Guest Professional: Glenda Goehrs

By Gigi Taylor
On Thursday, March 23, Glenda Goehrs, a former Vice President at GSD&M Idea City, spoke to a packed classroom of advertising students during Texas State's Mass Communication Week.  Glenda was both genuine and enthusiastic as she talked to students about pitching new business in advertising. As a true storyteller, Glenda mesmerized the students with stories of passion and excellence that reflect GSD&M's core values.

One of the memorable pieces of advice she gave students was that working as short order cook, waitress/waiter was actually great training for the world of advertising. Why? Because these jobs require teamwork, hard work and quick thinking to make the client happy.  Working in new business requires long hours and the ability to make things happen quickly. For example, she told stories of scrambling to find 15 monogramed cowboy hats for a client or teaching a choir of novice singers a song for new business pitch- all in record breaking time. She said it was all about having a great "can do attitude."

Glenda said the best way to get a job in advertising is to get an internship--the more internships the better. Getting an internship at GSD&M is highly competitive (600 or 700 applications for 20 internship positions!) If students want an Austin internship, she recommends applying to other Austin advertising agencies as well.  (See list below.)

In addition to speaking during Mass Communication Week, Glenda also answered the following question for this blog's "Guest Professional" section...

What is the role of account planning in new business pitches?
Account planning is the foundation for the idea that will ultimately win or lose the pitch for you. It's not shiny or glamorous; it's what supports the strategy, the positioning, the idea behind the brand message.

Here is a list of other Austin agencies for possible internships.

BlueshoeSpoonbend
Butler Brothers Advertising
JH & A Advertising
McGarrah-Jessee
Mecury Mambo Mkt.
Milkshake Media
T3
ThinkStreet
Sandes/Wingo Advertising
The Screamer Company
Steel Advertising & Interactive
Zocalo Design and Advertising

Guest Professional: Charmian Tardieu

By Gigi Taylor

Please welcome Charmian Tardieu as our first guest professional to the Texas State University Account Planning blog....

Charmian has been an account planner for 15 years. She owns her own strategic planning company, MilesFuther. Her company is based in Hamburg, Germany.

Charmian grew up in the UK and Germany. She was part of the wave of British planners who introduced planning to US agencies. Charmian was Senior Vice President, Director of Account Planning at D'Arcy in Los Angeles. She has held senior account planning positions at Hal Riney, TBWA Chiat Day and BBDO. She also had a brief stint on the client side as a brand manager for Bacardi in Germany.

Here are her "words of wisdom".....


What is the most important skill necessary to be a successful account planner?
Curiosity to dig deeper and find out what really motivates people and drives markets, as well as a strong intellectual and emotional capacity to understand the brand and the bigger picture. Then the ability to put this together into a clear strategy that inspires creatives.

Are there any differences between account planning practice in the US vs Europe?
The UK in many agencies has a more established planner history so that planners are automatically integrated into the creative development process, whereas in the US and Germany planners are often more used as strategic consultants for clients on a whole range of matters, and not so actively involved with the creatives as in the UK.

What advice can give someone wanting to become an account planner?
Keep your eyes and ears open for all that is happening around you, and translate what you see into interesting insights into people, brands and social trends. Use these insights to inspire the planners in agencies you'd like to join.

Megan Masek-Trend: Reusable Bags

BYOB: Bring Your Own Bag

By Megan Masek

With the recent fees that some retailers are starting to apply to your total purchase for the use of their plastic bags, you might want to bring your own bag for that reason alone. Otherwise, join the latest international trend and lifestyle of helping to save this beautiful planet by using reusable bags instead of paper or plastic, and make using your reusable bag a habit.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, shoppers in the United States use an estimated 100 billion plastic bags every year and recycle only a small percentage of them. A large number still end up in landfills or cause harm to the environment in other ways without ever being reused. The United States Environmental Protection Agency says it takes a paper bag one month and a plastic bag 1000 years to break down in the environment, in turn polluting the soil, rivers, lakes and oceans. Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation. Reusable bags were sold in March 2007 for a fundraiser in the U.K., the trend caught on quickly, sparked a lot of interest in many markets, and retailers and health food chains began offering the alternative bags nationally.

So you may ask, what is a reusable bag? They are commonly made of recycled materials, nylon, canvas, and types of fabric, among other materials, and reusable bags are made to be light-weight, durable, easy to fold, pack, and carry around. They have many uses besides their intention to replace paper and plastic bags while shopping, like packing a lunch or clothes for the gym, laundry, magazines, books, and paperwork to name a few. And most are washable!

Most retailers offer reusable bags and at very affordable prices, most being about a dollar. Wal-Mart offers their “Paper or Plastic? Neither” bag for a dollar each plus tax. Their bags are made from 85% recycled contents, and they take bags back at the end of their life-span for recycling.




H-E-B sells their bag for $0.99 each plus tax, and five-cents from the sale of each bag will go toward establishing H-E-B’s Green Bag Grants for recycling programs through Keep Texas Beautiful. Other retailers have similar concepts, and some even charge for the use of their plastic bags like IKEA. They charge customers in the U.S. five cents for every plastic they use. Then there are companies like Whole Foods who give consumers a discount of ten-cents off of their purchase for each reusable bag they use.

This is not just a trend, using reusable bags is a lifestyle. Basically, in the words one San Marcos, Texas resident, “It’s a good cause, so why not?” Saving this planet is an amazing cause that we should all participate it, so why not? There is a difference in having a reusable bag and using it. This is fast paced world we live in and it is easy to forget things that basically are not attached to us. That’s why you should keep your reusable bag in places like your purse, backpack, pocket, in your car, pantry, near your shopping list or anywhere else where you would be reminded to use it at all times.

“I feel like it’s a small step that makes a big difference,” said another San Marcos resident when I asked her why she uses reusable bags. She’s right, and it’s amazing that something so inexpensive and a gesture so small makes an enormous difference.

David Robbins-Case Study: Domino's

By David Robbins

This Domino's Pizza case really only revolves around one problem that started a domino effect (no pun intended there) to the rest of the problems that are seen in this case. That problem is the elimination of the 30-minute guarantee. It seems to me that if they had not gotten rid of that guarantee they would have never seen such a drastic decline in sales, but unfortunately for Domino’s, the legality of the situation was not in their favor. It is too bad that the lady in St. Louis got a huge settlement from Domino’s just because a pizza delivery guy was in a hurry. The sad thing about that is, the delivery guy's urgency to deliver the pizza on time was the very building block of the communication that was lost when they got rid of the guarantee. That is what the planners are talking about when they are saying that Domino’s lost that communication with the consumer that differentiated them from the other guys. It wasn’t the 30-minute guarantee that made them different, but the communication between consumer and brand that was built because of the 30-minute guarantee.

After reading the case study fully many times, I understood that what the planners wanted to do was get back Domino’s old feeling of being delivery professionals. I disagreed with what they wanted to do by the way it was presented in the study, even though in the end, it was a turning point for Domino’s getting much better sales than they had in years. When I say I disagree with it, I mean I think the intention they had wasn’t exactly what happened that made Domino’s so successful again. They were successful again because they returned to the occasional deals that made them originally successful.

That thing that was found within the planning was part of their brand architecture; It was the occasion deals they wanted to start pushing. The 555 deal and the 2X Tuesday are two examples of these occasion deals that I believe turned it around for Domino’s. I do think that they achieved what they set out to, which in my eyes was overcoming the loss of the 30-min. guarantee, but the way it was presented in the case study, it seemed they were looking too far into the problem. They kept talking about communicating with the customer, and getting their reputation back as the “Service Delivery Experts” but all they really needed was a couple of good deals to get them to be noticed among the competition.

In the study it says early on that they didn’t want to compete with the other guys by doing promotions and such, but in the end, looking at the ads they were doing, that is exactly what they did. None of the ads that I could find actually had the brief they had in mind, which was the meal emergency expert with the commercial of a service rep taking a pizza order like it was a 911 call. It was the very promotions that they said they didn’t want to use that actually saved Domino’s in the end.


Looking at the then and now aspect of when they had the 30-minute guarantee to now when they are not allowed to promise a free pizza, they have to find something to rely on again. The 555 deal was the thing that really did it for them, but lately it seems people are getting tired of the 555 deal, so if you notice some of the recent commercials (some I show in class), they are actually trying to go back to the 30-min deal, but in a legal way. It is now a promise to try their hardest to get the pizza to you in less than 30 minutes, which I see as a bad idea because it might lead to another downward spiral if they end up somehow not being allowed to do this new deal. If this happens, history will be repeated, and they will have to come up with a new great idea.

Katelyn Robertson-Trend: Celebrity Obsession

by Katelyn Robertson

For my trend presentation, I chose the painstakingly obvious trend of obsession with celebrities. Although some sources tend to agree the obsession began back in the 1960s with the British invasion and the appearance of Elvis’ hips onto the pop culture scene. However, within about the past five years, this trend has rapidly increased, reaching mind-blowing numbers of followers.

With websites such as Perez Hilton’s blog, and television shows like TMZ, it is becoming increasingly simple to find what your favorite celebrity is doing at any particular moment. Whether it is raising money for a charitable cause, or picking up after their dog, the paparazzi seems to have no shame in making it known to the public. Although it would be easy to blame the paparazzi, they would not be publishing these shots if people were not looking at them. So who are these fanatics?

The majority of viewers of gossip websites, as well as television shows, are female. They tend to fall between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four, and have at least some college education and well-paying jobs.

According to Garrett Holmes, senior public affairs research analyst at MGT of America, “These gossip sites are attracting a mass number of young people at an alarming rate.” In fact, he goes on to say that “about thirty-eight percent of young adults ages 18-34 use these gossip sites as a supplement for hard news.”

So why is this obsession a problem? When you take people at an age when they are attempting to figure out who they are and where they fit in and bombard them with pictures of celebrities, it is easy for them to feel a false sense of companionship with these people. Add in the number of reality shows that follow every aspect of a person’s life, and it becomes even harder to distinguish real life from “reality” life. When these young adults feel that the celebrities have very similar lives as their own, they begin to view them as a friend; someone they want to keep in touch with and do the same things as. However, with so many pictures of celebrities walking their dogs and jogging, it is typically easy to forget that they are living lives that are exponentially different than those most of us will ever lead.

When even younger people are exposed to this celebrity fever, it becomes almost a standard for life. It becomes critical to be skinny like the celebrities, or carry the thousand dollar handbag a favorite celebrity owns. This not only blurs reality for these children, but also begins to shape their dreams and goals for the future. When I was younger, I wanted to save the rainforest. Ask the average 4th grade girl what they want to be when they grow up and you are more likely to get an answer like “I want to be Hannah Montana.”

Adrienne Newsom-Trend: Mineral Makeup

By Adrienne Newsom

Mineral makeup is not a new product in the marketplace, but it has recently been gaining momentum as the next big star in cosmetics. The idea was pioneered in the 1970s by Diane Granger, founder of Bare Escentuals, the company that started it all. Bare Escentuals remains the leader in mineral makeup, and the inspiration for other companies to follow suit.

In recent years, many competing cosmetic companies have developed assortments of mineral makeup of their own, ranging from high end cosmetic lines, to specialty brands, and most recently to major US companies like Maybelline and Revlon. Being touted as the new “green” alternative to chemical based cosmetics, consumers are jumping on the mineral mine cart, causing mineral based cosmetics to leap in front of the classic competitors.

Research done in a US Color Cosmetics report by Mintel, a market research firm, showed that 32 percent of persons surveyed want mineral based ingredients in their cosmetics. Maybelline New York has launched its new Mineral Power line this year, which it is positioning as it s first complete line of mineral makeup for the mass market. Also this year, Revlon, know for its “long-wearing” color lines, has launched its ColorStay Minerals collection including foundation, blush, bronzer and eye shadow. Drugstore News, a reputable pharmacy publication, says “At the risk of sounding like a broken record, let it be on the record that mineral makeup is a trend to keep on the ‘you must know’ list.” Their research has shown that consumers are aware and concerned with not only what they put in their bodies, but what they put on their skin. Mineral makeup offers a more natural, seemingly healthier approach to beauty.

Mineral makeup not only offers a more natural cosmetic, it also caters to users with problem skin, allergies, sun sensitivity, and sensitive skin. In fact, WebMD says “many consumers say they are initially drawn to mineral makeup because of skin health claims.” However, it remains to be seen whether these claims are substantial or not. There also can be a wide variation between brands, regarding their ingredients. Consumers may not realize that simply because something is made from mineral based ingredients doesn’t mean the product itself is “from the earth” so to speak. Colette Bouchez of WebMD says “Since there is no set regulation for what constitutes a “mineral” makeup, any product containing minerals as a primary ingredient can be marketed as such – even if it contains a whole lot of other “less natural” ingredients.”

Bare Escentuals’ original recipe has not changed, but what about their competitors? Brands like Wet n’ Wild who are known as a value brand is introducing a new line “infused with a Lotus Marine Minerals complex.” NYC New York, another value brand is following suit, releasing its Smooth Mineral collection this year. Is it possible for these lower priced, lower quality brands to produce a mineral makeup equivalent to the high-end brands, or is it all just marketing hype? Just about every article in existence urges the consumer to read product labels before purchase, to assure the quality of the product.

Jake Frick-Trend: Moped Madness

By Jake Frick

One of the newest up and coming consumer trends is mopeds, derived in Europe from the idea of a motor and pedals. Mopeds first became popular in the late 70’s due to a spike in gas prices and are once again becoming a fad because gas is now at outrageous prices.

People are buying these mini motorcycles because they get awesome gas mileage, some up to 125 miles per gallon. Mopeds are also very convenient because riders can maneuver in and out of small areas and have free access to park almost anywhere they want. They are also better for the environment because they consume less energy and produce less harmful emissions than an automobile would.

Store owners have been reporting spiked increases in sales in the past few years, most of them having trouble even keeping an adequate stock for consumers. Back in the late 70’s there were over 140 different suppliers of mopeds, however now there are only three main makers of the bikes. They are still made in Europe and shipped to America. Most of the consumers are of the younger demographic, from 18-24. There isn’t very much advertising or marketing for mopeds but despite that, they are still becoming very popular among America’s youth. Many people who are purchasing the mopeds are joining “moped gangs.” These aren’t evil gangs set out for hell bent destruction, but just to have fun and promote the popularity of the fun bikes.

One of the biggest organizations is the Moped Army, located mostly in the north east. There are currently 14 different chapters in the army and they even have their own website where they promote their different events. Members can also upload photos of their bikes and chat in forums with other members.

Mopeds are quickly sweeping the nation with popularity and are allowing consumers to travel while saving on gas money and having fun. There are many advantages to having a moped and I see the moped madness to continue to grow in the future.

Kimberly Woelke-Case Study: Tylenol

by Kimberly Woelke

In 1996 sales of Tylenol began to dwindle and continued to do so until 2004. In fact, between the years of 2002 and 2003 Tylenol watched their sales drop 10.5 percent as Advil’s grow 1.9 percent. In 2004 the Tylenol account was removed from the hands of Saatchi & Saatchi, who had handled the account for 30 years, and awarded to Duetsch Inc. Tylenol had been in an eight year decline when Deutsch took over and the planners knew they needed to find a unique and innovative way to present Tylenol to its consumers. Prior to this change of agencies, Tylenols competitors, Advil, Aleve and Excedrin, were spending $2.40 to every $1.00 spent on Tylenol’s advertising. The ads being produced by the competitors made direct claims against Tylenol and this had a major impact on the brand’s equity.

The planners at Deutsch Inc. had to find a way to gain their target audiences trust back and use Tylenol’s long standing equity to gain a competitive advantage in the market. Instead of taking a traditional approach to solving this problem, the planners took a different route and decided to put more focus on the product itself instead of focusing primarily on the consumers.

When they began their search for a solution, planners spoke with doctors, researchers, scientists and executives from Tylenol. Through these conversations, they learned that Tylenol had some unique features. Tylenol is truly a safer pain reliever than its competitors because it utilized a different method of action. They also found groups of individuals that should be exclusive Tylenol users; pregnant women, people on prescriptions and asthmatics are just a few. Through the product-insights they realized Tylenol’s existing product claims failed to capitalize on its unique qualities as a “Safer” drug. There was a need to transform boring health messages into startling facts.

The planners learned, through consumer-insight research, that today’s consumers were terribly uninformed and frustrated over conflicting messages they found in the clutter of pain reliever advertising. They decided providing straight to the point and accurate information would help Tylenol regain some of its market share back. Through brand-insights the planners discovered that Tylenol, since it was introduced in 1961 as an over the counter pain reliever, had built tremendous brand equity and trust, but it was now out dated. People needed something more than “It’s the brand doctors recommend most.” Tylenol needed to show its consumers that it was looking out for their best interest by informing them and speaking up for them.

The product-insights led the planners to their big idea: “Stop. Think. Tylenol.” Their plan was to tell a simple truth that would challenge people to reconsider the methods they used to relieve their pain. It would address people’s mental and physical needs and honestly inform, educate and treat them.





As a result of this straight forward approach to Tylenol, people’s perception began to change and an eight-year decline was stopped dead in its tracks. The new campaign actually reversed the downward momentum of the brand and business grew within the first year the ads were run. Sales increased and most importantly this new position Tylenol had taken became a corporate strategy.

Despite the success of this campaign, Tylenol is now using a warmer more friendly approach, “Feel Better, Tylenol.”

Monique Ramos-Trend: The Hybrid Car

by Monique Ramos

The consumer trend that I chose is the switch from regular vehicles to hybrid vehicles. This topic first came to my attention when my copy writing professor mentioned that she had just gotten a new Toyota Prius after being on a waiting list for two years. I knew that it was becoming more popular to drive a hybrid, but I had no idea they were in such high demand. As I began to observe the trend more I began to notice hybrids everywhere, although they are sometimes hard to spot because many of the new models are identical to the non-hybrid types. A hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that uses two or more distinct power sources to propel it. The hybrid electric vehicle or HEV combines the common engine system with a rechargeable energy storage system to achieve the main goal of better fuel economy.

The switch to hybrid vehicles is becoming more popular for many reasons.With the recent concern for trying to go green and gas prices reaching 4 dollars a gallon in Texas consumers are turning to this new alternative. According to fuel economy.gov the Toyota Camry hybrid gets 34 miles per gallon on highway and city roads combined. And the Honda Insight gets 70 miles per gallon on the highway. Also global warming and dependency on foreign oil is becoming concern for many consumers. The hybrid car achieves better fuel economy and a lower emissions rate. 

The hype about this earth saving trend can be credited to Hollywood. It is now becoming a staple among Hollywood’s hottest stars. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie arrived at the Beowulf premiere in a Toyota Prius and the transportation for the Academy awards was provided by all hybrid vehicles. Cameron Diaz is the most popular star known for owing a Toyota Prius. Other stars who started this trend include Leonardo DiCaprio and Billy Joel, Bill Mayer and Larry David.

The trend of purchasing hybrid over a regular vehicle is not only a national trend but is quickly becoming a European trend as well, with Russia being Honda’s largest potential market. In Russia Honda's sales jumped 157 percent in the first six months of this year. But sales growth has slowed this year due to weaker overall demand, and also because new taxation methods in Italy, Spain and France based on carbon dioxide output. This causes buyers to turn to brands such as Volkswagen. But even with the drop in sales in Western Europe, Honda's sales grew 7.5 percent to Two hundred eighteen thousand nine hundred and twenty five (218,925) cars -- which represents just over a tenth of its worldwide sales.

According to the New York Times the Prius has become the most popular among the hybrids because it everyone knows that is a hybrid and consumers want others to know that they are doing something good for the environment. They are comparing it to the livestrong wristband that everyone seemed to have a few years ago. They say “The Prius has become, in a sense, the four-wheel equivalent of those popular rubber “issue bracelets” in yellow and other colors — it shows the world that its owner cares.”According to CNW marketing research most of the people they surveyed admitted to owning a Prius over other hybrid because it makes a statement about who they are as a person.

Adam Head-Case Study: Burger King

By Adam Head

My name is Adam Head and I am an advertising major in my senior at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. I am the first student in the MC4316F Ad Planning class to try to tackle a case study and present it to the class.

My company was BK (Burger King) and my advertising agency was CP+B (Crispin Porter + Bogusky). The ad planning took place in 2005. CP+B received an honorable mention that year for their work with BK. My work with CP+B and BK was very interesting and enjoyable (Believe it or not).

My 2005 case showed that BK was on their way toward a twentieth straight month of negative comp store sales, they had to change something if they were going to turn anything around. CP+B took the info available from BK and went from there; CP+B did some case studies and used indexing to help them find their target audience. It was a younger male and who was lower in socioeconomic status. Once CP+B discovered this they were able to work with BK’s previous HAVE IT YOUR WAY ads from the 70’s. The customization of a burger along with the concept of fire grilling is what CP+B knew BK had to use; these two equities would help to reestablish BK as a top player in the fast food hamburger restaurant category.

The implication of these two equities was going to be difficult though. The target audience sees thousands of ads a day from waking up in the morning to when they close their eyes at night. So they decided what they had to do was come up with a lot of ideas and then throw them all out there, hoping a few would stick with the consumers. The player was the WHOPPER and it already had a strong following.

I really thought right here the agency could have talked to more of the target audience and find out what they like to do and why they like a big, juicy burger. I mean why not? You know when you talk to people’s stomachs your getting the honest truth about how they feel about something.

This is an ad from the 06/2007 NFL season to advertise to their target market:

So at this point CP+B was working with BK to design different vehicles to present to their audience while staying on point in their briefing: to increase sales and traffic in BK restaurants nationally. Research showed CP+B TV was the best way to work into the wallets and stomachs of their target consumers. They invested much of their time into TV ads and Print ads where BK was seen on TV shows like “The Apprentice” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and in all types of Magazines. Other ad dollars went toward Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook and sports ads like Ultimate Fighting Championship and College BCS games.

The ads worked!! BK showed a tripling increase in top-of-mind awareness, and has shown a 15 month consecutive comp store sales gain. In closing go and get yourself a flame broiled burger and eat at the King again.

Fall 2008 Team Pictures

All the students in the class have been divided into teams.  Each team was assigned one of the following cases: Dream Dinners, Febreze Candles, Ikea, and Brand Obama.  Throughout the semester, the teams are focusing their account planning efforts on their particular case. 

As of this week, the teams have completed their secondary report and survey. Now they are starting to work on the qualitative portion of the class. They are preparing screeners and discussion guides for their focus groups/interviews.  The objective of all this work is to find the insights that will drive the creative strategy. Here are the team pictures.

TEAM DREAM DINNERS

David R., Katelyn R., Adrienne N. (Missing: Leah H.)

TEAM FEBREZE CANDLES

Adam H., Monique R., Ashley B., Jeremy S.

TEAM IKEA

Kimberly W., Michelle C., Brian H. (uh, Jeremy?)

TEAM OBAMA

Megan M., Jennifer B., Joe S. (missing: Jacob F.)