But brands, do they give anything up? We think they should. Here are a few things that drive us crazy.

1. “Spam”. Not the investment-opportunity-in-India spam, but the newsletter-everyday spam. It boggles the mind that companies actually think that we read this stuff. It’s too much copy. It clutters our inboxes. And it doesn’t even really offer all that much. We’re not buying the “brand-awareness” POV either.

2. Social-media cluttering. Yes, people are on Facebook and Twitter. And yes, they’re legitimate places to advertise. But, make sure you have a strategy going into it. Don’t just shoot from the hip. And beware of too-frequent updates. Like a broken window in Paperboy, this leads to unsubscribers. Bad jokes do too.

3. “CHEAP! CHEAP!” Regardless of where you’re from, we’ve all seen local advertising. It’s understood that small-businesses are often not in the market for award-winning ads. But, that being said, you can make a good, simple commercial without making me CRINGE! CRINGE! Honestly, no matter your budget, there is always an opportunity for a good idea. As the esteemed Steve Kopcha of the University of Missouri School of Journalism always points out, good ads sell stuff.

4. Txt. Unless your target market is a 14 year-old, we’d stay away from the “texting” speech. It’s not clever and, really, it just looks lazy. There are better ways to be “in” with that age group – paste Zac Effron everywhere and they’re yours. LOLz.

5. Exclamation points. Don’t use them!

6. Inconsistent brands. Yep, these drive us crazy too. One marketing piece looks like this, another one looks like that. Messaging is different from piece to piece. Please, make it stop. Reference the classic example of Apple Computer for a brand that keeps it consistent.

7. Really complicated (for the user), fancy websites. All you’re doing is hurting the brand. Simplicity is king.

Are these all of our complaints? Absolutely not. Our goal was to write a blog post, not a manifesto. There were just top of mind.

Have a great week.

So… we loved it. At first sight, too.

Now we get that Super Bowl ads usually tend to lean heavily on humor. But Google’s ad was a refreshing break from the flying chips and the talking babies. Why was this ad so great?

Google…

• executed brilliantly with zero talent costs
• used their interface as the visual, making it about as ownable as you can get
• told a story (and a timely one at that with Valentine’s Day coming up)
• tapped into the emotions of viewers (little humor going on, little love going on, some surprises going on)
• had an ad that resonated through literal noise (think about how many ads you couldn’t hear because people were talking at your party)
• and of course, it aligned with their platform – user friendly with no clutter and clean communication

In case you didn’t see it, the spot told a love story in a nonconventional way. It was simple. It was memorable. It was ingenious.

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Have a great weekend. And happy Valentine’s Day.

Enter: foursquare.

Now, I don’t know about you guys, but my mind automatically jumped to my middle school days playing foursquare. But, apart from something that your friends can join in, this foursquare is a tad different.

Foursquare is a new trend of letting people know exactly where you are, and I mean, exactly. Stop off at the local bakery on your way home? Foursquare it. Hitting the gym during the weekend? Foursquare it. It’s not just something that’s a great way for your friends (or stalkers) to know where you are, but it’s great for businesses as well – especially those with smaller marketing budgets.

For businesses, the best thing about this is that it’s free publicity. People can review, recommend and promote you all by just telling everyone where they are. It offers the opportunity to get your name out there by people who already like you. Not to mention, it has map tie-ins and all the typical bells and whistles of a consumer-review type of site.

Businesses and foursquare users can both really use this to their advantage. Not only can businesses see who their most loyal customers are, but they can also reward them. Customers who use foursquare “check-in” where they are and get badges (“adventurer”, “local”, “newbie”) and when they become “the mayor” (the most loyal of all the regulars) they are rewarded by some, but not all, businesses by getting freebies of some sort.

All in all, it’s a win-win for everyone. Businesses get their names out there and people who use foursquare, well, they can show how busy their lives really are. That and potentially win freebies at their favorite local spots. So, go ahead, sign up.

Hope your weekend is terrific. If you do anything fun, foursquare it.

Sharon

The article capitalizes on the notion that in a time of such investment turmoil, there is no place to put your money like the small mom-and-pop shops of America – very much that Wall Street to Main Street ideology that we were educated on during the last presidential race.

Why is it a good place to put some cash?

43 million Americans work for companies employing less than 100 workers. Throughout the past 15 years, small business has cranked 64% of the countries new jobs. More than 50% of American nonfarm GDP is created by small business.

As Mr. Kurson points out, small business is indeed big business. Not to mention, it offers personal rewards unattainable when working for the big guys. Cleaning toilets, stocking the fridge and swinging by the office to pick up the Saturday mail give you a certain satisfaction that you just can’t get in the corporate world. Sounds strange, but it’s so very true.

Mr. Kurson then goes on to offer three simple tips for making it happen. Tips that we’ve found to be of the utmost importance at Gorilla 76.

1. Learning QuickBooks is the single best thing you can do.

2. Cash flow is king. Or the lifeblood, as we’ve previously referred to it. Without it, well, you’re out of business.

3. Marketing is a must (obviously). This budget is tempting to cut. But don’t. Do you quit watering the lawn during a drought?

So, in closi…sorry, got to run. Last minute client meeting scheduled and our pantry is bare and the bathroom, well…

So…

1. More blogging. Lots more blogging. We’re doing okay on the micro side of things, but don’t write enough on the macro. We preach it to our clients but we have a hard time doing it ourselves. Yep – need to fix that.

2. More reading. Lots more reading. Industry stuff. Fun stuff. A library of everything. We think it’s important for inspiration, and, well, the old noggin in general.

3. Quit letting the award annuals pile up. We love looking through them – so, we should probably do it. It’s a good way to find inspiration and learn from the greats.

4. More sack lunches and sample days at Straub’s. This whole Central West End thing is hurting the pocketbook. First Herbie’s, now Pi. It’s getting ugly.

5. Continue to pursue hobbies. I just got a nice camera – I want to use it more and really learn the craft of taking a good photo. Joe likes to cook – he should do that more. Hobbies are important. They help keep you sharp and focused at the 9-”5″.

6. Encourage clients to do “due diligence” of research. Makes for much more effective work in long run.

7. Continue to be a student of SEO. A local ad guru told me it grew 5,000% last year. Ummm…probably need to stay on top of that then.

8. Always keep the big picture in mind. Always.

9. Make it to the West Coast on business. Seattle’s been calling our name. Hmmm…Filson is in Seattle.

10. Continue to hit the gym. We bought company passes to a nice little fitness club. Unfortunately, the weights don’t lift themselves. The person signing us up forgot to mention this.

11. More brainstorming over beers.

12. Rework biz plan. That’s a goal every year. We did it last year and helped a good deal. Keeps things fresh. Keeps you focused and on-task. A business plan is a living and breathing thing. Needs to be treated that way.

13. Stay up on daily inspiration. Blogs, Twitter links (deep breath – can get overwhelming).

14. Hire a new Gorilla or two. We’re getting to that point. We have a couple great candidates in mind. They’d be tremendous assets to the team.

15. Redo our Gorilla website. We have some great ideas and sketches. But, we need something that’s clickable.

16. Continue to build relationships with current client base. We’re blessed with a good one, need to keep them all on board by offering them good thinking and great service.

17. Most importantly, continue to have fun while doing it all.

All the best in the new year – hope it’s prosperous to you and yours.

Jon

According to a panelist of CAT, Yates Buckley, “If you are a creative and don’t know about technology, you’ll be out of a job soon”.  More and more people are turning to the Web to get their news. They’re “tweeting”. They’re using popular websites to connect with people. Which can be an advantage for advertisers (that’s right, an advantage – look beyond print!). If you’re not taking advantage of this great opportunity of a cheap way to reach your target audience, I’d suggest changing your ways. The great thing about using social networking, besides the value, is that people are choosing to “follow”, “become a fan”, or “like” your company or product. Your target audience is coming to you – it’s an advertiser’s dream. Of course, there are strategies and proper ways to use the mediums, but let’s leave that for another blog post.

As consumers turn to the Internet, their phones or any other form of technology that’s bound to come around, advertisers are going to have to be able use technology to their advantage. They might even have to change how they use technology. But what it really boils down to is being ready to embrace technology.

Thanks for reading

-Sharon