Ant Hill Marketing

For those of you pop-culture buffs, tomorrow marks a long anticipated campaign to get comedian and actress Betty White to host SNL. If I was a betting woman I would guess that this episode will be one of the highest rated for SNL in the last few years. This is actually very interesting if you think about it.

Betty White is not who you would normally think the 18-25 year old audience would relate to or even care to tune in and watch host America’s comedy hour. In fact, since 1992 when the long running Golden Girls left the airwaves she hasn’t had a long standing appearance or main character on any show. There have been bit parts here and there, movie appearances, naughty comedic roasts and let’ s not forget her Superbowl commercial. But for all intents and purposes, Betty White’s career was a burning out flame. Not someone you would think would draw record numbers for a show that is struggling with their ratings.

At the beginning of this year something happened on Facebook. A rallying cry from a group of people who just happen to love them some Betty White. This group of fans had a simple question; how could a part of comedy royalty never be asked to host SNL? Even at the top of her game, and her involvement in comedy would have at least made her a likely candidate at some point to host the show. Wayne Gretsky was asked, we know how that turned out… how could our lovable comedy granny be overlooked?

A Facebook fan group was set up to see if people shared this sentiment, and sure enough the fan group gathered large numbers. Who knew people loved Betty so much? SNL obviously didn’t.  But now people were taking notice. She was booked on Larry King, and did other press junkets. She modestly laughed at the uproar and admitted that it didn’t make much sense to her, she was no lady ga-ga. But would SNL take notice? Of course, they did! How could they not?

And therein lies an important question for anyone running a business. HOW CAN YOU NOT? There are people out there gathering around interests, interests that your product, your service could help. If you find them, and listen to them and cater your product around their likes and dislikes, it can benefit you.

I know what I am saying isn’t ground-breaking or even a new concept. But with Betty hosting SNL, it doesn’t hurt to re-iterate that businesses need to get out there find the tribes and listen to what they are saying. Like SNL, you can reap the benefits.

On December 8, 2009 Pantone® officially announced their choice for the 2010 color of the year.  And the winner is – Pantone 15-5519. A round of applause if you please. Pantone 15-5519 or better known as, turquoise.

Turquoise!?! Whaaa? After last year’s mimosa, turquoise is a bit of dull thud in the empty swimming pool of hexadecimal life.

Insert fuzzy swirling images here.

I believe it was the year 1972 in which my family purchased a Dodge truck in a stunning shade of turquoise. The three most memorable things about this truck for me are; one, the color, two, a chilling winter trip from Portland to Hood River with myself and my sister stuck in the back with a catalytic heater for warmth, and three, a brutally hot trip to Sumpter, Oregon, in the middle of summer, with the whole family jammed into the cab. Two parents, three children, no air conditioning. I spent most of the Sumpter trip curled up on the floorboards underneath my mother’s feet in a state of heat-induced delirium.  The combined smell of rubber soled shoes, transmission fluid and graham crackers is still a stifling memory.  But really, the thing I remember most about that truck, is the color.

De-fuzz and un-swirl images.

At this point in my life, I cut Dodge a fair bit of slack for the color choice. My parents, not so much. It was the early 1970s, the world was just coming out of the 60s, the Vietnam War was winding down, free love, the hippie movement, Berkley and turquoise. Dodge was just trying to be hip. As for my parents, I have to believe it was the last truck on the lot and it was at a really good price.

So why did Pantone choose 15-5519 to be their color of the year? According to their press release on the subject, they say this: “In many cultures, Turquoise occupies a very special position in the world of color,” explains Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. “It is believed to be a protective talisman, a color of deep compassion and healing, and a color of faith and truth, inspired by water and sky. Through years of color word-association studies, we also find that Turquoise represents an escape to many – taking them to a tropical paradise that is pleasant and inviting, even if only a fantasy.”  Further: “Turquoise adds a splash of excitement to neutrals and browns, complements reds and pinks, creates a classic maritime look with deep blues, livens up all other greens, and is especially trend-setting with yellow-greens.”  Hmmm.  A protective talisman, signals deep compassion and healing, the color of faith and truth, inspired by water and sky, adds excitement, a classic maritime look, ESPECIALLY trend-setting with yellow-greens!  Pshaw I say! Obviously they never spent 9 hours on the floorboards of a turquoise Dodge truck in the middle of August on a trip to Sumpter, Oregon.

I can’t wait for 2011.

This week, the U.S. Census Bureau announced Internet usage statistics based on is November 2007 population survey and The Business Journal reported that Portland ranked #13 in usage among states. While it is interesting to see where our fine city ranks, many of our clients market on a national basis, so I found myself wanting to know a bit more — even if the data is more than a year and a half old (the wheels of government apparently turn a little slowly).

The data summary tables made available on the bureau’s website pretty much reinforce what us digital marketers already know or sense, but I think everyone can find a few nuggets that strike them as interesting.  Here are the things that jumped out at me:

• 38% have no access at home, but 50% of households have broadband access. Even if we’re not reaching everyone, at least dial-up is going away.
• Households are connecting to the Internet nearly twice as much at home than at work.
• 42% of people under 25 years old have no Internet use at home.  No reasons given but mobile devices, school access and cost are likely culprits.
• Blacks and Hispanics are being left out. Better than half of each population have no access at home.
• Mississippi is not helping it’s brand as a back-country state with only 51% of people having Internet access.  Somebody get those people a federal grant. Intel, can you help?
• Male and female access at work is equal, even if the pay still isn’t.
• And get this: 9% of the unemployed have Internet access at work.  Huh?

So, what are people doing online?  Because the census bureau already asks a billion probing questions on other matters, they don’t go too deep here.  But, the survey does show that people are searching for healthcare information in a big way — especially females in the 35-64 demographic who are dealing with the health issues of parents, kids and doctor-avoiding husbands.  Nearly as many are using the web to search for government services.  And I would imagine that data being collected in 2009 show a big jump in job searching.

If you are interested in diving into the data yourself, see the announcement on the U.S. Census Bureau website where you can download Excel files and, if you are really motivated, read 353 pages of data collection methodology.

Hello out there. Here’s a wake up call – your customers are watching, listening and waiting to hear from you. And if they don’t, well, they may think there’s something very wrong. 

While many companies tend to retrench, cut back or literally kill their marketing efforts during slow economic times, doing so may be inviting the wrong perceptions in consumers’ minds. A recent Ad-ology study found: 

“More than 48% of U.S. adults believe that a lack of advertising by a retail store, bank or auto dealership during a recession indicates the business must be struggling…The study finds advertising appears to play a key role in consumers’ view of how a business is doing, and by not advertising, businesses may be sending a warning signal to current and potential customers.”

More about the study – http://bit.ly/2zAL3 and http://bit.ly/KRnzv

Perhaps these findings may help senior execs understand that to consumers silence definitely can be deadly.

Can’t deny that we’re going through a digital revolution. We see and hear so many messages today it’s no wonder many suffer from communication breakdown. But where is it all going and what implications do these new (and future) digital tools have on people? On business? On our communities?

This evolution is visualized in a most insightful digital ethnography video titled, The Machine is Us/ing Us by Michael Wesch, a professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University (he’s also on Twitter @mwesch). Turn up the volume and watch it. Closely. What you see will make you think.