ChemArt Blog

This is not about time travel, although that would be fun!  Imagine being at the Sistine Chapel as Michelangelo was creating a masterpiece, or being a pioneer as the country moved “Westward Ho!”

It’s about change…………..  in personal practice, and business tools. 

I’m a product of the original me-generation.  A boomer who believed I could have it all.  A strong type-A personality, I realized early on that if I didn’t set limits for myself, I would always be “working” and/or always playing with the newest gadgets that were coming out. 

Through that moderation I have come to appreciate the nuances of change that have moved us from the 20^th century into the 21^st.  We’ve moved from the transistor radio to the Walkman to the iPod; from the wall phone to wireless to cell to the 3G products today; and we’ve moved from books to the Kindle™ and newspapers to on-line information. 

Our personal lives are no longer quite as personal.  We tweet, friend people and link-in.  Last century we wrote letters, followed by sending the occasional card, e-mail.  Now we post, we blog and we on-line shop, bank and pay bills.  We debit and credit.  It’s quite a busy and active schedule to just keep communicating.  

In business the practice has moved from the all too famous “push strategy“to the “pull strategy” – a huge improvement in the way businesses interact with each other.  Rather than selling the product for the sake of filling the space, we rely on placement and sell through.  And the most important change in business is the advantage of speaking with and engaging the end-user to share an experience rather than espousing the benefits of speaking at the audience. 

I strongly believe and support the concept of social media which today can create a community, engage customers and end-users to share knowledge, suggest improvements, and speak candidly about their experiences.  Companies who are open to this concept see a new dimension of loyalty.  As advocates these groups help to persuade and impact decision making.  It creates and army of advocates who speak out on behalf of a specific product, company culture, or program. 

I confess that I am not the most adept at these new connections.  But I am getting more and more engaged and encourage others to do likewise.  To stand in the 20^th century and look forward is just fantasy.  To stand in the 21^st century and look back isn’t looking in the rear view mirror; rather it’s looking at how far we’ve come. 

On a personal level, I will likely never be as transparent as some of my friends and acquaintances – my personality.  But on a business level, it’s time to create that transparency that shows customers, competitors and colleagues the metal of the organization.  No better way than to openly engage this audience – our customers – in useful and constructive dialog. 

The century is ahead of us.  Let’s make it exciting!

Being in marketing can open doors that are really kind of cool, if you’ve grown up believing where you come from and what your family has experienced makes you who you are today.  Some call that “standing on the shoulders of those who came before you.” 

So I guess you could say that I have travelled through my life with several great influences – a Family Tree from my Mom’s side that can be traced back to the mother country – Scotland and Wales; and a not so well established and documented tree on my Dad’s side that goes back to the Isle of Man and the end of the British Empire with escapades of my Grandfather in South Africa and following the mining business in the US.

As you can imagine my interest in history comes to me honestly.  From the time I was a kid, Dad was instrumental in making sure my brother and I really knew American history.  By the time I was 12, I’d been up and down the east coast to battlefields, museums, parks, historic houses and meet re-enactors of all sorts.

Jump ahead to the 1980’s and 1990’s, and I’m a marketer, product developer and working with licensed product from museums of all places; the Smithsonian, Historic Deerfield, Henry Ford and Greenfield Village, Mount Vernon, etc.  So you can imagine that I was like a kid in a candy store.  I have my fingerprints on some amazing rare and ancient books, have seen views from the Mount Vernon Cupola, been shown some of the most exquisite sterling collections at Biltmore.  And that sense of wonder even came more unexpectedly when I was shown some exquisite tapestries in Florence, Italy by a worker at the city hall who thought we (my family) really looked like we were taking everything in; so off to the private rooms of the mayor and the council and there they were! 

And now I find myself working at ChemArt where we provide products for organizations, clubs, agencies and foundations that resonate with their customers.  While we don’t re-enact, or even demonstrate the historical legacy of the institution, we do help create a current experience that becomes history for these clients.  The present activities lead to new constituents, new sources of revenue, new membership thank-you, and even new awareness of the organization.  And as an annual program emerges, this becomes a portion of their history. 

So while I often visit Williamsburg, where early colonial history is re-enacted and the trades revived, to make history come alive, every day I get to work in an organization that is helping to write some portion of an organization’s history.  What plan was successful?  What campaign worked the best?  How to we create keepsakes or commemoratives that are genuine and long-lasting that donors, volunteers, and members will cherish?   The desire is to help these groups create a legacy for themselves, and an oral history each donor, member or volunteer can tell their families and friends which in turn foster the mission of the organizations.

So I travel through history on many levels, whether personally, chronologically, or professionally.   I can’t wait for next new adventure.

I grew up in a household where the Mary MacIntosh truck came every several days to pick-up and drop off laundry.  Now don’t get the wrong idea, we weren’t wealthy, it’s just that Dad was a clothing salesman and every shirt have to be just so – cleaned, folded, lightly starched, and cellophane wrapped.  Those were the years of French cuffs, narrow ties and grey, black, blue or brown suits.  And if there were enough shirts they came back in a box that held four packed every other direction.

Those folded shirts came with cardboard inserts that were flat for the body and had an appendage that wrapped around and under the collar to keep it wrinkle free.  I guess I was less than 5 when I noticed that these cardboards arrived every week and since nothing was ever thrown out that could be reused, they kept piling up.  They became dividers in drawers, templates for quilt designs, coasters for under furniture legs………..and fodder for anything my imagination could dream up.

Since my family has roots as building contractors, that’s probably why I started to build what I thought would become a dollhouse.  That was ambitious by anyone’s terms – a house of cardboard?????  So I started with the roof, the shingles had to be drawn just right, and once I accomplished that I moved on to the walls, windows and foundation.  Floors of course needed 2 to 3 layers of cardboard held together with Elmer’s Glue (No better glue in the world!!!!)

After a period time – in mind’s eye weeks and weeks of work – I soon tired of the construction business and moved on to something a lot more satisfying – boxes.  That’s right, plain old boxes.  Boxes just seemed to be the perfect thing to make.  They became an organized space for just about anything.  I made them long and skinny to fit my paint brushes and pencils; short and fat to fit the material rounds for the quilts, small and rectangular to keep pins, buttons and other weird stuff I accumulated that was small and difficult to just toss in a drawer.  So I scored, folded, tucked and glued my way to box building.

Some were lidded so the contents would forever be protected; some not so it was easy to find what was inside.  Every box fit just so in a drawer in my dresser or in the corner of the toy chest.  We also had the neat built in archway with a mirror, columns and a seat that was hinged as a storage area – what I could do with that!!!! 

This ambition to be a box maker was really a life lesson.  It gave me a way to organize things, put thoughts to action, jumpstart my creative side, learn to make something out of nothing, and determine what was doable and what was not.  I also had several projects underway at the same time, so I learned time management and prioritization. 

Those life lessons most likely led me to be a management professional.  That simple act of thinking about the possibilities that lay ahead, the organization that was needed to accomplish it and the ability to see the finished product are all necessary for me to perform at my best in my current role.  So I guess I really don’t get it when people say they need to think “outside the box.”  The box actually got me thinking, doing, and creating. 

……….And eventually I finished the dollhouse.  And then it was on to furniture and I even had a cardboard wastepaper basket complete with floral design and hand stitched edges.

I was asked to report on some trends that I noticed at the recent markets, and while they are far from being over, I can report on what might be the most under-reported story of all – retailer optimism.   But I digress, so indulge me for a minute, while I live up to the task and address the trends:

                Frosty elements – white, glittery, icy; silver accents with hints of subdued colors

                Return of opulence – regal colors of the Renaissance – deep rich color, antique golds and velvety textures

                Initials/Personalization – continued to see new entrants (ChemArt included) that offer fun and youthful designs to appeal to the diva, teen-tween markets.

                And lastly, Celebrity.  It was everywhere from Marie Osmond, to Tony Curtis, Jane Seymour and even Chef Tyler Florence.            

It seems these trends will be the watchword for 2010. I expect we’ll see additional iterations as the year progresses.  As some stores told me, they can’t get enough of some of these trends; especially initials and frosty elements

But back to what really stuck out as the major news event of the Atlanta International Gift Market in January 2010!  I was surprised by the outpouring of customers.  It was early, it was icy, it was crowded and most importantly the traffic was consistent from day to day, and the conversations positive. 

Like all vendors, we love to hear the good things, and it’s those good things that keep us going when a year like 2009 occurs.  Beyond the focus on white/icy/glitter; beyond the additional entrants into the personalization craze; beyond everything above, the real trend was optimism.  Real optimism – not a wish with a string tied around your finger or your fingers crossed behind you back, or even just the wish, the hope, the need to be bright and cheery. 

We hear a lot about Wall St and Main St, well I’m here to tell you Main St was ready.  The psychology of ending the year – having been one of those that made it through – pointed to the resilience of the retailer and the consumer.  Retailers wouldn’t be planning on making purchases unless the consumer actually showed up. 

That consumer is pickier, fussier, and less likely to just spend on anything.  But the important thing is that they ARE spending.  So as economies go that should translate to additional need for employees, less people without a job, more money being fed into the economy and eventually more jobs for many sectors. 

Believe me, I’ not anything close to being an economist, but I can connect the dots.  Dots that today need to be connected.  And not one news station in Atlanta or across the nation told this story.  They were all busy covering the electronics show because gadgets are sexy, next generation and aspirational. 

I’d love to hear from you!  What did you find at the show that is really here to stay?

I’ve been hearing and reading a lot about marketplace relevance lately, and I guess it booth astounds and puzzles me.   You see, my first job was shoveling mud, and the relevance of that task was to clean up after a natural disaster, try to get things back to normal, work side by side with your neighbor, make life better of your community.   That always stuck with me.

So when I hear the buzz about relevance, I have to question…. why?   Isn’t’ it all relevant? 

In business I guess there are two paths to take – make a fabulous product that creates high demand, is suited to the audience, or not!  Today, the “or not” doesn’t really cut it.

So here I am at a niche company that believes it should do the right thing for the customer.  Now isn’t that relevant?  If the product, service, communication, engagement, audience are always kept in that context of doing the right thing doesn’t it make sense that the company doing those things will always be rewarded?  And therein lies the rub – it doesn’t always work out that way.

You see it really does have to be significant!  The audience is the one that matters.  Creating a relationship where the customer and the company both benefit because the product or service makes sense is so important.  Business isn’t just about the transaction; it should be about the relationship.

Let’s use ChemArt as an example.  We win every day when we listen to what the client wants; apply that to design, budget, and on-time delivery; and we both win.  When the client – organization, agency, club, community affairs – knows who they are, what resonates with their constituents, and what drives those customers to take to action, we all win.   And when the customer feels as if the experience matches their expectations, sense of affinity, or supports their point of view, we all win!

Approaching business this way just makes sense.  It creates a bond that lead to other business through word of mouth, repeat business and referrals.  It creates a force that becomes larger and more significant the longer the relationships last. 

I know that I still rely on businesses – personal and professional – that treat me the way I what to be treated; that always rise above the other either by service, attitude or interest in me.  Isn’t that what makes us marketplace relevant?

I’d love to hear from you.  I’m sure there are all kinds of illustrations that make you feel like you’ve had experiences that were the result of marketplace relevance.