Innovative and Eco-Friendly Advertising

I love finding new innovative companies and ideas. CURB is just one of those companies. CURB is the world's first natural media company. CURB offers a unique portfolio of sustainable media, with a proven track record of generating enormous awareness at minimal cost to the environment. CURB's natural experts use only sustainable earth elements to create everything from national advertising campaigns to astounding corporate art.

Some of their innovative marketing includes mediums such as: snow, sand, plantlife, water, solar, wood and compost. Check out their work and their web site: http://www.mindthecurb.com

Art in Video Form

I love this video from Vimeo. Beautiful animation and music! There are some very talented people on Vimeo. Watch this video and check out the site for more. I know where I am going next time I need to hire a videographer.

Firekites - AUTUMN STORY - chalk animation from Lucinda Schreiber on Vimeo.

Using Linkedin.com - A Great Way To Do Business & Meet People

Stay On Top Of The Latest Trends & Leverage Them For Business

Marnie Settle and Summit Creative are proud to introduce Trend Patrol, a new group on Linkedin.com. Trend Patrol offers the latest news, information and discussions about new, emerging trends and innovative ideas. Join our group and join the conversation. No matter what kind of business you are in you need to stay on top of the latest trends!

Join our group at: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1895236&trk=hb_side_g

Also, follow Marnie on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/marniesettle

Water Packaging Gets Creative

I just love innovation and company's that look for ways to differentiate themselves. Soon, bottled water could be a thing of the past. Many bottled water manufacturers are looking to package in more eco-friendly ways and other companies are just looking to stand apart from the competition. Read the full story.

Wrapping Your Head Around Twitter

It wasn't that long ago that many of us had a hard time wrapping our heads around the concept of the Word Wide Web and its vast uses. Today, we have Twitter. Right now there are an estimated 3 million Twitterers. Still the average person I speak to on daily basis doesn't know what Twitter is or how to use it. 

The fact is that Twitter can be used for many different this such as staying connected with friends or customers, giving updates on a particular event, following current trends and much more. Check out the NY Times article about the usages of Twitter.

Why You Need A Corporate Blogger

As companies try to build their online presence and customer loyalty, more are turning to blogging. Blogging allows companies to voice their expert knowledge, build customer and media relationships, test ideas and/or products as well as help search engine rankings.

But, is it really possible for just anyone to build a successful blog and following?  As business owners are becoming interested in blogging and learning how to harness it's power, many top executives are trying to determine how to handle blogging within their corporate structure.

To be effective, blogging should be done at least 5 times a week, if not more. Most executives don't have that kind of time, nor do they want to be bothered with the task of blogging regulary. So how does one leverage the power of the blogosphere without the time commitment? Easy. Hire a blogger for your company. Whether you hire an in-house employee or a contracted professional, a blogger of your own can be well worth the investment. Imagine, you could have a dedicated blogger who is constantly writing, sharing and answering back to your customers. Your blogger can interview key personnel within the company or they can develop their own content to post. Not only can your blogger write and post content for you but that person could also double as your in-house Social Network Community Manager. Did I loose you there? What I mean is, your blogger can also manage your Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Youtube and Linkedin social networks. Having a dedicated person who can really focus on your online marketing and branding is worth its weight in gold. 

For more reasons why you should hire a blogger (and Social Networking Manager) check out the following books: The New Rules of Marketing and PR and World Wide Rave. 

If you are ready to hire a blogger contact me directly: marnie@summitcreative.net.

Reactee.com For Cool T-shirts With A Message

Here's a cool and affordable way to get your message across. A site called Reactee.com let's you create your own personalized t-shirt online with your unique message. The site gives you a unique keyword and when you wear the shirt and others see it they can text your custom keyword to Reactee.com which then triggers an automated response you set up. You can also get notifications, create alerts, update responses and more. All of this for between $20 and $27, depending on size and color. What a fun and unique way to get your message seen and build a community around it. For more information check out the web site: http://reactee.com

Advertising and Cool Free Stuff!

Free is the new trend in advertising. Due to an all out war to get the consumer's attention some companies are opting to give products and services away for free (some for a limited time, but hey, beggars can't be choosers). Check out some of these cool freebies that are being offered by companies to advertise their products. 

FedEx Office (formerly known as Kinko's) is extending a helping hand to job seekers today: free resume printing. Customers can print up to 25 black-and-white copies of their resume at any of the company's 1,600+ stores across the United States.  www.fedex.com/us/office

Gitchers is essentially a database of people who want free T-shirts, either for themselves or for their dogs (special canine T-shirts are distributed through the site as well). To sign up, consumers tell Gitchers what type of shirt they're interested in--featuring the logo of a favorite brand or website, for example--along with key demographic information such as their birthday, gender and location. www.gitchers.com .

Shadow Notebook is a five-subject notebook that gets cobranded with participating colleges and universities across the US and distributed by the school at the start of each semester. The university's logo appears on the cover, and pages of school-related maps and information get included within. Thirteen four-colour, full-page advertisements, meanwhile, act as subject dividers in each notebook, giving advertisers the means to engage students while they are a captive audience in the learning environment.  www.absnotebooks.com

FreeHand Advertising distributes free note-taking paper to students on their way to class. Each page is branded with the same type of horizontal ad you see on websites, only these are visible for at least the duration of a college lecture, and longer if students refer back to their notes.  www.freehandads.com

Everystockphoto.com is a search engine for free photos. These come from many sources and are license-specific. You can view a photo's license by clicking on the license icon, below and left of photos. Membership is free, without advertising, and allows you to rate, tag, collect and comment on photos. www.everystockphoto.com.

Another great free stock photo site is www.stockvault.net

How can you offer free products or services to entice customers? Are there target markets like students or Mom's that you want to have eyeing your products everyday? Think outside of the box about the items they use daily and come up with a new way to market to them. Maybe advertising on free diapers to Moms or advertising baby formula on free baby bottles? There are endless options! Get creative!

Hot Trends On Google

Want to check out something really cool? Google has a nifty feature called Google Trends that lists each day's current hot topics and trends that are being searched for on Google. I find it interesting to see what the rest of the World is interested in and what they are "Googling." Check it out for yourself: 

http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends

Staying on top of the latest trends in society is so important. This allows you a real time way to check the pulse of the World and find out what the hottest and newest topics are.