Believe it or not, in the 1980s, Apple’s biggest rival was not Microsoft or Dell or Google. It was IBM. Big Blue. The epitome of a large, progressive world-dominators. The kind of company that made you shudder if they decided to enter your industry – because they would do it in a big, big way.

And that’s exactly what they did to Apple when they decided to enter the personal computer market. What did Apple do? Well, obviously they didn’t close up shop. They dug their feet in and competed. And they did it with confidence. They actually ran an ad welcoming IBM to the market.

That’s swagger.

It’s important for your brand to portray a level of confidence – especially when you’re a startup or you’re competing against the industry giant. Your customers need to have confidence that, if they invest their money in your product or service and invest their energy into your brand, you’ll be around to perform.

So, how do you demonstrate swagger? You do things that are bold and daring. Things that a bigger rival couldn’t touch. Things like what Mini did in their rivalry with Porsche.

A few things to consider:

Swagger doesn’t have to be expensive. The Apple ad above was a black and white ad with no graphic design. The Mini challenge video could have been shot with a flip cam. It’s more about being authentic.

There’s a fine line between swagger and cockiness. People are attracted to confidence – but are turned off by overconfidence and arrogance. To stay on the right side of the line, you need a sense of humor and hint of vulnerability or a willingness to be a bit self-deprecating.

Swagger works best when you’re the underdog. People already know when you’re the top dog. If you’re Microsoft, Google or McDonald’s, swagger can easily be misinterpreted. But if you’re not the dominant brand in your industry already, it’s best to target the top brand in your category – and make the conversation all about you and them, leaving the rest of the competitors out of the conversation.

Ever heard of the TakeAway program? Neither had we before we met with our friends at the Iowa Pharmacy Association. The TakeAway program is a state-funded drug disposal initiative that allows Iowans to bring their unused prescription medication back to 400 participating pharmacies across the state – including Hy-Vee and Medicap. It is the only state in the U.S. operating the program. And to date, it has collected nearly 12 tons of medication.

The benefits of the program? Medication doesn’t end up in our drinking water by being flushed down the toilet. It helps reduce the potential for abuse of prescription medication by youths. And it helps reduce the potential for accidental overmedication – especially in elderly. All good things.

But the program had a very limited budget to promote itself. Not enough to make an impact with a statewide newspaper campaign. Or a radio campaign. Definitely not a tv campaign. So, what do you do?

Enter “Pill Dude”. Imagine an oversized pill bottle-shaped figure walking on the street outside your local pharmacy. Or the local local 4th of July parade. Or at the county fair. Or the local farmer’s market. Passing out handouts educating people about where they can safely take their unused medications for disposal – free. You can’t tell me that wouldn’t at least catch your attention.

It’s always interesting pitching a crazy idea like “Pill Dude” to a client. It’s a risk. But if the strategy is right and the client has an open mind, sometimes it just works. In this case, Iowa Pharmacy went for it. In fact, after about 6 weeks of commissioning the first Pill Dude and pushing unsuspecting pharmacy interns out into the public wearing it, they came back and ordered 4 more. It seems that the demand for Pill Dude was growing across the state – and one wasn’t enough to go around.

So, what do we hope you take away from this?

1) Take your prescription meds back to your pharmacy for disposal.
2) Watch for Pill Dude at local events – and help spread the word.
3) Sometimes a limited marketing budget makes you think more creatively.
4) Non-traditional ideas that align with a strategy can make you stand out in an over-hyped marketing world.

You can learn more about the takeaway program by visiting here … or see Pill Dude on Facebook here.

Men buy beer, insurance, cars and tools.  Women buy diapers, soap, fresh vegetables and expensive underwear. Lawyers buy Cadillacs.  Doctors buy country club memberships. Moms buy crayons.  Dads buy Little League bats. Teenagers buy Lady Gaga music.

Every product category has its nice little safe target market.  Its nice little safe stereotype.  And, that target is usually the biggest, most obvious group of potential buyers.

As marketers, we really have two options if we want to be successful.  We can try to differentiate our product or service from all of the competitors who are trying to sell the same types of products or services.  OR, we can differentiate the market and own it.

Forever, yogurt has been a “women’s food”.  Watch any ad.  Walk down any grocery store aisle.  There are a bunch of yogurt brands … all positioning themselves for the same audience.  All trying to differentiate themselves in a crowded market.  But they are all leaving out half of the potential market – men.  So, what if a yogurt company marketed a yogurt specifically for men by appealing to their manhood.  That company would own the completely untapped men’s yogurt category, right?  That’s what a company from New Zealand is doing. Check out their campaign:

Risky?  Yes.  This campaign requires a completely different approach. Different packaging. Different shelf space at the store.  All to create a whole new market that never existed before.  But if even a little successful, they will be the only player in the Men’s Yogurt Market.  If they can make even a little market out of something that didn’t exist before, they’ll likely be more successful than competing in the “me too” traditional market made up of 99% women.

Now think about your own products or services.  Are there ways you could reinvent them without completely reinventing the products or services themselves – by creating a whole new market that you can own?  If they can do it with yogurt, you can do it too.

You’ve got a great business idea.  An idea that will change the way people think about a whole industry (if you’re in Des Moines, think Dwolla or SmartyPig).  How do you make sure people see it and understand it?  Well, in France, a company was trying to convince people to rent cars on a long term basis rather than buying them.  How did they get their point across in a market that is built around owning your car?  Check this out:

We preach a lot around here about the importance of integrating your marketing efforts around a big idea and extending it with both traditional and social media.  Not only is this a great, attention-demanding approach, it also lends itself to leveraging both traditional and social media – extending the messaging and exposing the concept to more people without a lot of additional expense.

Holiday cards. We all send, we all receive. There are the classic puppies with bows and snowy country scenes. Some have sound, “Baby it’s cold outside,” and some just have a company’s name across the front. All cards are winterly wonderful and gladly accepted. However, ACME Printing Co., sent cards that show how even the simplest surprise can help the recipient remember your brand. Well, that and waste a good amount of time playing around.

Happy holidays from the Lessing-Flynn team. Make it memorable and merry.

Occasionally I will wake up in the morning having dreamt about a blog post. Today is one of those days. I couldn’t get into the office fast enough this morning so I could start banging on the keyboard. If you’re a marketer, a start-up company or a business owner this may the most important post you ever read. Not because I’m insightful, but because this is a story of a generation and a model every company (I don’t care who you are) should follow.

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last week or so you’ve heard about Dwolla, the Des Moines start-up that offers a “peer to peer payment platform that allows users to exchange money quickly, safely, at a lower cost.” They’ve raised a million dollars and announced plans to go national. This story has been well documented.

The story that hasn’t been told is why this has been so widely embraced by the Des Moines community. Dwolla did a lot of smart things along the way. THINGS ALL COMPANIES SHOULD DO.

1. Listen

My favorite part of the Dwolla site isn’t how cool or easy it is to exchange money. It’s the button on the right hand side that says “Feedback.” I’ve clicked that button a time or two and said things like “It’d be cool if there was an email sent to me letting me know what would happen next.” Those feedback emails that typically disappear into the web abyss were always responded to by Dwolla. Typically from Dwolla owner Ben Milne directly. And always with a thanks.

2. Engage

Dwolla was active on Twitter and Facebook. Asking questions, getting answers. I’ve never seen a company get as much unsolicited advice as Dwolla has. And even better, Dwolla reviewed everything that came across their inbox, their Twitter account, their Facebook page – and responded. It may take a day or two, but you could always count on them responding. The “thanks for the retweet” message was always there.

3. Network

Ben Milne of Dwolla embraced Des Moines and it’s social media community. He went to networking events and got the local media to fall in love with him and his story. He gave people free t-shirts that said “I DWOLLA IN DSM.” Everybody wanted one. How many brands would you be proud to wear on your chest? Through those networking opportunities he shared his story. Never aggressively talking your ear off about it, instead, people approached Ben and he simply shared.

Plus, Dwolla didn’t just go to network events. They hosted highly attended events on numerous occasions.

4. Remain humble

Through it all, Ben and everyone at Dwolla were always humble. There was never any arrogance. Never any “Look at how brilliant we are” moments. Dwolla always kept it real.

5. Be gracious

Every compliment Ben received seemed to always be met with the most sincere response you can imagine. “Thank you, I really appreciate that” he told me and others on numerous occasions. You could tell in Ben’s eyes he truly appreciated all the kind words. He never bought into his own hype. Even when things really heated up, Ben had enough foresight to set up an automated email saying he was behind on emails. He almost seemed apologetic that he couldn’t respond right away.

Ben Milne, Photo from Silicon Prairie News

6. Be yourself

I have no doubt that Ben will at some point be on the cover of Fortune Magazine, probably wearing his I DWOLLA IN DSM shirt, but how many guys in his position would have their “We’re going national” party at a small coffee shop like the Mars Cafe? It was a fitting place for Ben and the Dwolla crew to have it there. Mars Cafe has become the epicenter of all things social and happening in Des Moines.

I once saw Ben in a suit and asked if he lost a bet. He laughed. But the truth is that the skinny bearded bald dude who is going to change the way the world spends money…the guy who has made financial transactions sexy…always is himself in jeans and a t-shirt? Awesome.

7. Build Advocacy

When Dwolla celebrated their national launch last night at Mars Cafe the room was full of Dwolla brand advocates. Everyone there, whether they knew it or not, played a small role in propelling Dwolla to epic heights. Whether it was a simple retweet, sharing the Dwolla link on Facebook or giving Ben advice over a cup of coffee, everyone in the room had the feeling that not only Dwolla had accomplished something magical, but in a small way they had too. That’s brand advocacy at it’s best.

I often get teased for calling Des Moines the Social Media Capital of the World. Not any more. For Des Moines, Dwolla has become our Twitter, our Facebook, our YouTube. We saw a great idea sprout and played a small role in watching it bloom.

I mentioned “epic heights” earlier. While coverage on the front page of the Des Moines Register yesterday was huge, an excerpt from Dwolla’s blog yesterday tells the real story, in their typical humble form:

Here are a few referrers this morning that have left us speechless:

• Huffington Post
• CBS News
• CNBC
• Boston Globe
• Omaha World Herald
• Star Tribune
• Forbes
• Washington Post
• NPR

Ever heard that? Ever said that? Guilty as charged. But, I’ve learned from my own mistakes. Going viral takes a combination of many things going right. Check out the video and the text beneath it that tells the viral video making story.

First 18 seconds – Uniqueness. Chances are you’ve seen someone dancing solo at a concert, but never in uber tight shorts, shirtless and with those gyration.

:19 seconds in – Inspiration. He’s inspired someone else to do something. In this case, dance with him. You may recognize this as a share link, a retweet or an email forward. Your friend thinks this is worth watching.

:23 seconds in - Be Relatable. The guy appreciates the inspiration he’s created. Let’s dance together. He’s saying “Thanks for the Retweet.” Who doesn’t like having their content shared. The second dancer starts copying his dance. A parody.

:53 seconds in – A third dancer. The first dancer has validation. He’s inspired more than one.

1:12 in – Three more join the party. He has six now, that’s consensus.

1:14 in – Even more join, this is a trending topic now and picking up steam. Everyone wants to join and build the hype further.

1:30 in – People are running to join. They want to be a part of this. The hype machine continues.

1:40 in – A woman stands where she is and starts dancing. She’s into it, but doesn’t want to have to do much to share. Let’s say she’s sharing from her smart phone. It has to be easy to share.

2:00 in – This video’s gone viral. Euphoria rushes over the crowd.

So you want to make a viral video? Well, you can try by making something that is unique, inspires others, and is relatable. Then try to get validation and consensus. Build hype and make it easy to share. Do all these things and you have a potential recipe for success. Potential? Yeah, potential, without potential you have no chance. The last ingredient is luck of course, and if you know how to find that, call me.

Today we’re proud to present some of our work in the “Getting to Know You” video below.

For the last 103 years, Lessing-Flynn has been helping brands tell their stories. With this video we get to tell our story – with their stories. A BIG thanks to all of our clients who allow us the opportunity to do what we love every single day.

Our Art Director Chris Hanson likes to run everyday over the lunch hour. He also likes to shower when he gets back. Sorry, Chris, had to do it.

IT’S ALL ABOUT STATUS

Theater Hopper blogger and comic, illustrator, all around funny guy, Tom Brazelton, was graceful enough to let us share this week’s comic. Learn more about Tom and his work here, follow him on Twitter or find Theater Hopper on Facebook. Thanks, Tom!

If you have no idea what this is about, you can check out The Social Network movie trailer below.