Author: Cherith Andes

Beef Up Your Video Power

Cherith AndesBlog, Marketing, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , ,

Although videos are the dominate medium in marketing these days, it’s no longer sufficient to simply shoot and post good footage. Even hot fads like Facebook Livestream or drone b-roll alone won’t make the cut anymore. Savvy communicators must develop layered strategies to leverage video work by combining prevalent tools with rising cultural trends.

Image courtesy of Facebook

This doesn’t mean departing from your hard-earned techniques, storyboards or technical skills. Facebook 360, for example, secures twice as many views all the way through the entire video than traditional videos. That’s a tool worth exploring! But now, build on these successful tools by reframing each video project through an added lens. How can you take a new approach to the storyline and tap into your demographic’s way of thinking?

Video + Trend

Clairemont recently tackled a challenge with client Wendell Falls, one of the Triangle’s largest master-planned new-home communities, located 15 minutes from downtown Raleigh. With a fresh crop of new model homes, Wendell Falls sought to highlight its builders’ creations and engage millennial and Gen Y prospects, two key demographics. We recognized that a simple video tour wouldn’t do the trick. Visual walk-throughs are readily available online, and in essence, a slideshow could render the same effect.

Instead, we paired the project with a trend that is (still!) hot in the market. Research shows that more than half of millennials aspire to launch their own start-up companies, and Gen Y-ers have earned the title as the DIY generation. Entrepreneurism, hands-on approaches and self creation mark these demographic’s approaches to projects. Hence, we created a series of DIY videos in home design tips and techniques that featured the model homes at Wendell Falls as a backdrop.

Useful, Sharable, Visual

Working from home? Check out these tips to create a productive and inspiring home office (featuring the Dan Ryan Builders model home). Learn how to style a party-worthy porch or master your open floor plan with expertise advice from Homes By Dickerson. Here’s another favorite on spicy design tips!

The final product yielded a clean, engaging video that was both educational and (ding ding!) shareable. For those looking for quick and free design tips, we fit the bill And in a Pinterest-esque way, the videos provided content that you could pass on to friends, strategically helping to expand the social visibility of Wendell Falls.

What one thing do you want to highlight in your business? Drop us a line to partner on your next video project.

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The Making of a Milestone

Cherith AndesBlog, Clairemont Client News, In Our Community, , , , , , , ,

In the fall of 2008, 40 friends gathered in a small Pittsboro backyard to share a simple potluck and sample a fresh creation: the new North Carolina-bred pepper. This first Pepper Festival marked the start of a cultural and agricultural movement.

Since then, the Pepper Festival — hosted by client Briar Chapel — has blossomed into one of the largest chef competitions in the region, a spicy celebration of local food, music and culture that attracts more than 2,500 festivalgoers statewide.

The 10th Annual Pepper Festival represents a decade of partnerships and efforts that have championed sustainable agriculture. The proceeds of the festival benefit Abundance NC, a nonprofit dedicated to renewable food and fuels, and since inception, the festival has raised more than $150,000 to support approximately 200 farmers who would not otherwise be in business. 

The 10th Annual Pepper Fest embodies a legacy — the toil, passion and creative spice of a band of visionaries. Check out the key “ingredients” that are heating up this year’s event!

Looking to spice up your fall? Grab your tickets to the 10th Annual Pepper Fest!

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Grand Opening: Sparks & Margaritas!

Cherith AndesBlog, Clairemont Client News, Restaurant PR + Hospitality PR, , , ,

Over the years, we’ve had the privilege of planning several grand openings, from wine bars to swanky apartment complexes. For our clients (and for us), these celebrations are milestones, something worth popping the cork in a big way. We love to add zip and zest to launch parties, and in this case, by lighting a fire!

Client Babalu Tapas & Tacos, the first in the Triangle, is kicking up the heat for its grand opening on Monday, August 28. Since diners receive a sparkler for their special occasions, Babalu is revamping a standard ribbon cutting ceremony with the same fiery sizzle, asking dignitaries and representatives to replace the ubiquitous oversized scissors with oversized sparklers. To unveil to their new digs, the Babalu team and its partners will “set the world on fire” by surrounding the restaurant with a ring of (sparker) flame.

Babalu Restaurant Photography

Guests are then invited to a Margarita Monday party at Babalu’s 360-degree bar to order craft beer and cocktails or enjoy $3 off of Babalu’s renowned margaritas, crafted on-site from 96 hand-squeezed lemons and limes. And of course, they can savor Babalu’s sharing-style menu featuring made-from-scratch, Latin-inspired dishes with a southern twist, like Fierce Shrimp, De Pato tacos and Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Bites.

Whether on the patio or at the indoor chef’s table, Babalu invites guests to bring the fun back into food!

Psssst. Here are the details for the Margarita Monday party!
Date: Monday, August 28, 2017
Time: 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Location: 1800 E. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill in the Eastgate Shopping Center next to Stein Mart.
Make reservations!

What about you? If you’re looking for ideas to heat up your grand opening debut, shoot us a line!

The work Clairemont Communications conducted in partnership with Bablu Tapas and Tacos earned the Award of Excellence and Best in Category by North Carolina Public Relations Society of America (NCPRSA). We are proud that this campaign represents one of the 190 awards we’ve received since starting Clairemont in 2010.

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Rebranding Barbie, The Brains

Cherith AndesBlog, Marketing, Public Relations, , , , ,

Rebranding initiatives are topping industry headlines, from shining successes, like Instagram’s fresh look, to head-scratching fails, like Pepsi’s underwhelming reboot. In the realm of rebranding, companies face a steep challenge. Social norms and expectations evolve daily, and brands that hang their hats on one trend risk a quick and drastic crash. Even slow evolutions, such as the market shift in demand from mass quantity to mass quality, can require a rapid revamp in how a company does business.

While some can get away with a logo tweak, other brands require entirely new positioning. Barbie, a beloved icon stretching back to the 1950s, recently faced this poignant challenge.

Imagine the Possibilities

Fans had tired of Barbie’s unrealistic figure and vapid demeanor, so much so that stocks plummeted by 40 percent by 2014. In response, the execs of Mattel—the creator of Barbie—didn’t just repackage the doll in a different scenario. They repositioned how the public saw Barbie’s role as a whole.

The “Imagine the Possibilities” campaign unveils the story of a young girl physically living out each of her dreams—from a veterinarian or university professor to a high-level, jet-setting executive. Her playtime with Barbie opened a world of dreams that she couldn’t otherwise access, her key to realizing her unlimited potential.

Reframing an Icon

The campaign effectively leveraged Goffman’s framing theory, a mass communication theory originally developed to evaluate the influence of media positioning. Framing theory suggests that the way in which an issue is positioned (the “frame”) affects how the audience processes the topic. In essence, it doesn’t matter as much what you discuss but rather how you discuss it in relation to other topics or comparisons.

Mattel completely removed the familiar framework of Barbie in relation to her appearance … or even as a toy at all. It recreated a new reference, positioning Barbie as a symbol, a gateway to untapped possibilities, a tool that would enable growth.

Honoring the Foundation

From a cursory glance at this campaign, one might accuse Barbie of departing from her founding principals. It seems like a scenario of pretty girl turning to academics as a quick fix to attract 21st century fans. Not so. From inception, Barbie was designed to help children vicariously explore and live out their potential aspirations. In fact, over the past 50 years, Barbie has had approximately 150 careers, including president.

Creativity and innovation plus effective repositioning that honored the original vision — that’s one success story for the books.

Looking to re-evaluate your brand? Check out these branding tips (from a food truck!), or shoot us an email.

 

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Maximize Your Call To Action

Cherith AndesBlog, Marketing, Public Relations, , , , ,

I’ve witnessed beautifully crafted marketing campaigns unfold, activate the target audience and then crash and burn at the very last step — the call to action. Pitfalls proliferate the path, from poor visual design to vague copy. However, one of the greatest sabotages of an effective CTA is not necessarily a swirling synergy of marketing tactics. It’s the lack of specificity.

How Specific Can You Go?

In a world of “don’t make me think marketing,” users seek an optimal conversion experience that yields the desired solution with minimal effort. And as the user’s threshold for “minimal effort” decreases, marketers must continue to simplify choices with laser-point specificity. We have to make it easier to match the user’s need with our offer. Here’s a great example that popped into my inbox recently from TheSkimm.

I read TheSkimm every day, and every day, I bypass its consistent tout asking readers to share the newsletter. Elaborate sweepstakes and posh prizes couldn’t persuade me to bombard my contacts (whoever those might be) with this email, as witty, concise and helpful as it is.

It wasn’t until TheSkimm dished out a specific CTA that I perked up. They defined a precise target audience to direct my efforts. The term “best friend” immediately called two or three specific individuals to mind that might enjoy TheSkimm, and that was certainly two or three more than I’d ever pinpointed previously! Simple, right? But that final degree of exactitude — telling me now just what to do, but to whom — tipped the scale.

Techniques to hone your CTA.

Run Through the 5 “Ws.” It’s a great safeguard checklist to ensure your CTA addresses all of the “who, what, when, where and why.” A gap in any of those factors weakens your conversation rate.

Demonstrate the Value…backwards. Naturally, a tried-and-true approach highlights the benefits directly in the call to action, such as “get the latest trends straight to your inbox!” or “grab your free car-dancing guide here!” (Alright, I haven’t seen that one, but it could exist.) Don’t pass up the opportunity to also show the losses users will experience by opting out or ignoring the call to action.

Pick Your Terrific Two (or three). Resist the common marketing pitfall of offering something for everyone. It’s certainly tempting to ensure your messages have an appeal for any customer visiting your site, reading your email or perusing your Insta feed. However, research shows that more options are not always better. Trust your target marketing strategy to connect your message with qualified leads at the appropriate place in the marketing funnel. Limit your calls to action to two or three choices.

Want a little more? Shoot us an email about your own call to actions!

 

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