Rekindle your love of reading

Print media doesn’t typically lend itself to a strong product demonstration. Especially when the product is digital. But in the case of the Amazon Kindle, feast your eyes.
The product boasts a new high contrast screen that blunts the argument that you can’t take your digital books outdoors for a pleasant read under the summer sun.
Check it out:

The headline and subhead are superbly crafted. I was compelled to read the text on the screen and found myself wanting to turn the virtual page (it didn’t work…it’s the back cover of the magazine). Many may recognize the story on the screen; I didn’t, which continues an unbroken string of wrong answers to trivia questions.
Anyhoo, if I were to level any criticism toward the creative peeps, it would be with regard to the copy points under the Kindle. They read like bullets in a PowerPoint presentation.
There is a bit of irony when print media serves as the canvas for an eReader product demonstration.
Sidebar:The Amazon Kindle gives a whole new meaning to curling up with a good book. Maybe the idiom will take on a digital age derivation:
“I’m going to go scroll down with a good book.”
Then again, maybe not.

BuzzNet Tags: print advertising,magazine advertising,amazon,amazon kindle,kindle,e-reader,Laura Hildebrand,Unbroken,affinity,brand loyalty,brand experience

Impure intentions paved the road

Have you caught the Hornitos Tequila television commercials? I’ve seen three and each are quite captivating and tantalizing. Euro RSCG Chicago launched the campaign a year ago with two 15 second spots (embedded at the end of this blog) that skirt the line of decency, right where libidinous young males reside.

The newest commercial titled “Brotherly Love”, plays on the fantasy of twins switching places. In this case, the brother doesn’t know, and neither does the girlfriend, apparently.

Whose intentions aren’t pure here?

Sassy. Sexy. Sinister. Sordid. Suggestive. Add your adjectives here: ____________________________________________________________.

Here’s another one: provocative! Her sweet, romantic giggle coupled with the opening line fires the imagination. Has Mike been a naughty boy? Is he being a bit frisky? Whatever it is, she appears to like it. The evening seems full of promise. You can see it in her eyes and her saucy little gate.

Next comes the twist. Mike’s cell phone rings and a dirty truth is revealed; Mike isn’t Mike, he’s Mike’s identical twin brother, Dave, and Dave has designs on his twin’s girl, April, who is none the wiser.

Yes, it’s irreverent and disrespectful to the intelligence of the woman, but acknowledging that spoils the fantasy, so we don’t go there. Why would we? We’re dealing with the gratification of young men’s libidos and egos here. That’s a higher cause! And Hornitos wants to take you there, guys.

Cougar feeds a more uncomfortable fantasy for many, chasing skirts old enough to be your mother, or your friend’s mother:

Hitting on your best friend’s mom. Wow.

Doris, the husky-voiced bartender, leaving a voicemail with Doug’s boss so he can play late into the night with a couple of young dames, is a rather tame fantasy. Doug takes a glimpse at his feminine quarry and considers himself lucky, but based on the girls’ behavior, it’s not apparent he has a shot at winning anything more than a few games of billiards. Or does he?

You sound like a husky, Doris, so sick as a dog is an apt description.

Sauza, a Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc. brand, and the makers of Hornitos Tequila, pushes the envelope of good taste with these commercials, to be sure, but don’t most edgy and memorable ads? The beauty and brilliance is how they tease and titillate without going over the line. Hornitos merely suggests; we fill in the blanks with our own (impure?) notions of what happened or will come next. That’s inspired.

Purer than your intentions. Now that’s a tagline, and for many of us, probably closer to the truth than we’d care to admit.

Sidebar: Please drink responsibly (but understand that Hornitos Tequila is not responsible for your impure intentions).

BuzzNet Tags: TV commercial,television advertising,advertising commercial,advertising,radio commercial,publicity,brand affinity,brand loyalty,brand experience,tagline,tequila,100% agave,Hornitos tequila,purer than your intentions,Sauza tequila,Beam Global Spirits & Wine Inc.,Euro RSCG Chicago,twin,cougars,fantasy

Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

Sorry, Dodge, but you don’t know what I’m thinking.

I’m thinking you’ve made a mistake attempting to position the Grand Caravan as the real man’s van. Sure, it’s a Dodge, a member of the most macho of vehicle lines, but it’s still a minivan, and minivans have the stigma of being a soccer mom’s vehicle, i.e. a momma van. You can’t cross that chasm.

Men can’t escape the stigma of driving a minivan.

I’m thinking it takes more than a leather trim command center to get a male to hoo-ah over a vehicle. Especially a minivan.

I’m thinking a 506 watt Infinity surround sound is overkill for singing along to “If You’re Happy and You Know It”, “A Peanut Sat on the Railroad Track” and “You Are My Sunshine”.

I’m thinking almost 300 horsepower will give mom the giddy-up she needs to race across town in 12 minutes to get the kids to Chuck E. Cheese’s on time for the birthday party.

I’m thinking the “sudden'” realization that he’s sitting in a minivan isn’t going to inspire him in the least to have children. Not even almost.

I’m thinking this has been tried before: Pontiac attempted to lasso guys into believing the Montana was for men of the wild, wild west.

The quality of the Montana was akin to the quality of this video…pretty crappy.

They failed miserably. What makes you so smart, so certain your creative and messaging will keep the Grand Caravan from suffering the same fate? Learn from the lessons of the past.

In the final analysis, Dodge, I can’t help but wonder what you’re thinking.

IceRocket Tags: TV commercial,television advertising,advertising commercial,advertising,radio commercial,publicity,brand affinity,brand loyalty,brand experience,Dodge,Dodge Grand Caravan,minivan,momma van,soccer mom,Chuck E. Cheese's

Attracting more people of Walmart

Walmart recently admitted that a merchandising strategy it implemented in 2008 cost it market share, revenue and customers. As cited in a Reuters article, that decision to eliminate products that weren’t top sellers across the United States meant items that are a necessity in cold weather climates, like snow blowers, but aren’t needed in a broad swath of southern states, were not to be found in Buffalo, Cleveland and Minneapolis. Frustrated consumers went elsewhere.

To win customers back, Walmart returned to its founding principles and added approximately 8,500 items to store shelves, piling merchandise covering multiple price points to the ceiling.

Walmart also acknowledged that they de-emphasized the low price guarantee in its messaging, further eroding customer confidence that the big box retailer had everything they needed at the best possible price.

To address this perception problem, a new ad campaign developed by The Martin Agency pronounces their client’s refocus on carrying the items people need at the lowest advertised price. Each commercial opens with “one of these items doesn’t belong here” flowing down the checkout belt followed by a scene where all items come into play:

I’ve never seen that guy in my life.

I love it. Curiosity reels you in as you observe the products on the checkout belt. “How do these all go together?” you ask yourself. Talk about captivating your audience. The slice of life vignette is funny and engaging. The beauty of this creative approach is that it’s easily replicated:

Yea you’re up now.

Walmart’s YouTube channel features seven commercials in this vein. They’re all cute and some are laugh-out-loud funny.

Perhaps worried that the announcer’s message at the end of these commercials doesn’t adequately accentuate the price match guarantee, The Martin Group produced this ad:

Was there a Randy Jackson sighting in eyewear?

Hmmm, this commercial deserves a little extra attention, probably because I find it so annoying. I think everyone recalls that Walmart promises to match any advertised price. Everyone except the cashier apparently. Oh, and the customer, who displays genuine surprise when told Walmart will, in fact, match the competitor’s price. Really?

All you have to do is ask. Thank goodness you don’t have to bring in the competitor’s ad anymore. Frankly, though, it troubles me that I have to ask. Why not have my back and proactively match a competitor’s lower price? That’s true customer service and that’s how you actualize your low price guarantee and garner customer loyalty. When an item is scanned, Walmart’s system should automatically adjust for a competitor’s lower price, alert the cashier, and print the saving on the receipt. The cashier then tells me, the customer, that I just saved money via the Walmart low price match guarantee.

It’s a mystery to me why companies ever abandon their key differentiators. Go with what got you there is a champion’s mantra and Walmart is well served to remember their fundaments. Fortunately, The Martin Group has developed an attractive and clever ad campaign with legs that will likely bring back many of the people of Walmart who left them.

BuzzNet Tags: TV commercial,television advertising,advertising commercial,advertising,radio commercial,radio spot,publicity,brand affinity,brand loyalty,brand experience,Walmart,The Martin Group,low price guarantee,low price match,YouTube,Randy Jackson,American Idol

You have to give Discover credit

Someone in my household obtained the April 4th 2011 issue of People magazine, a publication I haven’t seen in years. I personally have zero interest in the lives of our political, entertainment and pop culture heroes because most live in a bubble and permit the masses to see only what they want them to see. When a celebrity has a public meltdown, like Mr. Duh, Winning, I avert my eyes and ignore the noise because I don’t enjoy witnessing a train wreck.

As previously revealed in this blog, I only read a couple of sports print publications, so I’m not exposed to many magazine advertisements. As I was flipping through People magazine, I didn’t notice most of the advertisements – they were there, I just didn’t notice them - so I decided it was time to play Random Ad Review again. Here it goes….

Nice! I was very lucky to land on this advertisement. You have to give Discover credit. I love brand messaging with legs and the stewards of the Discover brand have run with the “It Pays to Discover™” tagline since 1988. Why not? The multiple meanings in the message are inherently positive, reinforce the brand promise and employ the brand name. It doesn’t get any better.

The simplicity of this advertisement doesn’t get any better either. Orange is an unusual brand color and that makes the ad stand out when the magazine reader turns to that page. I couldn’t help but take notice. Orange obviously ties directly with the sun in the Discover brand logo, which may be the original logo design introduced with the card in 1985.

The Discover card image is prominent (wise) and the George Washington portrait from the one dollar bill is subtly visible directly above it (brilliant).

Thirty-one words is all it takes to tell the story. #1 cash rewards. Who doesn’t love cash rewards? Who doesn’t love being associated with #1? Who cares about #2? Who remembers #2?

It pays to switch. It pays to Discover. Who can argue with that; both are true. What’s more to say?

del.icio.us Tags: print advertisement,advertising commercial,radio commercial,radio spot,publicity,brand affinity,brand loyalty,brand experience,brand messaging,It Pays to Discover,Discover card,Greenwood Trust Company,Discover Financial Network,Sears,Dean Witter Reynolds,Coldwell,Banker & Company,orange sun,People magazine

I swear! Profanity has no place in social media

Once again, we find ourselves dealing with someone who dropped the f-bomb in a public forum. In this case, it was an employee at New Media Strategies, a social media firm representing Chrysler. The individual was apparently in the middle of a mind-numbing drive into work and jumped onto Twitter to express his or her explicit frustration:

"I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f*¢king drive."  (this blogger substituted * and ¢)

In this person’s haste, he or she failed to check the handle to ensure he or she was logged into his or her personal account. The perp wasn’t, and the tweet went out under the Chrysler Twitter account, @chryslerautos. It wasn’t long before the mistake was realized and the tweet was deleted, but not before it was retweeted…and retweeted…and retweeted…and covered in blogs, taking it completely out of the company’s control.

And that was all she (or he) wrote. Literally. The offending individual was fired by New Media Strategies. Chrysler acted swiftly as well, firing NMS.

Ad Age published the story along with the tweet, uncensored. The  firestorm that followed in its reader comments section is quite telling, and more than a bit disturbing.

As of this writing, over 100 readers have weighed in. The majority of the early responses completely lacked any intellectual content; most merely seized the opportunity to use the offending term themselves in very banal and predictable one-liners:

“F*¢king ridiculous.”
”This is f*¢king unbelievable!”
”This is f*¢king throwing the baby out with the f*¢king bath water.”

Deep stuff guys. Is it any surprise the authors of these rich comments are all male? There’s something real macho about using the f-bomb, and it’s probably a real thrill to do so professionally amongst your peers in your industry’s premier magazine and shamelessly publish your name alongside it.

Classy.

I’m not here to debate the merits of Chrysler’s decision. I’m here to take issue with advertising, marketing communications and social media professionals who think it’s acceptable, and perhaps essential, to use profane language online and undoubtedly, at work in constructive, creative and contentious discourse.

Balderdash!

As expressed by a few thoughtful Ad Age readers, swearing has no place in corporate and marketing communications. The medium (even Twitter) and the audience (even Gen Y) do not make a difference. Profanity reflects poorly on the individual and the company. It does absolutely nothing to enhance the brand or build customer affinity.

Borrowing from an earlier post, descending to such base language smacks of a lack of respect for your client, their customers, your colleagues and yourself. It’s highly insensitive. Profanity makes many people uncomfortable. It isn’t cool and it won’t win admirers or new business. There isn’t a single argument someone can present that will convince me otherwise.

Communications professionals are to be held to a higher standard. We should possess a supreme command of the language and an expansive vocabulary. Any emotion we deem to express can and should be effectively articulated with well chosen power words.

If you are so de-sensitized to profanity that nothing shocks you and you find yourself apathetic toward the subject, then consider one irrefutable risk: as an Ad Age reader presented, in the public domain there may be legal ramifications for profane utterances for the utterer and those they represent. It is incumbent upon the communications professional and agency to protect their client. If you can’t (or won’t) discipline yourself for your own self-respect, that reason itself must prevail.

del.icio.us Tags: Twitter,New Media Strategies,NMS,Chrysler,f-bomb,profanity,Ad Age,social media,social media agency,corporate communications,marketing communications,advertising,publicity,brand affinity,customer retention,ad agency,creative,differentiation,strategy

Freaky fast and freakin’ successful is no freak accident

I’m a Jimmy John’s virgin. If it weren’t for their radio ads, I wouldn’t even know they exist. Weird, because I love sub sandwiches. Anyway, I heard one of their commercials recently and I was so entertained I conducted an online search to listen to the spot again. Frustratingly, I couldn’t find the commercial in question. Gratifyingly, I found a company web page with eight radio ads posted for my enjoyment with a link to TV ads on the left and print ads on the right.

Jimmy John’s, a sub sandwich purveyor, boasts freaky fast delivery. As previously mentioned, I know very little about this company, but I dig what I’m learning. Jimmy John’s built their business and stake their reputation on fast delivery. Their integrated advertising and social media initiatives reinforce this brand promise.

I gave the eight radio spots a listen and loved them all. The distinct voices command attention and the pace of the dialogue is freaky fast and freaky fun. Here’s a great example. I adore the superb use of sound effects. You want to rewind and listen again and again. Compelling.

The corporate site has only four TV commercials featuring everyday people in harrowing circumstances. As the crisis deepens, each individual makes a call – to Jimmy John’s. Fast-forward to a JJ delivery person holding the bag of goodies. Doorbell and voiceover: Jimmy John’s. America’s sandwich delivery experts. The commercials are good, but the only relationship with the radio campaign is the voice in the voiceover. Strange they didn’t leverage the Freaky Fast theme. Think of the zaniness they could deliver in freaky fast video.

Jimmy John’s has a Facebook page which appears to be the heart of their social media initiative. It boasts more than one-half million fans. Many customers write posts on the Wall about a recent purchase experience. The majority are positive, but on occasion there is a complaint. To Jimmy John’s credit, they publicly address criticisms and asks the complainants to email the offending franchise information so JJ can fix it. Here’s an example:

K: I ordered delivery 45 mins ago and I'm still waiting. *sad face*

JJ: ‎*sad face* I personally apologize K, I didn't build the biz delivering slow! Send me which store and your contact info to facebook@jimmyjohns.com so I can fix it

Wow. And when a customer seems particularly hacked off, JJ gives a toll-free number so Jimmy John’s can personally talk to him. People love a company with a personal touch. Smart.

What I really like about the Facebook page, however, is how they create fan interaction. A recent Jimmy John’s post asked Fans to Find Your Jimmy-Rhyme. Fans are encouraged to post photos of Jimmy John’s rhyme billboards and busboards or write their own and post on the JJ Facebook wall. It’s generated scores of posts, yet surprisingly, only eight photos in its first 30 days. I expect it will pick up momentum.

Jimmy John’s leverages many of the available features on Facebook to keep their fans engaged and entertained, as well. From Polls to TalkinTummies to Videos, each application reinforces a positive brand experience. I was pleasantly surprised to see Fans can even order online on the JJ Facebook site. Brilliant!

Wisely, JJ maintains a steady stream of conversations with fans and critics alike on their Twitter feed and points people to their Facebook pages. Followers posts can earn a reply from Jimmy John’s and some are retweeted. Corporate and franchisees also tweet special promotions and announcements.

The Jimmy John’s JJ Freaker blog adds another dimension to the social media program. The only thing is, it doesn’t look, read or feel like a blog.  To me, it just look like another company website. It’s difficult to describe its purpose except maybe to serve as an aggregator of its Facebook and Twitter activities and to serve up special promotions. To me, it appears to be a failed attempt at embracing all social media tools.

The YouTube channel is another example and it’s a cautionary tale. Don’t jump into something if you can’t commit. The channel went completely stale freaky fast with no new content since its introduction on August 24, 2009. The site is abandoned. What happened? Did Jimmy John’s lay off the person responsible? People like me do stumble upon it via a search engine result, but we are quickly turned away because there’s nothing fresh there. With no one minding the store, not surprisingly, you will find a few f-bombs in the uncensored Comments section.

All-in-all, I give Jimmy John’s props. The integrated advertising and social media campaign does what it’s supposed to do. It keeps Jimmy John’s on the brain and whets your appetite for a freaky fast sub from America’s sandwich delivery experts. I think I’m going to have to lose my virginity real soon.

del.icio.us Tags: TV commercial,television advertising,advertising commercial,advertising,radio commercial,radio spot,publicity,brand affinity,brand loyalty,brand experience,Jimmy John's,Freaky Fast,America's Sandwich Delivery Experts,social media,Facebook,YouTube,Twitter,JJ Freaker blog,Find Your Jimmy-Rhyme