Category: Branding

Cheap Marketing Tip: Give Your Common Product an Uncommon Name

You can buy brussel sprouts just about anywhere.

But only at Seattle’s Pike Place Market can you buy…

sprouts

By the way, if you’d like to buy some 30-second Messages of Prosperity Generation, give me a call. And if you have a name for radio commercials that’s better than that one, I’m open to suggestion. Leave me a comment below.

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Click here to learn the shocking truth about Phil Bernstein

Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog.

Request your free copy of Phil Bernstein’s white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.

Vote For Phil Bernstein in the Elevator Pitch Contest

I’ve made the Sweet 16 (out of more than 100 entries) of the Inside Sales Experts Elevator Pitch Contest. For the next 72 hours (as of March 26), I’m up against the always-dangerous Joseph Kupstas of Goodfellas Construction.

If you could take a moment to click here and vote for Phil Bernstein, my mother would be grateful.

You can see the matches in progress here:  I’m in Round 2, Match 4.

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Click here to learn the shocking truth about Phil Bernstein

Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog.

Request your free copy of Phil Bernstein’s white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.

Finding an Unmet Need

My friend Susan recently alerted me to an article about I-Booze — a Seattle-area online service that delivers alcohol, cigarettes, and other items.

Founder Karim Varela came up with the idea while sitting in a San Francisco jail on a DUI charge.

‘I was sitting in jail for eight hours with nothing to do besides think, and that’s when it came to me,’ said Varela, adding that he thought an alcohol delivery service might help keep drunks off the road.

Varela charges premium prices and a delivery fee, and sticks with items for which price is not necessarily the most important factor:

‘I-Booze only sells products that people want immediately, which people are addicted to, which people are craving, and which people will pay that extra delivery surcharge to get right away,’ explains Varela.

Setting aside any moral judgements about the products I-Booze sells, this is a terrific example  of an entrepreneur spotting, and filling, an unmet need in the marketplace.

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Click here to learn the shocking truth about Phil Bernstein

Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog.

Request your free copy of Phil Bernstein’s white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.

Lord & Taylor — Purveyor of Fine Hooker Fashions?

The full page ad in Sunday’s New York Times offers an Ellen Tracy Trench for $150. There’s a color photograph, and the caption underneath says

THERE’S NOTHING NAUGHTY ABOUT BUYING THIS TRENCH… WEARING IT, HOWEVER, IS ANOTHER STORY.

Who might buy — and wear — a coat like this? I’m thinking that the target is, um, working girls. Am I wrong?

Here’s the picture. You decide.

ellen-tracy-trench2

______________________________________________________________________________________

Click here to learn the shocking truth about Phil Bernstein

Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog.

Request your free copy of Phil Bernstein’s white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.

Dental Advertising Case Study: Sleep Dentistry of Portland

Dr. Floyd Kasch operates Sleep Dentistry of Portland. As the name suggests, Dr. Kasch concentrates on sedation dentistry. His target patient is someone who is afraid of going to the dentist. I’ve seen statistics indicating that up to 40% of the population does not see a dentist regularly; in many cases this is because of fear.

Dr. Kasch has a great story to tell — he does sedation dentistry because he himself was afraid to go to the dentist after some bad experiences as a child. For this reason, he really relates to his patients. As I got to know him and the practice, I realized that if we could tell that story effectively, patients would seek him out.

I recently talked with his son and business manager, Brandon Kasch, about the process of putting the Sleep Dentistry of Portland campaign together, and the results they’ve achieved.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UBNxnUPKHY]

You can learn more about Sleep Dentistry of Portland here

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.