A Mind-Blowing Branding Campaign (that could have been...)

With Valentine's Day around the corner, I'm reminded of a mind-blowing Branding campaign (that could have been) from when I visited my hometown in Cary, North Carolina.

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Did you enjoy this podcast? Please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen). It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really helps the show get discovered by other people looking for marketing help. Plus, I love reading reviews!

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Transcript

0:00

Hey guys, Valentine's Day is right around the corner. Now in this case when I say guys, I'm actually talking to the men listening. Usually I used the term "guys" as this inclusive term for both genders for the sake of this show.

Let's go to reminder: 0:15

men, Valentine's Day is right around the corner. I wish I had a Steven Singer promo I could share with you, but alas, I do not. Instead, I have a mind-blowing brand play that could have been related to Valentine's day that I wanted to share with you. You're listening to TriPod, a podcast produced by Tricycle Creative to help safely navigate creative business owners through the worlds of digital marketing, strategic content creation and business growth. Host Ross Herosian is a marketing coach, content creator and entrepreneur who brings you helpful tips, social media updates, inspiring interviews and his own unique perspective on how to tell your story and grow your business. So if you're interested in being a better marketer, business owner or creator, sit back, relax, and let's get pedaling. A couple of months ago, my wife and I visited my hometown of Cary, North Carolina shout out, we got to spend some time with my family. And I got to revisit my childhood neighborhood in all my old teenage haunts and hotspots. We also did a lot of exploring of Raleigh, which if you don't know is adjacent to Cary. So I could see how much was the same and also how much it changed. Surprisingly, more had stayed the same than I expected. But there were still a lot of changes. For one, my childhood comic shop either closed down or moved, which is probably good for me because I was afraid that if I went in there, they'd informed me that they'd been reserving comics for me since 1998. And that I owe them 10s of 1000s of dollars. So maybe I dodged a bullet there. And it was while we were exploring Raleigh that this mind blowing branding strategy that could have been was discovered. We were waiting at a light and I looked over into a parking lot. And saw like six wrapped vans, you know, like they they're wrapped, they have like company branding on them, that kind of thing. And they were all in the same parking lot. Now the van wrapping was all the same on all of these trucks. It said "a&e factory service, repair services and parts for all major brands, appliances, lawn and garden equipment, electronics," and it had a one 800 Number. If you actually want to see the photo, I've added it in the show notes at tripodpodcast.com. Now the odd thing about these vans was that they were all in one parking lot that was in a restaurant. You know it was around lunchtime. And if it were Hooters or some other eatery where the food is overpriced, and the waitresses are overexposed. I probably just would have given it a pass. But it wasn't a restaurant. They were in the parking lot for a store. And that store was Adam and Eve. So for those of you out there that don't know what Adam and Eve is, or if you're playing coy because someone else is in the car with you. It's an adult toy store. And I don't mean boggle. It was actually founded in North Carolina, and is still headquartered apparently in Hillsboro, North Carolina. Fun fact a buddy of mine used to design their emails way back in the day and would send them to me for entertainment value. And entertainment value only. Wink, wink. Anyways, so there were a fleet of trucks with this innocuous branded wrapping of a repair company called a&e in the parking lot of Adam and Eve. I thought this was the most brilliant branding play of all time. What I thought was going down was an amazing exercise in branding to reflect the "FFPs" - Fears, Frustrations, and Problems - of Adam and Eve customers. I am sure it's a very real fear among Adam and Eve customers that privacy is taken care of and secured. And also there's probably a component of embarrassment maybe of ordering from them. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a healthy sex life. But if you happen to be purchasing a giant dildo I think the last thing that you want is for it to come in a clear plastic case that your mailman will just leave out on your porch. While that may be an extreme scenario. You may not also want it to come No pun intended. In a Adam and Eve branded box. Because I know a lot of people who live in condos where they have a shared package room. Again, no pun intended. So what I thought I was witnessing was Adam and Eve wrapping a fleet of delivery trucks for their products as a fake run of the mill repair appliance service company, so that they could deliver the Adam and Eve packages. For the last time, no pun intended to customers, it would be a brilliant move. Those They're actually owned by Sears, they have a website, I actually nosy neighbors wouldn't suspect anything, and conceivably, even called 800 number. So unless this is a huge, deep fake, then this brilliant branding play. It was all just in my head. a spouse who you're maybe surprised shopping for wouldn't understanding who your customers are, their FFPs fears, frustrations and problems, and why they shouldn't work with you suspect anything either. But here's where it all comes are just some of the questions that I answer inside of my crashing down. Unfortunately, it turns out that "A&E Factory marketing clarity coaching program. But you don't have to take my word for it. Here's what a recent graduate of the program Service" is a real company. had to say. The Marketing CLARITY program was by far the best investment I made my business this year, if not, and just the life of my business. When I hired Ross, I had no idea who my ideal client was. I had tried those exercises before where you figure out your customer avatar, and it just never worked. But Ross helped me do was figure out who I should be marketing to how to figure out what their pain points and frustrations are and how I can best serve them. He also helped me figure out my voice, how to bring my voice and how to bring my personality into my messaging and into my content, which is something I lacked for a very long time weekly in our calls, the exercises we went through were invaluable. They were easy, but also powerful. He made it feel super simple. And also just gave me the ability to take everything we learned and put it into this toolbox that I can refer to anytime I'm making content, or about to send an email or post to my website. In fact, one of the weeks when we were working together, I immediately jumped off our call and sent out an email taking what he had taught me and right away I signed a new client just from that one little tip. This has been one of the best experiences of my life and I highly recommend the marketing clarity program for you and your business. That's Craig Dacy, a financial coach who helps service based business owners struggling to pay themselves what they're worth by providing systems and guidance for better money management that leads to the ideal work life balance. He's a friend of tricycle creative and you can find him over at craigdacy.com.He's just one of the dozens of solopreneurs and small business marketers that have had their marketing and their businesses transformed by my marketing clarity coaching program. So if you're walking around in a marketing fog, let's book some time see if I can No, go to tricycle-creative.com/clarity. Again, that's tricycle-creative.com/clarity I'll put the link in this episode description and it's always over on our show notes page tripod podcast.com And let's book your 15 Minute clarity call. Thanks for listening to tripod. Be sure to subscribe and rate the show on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher or wherever you listen. For show notes and past episodes go to tripod podcast.com Connect with tricycle creative on social media at Hello tricycle and learn more about how we can help you with your marketing at tricycle dash creative.com