Golf Channel Knocks It 320 Yards Down the Middle

December 16th, 2011 by admin 4 comments »

  • Who: Golf Channel
  • What: TV Ad
  • Rating: 14th floor

I love golf.  I love golfers.  I love Golf Channel.  And that’s probably why I love Golf Channel’s new commercial so much.

I love golf in large part because it’s so damned difficult.  It frustrates me like nothing else I’ve ever attempted, as my on-the-course language all-too-often sadly attests.  Yet when I manage to hit the occasional great shot, it literally gives me an incredible thrill.   And I mean it when I say “literally”; even though I’m a decent golfer, I’m so aware of the thousands of things that can go wrong with a golf swing that I have a hard time believing it when I’m actually able to execute a great shot.  It might only happen a few times per round, but it’s definitely worth the wait.

I love golfers in general because I respect anyone who is willing to tackle and embrace a stiff challenge.  I particularly love pro golfers because I think they exude much more character  and integrity than any other class of professional athlete.  PGA and LPGA golfers aren’t guaranteed a paycheck; they don’t sign contracts ensuring them millions of dollars for hitting .159 (I’m talkin’ to you, Adam Dunn), repeatedly dropping touchdown passes (hello, Roy Williams) or disappearing in the league championship series (how you doin’, Lebron?).  And even though they’re playing for a paycheck, they’ll call penalties on themselves that can cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars (such as Webb Simpson did this year, ultimately causing him to miss out on what would have been his first career victory).

When you see pro golfers interviewed, they are invariably modest about themselves and highly complimentary of their opponents.  And when they celebrate a sunk putt–if they celebrate at all–it’s usually a simple fist pump.  Contrast that with the NFL players who, after sacking a quarterback or catching a touchdown pass, engage in an elaborate series of obnoxious gestures that simultaneously celebrate their personal greatness and insult their momentarily vanquished opponent.

I love Golf Channel because it so consistently and poignantly captures all facets of the drama of this uniquely challenging and rewarding sport.  I love their reporters and announcers–such as ex-PGA players like David Feherty, Brandel Chamblee, Frank Nobilo and Charlie Rymer and golden-throated Scottish announcers Renton Laidlaw and Dougie Donnelly–all of whom clearly revere the game and come across as be the kind of people you’d love to play a round with and then have a beer with.

Finally, I love this  new commercial because I think it captures everything I’ve just described–and more–so beautifully.   I even love the background song “Nothing for Granted” (by Brendan James), which provides not only a great melody but a wonderful sense of emotion.

Mark Twain famously described golf as “a good walk spoiled.”  I can only assume that Mr. Twain’s cable operator didn’t offer Golf Channel.

golf

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Kia and Michelle Wie Both Have Soul

December 13th, 2011 by admin No comments »

  • Who: Kia Soul
  • What: TV ad
  • Rating: 12th floor

One of the keys to success in professional golf is having a caddy you can trust to recommend the right club.  I think Kia’s ad agency could not have recommended a better celebrity than 22-year-old golfer Michelle Wie for this TV commercial for its new Soul sub-contact car.

This ad does a wonderful job of targeting the Soul at young people contemplating their first new car purchase.  If you want a car that would never be driven by your parents–not to mention the stuffy country club set–this is it.  And a big part of the credit for that perception goes to the infectious song (“Pro Nails” by Kid Sister) that plays throughout the spot.

On a more subtle note, one other thing that makes this commercial work so well is the fact that both Kia and Michelle Wie are of Korean descent.  (She was born in Hawaii to South Korean immigrants.)  Kia, like its sister Korean company Hyundai, has made great strides in building its brand equity over the past few years through high quality ratings and appealing product design. Aligning the Soul brand with a popular, attractive young Korean-American will surely make “Korean”–and Kia–even cooler.

But then again, what would you expect from a company based in Seoul?

advertising, automobiles, golf

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British Airways: To Fly. To Serve. To Sell.

December 11th, 2011 by admin No comments »

  • Who: British Airways
  • What: Advert
  • Rating: 14th floor

I often criticize ads that don’t give enough prominence to the brand name.  I’ve even gone so far as to suggest that their ad agencies perhaps would rather be making movies than “mere commercials.”  These ads are often entertaining–some via humor, others via cool music or striking visuals–but they rarely do their intended job, which is to sell.

In this new “advert” from British Airways, you won’t hear the brand name a single time, and half of the logos you see are for prior generations of the company’s name (like “Imperial Airways” and “BOAC”). Yet I think this ad is one of the best ads I’ve seen this year.

So why–if I’m right–does this “advert” succeed despite breaking the rules of brand registration?  One reason is the British narrator; it’s clearly an airline ad, so once you hear that elegant British accent, you know it must be a British Airways ad. (Who else could it be?)  Another reason is that the combination of the cinematography and the background music is so engrossing that you want to pay close attention–to soak up every detail–and in the process you can’t help but notice the occasional British Airways logo on one of the many eye-catching aircraft featured later in the spot.

Yet another reason for this ad’s impact is that the beautifully written and delivered narration and the exceptional production values scream quality.  My subconscious brain can only conclude, “This airline obviously has great planes, great mechanics and great pilots.”

And finally, there’s the tagline:  “To fly.  To serve.” And this is much more than a tagline; as the narrator informs us, it’s “the same four words stitched into every uniform of every captain who takes their command.”  The message:  these people love to fly, and they love to take exquisite care of their passengers.

And they clearly love to make great advertising.

advertising, airlines

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McDonald’s French Fries Commercial Is a Keeper

November 29th, 2011 by admin No comments »

  • Who: McDonald's
  • What: TV ad
  • Rating: 14th floor

When I was first starting out in the wonderful world of marketing, McDonald’s was one of the most creative and effective advertisers in the world.  For years their ads simultaneously tantalized your taste buds and tugged at your heartstrings, and they played a huge role in clearly elevating the brand far above all fast food competitors.  Sadly, it’s been at least 10 or 15 years since McDonald’s so consistently worked its marketing magic.

Recently, however, I’ve been seeing some signs that the old magic might be returning.  Perhaps the most encouraging example is their current  french fries commercial. This warmly-shot spot is charming in its simplicity, and the surprise ending makes me smile no matter how many times I see it.

This could have featured a customer saying “I love McDonald’s fries” or an announcer citing statistics documenting how McDonald’s fries are preferred over the competition’s at a statistically significant level of confidence.  Obviously, however, such flat-footed approaches couldn’t come close to the impact of having three kids running and riding full-speed off a dock in pursuit of a McDonald’s  french fry on the end of a fishing hook.

To me, this spot both reminds me of how delicious McDonald’s fries are and makes me like McDonald’s just a little bit more.  It’s highly entertaining yet almost believable. In short, it’s the ultimate fish story.

advertising, food, restaurants

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Subway Takes the Low Road by Entertaining Rather Than Selling

November 28th, 2011 by admin No comments »

  • Who: Subway
  • What: TV Campaign
  • Rating: 2nd floor, 2nd floor

I’ve never been a fan of Subway’s advertising )such as their cloying and annoying “5 Dollar Footlong” campaign).   Their latest  TV campaign, however, is a particular puzzler.  A lot of my friends and readers who’ve seen this campaign have asked me why the ads feature adults talking like kids, and my honest answer is that I have no idea.

The device of giving children’s voices to adult actors is arguably entertaining the first few times you see it. but it does nothing to make the viewer want to hop in the car and drive to the nearest Subway.  The ad doesn’t feature fascinating footage of the sandwich, or describe its tantalizing taste in drool-inducing detail, or give you compelling facts about its nutritional advantages.  In short, it doesn’t sell; it simply entertains…sort of.

If Subway was trying to make the point that its sandwiches “bring out the kid in you” or “remind you of when you were a kid”, using kids’ voices would at least have some degree of underlying logic.  But that’s hardly the case here.

So what’s Subway thinking?  I don’t have a clue.  And neither, it appears, do they.

advertising, restaurants

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Carlsberg Video Raises the Bar

October 31st, 2011 by admin No comments »

  • Who: Carlsberg beer
  • What: video
  • Rating: 14th floor

For years I’ve felt that some of the planet’s poorest marketers were breweries.  But while several beer brands continue to pummel us with exceptionally weak efforts (I’m talking about you, Miller Lite), brands such as Dos Equis, Corona, Stella Artois and Blue Moon have been serving up smart, strategic, entertaining advertising campaigns.

The latest example of out-of-the-can thinking is this viral video from Carlsberg beer.  As of the time of this posting, it had received almost 8 million viewings, and for good reason.  Like many great movies, this very cleverly conceived and produced video makes us feel a little uneasy in order to engage us deeply and make us empathize with its story.  And the ending makes us feel good about everyone in the video, as well as about the brand that has just entertained us so royally.  What’s more, it shows that brand in use, and makes us wish we were using it ourselves.

Maybe I’m a little biased by the fact that one of my favorite memories is having taking a 10:00 am tour of the Carlsberg brewery in Copenhagen on a break between graduating from business school and starting my career. What made the tour extra special is that I took it with the then-75-year-old brother of Jerry Siegel, the creator of Superman. Still, I feel I can objectively state that this video is, well, super.

Mr. Siegel, this Carlsberg’s for you!

advertising, beer, video

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Ad Raises Question: Is Cain Able?

October 26th, 2011 by admin 3 comments »

  • Who: herman cain
  • What: tv commercial
  • Rating: lobby

When I see a company run really bad advertising, it makes me wonder, “If they’re screwing up something as import as the way they market themselves, what else are they screwing up?

That’s the way I now feel about Herman Cain.  While he appears to be a great guy, and he was clearly a very successful businessman, his new TV commercial now makes me question his judgment. I’ve watched the spot several times, and each time I’m left with the same question: “What was he thinking?”

If he couldn’t anticipate that voters (and the media) would be at best puzzled, and at worst turned off, by a shot of chief of staff Mark Block smoking a cigarette–just before transitioning to an image of Cain himself–what else would he fail to anticipate as Commander-in-Chief?

That might be an overreaction on my part, but the point is that this ad has weakened the Cain brand by introducing uncertainty. The essence of branding is being crystal-clear about exactly what you stand for.  And right now I’m not sure if Herman Cain is a legitimate contender to be our next president, or if he’s just blowing smoke.

advertising, branding

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Ocean Spray Campaign Is the Berries

September 14th, 2011 by admin No comments »

  • Who: Ocean Spray
  • What: ad campaign
  • Rating: 14th floor

I’ve always felt that one of the hallmarks of a great TV campaign is the ability to communicate the brand being advertised even if the sound is off.  One campaign that meets this criterion is the long-running series of “Straight from the Bog”  tv commercials by Ocean Spray.

Every ad features the same two folksy company spokesmen: Henry, a no-nonsense, sixty-something grower with a twinkle in his eye, and Justin, his younger, highly enthusiastic–if somewhat dimwitted–fellow grower.  Both characters are very likable and are the kind of people we–or at least I–would like to think typify the members of the Ocean Spray grower cooperative.

What’s more, the ads almost always show Henry and Dustin knee-deep in a bright red bog of cranberries, never leaving a doubt as to the product–and even the brand–being advertised.

If you, like I, are closer to the age of the older gentleman, you’ll recognize that this campaign was clearly inspired by the brilliant Bartles & Jaymes wine cooler ad campaign that was such a phenomenal success in the mid-to-late 1980s.

At the time, I was a Marketing Director at the Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery, which owned Bartles & Jaymes.  The ad campaign, and even the brand name, were created by legendary ad man Hal Riney, who didn’t let the fact that he owned the agency (Hal Riney & Partners) keep him from rolling up his sleeves and writing every brilliant word of every Bartles & Jaymes ad.  And I can attest to the fact that this was one of the most successful ad campaigns in the history of the beverage industry.

Hemingway supposedly once said, “Good writers borrow; great writers steal.”  If that’s the case, then the writers of the “Straight from the Bog” campaign are great indeed.

Uncategorized, advertising

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Lincoln Forgets to Memorialize Its Name

August 21st, 2011 by admin No comments »

  • Who: Lincoln Financial Group
  • What: TV campaign
  • Rating: 6th floor

For over a year now there’s been an engaging series of  TV commercials, each of which shows a man in his 30s or 40s meeting an older version of himself and asking, “How did we do?” in terms of planning for his financial future.  In all cases, the older version of the man assures the younger one that he ends up doing a good job, but cautions him to keep planning since “retirement isn’t the finish line.”  For the most part, the ads are quite well done, in part because it’s interesting to see how each man looks at two different ages, but mostly because it’s a compelling way to drive home the importance–and rewards–of smart financial planning.

The only problem: the company doing the advertising–Lincoln Financial Group–is virtually invisible.  You only hear the name and see the corporate logo at the very end of the spots, and they’re presented in a very uninteresting way.  Thus, the ads succeed at selling the concept of financial planning but fail to create awareness of Lincoln Financial Group.

It seems to me that if your brand features the name “Lincoln” and your corporate logo features a profile of Honest Abe, your advertising should somehow leverage the image of the man if you want to ensure that people remember that you’re the one doing the advertising.  For example, you might draw a parallel between Abraham Lincoln’s visionary leadership and Lincoln Financial Group’s visionary financial planning.  Or, if you don’t what to go that far, at least do something cleverly memorable in the way you present the brand name and logo rather than simply slapping it on the back end  of a 30-second commercial.

Far too many commercials do a great job of telling a story and a lousy job of reminding the viewer whose story it is.  I think it’s because there are too many agency creatives who’d rather be writing screenplays and who–so that their advertising doesn’t “look like advertising”–call as little attention to the brand being advertised as the advertiser will let them get away with.

Make sure your agency understands that they are in fact writing stories about a star.  The star just happens to be not an actor, but your brand.

financial, financial services

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HTC’s “Facebook Phone” Right on the Button!

August 15th, 2011 by admin No comments »

  • Who: HTC
  • What: Innovation
  • Rating: 12th Floor

How’d you like to be a smartphone marketer employed by a company whose CEO is someone not named “Steve Jobs”?  No matter how brilliant your features or sleek your design, you can’t possibly compete with the iPhone’s cool factor.

Unless, that is, you leverage the power of the only brand on the planet that can give the Apple brand a run for its money among teens and twenty-somethings.  That brand, of course, would be Facebook.  And  HTC’s Status smartphone is the first and only phone to feature the familiar blue Faecbook logo in the form of a button that lets users update their Facebook status (hence the phone’s name) with the simple click of a button.  Ingeniously, the button even illuminates whenever you’re doing something on the phone that might make sense to share with your Facebook friends.

I haven’t used it, but a random sampling of online reviews suggests that HTC got more right than wrong with the design and engineering of this new smartphone.  And while it won’t be everyone’s phone of choice, all HTC needs to do is capture a small percentage of the roughly one billion Facebook users to have a decent hit on their hands.

This would likely be a bigger hit if the wireless carrier were someone other than AT&T (which it is) or Verizon (which it isn’t), as customers of those two carriers also have the option of buying an iPhone.

Still, I can only assume that whatever marketer or product manager dreamed up this innovative idea has significantly enhanced her or his status with HTC.

cellular phones, smartphones

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