White Space!

I can’t believe it is already August, and in only one month football season will be in full swing. Doesn’t it seem like the summer just started?

We have several interesting items in this issue of White Space!, including the review of The Tipping Point, a book that according to Fortune will “…make you see the world in a different way,” as well as information on some recent efforts by adWhite. As usual, I hope you enjoy the 5–10 minutes it takes to read our newsletter. However, if you would like to be removed from this email list, simply send an email to remove@adWhite.com with REMOVE in the subject line and we’ll take your name off the list immediately.

Best regards,
Taylor White

Featured Projects/Clients

When ASP Elite Detail first approached adWhite, they had the same problem that many companies face when they first try to build their business—no identity, thus no awareness in their marketplace. Using several different avenues and maximizing the communication potential of each, adWhite delivered the tools ASP Elite Detail would need to create and sustain a strong customer base.

For many companies and products, there is a lack of interest or excitement in the product category, even if the target audience can be reached. This was not the case with ASP Elite Detail. The company presented a genuinely interesting concept and unique product category: a first-class, exquisite detailing service delivered directly to your door, whether home or office.

Offering a design that denotes the true quality the company offers, adWhite provided ASP Elite Detail with one of the first things any young company needs—a Web site. Now, ASP Elite Detail had a destination to which they could direct potential clients. The site features a full menu of the company’s services, the ability for a prospect to set an appointment, information about the company’s innovative Elite Rewards Club and will soon offer a photo gallery boasting before-and-after pictures from the company’s hard work. If you would like to visit the ASP Elite Detail Web site, click here.

The Web site, however, was not enough. ASP Elite Detail needed a complete branding package. Of course this included a logo and business cards, but what the company really needed was a brochure; information that could be distributed by hand to prospective customers. adWhite designed a brochure that provides prospects with the general capabilities and background of the high-end detailers, as well as a few of the company’s specific detail packages and a la carte services. Click here to view the brochure adWhite created for ASP Elite Detail.

This brochure would still not be enough. Offering a product such as first-class detailing, ASP Elite Detail needed more than fancy designs to be successful…they needed to communicate what services they actually offer. An eight-page mini brochure was perfect for this. Not only was there enough room to describe all of the company’s detail packages and several of it’s a la carte options, but the brochure is small enough to fit in someone’s pocket, so they can easily take it home, store it in their automobile, and generally have it on-hand when they need a first-class detail! Click here to view ASP Elite Detail’s pocket brochure.

We really enjoyed working with ASP Elite Detail and we look forward to working with them as they grow their business.

Book Review - The Tipping Point, How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, by Malcolm Gladwell

According to the book flap, “The Tipping Point” is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed best-seller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas.

We like to read a few different business books at a time and then come into the office with all this energy and passion about several new ideas learned from these books. Sometimes the energy is short-lived because it is hard to execute some of the ideas these books present. However, the ideas and concepts found in The Tipping Point are very interesting and can be applied to many marketing situations. The book is full of real-life case studies that illustrate what Gladwell calls the three rules of epidemics: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context.

The Law of the Few: Certain kinds of people—called Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen—play a disproportionate role in spreading a social “virus.” Mavens identify what’s hot or cool, and are the ones who are “in the know.” As Gladwell puts it, they’re not just the kind of people that read Consumer Reports; they’re the ones who write to Consumer Reports to correct what they see as errors in product evaluation. Connectors know more people than the rest of us, often several times more than average, and so when they adopt an idea they will communicate it much more rapidly than others. Salesmen “persuade us when we are unconvinced of what we are hearing, and they are as critical to the tipping of word-of-mouth epidemics as the other two groups.”

The Stickiness Factor: Is the message memorable? Does it engage people? The classic example is the Gold Box in Columbia Record Club’s print advertising, which enabled new members to get any record of their choice free. This simple addition to the membership form in Parade and TV Guide increased sales by four times as much as a simultaneous test that used traditional prime time “awareness” advertising, simply because it made the reader/viewer part of an interactive advertising system. The Gold Box team won in a rout, even though they spent a quarter of the amount on broadcast ad time as the team using traditional methods.

The Power of Context: The classic example of this is the precipitous decline in crime rates in New York City, which was far more rapid than could be attributed to demographics, crime rates or any other trends that would have pointed to a gradual decline. The key that “tipped” the positive epidemic, and ended the negative one, was zero-tolerance of fare beating or graffiti in the subway system.

The Tipping Point is, in essence, an epidemic that has already tipped; it’s been a #1 national bestseller. The book gives a thought-provoking framework for people interested in starting word-of-mouth epidemics or attacking harmful epidemics, or simply gaining a new perspective on social behavior. To purchase a copy of The Tipping Point, click here.

adWhite News

• Two adWhite clients have recently been named among Entrepreneur Magazine’s Hot 500—The Fastest Growing Businesses in America: Texas Air Composites (#330) and Tradewinds Aircraft Services (#392). adWhite has been working with TAC since 2003 and Tradewinds has been a client since 2005. Congratulations to these companies for their recent well-deserved honors, and best of luck to their sustained success.
  
  
• Since our June newsletter, adWhite has added the following new clients to our roster: Crossbridge UMC, Horizon Speech Center, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Newstone Capital Partners, Upsilon International Corporation, Vendor Credentialing Service and Westwick Builders.