So what is Pinterest? Think of Pinterest as a visual bulletin board that lives on the web. If you like something – an article, a photo, a recipe, product, etc., you can “pin it” to your online bulletin board. Boards are created by the “pinner,” and are relevant to them – for example, my pin boards include tasty recipes, fashion, fitness, gifty ideas, home décor and business. I assign my pins to my respective boards, and include a description and link to the original ink/story/source as necessary. Others can follow and see my pins and pin boards, and even “repin,” making Pinterest viral.

Can Pinterest work for your brand? Pinterest can work for brands large and small to convey their story through images, and allows brands to build visual interactions between themselves and customers. Any brand can quickly connect an audience with their story, mission and featured projects.

Consider these ways that Pinterest can grow your brand:

• Gain Web Traffic: Not only can you pin images that link back to your website, but you can also create titles and descriptions for each image. All of these links mean the potential for more traffic.
• Gain Exposure: By driving traffic to your website or blog using Pinterest, you can also build exposure for your brand. Pin images of products your company produces to Pinterest, and you could introduce new customers to your brand. RoomMates is a local brand that does this well.
• Interact with Customers: Pinterest can be a great tool for interacting with customers, and if you want your business to be as successful as possible, you definitely want to engage your customers and create a sense of brand loyalty. Creating a public board enables customers to provide feedback on products, services or overall opinions of the company.
• Convey Brand Culture: Create a board with images and/or videos of your brand, including employees, office space, events, etc. This will showcase your brand personality and help make your brand relatable and human, potentially gaining followers and customers.
• Retailers: Consumer brands can pin images, articles and products that capture the lifestyle or the brand personality for what you’re selling. For example, York Wallcoverings can pin about wallpapers, home décor, fashion (because wallpaper designs are inspired by the runways), interior design articles, etc.

But, beware of Pinterest etiquette: Pinterest is not a platform for self-promotion — brands need to approach the site differently than other social mediums, creating an experience rather than using it as a broadcast mechanism. Happy Pinning!

What didn’t work?
1)      Teleflora’s Valentine’s Day: This ad was a huge hit, and men will undoubtedly remember to give their wives and girlfriends flowers this Valentine’s Day. But, will they purchase from Teleflora? Will men remember who the advertiser was, or just the sexy Victoria’s Secret super model and the idea that you have to give to receive.
2)      Audi’s Twilight: We get that the commercial was unveiling Audi’s new and very-recognizable headlights through a spoof on Twilight. We question whether Twilight’s audience was the right target for the luxury brand and therefore, may have missed the mark. The ad was clever from a creative standpoint, but we hope Audi was trying to appeal to parents of Twilight-loving teens/early 20s instead of the kids themselves.
3)       Tax Act: We felt this ad could have been made with a big fat refund check, not a child peeing in a pool?
4)      A few brands that need to retire their creative and start over:  Coke: The Polar Bear commercials seemed a bit tired and unentertaining.  Same with Pepsi. GoDaddy also needs to rethink the “sex sells” and using a female body as a painted billboard seemed to offend both a male and female audience.
5)      CareerBuilder: This guy is still looking for a job? Maybe Career Builder isn’t working…!
6)      Cars.com – The talking head guy – while it’s receiving some mixed reviews, we would fire the agency that did this creative immediately.

What surprises were there?
While always entertaining, the Super Bowl commercials weren’t too thrilling or surprising this year. Even more so than last year, advertisers were previewing their $3.5 million ads on channels like YouTube, The Today Show and Twitter before the big game. We were surprised to not see JCPenney in the mix as they unveiled a new relaunched brand and campaign on February 1st. In our minds, they are the ones to watch right now as the early creative is very strong. It will be interesting to see if they can deliver that at the point of purchase experience.

There were a few brands who did not advertise this year:
1)      Apple (although Apple received plenty of product appearances during the game – every player on the Giants Roster had their iPhones to snap pictures of the Super Bowl trophy.)
2)      Miller Lite – Budweiser had a handful of commercials but Miller Lite was unmentioned.

What can local advertisers take away from the commercials?
A lot of the Super Bowl ads created high visibility and brand recognition, but lacked a call to action. Local advertisers should keep this in mind for their advertising campaigns. Advertisers (especially smaller local brands) need their marketing dollars to work hard for them, and may not have the budget to do large branding campaigns as many of the Super Bowl advertisers do. To get the maximum potential from advertisements, we recommend local brands include a strong call to action in their campaigns. Also, when you are placing your local ad next to some of the more creative, eye-catching ads seen every year, it better be high quality, creative and not look “local” – otherwise it will stand out and look inferior. Some local companies tried to get clever but their creative couldn’t stand up next to the big guys and ended up making them look second rate.

• How do you know when it’s the right time?
• Do we have too much brand equity in our current logo to make a change?
• We need to be fresh, but we don’t want to be too different that we are unrecognizable. How do we do this?
• Am I going to identify with this new logo as much as I do the old?

Having my team reiterate to me what I have said to our clients over the years was almost comical. (Trust me, it’s a lot easier to help someone else change, than change yourself.)

So, here is what I’ve learned since we launched the new look:

• There is never a “right” time – you need to make the decision and take the leap forward. Trust your instincts because they are almost always right.
• While there was equity in our brand, that equity came from Moxie’s reputation in the community more than our look.
• Slight modifications to the logo while keeping key elements (i.e. if you notice our X is very similar to the old logo and we kept the Moxie green color, too) will help with maintaining your identity. I’ve already had a number of clients and friends tell me this new look is much more us and fits us better.
• Finally, yes – you will identify with the new as much (if not more) than the old. It does take time, but if you do it right, it will happen and become the “new” you.

Thank you to my team for leading me through this process. This time, you were right.

~Julie

Have a wonderful holiday season!

In 2008, Moxie was born to fill a need in the marketplace. Four years later, Moxie has evolved, not only in the range of the products and services we offer, but also the personalities that make Moxie what it is today. Therefore, we decided to tweak the logo a bit to reflect everything that Moxie is and will continue to be in the future – forward-thinking, team-spirited, honest, connected and authentic.

We hope you like our new look as much as we do. While our look may have changed, our core values and uniqueness remains the same. Thank you to our clients, friends, vendors and supporters over the last four years that have helped make Moxie what it is today. We look forward to many more years to come.

The Moxie Grant Program is designed to empower non-profits through quality design, strategic marketing and communications plans, so they may reach their fullest potential while continuing their mission of helping those around them. Moxie has pledged to donate bi-annual $5,000 grants (one in the spring and one in the fall) each year to assist non-profits with their own community programs. The Moxie Grant Program is open to non-profits within South Central PA, specifically Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster and York counties.

Applications are currently being accepted for the Spring 2012 Moxie Grant program until February 15, 2012. Applications will be considered bi-annually for the calendar year. Submission will be scored by an independent review board and the winning organizations will be notified within 30-days of the deadline for submission. For more details and entry information, please visit: www.MoxieGrantProgram.com.