Feng Shui and PR materials

New trends are the life force of public relations.
As marketing and PR professionals, we must be aware and study new trends in society- especially in the fields of wellness, lifestyle, fashion and design.
Even if it’s only a fad, managers, customers, journalists, target groups and the general public might embrace it - and longer than foreseen.
PR and corporate materials (websites, newsletters, brochures) must be contemporary to appeal to the target audience and reflect their feelings and tastes.

One of the trends to watch is feng shui.
Feng shui (pronounced fung shway) is the ancient Chinese system of arranging environments to maximize their internal harmony and the happiness of the people who use them.
It reached the West in the '90s, when trendy Westerners sought to apply its principles to their own homes and offices. Donald Trump is a recent fan.
It changed interior designs and launched many “how to” books, mirrors, ornaments and indoor fountains.

So how does it apply to corporate and PR materials?

Principle
The most important aspect of feng shui is ch'i - the life force that flows in and around everything, binding it together. Ch'i is the energy that must be able to flow well in order to create a positive environment - good feng shui.
Feng shui in PR materials translates into easy to navigate websites, easy to read newsletters and other corporate materials – the text, images and content must “flow”.

Colors
A bright and clean design brings good feng shui. The website or document must have bold colors, especially blue, which goes down well in all cultures (in feng shui, it represents water). Graphics should be clean and a pleasure for the eye. It should transmit the message without too much effort. To ensure this, don’t put too much text in diagrams and make details big enough to be seen effortless in all formats, including low resolutions jpegs and gifs.

Life and movement
In feng shui, life and movement are used to fill in stagnant areas or break up long, straight lines. In interior design it translates into putting plants in the corners of rooms, or fish tanks against boring walls.
In websites and corporate materials, it translates into creating a balanced design or document, by making sure that that great graphics fill empty spaces.
The graphics can be a company specific images (a product, building) or can be a general images (fields, river, beach, child at play, smiling people) to give the reader a “good feeling”.
In corporate websites, certain "wellness images" are repeated at the same location on each webpage, thus creating the flow that's so important in feng shui.

Simplicity
We all heard the term: “less is more”.
Especially when designing a website, make sure that you don’t put in too many multimedia gimmicks. People visit corporate websites to get information, not to be entertained. When using flash on the homepage, put in a “skip intro” function.

Straight lines
Nature consists of round forms – leaves, shells, and trees, including the human body.
Websites and documents are linear by nature. For good feng shui, you need curvy, flowing lines. On web pages, this can be achieved by making tabs round (not angular) or designing round buttons to click on. For good feng shui, there must be curvy design elements throughout the whole website and other corporate materials.

Navigation
Whether it’s a document, brochure or a website, the user must find it easy to read it or intuitive how to navigate in case of a website. The document must be so appealing that the reader will pick it up again. In case of websites, the visitor must be enticed to revisit the site.

After reading the above, readers of this blog might come to the concluding: ”so what, I have been doing that all along”. In that case, good for you and keep up the good work.
However, feng shui is not a new design craze; it’s a more than 5,000 years old discipline that makes us all look at our environment and PR materials from a different angle.
Even if you, as a marketing and PR expert, are tempted to reject it as another passing fashion, be aware that a substantial part of your target audience knows about it, with a growing number embracing it.

Death by Review

All marketing and PR professionals have faced the same problem at some time in their careers: death by review.
The professional produces the desired material on time for review. And that’s when the fun starts. Due to almost endless review and approval loops, the signing off on the produced document or design is often beyond the deadline.
Apart from frustrating, long and complicated approval circles also comprise the quality. Remember the quotation: “a camel is an animal put together by a committee”? That’s often the end result.
So how to avoid this pitfall?
The following seven steps may help.

1) Do your research. Make yourself an expert by not only knowing exactly what the ideas, concepts and procedures within the company are, but also what has been done by the competitors. Check market and industry trends as well.

2) Define the project and process in detail. Put in deadlines of the deliverables, as well as the consequences when deadlines are not met.

3) Try to limit the review committee to 3 people (for internal marketing/PR) and only one project manager (for external agencies).

4) When planning the project, make a detailed timeline with some buffer for unforeseen events.

5) Limit the amount of drafts to be reviewed. Avoid “creeping elegance” – the tendency to try and improve the content by making changes again and again.

6) If possible, use templates (such as press releases, newsletters) or other materials (e.g. colors, fonts, icons, images when creating new brochures or posters) that were already approved by the company before.

7) Try to backup the content of the document or design with trends, customers’ reactions or competitors’ material. It makes the acceptance by the company a lot easier. This relates to the first item: research

Depending on the company or organization, it might be impossible to implement a smooth review procedure. In that case, there is only one thing to be done: grin and bear and make sure the blame is not on you.

Emotional Marketing – the Starbucks example

Starbucks is one of the strongest global brands around – without following the marketing text book.
Its complicated logo is not memorable, and most people will not be able to recreate it if you ask them to. They will describe it as “something green” “roundish” with a “person or something” in the middle. The slogan is not memorable either, and before you rack your brains, Starbucks doesn’t have one.
The packaging and collateral are nothing special and I challenge you to find an advertisement in any magazine. Starbucks does advertise, but uses emails as the preferred medium.
So what is the success factor of the Starbucks brand? The emotional experience of its consumers – they feel sophisticated and part of what many brand experts refer to as a "coffee house" community.
For the Starbucks community, coffee is not just a beverage, but it is a ritual, a habit, a treat, and a satisfying reward all rolled in one.
That’s the reason why Starbucks’ cup sizes are "grande" and "venti," not medium or large. Each cup of coffee is also freshly made by a "barista" at a separate counter and never behind a wall or out of sight from the customer. The Starbucks store has tables and chairs for congregating or reading and working. , and many have plush sofas and armchairs. Many Starbucks also have Internet connection for their customers’ convenience.
The Starbucks success formula works well around the world.
They only failed in one market: Israel.
Starbucks entered the Israeli market with a local partner (Delek). The emotional marketing concept of Starbucks failed. Israel has a strong coffee culture for more than 50 years. Therefore, the coffee market is saturated with strong and successful chains (Arcaffe, Kapulski, Coffeebean & Tealeaf) that serve a wide range of gourmet coffees. Starbuck’s French roast is not a favorite.
Starbucks was unable to distinguish itself from its competitors, except for its higher prices. In 2003, Starbucks decided to close its 6 outlets.

Writing a product press release

It all starts with technology companies introducing a new product to the market.
To create awareness for the product, the marketing/PR professional must draft an appealing press release or announcement. This is easier said than done.
It normally follows the following format:
1) Product name (bolded and repeated several times throughout
the text)
2) Company name (if possible, with ticker and tagline)
3) Application (explaining the use)
4) Benefits (set against existing products/solutions in the market)
5) Availability (retail, distributors, countries)
6) Potential (expected deployments)

The problem – they all look alike.
The example at the bottom of this blog has been written by an unidentified author. It gets the point across splendidly.
The writer is not only a great wit – s/he is also teaching each marketing and communications professional a valuable lesson: the way the information is presented here will not make anyone run to the stores and purchase a BOOK.
So how can we make a reader sit up and take notice?

1. Avoid long winding headings. Make your headline short, to the point and interesting. In the example below, the headline could read: Want to feast your eyes? Get a BOOK! It will increase the chance that a reader will be curious and read on.
2. sentences make people loose interest and also give them the feeling that the company might be “hiding” something.
3. Don’t go into too much details how it works – your audience is not a member of your R&D team. Write the product application for a complete outsider without any technical knowledge. Describe is clear, short sentences what’s about; long and complicatedTry to put some wit in the release. When using humor, make sure that it also swings in other cultures and languages. A notorious example was the perfume “Morning Mist that leaves you refreshed”. They used the same slogan in the German market. Since Mist in German has a different meaning (manure), it ruined any chance ever to enter that market successfully.
4. Tab into the wants and needs of your potential customers, and explain how the product can ease their pain or make their life easier.
5. Give clear information about availability: time, location and purchase wise.
6. Avoid acronyms, abbreviations and buzz words.
7. When addressing an international audience, pay attention to language, content and style. Avoid American expressions such as “ramping up” and British expressions such as “whilst”. Mentioning of dates and times are also tricky: 8/9 US = 9/8 Europe; 2pm US = 14.00hrs. Europe.
8. Make sure that the original text lends itself for multiple translations. When using similes, make sure they are understood in different countries and cultures.

Introducing: The new Bio-Optic Organized Knowledge device, trade-named -- BOOK. BOOK is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology: no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It's so easy to use, even a child can operate it. Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere -- even sitting in an armchair by the fire -- yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM disc. Here's how it works: BOOK is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of paper (recyclable), each capable of holding thousands of bits of information. The pages are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder, which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence. Opaque Paper Technology (OPT) allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs. Experts are divided on the prospects for further increases in information density; for now, BOOKS with more information simply use more pages. Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain. A flick of the finger takes you to the next sheet. BOOK may be taken up at any time and used merely by opening it. BOOK never crashes or requires rebooting, though, like other devices, it can become damaged if coffee is spilled on it and it becomes unusable if dropped too many times on a hard surface. The "browse" feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet, and move forward or backward as you wish. Many come with an "index" feature, which pin-points the exact location of any selected information for instant retrieval. An optional "BOOKmark" accessory allows you to open BOOK to the exact place you left it in a previous session -- even if the BOOK has been closed. BOOKmarks fit universal design standards; thus, a single BOOKmark can be used in BOOKs by various manufacturers. Conversely, numerous BOOKmarkers can be used in a single BOOK if the user wants to store numerous views at once. The number is limited only by the number of pages in the BOOK. You can also make personal notes next to BOOK text entries with optional programming tools, Portable Erasable Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Styli (PENCILS). The media is ideal for long-term archive use; several field trials have proven that the media will still be readable in several centuries, and because of its simple user interface it will be compatible with future reading devices. Portable, durable, and affordable, BOOK is being hailed as a precursor of a new entertainment wave. BOOK's appeal seems so certain that thousands of content creators have committed to the platform and investors are reportedly flocking to invest. Look for a flood of new titles soon.

Marketing Harry Potter

No fictional character has been marketing so quickly and so well as Harry Potter.
From the start, Ms. Rowling made sure that she kept a firm grip on her brainchild. In order to make the books appeal to boys (and not be perceived as chick lit), she chose the “masculine” version JK Rowling.
Her main goal is to please her fans. She copied the marketing strategy made popular by politicians and movies stars: give exclusive interviews to carefully selected magazines and newspapers and focus on appearances for fans and readers in benign, controllable settings. She knows that the best sales people are zealous fans.
She is very protective of the Harry Potter brand and makes sure that nothing will delude it. She banned publication of ebooks, which considering the lacking performance of children books in electronic form, is a wise decision.
When she launched "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", Rowling avoided press interviews and opted for a contests and competitions. Her UK publisher sponsored the largest contest; her American publisher ran its own version, dubbed "Why I Love Reading Harry Potter."
Newspapers in Britain, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada were used as vehicles to run competitions.
At midnight on the 16th of July 2005, the biggest book launch (of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”) in the history of the written word took place. The concept behind it was, that readers all over the world would buy (and read) the book at the same time, thus cleverly preventing story leaks and bootleg copies. Rowling cleverly whetted the appetite of her readers by hinting at “a death” and promising that “a lot would be made clear”.
Despite all logistic precautions, there was an accidental leak of the latest Potter book in a suburban Vancouver store. The local distributor immediately obtained a Supreme Court injunction, preventing anyone who received a copy from disclosing or copying information about the book. Since this news snippet was all over the media, Harry Potter got a lot of free and effective international PR out of it.
The seventh and last tome in the Harry Potter series will be the grand finale of Rowling’s magical streak. It will be interesting to see how she will maintain and sustain the Harry Potter brand and how she will continue to market the books after the series is finished.