About
Nacho Mama’s is a fun and festive restaurant that works hard to produce great food and good times, while keeping people coming back for more through their attention to flavor and hospitality. For a restaurant that’s used to being unique, Nacho Mama’s annual Cinco de Mayo celebrations weren’t standing out despite offering live bands, contests, and special prices.

Challenge
Nacho Mama’s original Cinco de Mayo festivities were not unique enough to differentiate their Cinco parties from others. With three separate locations all trying to gather a crowd, the brand needed help distinguishing itself in the minds of their brand community.

Solution
Design the Planet developed the “Cinco de Mama” campaign, which specifically tied the holiday to Nacho Mama’s and made it uniquely their own. The new event title cut through the media clutter and a comprehensive month-long celebration culminating in Cinco helped them stand out from other celebrations. To create excitement for the event, Design the Planet began a Countdown to Cinco de Mama which positioned Nacho Mama’s event as the place to be for Cinco in the mind of the brand community long before other parties were ever mentioned. Design the Planet utilized a multimedia approach, including a specific Cinco de Mama website and Facebook ads targeting specific consumers, such as fans of the bands featured at Cinco de Mama.

Results
By utilizing a branded, stand-out celebration title and theme combined with pre-event promotion and engagement activities, Nacho Mama’s enjoyed a 30% increase in event sales across its three locations. Design the Planet’s creative approach and unique spin helped the client exceed sales and attendance goals. Cinco de Mama is designed to be an original campaign that can be reused from year-to-year to keep party-goers coming back for one-of-a-kind Mama’s fun.

U-Haul moving trucks – fun or pure marketing genius?

We’ve all seen them, they’re hard to miss on any road trip. You probably even look for them, trying to find the one from your hometown. I’ve even seen U-Haul trucks on Roadtrip Bingo games.

Making people look for these fun, iconic trucks is only part of the U-Haul marketing plan. Look at the trucks closer. U-Haul is explaining to you why their trucks are better. On the back of the truck they refer to the low deck and even show you the height of other truck decks. Closer to the front, you see the term “Gentle Ride” and on the truck door it generally says Automatic and A/C. You may have never thought about it, but those are important qualities to most people. Qualities you may assume are on all trucks until now because U-Haul has raised doubt about their competitors. So now you ask before you rent a truck if it has A/C and an automatic transmission.  Another addition to the subtle sale pitch is the space above the cab known as “Mom’s Attic”. The term “Mom’s Attic” is cute, fun, and makes me think of my mom putting her china and other precious cargo up there away from the heavy furniture.

The entire truck differentiates U-Haul from all of the other competitors. Think of other moving trucks – they’re boring, boxy, and honestly not memorable (except for the series of Budget trucks with the stick figures – memorable, but they don’t differentiate).

Some of U-Haul’s new trucks have a scene showing a truck all packed up making you think about moving. It’s neat and organized – giving the appearance that moving can be easy and it has a little something for everyone including a basketball, lamp, and toolbox. They even use U-Haul boxes to cross-sell that service and get their name out there a few more times.

I promise you won’t look at another U-Haul truck the same way next time you see one driving down the road.

1) Cultivate a Fanatical Fan Base: Fans of either Lady Gaga or Apple can be considered a cult by many measures. The article suggests a niche market that is catered and fed to, the gay community and the artist/music community respectively.

2) Be Technically Competent: Once you wow people with your marketing and style, you need to have something substantial for them to stick around. You can not build a community without providing a valuable product or service.

3) Got Vision?: Find a place where you can be the best even if it is a narrow piece of the market. Lady Gaga mixes glam rock with simple melodies and Apple builds innovate machines that creates a better life. Even here at Design the Planet, we’ve developed a division that specializes in construction website design & brand marketing – The Brand Constructors.

4) Simplicity Sells: Lady Gaga keeps her beats & melodies simple and Apple has a clean look and their advertising is just as clean and simple. Their brand communities known who each brand is even though they have surprises with different wardrobes or products.

5) Packaging Matters: Every time we purchase an Apple product, we are amazed by their simple, well-designed packaging. Apple’s packaging is direct and stylish no matter the piece. Lady Gaga says that she is thinking about her wardrobe on stage when writing music. She even has her own design team called the Haus of Gaga.

I would only add Be Different to the list. If you do not offer a service or product that is different than your competitor, than you are only competing on price and that is a losing battle. Lady Gaga and Apple both stand out when looking at their peers.