White Noise

Marketing Gone Bad

Ok so this is kind of freaking me out a little.  You be the judge.  Feel free to add your own caption - here are a few that came to mind for me

" I can't go to work today without having had my High School Musical Eggo"

"Do you like the Cinnamon flavor?  Not me I love the High School musical ones"

Oh and by the way, these are real.

Not where I would put my money

The other day Macworld ran a report that the WSJ announced that Microsoft had just prepared a $300 million dollar ad campaign against Apple.  Jerry Seinfeld ( who I love ) will be getting $10 million for his piece in the ads.  I started thinking about why the Apple vs Mac ads are so effective.  I think it is because they use humor and each ad is targeted to one particular aspect that Apple excels in. They are not trying to be all things to everyone. 

So Microsoft comes out with some new ads.  People may go out and buy the product.  But what happens after? What happens when they get the product home and it does not perform like they imagined? or that they need a part time IT relative to help them use it.  Wouldn't it be more effective to use that $300 million internally to correct any issues and then launch an ad campaign to promote that?  Maybe it is just me....

I love this

Effective marketing.  A good simple message that everyone can get behind. Hopefully a small positive change. 

The winner for the least friendly packaging is?

Today I was at the local drugstore picking up a prescription. As I was walked down the aisle I saw a package on the shelf begin to glow - like a beacon or a lighthouse light. It was a product called NXT, or Next. From a marketing point of view, I admit it, it did catch my attention I will give you that. But when I looked at what the product actually was it was a line of mens shaving products/gels. I grabbed it and looked it over and was shocked to find out that it has several batteries in it. The bottom of the bottle said that the top was recyclable but the bottom had to be removed (the portion with the batteries in it). How likely do you think that is going to happen? The New York Times did an article on it located here.

Mr. Leventhal presumably a company owner says in the article that

“It’s impossible for a new brand to spend like a Unilever or a Procter & Gamble,” on promotions"

I completely agree, how about instead of competing at the advertising level you just make a better product.
Based on the packaging I can say I will never buy anything from this line.

Technorati Tags: packaging

Meatballs Anyone?

I just finished reading Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin. It is another one of his great books that explains how the new marketing techniques may not work for you and your business.  If implemented incorrectly you end up with a Meatball Sundae. He gives you great examples of companies that have used the new media to their advantage. 

Summary: Use the right tool for the right job

Punk Advertising

Have you noticed lately all the cool music that is being used to advertise sounds so different ? It is because it is music from the 70's and 80's and not new at all. This is music that never ever got radio play and now it is on TV. It kills me when I hear people saying.."Did you hear that new song that so and so is using" makes me feel old.

Examples
Kohls: using Iggy Pop The Passenger
Carnival Cruise: using Iggy Pop Lust for Life
Heineken: using Squeeze Tempted
J.C. Penny: using Yaz Only You

Just to show you what kind of impact this is having I received an email today from Apple iTunes selling a collection of songs just featured in commercials, see here. What's old is new again.

UPDATE:
Fidelity: Devo Working in a Coalmine
and my favorite :Nissan : using The Clash's cover of Pressure Drop

Another Test with Etco

"Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things" (William McDonough, Michael Braungart)

Confusing the Market

... and I would argue lowering the bar.  I have to question AT&T's decision to take over the Cingular brand identity.  For the last two years Cingular has grown their customer base and launched a successful ad campaign around the concept of raising the bar.  Two weeks ago Apple announces the new iPhone product with a multi-year exclusivity contract with Cingular.  Just about three days after that, out of the blue  the decision is made to move back to the AT&T identity. I have to ask why ? 

Why would you squander all the money and time that has been spent on advertising ? 

Why would you go back to a company name that many younger people have never worked with ?

Why would waste all the free publicity from the iPhone announcement ?

Why would you confuse a sector of the market that has already seen brand loyalty questioned?

AT&T it not too late to go back.

When things go wrong

Today I was cleaning out my closest and found several old coffee cans filled with change.  The thought about having to roll all of it mad em queasy.  I remembered that my local Stop and Shop had a coinstar rolling machine.  Recently I saw that if you convert your change into gift certificate you do not have to pay the 8.9% fee. I checked out the site and they have affilitae realtions with a lot of stores including Apple iTunes,Timberland® and Starbucks to name a few.  I opted for Amazon and started the process.  When my change was finished being counted the Coinstar booth dialed out ( you could hear the modem) and tried to connect to Amazon.  After 3 attempts it did not and I was a little concerned.  Then a message popped up on screen apologizing that they were not able to create the certificate I wanted but in exchange they were going to give me a cash slip and not charge me any processing fees !    I walked over to the counter , handed the woman my slip and she handed me back $187.54 in cash. 

This situation could have created a negative expereience but instead it was a great one.  Thanks Coinstar for doing the right thing before someone asked you to.

Music and Sports

It appears that a new partnership has blossomed between Apple and Nike.  It blends a bluetooth device with a receiver to allow runners to combine music and  statistics to see how they are doing. One of the interesting things which we will have to wait to see how it develops  is Nike promises to offer
specific athletic tuned music workouts.

Workout routines developed for use with Nike+iPod time- or distance-based workouts. Each routine offers coaching, motivational, and training tips over a continuous mix of music. 

In truth I am a little surprised that something like this did not develop sooner.  Other than the sneakers, Nike is also contributing an interface to track your progress .  When you sync you ipod  you will be able to see your runs and track your goals  over the internet.  [Note: this is not an original idea - my friend  Joel is doing this on his blog manually now - but I do think this may inspire some other amatuer athletes.]