Let’s face it: going green is here to stay.

Most have joined the eco-bandwagon, somehow incorporating green living into their ultra busy lives. Whether it’s a simple change like composting or an extreme decision like installing solar panels on their roofs, people are obsessed with reducing their carbon footprint. Unlike most fads, green living has been incorporated into everything from music to packaging to cars. What’s not to love about organic food packaged in a recycled box, an electric car or using recycled energy from the sun to power a house? There are millions of products out there devoted to giving new life to any endeavor. You don’t have an excuse not to go green.

Eco-friendly living isn’t just to enhance your personal life. In today’s economy, companies need more substantial initiatives that both explain their business objectives perfectly and connect with a broader audience – one that will notice green practices. Well, businesses are in luck. Tradeshows have gone green…in a big way.

In the music industry, band tours have continued to be eco-unfriendly because of the amount of energy and resources needed to transport entourages cross-country. Tradeshows – thankfully – are starting to encourage responsible practices as they pertain to the event.Think about what goes into exhibiting at and attending one of these events:

Materials for booths and supporting graphics are shipped across the country.
Business executives may fly first class, stay in expensive hotels and eat extravagant meals.
Thousands of promotional items are ordered and given away at tradeshows – most of which are thrown away once attendees return home.
Brochures and business cards are printed on expensive paper.

This all adds up to a ridiculous amount of energy…and your business may still go unnoticed.

Things have changed. Going green during tradeshows is becoming more common. (And Greenbuild isn’t the only event supporting best eco-friendly practices.) Put a skip in your company’s step by following these eco-friendly suggestions to marketing home products:

• Go digital. You most likely travel with your computer. Utilize it at the tradeshow by pairing with a flat screen TV. Display information about your company, collect e-mail addresses, run contests and gather information. You’ll not only save paper, but your booth goers will have less to haul around.

• Recycle differently. Offer people a way to offset their carbon footprint by strategically placing both a trashcan and a recycling bin at your booth. Your booth will be the talk of the convention, and you may even save a tree or two.

• Eco-section your booth. Devote a section of your booth to environmental education. Outline the ways your company has gone green by offering a fun quiz that engages potential clients.

• Carpooling. Offer carpooling to the friends, family and clients you know will be attending and visiting your booth.

• Biodiesel Fueling Coordination. Work with a production team and drivers to arrange biodiesel fueling from local and sustainable stock.

• Catering. Coordinate eco-friendly food choices, including locally-sourced organic food, green cleaning supplies and more.

• Green Swag. Purchase green giveaways such as grocery store bags, pens made from recycled materials, or even seed packets for gardening. Even if the items get thrown away, they won’t spend years in a landfill.

If your business is practicing sustainability, reinforce it by showcasing green messages at your booth this year. Going green will get your company noticed by painting a brighter picture of your business objectives. Hey…you may even gain a few unexpected clients.

Lessons Learned from an Unforgettable Band

It’s not everyday that marketing efforts are deemed highly successful. Moreover, it’s not often that branding that breaks away from tradition is applauded.

Think about the corporate environment where using the wrong logo is frowned upon and letterhead is used for everything. Although conformational marketing has its merits, creativity is the key to getting any brand noticed. Can the two coexist? Of course! Creativity juxtaposes with strict corporate guidelines all the time. It’s the brands that think way outside of the box that only rarely see success. But when they do, the experience is more than memorable.

The Grateful Dead is one such brand with improvisation translating to more than just their music. From posters and newsletters to album covers and logos, the Grateful Dead did more to spruce up their brand than most, often changing their swag from album to album and even concert to concert. While others bands were sticking to a comfortable norm, the Grateful Dead’s nonchalant attitude and carefree approach to marketing shined, proving that spur-of-the-moment marketing can work.

As marketers, we have a few things to learn from the Dead. Chief among them? Letting go.

Have you ever worked at a place where the branding guide was bigger than a dictionary? Too often companies strictly manage the way logos and even specifically-coded hexadecimal company colors are used. Now, this isn’t a bad thing, but regulations do have the tendency to suppress creativity…leaving companies on the safe side.

Besides their music, unforgettable and interchangeable artwork is what the Grateful Dead is known for. Skulls, dancing bears, skeletons and roses adorned everything from T-shirts to posters, yet the difference was the way they were used. Variations created an excitement about the band that far exceeded anyone’s expectations – even the members themselves. Fans never knew what to expect, but could recognize the Grateful Dead’s branding from a mile away. Using the same elements in different ways put the Dead in a unique and cool place.

One of the best things the band did was to allow and even encourage fans to make bootleg recordings of live concerts. Because each recording provided a unique experience, society became curious, which lead to greater interest and ultimately higher ticket sales. This is similar to a phenomenon happening today: musicians are encouraging fans to download their music for free instead of buying it digitally or in stores because they understand that giving away the experience leads to more interest.

It’s no surprise that the Grateful Dead’s vibrant and colorful approach to marketing earned them a prominent place in American pop culture. Even after the band’s split in 1995, merchandise and records continue to sell like hotcakes. What can this teach you about your marketing? While still maintaining control over your brand, try welcoming new ideas to loosen it up. Add a new color to your log or let customers create videos reflecting their own personal experiences with your company.

Our agency, for example, is working on a “brand” new (get it?) look for our website as we speak. I’ve taken some hints from the Grateful Dead by incorporating slight differences in our logo, color choices and content on the new site…yet it stays true to who we are as marketers of home products and is still recognizable as the K&A brand.

I’d love to hear how others have enhanced their brand by “letting go.” I’m willing to bet a little creative leeway allowed your brand’s personality to sparkle.

Many say that the sense of smell is the most powerful sense at recalling memories and emotions.  A few months ago, we wrote a blog discussing smell as a current marketing tool and used in new ways to market home products.

Well, it looks like Scent Marketing is being utilized on a much larger scale in North Carolina, where drivers can actually get a whiff of a charcoal and black pepper-scented billboard advertising beef for a local Food Lion grocery store.

Read the article here:

http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/food-trends/billboard-north-carolina-aroma/

Most men – at least the ones I know – have a special space they call their own, whether it’s a basement with a flat screen TV, a peaceful office, a garage with a never-ending supply of tools or even a motorcycle for joyriding. Most often deemed the “man cave,” men designate a household area as their space and let the testosterone flow.

The man cave is where men can truly be themselves – loud, macho and simple. Crude even. The cave provides a kind of vacation from chaotic life. I hesitate to say, but this includes a nagging wife, barking dog and screaming kids. It’s true: the man cave is the key to every man’s sanity.

Google “man cave” and variations of the same idea appear on the screen: extravagant rooms with pool tables and home theaters, ideas for masculine decoration and videos outlining the tools and techniques for building the ultimate man cave.

What if the idea of a macho space was created for something usually marketed toward women? Chrysler has done just that with the “man van,” a special (manly) version of the Dodge Grand Caravan.

Chrysler's "Man Van" prototype

Rumored to hit dealerships within the next couple of months, the man van will feature a slightly sportier look with a snazzy black-and-gray interior trim accented with hot-colored stitching on the seats and steering wheel. Besides an effort to make many old vehicles feel new because of sluggish sales, Chrysler hopes to help men overcome the highly feminine stigma surrounding the minivan. With the man van, dads can feel more comfortable toting the kids to school or picking up groceries.

Beyond the cool factor of the man van, what’s even more interesting is the fact that Chrysler is marketing a minivan for men. With most minivans focused on sliding doors, the driving experience and convenience, Chrysler’s man van is the first of its kind in the marketplace with others not far behind. Honda Motor Co. is already planning to launch a sleeker “athletic” design for the Odyssey.

Looking back at our “Missing Males White Paper,” which states that males are virtually ignored in the household marketplace in terms of product development and marketing, the man van goes beyond the norm. Will it gain the attention of the modern-day man? Or will it be seen as joke? I personally see the man van as a bit cheesy, but hope this could be the start of more household product marketing geared toward men.

Although Chrysler and Dodge have declined to comment on the man van, dealers of Chrysler have said that the man van will turn heads. For the minivan-driving man, the man van is just what he needs to claim his on-the-go space.

Many companies can, quite easily, describe their brand and what it stands for.  These descriptions, however, can become too long to be effective.  Is it possible to describe your brand in less than a minute? What about 30 seconds? In a post discussing the importance of keeping your “elevator pitch” short and sweet, Michael Gass provides a few tips for selling your most valuable assets here.

I gave my two cents a couple months ago when asked to be a guest blogger on 1-to-1 Media. Here’s my take on the challenge:

The Right Elevator Pitch Gives Your Brand a Lift

The average elevator ride is 30 seconds. Even in the Empire State Building it is possible to ride from the lobby to the 80th floor in 45 seconds. That’s plenty of time to send a quick message on your iPhone or finish half of the overpriced, large nonfat, no whip, caramel latte. But is it enough time to deliver a strong, concise brand pitch to a potential business partner? It should be.

Whether you’re trying to promote your brand, interest a customer in your services, or grab the attention of a reporter, having a strong elevator pitch is critical to a company’s success. Like its name implies, an elevator pitch can be delivered in the time it takes to share an elevator ride with a prospect. For this reason it’s important to not think of your pitch as a traditional speech resulting in a signed contract and round of applause. Instead, it serves as an engaging jumpstart for an ongoing dialogue of indefinite length. Then, the quality of your compelling content can close the deal for you.

Below are five tips for creating an effective elevator hook:

Include the three pitch essentials:
It must contain the benefit that is most important to your audience, be specifically tailored to meet the needs and solve the pain points for your audience, and contain emotional appeal, since emotion is often remembered even when intellectual information and facts have been forgotten.

Determine your unique selling proposition:
Competition is inevitable for every company. Separating your brand from the pack is what creates the bulk of the hook. “I own a marketing company” doesn’t hold a candle to “I own a marketing company that has more than 20 years of proven success in positioning homebuilding and remodeling products as industry leaders.” Don’t be afraid to let them know how and why you are different, and why your unique capabilities will turn into an opportunity for them.

Embrace simplicity:
Avoid the Walt Whitman approach to writing and keep it simple. Time is precious, both yours and your audience’s, so respect that and only hit the highlights.

Keep it fresh:
Even after the perfect pitch is developed, your job is not over. Savvy businesses grow and change, and your pitch must follow suit. As your audience’s needs and expectations change, make sure you change the way you speak about your business. The language of your pitch, your approach, and what you choose to highlight for a particular audience must change over time.

Practice makes perfect:
The perfect concise, emotional, unique, and simple pitch is created. Congratulations! Now it’s time to practice it. Distribute the pitch to your entire team. It’s a great brand refresher for everyone. Since each pitch should be unique, memorizing the pitch is often not the best approach, but knowing the key messages inside and out ensures brand consistency and effectiveness.

This form of pitch is an ace in your pocket, and one of the most versatile messaging tools a company can have. Next time you find yourself in an elevator with a prospective client, instead of passing the time idling, you will be ready.

While at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference in San Francisco a couple weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to sit down with my favorite radio hosts, James and Morris Carey. They asked me to fill them in on new and innovative products from the show, many of which focused on energy saving and sustainability. Below is a little bit about the products and companies that stood out above the rest, as well as the audio clip of my time on On the House.

One really great thing I saw was a new lighting technology by Halo. Halo has introduced LED luminaries that save both energy and money by conserving electricity and having a longer life.

Eternal makes a hybrid water heater that conserves energy, and can save you money on your monthly water bill.

Several companies explored the great outdoors with products perfect for outdoor living:

Danver Stainless Steel Cabinetry introduced its Wood-Fired Pizza Oven, charcoal fire grill and smoker, and infrared grill, all made for outdoor cooking.

Belgard exhibited a ready-made outdoor fireplace that can literally be dropped on a patio with a forklift.

Fire Rock also makes a line of outdoor fire places that can be easily installed using a simple kit.

You can “build green” with Nichiha’s fiber cement. This cement is both water and insect resistant, and the factory even recycles its water when making their products.

I found these products to be quite impressive and revolutionary, and expect their popularity to rise  in home building.

“On the House” with the Carey Brothers

Have we gone too far?

A 1978 Virginia Slims magazine ad reads, “Back then, every man gave his wife at least one day a week out of the house.” The ad depicts two very different women: a black and white photograph shows a woman in an apron hanging laundry outside while the other image illustrates a beautifully modern woman showing a little skin in a colorful, flowing dress. The ad continues, “You’ve come a long way, baby.” With feministic undertones, the ad is just one example of a campaign dedicated to the independence, glamour and liberation of women – worlds away from cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children. It illustrates a woman who is free, happy, and most importantly, unattached.

The Virginia Slims campaign, although not the first of its kind, helped pave the way for a critical change in the relationship between men and women, especially in marketing. The past few decades have been a transfer of women gaining authority in the marketplace. Today, role reversal is extremely common in marketing and advertising with many brands opening the door to women in a man’s world of sex, power and money. The surprising part is that women are coming out on top.

It’s no secret that women are powerful shoppers. Did you know they are responsible for 80 percent of all household purchasing decisions? With such a striking statistic, it’s not surprising that a great focus is directed toward women when it comes to marketing, advertising and the media.

How many ads can you think of that directly target men?  Of those,  do you think the modern man is fairly represented? It has been said that men are portrayed as indifferent, egocentric and self-indulgent. We discuss the role of men in the marketplace (or lack thereof) extensively in our Missing Males White Paper. The research here summarizes the idea that marketers and the media depict a man’s role in the household either negatively or not at all.

Today, not only do we notice the “missing male,” but we see a complete role reversal that changes the male / female dynamic even further.  Women are now portrayed as individuals with male characteristics – powerful, dominant and influential – while men are unexpectedly feminine, slave-like or illustrated as sex objects.

A current example of a brand taking advantage of role reversal is Xanté liqueur. With a racy slogan, “Unimaginable Pleasure – Oral Delight from the Country of Europe,” Xanté specifically targets women with sexually charged copywriting and controversial ads. The liqueur itself is described using words like affection, touch, penetration, and ménage a trios, but one phrase sticks out like a sore thumb: “The Golden Age of Women.” It’s ironic, yet playful and fun. The ads are the real catch with women leading sports in which you’d typically only see men participating – hunting, rowing, sledding, and cricket. In each ad, the men are very robotic, playing the role of dogs, servants and even objects.

Xante advertisement

It’s obvious that the women are in charge. The men are just their toys.

Take a look at this recent Marc Jacobs ad. I’ve taken the liberty of transforming the word “bimbo” into “HIMbo” when discussing the role reversal of men and women in marketing and advertising. This himbo fits the mold:

"himbo"

There’s been a 30 – 40 year transfer in how men and women are portrayed. It’s as if they swapped roles completely. Has it gone too far? I’m all for independent and strong women – both in the workplace and at home – and respect the necessary and long-awaited advances made in decades past.

But have the tables turned too drastically, where men lose credibility?

Do the media know they have created a true battle of the sexes? Maybe, but women have officially taken off their aprons to show what they’re really capable of: conquering anything a man can do. From leadership roles and strong opinions to successful careers and sports, women have come a long way (baby).

What would it look like to integrate social media more with marketing home products?

Diesel jeans, the makers of ludicrously expensive denim for the 18-25 year-old market, recently used Facebook as part of an interesting branding initiative –customers try on clothes at the store, and if they like the look, they can get a picture snapped of them in the new garb at one of the company’s photo-booth style kiosks. People can even log in to their Facebook account from there for instant photo posting to their wall. Finally, friends can “like” or comment on their friend’s purchase (example comment: “You’re spending HOW much on those?”).

I think it’s a great idea – you have a tech-savvy and designer-label-craving audience built for you in the Millennials (or Gen-Y, whichever you prefer).

Though each person is a unique snowflake, generally, as a whole, this generation would think nothing of sharing shopping preferences or a great butt shot with hundreds of digital acquaintances.

So would this generation share its home buying and product selecting just as freely as they would with retail decisions? You bet. According to the NAHB, Millennials are buying homes earlier than previous generations. They are also buying before getting married and are willing to buy higher density/smaller homes. And they’re checking out homes online and reaching out for opinions to boot.

There are already a few software tools dedicated to helping consumers either buy or rehab an existing home. Sherwin-Williams, Benjamin Moore and Behr all have iPhone-capable applications for color selection. Colorjive, Colorcharts.org and Smart Draw (links below) are great tools for creating, but not necessarily for sharing. You’ll have to manually share your creations – none of them have an instant “share” button like the Diesel Jeans kiosk.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see home product marketing take this turn in the not-so-distant future. After all, it seems as though the missing piece is simply a share button.

Check out a review of the Diesel process here: http://www.convinceandconvert.com/facebook/do-you-like-how-i-look-in-these-jeans/.

Colorjive
Colorjive is a fun tool. Users have to create an account, and then you can upload a photo of your house, play around with the selection tools, and then save up to three different versions for free (paid version is much, much more dynamic). It’s not a precise tool (so you won’t generate color codes needed to hop on over to your nearest big box) but you can an idea of what your house will look like in only minutes.

Colorcharts.org
The CBN Color Selector on Colorcharts.org is a complex and powerful software program that lets you visualize the appearance of thousands of colors. Like the color? You can instantly generate the precise CBN code so you can order the color mix from the big box or a dealer right away. The really cool part is that you can test out colors on different surfaces as well – colors will look different on stucco than they will on wood, after all! 30-day trial is offered for free.

Smart Draw
Smart Draw is another deep, powerful program that also keeps its eye out for those of us who might not be a structural engineer. SD has quick-load templates, dozens of house/room/floorplan designs and ready-made renderings of furniture, appliances, fixtures, wiring, plumbing, HVAC, landscaping, and more. Best of all, if you need help, they have free tech support.

A report from the 2010 Hospitality Design Expo

Both Dorothy Gale and the hospitality industry know there is no place like home.  The furniture, lighting, carpeting, wall décor and other furnishings for hotels, restaurants, clubs and yachts exhibited at last month’s Hospitality Design Expo would not look out of place in your own home. (And heaven knows that Dorothy needs to refurbish her Kansas abode after what the tornado did to it.)

Exhibitors at HD Expo don’t try to be fashion forward, as they do at the High Point furniture market. Unlike the residential furniture shows, where makers introduce new styles every six months, HD Expo manufacturers admit their hotel lines are followers of (residential) trends, not leaders.

At High Point, exhibitors introduce lines, furniture buyers place orders and goods are delivered six months hence. At HD Expo, exhibitors are not writing orders. Rather, they are showing off their capabilities. They all offer custom programs to the big hotel chains and independent operators.

If not leading the trend, exhibitors do at least try to stay on trend. They find their design inspiration from the world around them, including New Orleans cemeteries, the Sistine Chapel, menswear and nature itself.

“Maintenance” and “durability” are words heard frequently at the show. The products will be replaced long before they wear out. A typical carpet installation lasts five to seven years; when property owners replace it, it’s because it looks dated, not because it’s worn out.

Durability continues to make even bigger strides in the textile category, especially with products such as Sta Kleen used in CF Stinson, Kravet Contract and Scott Fabrics.

Printed carpets were highly touted at the show. Manufacturers take any image or pattern and essentially inkjet it on a background. This is a more economical solution for them because they don’t have to invest in yarns and keep inventory.

Textiles, rugs, carpet and wallcoverings have all been inspired by color and high-contrast concepts.  Splashes of color, graphic patterns and color details are popping up in both small- and large-scale patterns.  Patterns are bolder yet modern while remaining quite sophisticated.

Vendors of residential-grade furniture make their goods ready for heavy use in hotels and restaurants by reinforcing joints and using commercial-rated foam in the seat cushions.  Similarly, companies such as Baker have done an exquisite job of taking the inside outside with outdoor furniture.  Styles from their garden chair category are well-made and use rich, warm and bold colors.

The hospitality industry is following its residential brethren by licensing famous designers. Thom Filicia created a line of carpeting for Shaw, Jamie Drake does faucets for THG and Stacy Garcia’s name is attached to wallcoverings, carpeting and other goods. I’m not sure this has value for hotel guests unless property owners tout those names.

Besides home furnishings, HD Expo exhibitors showed personal-care amenities; faucets and showerheads; in-room room safes; bathrobes; and everything else a hotelier needs.

Of course, “Eco-friendly,” “Green” and “Recycled” are becoming more commonly-used words in the hospitality market. From green countertops made from 75 percent recycled material or furniture made with wood harvested from sustainable forests, this category is become more chic than ever.

Finally, guests just might feel at home if their hotel participates in one of the contract programs offered by national retailers. At this show, Design Within Reach launched a contract program, something Restoration Hardware has been offering for several years. A third chain, Bed Bath & Beyond, also has a hospitality program.

From 9:30 a.m .to 4 p.m. exhibitors were all business. But at 4 o’clock, they set up bars and happy hour began, continuing until the hall closed at 5 p.m. The final 60 minutes of the day were about networking over a cool cocktail. And why not? This is, after all, a hospitality show.

Gen-Y: The Crystal Ball

On MediaPost Publications’ “Marketing Daily” Scott Galloway, New York University Stern clinical associate professor of marketing, calls Gen-Yers a ‘crystal ball’ when it comes to predicting a brand’s long-term success. Some names that top the list? Chanel, Cartier and, not surprisingly, BMW and Audi. So how do we in the home building industry reach this massive audience? In the retail realm, believe it or not, the physical retail store and print publications still hold sway. Read more at:  http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=127529

Gen-Y to Bring Another Boom?

According to Consumer Specialist Ric Romero, If there is going to be another housing boom it may be because of Generation Y. Those are the people born between 1982 and 1995 and there are about 75 million of them…far outnumbering the first “Baby Boomers.”  To quote Steve Ruffener, President of KB Homes, “They’re really focused on not having rules and not being told how they can live.”

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/consumer&id=7425318