Revolution is easy when you don’t have anything to lose. You say the things everyone’s afraid to say, kick in some doors, fire your guns into the air, depose some tyrannical leaders, and declare your way to be the new way of doing things. When you’re a startup, it’s...
Articles in the "Marketing" Category
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The 30-and-30 Rule for Websites
When designing a website, it’s important to remember that not everyone processes information the same way you do. You might enjoy taking your time and absorbing all the details, while someone else is just trying to get in, get what they need, and get out. When...
Your Spreadsheet Isn’t Telling You the Whole Story
Human behavior is based on emotion first, logic second As technology has given our industry the ability to measure more things faster than ever, there’s been a steady trend towards having metrics serve as the basis for design and creative work, with the idea that this...
Your Beliefs Are Your Most Important Source of Content
As we’ve been working on our own content strategy for the next six months, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what kinds of things we should be writing about. There are all kinds of options out there, but I increasingly find myself thinking that the most...
The Truth About Truth
Great advertising is exceptional truth-telling. In 1912, Harry McCann and four partners launched the advertising agency that would later become McCann Erickson. Their founding motto was “Truth Well Told,” which beautifully expresses one of the most fundamental (and...
The Häagen-Dazs conundrum
Is the Häagen-Dazs brand fundamentally inauthentic?The name “Häagen-Dazs” doesn’t actually mean anything. It’s not an ancient Danish city or the name of two Swiss ice cream masters or anything of the sort. The name was made up by Jewish-Polish immigrant Reuben Mattus,...
You can’t run a company on fake values
If your values live only on your company's walls, you might as well not even have them You may have heard of a large energy company called Enron. Here’s a fun except from their code of ethics: Respect. We treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves. We do...
Fixed-Fee Billing is the Devil
Once upon a time, Forty was totally into fixed-fee billing. Several months ago we repented of our evil ways (we now bill 100% hourly) and life’s been awesome ever since. How did we come to this change of heart, and what does it mean for our clients? The Quick...
Can a Marketing Agency be Agile?
After years of soul searching, experimentation, and dipping our toes in the water, we here at Forty have finally committed to fully adopting the Agile methodology across the board. This is a pretty radical change for a marketing agency. The Agile methodology was...
How to Design for Every Decision-Maker
When you're designing something, it's easy to fall into the trap of designing it for yourself. If you tend to be an emotional decision-maker, you might focus on feelings and sensations rather than raw data. Conversely, if you're a detail-oriented decision-maker, you...
I Love Marketing, and Here’s Why
When I was young, I had a really pessimistic view of marketing. I thought advertising was about emotional blackmail and manipulation, branding was conceptual mumbo-jumbo, design was pointless visual fluff, and public relations was just a way to hide your faults...
Is Web 2.0 Hype Hurting More Than Helping?
Usability guru Jakob Nielsen has criticized web firms for being so quick to jump on the “Web 2.0” bandwagon that they neglect basic elements of good design. He’s absolutely right, and it’s great to see someone with his visibility discussing an issue that’s...
Where Company Names Come From
Wikipedia’s List of Company Name Etymologies is a fascinating read that gives some insights into how company names are really created. Notice that you don’t see too many origins like “Developed during brainstorming session with $100k naming consultant.” Just goes to...
Brand Identity Insights from…Milwaukee?
In a recent editorial in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, author and speaker Richard Thieme made some very insightful comments into the recent efforts by the “Milwaukee 7” to rebrand Milwaukee into something sexier and more desirable than its current...
The 10-Point Attention Mapping Exercise
A customer’s attention: it’s exceedingly difficult to acquire, experts measure it in milliseconds, it vaporizes if mistreated, and it’s worth far more than gold or diamonds. Scared? Don’t be—it’s putty if you know how to handle it. Attention is the most fundamental...
Why Those Terrible Campaign Signs Actually Work
With campaign season in full swing, I’ve had some recent chats with my colleagues about the universally weak and uninspired nature of campaign signs. It seems like political marketing is about nothing more than putting your name on a solid color background (usually...
Walking the Viral Tightrope
Alltel has given us a great case study in viral marketing with their recently-flopped “People Against My Circle” campaign. After almost a week, the campaign has failed to generate any significant buzz or publicity, despite its apparently large cost. The...
Website Promotion Guide for 2006
It is estimated that there are around 85 million websites in existence at the time of this writing. By the time you launch your website, it will probably be closer to 100 million. The days of “If you build it, they will come” are long gone. Don’t lose hope, though....
5 Rules for Great Websites
In a world in which it’s unusual for a business not to have a website, an ambitious business owner must expect to do more than just throwing something online. Following these simple rules will help your website stand out in the crowd. Rule #1: Challenge...
What to Look For When Hiring Web Design and Development
The web design and development industry can be difficult for businesses to navigate, with options ranging from your cousin looking for iTunes cash to multi-million-dollar agencies like Avenue A | Razorfish. This guide will help you to understand your options, and...
The 5 Forbidden Words of Advertising
Quality - Service - Value - Integrity - Caring They look great. They sound great. You’re sure that they’ll convince the customer that your firm, above all others, is the “the one.” The only problem, as pointed out by this BusinessWeek article, is that those...
Top 10 Stock Photography Cliches
1. The Handshake of Synergy: You’ve made the sale and closed the deal. They can’t back out now—you shook on it! 2. The Flirty Customer Service Gal: Operators are standing by to take your call…and your heart. 3. The Big Thumbs of Triumph: Good job, ace. You’ve saved...
The Sneaky Side of Viral Marketing
Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Customers Surreptitiously is a fascinating article from the California Management Review that describes how agencies can intervene in natural communication situations to achieve results that traditional advertising can't achieve....
The Product is the Best Marketing Tool
Once upon a time, marketing was about hyping the benefits of a product in order to convince you to buy it. Whether you were happy didn't matter much, because you already had your money and had moved on to other customers. In a contemporary consumer society, however,...
What’s Wrong with Commas Anyway
This is a question that has gnawed at my soul for months. I’ve sent e-mails to a variety of prominent people who could answer the question, but I haven’t received any responses. Maybe they think I’m a nut.In any case, I now present this as an open question to the...