On Sunday, April 22nd, let’s celebrate Earth Day by acknowledging good news stories about going green.
1. Recognize the responsibility
From small companies to multinationals, experience is proving that social and environmental policies can drive brand recognition, customer engagement, and shareholder value. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is really about good business practices, optimizing your resources and listening to […]

We all know that Hockey Playoffs are good for the restaurant industry, but Zata has actually measured the impact on local restaurants and bars. Zata compared the performance of 25 restaurants in Vancouver on nights where there was no hockey to nights when the Canucks had a playoff game. The results are posted […]

Week over week changes in sales as reported by Zata participants.
BC Restaurants: Up 3.3%
BC Retail Stores: Down 6.4%
Stop guessing how you’re doing and find out. Zata compares your sales and costs to other businesses in your market. Sign up today at www.myzata.com.

There are 6 templates that were identified by researchers at the University of Jerusalem. Click on the links to get more detailed explanations and examples.
1. Pictorial Analogy: Substitute another item in place of your product (or service) to create an unexpected explanation of the value of your product.
2. Extreme Situations: Show your products […]

Template #6 - Time Leap
This template shows a situation, then jumps either forward or back in time to entertain or to demonstrate the value of the product.
In the first example from for a Playstation 2 game, time is rewound to show the consequences of a single action.

Template #5 - The Interactive Experiment
The concept here is to get your customer to take some action to “prove to themselves” that your product is right for them.
There are several excellent examples of this, both current and historical.
One commercial and print campaign that ran in the 1970’s used a credit card to demonstrate […]

Week over week changes in sales as reported by Zata participants.
BC Restaurants: Down 2.52%
BC Retail Stores: Up 8.7%
Stop guessing how you’re doing and find out. Zata compares your sales and costs to other businesses in your market. Sign up today at www.myzata.com.

Template #4 - The Uncommon Use
While similar in many respects to the Extreme Situation Template, there are two key differences.
Key #1: There is an element of surprise in the ad. Often it is not clear what the advertisement is for until the end of the commercial.
Key #2: One key feature is […]

According to a survey conducted by a gift card company:
OCCASIONS GIFT CARDS PURCHASED FOR:
Birthdays – 78%
Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa – 67%
Wedding shower/gift – 27%
Graduation – 18%
Mother’s Day – 17%
Anniversary – 16%
Thank-you gift – 16%
Baby shower/gift – 15%
Father’s Day – 14%
Congratulations – 11%

Template #3 - Extreme Consequences
In contrast with the second template, Extreme Situations, this template exaggerates either the consequences for using or not using your product, or dining at your restaurant or shopping at your store.
Here are some examples of the use of this technique.
The first comes from Dairy Queen, which shows just how hot their […]