July 30th, 2010 by admin
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- Who: Scottrade
- What: TV campaign
- Rating: 11th floor
Don’t you love those amusing E*Trade TV commercials featuring the old-school , fat-cat stockbroker who keeps losing clients to his high-tech, low-priced online competitor? Me too.
There’s only one problem: these ads are for Scottrade, not E*Trade.
As commercials go, these ads are well-above-average from an entertainment standpoint, but only average from a branding standpoint. While they mention the brand name two or three times throughout each spot, they don’t do anything to really STAMP the Scottrade brand into your memory. As a result, what could have been a great campaign is merely good.
I would have liked to see these ads leverage–rather than just mention–the brand name.
For example, they could have our hapless stockbroker (nicely played by Brad Norman) changing his name to “Scott” in an attempt to stem the flight of his clients to Scottrade. Or they could all incorporate a phrase like “Great Scott!”, or somehow play up the reputation “Scots” have for thriftiness (which would reinforce Scottrade’s low-price strategy). They could even have our stockbroker wear a kilt.
Hokey? Perhaps. But I’m pretty sure that these or similar ideas could significantly increase the number of people who remember the brand that’s providing them these entertaining ads.
My advice for Scottrade: maintain your position in humor, but invest in better branding.
July 19th, 2010 by admin
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- Who: FedEx Office
- What: TV commercial
- Rating: 14th Floor
It’s a rare commercial that can completely capture the essence of a product while also providing royal entertainment, but this one does it. I’ve been wanting to write a post about it for months, but until now I couldn’t find it online.
It’s for FedEx Office, the company formerly known as Kinko’s. As someone who spent most of his career as a corporate exec, I can tell you that one of the biggest adjustments involved with becoming an entrepreneur is that you no longer have a large staff to handle things like printing and shipping for you. FedEx Office smartly fills that void, and this spot does an exceptional job of making that abundantly clear.
More than that, it humorously but powerfully conveys the emotional attachment the customer feels toward “his staff,” who come across as smart, understanding and polite. When they respectfully decline his invitation to take the day off, his response–”That…is why I hired you”–is perfectly written and perfectly delivered. And when he exits the store saying “World’s proudest boss,” you know all you need to know about how FedEx Office wants its customers to feel.
Of course, this can be considered excellent advertising only if it accurately represents the service FedEx Office truly delivers. Based on my experience with the branch office I use, it does, as I’m consistently pleased with the quality, friendliness and pricing of the service I receive. If my experience is typical, the bosses at FedEx office should be very proud of their company–and their advertising agency.
July 15th, 2010 by admin
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- Who: Apple
- What: Public Relations
- Rating: 2nd Floor
For the past several years, I’ve considered Apple to be the best marketing organization on the planet. Their ability to anticipate–and, more impressively, create–consumer desires has been without parallel, as has their penchant for product design and advertising. Now, however, we’ll get a chance to see how good they are at crisis management.
As this Wall Street Journal article shows, it seems clear that Apple’s vaunted product design team–including legendary co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs–dropped the ball in developing Apple’s new iPhone 4. The otherwise well-reviewed device appears to have reception problems that result from a faulty antenna design that wasn’t subjected to adequate testing.
Surprisingly–and disappointingly–Apple’s initial reaction was to cavalierly suggest that the problem was the result of users holding the phone improperly. They then copped to a software glitch, which they inexplicably tried to minimize by suggesting that it affects their earlier-generation iPhones as well. And now both explanations are being challenged by Consumer Reports, which claims the problems are hardware-related.
Whatever the truth is–and all signs seem to support Consumer Reports’ side–Apple had better be completely forthcoming from this point forward or its credibility, and its brand equity, will take a serious hit. Apple and Mr. Jobs have been on an infallibility streak for several years, so admitting they’ve screwed up will hurt. But Apple’s fans–and prospective future consumers–will forgive imperfection much more readily than dishonesty or cowardice.
Apple has produced millions of sweet, crisp, juicy products that have thrilled millions of consumers–including me–and in the process created a company worth more than Microsoft or General Electric. But if they don’t start displaying more candor, humility and urgency in confronting this rare misstep, they run a real risk of letting this one bad Apple spoil the bunch–not to mention a bunch of brand equity.
July 13th, 2010 by admin
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- Who: Sussex Safer Roads
- What: TV Commercial
- Rating: 14th floor
Marketing is mostly about changing behavior, and changing behavior is mostly about finding and communicating the proper motivation. For decades safety groups all over the world have been trying to motivate audiences to wear seat belts, but an alarming percentage of the population still refuses to do so on a regular basis.
I’ve always felt that one reason is that many people just don’t take their own safety all that seriously. On the other hand, I’ve also felt that getting people to think about the impact their death would have on their family just might provide the missing motivation. Personally speaking, a big motivator for me to wear a seat belt has always been that I don’t want my family to live with the thought that my last act in life was a moronic one.
Maybe that’s why I was so knocked out by this provocative TV commercial from the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership in England. The unusual format grabs your attention, the brilliant blend of super-slo-mo visuals and mesmerizing music reels you in, and the cleverly powerful ending brings a smile to your face–and perhaps even a tear to your eye and a lump to your throat.
All I can say is that if this doesn’t motivate you to wear a seat belt, you must not have a family. Or a car.
June 28th, 2010 by admin
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- Who: Spirit Airlines
- What: online campaign
- Rating: basement
I’ve always suspected that one could make a bunch of money shorting the stocks of companies with really bad marketing, the theory being that if they’re screwing up their marketing, they’re probably screwing up a lot of other things. I’m also thinking that a good company to put that theory to the test would be Spirit Airlines, because it would be just about impossible to screw up your marketing more than these yahoos have.
Several months ago Spirit kindly gave me fodder for a blog post after they had the idiocy to innovate the concept of charging customers for their carry-on bags. And now, perhaps somehow determining that I was struggling for a topic for another post, they’ve deployed a new online ad campaign that exploits the tragic fate being experienced by the beaches–not to mention the people–of the Louisiana gulf.
As this Ad Age story illustrates, Spirit’s new campaign unconscionably urges viewers to “Check out the oil on our beaches,” Spirit’s “oil” being suntan lotion donned by bathing beauties on the beaches of Mexico and other locations served by Spirit. One look at these ads raises the same question raised by Spirit’s April announcement about its carry-on fee: “Who in God’s name is calling the shot’s at this place?!?!” Perhaps the CEO summoned his VP of Marketing and said, “You know, I don’t think people hate us quite enough any more. I think it’s time we made fun of the devastation happening down there in Idaho or wherever they had that oil spill thingy.”
I should caution you that I’m not an investment expert, so you probably should think twice about following my advice about shorting Spirit’s stock. In the same spirit of full disclosure, I’m not an aviation expert–but I don’t expect to be boarding any planes bearing the Spirit logo any time soon.
June 21st, 2010 by admin
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- Who: Dawn
- What: TV Ad/PR Event
- Rating: 14th floor
It turns out that one good thing can be associated with the otherwise disastrous BP oil spill: a brilliant TV commercial by Dawn dish detergent. What Procter & Gamble has pulled off is truly amazing: they’ve leveraged a national disaster, reinforced their brand’s reason-for-being, and done so in a way that doesn’t feel the least bit exploitative. On the contrary, it feels downright altruistic.
Since its inception, Dawn’s primary benefit has always been its ability to cut through grease, and in recent years its advertising has pushed gentleness as a secondary benefit. What better way to illustrate this “tough on grease yet gentle” positioning than showing Dawn being used to remove oil from ducklings and baby otters? And what better–and more timely–way to support a worthy cause than to donate proceeds from Dawn’s sales to cleaning up the gulf?
I must admit that the luster of this ad diminished slightly when I learned that it’s been running off-and-on for almost a year; in other words, it wasn’t created as a result of the BP oil spill. It turns out that Dawn has been used to clean endangered wildlife following other less catastrophic and less publicized oil spills. Still, I think it took courage for P&G to run this commercial now, given the risk that some people would charge them with greedily capitalizing on the gulf’s misfortunes. And had this commercial been created will less sophistication, less warmth or less sensitivity, it could easily have come across badly. This clearly was not the case, however, and the decision-makers at P&G were able to recognize this spot as the masterful piece of communication that it is.
I can’t remember when I’ve seen a marketing initiative that makes you feel so good about a brand and its parent company while simultaneously powering home its unique selling proposition. I guess it just never dawned on me that such a thing was possible.
June 18th, 2010 by admin
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- Who: Kraft
- What: PR Event
- Rating: 14th Floor
Even when I was running the marketing departments of big corporations and had access to eight-figure marketing budgets, I questioned the value of paying big bucks simply to have one of my brand logos grace the wall of an arena or ballpark. I’ve always felt that merely exposing a logo does very little for you, that you need to be tell your story or somehow deliver a richer and more meaningful experience to your target audience. And that’s why I think Kraft’s new “noodle” sculpture outside Chicago’s Wrigley Field is a real winner (a word with which Wrigley Field has rarely been associated throughout its 95 years).
The sculpture is generating more buzz than those obnoxious Vuvuzela horns at the World Cup. (Click news story to see an example of the coverage.) Of course, part of the coverage is due to the fact that some Cub fans are outraged and insulted by the presence of a “noodle” outside the venerable Friendly Confines. But a little controversy can be a good thing, and in this case it appears that the majority of fans are “pro-noodle.” (When you think about it, the Cubs should be thrilled to have a distraction from the fact that they’re in the midst of yet another lovably losing season.)
What I especially love about this publicity initiative is that Kraft had the guts–and smarts–to avoid splashing a logo on the sculpture. Instead, the sculpture carries only the words “You know you love it,” which is the tagline for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. In fact, when you Google “You know you love it,” the first entry you see takes you to their website. And when you go there, you see a graphic that is strikingly similar to the Wrigley Field sculpture.
Sorry, but I have to go now; I have a sudden craving for some Mac & Cheese!
June 15th, 2010 by admin
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- Who: KLM
- What: PR Event
- Rating: 14th Floor
Recently, KLM launched their new Economy Comfort seating in an extremely creative way: by having Dutch levitation guru Ramana perform a magical stunt at major airports served by the airline. Check out this hard-to-believe video.
As impressive as the video is–and I suspect that millions of people will eventually view it–think how impressive it must have been for the hundreds of thousands of people who saw the stunt in person! And keep in mind that almost half of those people just got off an airplane that gave them a fraction of the legroom being demonstrated by Ramana.
The impact of a marketing message is often due as much to the environment in which the message is received as to the message itself. In this case, the marriage of message and environment could not have been more perfect–or more magical!
June 1st, 2010 by admin
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- Who: Audi
- What: customer service
- Rating: 14th floor
Your brand is much more a function of what you do than what you say about yourself. And there’s no more powerful way to affect your brand–either positively or negatively–than through your customer service.
I’ve been driving my Audi A4 Cabriolet–very happily–for seven years. When I bought the car, the dealer–The Audi Exchange in Highland Park, IL–asked if I wanted my license plates on the front and back or just the back. I hadn’t realized that the latter option even existed, but they pointed out that front plates weren’t required in Illinois. As someone who generally prefers a very clean look, I took the “back only” option.
Unfortunately, at some point over the past several years, the city of Chicago–where I often go for both business and recreational reasons–started ticketing vehicles without front plates. But when I recently asked the Audi Exchange to install my front plates, I was initially told that the installation bracket that would be required would cost about $280. When I explained my situation to the service manager and pointed out that I wouldn’t have been charged for the bracket had I had the front plates installed when I bought the car, he smiled and said, “That’s a fair point. Okay, the brackets are on us.”
That was it. No haggling. No complaining that I’d bought the car seven years ago. No running to the general manager for approval. He simply did the right thing and treated a customer fairly. In a perfect world, that wouldn’t be newsworthy, but in an age when so many companies fail to empower their employees to make decisions that will make customers feel truly valued, this experience was a very refreshing.
The result is that I’m more loyal than ever to Audi in general and The Audi Exchange in particular. In fact, I’m so loyal I might even write a blog post about it!
May 11th, 2010 by admin
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- Who: Olive Garden
- What: TV campaign
- Rating: 4th floor
Ever since I started this blog, I’ve periodically considered doing a post about the Olive Garden’s incredibly sappy TV commercials. I’ve always resisted, however, simply because they were such easy pickings. But for some reason, the commercial I just saw pushed my resistance past the tipping point, and I decided I need to get this rant of my chest.
When you’re creating advertising, especially about something fun like eating out, it seems to me you owe it to your audience–and to your stockholders–to at least make an attempt to be clever. After all, you’re asking people for 30 seconds of their precious time, and it’s only fair that you provide some entertainment value in return. Unfortunately, the Olive Garden makes no such attempt. All of their ads feature insufferably sunny Stepford wives, husbands and friends making and laughing at really lame jokes about how much they love this restaurant chain’s food.
Despite this, however, Olive Garden’s sales are growing, and it may well be that the advertising is actually working. How can that possibly be? The fact is that Olive Garden does a lot of things right. Their ads–annoying as they are–have a very consistent look and feel that make it very clear which brand is being advertised. The restaurant decor is always quite pleasant. Some ads tell how their recipes are created in an Olive Garden Culinary Institute of Tuscany in a restored 11th century village; while this might be a marketing gimmick, I think it’s a pretty good one that, if anything, should get more emphasis in the company’s marketing. And I have to admit that the ads make their food look pretty tasty.
So why am I ranting? Because I believe their ads would be even more effective if they replaced the saccharine with some Italian spice. Dump the lame jokes and the lamer laughs and add a dash or three of sophisticated humor. The food and ambience will still be as appealing, but more viewers will pay attention if they know it will make them smile or laugh instead of frown or retch.
What’s more, it will reduce the risk that viewers will avoid the restaurant for fear that they’ll be seated near a table of dorky people with really bad senses of humor.
