Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications

Sunday Morning Coffee - November 29, 2009

Sunday Morning Coffee...it's our way of looking back on the past week and a visit to the future.  Not much in the way of advertising and marketing advice, just a visit between friends. So, pour a cup "joe" and spend a couple of minutes me?  We'll get back to the heavy stuff tomorrow...

Funny what we get so excited about.  Last week a couple crashed a state dinner at the White House and everybody has been covering it like it was some sort of major event.  You have to admit with all the other crazy things going on...this was a little "light".  We thought the interesting thing here was the connection between odd behavior and "reality shows".  It wasn't that long ago the nation was gripped by "The Balloon Boy"...another media driven situation by folks longing for "reality".   Are we really that desperate?

Early reports suggest that US retailers had a pretty good "Black Friday".  News reports from CNN this morning: "Initial reports and projections for Black Friday and the weekend show consumers have been taking advantage of deals on clothing, toys, electronics and entertainment. Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500), Wal-Mart Stores (WMT, Fortune 500), Toys R Us and Amazon.com (AMZN, Fortune 500) are among the companies that are already benefiting.

ShopperTrak, a retail analytic firm, said Black Friday sales were up 0.5% from last year."  Come on lady...get something on...it's cold this weekend!

Last Friday, on my daily business radio show, Insight on Business, I gave you the list of the top ten companies who had created the most on-line and off-line buzz leading up to Black Friday.  All four of the above were included in that list of companies who used media (social and traditional) to drive traffic and buzz.  Oh, that "marketing thingy" again.

Holidays?  Thought you might like to see our African Gray - Miss Kizzy - pondering over who that Turkey Might Be...  "Cousin Tom...is that YOU?"

Hey, are you keeping things simple or are you fond of clutter?  Coming up tomorrow I'll share with you some thoughts about your website.  What you should put on the home page and what you should avoid.  It's based on a study that says the majority of us can only process eight itemsat the same time.    Hmmmmm.....

Could professional hockey come back to Des Moines?  Perhaps if folks listen to some thoughts offered up by former Iowa Stars Hockey president, John Pettit.  I promised not to write about the specifics but...I think he is on to something if the "powers that be" take note.   It's a bold...but exciting plan.

Does "advertising" work in the political spectrum? Duh...  A new Iowa Poll by the Des Moines Register suggests that Iowan's are leaning more conservative than liberal.  This from a state that gave President Obama the big push just two years ago during the Iowa Caucus.  The key?  Perhaps part of the answer is conservative talk radio, both local and syndicated, that has been blasting away at progressives on an hourly basis every day for months.  And, when that is the only drum beat presented...  Does it have an effect?  Nah...

Organic Farming...later this week I'll be headed to the ACRES USA trade show in the Twin Cities on behalf of our client, Calcium Products and NatraTurf.  While we've been in this market for sometime this will be another great opportunity to sit down and study the consumer habits of "green farmers" and how we craft our messages...

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and you are looking forward to the "holiday season" getting into full swing.  Want a projection?  Business in the US just about "shuts down" from December 15th until January 3rd.  So...strike NOW...before folks say, "Let's talk next year."

Thanks for reading and for interacting.  You can follow me on Twitter @MichaelLibbie or @InsightADV and on Facebook we're right here.  And, Insight on Business, a daily 90-minute radio show with a focus on advertising, marketing and consumer trends can be found here, just click and see what we've been up to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Rural Thanksgiving...

Tomorrow most Americans will gather around tables for Thanksgiving.  This week has been full of shopping, cooking, cleaning and getting ready for the "big day".  We, like many of our friends, will also mark the date with as many traditions as we can.

Over the years Thanksgiving has changed from being a day set aside to be thankful for the blessings of a good harvest to simply being, "thankful".  That's not surprising because, today, there are so  many folks that have never had a farming experience.  So, I thought I'd infuse a little "rural thanks"...into Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow the kitchens and dining rooms located in the farm homes and acreages that dot this country will be wild with activity.  Folks will rise early to finish chores and then help where they can to prepare the meal.  There will be chopping, slicing, dicing, pie-baking and mixing.  The houses will smell of fresh bread, sage and pumpkin.  Even if it's cold, windows will be open and the smells and sounds will drift out to the pasture, across the fields and a mile down the road to the next home-place where the activity is just as intense.

And then, at a time agreed upon by the adults in charge, people will make their way, quietly to the place where the meal will be served.  And there they will bow their heads and offer a prayer of gratitude.  And some, looking out the window, will see the images of livestock and field stubble and they will forget the hard work, the bills and the struggle it takes to be in agriculture.  With heads bowed and a sense of pride in their hearts coming from the knowlege that they have fed thousands of others...they will quietly say, "Amen".

Thank you...thank you for what you do.

 

 

Bob Schnell - Thank You...

I attended my first meeting of the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association (FEMA) event back in 1997.   At that time Bob Schnell, the Executive Vice President of FEMA, had already been on the job nearly thirty-years.  Sunday, following a total of forty-one years of service Bob Schnell is retiring.

Over the years he has seen the ebbs and flows of the agricultural machinery manufacturing industry.  He has seen business come and go and some...come and stay.  If Bob Schnell is one thing he is steady.  In my years with FEMA I've not seen him mad...now, that's not to say he's not been...but with Bob he always looks, a little grumpy.

But that, I think, is the exterior.

I'm going to miss sparing with my friend Bob.  Doesn't matter if it's computers, marketing, advertising, social media, politics...Bob and I just don't agree.

But, I honestly like him.  He never waffled on his positions and I've always respected him.

He and his bride, Marcie won't have to fly all over the country to these meetings and events...and in a way, I'll miss that.  While we're stuck in some hotel in some city Bob will be on his boat wondering what store Marcie has selected for her next shopping trip.

Sail on Capitan...have a great retirement.  You know...the offer of a one-way ticket to Des Moines is still out there...we've got a river.

Stepping into the role of Executive Vice President of FEMA will be long time staffer and assistant, Vernon Schmidt (Who, by the way does have some Des Moines ties...;-)

 

 

 

Social Media for FEMA?

Three friends came to Atlanta to tell members of the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association (FEMA) about Social Media.  Roughly 150 business people listened to Willie Vogt of Farm Progress, Tom Flynn and Josh Fleming from Lessing-Flynn , an ad agency in Des Moines, tell them about making sense out of Social Media.

I'm not sure it worked...I'll be able to let you know more following my session with them on Saturday.

I'm not sure it worked because while they were able to talk about it, they failed to show the power of social media.  I'd suggest that many in the audience would like to have you think they are from Missouri, "Show Me".  Show me what it looks like, how it works, how it can put me in touch with others.  Show me what people are saying about farming, farm machinery, farm safety, farmers.  Show me how to use it, show me how to set a Google watch on my company, my name...my future.

Show me...

Part of the overwhelming trouble with doing social media events and having digital generation folks do the event is...a failure to speak the same language.   This event was OK...but I'm not convinced they picked up many disciples.  We'll see...on Saturday.

Thanks for reading...from Atlanta - Michael Libbie - Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications.  Follow us on Twitter @MichaelLibbie or @InsightADV

 

 

Sunday Morning Coffee - October 25

Sunday morning, time to grab a cup of coffee and talk over the events of the past week and look forward a bit to the coming seven days.   Not much advertising and marketing news today...just a visit.

Iowa Wins!  Now THE University of Iowa is 8 - 0 first time in school history.  An exciting final two seconds.  Whew............

Friday I attended an event called Highlight Midwest.  135 business start-ups, entrepreneurs and "tech-geeks" registered for this gathering held at the Des Moines Social Club.  The presenters did their work in small groups with up to four presentations going at the same time.  It was...interesting, grungy, and hopeful.  I went to watch and learn and see what it would be like to be the oldest guy in the room.  And, I was until Senator Chuck Grassley strolled in.  Senator Grassley isn't a stranger to these type of events.  (Twitter in hand he is admired by this group of 30-somethings and I think the feeling is mutual.)  Look for more of these events as young, very bright, people attempt to build technology businesses from...ideas.  One such start-up is Silicon Prairie News - something for the "creative class".

Last week I "went off" on Governor Chet Culver's office.  Here is that story.  This weekend I got to thinking about Michigan. Governor Jennifer Granholm presides over a state with 17% unemployment and a budget train wreck.  It's much worse than Iowa.  Yet, Granholm is "out there" talking to the folks in Michigan and using technology @GovGranholm to reach voters. While her approval rating is hovering around 40% we're thinking her communication efforts keep her from dipping lower.  We'll see, but our wish is that the staff in Governor Culver's office step aside and quit filtering his message.  (Gov. Granholm is not running due to term limits.  I erred in saying she could be re-elected during the radio show on Friday.)

It's all your fault!  Or so hints Electrolux.  The Swedish company is closing two Iowa plants and cutting 850 jobs over the next year.  It seems that YOU are not buying enough washers and dryers so they are closing shop in Iowa and taking the manufacturing to Mexico.   Ahhhh...let's see...so in Mexico they will be making fewer washers and dryers or cheaper washers and dryers?  Won't matter to the 1,850 Iowans who have lost Electrolux jobs since 2006.  Maybe if Iowa workers were paid $10 a day they might stay?  Adios Electrolux...here is the story from the Des Moines Register.

I'm feeling a bit "snarky" this morning...

Is saying, "illegal aliens" hate speech?  That seems to be the notion among many.  "They" tell me we should be saying, "undocumented workers".   But the question remains, "Is the person here legally or illegally?"  Are they "working" or "not working"?  Are they native to this country or "alien" to this country?  I'm no "Rush" fan...but can somebody explain this to me?  Honest...I'd like to try to understand.

Tax groceries?  In Iowa there is no tax on groceries.  Some have suggested a 1% tax on food would, in a matter of months, correct the state's budget deficit.  Others have suggested Iowa should bring back "touch play" gambling, something the state pulled the plug on two years ago after the machines were placed nearly everywhere other than high school hallways.  Of the two...we'd opt for groceries.  But, it is an election year so expect more inaction than action.

Gotta leave on a positive note... 

This coming week a flurry of activity prior to heading to Atlanta for the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association Fall Meeting.  During a new session we'll be there to help members understand, sign up and start to use social media.  Should be fun.

Speaking of social media you can keep up with us by using Twitter - @MichaelLibbie or @InsightADV for those of you in the rural world we also monitor @RuralLifeRadio.  A quick reminder of our daily business radio show, Insight on Business part of Des Moines Local...LIVE and on the air Monday - Friday starting at 12:30PM Central.

Thanks for reading...let's' stay in touch?

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Sunday Morning Coffee - October 11

Sunday Morning, a great time to grab a cup of coffee and visit.  Not alot of advertising and marketing advice just a brief look at the past week and the items coming up.  So, grab a cup of "Joe" and spend some time over "Sunday Morning Coffee".

Move over New York and Hollywood...the World Food Prize event comes to Des Moines this Wednesday.  A decade ago about 150 people attended.  This year there will be 800 folks from all over the plant in Iowa to discuss ending hunger and award people like Gebisa Ejata from Purdue and recognize folks like Bill Gates for he and Melinda's gifts of $1.4 billion to the cause.  Here is the article from the Des Moines Register.  It's big stuff.

Speaking of the Des Moines Register, I caught this scene last week on the way to the radio station for our business show, Insight on Business.  Just 100 yards down the Skywalk was this booth with a couple of cheery Register staffers giving out papers and hawking subscriptions.  In a way it was like the return of the old news stand...we'll that's a stretch...but they were where the people gather.  It's said that some 16,000 people a day walk these halls.  Another reason we located Des Moines Local...LIVE (our radio station) in this area.

This past week President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize and that has had my conservative friends in a froth.  In talking about it yesterday, I'm of the opinion it has more to do with "hope" than anything else.  It also puts a ton of pressure on.  We'll see...   Oh, it also snowed here this past week!  SNOW in Des Moines before the middle of October!  One wag suggested that both of these events are somehow connected to....the end of the world.

The federal trial of Shalom Rubashkin is set to begin this week in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  Rabbi Rubashkin, until a federal raid, managed Agriprocessors of Postville, Iowa the nation's largest kosher meat facility.  Over the past year I've visited with Shalom many, many times...he often is in Des Moines and when here attends services at Beth El Jacob.  Is he guilty of what the feds say he done to rack up 1,950 years in prison?  I don't know...but the way he has been tried in the media would make you think he is some sort of a monster.   He's not...  He is a very devoutly religious person who is both kind and smart.  At least that's the view from here.  We'll see.  The trial is scheduled to last four to six weeks.  Here is the latest article from the Des Moines Register and writer Grant Schulte.

On Monday I get to be in Creston, Iowa doing a seminar on social media for Iowa State Savings Bank.  We were contacted by Karla Hynes to come and spend the Columbus Day morning teaching groups of employees about the impact social media has had, and will have, on business.   I love teaching and as you know we were early adopters of social media at a time when many ad agencies thought Technorati Tag was something Japanese kids did on the playground.   This will be fun...and I'm looking forward to the adventure.  (And it means that I'll not be hosting the radio show on Monday...still working on a guest host.)

Speaking of Creston, my friend Angela Maiers has been teaching teachers there for several weeks.  She is amazing...and if you are school board or school administrator and want to put some extra zing into teaching...make contact with her.  She gets it.  The lifelong learning thing you know...

Speaking about schools...did you hear about the Van Meter School District and the jump they are giving their students when it comes to technology.  Rather than putting money in bricks and morter they are spending $600,000 on technology.  The school of the future?  Here is the story.

Hey, it's nearly 7 gotta get this out.  Thanks for reading and responding.  Enjoy your Sunday!

Michael P. Libbie - Insight Advertising,  Marketing & Communications where you can keep up with us on Twitter - @MichaelLibbie or @InsightADV.  Facebook?  Sure...here is the personal page and the FAN PAGE for Insight.  Let's connect.

 

 

 

 

The "Media" - Too Little - Too Late

There are lots of old sayings that "say it".  "Well, the horse is out of the barn." or "You can't put the genie back in the bottle."  Or in this case...  "It's not the pigs you idiot!"

In the rush to whip the planet into hysteria the media clung to a CDC statement early in the H1N1 frenzy that this new strain of flu had some traits associated with "swine flu". 

And the world went nuts.  Zoos (Baghdad) killed their wild boars,  Egypt ordered the slaughter of all 300,000 head of hogs in the country.  This week China...that paragon of virtue (melamine in dog food, lead in paint...) banned the import of US pork.  It seems they and Russia and others "think" humans can contract H1N1 by eating the stuff.  Meanwhile, according to Bill Northey the Secretary of Agriculture for Iowa this panic is costing US pork producers $2 million...a day.

And...the media?  With eyes wide open and in their best Eddie Haskell voice say, "Who?  Us?  We were just reporting."

Hogwash...

But, is there the rush to correct the story?  No.  Oh, to be sure there was, here in Des Moines, an article in the Des Moines Register on May 6th by the farm editor an impact story...but the article didn't carry the same excitement and weight as bold headlines declaring a national pandemic caused by hogs.

Too little....too late for pork producers that have already seen tough times in the markets.  Too little too late to impact world view.  Too little too late...when just yesterday in an ABC radio news program there was yet another mention of "swine flu"..somebody just didn't get the memo.

Meanwhile the "anti-meat" crowd is loving it.  Bloggers are having a field day pushing the story and the false link:  "Meat...kills!"

So little guys like us write about it or we'll do radio interviews about the truth...  But it's a big hill to climb.  One that is littered with the rush to sell papers and spin audience numbers...after all it's rating season.  A little more help here folks?

Michael P. Libbie - Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications  Follow us on Twitter @MichaelLibbie or our radio show @RuralLifeRadio  our site:  www.InsightCubed.com

 

Marketing Hysteria

Going grocery shopping...in Iowa now takes on a whole new meaning.  Today at the local Hy-Vee there are bottles of hand sanitizer at every check out lane.  When checking out I asked, "So, what's the deal?"  The young, cheery teenage girl behind the counter said, "Why, it's to help keep you well so you won't get sick while grocery shopping!"  The equally young man bagging the groceries looked at me and rolled his eyes.  The young lady said, "What?  You are not scared to death over this swine flu deal?"  Soon are we to see shoppers dressed...well, a little more...covered as they stroll the meat section?   Sort of like our daughter and her friend (above) modeling the latest in Summer Evening Wear.

I'll take my chances...

Meanwhile in that enlightened country we've had the pleasure of occupying for what...five years...Iraqi zoo officials killed three wild boars.  "It was a precautionary measure.", said the zoo director.

Sort of like the enlightened country of Egypt where every hog in the country was ordered killed last week.  We couldn't make this stuff up if we wanted.  Here is the story.

And Sunday morning, on the Kim Komando radio show, the "digital goddess" must have said, "Swine Flu" twenty times in a lead up to her story about how crooks are now online claiming to have a cure and/or an advance treatment just in case you come in contact with the disease.  Gosh, don't let the gang at Hy-Vee get a hold of that message.  I can see it now...  "Attention shoppers, now in isle 5...."

Never mind that H1N1 is not transmitted from hog to human.  Never mind that more people die from the "regular flu" each year than have been sickened this time out.  Never mind that there is no "advance treatment".  Never mind that this issue has put another nail in hog production in places like...gulp...Iowa.

Marketing Hysteria is big business...

Michael P. Libbie - Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications where we shake our heads in amazement most days. www.InsightCubed.com or follow us on Twitter @MichaelLibbie

 

 

Ken Sherman On Bicycle Safety & Rural Road Rage?

Some of you know I do a weekly radio show, Highway 6 - Your Road to the Country.  This past Sunday we had a discussion about bicycles, rural roads and safety.  It's interesting to see how much press this issue has received.  We thought we'd post that twenty minute interview here so folks outside of our rural lifestyle forum can pick it up.

You can click here for the interview portion of the show.

Our conversation is with Ken Sherman (you can click here to hear just that interview) an avid bicyclist in Iowa.  We learned that "avid" means riding 20+ miles a day starting in January!   Ken who was hit by a vehicle this past March knows of the safety issues and the disregard by many vehicle drivers toward cyclists.  He and 500+ other riders (above) made their way to the Iowa State Capital this past Wednesday to call attention to the legislature's failure to pass SF 117 put forth by Senator Bill Dotzler of Waterloo, Iowa and managed by Senator Joe Bolkcom of Iowa City.  The Bill passed the Senate but stalled out in the Iowa House where it appears House Majority Leader, Pat Murphy, allowed it to die in committee.

And, all of this in the state that hosts the largest annual cycle event in the nation, RAGBRAI.  We're confused too..  Especially when you learn the cost to the state is...zero.

In this interview Ken (Center between Brian Duffy and Kim West who also spoke a the rally) suggests that it is a Rural / Urban issue and we talk about how the Iowa / Nebraska Farm Equipment Dealers Association made a decision to not support the bill (due to "problems of moving farm machinery") to the continued anti-bicycle crusade by the Iowa League of Counties and David Vestal whom we're referenced before regarding bike events in Dallas & Hardin Counties.

Was it a party-line vote or Rural vs. Urban?  We'll let you decide...but one thing, we think, is clear...these folks are not going away this time and in memory of the seven cyclists killed in 2007 and the dozens hurt by vehicle / bicycle collisions this debate is far from over.

Highway 6 Your Road to the Country is heard each Sunday morning at 8am Central on 983wowfm.

Michael P. Libbie - Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications - Thanks for coming by.  You can keep up with us on Twitter @MichaelLibbie or head to our advertising agency website.  www.InsightCubed.com

 

FEMA in Phoenix

This past week the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association () met for their Spring Conference. It was held in the very nice Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort near Phoenix.   For those of you who expect lots of advertising and marketing information on this blog...well, this time you'll not find it.  We just want to share with you some photos of the event.  (All the photos will enlarge when you click on them.)  Some people who were having a great time, learning and building the machinery that keeps food on the tables of the world.

These photos are no different than any other association event in any part of the country.  We understand that you may think it's a little strange to take up time to post photos of folks you don't know. 

But, it's more than that.  These few photos are of people working to build, feed and enjoy.  They are photos of second, third and fourth generation "shed builders".  Folks, who are the sons and daughters, grand-sons and grand-daughters of pioneers in agricultural equipment.

And, whenever you start taking and posting photos it's bound that we'll forget some folks.  Or we just can't post photos because people objected. 

It's not our intent to upset anybody...but it is our goal to show some common hard working folks enjoying themselves...while they work to find better ways to feed the world.

Enjoy.. 

Michael P. Libbie - Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications where we're just pleased to be part of the movement. www.Insightcubed.com