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Thinking

Sadly, whether it’s my piano skills or your branding, you can’t just tell people what to think. People are smart. And cynical.

For this edition of “Grill the Arsonist” we’re venturing into the creative realm and talking to the one and only Dre Manor!

MindFire Communications had a smokin’ hot night at the 48th Annual American Advertising Awards in Iowa City on February 27. The gang of Arsonists took home five Gold awards, one Silver award and Judge’s Choice.

This feature also unlocks a big opportunity to not only understand what consumers are feeling, but why they are feeling it.

There’s a famous quote in the advertising world by John Wanamaker, the first retailer to place a full-page ad: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

If you’ve been around any of us long enough – especially the lovely Amy Behning – you’ve probably heard us say, ”Audiences think in a blink.”

Whether it’s personal or professional, a long list of resolutions can be hard to sustain come February or March (…or maybe even the middle of January?) But a simple little mantra – a guiding light – that’s something we can embrace whole heartedly.

Sometimes it’s difficult to tell the difference between branding and marketing. The terms are increasingly used interchangeably, which only adds to the confusion. Both are important, but for different reasons. So what is the difference between branding and marketing?

Digital Arsonist Tony Nagy has been lighting fires at MindFire for three years! He is a veteran programmer, with an enthusiasm and talent for turning pages of coding into powerful and effective marketing tools.

Practicality can play an important role in the decision-making process, but most of the time it is emotion that powers our decisions to act.

It’s a complex world out there. We are inundated with thousands of branding messages every day. It can be overwhelming. As marketers, we’re trying to figure out how to cut through the chaos to get consumers to pay attention to what we want to say about our brand.

Many people think of loyalty and marketing as two different strategies. Marketing is often focused on bringing in new customers, and loyalty is all about keeping those customers coming back again and again. There’s a lot of evidence that building brand loyalty by marketing to your current customers is a strategy more likely to yield long-term success.