Please join me in welcoming our newest client, Affordable Green Energy (AGE). AGE is, as the logo says, an alternative energy solutions company. At the moment, they are really focused on wind energy, but what sets them apart from other alternative energy companies is that they are focused on the small-wind market. They aren't building wind farms, they're manufacturing and installing personal wind turbines, designed for individual homes and businesses.

The analogy that the small-wind industry likes is to refer to it as wind gardening. When you plant a garden, you can meet some (or all) of your needs, but you won't be able to produce enough for your neighbor. It's the same sort of thing with wind gardening.

AGE offers a variety of personal wind turbines, some of which are specifically designed to work better in urban and city environments. The best thing about AGE is that they aren't just selling you a wind turbine and letting you fend for yourself. They take the time to do a complete wind assessment and then put together a plan personalized for you, based on your location and your energy requirements. Once the plan is approved, they not only install the turbines, they will help you with any paperwork that is needed.

AGE is a great example of a local, family-owned company pushing forward with green technology.

Quick note: Just to be clear, so far we have helped them out with some stationery and their new sales material. We did not design their logo or website—I want to be careful to NOT take credit for anyone else's work.

Think Classy, Be Classy

Here's a very quick marketing tip. This one is both very simple and at the same time it is one of the most-broken rules of marketing. Does your business have an office or storefront open to the public? Take a look around and count the handwritten signs. At least half of the restaurants and stores I go into have handwritten signs somewhere. On the front door, at the cash register, in the restrooms, etc. Do yourself a favor and tear them all down. Immediately. Don't even finish reading this sentence...get up and tear them down.

There is nothing more amateur looking than an establishment who can't take the time to put even a half-ass sign together. Every business in the universe has access to a computer and printer, so there really isn't any good excuse. It's just simple lack of attention to detail. And if your printer at home is ten years old or older, maybe you should consider sending your file to someone else to print (I strongly suggest sending your file anywhere other than Staples, because there really is no telling if they'll be able to figure out the mysteries of your very complex order).

Here is an example of what I am talking about. Once upon a time, there was a restaurant that wanted to position itself as a high-end steakhouse. The restaurant itself was very nice, complete with white linens and entrées starting in the mid- to high-$20s. Not the fanciest or the most expensive, but in a town where the average entrée price is a lot closer to $8, they were trying to win over a more discriminating clientele.

What always stood out to me as I passed the restaurant, though, was that the sign in their front window was a homemade tractor-feed banner. Remember tractor-feed banners? They were very common back in the 80s. And this banner looked like it came right out of the 80s. The ink was a very faded black, the paper had rough edges along the perforations where the tractor feed was removed, and it wasn't hung very well. All in all, the sign didn't communicate anything high-end or classy. It just looked half-assed and cheap. Clearly, they didn't think their restaurant was worth a $150 investment, why would any consumer want to spend good money if they didn't even believe in themselves?

In an era when you can buy 5' x 3' full-color banners for under $150, why go cheap when it comes to signage? Think about that figure...one table for two with appetizers, entrées, and a decent bottle of wine would almost cover the cost of the sign. Okay...fair enough...add in the cost of a quick design and you'd need two tables to cover the cost. How many people may have been willing to give them a shot if it looked like they cared?

Handwritten signs are great examples of one of my favorite business screw ups: tripping over dollars to pick up nickels. Take a little bit of time and, if possible, spend a couple of dollars to upgrade your signage.

I think marketing guru Crash Davis summed it up best when he said, "Think classy, be classy."

My All-Time Favorite New Media Campaign

The best new Facebook application I've seen in a long time was put to rest this past week.

The campaign was brilliant in its simplicity. Instead of Facebook applications' usual MO of "sign up and send it to as many friends as you want/can," the Whopper Sacrifice went the other direction. It urged people to delete friends in exchange for a free Whopper. Every Facebook user who deleted ten friends from their friends list was given a free Whopper.


The caption at the bottom of the Whopper Sacrifice page now reads that "your love for the Whopper sandwich proved to be stronger than 233,906 friendships." Assuming ten ex-friends per person, that means that over twenty-three thousand people took part in the Whopper Sacrifice. In addition to the 23,000 active participants there were a LOT of press mentions of the program. Newspapers, magazines, online sources, television...everybody was talking about the Whopper Sacrifice.

And whose brain child was this? Not surprisingly, it was the work of Crispin Porter + Bogusky. I can't begin to tell you how much I admire some of the work that CPB does. If they were to call me and offer me a job in their Boulder office, I would have to think long and hard about moving back to Colorado just to have the opportunity to work in a shop of their caliber. Nothing against any agency I've ever worked with, but CPB is working on a whole different level than everybody else.

CPB has been handling the Burger King account for a while and their offbeat approach is working well for Burger King, who have long been notorious for their bipolar advertising efforts. Radical changes every couple of years...campaigns that were as boring as they were ineffective.

I think you are going to see a lot of people mimicking the Whopper Sacrifice app. Whopper Sacrifice helped change the way people think about advertising on Facebook. Instead of spending money on the little ads, put a little money into a unique application. Make it fun, make it funny, and the people will follow.

Hats off, Crispin Porter + Bogusky.