Lindsey’s Daily Deal: Logomotion, Stress Balls and Really Green

By Lindsey Campbell, Captains of Industry

Hey Captains’ Readers,

Here’s your Monday AND Tuesday Deal. Forgive me?

1.

Have you seen a bevy of locusts buzzing around lately? Or maybe four guys riding horses looking to spread war, famine and death upon the planet? If not, then hell must be harboring Jack Frost. Why? Today is the first day I have ever disagreed with David Meerman Scott.

In his latest post on Web Ink Now, Scott declared that he denies any Facebook request from a company that uses its logo rather than an actual photo. But how do you choose just one face to represent your company? Isn’t that what logos are for? It would be weird to use a photo of Mark Zuckerberg to represent the Facebook brand. Or Gregg Steinhafel’s face rather than Target’s red and white bullseye. The same goes for company Facebook profiles. Why use your logo everywhere else BUT there? Besides, if I came across the mug of your MVP rather than your company logo, I would either think I was on the wrong page, or that the person in your picture had a big head (no pun intended). I say let the logos rein. They represent your company and what you’re all about. And most of us put a lot of time and effort into thinking them up. Might as well put them to good use.

(I’m sorry, David. I still think you’re a marketing genius.)

2. Hold on to your stress balls

Kick your feet up. Buy a smoothie. In other words, take it easy. Because according to Roy Young of MarketingProfs, you’re working too hard. With all the integrating, launching and publishing there is to do these days, marketers are thoroughly deluged with building their brands. But Young has the answer. To stop feeling overworked, all you have to do is stop overworking your brands. Before you concoct a social media plan, slap on a video strategy and send your brand into the world, ask yourself what you’re NOT going to do. It’ll force you to realize that not every brand needs each form of marketing artillery in their corner. How do you know if a marketing project is a go? Young explains that it should contribute to the company’s cash flow in the short term or the identification of sources of cash flow in the future. So before you get all gung-ho about launching a new video strategy, ask yourself why. You’ll save yourself time, money and most importantly, your own sanity.

3. It’s like REALLY green

Commercials get a bad rap these days. Either they’re really bad due to mutinous clients or legal mumbo jumbo, or they’re really good and no one gets to see them because of the beauty and brilliance that is a DVR. So imagine my surprise when I watched an entire commercial that I actually enjoyed just the other day. Lowe’s, the home improvement store, is currently running a campaign that focuses on how helpful and knowledgeable their employees are. In the spot, “First Time Homebuyer” I couldn’t help but laugh at the young couple that just bought their first house. Not just because they have a garage door that looks like it didn’t take its Aderol and a washing machine that’s doing the two-step, but because my sister and brother-in-law just recently bought their first house, and their resemblance to the Lowe’s couple is spot on. Which means that they definitely hit their target market. And the best part? Rather than pretending like throwing thousands of dollars into a giant box made out of cement, wood and plaster isn’t stressful, Lowe’s spotlighted just how mystifying, terrifying, and death-defying owning a home can really be.

(See guys? An infestation of Carpenter ants is the least of your worries.)

Until tomorrow,

Captain Lindsey