“The Sales Game” – Communication Between You and Your Clients

Vanguard Direct, Utterly Orange’s parent company, if you will, continues to encourage engaging conversation among its employees while still keeping things lighthearted. At this year’s company kickoff meeting, we had the opportunity to discuss a relatively common agency/client conversation with a video that got everyone smiling—particularly those who knew the account people acting in it.

Bob O’Connell, our fearless President, generously lent us his office to ’60s-ify with hippie-style décor, complete with wildflowers and a lava lamp. Take a look at some of Vanguard’s employees taking themselves a little less seriously. And if you’re not doing it already, let’s hope you’re talking to your clients the same way Salesman #2 is soon.

I can’t tell who’s more handsome: the host or his mustache. Cast your vote now! (Kidding!)

Author: Eric Swenson

Dirt and iPhones Do Mix: One Vanguardian’s Perspective on Technology on the Farm

So you play FarmVille on Facebook, and as you build your “farm” from the comfort of your easy chair, you feel like you are accomplishing something, right? OK, man up already and face it––you have no clue what it’s like to run a farm. My experience is slightly different––my family had a chicken farm in Rockland County that we “city kids” would visit during the summer to “help out.” The farm also grew corn as a staple crop for feed and to sell. By the time we would get there in the summer, the real work was done––our biggest chore was shucking the corn for dinner.

Flash forward to spring 2012 and my reality. I consider myself a “gentleman farmer.” I live on nine acres of pristine property in the mountains of Sullivan County, NY, in the tiny town of Glen Spey (Google Map 12737). I have a barn with a hayloft, split wood for the fireplace, operate a tractor (lowlanders have riding mowers; we have nothing but tractors), drive a pick-up truck, and have a back brace with suspenders for the real work. My frost date is Memorial Day weekend, which means no planting till then––seeds are OK, but the real work begins on the holiday weekend.

My “field” is a 60′ x 40′ horn of plenty, filled with fruit trees and bushes, grape vines, 20 varieties of vegetables and cutting flowers, and surprisingly, no corn. Each year I fertilize with up to 300 lbs of cow manure, lime, and fireplace ash to keep the pH correct. My beds are raised, and I till each one until the soil is the consistency of butter. What self-respecting plant wouldn’t want to wiggle its roots in my bed? Call me crazy, but I commute three hours to work each way because I love where I work and love where I live, just not necessarily in that order.

Last weekend, I did the first cut of the season. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and as I made the turns on the tractor with my music playing from my iPhone, I stopped to take a photo of our family of tree swallows working on their new nest in the birdhouse. As I paused to take it all in, I realized how much technology I have come to rely on to make my life easier. Besides the joy and convenience of having music and photography attached to my belt, much of this process is technology-driven. Consider that I use my iPad to order everything from new tiller blades to seeds to chain saws to fertilizer. Weather is a big consideration on a farm, and I have not one but three weather apps to help me know when to plant and when to water. These apps also help to notify me of approaching storms or frost.

When the day is done and the stars come out, I have a great app on my iPad called Star Walk. This app is terrific if you have a clear view of the night sky and you can see all the stars and constellations overhead. This app also shows which satellites are drifting by. (Unfortunately, the shooting stars you may enjoy flash by too fast to be named.)

There are a plethora of other apps to help your green thumb, and it’s always best to read some of the reviews before you purchase. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention an oldie but goodie, the Farmers’ Almanac. Continuously published since 1818, this periodical is known for its long-range weather predictions and astronomical data mixed with humor, trivia, gardening, cooking, fishing, and human-interest content. While not yet an app, it is available as an e-book for your iPad, Nook, or Kindle. This is a must-have for even the “black thumb” gardener who can’t keep even a houseplant alive.

To finish on a positive note for my FarmVille friends, reviews of the new FarmVille Version 2.7 are high. Released on April 4, 2012, FarmVille has gone tropical. Grab your sandals and head to FarmVille’s new Hawaiian Paradise. Leave those clunky coins at home because the new currency is coconuts. Love the beach? Cultivate your favorite water crops and play with new aquatic creatures. While Zynga is excited with the reception the latest version has received, I am sure the lucky few who sample my harvested veggies will be glad there are “gentleman farmers” like me who like to play in the dirt.

Author: Tom Caska

Are We Living the Jetson Life?

I will admit I am a child of the 60s and was raised with the television as my babysitter. I will also admit I am a science fiction fan––it started early in life, with The Jetsons and then Star Trek. I used to wonder what life would be like with such cool gadgets at our fingertips. While we are not there yet, we do have some cool items in our everyday lives. Here are a few from The Jetsons:

Moving Walkways: Although we don’t see these every day, they can be seen and used at most airports.

Televiewer: Just imagine looking at a screen and reading real-time news from all over the globe. Hmm … I don’t know about you, but that is how I start my morning.

Robot Vacuum Cleaner: The Roomba is like Rosie, but without the personality.

We have nailed a couple of things from Star Trek as well:

Communicator: Whenever I saw a clamshell cell phone, I could not help but think of the “communicators” of Star Trek.

Wireless Earpiece: I wonder how much influence Uhura’s (slightly more stylish) earpiece has had on today’s Bluetooth devices.

Portable Memory: We have actually moved past this technology. Spock would carry around small, square items from computer to computer, but we have moved from 3.5 disks to clouds––I think Gene would be amazed at how far we have come.

NASA is currently working on a tractor beam for future unmanned space probes. The beam would pull tiny particles closer to the probe for analysis. NASA predicts this technology is only ten years away.

What TV/movie technology would you like to see become a reality?

Author: Susan Hallinan

AdForum’s Top 5 Commercials for This Week

Check out AdForum’s top five commercials for this week. It was apples and oranges this week—all of the ads had something really interesting to say, from the funny (Bloemen’s “Screwed” ad) to the clever (Flying Horse Energy Drink’s “Cat-Toast” ad) to the powerful (Road Safety Authority’s “View” ad, which was––as one of those ideas you’re sure you’ve seen before––really great).

Despite not being in English, Ice Dew’s “Rehydration” ad was a really fun take on the “60% of your body is made up of water” factoid.

Have a favorite? Cast your vote and post!

1. Bloemen.nl – “Screwed” – Publicis

2. Ice Dew – “Rehydration” – Bartle Bogle Hegarty Shanghai

3. Flying Horse – “Cat-Toast” – Ogilvy Brasil Comunicação Ltda.

4. Road Safety Authority – “View” – Irish International

5. Strongbow – “Push It” – St. Luke’s Communications

Author: Eric Swenson

Are You Saving Enough for Retirement?

Since the inception of 401(k) plans in the mid-1980s, traditional pension plans have been on a steady decline. What this means is that YOU are now responsible for making sure that you have a sufficient nest egg when you retire.

According to recent articles in the Wall Street Journal and Barron’s, approximately 80% of the working population that is within 10–15 years of retirement do not have a sufficient amount saved to reasonably expect to comfortably retire. These individuals will now either have to work longer or drastically reduce their standards of living.

How about you? Will you be ready for retirement? Below is a link to a simple calculator that can assess where you stand. You will need to enter some basic income and assumptions, and it will quickly calculate how much you will need for retirement. Also, it will calculate how much you will need to put away on a monthly basis and how much that amount will increase if you decide to wait a year.

http://www.calcxml.com/calculators/how-much-will-i-need-to-save-for-retirement

401(k) plans were established to give the employee more control over his or her future. Are you taking full advantage of this benefit? If not, see your plan administrator and don’t be left out.

Author: Tim Murphy

Memorial Day Marketing Ideas

Memorial Day is Monday, May 28.

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think Memorial Day weekend? The beach, barbecues, suntanning, relaxing … and shopping! Memorial Day weekend is one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year. It’s important retailers take advantage of this timing. But to sell more, retailers must understand their consumers and know what they are looking for. So what do people want to do for Memorial Day weekend? Go on a beach getaway (that’s what I’m doing), host a house party, fix things around the apartment, visit a relative who lives three hours away, get pampered at a spa, go to a barbecue party, spend the day fishing, check out the latest technology gadgets––maybe it’s your last weekend before you start your carb-free summer diet, so you’d like to go out for a great meal and really indulge. No matter what, it all involves spending money: the flights, the hotel, the car rental, food, gas, gifts for the host, the massage, the facial, the latest iPad, the lobster dish followed by chocolate mousse…

Once you know where your customers will be, target them with special promotions. People love good deals, such as “buy one, get one free” or “spend $35 and you’ll get a free beach bag.” Store displays should be happy, colorful, and inviting and should create sense of urgency. Say something like: “Your friend might be enjoying a piña colada in Islamorada, but you get to take home the latest Betsey Johnson bathing suit––NOW, for only $$$!” Or how about rewarding all your Facebook and Twitter followers? Drag them into the store. Give them something. They will love you for it!

What are you doing this Memorial Day weekend? Any special deals you’ve gotten so far?

Author: Marina Kaljaj

Do You Ever Find Yourself Asking, “How Can I Stay Ahead in This Fast-Paced, Competitive Marketplace?”

For most people, the answer would be a resounding “Yes.” In this day and age, the key to success is making the most of your time, ALL the time. With so many suppliers optimizing their sites for mobile browsing and creating apps for your smartphones and tablets, you can get pricing, specs, and inventory levels with just a few taps. Instead of spending your commute sitting idly, you can utilize this new technology for your benefit. Now you can actually knock off some of the items on your to-do list before you even arrive at the office and get a jump on your day. Or you can hammer away at that pile of work while you are away on vacation before that dreadful Monday morning hits.

For example, armed with just an iPad and my cell phone, I can fulfill my current role at Vanguard of finding the best suppliers and quoting the best possible pricing for our customers no matter where I am. Mobile sites are popping up all over––just check out a few of the leaders in the promotional items industry.

These apps and mobile websites also allow you to see orders in the proofing and production stages, as well as their shipping status, so you can have answers for your clients before you even fire up your desktop at the office. Additionally, you can now check pricing, inventory, and turnaround time remotely, allowing you to easily type up a quote while on the go. Gone are the days of train or flight delays slowing down our productivity when these little challenges come our way. With more and more companies developing these types of user-friendly options for our mobile devices, we can not only improve our time management skills, but deliver superior customer service as well. Soon, we just may be able to steal that famous Army quote: “We do more before 9 a.m. than most people do all day.”

Author: Amy Carroll

iPhone 5 Rumors

It’s almost summer, so that means the iPhone rumors are flying fast and furious. Here are some of the more plausible ones:

• The iPhone will be taller and thinner––the rumor that is getting thrown around the most is that it will have a 4-inch screen .

• The body of the new version will be made of “LiquidMetal,” a mix of metals that are lightweight like plastic yet still strong.

• The new iPhone may have the retina display that was introduced with the latest iPad.

Despite all these rumors floating around, the design for the iPhone 5 has not been finalized yet.

Author: Susan Hallinan

Ideas Worth Sharing – How TED Can Help You

This past Thursday I had the opportunity to attend a Direct Marketing Club of New York luncheon held at the Yale Club. It was really an honor to hear a few industry leaders discuss the knowledge and insight they have accrued over their many years.

Patrick Fultz, President and CCO of DM Creative Group, claims to read––on average––three hours of industry-related material per day. I won’t question the veracity of his statement but instead extend my kudos for finding the time. As for the rest of us, it seems nearly impossible to keep up with day-to-day work and also find time to learn about the world outside our soul-sucking pod-o’-death cubicles.

If you’re lucky enough to work in a profession you have a passion for and yet rarely have time to keep up with what that industry is doing, you really are missing out. The operational mundanity of our daily tasks takes the wind right out of our creative sails. It’s sad if you think about it.

TEDTalks hope to inspire. And while it’s hard to find the time, if you can, I recommend you check out some of these amazing presentations. These talks help remind me why I’m in marketing. But more than that, you can find awe-inspiring talks about topics you never knew existed. It’s incredibly fascinating and impossible to describe here. Instead, here are a few must-watch marketing and advertising talks that may apply to those reading this post.

Wanna understand more clearly how Apple does what it does so well? Wanna know how to make your business generate more revenue and sell better products? “The Golden Circle” by Simon Sinek helps show why most people approach business the wrong way.

“Life Lessons From an Ad Man.” Need I say more?

Seth Godin and Malcolm Gladwell are two of the most influential voices of our era. Pioneers and just flat-out smart dudes. Be sure to listen to everything they have to say (and read their books!).

http://www.ted.com/speakers/seth_godin.html

http://www.ted.com/speakers/malcolm_gladwell.html

Author: Eric Swenson

Security Printing – Invisible to the Untrained Eye

As a leading communication and print solution provider, Vanguard Direct often fields unusual print requests. In recent years, two of our clients asked us to provide solutions that would prevent the counterfeiting of valuable mass-produced printed matter. Both clients had had bad experiences in the past and looked to Vanguard to provide solutions that would put an end to counterfeit documents. Each solution had to involve an easy check for authenticity, minimal training of client personnel with little or no technical printing background, and no sophisticated and expensive examination equipment.

We used our experience to understand the problems and to pick the best, cost-effective security solutions.

Technical methods and measures used in security printing include: special paper, watermarks, intaglio printing, geometric lathe work, micro-printing, optically variable color-changing inks, holograms, security threads, magnetic ink, serial numbers, anti-copying marks, prismatic coloration, halos, false-positive testing, fluorescent dyes, registration of features on both sides, electronic devices, thermochromatic ink, and latent images (Wikipedia).

Though the possible methods of preventing and deterring counterfeiting are many and varied, we’ll discuss only two of them here. In both cases, the documents we needed to produce and protect had a high monetary value. Our goal was to introduce visible, recognizable deterrents as well as invisible (to the untrained eye) elements to ward off any attempts at forgery, tampering, or counterfeiting.

Client Need 1 – Valuable Event Tickets

After meeting with our customer’s production and security staff to discuss previous problems and concerns with event tickets, we suggested solutions and their estimated costs. We discussed each option until a solution was chosen that included special shaped holograms and serial numbers. Besides these visible deterrents, the solution also included supervised steps along the manufacturing path. A log-in and sign-off book followed the work-flow process and noted the destruction of all printing files, plates, and print production waste as well as the inspection of specially sealed packages. A special courier delivered the completed ticket packages to the client along with a notarized affidavit outlining each step in the work-flow logbook.

Checkpoints for inspecting and collecting each ticket from each invited guest were manned by client personnel who had been trained to check by eye for the visible and not-so-visible deterrents. (Each year, modifications have been made to the technical methods that add to the security process.)

Client Need 2 –Valuable Application Forms

On this project our challenge was to ensure customer-outsourced care providers submit only one single-sheet application per candidate enrolled. Each enrolled candidate earns rewards for the care provider, so the greater the number of candidates enrolled, the greater the reward. (To help deliver adequate security and prevent fraud, we have added and varied security deterrents each year.)

• Techniques to limit the number of applications made available to each provider were introduced. Applications were distributed in carefully counted lots and packaged with an equal number of program guide booklets.
• We have varied the ways of matching program guide booklets to applications each year. Those looking to cheat the system were left challenged.

The success of these programs has been measured by the absence of breaches in security over the years. Being mostly invisible has been utterly successful!

Author: Paul Grieco

Hope, Change, and Whining in the Mobile Arena

As we all keep heading back to the cloud-services buffet line to fill our plates with streaming music, document collaborations, and photo sharing, our glasses of data––once advertised as bottomless––are leaving us thirsty. Mobile devices––the smartphones and tablets of the world––make the cloud-service buffet line seem so much cooler, more powerful, and more useful, but what does the future hold? Three stories from the past few weeks help us read the tech tea leaves.

RIM
From execs going nuts on international flights to just poor long-term planning, the struggling Canadian former tech giant has had it rough. For a seemingly stagnant company that once paved the way with mobile email, calendars, and contact functionality from a mobile device (the BlackBerry), recent news of a well-received new device might be the fair-weather forecast RIM has been waiting for. Before you slam RIM and its loyal hoard of CrackBerry zombies, remember that the company was once innovative––that innovation in the marketplace can lead to better devices for us, the consumers. During the BlackBerry developers conference, alpha-stage BlackBerry 10 devices were distributed to developers to kick-start app development. Check out the video below:

 

Mobile Interactions: Change Your View
Change how you view your mobile customers (if you even know they exist). Custora, a mobile-commerce analytics start-up, posted an interesting infographic showing the different purchasing habits of mobile customers. From device stats to analysis of mobile versus non-mobile customers, the message is clear: Know your customers and study their habits based on their mobile identifiers. Those identifiers will lead you either to enhance their experience or to fine-tune your strategy.

Wireless Whining
Rumblings (think “wahhhhhhhhhh!”) from the mobile carriers and their Washington lobbyists about the future of our airwaves and the portions that wireless carriers claim they need in order to support our new and growing thirst for mobile data are creating a controversy. It’s a battle between developing new technology and the “easy way out,” snatching up more spectrum to protect revenues and control the marketplace. The New York Times reports that the now dead-in-the-water deal between AT&T and T-Mobile was purely about access to spectrum, or more of the radio frequencies that we use to pass voice and mobile data through our smartphones. All in all, technology seems to be a logical solution––one in which the use of spectrum-neutral techniques could make the spectrum-licensing and -dividing model obsolete––but it would require the big mobile carriers to reconfigure their networks.

Author: John Carew

Landa Corporation Introduces New Technology That Will Change the Printing Industry!

I mentioned in an earlier post that there was a big announcement coming out of Drupa 2012 about nanographic printing technology. Well, it’s here! Landa, the company that gave us Indigo, has brought us what could be the next industry-changing technology in printing. There has always been a gap between short-run digital and long-run offset. Landa has come to market trying to fill this gap.

So what is nanography, and why is it so cool? Well, let’s start with the roots: “nano” is derived from the Greek word νaνος [ná:nos], which means “dwarf,” so we know it is small. “Graphic” comes from the ancient Greek word γραφικός [graphikos], meaning “belonging to a painting or drawing.” Now we know that we are talking about very small graphics. This is where nanography changes everything. The pigment size these new presses use is about 100,000 times smaller than a human hair! The color precision that Landa machines can achieve is remarkable. The printing process is very similar to that of digital printing. Billions of nano-ink droplets adhere to water droplets on a belt, and as they spin around the belt, the water evaporates, leaving the nano-ink on an ultra-thin polymeric film that can be transferred to virtually any substrate––coated, uncoated, paper, plastic, or even metal.

Landa has debuted six presses at Drupa, three sheet-fed and three web-fed––all with speeds comparable to traditional offset presses and with outstanding industrial design and very small footprints. In the sheet-fed arena, you have B1, B2, and B3 sizes. In web, you have 22″, 40″, and 22″ perfecting presses. More in-depth details can be found at WhatTheyThink.

Nanotechnology has been around for years, but this is the first time we have seen it introduced in printing. Landa has taken into account every aspect of printing on these new machines: quality, efficiency, sustainability, and even interface and workflow. I urge you to read more about Landa because you will be using its technology in the future!

Are you excited yet?

Author: John Mehl

The LinkedIn iPad App – A New Connection to Your Connections

I am a longtime user of LinkedIn. My number is 210,856, meaning that I joined when there were only a couple of hundred thousand users. (According to Wikipedia, there are now over 150 million users.) With its new iPad app, I am a bigger advocate of LinkedIn than ever. For me, LinkedIn is steadily becoming a morning must-read along with the Wall Street Journal, The Daily, and Flipboard (which aggregates social-network content in a magazine-like format).

The elegance of the Flipboard experience has transformed how we consume content on the iPad. The LinkedIn Updates section provides an experience similar to Flipboard in that it allows you to view content from your connections. I still use LinkedIn through Flipboard, but now I get better Profile and Inbox sections in the LinkedIn app.

There should never be complacency in the digital space, so I look forward to more enhancements to the LinkedIn app that help me to stay on top of my business game.

Author: Dana Farbo

Graphene and Beyond

Six years ago, graphene was heralded as one of the most important materials of the 21st century. It is extremely strong, thin, and most important, can conduct electricity better than any other known material.

In this past week, two graphene-like materials have hit the news. A research team from the University of Exeter’s Centre for Graphene Science has invented a new material called GraphExeter. It is not only very conductive but also lightweight, flexible, and transparent. GraphExeter can possibly be used to make solar panels up to 30% more efficient or to make low-cost electronic clothing.

Researchers in Germany and France have created silicene by condensing silicon vapor into a single layer of atoms. The biggest benefit of silicene is that it would be more compatible with silicon-based devices and chips.

Smart clothing anyone?

Author: Susan Hallinan

91st Season for the Art Directors Club Awards

On May 8, the Art Directors Club (ADC) will celebrate this year’s winners during Creative Week in New York. The ADC has already released some of the award winners’ names and campaigns. I’ve highlighted a few below.

Typically, advertising or design agencies take away the coveted gold cubes, but this year Creative Artists Agency out of Los Angeles ran away with four golds and two silvers for its “Back to the Start” campaign for Chipotle. The agency’s incredibly minimalist website prevented me from learning more about it, but I gather that it is a talent agency that also offers creative services (and connections to a heck of an animation team!):

I was so happy to see one of my favorite spots from last year be awarded three golds and one silver. “The Bear,” an ad for CANAL+ (the HBO of France, I gather), is just flat-out brilliant. Kudos to mega-giant BETC Euro RSCG for still being able to crank out good work.

On May 9, the ads will be available for viewing by the public in NYC. I hope to swing by and check some out. Hope to see you there!

Author: Eric Swenson