Advocacy Amplified

What a Friday delight!  Shortly after announcing our new President Matthew, news traveled to many business and marketing trades. Imagine our surprise when we discovered Matthew’s new shocking fan base. The internet doesn’t lie, Matthew’s celebrity affiliations have been exposed!

Happy weekend, everyone! - the A2G team.

Savvy Marketers Let Consumers Call the Shots

By Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY

Updated: 03/24/2011 1:10am

When Baskin-Robbins launches its newest ice cream flavor in June, it won’t be one that was whipped up in the ice cream icon’s supersecret test kitchen.

This one was concocted by a 62-year-old grandmother of four. And she did it online.

“When I wake up on June 1st,” says Diane Sroga, the Chicago resident and professional numbers cruncher who created the flavor, “I’ll probably stop at Baskin-Robbins before I go to work — just to make sure it’s real.”

Once she sees it on sale, she says, she’ll know it’s not some dream. Sroga is one of more than 40,000 consumers who competed in an online contest to create the chain’s next flavor — and her Bunches of Crunches concoction (since renamed Toffee Pecan Crunch) won out. She is part of a new breed of consumer who has combined talent, digital media and moxie to move from the sidelines to the playing field of product creation.

In a world where consumers demand to call the shots, savvy marketers increasingly are finding ways to let them do just that — even in the creation of products. Mountain Dew was among the first to let consumers become fully involved in its product creations, even letting them help design new bottles and cans. More recently, Lands’ End let two kids — ages 9 and 11 — design T-shirts that it sold online.

It’s one thing to let consumers create brand commercials — as Doritos and Pepsi have done in recent Super Bowls — but it’s something else entirely to ask folks to concoct a product that could conceivably be their Next Big Thing. One thing’s for sure: Companies aren’t doing it just to be nice.

They’re doing it to keep consumers engaged with the brand. They’re doing it in response to social-media-wise consumers who demand to have a direct say in the products that companies make. And they’re doing it because a growing number of brands recognize that some of the best ideas come from outside, not in.

“It’s a provocative idea to let the consumer have the keys to the castle,” says Amy Cotteleer, president of A Squared Group, which specializes in [experiential] marketing. “But people are demanding that they have unfettered access to the brands and products they use.”

By letting real consumers play a hands-on role in creating products, the big brands are giving their best customers plenty to chirp — well, tweet — about. Beyond that, Cotteleer says, as each company looks for what’s “next,” there’s increasing realization that — unless you’re Apple — the answer might not be within the company’s own doors.

Which is precisely what Sroga did. She remembers receiving an e-mail — out of the blue — about the contest. She received it because she had previously registered her grandchildren to receive free Baskin-Robbin ice cream cones on their birthdays.

“I’d never entered a contest of any type,” she says.

But this one interested her because she’s an ice cream junkie and every summer makes homemade ice cream with peaches she picks from the tree in her backyard.

So, during one lunch hour at work, she concocted a recipe online using the ingredients she loves most: chocolate, nuts and caramel. What she ultimately created, she says, “sounded more like a chocolate candy turtle.”

Shortly after submitting the entry, she forgot about it. But about a month later, she received an e-mail from Baskin-Robbins informing her she was among the 10 finalists — one of which was to be selected by consumers through an online vote. A month later, she received a phone call at home that she’d won the whole shebang. The company brought her and her husband to its Boston headquarters and filmed her mixing a batch of her creation. It also gave her hundreds of dollars in free ice cream certificates.

“I’m still surprised by it,” she says. But Sroga says she knows exactly what Baskin-Robbins is up to. “It really is possible for an everyday person to come up with something that a company might be looking for.”

Read rest of the article here.

Copyright 2011 USA TODAY

Happy New Year! We are back from the holiday break and looking forward to all the great things this year will bring. To kick things into high gear, we have a fun-filled month of January birthdays here at A Squared Group.

First up! Katie Holden, our new Account Manager who recently moved to LA from New York City. Her official big day is on Sunday, January 9th but it’s never too early to start the festivities.  Katie’s good friends Stephanie & Leigh already arrived this morning from the east coast for the special occasion.

In the office, we celebrated over Sprinkles Cupcakes – an LA staple for our new LA resident!

Though 2010 proved to be a big year for Katie — who got new job, moved to LA, ran a marathon (!!!), and traveled to a new continent, we’re sure 2011 will be just as fabulous.

The happiest of birthdays to our dear Katie!

A Squared Group has just been named to Inc. Magazine’s 2009 Inc. 500|5000 List. This is the first year that A Squared Group is eligible for consideration; we will be celebrating our 5-year anniversary in February. It’s a great honor to be included in this prestigious list of the fastest-growing, dynamic, independent companies in the United States.

The Inc. 500|5000 List is selected based on established revenue growth, innovation and demonstrated ingenuity. The top 50 companies on the list will be highlighted in the September Issue of Inc. Magazine. All honorees will be feted at the Inc. 500|5000 Conference in Washington, D.C., on September 23-25, 2009.

It seems we’ve never met a list we didn’t like.

Earlier this year, A Squared Group was named to Promo Magazine’s Promo 100 List. The Promo 100 List is comprised of the top 100 promotional and integrated marketing agencies in the country. And Promo Magazine named us one of the 10 Best Overall Creative Agencies, for the second year in a row.

In addition, A Squared Group was once again included on Event Marketer Magazine’s “It” List. This select list highlight the Top 100 American Event Marketing Agencies. A full profile is in the June Issue of Event Marketer Magazine, identifying us as “smart, creative, and hotter than ever.”

Thank you to Inc. Magazine, Promo Magazine and Event Marketer Magazine. Congratulations to all the other honorees!