Seen and Noted

Explorer of the Seas docks in Portland The latest ship in the Royal Caribbean line adds its silhouette to the view from our lobby, dwarfing harborside buildings. The maiden voyage of the 1,000+ foot, 3,8000 passenger Explorer is one of about 30 cruise visits to Portland in 2007. Portland is riding a wave of popularity as tourists journey by sea, land, and air to enjoy everything the city and local areas have to offer.

Did you know boomers are the group most often sought out for advice? Recent research from Weber Shandwick shows that when someone needs information about a product or service, they’re more likely to seek advice from a baby boomer than from any other demographic group. And there’s even an acronym — B2F, standing for boomer to friends — that’s been coined to describe this interaction.

The Weber Shandwick study showed that most boomers make recommendations in person (84%) or over the telephone (82%). Only 45% make recommendations online, and when they do, it’s primarily through email. Boomers are not tending to use blogs or RSS feeds for information. Seventy percent do use the Internet to research products, but only a fraction (10%) of that research is done using blogs or feeds.

When marketing a product or service to consumers, don’t just think B2C; consider how B2F could help you create some buzz for your brand and dust off those friend-get-a-friend promotions!

Our work is so good, it’s for sale on eBay!
Imagine our surprise, when, browsing around eBay we came across this ad reprint up for bid. It’s one we created for G.H. Bass back around 1992. Those were the days before Photoshop, so the photographer had to build a complicated rig to get the shoes to “fly.” And we needed a film house in Boston to strip together porch, shoe, and beach images. The ad, introducing a spring line of sneaker type shoes, ran in consumer books such as Sports Illustrated, GQ, Vogue, and Mademoiselle.

It was 30 years ago this summer that Elvis permanently left the building. But his memory will live on — thanks to Hershey’s — in the form of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup! This summer, just in time for the 30th anniversary of Elvis’s death, Hershey introduced Reese’s Limited Edition Elvis Peanut Butter & Banana Creme cups. Hershey’s has added a layer of Banana Crème to the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, a nod to The King’s love of fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches. The Hershey’s candy comes in mini, standard, and — yup — king sizes.