VegOut!

I'm the president of a non-profit, professional organization for those 32 and under in the advertising and communications industry. Each year, we select one non-profit from our community and give them a FREE pro-bono campaign. It feels so great to give back to your city with your talent! Anyone can donate time or money, but to be able to utilize your God given skills for the greater good feels awesome.

This year, Ad 2 Houston selected Recipe for Success Foundation. Their goal is to reduce childhood obesity. Did you know this generation is the first expected to not outlive their parents? Let that sink in! How scary!! All because of poor diet and diabetes. In most cases, diabetes is a disease that we can cure by healthy eating. My very own Grandmother was put on a special diet at her assisted living home and reversed diabetes. She has been free of insulin shots for nearly 2 years now! I love knowing that my sweet Maw Maw does not have to prick her finger ever day and then give herself a shot.

Obviously, we were passionate about selecting Recipe for Success. Once they were selected, they asked for us to help with a specific campaign, VegOut! VegOut! challenges Houstonians to eat 30 different veggies in 30 days. Ideally, everyone would participate during March, which is National Nutrition Month. But, your veggie logs are not due until April 4, 2014 so you can have a little late start or even an early start. You actually don't even have to be from Houston to participate!

The Houston advertising community has been great to us and our campaign. We have had several billboards, radio spots, eblast and more donated to our campaign. We even got Miss Houston on as a spokesperson. But, we need people to actually sign up to participant in VegOut! Our goal is to quadruple last year's results of 500 participants. We've already exceeded them, but could use your help! Please check out the website and register today: VegOutHouston.org

Be sure to follow my blog for the month of March. I'll be posting (hopefully daily) about my diet on the challenge!

Thanks for the support.

Valentine's Day Advertising Campaigns

February is the month of love and you cannot show your love without spending money, right? The most popular purchase on Valentine’s Day, besides cards, is candy. Lovers spend over $1.6 billion in total on candy alone. The least popular gift is a gift card, which still brings in over $1.5 billion!

In total, Valentine’s Day contributed over $18 billion to the economy last year and $17 billion the previous year. On average, men plan to spend roughly $175.61 and women spend $88.78. Married men spend far less than single men at roughly $73.75.

What are you planning to give this year? Here are the gifts most often given on Valentine’s Day (allowing for multiple gifts given):

Valentine’s Day Gifts Given (Percentage of Gift-Givers)

Like all holiday advertising, there is a right way and a wrong way. And don’t think just because your client isn’t a candy, flowers or luxury brand that they can’t recognize Valentine’s Day. Here are a few examples of how to make this holiday relevant to your brand (on a very low budget):

·         Pizza Hut’s “Cheesy” Lines on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151573718117415&set=pb.6053772414.-2207520000.1388979212.&type=3&theater

·         Krispy Kreme Doughnuts’ Facebook Cover Update: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151400136306001&set=a.10150755279296001.446660.130424181000&type=1&theater

·         Food Network suggesting Valentine’s Day Desserts via Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoodNetwork/status/301804438128046080

Tweet me your favorite Valentine's ad: @MarissaDeslatte

Sources: useconomy.about.com adespresso blog

Hypocritical

I'll start by saying I'm a Christian. I grew up in a small, swamp, Cajun town. I'm all for speaking your mind, but I'm mostly for treating people right. What I don't understand is this whole Phil Robertson/ A&E/GQ Interview nonsense. Actually, I don't understand religious people, at times, and, often, find myself quoting Gandhi, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." But, that's another blog post.  I, especially, do not understand the need for people to post things like this on Facebook:

Yes, he has a right to express his faith and his beliefs. But it is hypocritical to say that A&E does not have those same rights.

I could not imagine, representing my company, and saying something so negative. It doesn't matter what your personal beliefs are, because this is not just about you anymore. If you didn't care about your relationship or reputation then fine. But, you cannot act "however you want" when you're a representative of something that you'd like to remain associated with. Think about it. What if I decided I like to talk about politics and religion every single day and acted on this decision in the workplace. I'm 100% sure that my company would not allow me to go near any client. Hell, no employees would probably want to go near me.

So, I'll end with this:

• It's not very Christian to point out one sin that you think is 'bad'. They're all bad and we all sin
• It's not okay to say whatever you want and think that everyone should support you
• GQ did Phil wrong, but Phil fell for it
• EVERY brand representative needs a PR person

Thanks GC, Phil Robertson and A&E for keeping the communication industry in business!

2014 Introduces the “Indie Woman”

 

What is an “Indie Woman”? She’s 27+, single, lives alone, has no children, and is focused on her career. There are 31 million of her, constituting roughly a third of all adult women.  With a median income of $33,200 and a college degree, she’s putting off marriage and kids. “This is different from other generations. She’s no longer settled by the time she’s 25,” says Judy Hopelain, a partner at Brand Amplitude’s Millennial Marketing Unit. Young professionals “often find it’s easier to [build their networks and careers] if they don’t have obligations to others,” adds Eric Klinenberg, author and professor at New York University. These women are successful. They are the first generation of women to reverse the ceiling in school and at work. They are 57% of undergrads, 59% of masters degree holders, and 52% of managerial positions. She does want to settle when the time is right. Settling down doesn’t mean a wedding then a baby anymore, though. Demographic Intelligence projects the number of children born out of wedlock to rise to 50 percent by 2023, with more than half born to cohabiting couples. With the average cost of a wedding at more than $25,000, I don’t blame her!

More Fun facts on the Indie Woman:

·         There are actually more Indie Women in the US than there are married mothers 

o   77% are perfectly happy being single and only 27% agree that they would be happier than they are now if they had gotten married at age 27

·         They are not crazy cat ladies

o   27% percent of all women in the U.S. own a cat, while a slightly below index, 26% of Indie Women, own a cat

·         She will be a major influencer in 2014

o   They spend more per capita than any other type of woman on dining out, shelter, home furnishings, new cars/car leases, recreation, entertainment and apparel

o   She spends $50 billion on food/beverages a year

o   $22 billion on vehicles (five times more than independent men)

o   $20-22 billion on entertainment

·         Her digital image is just as important as her real life image

o   Women 25 to 34 account for 35 percent of all traffic on the mobile ad network Jumptap

o   Women of all ages are much less likely to click on a mobile ad than men, 0.29 percent vs. 0.53 percent

 

To learn more on the Indie Women, I encourage you to watch a short video on these Indie Women: http://thecurvereport.com/#/category/films/indie-women/

*SOURCES: ConAgra Foods Survey, Parade Magazine, AdWeek.com, SheKnows.com and TheCurveReport.com