Adventures in Candyland

Since this is my first post, let me start by introducing myself…consider me the “client concierge” at Sweet Talk, handling lots of details for our clients’ projects. 

I’ve been thinking about some of the tools we’re always using for our projects, and of course the first one I thought of was our Pantone book.  We can’t be without it when working on branding, websites, collateral, etc.  But not everyone has a Pantone book, so then I remembered that I thought we should share one of our fave sites with you - Colour Lovers.  This is a great site for a little inspiration, and a good place to find color combos and palettes you’ve never even thought of before!

On the same note, last week was Fashion Week in NYC and WWD directed us to Pantone’s Fashion Color Report Fall 2008.   Sweet Talk is lovin’ the Ochre!

Always fun to play with colors and brighten up the day.

Sorry to be geographically exclusive, but we do live in LA! If you’re in LA too, then you should check out the dineLA Restaurant Week event happening this week and next.

Here’s a rundown from the site:

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is dineLA Restaurant Week?
dineLA Restaurant Week is a two-week dining event established to introduce diners to the vast array of restaurants in neighborhoods throughout LA County. Local foodies and visitors to LA will have the opportunity to enjoy a selection of specially priced three-course meals from some of LA’s best restaurants during this dining event.
When is dineLA Restaurant Week?
January 27 – February 1, 2008
February 3 – February 8, 2008
What are restaurants offering during dineLA Restaurant Week?
Participating restaurants will opt into one of two dining categories and present a selection of specially priced three-course meals for lunch and dinner. Diners will be able to choose from three choices for each course. Prices are per person and exclude beverages, tax and gratuity.
LunchDinner
Deluxe Dining:$15$25
Premier Dining:$22$34

What restaurants are involved in dineLA Restaurant Week?
A wide variety of restaurants throughout Los Angeles County are participating in dineLA Restaurant Week. A complete list of participating restaurants is available here or you may contact your favorite restaurants to see if they are participating.
How do I experience a restaurant participating in dineLA Restaurant Week?
Contact the restaurant directly. Due to the popularity of this event, advance reservations are strongly encouraged, but walk-ins are appreciated. There is no guarantee that walk-in guests will be accommodated.
If you have more questions regarding the event
Contact participating restaurants here or call 877.dineLA1 (877.346.3521).

A few of our favorite places are on the list. Bon appetit!

We read a lot. Its part of our job. But we also really like to read, and we really liked it long before it was part of our job. The avarage day has us reading (if not scanning) newspapers, several magazines, multiple blog postings, headlines and newsfeeds, digital newsletters, resource lists and more (children’s books come to mind). Ironically, with all this reading…it takes us weeks and weeks to finish a book. In fact, I think Lauren and I have been discussing the two books we’re currently reading for about a month (for those of you wondering, I’m reading Starbucked and Lauren is reading Straight Up and Dirty).

So why don’t we read more books? Well, for starters we’re so busy reading all the aforementioned other things, in addition to which we’re also listening to radios and iPods, watching TV and responding to email. In our media-obsessed, snack-sized culture, it can be challenging to find the time to sit down with a good book.

That’s why I’m now obsessed with DailyLit! This site offers over 500 titles that get emailed directly to you in bite-sized installments. Many of the classics are free of charge - you just sign up and start receiving email installments instantly. There’s a fee for some of the copyrighted titles, but its minimal and much less than you’d pay for the book (and this is an eco-alternative anyway!). You can even decide when you want to receive your installments - every day, just on weekdays or three times a week…in time to read with your morning coffee or right before you hit your pillow. And the installments can even be viewed on your PDA.

I’m reading my first installments now - The Three-Martini Playdate, but I guess I’ve run out of excuses for not having read War and Peace…

Today I worked with Soul’s Calling at the Los Angeles Gift Show. And here’ s my observation — very few companies think anything or even understand what a brand is and how portraying it with thought is meaningful to buyers, writers and consumers. When you are thoughtful about creating a pleasing poignant environment that aligns with the messages and products you are pushing out - the result is something so strong that people react and respond to it even if they’re not conscious of it. But, it should be very consciously developed by the company. Some brands do, and for me, I am automatically attracted to those brands. But, overwhelmingly and shockingly (though maybe it shouldn’t be), only about 10 percent of the company’s exhibiting made their brand a focus. For the rest, they just throw a bunch of stuff together in a booth. Here’s a shot of the Soul’s Calling booth - it’s an example of how someone puts a lot of effort into creating a booth that spreads her message and makes you feel a certain way when you step across the boundry into the brand’s world. She even had a booth scent….It’s time for every company to be thoughtful and take it up a whole bunch of notches.

So, even though it’s 2008 (where has the time gone?!) I am going to sound very early ’90s right now. Here goes…The Internet is the coolest invention ever!!! I think most people hold that belief in some form, but now we take it for granted as it has become so embedded in almost every society and we’ve already even moved past it in its purest sense. But truly, it allows for such amazing information sharing that sometimes I just get newly excited by its concept. I think we should take a second to remember how hard it was to get information before we had this unbelievable global source available to us 24 hours a day. Of course, some people may believe that this has created a societal decline in a number of ways, mais pas moi.

Anyway - I only bring this up because today, I became overly enthused by three things I bumped into.

1) I have always loved metromint water - so refreshing - been buying it at Whole Foods since the first day I saw it (along with my favority energy drink, Inkos White Tea - so good!). Yes, it’s only spearmint and water and , yes, I could make it on my own or drink it hot (Isreali-style), but of course I often choose the convenience path and pay the price. During the last few years, they have extended their product line with peppermint, orange and lemon, but OMG - I have no idea what to say about this next iteration. If you know me or even read my yelp reviews, you might realize I have a strong predilection for chocolate and mint, together that is — since I was a little girl. To me it’s one of the most refreshing and luscious pairings. Today, I come to find out that MetroMint is launching ChocolateMint water. Yes, chocolate water may sound a little scary, but I’ll be trying it as soon as I can get my hands on it at my mecca, Whole Foods. I mean no sugar, no preservatives, no CALORIES - this is January 3rd - so I will take my dessert calorie-free thank you - at least for this month that is (well, let’s be honest, maybe this week).

2) Okay, along the same vein, if you like food, if you like cooking, if you like pairing flavors, but sometimes you feel like you don’t know what would compliment what, you must check out Foodpairing. Yes, we all know that gruyere is phenomenal in potatoes, but did you know it also can pair with licorice? Not being trained at le Cordon Bleu shouldn’t prevent you from trying unique flavor combinations for friends and family, but it also might be good to have a the pizza menu handy — sometimes experimenting with weird stuff can end up, well, weird, so it’s a good idea to have a back-up plan. In any case, I think this is so cool and I will definitely be a frequent visitor here.

3)Now, this one doesn’t have to do with food (I know, shock), but it does have to do with two of my other obsessions - Japanese minimalism and architecture. Toyo Ito is one of my most favorite architects and Sendai Mediateque is such a unique and breathtaking structure. I can’t wait till the day when I get to experience it in person. Here is my newest fave -Kengo Kuma. Check out the Lotus House…..amazing.

See why I love the Internet.

Update..got to add one more - this one from Danielle, but I had to include it as belongs in the same Asian modern minimalism/nature category as the above, is beautifully subtle yet exquisite and one of the collaborators is another amazing Japanese architect, Tadao Ando. Check it out…

We spend a lot of time asking our clients to think about their favorite brands - the brands that speak to them, the brands they are loyal to, etc. We thought that in honor of the New Year, we would do that exercise ourselves, since we had never composed a formal list of our own favorite brands. Sooo…while this is definitely NOT a best of 2007 list, it is a list of some of the brands we at Sweet Talk are admiring these days. Let us know what your favorites are. Wishing you a happy 2008!

Apple
BMW
H & M
Method
Starbucks
Target
Whole Foods

Today I visited a wildlife rescue center. In addition to seeing countless exocitic animals that had been illegally kept in captivity and learning fun stats (Know what the third most popular pet in the US is? You might think its a goldfish or a hamster, but no, its an iguana! Unfortunately, most people buy them when they’re babies and don’t realize how big they will get…), I was also reminded of a brand I’ve been meaning to post about for a few days.

World Wildlife Fund has gotten a lot of exposure this past month - ranging from the results of a study entitled Deeper Luxury that looks at the effects of the luxury market on the environment, to their great holiday gifts ideas like adopting a symbolic penguin. From the trendwatching newsletters I subscribe to, to my local Yahoo! group, I’ve read about WWF several times this month. After my outing today, I decided to finally check out the WWF site and see what they’re all about. Here’s what the World Wildlife Fund in the US is currently up to:

Current campaigns:
Push for an Ocean Protection Treaty
U.S. Activists: Stop Imports of Illegal Wood
Give Thanks to Kansas for Bold Climate Change Action
Take Action to Stop Drilling in Bristol Bay
Help Lions, Snow Leopards and More
Choose Good Wood and Save Our Forests
Say YES to Sustainable Seafood

Visit their site for more info.

I probably shouldn’t - because its horrible to give this any further attention - but I just have to say…are you kidding about Jamie Lynn Spears?!

You already know how we feel about this country’s current celeb-obsessed culture (we’ve made it pretty clear in the posts below), in fact we’re so sick to death of it that we’ve taken a months-long sabbatical from celeb gossip. But news of Brittney’s 16 year-old sister being a mama-to-be has even driven Lauren back to PerezHilton.com for some insider info and humorous commentary. I mean this is truly like watching a train wreck.

Poor Jamie Lynn…she was the good one (well at least when compared to her psycho older sister)! And with a fanbase of 8-12 year girls, you would think her handlers would keep her in check. Oh wait - her “handler” is none other than her very own mother, whom Jamie Lynn says is a role model for having raised three wonderful kids. In fact, Jamie Lynn plans to model her own mothering skills after those of Lynn. Uh - need we say more?

I’ve always felt like cube farms sucked the life from you. I know I’m not the only one. For years, many companies, mostly European or creative, have been experimenting with better ways for their employees to work. I once worked for a Scandinavian company who had us sitting in pods of four, which I originally thought were cool, but then realized were just as confining as cubes, but looked better. Thankfully, change is afoot. With the advent of Starbucks, wireless and the next generation workforce (the millenials), organizations are learning they need to create freer, more open environments for collaboration and concentration. These millenials won’t stand for bordom, repetion and Office Spaceness (my made up word, but you get it). They’ll just go find a more fun job where they won’t have to whither away in a cube for 9 hours.

In today’s PSKF, they made mention of a NYT article talking about this new way to work.

And yes, we work in one room with our back to one other, but we understand the importance of white space. In fact, Danielle blogged about this very idea a couple months ago. Her blog mentioned creating physical and mental white space - and I think offices who embrace this new way to work will be on their way to helping to create more of both and a lot more positive productivity for everyone.

I’ve been in the PR world for about ten years now, so I’ve learned and I think most people know it can be a tricky industry. For ages, agencies have charged their clients monthly retainers whether or not they pulled publicity that month. And many times, it’s not for lack of trying, often the story just doesn’t resonate with any writers. So there’s always this wierd struggle between clients and agencies. A client pays the agency to get publicity. The agency chooses an account person or team to work to get the publicity. The account person spends time researching, writing, pitching and then nothing happens. But, the client is still expected to pay the monthly retainer. And the agency still has to pay the account person. It’s definitely a dilemma. But, there does seem to be a shift occuring and frankly, I’m not sure what my opinion is on the topic — well, maybe I am.

Today’s WSJ featured a piece called, “Paying for PR — But Only When it Works.” It’s all about this semi-new trend of pay-per-placement PR, particularly in the small business arena. So, instead of hiring a agency or even consultant on retainer, a client would provide a story angle to a pr consultant or an agency who only focuses on pay-per-placement pitching and they would only get paid if the story got covered. In theory, it forces pr people to work extra hard and more strategically to get the placement. But, as much as I understand it, I think the business model is short-sighted (for the business being pitched) and unfortunately, a bit unfair(for the person doing the pitching).

Now, I completely understand and empathize with business owners who put a significant monthly retainer towards public relations and then barely have anything to show for it. There’s no doubt that this kind of agreement has the propensity to leave a bad taste in someone’s mouth as well as give public relations and it’s practioners a bad name (what doesn’t these days). And for agencies, yah, you might have made $60,000, but you’re usually left with a fractured relationship and bad word of mouth.

So, is there a middle ground? I think there is. Here at Sweet Talk, we always begin a business relationship by focusing on the overarching marketing goals of the business by developing a comprehensive marketing strategy plan. And strategy doesn’t exist on PR alone. And PR doesn’t exist on media alone. Today all the marketing rules have changed which is why marketing should start at the 10,000 foot level and then move downward. Many small businesses don’t see this or if they do, they don’t have the time or staff to do it- they might believe one piece of good PR is going to create an deluge of sales. But, readership and viewship is increasingly fragmented these days, so even if you do get one nice piece in your local newspaper you aren’t going to get the flood that being on Oprah would bring you (and yes that is every businesses dream and unfortunately it’s reality for a very lucky few).

The point here is that pay-per-placement agencies don’t really focus on strategy. They just focus on one piece of the pie. So, if as a business and you’ve created a cohesive marketing strategy and you want to farm out the media portion by providing the person with pitches that fit in the overall strategy that’s great! But, if it’s just a one off thing, you’re probably not going to get the response you hope for.

And I’m also not saying the answer is to choose a big agencies with more comprehensive services and overhead.

I think it’s more about finding a company that will work with you and your budget to build something a little more long-lasting, that just like trust, grows over time.