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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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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,...
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...
Forty has been in business for over a year now, and it's been a wonderfully successful first year, having completely blown away our business plan estimate, our own expectations, and even our craziest ambitions. While I don’t claim to be a business expert, I do think...
The world’s biggest branding crisis isn’t accounting scandals, poor customer service, or ugly logos—it’s executives’ paralyzing fear that they’re going to do something wrong. Imagine that you’ve just been chosen as the new CEO for a Fortune 500 company. The numbers...
We don’t typically think of banks as a source of clever and innovative ideas, but Bank of America has somehow managed to break out of the mold. Keep the Change is a brilliant new service from Bank of America. In a nutshell, whenever you purchase something with your...
The technology for of “internet radio” has been around for well over a decade, so why is it now taking off in the form of podcasting? Folks have dabbled in online radio for ages. Dozens—possibly hundreds—of companies have risen and fallen on the promise that it would...