I was just talking to a good friend and brand strategy/PR partner of ours, Angela Walseng, about our Web 2.0 capabilities and realized I don’t think I posted a link to our work with the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon. We created the 2007 competition’s Myspace Page.

Here’s a link: www.myspace.com/solardecathlon07

Now go join and be one of their friends!

Garret Ohm
www.orange-element.com

Orange Element is growing. So much so that we’re currently looking at a new office in the Fells Point area of Baltimore. And we’ve got our eye on a space that is very fitting, and will be comfortable for our staff (currently beginning to resemble sardines in a can, we’re packed in so tight).

That said, before we can move, we need to figure out someone to take over our lease. Our Craigslist ad is here: http://baltimore.craigslist.org/off/538069160.html

We’re looking to get about $1500/month (negotiable) for 1475 square feet (+/-). The space is beautiful. Let me know if you’re interested.

Garret Ohm
www.orange-element.com

Hi all,

Just a quick update for all Orange Element fans - We are very excited to announce that we have been hired by the Delmarva Foundation to design and produce their quarterly newsletter. This series of newsletters will help inform the public and their constituents about the importance of the work they do, the results they produce and the state of the health care industry, and more.

The Delmarva Foundation is a national, non-profit organization headquartered in Easton, Maryland with a mission to improve health in the communities they serve. They fulfill this mission by providing leadership services and consultative resources that ensure all Americans receive care that is safe, effective, efficient, equitable, timely, and patient-centered. Their 250 professionals include physicians, nurses, scientists, analysts, and other quality experts working in teams to achieve these strategic goals:

• Interventions Team: Transforming healthcare.
• Data Integrity Group/Health Integrity, LLC: Best in class analysis. Using data analysis to make healthcare more efficient and effective.
• Performance Assessment and Validation: Influencing stakeholders to improve healthcare quality.

We are very excited to be working with such an honorable and important organization. We look forward to a great, long-lasting relationship.

Garret Ohm
www.orange-element.com

Hi all -

Recently the Advertising Association of Baltimore, of which I am a board member, asked me and a group of other Baltimore-area ad agencies and design firms to discuss industry trends that we see emerging as we move into 2008. So I did some thinking and here’s what I came up with:

We’re seeing smarter, more discriminating consumers

Throughout 2007 and into 2008, we’ve noticed that consumers continue to become smarter and more discerning than ever before when it comes to advertising and marketing. This change in consumer behavior has led to us marketers having to change our focus and adapt our normal way of thinking.

But how did this change happen? It’s no secret that we consumers live in an over-communicated society. It continues to get worse and worse every year with marketers turning to new technologies and techniques like placing ads on cell phones, digital signage in unsuspecting places like at a restroom urinal and even stamping logos onto fresh produce at the supermarket. We’ve even read about groups that plan to launch technology that will help companies place ads in outer space that will be visible from Earth.

But consumers are becoming hip to what’s going on. They more and more reject these forms of disruptive advertising, and have become much more skeptical of advertisers. In a sense they’ve digested so much advertising that they’ve become professional ad critics. They can spot both a good and bad ad from a mile away and they have begun to become less tolerant of companies that don’t have polished communication.

This has led us as marketers to shift our focus a bit less on tactics and more on the emotional appeal of the brand from the inside out. For instance, we’re doing a lot more work than ever developing stronger brands and marketing them internally to a company’s employees-in a sense creating brand ambassadors that can instill the brand organically on customers (this relates back to what Ryan wrote about a brand’s engagement with the consumer).

For external marketing, great ideas are still important but execution has become key. Our clients are looking for work that leaves their consumers with a good feeling (and associate this feeling with their brand) on an emotional level rather than work that screams about a specific promotion. The consumers tend to ignore the screaming (Think Donahoo Motors…). Simplicity in message and design has increased in importance as well, with busy consumers simply not having the time to devote to comprehending advertising.

Creating a well-executed and approachable brand (both in message and design) that consumers can relate to quickly is paramount. If we can build a brand that relates positively to a consumer from the instant they interact with it, we can help these companies better connect with their consumer on an ongoing basis rather than turn them off with a flood of poorly done disruptive advertising. They expect this more and more these days, and can tell when a company hasn’t put effort into their marketing program.

Garret Ohm
www.orange-element.com

Hi all,

I just wanted to take a minute to officially welcome EJ Hall to the Orange Element team.

EJ recently graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design, a private art and design college in Providence, RI. She completed a summer-long internship at Orange Element this past summer, and was so impressive that we made sure to make her an offer when she became available for full-time work.

Welcome, EJ! We’re glad to have you here (again).

Garret Ohm
www.orange-element.com

(From The Center for Media Research)

According to the first annual survey of Top Marketing Trends for 2008 of 1700 MENG (Marketing Executives Networking Group) members, conducted by Anderson Analytics, key areas for 2008 are found to be:

• Marketing basics (60% “Very Important”) which include specific concepts such as customer satisfaction, customer retention, segmentation, brand loyalty and ROI were of greatest interest.
• Search Engine Optimization (42%) had relatively wide appeal, and cut across marketers in all fields.
• “Green Marketing” (32%) was another important emerging concept and it was identified as the trendiest marketing buzzword (which is part of the reason why we joined the Baltimore, Maryland organization CSBA).

Chandra Chaterji, a member of the MENG Board of Directors, says “Senior marketers are facing an increasingly complex world with new technologies and new market segments rising to the fore.”

On Global Issues, 52% viewed China as the region with the best future opportunity, with India is a distant second at 20%. Few marketers saw other regions such as Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Latin America, Brazil, Russia, and Mexico, as comparable opportunities.

In terms of another important global issue, Out-Sourcing/Off-Shoring, 77% of marketers reported that their companies do not off-shore any part of the marketing function. However, Tom H. C. Anderson, Founder & Managing partner of Anderson Analytics, notes that “almost all of the larger companies are trying their hand at offshoring (market research) while trying to keep it as quiet as possible.”

Vis-a-vis the most important customer demographics, senior marketing executives rank Baby Boomers highest with 88% ranking them as either very important or somewhat important. Surprising is the fact that Gen X (86%), Hispanics (86%), Women (85%) and Gen Y (84%) are catching up to Boomers as customer targets.

Good to Great, The World is Flat, and Blink were the top three most recently read books by senior-level marketing executives to stay abreast of information and gain insights for their business. In terms of all time favorite business book ever read, topping the list were Good to Great, Positioning, and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Richard Guha, Chairman of MENG, in announcing this study, said, “this is the first of a series of studies by MENG which will make a major contribution to the growing effectiveness of marketing.”

To read the complete PDF report , please visit Anderson Analytics here.

Garret Ohm
www.orange-element.com