Jajo Inc. - Advertising, Branding, PR by an Integrated Marketing Agency: Blog

2009 was a tough year for a lot of communities, Wichita being one of them. It seemed that no one could escape completely. It touched everyone. Families. Friends. Strangers. We were all in it together.

As the year closed the stories started to roll in. People with the heart to give to those who were in need stepped up and did what they felt needed to be done. Mother in London gave $10,000 to any person who would respond to their suspiciously-written email. Local businesses banded together to encourage giving and doing good deeds. An organization provided an opportunity for people to make an impact in the life of starving people in Haiti. And many more equally compelling stories.

But that was a month ago. Now we’re on our way to making 2010 better than 2009. Our focus is on strengthening existing relationships while building new ones. My fear is that the more days we put between now and then, we’ll become numb to the ever existing challenge of helping our neighbor and we’ll forget what it’s like to help our brothers and sisters along the path. Let’s all commit to never forget.

As usual, I started my day off looking at all the free e-newsletters I have subscribed to.

 It seemed to be the same ole’ stuff (social and mobile media). Then at last, something to the point and very blunt jumped out and made me click through. It’s an article on how to give a lousy presentation .

I believe that first impressions are important and in an instance can make or break you. Having your best foot forward is important. It’s when we get busy, with the day to day stuff, we loose track of what will make us look impressive.

Of course having butterflies before going into a presentation is normal but if you have prepared, those butterflies will fly away with your second deep breath.

As marketers we try to come up with the next best thing when in reality WE are the next big thing.

I challenge you, only because I have challenged myself, to step up your presentation game and see how being prepared can win you new relationships.

While I’m definitely finding it difficult to be positive about the state of our economy, have to agree that just like the months and year following 9/11, marketers are re-evaluating efforts and forcing agencies to ramp up faster with new capabilities. This is some interesting insight from friends at Adage. Which capability do you think is the most significant? http://bit.ly/2MWpxe

“Mislabeled a full-service agency today. We can provide that, but we’d rather do what works. Text ‘jajo’ to 59925.”

What the … ? This was a Facebook and Twitter message that Jajo posted a few days ago. Was it harsh to boldly declare that a local publication mislabeled us? Perhaps. Was it true? Yes.

Who cares? We all should.

The only thing harder than establishing a brand is managing the reputation of that brand. Jajo is a young agency. While we have smart people with years of experience and proven track records of success, as a group, we are still establishing our brand. And when someone or some group or some publication mislabels us, it can have a huge impact. We must immediately address it.

More than a year ago, Jajo expanded its in-house expertise to include public relations and Web programming, shortly followed by account planning and broadcast production. Only five years old as an agency, we were excited to start calling ourselves a “full-service agency.” It meant that we were growing — advancing in our industry. We were no longer just a design shop; we had arrived on the scene as a real advertising agency.

Within a year, we knew it no longer described us. Full service felt more like an inappropriate smorgasbord of services than a solution. Shouldn’t we be known for developing something special, something unique for each brand? So we began to explore the future of advertising and the role we wanted to play. How could we move forward with authenticity — without trying to be all things to all people? And how could we sync with others who want the same thing?

While we’re still forming what we want to be, we know what we aren’t. We’re not into labels, such as “full service” or “branding agency” or “integrated idea agency.”

Essentially, we’re a group of empowered people obsessed with strengthening clients willing to be true to themselves instead of trying to be everything to everyone. We love advertising. We love communicating. Building relationships is at the heart of what we do.

Should we have attacked this misrepresentation of our agency like a Doberman with lockjaw? Probably not. But we are, if anything, transparent. And transparency is owning up, not covering up. We probably could have changed our phrasing a bit. Lesson learned.

What we will never apologize for is protecting our brand. When tagged as exactly what we are trying to move away from, we took it directly to social media. However worded, we corrected something straightaway that otherwise might have gone untouched for weeks.

Our response generated some great conversations — and new followers.

What do you think? Is the term “full-service” advertising agency about as irrelevant as a full-service gas station? Or does it still have a place in the modern agency?

Some great discussion here about Walmart offering Great Value versions of the Girl Scouts’ Thin Mints and Tagalong cookies. While certainly it is fair market practice to offer competitive products to those that have proven successful, is it ethical or morally just to capitalize on a fundraiser that benefits children? Would this topic be as dicey if it were any other private label doing the same?

What do you think?

“Yeah, but can a SMS solution really work for my business and reach my target?”

Using SMS isn’t the answer to our prayers. It’s one tool in a deep and wide pile of possible solutions. There is reliable information about who is likely to be receptive to receiving information from their hand-held device. But beyond demographics we can look at the relationship between the intended audience and the sender of the message. This relationship can supplant the validity of the demographic data. 

Sen. Barak Obabma will announce his Vice Presidential candidate by sending a text to all his supporters. Without question, his supporters span nearly every demographic segment, some who don’t fall in the bucket we normally consider being a good target to receive messages by SMS. 

So, the real question is; does my target love my Brand and do I have a message that will add value to their lives?