Ann Byne

I always read about great conferences, I save the emails and brochures and then tell myself that next time I’ll have the time to attend. So when a good business friend generously offered a ticket to the sold out Simmons Leadership Conference in Boston, I jumped at the chance. Easy, end of story, right? I then spent the next week totally torturing myself. Should I go, shouldn’t I go, too busy at work, too much coordination, too much money and then the walapalusa for all women, my family might need me, aaargh! But alas here I am at my lovely and quiet hotel room typing away. There are adorable little soaps and shampoo and I get to have a very well appointed king size bed all to myself (sorry Eric, I really will miss you).

I was watching one of my favorite shows, “Sunday Morning” a few weeks back and learned some interesting new things about the advertising icon Leo Burnett (1891–1971). Many of you probably have no idea who Leo Burnett was, heck I barely knew the name. But I bet everyone knows the Pillsbury Doughboy, Tony the Tiger, The Jolly Green Giant, Morris the Cat, Charlie the Tuna and the unemployed Maytag repairman. As a baby boomer my childhood was filled with many of those characters and Leo Burnett and his agency created them all.

Unless you live under a rock you have probably seen the Darth Vader Volkswagen ad from the Super Bowl. It’s gone viral with (as of this writing) 23,896,467 hits on YouTube. Why is it so popular? It’s undeniably clever and touching yet very simple, not one word is spoken.

In a media cluttered world, delivering communications with simplicity and clarity is more essential than ever. We are all living in fast paced times and as the world gets more complex we all crave a little simplicity.

Social media offers marketers an opportunity to engage in conversation about their brand. So, how did this baby boomer get to know anything about the benefits of social media? Isn't that a young person's game?

Social media offers marketers an opportunity to engage in conversation about their brand. So, how did this baby boomer get to know anything about the benefits of social media? Isn't that a young person's game?

Well, once upon a time, a young woman (that was me), wielded my best marketing and design tools – Pantone markers, letraset – to provide clients with the kind of perfect layouts and marketing messages that assumed people were listening. For the most part, they were. It was a less cynical world. Marketers weren’t competing with the Internet, or YouTube or video on demand or online ratings. Consumers didn’t register for "do not call" lists, use DVRs to tape TV shows so they could “skip” the commercials, or Google clients to see how some of its previous customers felt about their service or product. When we talked to consumers the last thing we wanted was for them to talk back.

Fast forward 25 years, the design and advertising landscape has drastically changed. My markers and paper have long since been retired and replaced with a computer that allows my agency to create marketing materials in less than one twentieth the time. The newspapers of our day are fighting for their lives, the post office is gasping for breath and the youngest members of our population are determined to "opt-in" for marketing.

When it comes to marketing it’s not how loud you shout it’s how well you make the connection.

When was the last time you thought of yourself as being calm. For most of us these are anything but tranquil times. We’re inundated with information, overwhelmed with daily tasks and asked to keep pace with technology that keeps moving faster and faster. Personally I can’t tell you how often I have responded to email from clients without thinking through the correctness of my answer and even worse the flippant way I might have handled an issue with staff saying words that can never be taken back (if anyone reading this ever felt bruised, I'm really trying to do better).

I’m a big believer in giving back to the communities we do business in, but is it also good for our small businesses bottom lines? I believe so! Giving back to the community can raise your business' profile and even bring you more customers or clients.

According to Umair Haque's article from Harvard Business Review, Why Betterness is Good Business. “Striving to do more good is associated with greater profitability, equity and asset returns, and shareholder value creation.” And he believes these new business models will help build companies with a purpose, and a mission that is truly understood by their customers.

And as successful members of the community, we have a responsibility to help those that are less fortunate and contribute to the common good. I really enjoy the intangible benefit of giving. Giving back to the community gives me a wonderful feeling of connectedness and the satisfaction of at least trying to make my small corner of the world a better place.

I think customers like patronizing businesses that give back and I believe that giving back has helped my firm move forward!

Have you found ways to give back, would love to hear from you.

–Ann Byne, Principal, The Byne Group