New York Magazine By Will Leitch & Ira Boudway Published May 9, 2010
1. If You Want to Make That First Billion Before You Turn 30, This Is the Place to Do It.
We know you’re a brand-savvy guy. We read where you said you wanted to be a billionaire. You don’t need more business advice, and if you did, you’d probably get it at one of your lunch dates with your friend Warren Buffett. But we just want to make sure one thing is clear: You can make more money playing in New York by far than you can in Cleveland.
You’ve done some slick commercials in your day. We especially enjoyed the Nike “Chalk” spot featuring Lil Wayne and some clever variations on your pregame talcum-powder hand-drying ritual. But check out the Nike ad, up above, that digo, a New York creative shop, already made for you. That work for you? To read the article in New York Magazine click here.
Altruistic guerrilla marketing? Yep, just what the recession ordered.
Even for a discount retailer, it was a tough sell. The American workforce was drowning in an unemployment rate of 10 percent (counting those who were underemployed or only working part-time, it might have been closer to 20 percent). Money was tight, and good jobs were impossible to come by.
Bad time to be in the suit business.
But Syms, the 51-year-old clothing chain that sells sharply discounted designer menswear, had an idea. Last July, instead of trying to ignore the rotten job market, it decided it would help its customers to conquer it. The contest would benefit both the brand and the personal fortunes of the shoppers (or, at least those lucky enough to be selected). Syms decided to give away 30 high-end suits to people who were looking for work. Each winner would also receive a session with a career coach and even the attention of a personal stylist. “Suit Camp,” as it came to be known, was an unusual promotion with an altruistic bent; guerrilla meets humanitarianism.
“There is an altruistic aspect in the sense that Syms is giving away value,” explains Mark DiMassimo, CEO, DiMassimo Goldstein, the agency behind the effort. “But what they’re really doing is bonding. Read more…..
DIGO helps Memorial-Sloan Kettering harness the power of an integrated campaign built to increase the power of social media to reach and support those who have just been diagnosed with cancer.
It’s part of Syms’ attempt to draw a younger crowd into its 29 stores in 13 states
Aug 17, 2009
- Andrew McMains
NEW YORK In just three weeks, more than 5,000 have registered to be eligible for one of 30 free suits that Syms will give away to job seekers in 30 days.
The offer is geared toward unemployed men and women, particularly those between 18 and 38. In addition to a suit, each winner will get a makeover and a session with an interview coach. It’s all part of Syms’ attempt to draw a younger crowd into its 29 stores in 13 states.
The effort is decidedly nontraditional for a retailer known for TV spots and radio ads bearing its longtime tagline, “An educated consumer is our best customer.” (more…)
Traders are an elusive and coveted audience. Yet these epitomes of self-directed consumers have broken many a marketer.
Whether retail or pro, the key to making it with traders is understanding the trader psyche’, tapping into the trader myth, and speaking trader language.
Here are some winning examples from the DIGO archives, (more…)
DIGO is currently working on a buzz campaign for Kate Newlin’s new book, Passion Brands. Here’s a sneak peek.
Passion Brands is about whatever it is that makes people fall in love with a particular brand… sometimes a little too much.
In a vast marketplace with a superabundance of “good brands,” what makes a great brand? And why do certain products command endless loyalty, lasting enthusiasm and creepy, evangelical customers? Kate Newlin offers insight into the world of Passion Brands.
Passion Brands: Why Some Brands Are Just Gotta Have, Drive All Night For, and Tell All Your Friends About by Kate Newlin is Available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.
New York City based DiMassimo Goldstein (DIGO) was founded by Mark DiMassimo in 1996. DiMassimo had created pioneering digital and interactive programs for blue chip clients, led creative on some of the most successful launches of all time, and risen to the top of the direct marketing world. He then jumped to a top creative position at a boutique hot-shop and in three years helped build it into a thriving mid-sized integrated powerhouse. Launching with one employee (a strategist), DiMassimo quickly became the fastest growing agency in the U.S. Working with visionary clients on innovative business models, the agency evolved a unique approach that reflects the world of the consumer while standing the priorities of the holding companies on their heads. At DIGO, every dollar is put to work building client business in a measurable way. One of the country’s top PR brains vets every campaign idea for story value. Brand and business building at this thriving independent includes strategy, research, brand development, design, innovation, advertising, direct, digital, and social marketing
DIGO took a marketer’s approach to ending the world’s burgeoning love affair with bottled water, an overpriced and resource-draining product that just ends up overcrowding our landfills.
Our idea was simple: if people had a brand to associate with tap water and could visibly share that brand as a badge of honor, then they would.
Tappening encourages people to “Think Global. Drink Local.” Essentially, we’ve decided to ditch the bottle. And we hope to convince some other people to do the same. It’s a frivolous and wasteful habit, and we think that we could live without it.
The campaign has a website, print ads, a YouTube presence, buzz work and a Facebook page. Tappening also sells reusable water bottles for $14.95 each (Leonardo DiCaprio was one of our first customers). The Tappening movement is even linked to a film about our incessant creation of landfill mass, called Garbage!
So take a look, and feel free to order a good-looking, non-disposable water bottle. (more…)
When DIGO started working with thinkorswim last year, we were bowled over by the staggering technology behind their trading platform. We were also impressed by the level of service they give their customers on an ongoing basis and by the way they cultivate their unique customer base.
thinkorswim’s customers see themselves as a breed apart and, if you’re going to get through to them, your communications have to feel that way, too. So we applied what we call “insider insights” to help guide us to the best solution.
An insider insight sees a transaction from the inside out, from the user’s or customer’s point of view, rather than from the outside in.
Our challenge was to give thinkorswim a campaign that matched their brand and was in sync with their unique customer. So we devised a series of challenges that would lure high-energy, adrenaline-driven investors into thinkorswim’s world.
