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Kids & The Biltmore House

The Biltmore Summer Campaign scores big with Kids (and Dads).

I can’t hold it in any longer.

I LOVE the Biltmore House summer campaign, “Kids Visit Free.” In fact, I defy anyone not to love it. The creative — a series of beautifully conceived billboard units showing the mansion from a kid’s perspective — seems so simple and logical. But think about it: Kids and Biltmore House just don’t naturally go together.

When you think about the Biltmore, a busload of antique-obsessed octogenarians probably comes to mind. Not parents, worried about their rowdy kids knocking over a magnificent floral arrangement on a 200-year-old hunt board.

But the marketing team at the Biltmore understands that for the property to sustain itself, it needs to attract families and find new ways to appeal to kids. (I’m happy to report than my son Sam went there on a school field trip last fall and had an amazingly great time!)

The brilliance of the new campaign is that it feels like it was concepted, photographed and designed by the kids, themselves. It’s remarkably authentic. And you better believe it connects with the kids in the car who look up and see the boards.

Designed by the Biltmore in-house team, the campaign looks like it was dreamed up by the Kids.

So our compliments to Russ Schuler and the Biltmore in-house creative team. Every day you bring freshness and happiness to a summer that’s been dogged by an unusually large collection of bleak stories.

The Harrisons will be up for a visit in early August!

Ideas: The Currency of the 21st Century

Susan Hodara’s column in the current Communication Arts caught my eye. She writes about the importance of art, particularly in the context of a grim economy.

A great quote, from Adam Weinberg, reads, “Most education is directed toward achieving answers …. But what we should be teaching our kids is how to think. This is what art does.”

Later, this from Bryan Doerries, associate executive director of programs at the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers: “The only remaining currency of the 21st century is ideas. To strip our culture of the arts is to cut off pathways to innovation in every area.”

In case that didn’t sink in: The only remaining currency of the 21st century is IDEAS. If you’re reading this, chances are you think you’re working somewhere within the broad confines of the marketing business. But the ones who will do great things are the ones who see the world from a different perspective; who observe how we interact with people, brands and products; and who refresh our lives with new ideas.

What’s G?

Last week’s story in the Wall Street Journal chronicled the Gatorade re-brand, which contributed to a 6% drop in second quarter volume for PepsiCo’s beverage division. If you remember back to the Super Bowl, that’s when Gatorade launched the new campaign, “What’s G?” Most consumers apparently are still asking the question. What exactly is G? 

As the Journal framed it:

The idea was to make the brand cool again but it misfired. “They asked ‘What’s G?’ and the problem was, people weren’t sure,” said Bill Pecoriello, chief executive of market researcher ConsumerEdge Research LLC.

In fairness to PepsiCo, Gatorade was adding different formulations all the time. In addition to the original, there is now a breakfast G, a vitamin E G, a vitamin B G, a Tiger G, and the low-calorie G. I guess using the original “Gatorade” name with all those SKUs was sort of clumsy.

But, despite the coolness of the new endorser-driven commercials, the launch has yet to make it clear that G is Gatorade. Which paves the way for other beverages to steal market share. No doubt Gatorade will regain its footing and G will dominate the energy drink category. In the meantime, the lesson we can learn is this: In a noisy, cluttered market, if I don’t understand what your brand is / does / stands for, I’ll be unlikely to buy it.

mh

A Highly Visible Billboard: Our Door

As most of you know, we’re fortunate to have one of the most visible doors in Greenville — right at the top of the stairs beside the heavily trafficked Chicora Alley.

Just a few weeks ago, we decided to leverage that exposure and carry our “Time to Rock” campaign to the (local) masses. Here’s the new door, pictured at left.

It’s been amazing to see how people respond to that when they’re going into or coming out of the restaurant next door. Nearly everyone stops and stares. We’ve even had people take pictures of it.

It has definitely reaffirmed to us the value of pushing your brand into all the unobvious places that your clientele comes in contact with.