Before starting this article, I’d like to share a quote.

“Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.” – Charles Caleb Colton

A few weeks ago I was informed by a client that parts of their website were ‘copied’ by one of their competitors. Sure enough, it was. And it made me feel great! We had done it!  We helped Midwest Fire set the bar for web innovation, and others were finally trying to reach it.

The goal of Midwest Fire’s website was simple. Let a fire chief 2,000 miles away experience a Midwest Fire truck from the convenience of his office chair. Show viewers every angle, every nook and cranny, every feature that makes a Midwest Fire truck better than the rest. And that goal was reached when the new MidwestFire.com was launched in early 2009. The website had several features including: interactive truck viewers, a truck locator, virtual tours of the shop, an archive of their past and recent deliveries, and several others. It was a major upgrade from their old site, and it made Midwest Fire look like the king of all fire tanker manufacturers.

That said, a few weeks ago I was informed that Fouts Bros Fire Equipment had launched a new website. A public relations article was released on Dec. 14, 2009 to publicize the launch. The following excerpt was my favorite part.

Sales Manager, Travis Rakestraw indicated the importance of a comprehensive website in today’s economy. “With the decreases in our customer’s budgets it is necessary for Fouts Bros to create a low cost or no cost evaluation process; the new website allows current and future Fouts Bros customers to view in detail, and with a high level of clarity, our standard product line and all of our features, without leaving the fire department.”

I can only imagine what the creative meeting was like when Fouts Bros decided to create a new website. I think it’s fair to assume that MidwestFire.com was pulled up on a projector, everyone awed, and someone said, “I want it to be like that.”  End of meeting.

Fouts Bros has a great website, and this post isn’t meant to be a slam against them in any way. It’s meant to challenge the rest of you. Being leaders is about being innovative; integrate new ideas in new places. Midwest Fire stepped outside of the norm and invested in a quality website that showcases their products in a way that no other fire tanker manufacturer had. The competition realized the effectiveness of our plan, and followed in the same direction. If you’re interested in doing the same thing for your business, connect with us and see how we can help.

Be sure to check out MidwestFire.com and FoutsFire.com to see what I’m rambling about. I’ve posted a screenshot of Midwest Fire’s interactive truck viewer below, along with the Fouts Bros interactive viewer. And, like Charles Colton said, imitation really is flattering.

Midwest Fire

Fouts Bros Fire Equipment

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released new regulations on Monday that may limit the use of endorsements and testimonials by both blogs and celebrities.

According to the press release describing the new Guides, “Advertisements that feature a consumer and convey his or her experience with a product or service as typical when that is not the case will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect.”  A weaker version of this disclosure regulation was present in the 1980 version of the Guides, where advertisers were required to display “Results Not Typical” whenever using a consumer testimonial that stretched the ability of their product’s actual performance.

The most notable part of the new Guides to any internet user is the regulation of the Blog medium. Bloggers or other word-of-mouth marketers are now required to be more transparent when endorsing a product.  According to the Guides, “Bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.” This means if a blogger like Philly D is given $500 and free Aerosmith concert tickets to endorse a new Axe body spray, they must disclose that information to the public.

The last segment of the revised guides states that both endorsers and advertisers will be liable for “false or unsubstantiated claims made in an endorsement – or for failure to disclose material connections between the advertiser and endorsers.” So if Chuck claims the Total Gym can get you ripped in 60 days, he better be telling the truth.

Overall the new guides are a good move by the FTC, to keep consumers more aware of bogus advertisements and to help consumers distinguish between advertisements and real, honest endorsements.  It’s a shame that these ‘honesty’ rules never apply to politicians who promise change.

Our new website is finally here!

After almost a year of giving every second of our time to our clients, we finally scavenged up some time to finish our own website. And we’re pleased with the result! The site may not be what you’re used to seeing of an agency, but that’s why we like it. Nothing flashy, nothing confusing, nothing overwhelming to look at. Just simple, honest, information sharing.

Read our thoughts on advertising goals and strategy, and feel free to connect with us if you have questions, or want to learn how we can help your business.

If you’re interested in seeing some of the work we’ve done, check out the featured project and project thumbnails on the homepage.

Also, be sure to check back to the blog often, or subscribe to our RSS feed by clicking the subscribe button above. The entire Fused team will be posting tips, reviews, news, project info, advertising and marketing thoughts, and much more.