Attitude Adjustment

Having spent most of my twenties being a professional student I fully understand the concept of being a number. Now here I am at the ripe age of 30 doing everything in my power to not be a number and stand out in a crowd – professionally that is. I am not interested in the paparazzi following me but I am entrepreneurial and am very excited to build business, grow my career and take some risks!
Some of the suppliers I work with who stand out in my mind and will always have my loyalty are what I like to refer to as “just get it done” people. They possess an attitude that make me feel at ease to work with because no matter what I know they will just get it done – no unnecessary questions asked!
This is the attitude I strive to achieve every day. I am a solution provider and will do everything in my power to help my clients achieve success in their job.
As per my last blog I am very intrigued, excited perhaps even a little nervous about what the New Economy will bring.
I think the new economy is going to bring a shift in attitude…for the better. Here are my top 3 predictions of what this shift of attitude will bring. I think the next two years are crucial. It is sink or swim time. It is time to get positive, work together and stop being a victim of the recession. Most of us felt some pain over, but now we have to get over it and learn from the past and do it better than before!
1. Knowledge is Power. More than ever I think many people are realizing how important it is to be in the know, hence the popularity of Social Media. I use Tweetdeck and at any one time I can browse through the updates and see what is going on in the world, from which celebrity is having a baby to the latest traffic problem in Toronto. People don’t trust the world like they once did and why would they when folks like Bernie Madoff are making headlines? In addition, we have an unlimited amount of knowledge (some true and some not so much) at our finger tips called the World Wide Web. The more we know and the more we learn the better we become at who we are and at what we do. Knowledge is power.
2. The demise of the “Me” Attitude. For so long I think many of us would ask the question what can you do for me? Now the question is or should be what can I do for you?
Now more than ever companies need to work as one cohesive unit – lending a helping hand when possible and most importantly being gracious for the help offered. My CV is fairly extensive in regards to the type of companies I have worked at. I have done everything from family business to large corporations to working in a medium sized business internationally to small business to owning my own business and the one commonality in all these settings is the difficulty of getting everyone on the same page to work towards the goals of the company which will lead and should lead to success all around.
From building strategic alliances to a cohesive unit requires a lot of communication and a lot of energy. This now more than ever is what is going to keep companies strong and growing forcefully into the future. Working as a team and adding value as a teammate is key.
3. Where’s the loyalty? Growing up in a business house my father engrained in us that in order to have success you had to have loyalty. I believe a large portion of loyalty died a few years back. Anyone who has been in business twenty plus years will say that times are different – there’s no loyalty. Just wait though; I believe LOYALTY is making a comeback. Loyalty is the new black!
Companies need loyal employees to keep them running strong, they need loyal clients to keep them financially afloat, they need loyal suppliers to help them out when they are in a bind and in return they must reciprocate the loyalty.
So what do my predictions about the shift in attitude for the new economy have to do with ideavation and me PromoGirlTO???
We boldly call ourselves Solution Providers and it is a big title to tackle. Being a young business we have and will continue to experience growing pains. However, we may be small but we are mighty.
As mentioned I spent my twenties being a professional student and also working a lot of random jobs. I know how important it is to be knowledgeable. I also know the work involved to stand out in a crowd. The words “I don’t know” do not exist in my vocabulary. If I don’t know – I quickly find out and this is also the attitude we practice at ideavation. Anyone can answer a question with “I don’t know” but the difference between us and them is if we don’t know – we quickly find out.
We are always seeking out new knowledge. A supplier cannot cross our path without being bombarded with industry questions, we subscribe and read industry publications, we attend tradeshows within our industry as well as related industries, and we are just “out there” learning what we can from what is happening around us.
We are the Promotional Marketing experts and want our clients to benefit from our knowledge. That is what we can do for you! To even further our loyalty to our clients and our business we are in the process of developing educational seminars. Our goal is to educate you – the buyer – to help inform you on smarter buying decisions, new trends as well as provide you an opportunity to ask as many questions as you want. This is our commitment to growing your success within your organization and our commitment to growing our partnerships with our clients.
Till next time.
4ever livin’n UR brand,

PromoGirlTO
(Follow me on twitter)

Irish Spring Gets It Right!

Once upon a time traditional media - TV, radio, print and outdoor billboard advertising - were regarded as the foundation for any marketing campaign. Promotional Products were simply giveaways tacked on to a media buy as an afterthought - but not any more. In a down economy, the demand for marketing dollars accountability is forcing marketers to explore nontraditional media and mediums. Promotional Products are just the answer. Promotional Products are tangible. Buyers can see what they get for their money. The more you can influence the emotions of a prospect, the better you are positioned. Promotional products do just that! They are more effective than other media because they excite the senses.

Yesterday afternoon I was on my way to the Air Canada Centre to see the Toronto Raptors play the Utah Jazz. Even though it was a Sunday I had my marketing cap on. I have to give accolades to the brand manager at Colgate who is responsible for Irish Spring. On the corner of Bay and Front Street there was an Irish Spring Street Team doing product sampling. The team members were well branded with hats, jackets and sampling bags and were handing out sample sizes of Irish Spring Body Wash.
Now on the surface this seemed like any other traditional sampling opportunity. The difference however is that Irish Spring sponsors the Raptors Dance Pak (http://www.nba.com/raptors/features/dancepak0809.html). By using the sampling opportunity as a first point of contact with the potential consumer and then reinforcing it with their involvement in the Dance Pak it only helped to better position itself in the consumer's mind. I mentioned this experience to a colleague of mine who has been to numerous Raptor games this year and she had no idea that Irish Spring was the sponsor. I bet you that if she got a sample yesterday and then went to the game she would have put two and two together.

It doesn’t take a lot of creativity to stand out in a crowded marketplace. You just have to have a well thought out comprehensive marketing plan. Do you think a billboard outside the ACC that cost 10 x as much as the uniforms and samples would have made a well informed marketer like me take notice? Doubt it...so what do you think the ROI on the billboard for the average consumer would have been??

Let me know what you think!

Scott Hulbert

Managing Director

ideavation

Paying for Toilets?

Tell Us what you think...

This past Saturday (Feb.28/09) the Globe and Mail had an article about paying for toilet use on airplanes. Michael O'Leary from the British no-frills airline Ryanair is playing with the idea of charging for toilet use on his airline, stating that this would help lower costs of airline tickets. Now Mr. O'Leary is that man who pioneered charging for customers to check bags, so his ideas and concepts do fly!
What do you think of this idea?
Is this something we will all be upset about at first then grow to accept it?

What about the idea of paying for tissue instead of paying for the use of the toilet?
From a marketing point of view - I think this would be brilliant, because it would be another form of advertising.
Picture this...when you enter into the airplane and walk to your assigned seat 1 small packet of tissue is placed on each seat with a company logo on it and contains about 10 or so tissues. The Olympics is around the corner so perhaps it is an Olympic Sponsor or advertising a new type of Visa card. What ever it is there could be some potentially decent brand longevity. Not many of us will toss the tissue packet until it is finished and don't we always need a tissue when we don't


We're all ears. Tells us what you think!