the bark blog

  When Houston-based Joe’s Crab Shack recently became the first national full-service chain to test a no-tipping policy, it added fuel to the fiery debate over whether this is the service…

Challenger brands compete by outthinking, not outspending the competition. The same philosophy applies to your digital advertising strategy. You’ve got to find innovative ways of accomplishing your goals, and as a…

  NASA has a legitimate crisis on its hands; an astronaut is stranded on Mars. This PR nightmare is the premise of the best-selling book and new movie, The Martian. One…

Every restaurant needs both a digital and traditional marketing plan to be successful and here are 5 reasons offline advertising still works and 10 ways to do it.  After all, if…

  As a car guy and advertising professional it pains me to watch the great Volkswagen brand disintegrate right before my very eyes. The chairman of VW, the largest car company…

  Our culture is making a swing back to the tradition of dinner at home, with a modern twist – dinner is from a restaurant. Here are 5 ways to capitalize…

Will Millennials still rule or will there be new restaurant and food marketing trends to watch in 2016? We looked at what market intelligence gurus from the UK, North America, and,…

  If your marketing plan doesn’t include some level of digital media, you could be missing out on a powerful way of connecting with consumers. But before you get started, it’s…

  You already know the importance of building your customer base and increasing traffic, but implement our Top 6 holiday promotions and you’ll drive sales with new and repeat customers. One…

  Halloween offers ample opportunities for restaurants to kick off holiday promotions, but it’s also a great chance for Challenger Brands to carve out a niche during this unique holiday. Halloween…

  I like to think of Challenger Brands as perfectly imperfect – and that can work to their advantage. Unlike the established competitors that present themselves as polished and refined, Challengers…

  How fast can you hear? It’s an odd question, but neuroscientist Seth Horowitz, author of “The Universal Sense: How Hearing Shapes the Mind” has an answer. “You hear anywhere from…

  Here’s a sad stat. Each year, approximately 1.2 million dogs are euthanized and so are another 1.4 million cats, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to…

If you want to beat the restaurant industry’s projected annual growth rate of just two percent over the next five years, spending more on advertising may not be the answer. I…

  Every restaurant owner has experienced it at least once – a bad online customer review. There it is on Yelp! – FoodieGuy4368 didn’t like your appetizers or your service and…

When you talk about history’s greatest upsets, most sports fans point to the Mount Rushmore of underdogs – The U.S. Men’s Hockey Team’s “Miracle on Ice” beating the Russians at the…

  I should probably begin this blog by acknowledging that the topic is not what you’d normally see on BARK! You won’t find any marketing advice or best advertising practices within…

  We eat with our eyes, so professional food photography can mean the difference between driving customers to your door or steering them to your competition. If you choose to shoot…

  The other day, my son and I drove by a recently updated neighborhood Wendy’s restaurant. The place didn’t look bad prior to the facelift, but given the number of new…

  Are you working to connect with Millennial restaurant customers? This up-and-coming group is about to overtake Baby Boomers in sheer size; they have spending power, and they have a social…

  The kids are heading back to school and here are 5 of the best promotions we know to drive restaurant sales and target a variety of your market segments. 1…

  The things that go viral are often surprising. Cat videos, anyone? Other times, it’s quite clear. In recent years, a number of shocking viral restaurant videos and photos have shown employees mishandling…

  Competing with category leaders isn’t easy.  There’s just no way around it, marketing your company using traditional media is expensive. Email marketing, on the other hand, is the great equalizer.…

  Running restaurants is not for the faint of heart. The price of entry includes an appealing menu, the right location, a compelling space, tight operations, strong staffing and effective marketing.…

You’ve heard it a hundred times before: In the 21st century, your website ought to be your best salesperson. This is a must today, as every competitive brand needs a sharp,…

Your LinkedIn page is one of the top tools in your arsenal for bringing new leads and clients to your challenger brand. LinkedIn has more than 360 million members from all…

  Most people have a story that would read like a novel, complete with twists and turns, triumphs and failures, embarrassments and learnings. I haven’t written a novel, but I have…

  When it comes to the way people read on the Internet, the stats can get pretty depressing. It’s been confirmed time and time again that many people unfortunately read only…

  We’re here! It’s the end of the road for our exciting Cialdini principles of persuasion series. While we enjoyed bringing you ideas about the best ways that brands can use…

  When a brand is liked, that can lead to more sales, success and popularity for said brand. It seems to be a pretty logical proposition, doesn’t it? The more a…

  Believe it or not, there was a period in the early 1990s when Ford Motor Company seriously considered killing the iconic Mustang. Ford sold 680,000 copies of the new Mustang…

  They say that people like to question authority, but in the ad world, it’s just the opposite that’s true. People will listen to authority and be greatly influenced by it,…

We continue our Cialdini series this week by introducing social proof, a most exciting principle of persuasion in today’s digital marketing world. From psychology’s standpoint, social proof can be thought of…

Our Cialdini series heats up this week as we take a closer look at commitment and consistency, the second persuasion principle that’s made up of two, closely related parts. As with…

Few books have had such a profound impact in the marketing world as Dr. Robert Cialdini’s stellar book, “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion,” has. First written more than three decades ago,…

  Challenger brands can’t outspend the market leader in their industry, which is why they have to think outside the box to gain market share. Social media is a tool challenger…

  OK, so this isn’t really an expose per se, but it’s news worth sharing so keep reading. LOOMIS recently acquired one of the most successful design firms in Dallas. We…

Monster Energy is the best performing NASDAQ stock in the last 15 years. It seems Monster is living up to its reputation for high-octane performance on its balance sheet, too.  This…

Brian Williams, Robert McDonald and now Bill O’Reilly. Nobody likes it when people play fast and loose with the truth, especially those who are specifically charged with telling it to us…

There are very few things I can recall from my college days for a variety of reasons that need not be chronicled here. But there is one thing that has stuck…

Nobody needs to remind restaurant marketers about the dark days of 2009. Selling discretionary products and services is challenging in the best of times, but when the economy slows dining out…

  Pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed, and sloth. The seven deadly sins. Let’s face it, we’re mere mortals and stuff happens. For the religious among us, absolution awaits in the…

At LOOMIS, we specialize in helping challenger brand companies take on market leaders and win. We’re the Voice of the Underdog. And while the vast majority of our work is what…

  It pains me greatly to think how fast it has gone, but 2015 will mark my 25th year in advertising. Young Carl Thompson, fresh faced and sporting a sweet off…

  It’s 1964. Shoeshine Boy, a humble and loveable dog, transforms into the masked superhero UNDERDOG when trouble threatens his beloved, Sweet Polly Purebread. “Not bird, nor plane, or even frog,…

At last count, Subway had 43,417 restaurants in 110 countries, which makes it the second largest fast food chain in the world behind McDonald’s. Subway is the biggest dog in the…

  If you’ve ever had anything to do with making a :30 commercial, you know what a miracle it is that two hour feature films get made at all. I don’t…

  Call it what you want: David vs. Goliath, Pint vs. Keg, Local vs. Global. But there’s simply no denying the fact that all across America, upstart craft breweries are thriving…

  If you are a sports fan, you remember the famous hockey game played during the Lake Placid Olympics. It’s the game they call “The Miracle on Ice.” Now 35 years…

Here’s a news flash: We like people who are like us. More to the point, we favor people who look like we do, act like we do, and think like we…

Ask a young creative what advertising is all about and they’re bound to tell you it’s all about coming up with the big idea. Thinking outside the box. The light bulb…

When a LOOMIS agency team member hands you a business card, the first thing you’ll notice is the big, bold photo of a dog on the front of it. Each of…

  You’ve heard “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” While that may be true, it’s also a lousy long-term strategy for taking on market leaders if your ultimate goal is…

  It’s hard to think of a client whose media spend tops $886 million as an underdog. But that’s exactly where Allstate finds itself, looking across a more than $200 million…

  It’s January 6 and odds are, you’ve made a number of New Year’s resolutions you hope to make good on sometime in 2015. But that’s personal. What about your professional…

  “Citizen Kane,” or “The Godfather?” “Animal House,” or “Old School?” “Heaven’s Gate,” or “Ishtar?” Whether we’re debating the best, the funniest, or the worst movie of all time, there is…

  When Shakespeare wrote, “the eyes are the window to your soul,” I can only assume he had a black lab sitting next to him. Up until last year for about…

  Tis the season for reflecting on the year that’s past and for looking forward to a bigger, better, happier new year. In that spirit, here are 10 signs you had…

  One of the great truths of a bracketed championship format like the NCAA Basketball Tournament, and now the College Football Playoffs, is that no matter how many teams you choose…

  Ever heard the expression “Meetings for Meetings?”  I think we’re all in agreement that’s not a good habit to get into. But how about this one – “Buzzwords for Buzzwords?”…

  Quick. Your network is in fourth place. You’re programming a Thursday night during the holiday season and you’re up against CBS, FOX, ABC, cable, the NFL, the NBA and the…

  Three months from now, don’t look for the country’s biggest sales growth to come from Wall Street or Madison Avenue, or from any major American retailer. Look instead for little…

  Well, we’re inside of a week until Black Friday and shoppers across America are no doubt carb-loading, stretching and mapping out their strategies to be first in line by late…

  What’s holding you back from doing the caliber of work you know you’re capable of and want to do? No doubt there‘s a stout list of justifiable obstacles that range…

  With all due respect to the NFL, Heavyweight Boxing, and MMA, America’s favorite blood sport is politics. In the past year, candidates in the midterm elections spent  more than $3.7…

  On Wednesday, we blogged about eight of the 16 books that have influenced and helped transform LOOMIS over the years. Today, we look at the second set of eight in…

  Whenever people ask us about building challenger brands, inevitably the discussion turns to what books have been most influential for us and which are our favorites. Admittedly, asking our crew…

  Cries for innovative thinking echo off walls of corporations, hospitals, governments, and schools across our country, but when novel solutions are presented, they are often met with resistance—even scorn. It’s…

  If you know anything about The Loomis Agency, or have visited our website, you know we’re big dog lovers. For most of us, that’s been the case since we were…

Yesterday, we looked at the first four questions you need to ask before choosing a new ad agency partner, or a new client if you’re an agency. Just to recap, they…

Getting married is exciting. There’s the nervous energy that comes from starting your new life together. The anticipation for what the uncharted future will bring. And of course, there’s the popping…

  Dear budding graduates and new job candidates, As winter graduation grows close and June graduates start getting ahead of the curve, many of you will reach out to our agency…

When it comes to competition in the restaurant world, it doesn’t matter whether you’re casual dining, fast casual, or QSR. The battle royale for customers is brutal and getting tougher all…

The headlines could have been a lot different this morning. Had Scotland voted to leave the United Kingdom in favor of independence Thursday, the economic and political aftershocks would have been…

“If you’re not confused, you’re not paying attention.” – Tom Peters  This pretty much sums up the marketing ecosystem we are all operating in right now. As the director of strategy…

Build a culture. And brand it. Four months ago, I stepped into the LOOMIS office for the first time when I interviewed for the position of Brand Manager. It’s an afternoon…

If you’re disgusted by the latest Carl’s Jr. TV spot featuring Paris Hilton and Hannah Ferguson, um … washing a truck, then I know something about you: You’re not the target…

Hands down, the most clichéd request in marketing is for “out of the box” thinking. But what we often forget is that sometimes, the magic and the big ideas can come…

Last week I took the long drive from Dallas to Los Angeles with my daughter to start her freshman year of college. I promise there’s a great tie-in to challenger brand…

You’re a disease. A brutal, heart-breaking, mysterious disease called Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). You’re not heart disease. You’re not cancer. You don’t have a Race for Life, or a Pink Ribbon…

Struggling to overcome the declining reach on Facebook? Join the club. Fortunately, help is on the way. Our friends at Shoutlet are all about building social relationships that build business and…

We all have something we stand for—something we believe in, something we strive toward. And we tend to seek out and build relationships with like-minded people for spouses, friends, and employers…

Let’s be honest. We live in a world where people get paid the big bucks for what they know. Just look at the value we put on degrees from places like…

Over the past week, we’ve explored the importance of incorporating great people and a great customer experience into your company and your brand. Having the right team is crucial to fighting…

Until a company is delivering an optimal customer experience through excellent and consistent customer service, it is not well positioned to achieve maximum benefit from advertising or any other marketing activity.…

“Anybody who doesn’t understand that companies are in business to make a profit isn’t plugged in right.” That colorful sentiment was issued by a colleague to drive home his point that…

How does Chick-Fil-A consistently train the best employees in fast food? The short answer is, they don’t. Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy addressed this very question directly in a 2005 interview. He acknowledged the tremendous energy the…

The most important marketing weapon for consumer-facing brands is something most companies assign exclusively to human resources. It’s people. The customer experience is a social one driven by emotion. Whether it’s…

You don’t have to look too far to find article after article about the dilemma American workers are facing these days of too much work and not enough time. Increasingly, people…

This is the time of year that corporate marketing teams across the land begin gearing up for advertising agency reviews. Advertising accounts change hands all the time, of course, but many…

The average American spends a little less than $7 dining away from home every single day. Competition for those dollars is intense, and the pressure to compete drives all sorts of…

You don’t have to tell restaurant owners the dining out landscape is more competitive than ever and getting more so. Every day, there’s a new concept, a new chain for development,…

It would seem traditional advertising agency reviews are the best deal going for marketers looking for new agencies. Agencies invest hundreds of man-hours and thousands of their own dollars developing creative…

It was reported last week that Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel was forced out by an impatient board of directors who no longer believe in his long term plan and are using…

If you think about it, moms and Challenger Brands have quite a few common characteristics. In honor of Mother’s Day, let’s take a look at some of the practices that make…

Have you ever had to mix gas and oil for a two-stroke engine? That sort of opening line limited my dating success back in the day, but there’s a great marketing story…

There’s a quote about leaders and followers that suggests “If you’re not the lead dog, the view never changes.” For many brands, that’s certainly true. We all understand there are a…

Every party animal knows Taco Bell is the best bet for a 2 a.m. taco, but who knew they were open for breakfast? Nobody. And that’s because they weren’t. But now…

What is your six seconds of genius? If Vine is not on your short list of elements to add to 2014’s marketing calendar, it probably should be. Many of you are…

#newTwitterprofile This week, Twitter revealed a fresh, new look for Twitter profiles designed to increase user presence and engagement. The new look, which has been the subject of some speculation since…

April 1st is just another day of the week. Another day they wake up at the same time, drive the same route to work, park in the same parking space, walk…

April 1, 2014 – DALLAS  – According to anonymous sources close to the Trademark and Patent Office, Dallas ad agency LOOMIS has purchased the trademark for the word “Underdog” to help solidify…

Is there any celebrity, athletic or otherwise, more respected and beloved than Peyton Manning? Last season, Manning set a number of NFL records, including throwing for a gaudy 55 touchdowns. He…

Are computers the best thing to happen to the advertising industry, or the worst? If I were to write a book on advertising, this would likely be the title of the…

Spring is in the air, and with it, NCAA March Madness. This 64-team tourney gives us fast-paced drama, incredible athleticism, fierce competition, and more reasons to skip work than the Internet…

Unless your company dominates its category, it’s a challenger brand. It may or may not be a strong challenger brand, and the difference often comes down to marketing. Unfortunately, one hallmark…

Visual cues have always been important to marketers in branding, in product design, in advertising and in store. But did you know that color has the potential to impact consumer behavior…

Introducing a new web series by LOOMIS called “Smart on Advertising.” Smart on Advertising is a series of short videos designed to help business professionals stay on top of the myriad…

As 2013 begins to ramp up, Big Data is a topic that’s on many marketer’s minds. In fact, it’s the number one key change that keeps marketing executives up at night.…

The Atlantic ran an excellent piece titled, “The Irrational Consumer: Why Economics Is Dead Wrong About How We Make Choices.” If you have ten minutes, it’s worth reading, but I’ve summarized five…

This month, more than 700 digital media professionals gathered in Dallas to discuss digital trends at the first annualDallas Digital Summit. The future of SEO was a hot topic on the…

The retail sector is more complex than ever. With evolving consumer behavior, changing economic environments, and the increasing importance of technology in shopping behavior, industry leaders must adjust their practices to…

Music is no Holy Grail for advertisers, but when it’s skillfully integrated into message delivery for the right product or service, music can work magic for memory. “You deserve a break…

Four Lessons From the Egyptian Revolution Cultural barriers and physical distance too often reduce events like the Egyptian Revolution to abstractions for us, but there are important lessons here for astute…

Any kid with a Lemonade stand can explain the sales impact of poor traffic, but something far more complex lies at the heart of the matter. In fact, when it comes…

It may not be time to break out the party hats, but there’s no doubt the economy has been improving – albeit quietly. In fact, important indicators such as disposable income…

This must be the six-millionth piece written about Apple, but it may be one of the few that’s not about the love. OK, just a little love. Like so many, I…

Companies don’t have souls. People do. That’s never clearer than when company leaders step all over their people, intentionally or otherwise. Crushed spirits turn into crushed brands and broken companies. Rarely…

I can’t recall when I first heard the expression, “mind the gap,” but its origins apparently trace back to a 60s-era warning posted for London train passengers stepping from trains to…