By Leo Valiquette
Global food giant Nestle is a champion for healthy lifestyles and good nutrition. At least, that’s the impression given by its well-oiled marketing machine if you take the time to peruse its flagship website, or the website of its Canadian subsidiary. From tips on how to get the kids off to school with quick and nutritious breakfasts, to its various environmental and charitable efforts around the world, Nestle is putting a substantial effort into building a very specific brand image.
But, as I heard from unmarketer Scott Stratten when he spoke last week at CIRA’s AGM, brand is something that can be influenced, but not dictated, regardless of how much time, effort and money is sunk into the effort. And it doesn’t take much to derail even the most well planned branding strategy.
Nestle prides itself on “responsible consumer communication,” particularly to children. In Canada, it is a member of the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, a “voluntary program created by 16 leading food and beverage companies. The program involves promotion and support of healthy dietary choices and lifestyles among children 12 years-old and under. Participants also focus on shifting their advertising and marketing emphasis to foods and beverages that are consistent with the principles of sound nutrition guidance.”
Advertising Standards Canada, the industry association behind Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, even recognized Nestle and other participants last week for their upstanding efforts.
Read More
By Leo Valiquette
A couple of weeks back, I expressed my firm belief about the portability of strong writing skills between disciplines, with particular reference to journalists who make the career transition into public relations or marketing. Here’s my promised followup on the importance of not forgetting your roots in the newsroom when it comes to writing copy and placing a story.
(DISCLAIMER: Everything I am about to say stems from the assumption that you are great at what you do. And, frankly, most writers are not, but that’s a subject for another time.)
Strong writing remains at the core of effective public relations and marketing activities and this has become even more apparent with the rise of content marketing. From the ubiquitous and often maligned media release, to blog posts ghost-written for CEOs and thought leadership articles placed with leading trade and industry press, the lessons learned as a journalist remain relevant. In addition to my points below, you might also want to read Alex’s post from a couple of months back, 5 tips content marketers should take from journalists.
Read More
By Leo Valiquette
As Francis will blog about later this week, Victoria Lennox and the team at Startup Canada were back in Ottawa last week and my brief showing at one of the events left me with plenty of food for thought.
Startup Canada wrapped up two busy days in Ottawa with a “Wine Down” event at The Hub on Bank Street on Friday evening. For those of you who don’t know it, The Hub is a co-working, meeting and learning space focused around social entrepreneurship.
I am a Gen Xer, not a boomer, and yet, to be in that room, I certainly did feel my age in a way that I haven’t before. There was plenty of idealism, ambition and energy. There’s plenty of idealism, ambition and energy to be found all over Ottawa wherever young entrepreneurs tend to congregate, be it The Hub, TheCodeFactory, or any of the various open labs, watering holes and caffeine bars that lie in the orbits of Carleton, Ottawa U and Algonquin.
Read More
By Leo Valiquette
There’s a quote that I am fond of from journalist and author Gene Fowler, who passed in 1960:
“Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.”
I could only wonder what he would say if he were alive today about making a living from writing. Content is king. It is fresh and original content, as Katie Parsons wrote the other day, which remains the strongest draw to pull in readers. And yet, we live in this contradictory age in which the ability of almost anyone to easily and affordably be a global producer and distributor of content has undermined the definition of what constitutes quality content and fostered a growing disrespect for the time and craftsmanship required to produce it.
Nonetheless, I wholeheartedly believe that a quality writer has a substantial advantage in today’s marketplace by virtue of the fact that their skillset is the basis of a premium service that is highly transferable between disciplines. The classic example is the journalist who jumps the fence into other fields, such as public relations or marketing.
I use this example because I live it. After working for eight years as a business journalist and editor, I made the leap into a PR/marketing role. Here are my lessons learned along the way.
Read More
By Leo Valiquette
Effective marketing is often an exercise in thinking outside the box to make the most creative use of assets already at hand.
In a content marketing context, this may mean tapping into the brain trust residing within your organization to use the industry experience, perspective and forward-thinking vision of key individuals to establish thought leadership through blogs, whitepapers and contributions to trade and industry publications.
There are also those instances where a certain caché can be built around providing a unique experience to your marketplace. British startup Screach, which we regularly check in with on this blog, is an excellent example of a technology vendor that is all about audience engagement and interaction by creating unique and fun experiences that take advantage of mobile ubiquity. But with any kind of product or service, there are unique aspects that can be used to create an original and memorable experience.
Read More
