SIGMA::BLOG

Choices.  People just love choices.  Choices present options, opportunities for customization, and lots of reasons to try or buy.  Right?

I was in meeting recently, reviewing competitive intelligence for a very cluttered category.  Among the findings was the abundance of features the different competitors offered consumers.  And having pored through so many competitors with so many choices, I found myself in the shoes of their shopper, completely overwhelmed and uncertain which I would personally choose.

Immediately, I thought: “jam!”  Not as in “brain jammed by too many options,” but rather, strawberry, grape, and other flavors.  Specifically, a study I recalled that was conducted by a Columbia University professor, a California gourmet market, and a premium jam maker.

In the study, a sampling booth set up in a gourmet market enabled consumers to try different types of one brand of jam.  Every few hours the assortment was changed between a larger set of flavors and a smaller set: twenty-four different flavors, to just six.

On average, consumers tasted at least two kinds of jam, and everyone received a dollar off coupon to purchase.  But what ultimately drove sales stemmed from the number of choices the consumers were presented.  Sixty percent of the shoppers were drawn to the large assortment, while only 40 percent stopped by the small one. But when it came to actually making a purchase, all those choices actually paralyzed the consumers.  Thirty percent of the people who had sampled from the small assortment decided to buy jam, while only 3 percent of those consumers who had to choose from the two dozen different jams purchased a jar.

Similar studies have been done around chocolate, 401k plans, and speed dating, all with similar results.  A large assortment of choices may attract attention, but when it comes to actually making a choice and buying, it’s distracting.  Additional research also concluded that ultimately, when a consumer does make a choice from among many, he or she is more likely to feel less satisfied, less happy with the choice and even insecure, asking “did I make the right selection?”  In other words, walking away with a negative experience.

So often we see brands, clients and even agency people thinking that more is more.  Give them choices, give them options, and let them choose!  But in the end, providing a focused, more streamlined offering leads to “happiness” and ultimately, a sale – whether it’s features and functions, or product benefits, or even creative choices.

(Source:  New York Times, “Too Many Choices: A Problem That Can Paralyze,” Alina Tungend, February 26, 2010)

It has over 2.9 million fans that “Like” it on Facebook.

In August this year it hit the 1 million subscriber mark for its YouTube channel, with individual videos receiving view tallies well over 20 million each.

It made the current Bloomberg Business Week “Popularity Issue” as the Top Web Series. And it was recently discovered by my family during our annual beach vacation. Ugh! Why the ugh? It’s the Annoying Orange.

And it’s exactly that. Annoying Orange is the wisecracking, purposely irritating punster who stars in his own YouTube web series.

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In 2009 we saw marketers everywhere seeking out one-to-one connections with their customers. The world of “mass” seemed a far-off reach in a world pressed for ROI, leads and conversion. But what was most interesting to watch in 2009 was the up-rise of technology and new channels, once only used by a small portion of the market, gaining scale and turning consumers from passive brand observers to active participants responsible for shaping brands and extending the marketing dollar. A “new mass” market approach unfolded in a big way that forced even the most traditional brands to take note and take the plunge. Once upon a time, a satisfied or unsatisfied customer would tell their close circle of family and friends if they loved or hated a brand. Now that same customer can tell the whole world in seconds–it’s mass marketing turbocharged. Pretty exciting stuff. (more…)

Last week, marketers from all around the tri-state area converged in New Jersey at our Fuel for Thought conference to learn, share experiences and develop ideas to get a handle on social media marketing.  There’s a lot we covered/learned from each session and we’ll be sharing key highlights and materials here on our blog.

We’ll kick-off the first conference recap with John Battelle’s (CEO/Founder, Federated Media) keynote on “All Media is Social.  Now What?”  John’s keynote was brilliantly right-on-topic to get us all kindling new ideas.  Here are four key areas he covered:

1.  The Rise of Conversational Marketing: First we declared our intentions (what we want) through search.  Then we declared our relations (social graph — who we are as defined by how we are connected to other people) on sites like Facebook.  Finally, during the past year we declared our utterances (what we are doing, what we are interested in, etc.) on sites like Twitter.  When you put all these declarations together — intention, relations and utterances, you have an economy of conversations. (more…)

Why should I?  What does it matter?  How can one person change the world?  We’ve all heard the phrase, “Think globally, act locally,” but how often do we actually heed the meaning of that phrase?

The needs of the world just seem so overwhelming, right?  We find ourselves saying, “Why bother? We can’t fix everything!” and then doing nothing.  I think that’s probably a very logical solution according to our selfish, perfectionist, overachieving natures –  “If it can’t be done right, why do it at all?“  Sound familiar?

While it is true that one person can’t solve all the troubles of the world, we at Sigma have realized that everyone holds great power to make a big difference.  The power that one person has to improve the quality of life for a few, or the ability that one person has to lend a helping hand, is tremendous.

We recently created a community outreach program called Team Hercules (we have a tradition that lends itself to all things Greek).  There were two reasons we created Team Hercules.  Reason #1: It’s a program that empowers all of our employees to reach out beyond themselves and beyond the confines of these office walls to give back and better our community.  And Reason #2: I’ll get into that in a minute, at the end of this post. (more…)

Oscar Wilde said that “to expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect.” He was right.

The reality is that things never go as planned. But when you think about it, is that a bad thing? Those shaping the world make a difference by going beyond the expected. They figure out ways to capitalize on the unexpected twists and turns that come their way. They relish in the opportunities that are presented when unexpected things happen and as a result make great strides in the economy, environment, society, etc.

Business owners and entrepreneurs…the best bubble up when they expect the unexpected. They plan for the unexpected. They know that nothing should be taken at face value. And even further, it’s their ability to capitalize on unexpected opportunities that really makes them superstars. (more…)

I decided to round up some interesting facts, figures and best practices on online video, while many of my fellow Sigmites are out this week producing them.

Recently comScore reported that in April 09, U.S. Internet users viewed 16.8 billion online videos.  Nearly 152 million folks watched an average of 111 videos, and an average online viewer watched 6.4 hours of video.  The age of online video viewers trends slightly younger, however, viewership by Generation X and older boomers are at no small scale.

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Rarely does a day go by without my reading or hearing a going-out-of-business article/message.  Each time I hear the company/brand name, I ask myself, does it matter to me (as a consumer) that they will no longer exist?  Sure, there are some that make little or no impact on my life, but there are far more brands/companies that I say, “it matters.”  Why?  Because I have a personal relationship and connection to them.  Those relationships range from personal preferences to convenience to reminiscence of what some of them meant to me at some point in my life.  (more…)

Faced with an uncertain economy, lingering steady holds in client budgets, procurement mandates driving margins down and a general reduction in client spending, we realized that creative steps would be needed to manage our own expenses and better position ourselves for the next few years. With some strategic brainstorming and a focus on manpower, workload and agency functions, we set out to develop a solution that would win for everyone.

With a goal of streamlining overhead without reducing workflow or impacting our creative product, we found eight positions in the company that could benefit from a reduced workweek (4 days) while also helping to shed some weight from our bottom line. As a result we were able to save jobs and in turn we have been encouraged by the new vigor and level of productivity that we’re seeing. The outcome? Inspired employees who thrive in the condensed workweek, an even better and more focused creative product and an improvement to operating expenses that allows us to focus on growth, innovation and further expansion.

Just goes to show what happens when creative minds work together. CNN and Alina Cho – thanks for featuring us today!

If you’ve dabbled at all with Papervision yet, you may have already seen small wisps of smoke coming from your processor, as have I.  I’m having a love-hate relationship with Flash player. Flash player does not yet live up to the potential that 3D APIs such as Papervision have to offer. I am ready, willing and able to use many of the wonderful features that the Papervision Team has added, such as shaders; but when it comes to practical implementation, I’m always faced with the limitations of Flash player and the processor. To keep us on good working terms, Optimization is key. (more…)