California-based Google just celebrated its Grand Opening of its new offices in our city of Kirkland, WA, about 2 miles from our old offices on Sixth Street South. Interestingly, for 14 years, from 1992 to 2005, I lived near the site that Google built its facilities on.

From keyholes to keywords.
The site was what we called the “Souder Door site,” a dormant door-manufacturing facility. I was a representative of the Everest Neighborhood Community Association (one of Kirkland’s 9 official neighborhoods) and we kept close tabs on the various proposals over the years for what to do with the property. Developers coveted it. Condos were proposed. A shopping center was pitched. The then-mayor of Kirkland even met with us and proposed a fantastical train station.

Rah!
Never in a million years would we have guessed that Google would ultimately occupy the site. In fact, Google didn’t even exist in 1992.

Google Kirkland, in conjunction with the smaller Google Seattle office across Lake Washington in the Fremont neighborhood, employs about 600 people. They have primary responsibility for Google Talk and Talk Video, and also work  on Google Maps, Chrome, Gmail, YouTube, Analytics, AdPlanner, AdWords and more.

Good for Google. Good for Kirkland.

Gary Meyers
President

We get asked (challenged might be a better term) by non-marketing folks, such as CEO’s and CFO’s in B2B environments, how to measure ROI for a company brand. Why bother with brand? How’s it make us money? Why the heck should anyone invest in brand building in this lousy economy? Especially a B2B company?

Fair questions.  Think brands don’t have prescribed value?

Top brands are worth millions.

In a bidding war and negotiation in 1998, Volkswagen paid $780 million for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. But BMW got the Rolls-Royce brand name and logo for $66 million. According to the New York Times, analysts “quickly declared BMW the real winner of the takeover brawl because the name is considered by many to be Rolls-Royce’s most valuable asset.”

Or billions.
The 2008 BusinessWeek/Interbrand Best Global Brands ranking, created by BusinessWeek and Interbrand, ranks the top 100 global brands, and is typically published every September.

How are rankings determined? Interbrand says it evaluates brand value “in the same way any other corporate asset is valued — on the basis of how much it is likely to earn for the company in the future.” Interbrand uses “a combination of analysts’ projections, company financial documents, and its own qualitative and quantitative analysis to arrive at a net present value of those earnings.” Interestingly, Interbrand adds that brand values are “based on data collected during the 12 months prior to June 30, 2008. This means that more recent developments, including the troubles at Merrill Lynch and AIG, are not factored into the brand valuations.
”

Read more…

Gary Meyers
President

Red Roars!

Here’s recent work from Hodgson/Meyers for WatchGuard Technologies. This campaign was designed to give WatchGuard positioning presence and marketing personality in the crowded network security industry comprised of many competitors with “me-too” propositions. WatchGuard is known for its distinctive red hardware.

We developed the campaign positioning platform expressed here.

Get red. Get secured.

Then we created the red animal ad campaign that WatchGuard is using in print, interactive, and trade show environments. The campaign is also running as backlit display ads in major airports around the world, such as the one below in the United terminal at San Francisco International Airport (thanks to Jason Frummet, our Senior Account Director for snapping this photo with his iPhone for us).

Here’s what our client, Margaret Liddiard, Director of Marketing Communications for WatchGuard Technologies, says,

“This campaign is the most memorable one I’ve worked on in many years. We were searching for a way to make WatchGuard really stand out in a noisy, crowded B2B tech market, and this campaign is helping us do that with the catchy tag phrase and arresting images. And it has been enthusiastically adopted throughout the globe by our field marketing teams and partners. WatchGuard is on the move in the market place, and our Get red. Get Secured. campaign is contributing to our growing brand awareness.”

Gary Meyers
President

We get asked all the time, “What’s with your logo?”

Our logo mascot is the Pileated woodpecker, the largest woodpecker in North America.

These are visually striking creatures, with zebra-striped head and neck, long bill, and distinctive red crest.

They’re noisy; their call is a wild laugh, and their hammering and drumming are audible at long distances.

Woodpeckers are powerful; the holes they make can cause dead trees to split in two.

All characteristics of good marketing, don’t you think? By the way, our woodpecker is named Spike, and he’s federally protected, so you can’t shoot him.

Gary Meyers
President

OK, a plug for us.

Hodgson/Meyers has been selected as one of the top 100 Business-to-Business advertising agencies in the country for 2009 by B2B Marketing, Advertising Age’s Business-to-Business sister publication. This is the third straight year Hodgson/Meyers has won the designation, the only Washington State agency so honored.

Agencies were judged on criteria such as marketing capabilities, revenue, revenue growth, client list, geographic expansion, and creative awards.

We’re jacked about winning three straight. There’s no paucity of hard work or energized, conscientious forward-thinking around here.

Gary Meyers
President

I recently participated in the 175-mile Bike MS Ride. It was a terrific ride over two days on Whidbey Island and in the La-Conner-Skagit-Bellingham area.

My personal goal was to raise $1,000 for the event, which I surpassed with a total of $1,135. My cycling team, the Columbia Athletic Club, consisting of 95 riders, raised $48,000.00. In total, as of today, the Washington MS Ride has raised almost $1,600,000.00 for the National MS Society.

Every hour of every day, someone is diagnosed with MS. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society is committed to building a movement by and for people with MS that will move us closer to a world free of this disease. If you would like more information about the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, how proceeds from the Bike MS Ride are used, or the other ways you can get involved to create a world free of MS, please visit www.MSwashington.org.

Photo courtesy of Brian Snyder, Puget Sound Business Journal.

Gary Meyers
President

I just came back from a seminar in Chicago put on by Robb High, an agency consultant with a focus on new business.

His take on agency trends based on interviews and interactions with senior client-side marketing professionals.

Clients want true marketing integration, but often feel that agencies are too territorial to work with other agencies when additional expertise or skill sets are required. Clients also feel that internal agency specialists and teams are too siloed. EG: the Web folks don’t talk to the media folks. You agree? Or not?

Clients want branded content that can be expressed and re-expressed through a variety of channels––online, PR, advertising, promotions. Content is king right now.

Clients want measurable ROI. No shocker there.

And mostly, clients want “renaissance” marketing advisors, those who are Internet-savvy and multi-channel disciplined.

What do you think clients want most from agencies? Whether you represent agency-side or client side, we’d love to hear your candid assessment.

Gary Meyers
President

A first-hand report from Daley Plaza in Chicago

I was in Chicago on N. Clark Street last Friday for a morning business meeting. I was right next to Daley Plaza where United States Olympic organizers had planned a big celebration for the impending announcement that the City of Chicago was to be awarded the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. I joined the crowd just minutes before the first vote was announced. There were thousands of revelers all dressed up in theme orange (even the Daley fountains were spouting orange) and ready to celebrate their winning bid.  The plaza and surrounding streets were packed with party-goers, organizers, volunteers, politicians, Olympic heroes, dignitaries, police, and of course multitudes of news trucks.  A giant stage and huge video screens surrounded the square.

Chicago’s Big O celebrities, the Obamas and Oprah, had jetted into Copenhagen and “wowed” the International Olympic Committee voters the evening before. WGN Chicago quoted Charmaine Crooks, an Olympian and former International Olympic Committee member from Canada relating, “Everyone is mesmerized by Oprah.” Oprah herself told the news media, “It’s a seven-year party, and the party could start tomorrow.”

The headline in Anderson Cooper’s 360 blog on the morning of the vote was “Michelle Obama steals the show in Copenhagen.”

All the Chicago news stations had been buzzing for two days how Chicago had the advantage or at least would be in a showdown with Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro in the final round of voting. Tokyo first, and then Madrid would tumble against the onslaught of the City of Big Shoulders.

And then… the announcement.

Chicago was the first city to be eliminated. Their vote total was a paltry 18 out of 94. In sports terms, they were spanked. The first time a U.S bid had been eliminated in first-round voting. Ever. From where I stood in Daley Plaza, the entire contingent was in disbelief. Shocked. No one knew how to react. The last thing anyone expected was to get booted hard in round one.

So what happened?

Plenty, underneath the glitzy surface.
• Chicago’s funding was not even close to being guaranteed.
• There was considerable dissent, within Chicago over finances and the siting the games’ venues.
• The was unresolved acrimony between the United States Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee over TV rights and other issues.
• There was a massive, rancorous personnel shake-up in the U.S. Olympic Committee executive levels at a critical time when continuity was needed.
• The obvious: There were of course, three other highly qualified countries and ultimately, the opportunity to host the games on the South American continent for the first time ever.

(Interestingly, and offered up as a total non-political aside, I was standing below the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and he blamed Internet news coverage of Chicago youth violence for the loss. And George Bush.)

The marketing lesson? Substance trumps hype.

Gary Meyers
President

OK, I get job inquiries a lot. Many from recent college graduates with communications, marketing, and English degrees.

Here are two emails I received recently. The first inquiry is verbatim in its entirety (including case and punctuation). The second is an excerpt. The names have been mercifully changed.

———————————–
Inquiry #1:

Hello,
my name is Janie Doe, Im interested in getting into advertising and
trailor making of major motion pictures and i came across your
company. I’m a graduate of the UW in 05/09 and am looking for an
internship possibility or if your hiring some time soon
thank you
Janie@gmail.com

———————————–

Inquiry #2:

To: Hodgson/Meyers
Read more…

Gary Meyers
President

A shout-out to Denver/Omaha client CSG Systems and Seattle client HomeStreet Bank for their support for Habitat for Humanity.

HomeStreet Bank has long partnered with Habitat for Humanity in Washington communities, including volunteerism, educational and fundraising activities, board leadership, and home loans. Plus the bank has directly contributed more than $500,000 to Habitat for Humanity organizations during the past 12 years.

CSG Systems employee teams will take part in Habitat for Humanity Omaha’s Fall Framing Frenzy in September, bringing 100+ volunteers to an intense weekend of building.

We are proud to work with companies who give their time and money to their communities.

Gary Meyers
President