Spork in the Road

The ingredients for a successful Foursquare campaign

2012-01-22T21:42:00.006-06:00

Alright, I don't have the actual result numbers to verify that this duet between Sam Adams and Buffalo Wild Wings was a success, but really, how could it not be? While some brands openly beg people to check in, like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter without giving them a single good reason why they should, this effort hits all the main points you need to make a Foursquare campaign (or any social media promotion) a hit.

Right reward
How many times have you seen social media promotions for lame rewards like, "Check in on Foursquare every Wednesday this month to get a special access code to view an exclusive online video preview of some marginal crap we're gonna try to sell you?" This reward is beer. Beer is something people want. And free beer is something that people will do crazy things to get, like help friends move heavy appliances from third story apartment to third story apartment (God, I'm glad I'm not in college anymore). If you want your Foursquare campaign to work, you need to give the people something they actually want.

Right place
I'm sure this campaign was promoted elsewhere, but the touch point that touched me (no, not like that) was the handy dandy table topper pictured above. I'm at Buffalo Wild Wings drinking beer. If I come back on a certain night at a certain time, I could have that beer for free? Sold! If you're trying to inspire loyalty + repeat sales and make a slow shift busier, who better to help you out than the people who are already visiting your restaurant?

Right partner
It's beer at a sports bar. If I need to explain why that one works, you might want to go back to marketing 101...or just get out more.

Right time
Because Foursquare checkins include the element of time, you can not only influence WHAT people do, but WHEN they do it. I'm guessing Buffalo Wild Wings did this one to help fill their restaurants during a traditionally slow shift.

Sense of urgency
Perhaps just as smart as limiting which shifts the Foursquare campaign applies to, Buffalo Wild Wings has made another smart move here- limiting the free beer to the first 20 people to check in at the desired time. That makes the campaign easy to budget for (max= cost of 20 beers) and really encourages people to compete to be one of the first in the door. If you can come in anytime after 9pm on a Friday and get your free beer, what's the rush? If you have to be one of the first 20 in the door...well...just think about all those black Friday shopping videos you see on the news.

So, what about you? Have you encountered any Foursquare campaigns compelling enough you participated in them? Or even created one yourself? Let the world know in the comments below.

Smart Car copywriters borrow from another iconic ad campaign

2011-12-13T14:29:00.011-06:00

I recently wrote about how several modern car manufacturers, including Smart, have been borrowing from an iconic VW Beetle campaign. Based on the web banner above, that's not the only place that the copywriters on the Smart Car account have been finding inspiration.

The Smart Car folks are also taking a page from 7-Up's classic "uncola" campaign. Want a different kind of soda? Get the uncola. Want a different kind of car? Get the uncar.I will say there's a subtle difference, as the 7-Up campaign used its "un" word as a noun to refer to the product. Smart, on the other hand, uses "uncar" as a made up verb that accompanies other "un" words that allude to consumer benefits.

This approach actually puts more focus on the consumer instead of the product and on actions vs state of being. And research has shown that messages focused on the audience that use action verbs (not passive being verbs) tend to be more effective.

So, the copywriters are certainly borrowing, but at least they're putting their own spin on it. Is it too close for comfort? I'll let you decide.

Fiat takes copywriting hints from VW

2011-11-26T12:50:00.008-06:00

The Fiat 500 may be relatively new compared to the VW Beetle, but the copywriters on the account are certainly channeling the famous Doyle Dane Bernbach ads from the early '60s.

Touting the wisdom of small. Slightly irreverent. Apparently challenging the status quo (even though there are plenty of small cars on the road today).

And the design- a simple, modestly sized product shot, unassuming type and plenty of white space.

VW and Mini have shown that the approach can work. I'm interested to see if "think small" can carry a third car to success, though it might be hard with TV ads like this.

UPDATE: "Small" has actually supported four car models. I forgot Smart is currently running this ad, probably because I assumed it was for the same tiny vehicle.

The sour side of in-store copywriting

2011-10-31T21:34:00.007-05:00

Just wanted to share this nugget of in-store copywriting for Vlasic pickles I saw at my local grocery store. It's appropriately playful, and though not completely life-changing, makes you stop and think right before making you smile (assuming you like pickles). That's more than most in-store advertising will do.

Plus, kudos to media on the placement.

Spanglish web banner writing 101

2011-10-15T13:16:00.005-05:00

If copywriting bilingual ads is this easy, I should have started doing them a long time ago.

For those without a sense of humor, that was what we in the industry call a funny haha joke.

Reviewing Long John Silver's fresh tagline

2011-10-03T14:12:00.000-05:00

Long John Silver's latest tagline is:

Sea food differently

Obviously combining the ideas of "see food differently" and "sea food" into a single thought, this tagline scores high for economy of words.

The tagline is often used in TV and radio spots in the first person by employees, or actors playing employees, that declare "I sea food differently." The first person usage conveys the idea that Long John Silver's is not only a different dining experience, but that the company's unique way of doing things permeates every corner of the company, or what executives might call a "top-down" adoption of the corporate vision.

All in all, I think this tagline is a win. It's short. It holds multiple meanings and something about it seems fresh, which can be hard to do in the often stale fast food category. My compliments to the copywriter.

No typo immunity for the Fortune 100

2011-09-05T15:03:00.006-05:00

It doesn't matter whether you're a small business with a few employees or a massive business with tens of thousands, it's always worth taking a second look for typos. Sooner or later they'll get you, but there are things you can do to keep them to a minimum.

Print it out
While you should do this sparingly to avoid killing trees in droves, there's something about reading words on a printed page that makes typos jump out more than they do on-screen. So, if it's a particularly important piece, like an annual report, it may be worth printing out.

Put another set of eyes on it
The best thing you can do to avoid typos is to make sure that more than one person gives your piece a good read. Even the best copywriter or editor can miss something when they've been staring at the same piece for too long. In fact, when you're too familiar with the material, it can create a sort of familiarity blindness, where you're reading what you think your piece should say instead of what it really says. A fresh set of eyes can disarm this problem.

Put it down and come back
If you have the time, this approach can be almost as good as a second set of eyes. Step away from a piece for a while before editing it. It can give you the chance to look at it with fresh eyes, without all the baggage and context of writing it. Once you shed that baggage, you'll be exponentially more likely to find any typos you may have missed before.

Read it backwards
You won't catch many grammar errors this way, but it does wonders for finding spelling typos and words that simply don't belong.

Don't over-rely on spellcheckers
Spellcheckers are notoriously unreliable. They often don't recognize commonly accepted words, they can't update fast enough to keep up an ever-changing modern vocabulary and all too often they substitute the wrong word when trying to correct for grammar. Remember, a spellchecker is a tool, and an imperfect one at that. Make sure you're using the tool and not the other way around.

Copywriting for mobile is like doing origami

2011-08-18T14:28:00.001-05:00

You start with an entire page and carefully fold it in on itself until it's small enough to fit in your pocket

Does your copy carpet match your design drapes?

2011-08-12T09:12:00.001-05:00

Full disclosure– I work for a company that competes directly with the company that posted the landing page I'm reviewing in this post.

That said, you don't have to be a seasoned copywriter to see the disconnect on this landing page.

The design
The design is distinctively lighthearted, playing off the robot concept in the copy. Bright, upbeat colors and some pseudo-retro imagery go a long way to establishing a fun, friendly tone. I mean, who doesn't want to push a bright blue robot's red renew tummy button?

The copywriting
However, if you start reading the body copy under "Request a Quote," which can be read without a microscope here, you'll quickly discover an extremely dry, serious, technical tone. I find this truly unfortunate, since style aside, they seem to be saying the right things from a messaging perspective.

Why does it matter?
Fun, quirky design coupled with humorless, technical copy? The disconnect between the feel of the design and the tone of the copy creates dissonance. Dissonance breaks the user's attention and can lead them to spend more time trying to figure out why the happy dance-inducing landing page they were looking at reads as dour as a puritan minister giving a eulogy.

More importantly, anyone who's spent much time in marketing knows that every bump and slow down along the way to a conversion is a barrier that decreases a user's chance of taking the action you want them to.

Making sure the tone of your copy matches the personality of your design can be the difference between a marginal page and a good page or between a good page and a great page.

What can we learn from this?
Make sure to give every creative element the attention it deserves. Spending all your time and attention on one while largely ignoring the other will show. It's no different than showing up to a party in a suit coat and sweat pants.

Make sure the personalities of all the elements match. It doesn't matter how well designed a piece is or how well written the copy is if they don't match. The confusion your users experience will hurt conversions every time.

A Continental video disaster on the brink of success

2011-07-26T19:34:00.008-05:00

Wow. I recently flew Continental/United for the first time in many years. I found my seat, got situated and waited a thankfully short time for takeoff. Being a Southwest flyer, I expected a steward or stewardess to come out and give us a witty take on safety precautions. However, as we started taxiing to the runway, a pre-recorded video caught me by surprise. It was a disaster on the brink of success. Let me explain.

Unrelatable talking heads
First, it was a talking head video. For those who don't know what a talking head video is, it's basically a video that features a single person, usually an indistinguishable executive in a nondescript suit, talking at the camera. No action. No quick movements. Just an executive, you and some talking points. There's a reason these videos have been fodder for satire for decades. They're ubiquitous, usually self-aggrandizing and rarely engaging. This video was no exception.

Doesn't my logo make you feel special?
Second, the background behind the executive of this particular video was a giant company logo. Nothing says "customers first" like a monolithic reminder of who's talking at you, right? YOU WILL HEAR THE MESSAGE FROM THE COMPANY. Perhaps I'm surprised because my usual airline takes such a lighthearted, friendly approach in comparison.

Copywriting for the boardroom
Third, the language was total corporate-speak. Phrases like "co-located facilities," "earn your business" and "your having chosen us" ooze a boardroom-first mindset. They take passengers out of what will hopefully be an enjoyable (read tolerable) flying experience by reminding them that their real value is as carefully segmented revenue streams.

Right message, wrong delivery
That said, the video was actually just a shade away from being a success. Despite the delivery, the video actually contained good points from a content perspective and clarified many merger questions that were probably lingering in consumers' minds. If they work on their style and presentation, this easily-lampooned video could be transformed into an informative winner.

What can we learn from this?
1) Use a relatable spokesperson. Hint: This probably doesn't mean an old white executive in a suit.

2) Give your set/background serious consideration. Hint: Big logos are like the blind date that never stops talking about him or herself.

3) Make sure your copywriter is writing for your core consumer, not your executive suite. Hint: If your mom doesn't know what it means, it's probably corporate-speak.

Quicky: Playing hard to get

2010-02-18T18:36:00.000-06:00

Companies rarely like teasers, at least true teasers, which is unfortunate, because they tend to create a lot of buzz, circumvent traditional audience mental blocks and engage potential customers in ways that make them much more likely to open their wallets for you.

The marketing of the film Cloverfield is an example of this strategy used to great success.

Find out how they did it here

Tagline full of fiber

2010-02-15T15:52:00.004-06:00

Taglines are a place where many companies stumble. Even when a company name is conservative or just informational, there seems to be a temptation to go a little crazy when it comes to taglines, especially when a company works in the B2B arena. This is one such example.

Company: Third Coast Produce
Tagline: "Lettuce produce for you!"

Yes, the exclamation point is really part of it. Yes, the quotation marks are really part of it. And a double pun. Need I say more? I could pick fun at it, but they probably have great fruit and veggies. While it pains me to see a line like this rumbling around town scrawled across the sides of delivery trucks, I mostly wish I had the opportunity to help companies like this develop a line worthy of all the hard work they put into their businesses.

Quicky: Disney gives you the chance to pop Hannah Montana's cherry

2010-01-02T14:08:00.004-06:00

Every large company needs to hire a person with a dirty mind (or figure out which one of their current employees already does) to keep things like this from happening.

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Shorter-word thesaurus

2009-12-29T18:43:00.002-06:00

That long, complicated word too long for your carefully distilled, inspiring tweet? Then get a shorter word to stand in its stead with the handy shorter-word thesaurus known as Thsrs.

(disclaimer: shorter synonyms generated by Thsrs may cause confusion, loss of meaning, bland prose, flabby fingers, Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia and in some rare cases, loss of cultural flavor)

Sporks up to the Copywriting Underground

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Quicky: 34 Punctuation Inspired Logos

2009-12-26T16:00:00.005-06:00

Punctuation- it's not just for books anymore. Here's a collection of punctuation-inspired logos (we'll pretend to ignore the growing overuse of exclamation points in place as the letter "i").

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Adweek: A tale of two Tigers

2009-12-23T19:42:00.002-06:00

Adweek has naturally devoted a lavish amount of coverage on Tiger, but can't seem to make up their minds on whether or not recent events will negatively impact his image and earning potential. Here's one Adweek article where they say Tiger won't lose image points or sponsors from the public debacle and here's another from Adweek that says cutting Tiger is generating positive buzz for brands. So Adweek, which is it?

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Quicky: Microsoft's Bing being sued by Bing LLC

2009-12-21T18:18:00.003-06:00

Irony in action: Climate Summit to create as much pollution as a small city

2009-12-19T18:44:00.006-06:00

It seems attendees of the latest Climate Summit to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark have taken a page from the U.S. automaker playbook.

While huge numbers of government officials, journalists and celebrities flock toward the northern European city, they'll be doing it in an estimated 140 private jets, and more than 1,200 limos. It's so many limos, in fact, that the entire country of Denmark can't satisfy the demand, meaning that hundreds of limos will actually be imported (driven one at a time by single individuals) from hundreds of miles away in neighboring countries like Germany.

Evidently, these officials haven't taken any hints from the public flogging U.S. automakers endured when they took private luxury jets to Congressional hearings to beg for tax payer money to save their financially strapped companies.

All said and done, the Climate Summit has already become a public relations nightmare before the Summit has actually begun. Now it just remains to be seen if any of these officials and journalists care enough to adjust their behavior or if they will simply spew eco-speak from the podium that their actions can't back up.

Read more here.

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Inching closer to quieter commercials

2009-10-21T17:21:00.001-05:00

While most advertisers love turning the volume up to 11 on their TV commercials, few realize that the practice actually makes us hate TV commercials and the companies in the more, making us less likely to buy their products and more likely to skip the ads entirely. Counterproductive, isn't it?

Well, more progress has been made toward quieting down TV commercials to a reasonable level as the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, or CALM has now passed the House Communications Committee.

I'm sure many will fight it, but in reality, reasonable sound levels on TV commercials will lead to less muting, less skipping and less hating, which one can only assume would lead to greater ad effectiveness.

Read more about the CALM Act here.

One upmanship, and the lucky number 13

2009-09-14T19:15:00.000-05:00

You may not have though it possible, or at least not likely, but someone has topped TipTipCash.com for repetition in a :60 radio spot.

While Twisted Tea doesn't actually mention their brand name quite as many times, they manage to say the word "tea" 13 times in a mere 60 seconds. That's roughly every four and a half seconds.

But how? With approved phrasing like, "Twisted tea. It's the hard iced tea that tastes like real ice tea." Evidently top quality writing is a common characteristic in ads that repeat things too much. I just KNOW they're going to set themselves apart with groundbreaking lines like, "Try Twisted Tea, it's really refreshing."

And practically comical on top of this is the fact that a brand that looks like a slightly funkier version of Snapple is trying hard to sell an iced-tea flavored alcoholic drink to young men.

The moral
I have two suggestions. First, not a lot of 18-24 males drink iced tea or want anything that tastes like it. Second, you're definitely not going to sell it to them with the voice of a chiding middle-aged woman saying, "My husband calls it his MAN-tea." Man-tea language could help you, but not if the person saying it is making fun of her man for doing it.

9th time's a charm

2009-09-10T17:47:00.000-05:00

Getting people to remember your company's name is great, as long as you don't say it so many times they hate you. That's precisely the case with TopTopCash.com, who injects the company name into their :60 radio spot an average of once every seven seconds.

The spot starts out bland and predictable, but bearable and the whole thing sounds like it was written to be :30 long. Just past the halfway point, it becomes obvious that one of two things, or both, happened.

First, someone clearly ran out of things to say. The entire second half of the spot merely repeats the same talking points over and over in a random and non-sensical order.

Second, it seems that someone decided the best way to fill that space was by repeating the company's name as many times as possible. More than half the mentions of the company name are in the last 15 or so seconds with revolutionary writing like, "Again, that's TipTopCash.com."

The commercial is so grading that I actually change the station when it comes on, and it's practically the only reason I ever change my radio station.

The moral
It doesn't matter how well people remember your name if they hate you, and though the guy who stands on a corner yelling his own name over and over will be known to all, he will be friend to none.

Conservative talk shows find advertisers’ limits

2009-08-27T11:50:00.005-05:00

With reality TV and “news” programs of all political ideologies sounding more and more like fear-mongering, sensationalist pundit megaphones, I begin to believe there was not longer content you could put on TV that would scare away advertisers.

I was wrong.

Glenn Beck recently discovered where advertisers draw the line when he called President Obama a racist. Within mere weeks of making the comment, 33 sponsors have pulled their advertising from Glenn Beck’s show, including the advertisers with gargantuan ad budgets like Sprint, Walmart and Clorox.

While I am a proponent of free speech, I am not a proponent of punditry parading as news, regardless of which “side of the aisle” it comes from. In an era of increasingly shocking and outrageous television, it’s nice to know there is still a line of decency somewhere, however far, that advertisers simply won’t cross.

Courtesy is a two-way street

2009-08-13T18:05:00.002-05:00

I thought it was very timely that with so many looking for work that Yahoo recently ran this article about how often and flagrantly those who do the hiring mistreat those looking to be hired.

To the interviewees
I'm glad to say that my current employer was anything but rude. They were kind, considerate and courteous; traits I see reflected in the way they do business every day. Often the way a company conducts an interview is the way they conduct business in general, so pay attention yourself if you're the one interviewing. You may get some valuable insights into the company you're trying to work for. If you're smart, you'll even have good questions prepared to interview the the interviewers about the company. You can ask questions, too. Even though they may lie through their teeth (as one of my previous employers did), at least you tried. If successful, you can learn a great deal about the company before you ever spend a day on the job.

To the Interviewers
I know you're busy and it seems like you have all the power, but the article I linked at the beginning of this post holds some valuable nuggets you need to keep in mind.

1) You're not the only company this person is interviewing with.

Despite how bushy-tailed, prepared and pumped your interviewee seems to be about your interview, it's mostly because they want a job somewhere. Chances are that you're one of several companies they've interviewed with and if you treat them without respect, you can easily lose that candidate if another offer comes along.

2) Job seekers have long memories.

A great deal of the time job seekers are hunting for jobs frantically in a time of great need. While their interview may just be a mid-afternoon annoyance that's interrupting your concepting, to them it may be constitute days of research, preparation and expense in the quest to make sure they can continue to keep food in their mouths and a roof over their heads. If you slight someone unnecessarily in a time of need like that, they're not likely to forget.

3) Word gets around.

Job seekers who have bad experiences tell ALL of their friends, and pretty much anyone else willing to listen. As small as most industries are, you can have a terrible reputation with potential employees after mistreating candidates when filling just a few positions. Make it a habit and word can start to spread to other cities. I know of one company whose hiring (and operating) practices are so abismal that people are warning anyone they know not to work there, even hundreds of miles away from the company itself. That kind of negative word-of-mouth can really hurt your applicant pool.

Read Yahoo's article on the five most common ways employers mistreat job applicants.

Twisted Giveaway

2009-08-04T22:18:00.004-05:00

Thanks to the kind folks over at allmodern.com, I get to reward you, my readers, with a sweet giveaway. Leave a comment on this blog entry and you'll be entered to win the red basket pictured here. And just to keep things interesting, when you comment, let me know what you WOULDN'T do with this delightful piece if you won it. Good luck!

All Modern has a fantastic selection of modern furniture and home accessories from many leading designers. Part of CSN Stores, All Modern is just one of over 260 retail sites that offer a diverse array of products from Herman Miller’s popular Aeron Chair to cookware by Rachael Ray.

Arrogantly screwing yourself

2009-07-30T19:02:00.004-05:00

I recently read an article in Adweek where Robert Thompson brought up the fact that Anna G. Esho, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives is drafting legislation to reduce the problem of TV ads being set at frighteningly higher volumes than the shows that surround them. And then it got interesting.

The tone
Mr. Thompson spends most of his article in a very sarcastic tone, telling us that the problem isn't really all that bad, that we're imagining ads being louder, that if they are louder, it's not much and it's not a problem. I'm no old man. I'm a guy in his mid-twenties that loves me some loud music and cranking up the volume on movies. So when I go from straining to hear normal conversation on a TV show to covering my ears because the volume of the commercial pod is painful, there's an issue.

Out of touch
I'm glad to say a quick look at the comments on the article will reveal Ms. Esho is not in the minority and that Mr. Thompson is clearly outnumbered by a lot of annoyed and angry folks.

Tying the noose that hangs you...or at least your buddy
BUT, perhaps the most shocking part of the article is that Mr. Thompson's solution for the problem, which is important because he previously mentions there is no problem, is for people to turn down the volume, skip the commercials or turn off the TV altogether. WHAT!?

Only from the bowels of uninformed academia that hasn't had to deal with the real world for ages could come such an obtuse recommendation. As advertisers, we don't want people turning down the commercials, we don't want people hating commercials because they're loud and our message gets lost in the scramble for the remote. We definitely don't want people TIVOing past the commercials or ceasing to watch the shows altogether. THOSE COMMERCIALS ARE HOW WE MAKE A LIVING. But since Mr. Thompson has a cushy seat in academia, he doesn't need to worry about us working folks.

The bottom line is the ad industry should be lobbying for some sort of change to help limit this problem. Is an act of Congress necessary? Probably not. But some industry self-regulation should be put into play at the least. Why? Because more annoyed people are by commercials, the more they'll skip them, the less they'll pay attention, and the quicker we can all kiss our advertising jobs goodbye.

Adjust the message, not the volume
And by the way Mr. Thompson, if you have to shout your message to get people to listen to it, you clearly don't have anything worth saying.

The confusing world of misleading ads

2009-07-28T18:56:00.000-05:00

Yahoo recently featured an article on how to detect misleading ads. It's an easy fact to forget as an ad industry copywriter who's faced every day with the technicalities of what makes an ad misleading or false how little the public really knows about the nuances we hold so dearly (the ones that keep us out of court).

I'm glad to say the article hit on one of the most important points- pay attention to the words. The words are almost always where actual claims are made that have to be substantiated. Vague statements are usually intentionally written that way because specific statements must be proven, and if can't prove you have #1 customer satisfaction in the U.S. (which you would have to substantiate with an independent study), it's much easier to say you make The Ultimate Driving Machine.

What I think the public may not know is the legally agreed-upon safe zone called puffery. Puffery refers to subjective claims that can be neither proven nor disproven. A good example would be, "The best burger around." Best could mean any variety of things. It could refer to temperature, flavor, value, etc. Around gives you no geographical reference. Because who makes the best burger is subjective, advertisers are allowed to make those claims without substantiating them, because it's impossible to substantiate the subjective. If the company said the make "The sandwich people prefer two-to-one," like Domino's did, they would have to substantiate it with legal disclaimers. If you pay close attention to the ads, you'll see them.

The confusing, and probably unfair, part of puffery is that there are so many words deemed subjective that sound definitive. Words and phrases like best, greatest, preferred, favorite, number one sound like serious claims, but fall under puffery; essentially a legal right to be boastful in a vague way.

It gets even more confusing when you realize that a company can take one of these claims and decide to prove it within ceratin criteria. For example, an auto manufacturer could make the legal claim to be the "Number One-Selling Auto Manufacturer in the U.S." and base it on total number of automobiles sold in a given time period, say the second quarter of 2008 to the second quarter or 2008 while another manufacturer could make the same claim of, "Number One-Selling Auto Manufacturer in the U.S."but defined as total revenue instead of units sold. They could even simply select a different time period if they beat the first manufacturer in that period.

I could give examples all day long, but I'll spare you. After all, several of my college courses had entire chapters, sections or even weeks of the course devoted to differentiating what constitutes false ads, legally misleading ads and puffery. Just to give you a peek at what we learned, false is not the same as misleading, legally misleading is not necessarily the same thing as practically misleading and what seems definite is often considered vague.

It's a complicated world out there, but if you stick to the basics above, you'll be a lot better off.

Dying a trendy death: Crocs

2009-07-25T13:13:00.000-05:00

Lots of products come and go. Some are huge flash-in-the-pan products that are selling faster than they can be made one year and forgotten the next. We can add Crocs to the list of companies that grew fast and died even faster according to the Washington Post.

They now join the ranks of jelly sandals, POGS and lawn darts. I'd say a word in rememberance, but the only pair I ever had were a gift and I got rid of them pretty quick.

Eat your words

2009-07-22T17:34:00.000-05:00

A company's packaging presents a unique opportunity to communicate with consumers both before and after purchase. It's interesting that more brands haven't taken advantage of the fact that every item you sell can be another ad, except the cost is already be covered by your packaging budget.

Curiously enough, the fast food (and slower food) industry is the one group that seems to get this the most, with everybody from Wendy's to Starbucks putting little blurbs on their products. Even the little guys are getting involved now, like Brooklyn Fare, whose witty headlines serve to further communicate the business's personality, take a few stabs at competitors and even get a chuckle or two.

Sporks up to Aisle One

High-style like it's going out of style

2009-07-20T06:58:00.000-05:00

The all-white packaging din has officially hit full force. Carrefour, the world's second largest retailer after Walmart, has jumped on the blandwagon. No, that's not a typo. Once, the minimal, all white looks the exclusive purview of high-fashion brands. Now, it's bland-on-white hysteria sweeping the world as fast as the zombies in 28 Weeks Later. Can simple-on-white be done well? Sure. Should you maybe veer away from it for a while, seeing as how it's a style we can now equate to the discount store brands of giant discount stores? Worth considering.

Lemon in the limelight

2009-07-17T19:26:00.000-05:00

If you have anything that's going to see some high-profile time, you better make sure it works. That's exactly what Range Rover didn't do. After Dan Henderson earned a Range Rover for his UFC coaching, he made the mistake of trying to drive it home. The brand new vehicle couldn't even make it the four-hour trip.

Admittedly, some auto makers make more money by creating vehicles that are substandard in some way. However, even it you do, it's generally a good idea to take a little extra care if one is going to be given away to someone that's being watched by a healthy portion of the country.

What hath God wrought?

2009-07-15T17:42:00.000-05:00

If you ever wonder if texting has had any effect on the way we communicate (or the tone of our communications), check this out.

Note on style- It is nearly impossible to use text-speak without sounding like a 15-year old girl or basement-dwelling gamer.

h8 mtng muli-tskng? just say no

2009-07-07T20:05:00.003-05:00

I've been witness to a phenomenon that's become quite commonplace these days- in-meeting multi-tasking. For a long time, theorists posited that people on their laptops and blackberries during work meetings were simply responding to being overloaded with technology and information (ignoring other more pragmatic explanations, like whether some meetings are boring, irrelevant or unnecessary).

A recent University Of Texas study just debunked that theory, finding instead that meeting multi-tasking behaviors are better predicted by organizational norms and acceptable behavior. In other words, if the leadership of your organization does it, so will the employees. If you don't announce clear-cut rules about it, your employees will do it. If you turn a blind eye or have a ban on it without any consequences, your employees will do it. So, what's the real way to stop in-meeting multi-tasking? Stop it. Difinitively. People only defy the boss as long as they know there won't be any reprocussions.

About those people we hated but now inexplicably love

2009-07-05T10:49:00.004-05:00

Just for the record, of all the recent celebrity deaths, I mourn Billy Mays the most.

Let me blow your...mind

2009-07-03T19:04:00.001-05:00

There's just too much to say about this Burger King ad to even know where to start. I'll let you pick apart this ad one innuendo at a time.

Choose your mouthpiece wisely

2009-07-01T17:54:00.000-05:00

Stars can bring a lot of buzz to movies and all the games, toys and merch that often accompany them. However, it's always a good idea to have your star media trained, especially if he's a little wet behind the ears.

I'm talking of course of Transformer lead Shia LaBeouf bashing games in which he stars. I'm all for honesty, and he may be right about the games not being great to play, but talking down your own revenue steams is never a wise move. They just might dry up.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Prepositions

2009-06-28T20:25:00.002-05:00

This article goes to show how little importance most of the country puts on even remotely acceptable grammar. With one of the worst literacy rates in the industrialized world, director Michael Bay is here to remind us that in America, the ability to speak or write coherently is not required. Amusingly, he does this all while lambasting his marketing team for failing to perform up to the last Transformers movie's numbers. Perhaps, Mr. Bay, it's because your instructions were unclear. Or perhaps it's because the GM doesn't have as much money to spend on the tie-in as they did for the first Transformers movie...you know, the kind that includes lots of co-op advertising dollars, in-store merchandising and the like? That fact won't, however, stop me from going to see the new movie. I just hope this hot little pink/purple number to the right is in it.

Just a little more expensive than expensive

2009-06-25T19:11:00.000-05:00

Someone I know recently got a new (or at least new-looking) Honda Civic. As usual, the dealer put some badges and whatnot on the car to promote the dealership family. What words did this sage dealer choose to entice people to its lots full of gleaming new vehicular devices?

Just north of high prices

On a purely geographical level, this works. The dealership is in fact north of Houston in the suburbs. And if you consider the city inherently more expensive than the 'burbs, you're saying that the dealership is north of the expensive part of town. Kudos.

Unfortunately, the phrase doesn't work that way. Any time you deal with price, "costs just north of" translates to "is slightly more expensive than." If you're talking about a Civic that costs just north of $20,000, you're saying it's a Civic that is slightly more than $20,000.

So, translated, the slogan says that this dealer "is slightly more expensive than high prices."

I don't know about you, but I'm not going to any dealer that claims to have prices higher than high prices. It was a clever play on words with north, but the existing usage of north in reference to price puts this dealership in a tight spot. You could conceivably say "just south of high prices," but it's still not that enticing a claim economically and then you risk confusing folks as to where you dealership is located. All in all, it's a noble attempt that almost works, but ends up meaning exactly the opposite of what the dealership intended.

In reach, out of touch

2009-06-22T18:29:00.000-05:00

I love some good modern design. It's one of the reasons I got so excited when I found out there was a place called Design Within Reach. Really? Modern furniture and accessories that are affordable? Sweet! WRONG.

Alas, Design Within Reach is anything but. I'm not sure exactly whose reach it's supposed to be in, but it certainly isn't mine. With items like the Artichoke Lamp pictured here for around $7,700 and the Eames Lounge for around $2,500 without the ottoman and nearly $4,000 with it, I hardly think allusions to affordability are justified.

The name of a business is important. In the best cases, it's supposed to say something alluring about your company and communicate the essence of what you do. In the worst cases, it can be confusing, unclear or in this case, outright misleading. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to the day when I can buy some of the wonderful wares from this posh shop. But seeing as I don't come from money and I'm a young buck in the biz, I'm going to have to hit the lottery to seriously peruse their store any time soon.

I guess it shouldn't be any surprise though. Here in Texas, you can often get homes for $70/sq.ft., including the land, homes by modern prefab home builders that claim to make affordable housing usually run between $200-$400/sq.ft. not including site prep, foundation or land.

Don't talk about things you don't now about

2009-06-12T17:00:00.005-05:00

I'm going to skip the whole part where I talk about how little I like most of McDonald's advertising. I believe that even with the best creatives in the world on the task, the executives at McD's would continue to demand the unbelievably optimistic and contrived spots they currently produce, but the McCafe spots are by far some of the worst offenders in my book. Don't get me wrong, it's an interesting concept- transforming something bland into something cool with use of the accent mark. However, the examples they offer up tend to fall flat. But the radio is what gets me the most.

In one radio spot, the announcer is talking about how McCafe can jazz up your life and cause you to spurt out "evocative sentence fragments like 'That's chill dog.' " First of all, "That's chill dog" is hardly evocative. Second, and more important to grammar hounds, "That's chill dog." is a complete sentence. It has a subject and verb, not to mention an indirect object and an adverb. The sentence makes sense and stands on it's own. IT'S NOT A FRAGMENT. All I'm sayin' is if you're going to thrown around grammatical terms on the radio, at least know what you're talking about.

Too much of a good thing, Part 7- THE POINT

2009-06-09T22:36:00.003-05:00

One of the main reasons this approach has worked for so long is because it was fairly uncommon. However, as it becomes more and more common, it becomes not the antithesis of homogeneity, but becomes homogenized itself. It’s boring. It has no personality. It has no character or voice. It tells you nothing about the brand but that they hired a designer who’s more interested in their own design perspective than in creating something appropriate for the brand. Minimalism and its elements have their time and place, especially when combined with other interesting, more dynamic styles. However, the bottom line is that if we get enough of these redesigns, the style will be just as ubiquitous and unoriginal as suburban white carpet and just as trendy and flat-footed as neon-colored fanny packs. Everything in moderation.

Too much of a good thing, Part 6- Stop and think

2009-06-07T18:45:00.002-05:00

I’m not saying this sort of design has no place. It certainly does, but not with every brand nor with every application. Design should not get in the way of function, but use some judgment and use it where it’s appropriate, not just as a lazy default or because you have some sort of design mantra that demands it. If your theory of design demands the same solution for every problem, you’ve missed the boat entirely.

Too much of a good thing, Part 5- Not a new problem

2009-06-06T21:12:00.004-05:00

This is a problem that has already long plagued the modern home industry. Many complain on modern home tours that they’re not shown a thing but uncomfortable, unlivable stark white boxes with giant windows. What’s to tell one white box from another? But evidently that’s high design.

Too much of a good thing, Part 4- Failure to communicate

2009-06-04T19:32:00.002-05:00

And on a less design-related note, Target really dropped the ball when it came to informing anyone about the change. Many employees weren’t even informed until a month after products were on the shelf.

Too much of a good thing, Part 3- Dogma over design

2009-06-03T20:19:00.002-05:00

Why? Because a minimal purist got their hands on one more project with which they can slowly homogenize the world with their design manifesto. The “RE” brand of home items prides itself on what it calls a revolutionary use of turquoise. News flash: the native Americans were using turquoise beads for hundreds if not thousands of years before a designer ever set foot here, and my grandmother had a closet full of turquoise that was all the rage in the 60s. The turquoise is jarring at best and fails monumentally at communicating comfort, home or style. And best of all, the way the packaging is designed now, they’ve managed to strip it of any boxes or separated areas, erasing any hierarchy of information that might assist a real consumer in decoding important information at a glance. But I suppose that is all part of the utopian design future.

Too much of a good thing, Part 2- The tipping point

2009-05-31T15:13:00.004-05:00

I was finally tipped over the edge when I saw that Target had jumped on the bland-wagon with a redesign of its store brands. Never mind the years and millions of dollars in brand equity and trust that Target has built behind that iconic red target. Never mind that at a minimum, their store-brand of home goods had interesting, comforting, rich colors and patterns that fit the products and made you think of the comfortable, relaxing home you could enjoy with them. Scrap all that.

Too much of a good thing, Part 1- Ubiquity

2009-05-29T19:07:00.003-05:00

Since you were a kid, people have been saying that you can never have too much of a good thing. Well, they’re wrong.

I believe clean, modern design is a good thing. However, that does NOT mean it’s something that everyone needs to use all the time. Lately I’ve seen more and more ultra-minimalist wet dreams of fields of white space touched with single color accents and Helvetica (or Helvetica-esque) fonts. I really enjoyed seeing this sort of look originally, because at the time it was, well…original. But when Walmart has taken on the style, it just may have reached the point of ubiquity.

Email babushka

2009-05-22T16:19:00.004-05:00

Working on an email campaign recently, one of my co-workers had created several HTML documents to be emailed out. In order to send it, he had to package the files for me to email to our client. My co-worker came to my door and tried to figure out how to tell me he emailed me an email containing the emails. It was at that point we realized that we could create an endlessly digital babushka doll of emails, one contained within the next. Consider forwarding, replying and CCing and it could grow exponentially. Think about that after couple of drinks at happy hour and let your mind expand.

Wannabe a filmmaker?

2009-05-22T15:51:00.003-05:00

I've made it no secret that I'm not a big fan of the Geiko Caveman campaign. In more recent history, I find their easily and ostentatiously offended nature not only annoying, but a sad commentary on the state of political correctness in this country. The spots have been slowly veering away from having much to do with insurance at all an more an excersize in what I call advertising masturbation- somthing that feels great to the people doing it, but that not one else really wants to watch and that no one else really gets anything out of. Well, it's come to a head.

In the most recent spot, it's simply a caveman bemoaning his plight to the tune of a popular rock band. The caveman says nothing. There's nothing that Geiko insures in the commercial. The logo doesn't show up a single time. There's not one word of copy. The only thing that even gives you a clue it's a Geiko spot outside of the caveman screaming silently at the sky in the rain is a wall of TVs in a store (the catalyst to his breakdown) that all show the old line, "So easy a caveman can do it." For aspiring filmmakers it's great, but I think it's gone beyond serving any marketing function at all. At least it feels good for the guys making it.

Image isn't everything

2009-05-04T19:11:00.004-05:00

As much pride as we ad folks often like to take for the rise and fall of corporate empires, the credit, or fault, is not always our own. No amount of advertising can save a truly inferior product, and Chrysler is one such example.

If you want to know what did in the automaker, just check out this CNN article. Then, feel free to speculate on if and how Chrysler can make a comeback.

Good luck Fiat.

from Honda. with curious grammar.

2009-05-01T19:44:00.002-05:00

If you thought the choice of punctuation and capitalization on that title was odd, you’re not alone. I do too, and I can’t think of a scenario where I would choose to write a headline in that fashion. However that’s exactly what a new billboard from Honda does.

I see two different schools of thought crammed into one odd and hard-to-support execution. You can use periods, you can use lower case, but you can’t use both.

1) If they wanted the periods, they should have capitalized the first word in each line. Though they may lack the standard subject/verb construction, the periods clearly make the thoughts into sentences, and starting a sentence with a lower case letter is not common usage in any medium except, perhaps, text messaging- something board was not alluding to.

2) If they wanted to go all lower case, which is very much in style these days, they should have left the periods. The fact that the phrases that make up the headline are on separate lines makes it perfectly clear that they’re separate thoughts. And if that weren’t enough, “from Honda.” is in a bright green and “for everyone.” is in grey. If someone doesn’t understand that those are separate thoughts, they’re not going to understand the car-buying process well enough to put their John Hancock on the loan papers.

In essence, it’s a very odd choice, on that I can’t find any grammatical, graphical, conceptual, legal or common-usage reasoning to support. My guess is, either someone was trying to be edgy and missed the boat or it was a Frankenstein-style compromise between two factions as to how they should visually delineate two thoughts in a four-word headline.

The summary? Not horrible, not earth-shaking but a little odd.

Checkmate

2009-04-27T19:40:00.005-05:00

I can write in any style necessary, but from a personal standpoint, I'm bored of seeing all of these big companies take a passive aggressive approach. YOU ARE COMPETITORS. It irks me when a company actually has a concrete advantage over another and won't say it because "being negative" (aka this includes saying anything negative about your competitor) allegedly means people will stop buying their stuff. News flash: A negative for your competitor is a positive for you. A positive for you means you sell more stuff, and that's really the whole point.

Now that I've hopped off my soap box, I want to pass on to you one of the most ingenious media placements I've seen that embodies a spirit of clever competition that has been has largely been eschewed in favor of the kind of catty fake niceties normally found in teenage girls.

Thank you Audi, BMW and My Modern Metropolis.

Typos on a National scale

2009-04-24T06:12:00.002-05:00

If you look around closely, you'll discover typos everywhere- on billboards, store signs, flyers and pretty much anything with words on it. However, when your words will be worn by star athletes on televised national sports, a missing letter gets even more attention. Check out the whole story here.

Web copy tips from design people

2009-04-21T19:20:00.004-05:00

Here's a refreshing article by a seasoned writer that can probably do a lot to help make the web an easier place to get information for users and a better place for companies to disburse it.

I know the article isn't technically by a designer, but AIGA was one of the last places I expected to find copy advice. I'll certainly be looking for more there.

I think it's also good to note that some more technical products will always need a great deal of content. There will be people pining through technical specs and legal disclosures for industries like banking or technology. However, I still think it's a good guide for the primary content of a page. You can put technical charts and details further down after covering the top-line items briefly to actually assure your audience is interested before berating them with the nitty-gritty details.

All in all, good advice.

Savings minutes saves nothing

2009-04-18T19:35:00.004-05:00

AT&T, like many companies has jumped on the saving bandwagon. After all, saving is cool now, as is prudent spending. Opulence and excess will have to wait until the Dow gets back above 10,000 or more.

On first listen, AT&T's spot, one of a series that uses little orange ticking clocks to symbolize phone-plan minutes, seems to make great sense as a penny pinching mother admonishes her blazee son for trying to sell their unused minutes.

"You know, saving minutes saves money and we can't afford to be wasteful," she snipes, "Not every one gets to keep their unused minutes."

It makes sense until you start doing the math, anyway. In reality, you pay the same amount for your allotted minutes each month, so you can't save by using less of them. If you have unused minutes, it means that you essentially have unused goods that you've paid for. And since the cost of your minutes is fixed, the less you use of them, the more you're paying per minute. So, saving minutes doesn't save money. Saving minutes actually wastes money, and from a theoretical perspective makes every minute you do use more expensive. And if you're wondering, the bulk of Americans ends each month with plenty of minutes they neither used, nor needed.

So, kudos AT&T. You pulled a fast one that I'm sure that a great multitude of people will miss and get to pad your bottom line with their misunderstanding. Let's just hope education reform doesn't help out America's math skills and start skimming away your profits.

When the economy gets tough the tough get chauvanist

2009-04-16T20:08:00.002-05:00

I don’t know what it is about tough times, but it seems to have spurred a (hopefully brief) renaissance in chauvinistic advertising. One of the more notable examples was the Bridgestone spot on the Super Bowl with a stereotypically naggy Mrs. Potato head and a Mr. Potato Head that’s only happy when he figures out a way to shut her up.

Recently, Burger King joined the ranks of those who think one of the best places to cut in a recession is gender sensitivity. I’m talking about the new spot for Burger King’s tiny burgers.

For starters, the idea that women would react the same way to tiny burgers as tiny animals simply because they are also tiny is pretty insulting.

Second, the giggling, swooning and sexually suggestive dialog like, “I just wanna squeeze ‘em [the bugers]” means the benefit of these burgers is getting laid. Somehow I fancy if you eat too many, they will have just the opposite effect. There’s absolutely nothing to tie the alleged benefit to the product or its attributes.

Third, the women are clearly objectified sexual objects intended only to serve the whims of the average, but worlds-smarter males in the spot. The wardrobe gives us plenty of cleavage that the males ogle and one woman seems to be dressed as a sexy librarian.

I don’t see how less product-related and more blatantly chauvinist it could be. Beautiful, seductively clad women swarm unsuspecting average guys and lather them with suggestive comments and moaning because they can’t tell the difference between a puppy and a small burger.

Burger King, I hope the Burger Queen didn’t see this or you might be in the doghouse. Unless of course, she’s got a mouth like Mrs. Potato Head that you can chuck out the window when you’re tired or listening to her talk.

April foolish

2009-04-14T19:46:00.002-05:00

For better or worse, April 1 did not hold many surprises for me. A few sites had great April Fool's material deftly integrated into their sites like World of Warcraft's dance battle system and Gmail's CADIE auto responder system. However, a real life sighting topped them all for me.

It came in the form of a utility truck with a huge name scrawled across the side, "Big Johnson Plumbing." Unless they painted the truck just for the day, that was the genuine name of a company that had been doing business for some time. And if you don't see what's funny about a plumbing company named Big Johnson, it's time to loosen up.

Love it / Hate it

2009-04-11T14:03:00.001-05:00

While I'm no fan of the "bizummy" billboard Nestea has up on I-45 (see my last post), I saw another one just the other day that I like quite a bit. Same city, same campaign, different line. The headline on this newfound billboard says-

Deliciously exotic flavors.
Strangely normal bottle.

I'm a big fan of parallel structure and I love the feeling this particular combination of words creates. They're almost like words you can eat; an ice cream Sunday of words, each presenting with a new contrasting, but complimentary flavor to create a rare and unique experience for the mental pallette. But enough brain salivating. I mostly think it's intriguing that you can have pieces in the same campaign that can draw such vastly different responses from the same audience.

Making up words is hizzard

2009-04-09T18:45:00.001-05:00

The billboards on 45 between the Woodlands and downtown change quite a bit and there’s a new one for Nestea that just hurts me a little. I’ve recommended people leave making up words to the professionals before, but evidently we can’t even always be trusted.

The billboard’s line is, “It’s bizarre. It’s yummy. It’s bizummy.”

I’m sorry, bizummy? What are we, Snoop Dog? First of all, that word is tizzerrible. It doesn’t roll off the tongue and the phonemes are clearly from different words. It has less the effect of combining the advantages of cars and SUVs to make a crossover and more the heir of crashing the two together and selling the wreck as the next thing in automobiles.

Second, I’m not sure bizarre is a word I would want to describe my food. My clothing, sure. Decorations for my home, perhaps. But my beverage?

Third, to my understanding, Nestea is a grown-up drink, which would merit a grown-up descriptor of benefits. Some how I don’t think “yummy” is the most effective word to hit a chi and vitamin water drinking demographic.

And fourth, did I mention the word is terrible? It doesn’t combine to bring to mind any other connotations or conjure up a new twist on a familiar theme. Creating new words is a delicate art. Creating them by combining other words is no easier. I’d say leave it to the professionals, but obviously even copywriters have their bad days.

Re-truck-tion

2009-04-07T19:35:00.001-05:00

I've bashed pickups now and then on this blog, but I feel I should make something clear. I don't dislike pick-ups.

I dislike some of the giant, super-extended, jacked-up monster trucks that threaten to roll over smaller cars and stick out of parking spots. I especially dislike giant off-road pickups that never leave the pavement. Most of all, I don't think their high margins are justified and think their gas mileage is atrocious.

But if you could create a pickup that got 30 miles to the gallon for a regular pickup price, you probably just sold me one.

Strike the iron while it's cold

2009-04-04T13:01:00.002-05:00

Mountains of studies, books and evidence show companies who maintain or increase advertising spending during tougher economic times almost always come out of those economic difficulties much stronger than their ad-cutting competitors. However, the knee-jerk reaction of most companies still seems to be cut cut cut. Once again, a company has proven the old wisdom.

Hyundai, a car company largely not taken seriously even just a few years ago, seems to be solidifying its position as a major competitor in the US auto market, bucking industry trends along the way. I'm not sure of the exact numbers on Hyundai ad spending, but I do know they have at least maintained, if not increased their advertising presence in the marketplace during the downturn. Their reward while other automakers are cutting spending? Two models that have actually seen serious sales GAINS - the Hyundai Elantra is up 33% over last year and the Hyundai Accent is up 30%. That's on top of an '09 North American Car of the Year Award for the Hyundai Genesis.

Take notice automakers. Hyundai's been at the books, using proven wisdom and gaining ground quickly.

Getting profitable by cutting the profitable

2009-04-02T18:48:00.002-05:00

Anyone can speculate or make statements based on anecdotal evidence or familiar talking points. That's one reason I try to back my opinions up with real data when I can. I'm glad to say that with some new numbers, my opinion has once again been validated.

The Big Three American automakers have seen their sales slip nearly 50% year over year. In trying to get the company fit and trim, GM is pruning several makes, Saturn being one of them. In a somewhat recent post, I complained that GM is cutting profitable (or at least better selling) vehicles, like the entire Saturn Line, while keeping redundant makes like GMC (essentially gussied-up Chevrolet trucks and SUVs, but not as nice as Cadillac). Well, a recent report found that while GM's sales figures have slipped phenomenally, the Saturn Astra's sales were up more than 30%.

Let me repeat that. At a company that's seen sales plummet by nearly half, in an industry that's tumbled by nearly a third, GM considers the most prudent move to cut a vehicle that's actually seen a 30% gain.

There's simply nothing more to say about it. I rest my case.

Great advertising, terrible PR

2009-03-12T22:47:00.001-05:00

Apple is regularly hailed as one of the pinnacles of advertising that other companies should strive for. I have to agree. However, it seems when it comes to PR, Apple seems to feel that outright lies are the way to go. After all, they have to defend the almighty stock price right? After lying about Steve Jobs health for months, saying he had a minor illness, which turned out to be a major and potentially crippling health condition, Apple has pulled another doosey.

Apple has denied denied denied rumors that it laid off staff recently. However, some of the very people laid off had a different story to tell. Apple did, in fact, lay off about 50 people. It's not a huge number, considering the size of the company. And considering they could make a case that the layoffs were inspired by a shift in corporate philosophy, rather than financial troubles, it begs the question why they decided to lie about it in the first place. I can only posit that it's the result of a very backward PR philosophy that's building growing distrust for the once pristine company. If Apple's not careful and doesn't change their approach to public relations, they could end up irrevocably marring the image that they've spent so many years and millions building.

Crickets don't know fast from reliable

2009-03-10T21:31:00.003-05:00

Listening to a radio spot by local cell carrier Cricket Wireless recently, I was reminded of how easy it is to pull a bait and switch if you do it quickly and confidently enough. In the spot, two characters are talking in a pretty classic problem/solution format. It's a pretty fast spot, so if you're paying attention, you'll completely miss them dodging a major cell issue.

The guy who's looking for a good cell carrier is listing things he wants from a carrier, and the solution guy is naming all of Cricket's relevant benefits. Carrier seeking guy say, "I want a reliable network." Solution guy replies, "Cricket has a 3G network."

The problem is, of course, that 3G addresses the speed of the network, not the reliability. You can ask just about anyone with an iPhone 3G in a major urban area exactly how "reliable" 3G really is. Who needs service in places like downtown Houston or the central business district in Chicago? 3G has to do primarily with the speed of the network in regards to downloading data like songs or streaming video.

So, props to Cricket for pulling a fast one. Answer a question with a technical term that not everyone understands and you get to substitute speed for reliability. I wish all product benefit shell games were that easy.

Should they stay or should they go now?

2009-03-08T19:35:00.001-05:00

If you're wonder what makes and models of cars are going to stick around and which are going to get the axe, here's the latest from Yahoo Autos. While talks and plans change every day, this list is probably pretty close to where things are going. Getting rid of under-performing products. Who'd of thought it would come to this?

Want advice? Ask someone with a vested interest!

2009-03-06T06:24:00.001-06:00

My new favorite billboard on my gruellingly long commute is one for Realtors. Its says, "Is now a good time to buy a home? Ask a Realtor." And of course, this billboard was put up by some sort of association of Realtors.

It's unfortunate, because they probably are some of the most knowledgeable people about that question. However, I don't care who you are, if you have a vested interest in the answer to a question, I'm going to be have a hard time taking your advice. Realtors only make money when they sell houses. No houses selling, no money. Who in their right mind is going to tell you not to buy a home if their entire livelihood (today a very battered livelihood) is 100% dependent on you doing exactly that? If I sell apples and someone says, "Is now the time to buy apples?" It would be stupifying for me to say, "No, now is not a good time to buy apples." Of course I'm going to tell you to buy what I'm selling, just like the Realtors are. And it's unfortunate, because there's a good chance their advice is good, despite their built-in bias.

I think everyone needs to take a course in third-party credibility.

Direction Proof

2009-03-04T18:18:00.003-06:00

I see a veritable plethora of billboards on my way to and from work every day, and the importance of proofing never escapes my thoughts. The most recent offender is a huge billboard for Lone Star Ford.
The billboard says "exit Shepard," which is unfortunate, because to get to Lone Star Ford, you really have to exit Shepherd. I can see a confused driver or two saying, "Was that the exit?"

Location-specific billboards with directions on them are a great way to drive people to a location, and can be very effective, even devoid of creativity. However, you have to make sure to point your potential customers in the right direction, because two letters can be the difference between ka-ching and "Was that our exit?"

Condoms on your butt

2009-02-26T07:16:00.001-06:00

When it comes to media, placement is everything, and while CondomDepot.com’s sponsorship of various UFC fighters may hit the right audience, the specific placement of the company’s logo might raise an eyebrow or two. So where did they put it?

Right across a UFC fighter’s butt. I know there’s not much space on a fighter to put an ad- you essentially have use of his shorts, unless you’re going to tattoo him (not unheard of) . But I think there are certain implications to slapping “CondomDepot.com” across the backside of a sweaty man who’s wrestling another sweaty man while neither of them are wearing many clothes. Always carefully consider your sponsorships.

Vroom Vroom Brand Flubber

2009-02-24T19:04:00.000-06:00

I remember Conan O-Brian, I remember New York, I remember ridiculous Swedes in a commercial within a commercial and a lying talent agent. What I don’t remember is a brand.

A hilarious commercial that I love and have seen several times now is lodged in my memory; I could tell you the entire story line, but I couldn’t tell you what brand it’s advertising. I think it might be beer, or an energy drink, a beverage of some sort. I haven’t checked yet to verify the advertiser who was treated to very memorable work that shoves their brand so far into the background of the New York star glitz that a professional creative can’t remember the product after multiple exposures.

It just reminds me that no matter how clever and entertaining we can be, at the end of the day, we still have to sell stuff. And if a potential customer has no idea what you’re selling, you’re not selling it.

Quote of the somethingorother

2009-02-23T19:08:00.001-06:00

A new word a day keeps ignorance away.

Bathwater dirty? Throw out the baby.

2009-02-08T14:16:00.001-06:00

With GM in need of some serious restructuring, they’ve been looking at narrowing the makes and models they offer. Oldsmobile is gone, Pontiac is getting pared down and GM is looking for buyers for Hummer and Saab.

Recently, GM planned put Saturn on the chopping block, while looking to keep Buick. I had to ask myself why GM would kill the younger, hipper brand for the stodgy old standby full of outdated sedans and undifferentiated SUVs. It turns out the reason is many-fold.

Abandoning the Brand Premise
For starters, the Saturn brand was built on community. In its early days, Saturn owners were like part of a special club, with events arranged, forums created and stories of their love for their Saturns exchanged. However, it seems GM was only interested in that push as far as it could launch the brand, and pulled the plug on the whole “community push” once the brand was relatively established. Guess what? When you build an entire brand on a premise and then abandon that premise altogether, your brand it going to feel it.

Chucking the Marketing Support
Second, Mark LeNeve, VP of Marketing, Sales & Service for GM North America admits in AdWeek that GM has cut the marketing budget for Saturn and hasn’t given it sufficient marketing dollars to successfully launch new models. Saturn has largely gone dark in several key media in a mature category where advertising is a big influence on brand preference. If you don’t put enough marketing behind a product in a crowded category like cars, it’s going to falter.

Selling Galoshes in the Desert
And third has been so far a systemic problem at GM of trying to survive under the old model where you try to sell people what you want to sell and not what they want to buy. Did they let Saturn stick to its original base of unique, small, economical cars? Nope. When gas hit $4/gallon, the GM folks were having Saturn scrap its best-selling small car in favor of introducing multiple SUVs based on Chevrolet platforms. Anybody see a problem with trying to sell what people can’t give away and discontinuing what people are trying to get faster than they can be made?

In short, I think Saturn is a brand that should stay around if it is managed with some semblance of competence. Let it get back to its core. At the very least, Saturn’s body styles are at least more up-to-date than Buick’s attempt at updating the classic 1920s Hudson.

New Pepsi logo goes Oprah

2009-02-07T18:46:00.000-06:00

I'm not even going to touch the fact that Pepsi thought it was a good idea to shirk the old logo that has decades of equity in favor of something suspiciously reminiscent of Obama's logo while touting a finger-shakingly similar message (Obama-Hope, Pepsi-Optimism).

I'm not even going to touch the fact they thought it was a good idea to instate three logos instead of one, making it impossible to identify the company without referencing a specific product line.

The really amusing part is that the logos contain "smiles," as Pepsi calls them, of such different girths. After reading up, it seems that they're intended to reflect something like a smile, a laugh, and a grin. Yet, my first instinct was that the size of the "smile" indicated how many calories or sugar, etc. was in each of the drinks. I thought they were visually delineating for the consumer whether they wanted to be small medium or large. But alas, with the fattest logo on the diet and the medium logo on the original drink, it just doesn't work out that way. Put them next to each other though, and it does begin to look like a chronicle of Oprah's waistline over time.

Sorry Oprah, that's was below the belt…then again, that's not the only thing.

Hooray for bad specs!

2009-02-05T19:42:00.000-06:00

Ok, one billboard is a mistake, but two? It seems I have to let the production company off the hook when it comes to Pepsi's Optimism billboards. I saw another recently with that said "HOORAY!" with half or so of the exclamation point cut off.

It seems to have been either a design mistake or a very curious design decision. I can't think of a lot of experienced art directors of designers who believe in zero-margin work. Perhaps there was some deep conceptual idea that the optimism behind the words and the brand are so big that they cannot be contained within the narrow confines of a billboard! Except they could have done that with extensions and it wouldn't have looked like a rookie design error.

Oh well, nitpicking over billboard margins is hardly the worst of Pepsi's brand refresh problems. I hear plenty of folks are offended at the new 20 oz bottle, which is clearly a Gentile.

The true nature of competition in America

2009-01-30T19:23:00.000-06:00

I normally blog about more serious things, and I the underlying issue is very serious, but I have to agree with the title of this one- I couldn't have said it better myself. I won't even bother with the commentary...it speaks for itself. Thanks, adhack.

Baltimore Trip: Underground Advertising

2009-01-29T19:44:00.000-06:00

During my trip to Baltimore over the Christmas holiday, I got to ride on a subway for the first time. I know, I know, but I grew up in Texas, and there aren't a lot of rail systems around here, much less subways. That made my experience trolling around the DC subway system all the more fun. The really fun part, though, was seeing how the space was used for advertising.

I had only recent begun to hear about the group This is Reality, the folks who do the spots denouncing clean coal. So, you can imagine my amazement when I found they had bought out every available inch of ad space in one of DC's busiest terminals.

They didn't even just buy the traditional space, they went for broke, wrapping ads around support columns, hanging long banners from handrails, and more. I didn't even realize they had that kind of funding, but the coalition must be strong, my friends. I can't image that kind of absolute buy-out would be cheap, especially in the heart of DC.

It made me yearn for unconventional OOH opportunities…something that's usually incredibly effective, but rarely tried. Anyone want me to put your brand somewhere cool to grab consumers' attention in an incredibly relevant and memorable way?

Advertising oasis dries up

2009-01-28T18:34:00.000-06:00

Throughout the world, especially in hot, desert places, water is seen as a symbol of money and opulence. Don't believe me? Look at the fountains in front the casinos in Las Vegas.

That said, it guess it's only fitting that one of Dallas's most prominent billboards has dried up. For as long as I can remember, one of the primary routes into downtown Dallas has featured a billboard with an actual running waterfall. Usually sponsored by a beer company, the water cascading down the three-dimensional stone waterfall flanked by a sponsor's message greeted me and thousands more into the big D's central business district. However, with the economy, cuts have become a way of life and it doesn't look like anyone sees a waterfall of a billboard as a prudent expenditure. It now sits a dry, barren rock, sandwiched between the bare bones of a billboard picked dry by a bloated leech known to most of us as subprime lending.

Baltimore Trip: Public sign FAIL

2009-01-26T22:20:00.000-06:00

The importance of proofreading cannot be overemphasized. I see mistakes in advertising that's running all the time, and I'm talking about unintentional mistakes- not intentional misspellings like the Chick-fil-A billboards (which I love). but you'd think they'd raise the bar for signs that are supposed to guide public behavior.

In a recent Christmas trip to Baltimore, I saw this sign on the side of a grocery store. Walking by, it caught my attention at first because of the handwriting on it...handwriting proclaiming how amazing it is to misspell a word on a public sign that's only two words long. I wonder if the sign affects the enforceability of the law. After all, the sign says "NO LOITERIING," not "NO LOITERING."

Proofread it.

Suspiciously awesome perks for unnamed underling

2009-01-24T09:53:00.000-06:00

I need to find out where the guy from the American Airlines commercial works. In the spot, he's a nameless underling kid who turns into his boss's go-to guy for business trips. I'm not sure why he's going, but evidently, the trips aren't very important or they really don't care about their business because the boss doesn't ever bother to learn his underling's name. The amazing part is when we get to the kicker - when the boss is looking for the go-to guy, he can't find him because the go-to guy used the frequent flyer miles to go on vacation...

What company lets you use the frequent flyer miles you accrue on business trips for personal use? I'm not sure if he committed some sort of fraud or if the go-to guy just works for such an awesome company that they let him use those business frequent flyer miles for personal use. I can't think of a company that wouldn't use that free trip for another business trip to cut costs. I might buy it if it were a large company and we were talking about the owner, but the company in the spot is clearly a large company and the underling is just that-an underling. All I have to say is, those are some serious perks.

Writers Unite

2009-01-23T16:54:00.000-06:00

This guy is like Braveheart for writers. Now, that's what I call a call to action. I just hope he doesn't get taken down by a fellow countryman like William Wallace.

Click here to see why Jack Neary, Executive Vice President/Executive Creative Director, BBDO Worldwide thinks copywriting is on life support.

Copywriters are creatives too

2009-01-14T21:10:00.000-06:00

I'm glad to say my current agency doesn't make this mistake, but it's one I've encountered so many places, I have to set the record straight.

COPYWRITERS ARE CREATIVES

Too many times, account people have asked me to "work with the creatives," not work with the other creatives. Too many times have I heard, "Hey, we're having a meeting. We're gonna need all the creatives, and you too." "Let the creatives handle that." "Give this to a creative." "This invite goes out to you and the creatives."

And for some reason, every time, the "creatives" are art directors or designers. I realize that the days of the traditional copywriter/art director pair are long gone at most agencies these days, but for people who went to school for this sort of thing, you'd think it would be clear. Maybe they didn't think what I did was that creative, maybe it wasn't valued. Perhaps, because I wasn't using specialized software they had little knowledge of, I wasn't included in that group. Or perhaps, they just weren't used to having a copywriter around at all.

Whatever the reason, it confuses the bejeebuz out of me. 99% of ads are composed of two crucial elements- the visuals and the words. That means copywriters create HALF of the creative product of an ad, assuming they aren't entirely responsible for coming up with the concept themselves. So, to not call a copywriter a creative in my mind is insulting, as it implies that we "just write" and aren't creative. It implies that what we do serves some tertiary function and that the art directors/designers are the ones doing the real creative work. It's tantamount to pretending the House or the Senate has no role in making laws. They both have equally important roles, and to imply otherwise is brazen and smacks of under-education.

So remember everyone, copywriters are creatives, too. If you don't realize that, you need to go back to school.

Multicultural billboard FAIL

2009-01-12T20:57:00.000-06:00

Here in Texas, multicultural means Hispanic. And Hispanic usually means Spanish. I'm not saying these are the right way to do things, but they tend to be the way they're done.

I'm not a huge fan of Pepsi's new campaign, and neither is Barbara Lippert of Adweek, but I almost wanted to give Pepsi some "multicultural" credit for an appropriately placed billboard en Espanol.

The billboard says ¡Delicioso! and of course the Os are the strangely revised Pepsi icon. It does double duty, because who can't figure out what delicioso means, even without knowing a lick of Spanish. However, someone made a production mistake that snuffs out half or more of the multicultural credit this billboard worked to get.

You see, I didn't even see the exclamation points until the third or fourth time I passed the billboard. Why? Because they're bleeding of the edge. Literally half to two-thirds of each exclamation point is off of edge of the board, meaning you have to strain to see a third of a white punctuation mark on a light pink billboard (that's right, it's light pink).

I'm sure you could find any surfer dude on the west coast who would know what delicioso means, but the upside-down exclamation point is something unique to Spanish (and by that, I mean we don't have it in English) and shows some genuine cultural (or at least lingual) understanding.

Yet, this crucial element was obscured by a production mistake.

I'm just not sure how a mistake like this happened. It's common practice in anything involving print production to leave "dead space" or an area around the important stuff that doesn't have anything important in it. Media channels ask you to leave this dead space because what they do doesn't always come out to an exact science and want to make sure your work isn't ruined if one of the cut measurements ends up a little off. I kind of doubt this was the production company's whoopsie. Perhaps it was the work of an inexperienced graphic artist whose work went unchecked by an over-busy creative director who didn't want to be bothered with proofing (read "ick!").

But enough speculation, the result is the same- billboard fail.

The REAL reason we'll always have the BCS bowl system

2009-01-08T22:21:00.000-06:00

As a longhorn, I'm obviously a proponent of going to a playoff system instead of the current BCS bowl game system. Unfortunately, I've realized a dark truth that I believe explains why we will NEVER get that system. It's not all about tradition, "That's the way we've always done it," though I'm sure that bent plays a part. It's not because, as the BCS claims, "It would be hard on players," which is a crock. It's not even due to some anti-Texas sentiment I feel is prevalent in many sports, both pro and college (even after winning four championships in seven years, the Spurs still can't get a top rating in the NBA). It's marketing, baby.

As with most things, the bowl games started getting sponsors. Now, it's the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. These sponsorships raise a ton of money for schools who play in the bowls, the stadium owners, and revenue for the towns where the bowls are played. It's such a lucrative practice for both sides that there are now 34 bowls. That means bowl games for 68 teams.

Sponsors don't even necessarily have to compete for the existing bowls anymore. If there isn't a bowl you want to sponsor available, create your own! There are bowls that don't have names of their own- they're ONLY branded bowls, like the EagleBank Bowl and the Meineke Car Care Bowl. What does this mean? It means that there are already more sponsorship opportunities than would likely be available with a playoff system. It also means that under the current system, there is essentially an unlimited inventory of sponsorship opportunities- as long as there are teams to play and venues to host, you can create more bowls, since most are only loosely based on a variety of stats and standings at any given point.

If you had a property where you could sell advertising, would you rather reduce the amount of space you had available or opt for a system where you can keep creating space whenever you need it? You'd do the latter, just like the BCS will do, much to the chagrin of many college football fans who are more interested in fair season outcomes than BCS revenue streams.

Pain in the ad

2009-01-07T22:09:00.000-06:00

We "experts" can debate about whether some ads are good or not and nitpick the details. However, you occasionally see an ad that clearly illustrates a complete lack of understanding of advertising.

There's a billboard I see on my drive home from work every day that makes the adgeek in me cry every time. It's a tiny thing that's fairly badly positioned to begin with. But let's ignore the placement for now.

The copy reads "Where does it hurt: Stand-up MRI." The most important part to note about this is the fact that there's a colon instead of a question mark between the headline and the subhead. A colon denotes an explanation, not a question. So instead of posing the question "Where does it hurt?" and suggesting that the stand-up MRI is the solution, the billboard suggests that the stand-up MRI is the place it hurts. I can't say my stand-up MRI has hurt much lately, but I'm probably not the target audience.

Also, the entire background is black. This matters because the tiny subhead "Stand-up MRI" in white (probably the most important part of the board) is sandwiched between the large yellow headline "Where does it hurt:" and the red phone number. Did I mention that there are both serif and sans-serif fonts, not including any logo?

And just for good measure, let's include a strange and barely-related image. The small image relegated to a small square of this ad on one side is a silhouette of a skeleton riding a bicycle...that's right...a bicycle. I'm not even gonna touch that one.

In short, an unclear and terrible ad does two things at once- gives me professional pain every day on my ride home and illustrate how far off-base you can get when you don't know what you're doing.

Newspapers' perfect storm

2009-01-06T23:40:00.000-06:00

While they have been slowly losing ground for some time, newspapers appear to be on the final downhill slide. With companies like the Tribune Co. filing for bankruptcy, it's becoming evident just how outdated and un-useful these papers have become. I'm not saying it because I want them to go away. To the contrary, working in advertising, I'm generally a fan of just about anything where you can sell more ad space. But, as part of a generation who can find little use for them but to wrap my dishes when I move, I understand why it's happening.

Newspapers' functions have largely been taken over by others who can perform the same functions better and/or cheaper. Newspaper classifieds often represent nearly 50% of a newspaper's income. However, craigslist lets you do the same thing…for free…and it's searchable. Free to post. No paper to buy to browse. It allows descriptions as long as you want as opposed to the pay-per-word model of newspapers and allows multiple full-color pictures where newspapers allow none. Oh, and did I mention it's SEARCHABLE? And if you want to go global classifieds, check out Ebay or Amazon.com. Small fee, the entire world of classifieds at your fingertips.

The function of reporting news is done better by others. We can now get news 24/7 on our TVs, radios, computers via the internet and even on our cell phones. Why should I wait until tomorrow at 6 am to find out when it's already a headline on Yahoo.com at 10am today? Oh, and did I forget to mention, I get all this other news FREE? Why should I pay for a paper when I can get more in-depth information, even video, faster and free of charge?

Newspapers also get some fallout from the green movement, stalled as it may be. When we're trying to save paper and gas and everything else, how can you justify printing hundreds of thousands of hundred-page monstrosities every day, many of which go straight to the garbage can because they were never even bought? They use so much paper, so much of which is never used, and all the information they contain is available elsewhere from non-paper using sources. Why contribute to environmental decline in such a gluttonous way?

And, probably most unfortunately, the remaining advertisers who haven't already fled the dying medium are all in dire straights themselves, slashing their advertising budgets. Who are traditionally the biggest newspaper advertisers? Auto, financial services and retail. Who's in the biggest trouble with the current economic situation? Auto, financial services and retail.

Sounds like the perfect storm to me.

How to lose an account with green initiatives

2009-01-05T20:01:00.000-06:00

Want to lose an account quick? Suggest to your client that they can make a significant environmental impact by combining all of their edits into a single round before sending them to you and limiting the number of overall revisions they make.

After they're done screaming at you through your funky triangular conference phone about being "non-responsive" and "inflexible," give them some numbers on exactly how much paper they could save, both on their end and yours. Honestly, if you could genuinely push the above policies though, you could probably cut paper usage by 70-80%. After all, most printing I see is a result of small changes that usually come in a few at a time- a comma here, a sentence reworded there.

I'm not even saying this is your client contact's fault- he or she is probably dealing with many bosses even busier than they and are lucky to get anything looked at before deadline. But, if there were a way to streamline the whole process, we could all save quite a few trees.

With newspapers in their current state, I guess we'll all be able to save quite a few more trees in the near future anyway, albeit perhaps not by choice. I'm just waiting for the day when most everything has gone paperless and we start considering the natural resources we're using to build and power all the servers that hold all of our paperless information. Maybe rich text editing and flash will be the next newspaper and plain text will be the new green.

Apostrophe overstock

2009-01-04T14:34:00.000-06:00

Lots of things are overstocked these days and apostrophes seem to be one of them. I say that because I'm seeing apostrophes on ads, posters, billboards and all sorts of marketing materials where they don't belong. I started doing some research, only to find this is such a prevalent error, there are entire blogs devoted to it. There are only a few uses for apostrophes and I thought they were pretty simple to remember. After all, we all learned them in elementary school. There are even a few instances where I understand some confusion, but these are not the instances where I'm seeing mistakes. I'm seeing mistakes like, "Come see the big boy's of the sea." I sincerely hope you can see what's wrong with that. So, just for the record, I'll take us back to third grade so we know where our apostrophes go.

Use apostrophes to show ownership.
CORRECT: Bob's dog ate the steak. CORRECT: The children's toys are all over the place.

DON'T use apostrophes with possessive pronouns.
CORRECT: The dog wants its bone. INCORRECT: The dog wants it's bone.

Use apostrophes to form contractions and signal missing letters.
CORRECT: It's about three o'clock. (This means "It is about three o'clock.") INCORRECT: Its about three o'clock.

The most common mistake I keep seeing
DON'T use apostrophes to make plurals of nouns.
CORRECT: Cats make great pets. INCORRECT: Cat's make great pets. (this means "Cat is make great pets")

These are the most important apostrophe rules to remember. There are a few circumstances where apostrophe use is incorrect or debatable that I at least understand. One of these is using apostrophes after numbers-
ex. The 1960's were a time of great change. (incorrect) ex. The 1960s were a time of great change. (correct)

I also understand people using apostrophes to pluralize acronyms, even though this is technically incorrect.
ex. There were three M.D.'s in my graduating class. (incorrect) ex. There were three M.D.s in my graduating class. (correct) ex. The AE's lost it when they got the new time line. (incorrect) ex. The AEs lost it when they got the new time line. (correct)

I don't know how these mistakes, most of all the one in red above, make it through writers, creative directors, agency owners and any number of levels of client eyes. The pluralization of nouns rule above is not even debatable. It's flat wrong. Yet, I've seen it on billboards, collateral, ads and more. I just beg everyone to review your materials and keep atrocious errors like this out of your work. There are English majors and copywriters the world over who cringe every day because of them, especially when they're as obvious as this.

P.S. Why robots won't take over the world.

Even as I type this entry, I'm reminded of how dangerous it is to rely on spell-checking and auto-correcting software, as words that I'm typing (and know for a fact are correct, verified by multiple reputable sources) are tagged as incorrect. Don't rely on them. They will give you the wrong form of a word, make it plural when it should be singular or fail to recognize real worlds while recognizing brand names. I suppose it's one more reason robots will never take over all professions- even with all their formulas, they still can't comprehend something as basic to humans as written language.

Half-retraction

2008-12-31T12:23:00.000-06:00

I believe there is great value in taking a closer look, in not flying off the handle and speaking before you have all the information. Why? Because it pays not to look like an idiot when the facts come out.

I thought I was going to have to eat my words recently. Not too long ago, I wrote a post that included my non-number based theory that America isn't buying trucks and SUVS like they used to. Well, it turns out I only have to eat half my words. As of the beginning of December, pickups were still extremely strong sellers, but SUV sales have slumped dramatically. My anecdotal theory had a hole- people actually still need the utility provided by genuine pickup trucks, so their sales haven't slumped nearly as far as SUVs have. I might submit that part of their continued sales performance is due to the deep discounts that have been offered on them lately, but I understand that there are simply people who need to haul things.

It seems that America has voted, however, that the "U" in "sport utility vehicle" is a misnomer as their sales have plummeted about as quickly as the value of Madoff investments. So, pickup trucks, I apologize- the value of your utility is undeniable as non-essentials are cut and your sales remain strong. I proudly eat my words against you. SUVs, you must have known your time was coming. Perhaps the SUV bubble has popped.

Quote of the somethingorother

2008-12-30T17:41:00.000-06:00

"I wish my grass was emo so it would cut itself."
- Mike from Virginia

Quote of the somethingorother

2008-12-29T14:18:00.001-06:00

"Most cynics are just frustrated optimists."

What does sound look like?

2008-12-24T17:46:00.000-06:00

It's official, I'm tired of being told to look at things on the radio. Radio is a difficult medium, especially with as visual as humans tend to be. It doesn't help that such a hefty part of advertising is built upon visuals. But I still don't feel that's any excuse to ignore the medium's most obvious feature- the fact that you can't see anything. At least two radio ads I've heard recently have done this.

The first is for the new Blackberry Storm. Naturally, a touchscreen is a tough sell on radio, but I'm forced to grind my teeth when the spot starts out by telling me to look at the screen. It's not that I won't, but I can't, no matter how hard they want me to.

The other is for Guitar Hero World Tour. It starts out with the right idea, asking you to remember the TV spot (still a bit of a cop-out), but quickly degenerates from there. First, it tells me to "look at that," then goes on to tell me, "no, stop looking at..."

Know your medium, don't try to recycle your TV spots. Sometimes it requires a little more imagination or even the occasional straight-sell, but at least you won't be insulting people by telling them to see the sound waves coming out of their speakers.

The death of a billboard

2008-12-23T22:12:00.000-06:00

I saw a sad sight today. It was a billboard along a major US interstate, bare on both sides. That's right, no message- just empty ribs sticking out into the sky like the skeleton of a woolly mammoth brought to the ground by the spears and ropes of a vicious economy and picked clean by the beaks of close-out sales and store liquidations.

Social media utopia: it runs on dreams and rainbows

2008-12-22T18:54:00.000-06:00

Adrian Ho from Adweek suggests that the future of branding is in a system of mini-communications between employees of a company and consumers. He posits that traditional marketing will go the way of the dinosaur and that communications will come from thousands of blogs and twitters that employees at every level will produce to which the public will listen. I think this philosophy is severely flawed on three counts.

The first two places I disagree with Mr. Ho are in regards to his idea about brands embracing the Zappos form of marketing where "mini-communications," if you will, between employees and consumers will form the backbone of future marketing efforts. Here are two reasons I believe this model will always be the exception and not the rule.

One- Executives will NEVER yield that kind of communicative power to the lowly ranks of employees of major companies. Zappos is an exception, and a wonderful one, but if you think for a moment that somewhere like Burger King or Starbucks is going to put the billions of dollars of carefully crafted public image they have created in the hands of their underpaid, overworked, largely disgruntled workforce, you're crazy. They're not going to allow it, much less encourage it. Why? Because most brands cannot, or will not, foster the kind of happiness and loyalty required for the kind of communications above to come out positive, much less consistent.

Two- Mr. Ho's model involves companies keeping employees around long enough to develop long-term relationships with customers. I'm sorry, anyone else here been paying attention to business models lately? Employment at any company is getting shorter and shorter by the year. Why? Companies are doing everything they can to cut benefits and keep wages down to manage costs. Employment is getting shorter and only showing signs of shorterning further as most companies create technicalities where their employees are all "independent contractors" to avoid paying any benefits at all. And I'm supposed to believe the future of brand communications is based on companies extending employment for the purpose of setting their disgruntled employees loose on the public's ear? Please.

My third bone to pick is this- While social media certainly has a place in future communications (especially if anyone starts figuring out how to use it successfully, reliably and cost-effectively), it will not replace all other forms of brand communications. Like TV, print, radio and outdoor, traditional media as an entity will not perish from the earth. They will simply move over and yield market share to new forms as they have throughout history.

More importantly, unless we delve into some sort of "brand heaven" where all employees have long employments at companies they love so much they want to tell the world, Hr. Ho's suggested model will be about as accessible as the fountain of life.

WHO dunnit? WHO dunnit.

2008-12-10T19:30:00.000-06:00

I'm filing the World Health Organization under "unfortunate acronyms."

"Who says smoking is bad for you?"
"Exactly."
"What?"
"WHO says smoking is bad for you."
"I'm confused."

Crossovers: a triumph of branding

2008-12-09T21:01:00.000-06:00

First there were station wagons, then they became grandfolk cars.

Then there were minivans, which were inextricably tied to soccer moms.

Then there were SUVs, then trucks with 4 doors.

The people said, Trucks are too high, they use too much gas, they're too big. Then crossovers and hatchbacks came to life.

Crossovers give you the look, people room and cargo room of an SUV with the footprint, gas mileage and ride of a car. They're like station wagons with testosterone or short SUVs. In short they're minivans that look cool. They are your mom's minivan and your grandfather's station wagon, but a new word and a little marketing made them cool. Kudos to the people who came up with the idea of calling them crossovers. They made the dorky, but functional cars of the past cool again, and made a fortune in the process.

Auto Industry Fearmongering

2008-12-07T17:42:00.000-06:00

As a caveat to my last post about the auto industry, I wanted to mention an important fact that a lot of people are starting to learn. If the auto industry doesn't get the bail-out funding it's seeking, it's not the end of the world. The whole system will not come crashing down. First, there are other government agencies besides congress that can give the big three money. Second, the worst that happens is that they file for chapter 11. What does that mean? It means they get to do things like the government enforced opportunity to renegotiate (currently ridiculous) labor contracts. It's designed to delay some of their debts and let them get back on their feet, but demands they adjust and become more fiscally efficient as they get back on their feet. It helps cut the fat and the U.S. auto industry is currently a 350lb executive trolling around gold-laden offices in one of those electric sit-down scooters. There are more options, people, so calm down. These guys aren't down for the count. They just have to learn how to do things smart again.

Marketing can't solve everything

2008-12-06T13:30:00.000-06:00

The big three American auto manufacturers have finally found a problem that they can't market their way out of.

With GM, Ford and Chrysler going to the government with hats in hands, many American are wondering whether a bailout would actually save the American auto manufacturers or just put a band aid on massive gash. So far, I see no reason to throw more money at companies that continue to prove why they can't run their businesses. And I'll tell you why.

American auto manufacturers simply create an inferior product. They are designed to last half as long as their Japanese counterparts. A car is a life-changing expense. If you know you can buy a Toyota that lasts 100,000 miles before you encounter major mechanical problems for the same price you can get a comparable Chevy that will start getting its problems around 50,000 miles, it's a no-brainer. The big three often tout their highest ratings in "initial quality." For anyone who really knows cars, they know this is an almost worthless characteristic. Initial quality is how nice the car is the moment you drive it off the lot. It will never be that nice again, and it's amazing how nice you can make something if it doesn't matter how long it lasts. And while a Japanese car may not be quite as shiny off the lot, consumers know that the knobs and seat belts won't be breaking at 30,000 miles.

So, what have the big three been doing to try and sell more cars? Well, they have NOT been promoting their fuel efficient models. While they do now have lots of vehicles with great gas mileage that's comparable to foreign vehicles, they aren't spending their marketing dollars on promoting those vehicles. They also aren't advertising their hybrids, though I don't know if I can blame them. While Toyota made a small car hybrid to create one of the most fuel efficient cars on the road, For and Chevrolet are making hybrids out of trucks and SUVs. So, what are the big three spending their money to advertise?

TRUCKS. TRUCKS AND SUVs. How dense do you have to be to spend all your marketing dollars on advertising trucks and SUVs right now?

First, they're the worst performing categories in all of auto sales right now. I get it Detroit, they were your high-margin bread and butter, but those days are over. Stop crying over it and trying to find new ways to market these gas guzzlers.

Second, no one believes gas prices are going to stay down. With gas available many places for prices we haven't seen in nearly a decade, you might think this is the time to sell the guzzlers again (I won't even touch how they're bragging about 20mpg ratings). It's not. America had $4/gallon gas for long enough, it's worked its way into our psyche. A shift has been made. Moreover, most people just believe the low gas prices are a function of the crippled economy and are sure gas prices will go right back up as soon as things recover.

Third, they're still trying to market their way out of the problem instead of focusing on their inferior products. Are they spending money on R&D to raise quality and tell us about that? No. They're trying to sell us subscription services like OnStar and XM Radio. People want a car to be as close to a one time expense as possible. Stop jamming them full of equipment that will lay there like a lame duck after our free one-year subscription is out.

Fourth, there are WAY too many brands. Even with a few shuttered over the past decade, the big three have more brands than you can count on one hand. GM does NOT need Chevy, Pontiac and GMC. GMC trucks are the exact same trucks as Chevy trucks, just with another name badge and endless overhead from separate dealerships, separate marketing efforts, and so on. Pontiac is the same way- they're just Chevy cars with a different badge and stupendous overhead from supporting another brand. Why not follow the Japanese model? Toyota only makes Toyota and Lexus. Toyota is the general auto brand and Lexus is for luxury. It's the same way with Honda/Acura and Nissan/Infinity. Why not narrow it to Chevy/Cadillac and Ford/Lincoln? Then you could spend the money from a huge number of redundant brand to build single brands. Imagine tripling the money you could use to promote a single brand. That's smart money.

Fifth is actually less of the auto industry's doing but that of the unions. If I knew people could make $75/hr operating a factory press and getting paid 96% of my salary for years after getting laid off, I might not have bothered taking on thousands in student loans to get into an industry that starts people at half of what a teacher makes. If the unions don't loosen up on their outrageous requirements, (which result in thousands more per auto produced in labor costs than foreign competitors) they might not have an industry to work for.

That said, do I have anything good to say about them? Yes. I think the big three CEOs committing to take $1/yr salaries if they get government funding is a good step. I think them selling their private jets is a good step, but these are both largely symbolic measures. I think the auto workers' union renegotiating contracts to lower labor rates significantly over the next several years is a big step in the right direction. Hopefully the Chevy Volt is everything it's supposed to be and that our guys will start taking some of their marketing cash and spending it on R&D to make better quality vehicles. Most important to is that I believe the big three have it in them to be great again. They'll just have to cut the corporate crap, face the realities and allow real progress to happen. Here's to hoping they can get it together.

For my part, I believe this has been coming on for a long time. Ever since the gas crises of the 70s and 80s allowed Japanese and European cars to make significant inroads in to the American auto market, American auto makers have been sticking their heads in the sand.

I'm awesome, my study says so. Wanna buy my stuff?

2008-11-19T16:54:00.000-06:00

A study has recently found that promotional items are much more effective than advertising. You can find the story here, thanks to Adweek. Highlights from the study include pretty amazing findings, like the finding that 62 percent of respondents have done business with an advertiser after receiving a promotional product, and that 84 percent of consumers remembered an advertiser based on a product they received. If these numbers seem too good to be true, it's probably because the study was conducted by the Advertising Specialty Institute. The Advertising Specialty Institute is an organization dedicated to promoting the interests of promotional item vendors. Is it any wonder then that the study they conducted concluded that the thing they're trying to sell FAR better and cheaper than the thing they're competing against?

They're not the only ones who have done this recently though. I just can't conceive of how a company misses the importance of source credibility and at least the appearance of impartial study results. Even if these unbelieveable positive results are true, how can anyone put any faith in the results of a study done by a group that has such a vested interest in the study's results? If they were really confident in their product, they would commission a third party study from a reputable research firm. Once again, it seems that executive orders may have overridden the well-meaning advice of a PR person left to pull his or her hair out in frustration over one of the most basic marketing principles violated.

Recycled programming - the next thing in green

2008-11-17T13:31:00.000-06:00

It's green week, so even marketers cautious of greenwashing are back on the air with their messages. What contribution is USA making? They're so green, they're even recycling episodes of your favorite shows. In a spot promoting a Monk marathon, USA tells us that's their contribution to green week - showing us recycled episodes (known to lay people as "reruns"). Don't worry about Hollywood either. While they haven't promoted it much, they've been recycling plots for years. Here's to the green pioneers. May someone treat you to a recycled steak dinner.

Location, location, location

2008-11-17T01:36:00.000-06:00

Placement can be everything, even when it's not advertising related. Many apartment complexes have gates that require codes or cards or remotes to open. A portion of those actually have gates that work. For those gates that actually close, they each have a method for emergency personnel like the fire department to get in - a special access code, for example. Another common method is a button to open the gate contained in a box that only emergency personnel have a key to. Here's the kicker. I was driving out of an apartment complex the other day and guess where their emergency box was? On the inside of the gate facing in. Oops. And you thought misplacing an ad was a disaster.

False comparison

2008-11-12T15:32:00.000-06:00

If you're an advertising uber-nerd, you've probably heard about the "soup wars" between Campbell's and Progresso. Both are accusing the other of using MSG in their soups. While there's still question about whether MSG is actually bad for you, the arguments (at least one of them) are textbook examples of logical fallacies you learn in a first-semester advertising class.

In Progresso's latest spot, they claim that Campbell's makes 90 soups containing MSG and that Progresso makes 26 soups that contain no MSG. See the problem? Progresso doesn't address how many soups they DO produce that contain MSG or how many Campbells produces that DON'T contain MSG. For all we know, Campbell's could produce 100 soups without MSG to Progresso's 26 and Progress could produce 100 soups containing MSG to Campbell's 90. You can't compare the numbers presented without the rest of the picture.

It's like saying I'm better than Johnny because I have 5 A's on my report card and he has 3 B's. For all we know, I could have 5 A's and 6 D's while Johnny could have 8 A's and 3 B's. But by only comparing the pieces of information that suit them, they create the appearance of superiority without the proof.

I suppose it should come as no surprise though. Others have been using this often hard-to-detect tactic for decades. Auto manufacturers are notorious fans of it. More headroom than car A, more trunk space than car B, thousands less than car C. It makes the manufacturer's model seem superior to them all, when in reality they're only comparing their model to the lowest performer in their model's class for each feature.

I'm not sure who will win the soup wars, but it seems both soup makers fail first semester advertising.

Quote of the somethingorother

2008-11-10T13:46:00.000-06:00

Those who know aren't talking. And those who are talking don't know.

-News Anchor