CHALLENGE
Drive awareness of Dreyer’s/Edy’s Fruit Bars and introduce new flavor varieties – Pomegranate and Blueberry Acacia, through a health conscious, community oriented, environmentally friendly campaign.

SOLUTION
Developed “Communities Take Root” campaign, a national environmentally friendly contest in partnership with the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, to broaden reach and establish loyalty and credibility in the Fruit Bars brand. Communities Take Root will supply Fruit Tree Orchards to deserving communities in need of a fresh fruit source for years to come. Beneficiary stories are powerful and compelling to garner strong media coverage.

RESULTS
25 Fruit Orchards planted in 2010.
10+ million impressions– exceeded campaign goal in first month of campaign. Diverse Reach: Family/Parenting, Gardening, Education, Community

Chiquita Banana’s Sticker Contest is being recognized as an innovative contest involving its consumers in the re branding of their iconic blue sticker, a strategy also known as crowdsourcing. This blogger explains the growing trend of crowdsourcing, and showcases Chiquita as perfectly utilizing this new concept.

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It is a common – even prescribed – practice in marketing to try and get a high profile name linked with a product to get the word out…to help with the “push”, to add legitimacy, glamour, and popularity. I recently set out to find a celebrity to team up with the Keep A Breast foundation and pro surfer Jodie Nelson for Paddle With Purpose, a 39.8 mile solo paddle from Catalina to Dana Point.  Unfortunately due to movie premiers, tour dates, hair and make-up appointments, etc., my target celebs were unavailable. However, our animal friends are proven crowd pleasers and they come without any requests or monetary needs. All we have to do is let them do what they do naturally and hope the cameras are rolling.

Proven by the success of Jodie Nelson’s amazing solo paddle when “Larry” the 30 foot Minke whale unexpectedly joined Jodie for a portion of her journey. The spontaneity was priceless…it was something that no one person could bring to the table. It was non-threatening, magical and the timing was just perfect. People relate to nature and animals, and definitely some animals rank higher than others. Don’t know of many “whale-haters” – I think they are up there with Giraffes and Panda Bears. We see them as awesome and mysterious and powerful and more importantly we WANT TO SEE THEM! It was pure magic that someone doing something so selfless was unexpectedly accompanied by a gorgeous whale just out doing his own thing.

Larry proved to be a huge and unexpected draw that we could never have planned for – and the Today Show took note! Add to that the fact he will not embarrass himself in interviews or prove to be a fraud, or take up some sexually deviant behaviors. Larry wins on all counts!
Watch the Today Show feature on Jodie and Larry here:

Sorrento Valley (San Diego) based Mushroom Networks is a start-up company with several solutions for aggregating multiple broadband access lines of any type (DSL, cable, wireless) into a single high-speed shared connection. The challenge Zenzi faced was two-fold.

First, we had to introduce a new and extremely complicated technology to the small business and enterprise communities in a way that could easily be understood and second we had to target the service providers themselves positioning Mushroom’s technology as a potential new type of business class service that may cannibalize existing offerings. After an in-depth brainstorming session, Zenzi suggested coining a general term for Mushroom’s technology that would be easily conceptualized by both the enterprise and service provider targets and in addition emphasize the downside of legacy broadband solutions Mushroom was setting out to replace.

The term Broadband Bonding™ was decided upon and used to launch the initial product called TRUFFLE. For the enterprise side we focused in on Broadband Bonding as a way to significantly boost performance both in the uplink and downlink directions at a mere fraction of the cost of traditional services such as T1 lines. For the service providers, we positioned Broadband Bonding as a new service that would bridge the gap between T1 and T3 subscribers and/or be slowly implemented as networks evolve into an all IP architecture.

The results have been astounding, in just under six months with a very limited marketing push besides PR, Mushroom is consistently moving over $50K of equipment per month and is currently in several trials with tier-1 service providers throughout the country. In addition, the term “Broadband Bonding” as been adopted as an industry-wide term and most recently named by Telephony Magazine as a hot technology to watch and has received several prestigious technology innovation awards.

Challenge:
In a challenging market conditions, Zenzi was tasked with regaining consumer and business trust and increasing awareness of Torrey Pines Bank’s success and “time to shine,” despite economy.

Solution:
In less than six months, Zenzi logged 150+ hits in banking and local news media. Total print value for the former of over $180,000 and over 30mm print circulation. During that time, Zenzi also garnered interested for 10 contributed articles, 19 media interviews, wrote/ distributed 7 releases, obtained 2 speaking opportunities (East San Diego County Association of Realtors and JACCC) and assisted with other activities.

Result:
Widespread media hits in San Diego Daily Transcript, San Diego Union Tribune, San Diego Business Journal, BizSanDiego, SDNN, San Diego Metropolitan, U.S. Banker, North County Times, Carmel Valley Leader, Rancho Santa Fe News, AARP, Solana Beach Sun, Enterprising Women, SNL Bank Thrift, Del Mar Times, and many others.

Challenge: Aptera, Greek for “Wingless Flight,” tasked Zenzi with the company’s official launch and unveiling of its ultra-green vehicle, the hybrid version of which is capable of 300 miles per gallon! While competitors have more marketing dollars, Zenzi has turned that challenge into an advantage for Aptera.  

Challenge: Zenzi was tasked to create awareness and recognition for Ignify’s e-commerce platform in the small to medium enterprise space. Zenzi formulated a strategy to differentiate and leverage Ignify’s unique features such as heuristic trending and advanced security precautions that are common in the large enterprise space – but not affordable to the smaller enterprises.  

Challenge: Zenzi was tasked by the California Restaurant Association to direct all marketing, public relations and advertising efforts. Zenzi established several goals for the event: to elevate San Diego’s reputation as a dining destination among local San Diegans and visitors alike, expose restaurants to new patrons, boost sales during a traditionally slow time of year, engage local community to explore new restaurants and maximize attendance during the event.  

Challenge: fix8 tasked Zenzi with the product launch of a little-known technology that allows IM users to create customized avatars and animated video using webcams. Its main objective was to introduce the product to consumers and drive its free download offering online. Their initial target market was heavy Internet users age 25 and under who use Instant Messenger, AIM, Skype etc. to communicate to colleagues or friends. The primary obstacle was that no one would be looking for this technology online so education about the technology and leveraging ways to demonstrate the functionality and utility of the software was crucial.
 

Challenge: Mission Playground, an eco-conscious and active lifestyle clothing company, selected Zenzi to launch its new brand into a very cluttered and competitive retail marketplace. The goal of the campaign was to introduce Mission Playground’s clothing line to the media and gain greater visibility within the outdoor and LOHAS industries.