers. Why not?
Choose It!
While you’re testing your names, remember, the ones that get either a gasp, or a laugh, or both, are usually the good ones to keep. Think about that for a second…
November 26th, 2008 → 10:38 am @ Jim Kukral // 0 Comments
You get noticed by doing something different. You get noticed by doing something fun. You get noticed by solving a problem.
I could go on and on…
The point is, a sure-fire way to be successful, quicker, is to get noticed. To create attention.
Here’s an idea and example for you to steal right now. Not sure if it’s been done, but it would work. Please do it.
The Economic Bailout Show – Create a daily web show where you keep tabs on the USA economic bailout. If you’re a financial person, or economist, this would be perfect for you. But a domain like DailyBailoutShow.com and put the videos up there.
Point your Flip camera at yourself every day and talk about the bailout. Here’s a sample script.
“Welcome Americans, my name is Joe Smith and welcome to the daily bailout show, where we keep tabs on how the Government is spending YOUR money. After all, it is our money, so let’s make sure we keep them accountable.”
Now, pull out a big chalkboard, or chart that you’ve been updating daily that shows where the money has been going, to whom, and when, and the amount spent, etc…
“Looks like so far our government has spent 20% of the initial bailout funding, and today have announced that they are going to need an additional $800 billion.”
You get the idea? I would tune in every day for a 5-minute update about where my government is spending MY money. Wouldn’t you?
You don’t have to be Gary V. You don’t have to be Cramer. Be yourself.
THIS IDEA WILL WORK. I WILL WATCH, AND SO WILL OTHERS.
What, you don’t have 5 minutes a day? C’mon. If you know this topic, you can do this.
Think about how viral this would be right now? This is a HOT topic. Think about how many people would share this with their friends. Think about the press coverage you would get as “the video bailout watchdog guy/gal” or something like that.
Steal this idea, please. Then let me know when it’s done so I can feature its success in the book.
November 20th, 2008 → 10:59 am @ Jim Kukral // 0 Comments
When times are tough like they are right now in a poor economy, you have to find ways to get attention. Look at what this car dealer has done. Watch video here.
Buy a Chrysler Pacifica, get a Chrysler PT Cruiser for $1!
We’ve been waiting for this. The crash of the automotive market has led to some aggressive incentives, but we hadn’t yet seen the madness in the U.S. that led British dealers to offer buy-one-get-one-free deals on Dodge Avengers.
But a dealer in Oak Lawn, Ill. has brought the crazy here at last.
Chicago Breaking News reports, “An Oak Lawn car dealership has started a new and unusual promotion: Buy one 2008 Chrysler Pacifica and get a second car, a 2008 PT Cruiser, for $1.” The deal only applies to the five Pacificas currently sitting on the lot at Mancari’s Chrysler Jeep of Oak Lawn. Once those five are gone, the deal is gone. The Pacificas in stock are “priced at $37,000 to $40,000,” but buyers willing to pay those prices can also claim a slightly-used PT Cruiser demo car for $1.
Why do something like this? Here are a few reasons:
Why does this work to get publicity? Because it’s topical (economy, big 3 bailout).
Why does this work for sales? Because it’s easier to convince people to buy if they think they’re getting a bargain.
Why can’t you try something like this? Here’s the answer…
You’re probably not thinking it can be done. It can, and it works. That’s what Blend This Book is all about.
November 1st, 2008 → 1:15 am @ Jim Kukral // 0 Comments
You really don’t want to read this book called ‘Blend This Book’ by me, Jim Kukral. You really don’t. “Why,” you say? Because when you do it’s going to unleash the creative person inside you.
That’s right. It’s going to change the way you think. It’s going to force you to be creative and to try new and fun things. Yep, it’s going to ruin your boring-ness. 
Actually, that’s a good thing. Because this book is going to help you. It’s going to open up your mind to the possibilities that lay before you as a small business owner or personal brand.
Gone are the days of traditional marketing tactics. We used to go out and purchase advertising to get results. Not anymore. Now, today, with social media tools and well, the Internet in general, we can reach millions of people instantly, around the globe.
And that’s a good thing.
The problem is, that’s also a bad thing. With that reach comes noise. More noise than most people can handle. So what happens is people become desensitized to all of the messages, ads or not.
So what do you do? The answer: Attention.
‘Blend This Book’ is all about how businesses and brands can generate attention for themselves in ways that don’t often cost a lot of money to do.
But that’s not all… Once you get attention, you have to know how to turn it into a return on investment.
Thank you for taking the time to join me on this journey as the book is being written. I encourage you to add this blog feed to your subscription list. I’ll be posting here along the entire way of writing the book.
I’m also here to ask for your participation. If you have a story about how you or someone else you know used an attention getting technique to drive more sales, leads or publicity, then I want to hear about it. It may even get featured in the book. Click the banner on the right of this page to send in your story.
