Fuseideas was recently honored with two Silver Mark Awards

Fuseideas was recently honored with two Silver Mark Awards on November 9th, the 25th anniversary of the annual awards ceremony. The Mark Awards recognize outstanding achievement and excellence in marketing from networks, cable companies, and suppliers. There were 56 gold and 116 silver winners selected out of more than 900 entries.
“We are thrilled to see some our work honored by the cable industry,” said Dennis Franczak, president of the Boston-based agency. “We do so much work in the business that it really validates us when we get recognized for the great work we do.”
Fuseideas won silver awards in the Affiliate Marketing Kit and Direct Mail categories for their work with HBO Latin America and Comcast, respectively.
The project for HBO Latin America promoted their original series entitled “Capadocia." As part of the project, Fuseideas developed an engaging affiliate direct mail kit that went to executives of the cable affiliates in Mexico, South America and the Caribbean. The kit included an interactive DVD, promotional t-shirt, a brochure, as well as a combination flash drive/pen that held additional assets for affiliate executives to use for grassroots promotions and marketing materials.
The Comcast project was a direct mail campaign aimed at consumers in South Asian, Filipino and Russian households in the U.S. It was designed to increase Comcast Digital Voice subscriptions in various markets across the country. The response to the direct mail was over 3% activation of Comcast’s product in those households.
Fuseideas is an integrated advertising and interactive marketing agency based out of Somerville, MA. Fuseideas has an extensive amount of cable marketing experience, and have worked with a number of networks and affiliates including Comcast, Disney, ESPN, Univision, Fox Cable Networks, HBO and NBC.

Don't Skimp On Ad Budgets

Cutting advertising expenses can yield short-term gains--and long-term trouble.

With corporate managers under enormous pressure to control costs and maintain liquidity in the current credit crisis, advertising budgets often appear to be a dispensable luxury in the struggle to survive. Executives who succumb to that temptation, however, put the long-term future of their companies at risk, according to Wharton faculty and advertising experts.

"The first reaction is to cut, cut, cut, and advertising is one of the first things to go," says Wharton marketing professor Peter Fader, adding that as companies slash advertising in a downturn, they leave empty space in consumers' minds for aggressive marketers to make strong inroads. Today's economy "provides an unusual opportunity to differentiate yourself and stand out from the crowd," says Fader, "but it takes a lot of courage and convincing to get senior management on board with that."

According to Wharton marketing professor Leonard Lodish, with demand slack for advertising services, the cost of these services goes down, making advertising expenditures all the more defensible in a bad business climate. "If your company has something to say that is relevant in this environment, it's going to be more efficient to say it now than to say it in better times," says Lodish.

Research shows that companies that consistently advertise even during recessions perform better in the long run. A McGraw-Hill Research study looking at 600 companies from 1980 to 1985 found that those businesses that chose to maintain or raise their level of advertising expenditures during the 1981 and 1982 recession had significantly higher sales after the economy recovered. Specifically, companies that advertised aggressively during the recession had sales 256% higher than those that did not continue to advertise.

For companies that do stay the course and continue to advertise into a recession or increase their promotional activities, the key is to craft messages that reflect the times and describe how their product or service benefits the consumer. For example, companies might be tempted to emphasize price in a recession, but that only works for companies like Costco (nasdaq: COST - news - people ) and Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ) that are built around a core strategy of providing low prices year after year, says Lodish. He points to the current Wal-Mart campaign, "Save Money. Live Better," as a successful approach to the recession.

Dean Jarrett, senior vice president of marketing at The Martin Agency in Richmond, Va., which developed the Wal-Mart ads, acknowledges the campaign began in 2007 before it was clear a harsh recession was building. "We can't claim we knew a recession was coming, but 'Save Money. Live Better' is dead on-point with who they are and what they want to be."

Eileen Campbell, chief executive of the Millward Brown Group advertising firm in New York City, says that while companies should probably not dwell on the recession and scare consumers into hoarding their pennies under a mattress, certain products require a straight-up approach--such as financial services. "If you are in the financial services category, to behave as you did a year ago is silly." At the same time, however, many consumers are weary of negativity generated by the recession and would be receptive to a more upbeat message, she adds. "If you can put a positive spin on how you can genuinely help without invoking doom and gloom, I think that's going to be more compelling."

Original Article:

http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/01/advertising-recession-wharton-ent-sales-cx_1201whartonadvertising.html?feed=rss_news