If you’re looking for ways to celebrate the arrival of autumn weather, Northwoods Orchard is your one-stop shop for fall-time fun. I recently made a visit to the apple orchard, located about 90 minutes southwest of the Twin Cities in Oronoco, Minnesota, and was pleasantly surprised to find there was much more to do than “pick-your-own apples.”

This small, family-owned apple orchard also has pumpkins, gourds, fall ornamentals, corn mazes, hayrides and barnyard animals. The colorful—yet noisy—roosters and chickens are a sight to see, along with the friendly pigs, goats and rabbits, which kids are allowed to pet. Inside, Northwoods offers decorative Indian corn, homemade maple syrup and honey. However, the greatest treasure of this quaint place is the caramel apple. The extra large Honeycrisp apple sliced and covered with warm caramel sauce was by far the best caramel apple I’ve ever had. And at a reasonable price, it was worth going back for another!

Northwoods Orchard is open now through November 1, with times listed on their website. This is a great place to spend a Sunday afternoon picking apples or petting animals; be sure to check it out!

What are your favorite ways to celebrate fall?

-Jamie Shubatt

With so much attention tuned into social media, as marketers it’s easy to dismiss the potential impact of traditional media relations in print. It is still incredibly effective to move prospects from unaware to aware to trial to raving fans. To explore this further, let’s take a (very) short quiz:

1) Would you pay $9 for a jar of tomato sauce?
2) Would you actively seek out a $9 jar of tomato sauce?

Most would say “no” to the first question and “hell no” to the second. However, my answers are: I did and I have – and I will again. How did this lunacy occur?

A short product review in the September ‘09 issue of Cooking Light caught my eye. Four brands of tomato sauce were tested and Rao’s was the judges’ top pick. (I had never heard of Rao’s.) The first sentence in the review addressed the obvious objection, “We can hear you now – $9 for a jar of tomato sauce?” The reviewer continues on how a half jar can feed 4 at a dollar-and-change per serving. I thought, this sounds kind of crazy but for nine dollars I have to try it. Truth be told, part of my motivation was to convince the Prego-nation purists at my house that there are other ways to enjoy pasta.

When I served Rao’s for the first time with hot spaghetti noodles, surprisingly the purists nodded with mild approval. This was big, very big. (I actually thought it was the best sauce I’d ever had, at home or elsewhere. Even sopped up some with my bread.) The next week we reverted to Prego without comment. On the third week, out came the second bottle of Rao’s (see question 2 above) to rave reviews. The bonds of Prego had been broken! And we’re now buying $9 tomato sauce and loving it.

The lesson here is not that I am a spendthrift but that I’m now blogging about a premium-priced product that I learned about in print. And there are millions of other web hits for Rao’s. With on-line prices ranging from $9 to $11 a bottle plus shipping, the traditional grocery store seems like a bargain. Maybe print brings us back to the future.

-Patricia Henning

You can get the flu from getting the flu shot.

The flu vaccine contains components of the flu virus but not a complete virus.

One of the most challenging things for any company to do is capture lightning in a bottle and take advantage of a hot trend before if fizzles. That’s why T.G.I. Friday’s gets a green thumbs-up for their brilliant strategy of promoting their green bean fries with a nationwide promotion based around the Dallas Cowboy’s scoreboard controversy.

If you’re an NFL fan, or even a casual observer, you are probably aware of the new Dallas Cowboys football stadium. This $1.12 billion dollar shrine comes complete with the world’s largest HDTV screen, which spans from the 20-yard line to 20-yard line. During a preseason game a punter from an opposing team hit the scoreboard with a kick, causing a lot of hullabaloo over whether the scoreboard needed to be raised. Jerry Jones, the flamboyant owner to the Cowboys, was adamant the scoreboard fell within league guidelines and refused to have it raised.

Jumping on this hot water-cooler topic, T.G.I. Friday’s offered free green bean fries to bar customers in any of its 600 nationwide restaurants if a punt hit the scoreboard during the recent home opener. Since Dallas was playing the NY Giants on a nationally televised game, the stadium was the topic du jour on sports television programs leading up the weekend’s games. And because these shows are always looking for an interesting angle (and because I had Friday off) I was told about T.G.I. Friday’s promotion on numerous sports shows, such as Around the Horn.

Indeed, T.G.I. Friday’s earned millions worth of media impressions and helped raise awareness of their new offering with some savvy and free marketing. And the best part? The scoreboard wasn’t hit, so they didn’t loose a penny on this free promotion.

To the casual observer this seemed like a simple promotion. But there’s no doubt T.G.I. Friday’s PR team had to run a hurry up offense in order to spread the word (and get a plate of green bean fries into the hands of Woody Paige on Around the Horn).

Is your marketing team ready to take advantage of a hot trend before it gets cold?

-Jeron Udean

Despite several open chairs at a local festival stage program I attended recently, my family had to stand while we ate our burgers during my daughter’s singing group performance. Sigh. Seems like every few months I get completely annoyed at an event where all the empty seats are “saved.”

I am not alone.

A quick Google search revealed 85 million results for “saving seats.” Apparently this is a great national debate.

Bloggers go into great detail about their outrage on saving seats or being asked to save seats, often by complete strangers. Church and movies are oft mentioned venues. Church??? Most are opposed to this practice. Although, not all. One woman from Texas was upset when she tried unsuccessfully to save a seat for her ailing mother. Her attempt to use a shopping bag to save a seat was foiled by another who just tossed it aside. Then there are polls asking others to weigh in on whether to save or not to save. Like my son, others ponder if it is okay to save the seats when someone has to go to the bathroom?

I was just glad when the seat-saver near us quietly abandoned her territory. It would have been nice if she informed us of her change in plans but I took what I could get. Who knows? Maybe she left for the bathroom. Although our burgers were long gone, we sat down to enjoy the show.

We probably can’t end this debate but I vote “no saving.” However I would give up my seat for the older woman. Your thoughts?

-Patricia Henning

Bing, the new search engine from Microsoft has entered the playing field quite loudly, thanks to a reported $80 million to $100 million marketing budget. Advertised as a “decision engine”, Bing (formerly Live Search, Windows Live Search, MSN Search) hopes to overtake some of Google and Yahoo’s popularity and become the search engine of choice. It promises to be “…a search engine that finds and organizes the answers you need so you can make faster, more informed decisions.”

It has been hard to ignore Bing’s arrival. Bing has become a nightly guest in my living room, via commercials and hardcore product placement. Without mentioning either Yahoo or Google, the television commercials attempt to characterize the woes of searching with engines that do little more “than point you to a set of links.” More interesting (and annoying) than the commercials, though, are the unapologetic product placements. In NBC’s The Philanthropist, the Bing interface shows up countless times, both in the show’s storylines as well as bumpers between the show and commercials. Similarly, a commercial during The Rachel Zoe Project on Bravo showcases Rachel and her husband trying to find a place to eat dinner. “Let’s Bing it,” Rachel matter-of-factly states, in an attempt to conjugate Bing into a verb. Hmm…sounds familiar.

Bing does seem to have some interesting features, including a “visual search” that lets you browse results by pictures rather than text. But, it is hard to break the habit of googling, especially when the Google search window is built into your browser. I have, however, made the effort to give Bing a chance. One cool tool that allows you to directly compare Bing to Google is called Bingle (http://bingle.pwnij.com/). This search engine, created by Joshua Buss, a 26-year-old Unix administrator in Chicago, produces and displays results from both Google and Bing side-by-side.

Like many search engine users, Buss was curious about Bing, but knew that his Google habit would hinder any Bing experimentation. He told The Wall Street Journal, “When I first heard about Bing and how good it was supposed to be, I knew I should make something that would let me use it at the same time as Google. Otherwise, my reliance on Google meant I’d never give Bing a fair shot.”

So far, the fight seems to be between Google and Bing, with Yahoo losing ground. According to Nielsen Online, Bing’s share of the web search market in August was 10.7 percent, up from 9.0 percent in July (22% increase in total number of searches). Also in August, Google’s market share increased to 64.6%, and Yahoo’s dropped to 16%

Now you have more options. Will you google it, bing it or bingle it?

-Joy Wagner

* Acronym of BING created by marketing expert Seth Godin
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/05/the-next-google.html

Leaves change color in the Fall.

The vibrant red, orange, yellow and brown hues we see in the Autumn months are actually present in the leaf year round.

As a nation, we recently marked the eighth anniversary of 9-11. While nearly a decade has passed since that horrific day, I remember it like was just yesterday. SCG was then located in one of the top floors of the Foshay Tower, a historical landmark in downtown Minneapolis architecturally reminiscent of the Washington Monument. As we all streamed into the office on that beautiful late summer day, we were in shock and disbelief about the reports of two planes flying into New York City‘s Twin Towers. News soon streamed in of a plane down in Pennsylvania and the Pentagon attack.

Huddled around the television in our conference room on the 27th floor, we became eerily aware of our vulnerability being housed in a historic building in a major city. At that point, no one knew just how far reaching the terrorist attacks would be. As we looked out our windows, we could see planes circling back to MSP, following the President’s order to ground all planes for the remainder of the day. By mid-morning, our founder and Chief Creative Officer Patrick Strother decided we should all go home.

The reason I’m recounting all this now is that planes are currently being routed over downtown Minneapolis as a runway at MSP undergoes repairs. This is the second time in the last two years that planes have been re-routed through downtown due to runway repairs. I know there are practical matters to consider pertaining to runway safety and upkeep, but I question the wisdom of subjecting all of us who work downtown to continual sightings of planes flying near our buildings. The other day, the shadow of a large wing intruded upon my peripheral vision as I was working at my computer—a jarring image indeed.

And trust me, they are flying much closer and lower than seems necessary. Just the other day, I was lunching at the counter in our current digs on the 41st floor of the Campbell Mithun tower (Foshay is now a W Hotel) with several colleagues and we all let out a collective “WHOA!” as we watched one jet coming in for landing and another climbing after take-off in what appeared to be all-too-close proximity. This was followed by a collective “PHEW” when the planes cleared each other without incident.

I think planes flying through downtown is at best thoughtless and at worst unwise. As a nation, we probably all have some lingering post traumatic stress from the horrors of 9-11. Why subject those of us who work downtown Minneapolis (or any downtown city for that matter) to reliving the anxiety and sorrow of that horrible day. While I’m not privy to the rationale of MAC or whatever body steers these routing decisions, I think there has to be a viable alternative. At least, there should be.

Uh oh. I hear another one flying over the office as I wrap up this blog. Sounds close enough to land on the roof. Anyone have some Xanax?

-Steph Haugan

Hip-hop and R&B music has its origins in West African Griots, travelers who told stories of creation and oral traditions of their tribes. Griots united individual cultures together in history and tradition through the combination of music and poetry. They acted both as forms of entertainment and education. When you turn on a radio station today claiming to play hip-hip or R&B, the messages have strayed far from the educational and uniting forces of their Griot tradition. Replacing this fascination and respect of history and culture is a trend in which artists idolize material and superficial possessions.

If you look to underground hip-hop, however, artists are stepping back to the Griot and spoken word heritages for this modern genre. I recently attended a concert at the Xcel Center in downtown St. Paul. The opening act was a Somali rapper from Canada named K’Naan. His Somali roots intrigued me at first (Minneapolis has one of the largest Somali populations outside of Somalia), but after his first song, it was his lyrics that drew me in further. He sung not of the coolest pants or jewelry, but instead “rapped poetic” on the struggles of a Somali immigrant. He spoke eloquently of poverty. Of his trials and tribulations with the INS. Of racism and sexism. Of his Islamic faith. His set, about 35 minutes, was much too short. He left the stage with me wanting to know more of his story and thinking that this is what hip-hop is about.

You can listen to some of K’Naan songs here. My favorite song is Wavin’ Flag. Do you like it as much as I do?

-Whitney McIntosh

Web analytics tools aren’t just for the IT folks with a left brained bend. While marketing minds often gravitate to ways to make our websites more visually appealing and user friendly or how to advance a brand through social media, metrics generated through web analytics tools provide the critical insight into the effectiveness of our efforts and should serve as a guide for ongoing strategy.

For example, as part of an integrated marketing communications campaign for a client we often develop a microsite with a unique URL. The site functions as fulfillment for a print or electronic ad, PR placement or social media effort where viewers can learn more about the company, read case studies and white papers, download brochures or view a blog. To measure how both the driving tactic and microsite perform, we engage analytics to provide the detailed metrics. Analytics tools provide extremely useful information such as what links are most popular, what topics or products are most engaging, what days experience a spike in traffic (to tie back to when your tactic deployed) and if visitors likely took action to contact your company.

But this just scratches the surface of what web analytics can do. It can inform your web development, measure your social media success, help drive your search engine optimization and boost your sales efforts.

If you’re developing a new website and want to know what browsers or screen resolutions are most commonly used, you can track trends among your current visitors so your site can be built to the most up-to-date standards. If you want to know if your latest Tweet grabbed the attention of your followers, check to see if Twitter shows up as a “referring site.” If you’re buying AdWords or improving your organic rankings through SEO, you can learn what keywords are most often used to find your site and incorporate this into your overall strategy. If you have a direct marketing or calling program to convert leads to sales, monitor whether a specific target took the next step and visited your site (and then put that target on your list for a follow-up call or mailing soon).

There’s so much that analytics can do. And even someone like me with a right brained bias finds it intriguing to shift to left brained stimulation provided by web analytics. Are you currently using web analytics to inform your strategy and marketing efforts? If so, what nuggets of information do you find most useful?

-Steph Haugan