How We Think

The idea that “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” is often attributed to P.T. Barnum, 19^th century circus owner and showman, but today it is KFC putting the old adage to the test by bringing back the late great Colonel Harland Sanders. In May, KFC launched a new campaign featuring SNL-alum Darrell Hammond as the Colonel. The ads generated quite the buzz both in industry publications with features in both AdAge and AdWeek on the same day, a week before the campaign went live, and in the popular media landing the No. 3 spot on the Viral Video Chart with almost 10 million views in the first week.

Recently Larry Page wrote a short letter that had a seemingly large impact on the world. The behemoth that is Google and all of its entities, has now become a subsidiary of something else, what Larry Page and Sergey Brin are calling Alphabet. Is this a joke? How can this thing that has become the de facto answer to any of life’s questions, the thing that billions of people use, talk about and rely on every day, be something that is now a child of something else? Sounds a bit crazy, right? Well, that’s just how Larry Page likes it. “We are still trying to do things other people think are crazy but we are super excited about it.”

It was in the middle of the day on a Friday when I remembered I was tasked with coming up with a plan for a friend's last hurrah before leaving Boston that very night. I immediately jumped on to my favorite Boston event aggregator, The Boston Calendar, and picked an event to pitch to the group. "Free- Floating Silent Disco Party" was the title. “Yeah, it’s like a dance party that travels from place to place around Boston… Oh and everyone wears headphones tuned to the same playlist… Oh and did I mention it's FREE?” I tell my cautiously interested friends.

About a month ago, I was the new girl here at KHJ. Do you remember being the new kid in school? Trying to find your way around a new building? Your eyes open widely taking in everything around you?

I am the new Chief Marketing Officer here at KHJ Brand Activation and so far, so good. I haven’t suffered from “foot in my mouth” issues nor have I shown up at the office with two mismatched shoes. I'd say I am off to a good start.  

Building upon the astounding facts and figures in my most recent blog, The Continued Rise of Video Marketing, there’s no denying that video is dramatically altering the marketing landscape. It is an increasingly effective way to not only reach consumers, but also engage them. 70% of people view brands in a more positive light after watching an interesting video from them. You can’t argue the facts but the real question is, how can marketers use videos? Here are a few tips on maximizing video marketing success.

As consumers, we are surrounded by marketing and advertising 24/7. From transit stations to emails to Facebook ads, we are always being targeted. Naturally, we now have a tendency to block these things out. We fast forward through commercials and change the radio station with the click of a button. So the question is, how does a marketer break through the clutter and reach a consumer?

We’re so used to measuring performance, it just seems natural to question how social media will impact your company’s bottom-line. However, what many fail to realize is that organic social media is a long-term brand awareness and engagement tactic. It is simply a channel of communication between you and your customers. Now keep in mind, there’s a difference between organic social media and paid social media—paid is an entirely different story which we’ll save for another day.

So you've built an amazing website – one that will revolutionize the world, or at least your business. A mobile-ready website that will perpetually engage users across multiple devices while creating unique brand experiences, enabling distinct dialogues and fostering relationships with your audiences.

As one of our UX designers so eloquently put it, the guiding principles for UX design is about getting the user from point A to point B as easily as possible, creating a pleasurable experience, making the journey intuitive, improving the user’s interaction with your brand and delivering on the user’s expectations.

UX is involved, insightful, learned and complex – so where do you start?  There are UX best practices abound, far and wide. Best practices that are always evolving through a combination of art and science supported by different approaches, insights and technologies available. And although best practices provide great strategic guideposts for planning and design efforts, they are not always a cookie-cutter blueprint for success.

One of the most magnificent, dramatic, bold and unusual art exhibits in Boston’s history was installed this week. It’s not hanging in a gallery or a museum, it’s hanging 300 feet in the air, spanning three skyscrapers across an entire city block, high above the Greenway in the heart of downtown Boston.

The Janet Echelman aerial sculpture is unlike anything Boston has ever seen.

KHJ took on the pro bono assignment to create an advertising campaign that would create a sense of excitement leading up to the artwork’s installation.