It’s not TV, But We’ll Sure as Hell Advertise on It

A quick note about something I found interesting last week. HBO bought some time in the 9:00 hour on NBC last Thursday for Flight of the Conchords spots. This is the first time I can remember HBO buying broadcast time (If I am wrong, please let me know).  HBO and NBC are owned by different conglomerates, making this a unique purchase.
I think it is a great buy.  The demos for The Office and 30 Rock have to be pretty similar to FOC, and 30 Rock is attracting a higher income demo, which assists HBO’s quest for possible subscribers.

You’ve been laid off, now enjoy our commercials…

On Thursday, I was informed that my position with GE Capital would be eliminated.  After a few pulls on a bottle of bourbon with some good company, I decided to turn on 30 Rock, an NBC show that is owned by GE.  I sent a text to a former coworker comparing it to seeing a former girlfriend with another guy.  While Jack Donaghy was high atop 30 Rockefeller Plaza, I was pondering my next move.

Surely, thousands of people will be let go from postions, with word spreading to their family, friends, professional nemeses, and network.  And the company who let them go has a fiduciary duty to their stakeholders to keep turning profits, and that usually includes a mix of advertising and marketing.  But here is the question, should these companies take a brief break from advertising to let the dust settle after major layoffs?

The news of layoffs is going to be negative PR and is generally not helping stock prices (this week’s biggest job-cutters, GE and Citi, both saw share prices fall throughout the week).  Additionally, these job cuts are likely known to be coming in advance and surely in enough time to limit media buys. 

In a must-read post on the Ad Contrarian blog, Sharon Krinsky of Hoffman/Lewis notes that the message must change in a bad economy, but I would contend that the frequency should be briefly altered as well.  Probably only a matter of a couple weeks, but at the same time those two weeks give a company the ability to recover from some of the bad press, stay out of the limelight as a faceless corporation, and even save some money for buys when the dust has settled from the layoff.

RECESSION – F*#% it

I’ll start this post with an anecdote.   In a previous life, I was a Sales Manager for hotel rooms in South Lake Tahoe.  I interviewed for the same position twice, as I was passed up the first time around.  In the first round of interviews, I was asked what I would do for our client if a competitor hotel came in $10 less than me per night.  We were a 4 Star hotel, they were a 3 Star.  I didn’t put enough thought into the answer an immediately answered that if allowable by pricing guidelines, I’d match the competitor’s price.  That’s the wrong answer. 

As businesses operate in this recession, they will have to make choices about their brand and the price people will be paying for it.  Rolex sales are sure to drop.  Fewer people will fly first class.  We might not be requesting the top shelf spirits as much.  But, should a premium brand or service lower prices in order to maintain sales? 

Morgans Hotel Group doesn’t think so.  Owners of San Francisco’s Clift, L.A.’s Mondrian, the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Vegas, and six other luxury properties, their “F*#% the Recession” campaign is aiming to directly tell the recession to, well, you know.  A website has been created with youtube videos and even a letter to the recession.  I wonder if that was a Detroit address or possibly office space in the New York Times building.

While the campaign looks appealing and is generating some buzz online, one can only wonder if it will work.  The sentiment of telling off the recession is kind of like yelling at the tv during a sports match.  Proceeding to support a company when one should maybe be saving their money, is akin to paining one’s face to yell at the tv during a sports match.  People are going to be making decisions in the coming months with their pocketbooks on their sleeves.  I just don’t think a campaign that forcefully tries to get people to spend money on luxury goods is prudent, or smart.  If it were me making decisions for these upper-end companies, I’d probably be saving some of those advertising dollars.

The Chief Marketing Officer of Morgans, Scott Williams, recently was quoted in the San Francisco Business Journal. 
“We want to give our guests permission to continue to have fun and to stay with us.  You can bury your head in the sand, discount your rooms, piss your brand away.  But we are a luxury brand and we will act like a luxury brand.  I’m going to look back at this recession and say ‘we didn’t just drop our pants.’” 

I think Williams makes a point here.  However, there is not really a need to create an illogical marketing campaign in order to maintain a luxury brand. 

Is it possible to that the vulgar campaign will scare people away?  I found this interesting quote from a First Lady of luxury, Coco Chanel:
“I love luxury. And luxury lies not in richness and ornateness but in the absence of vulgarity. Vulgarity is the ugliest word in our language. I stay in the game to fight it.”

famous person / famous person / famous person / “G”

I’d be hard pressed to think of an advertisement that has made me reach for my laptop and google it so quickly.  Last week, just like many others, I spent a couple minutes searching for the company behind the black and white “G” advertisement featuring dozens of athletes and celebrities.  More than any other recent advertisement, the commercial has been followed by some free public relations via AdAge, Darren Rovell, and the WSJ.  I’m a little late to the party on this one, but I will offer one thought – The  web url shown at the very end is pretty tiny on the screen.  This may have been the riskiest part of the advertisement.  Sure, one could easily find the info after a couple minutes on google, BUT, should the company really let that happen?  Shouldn’t I go straight to their website if I really want to see what the commercial is all about.  When I hopped on google, it led me to the AdAge article.  AdAge probably shouldn’t have the first say on this – right? EDIT – Check that.  The writing at the bottom is not a url, it is corporate entity info.  But still, one could still make the argument that Gatorade could have provided more information to make sure people who did go online would find accurate and correctly branded information.

Otherwise, I think this is a great piece.  Spike Jonze directed it and the work was done by TBWA/Chiat/Day.

Knock. Knock.

I’m back.

It’s been about a year since I’ve written and I think I have taken off an adequate amount of time to get the rest and rejuvenation necessary to maintain this blog’s unquestionable superiority.
Well, something like that.
I am back for a couple reasons, but mostly because for various reasons, I am more intrigued by advertising now than ever before.

Moving forward I have a few goals for the blog:
- Take a closer and more thorough look at the background to each of the campaigns I mention
- Drive traffic to other similar blogs
- Write in this space more frequently
- Maintain postings regarding local (San Francisco) campaigns and firms
- I am fan of Mad Men.  Each week, I will include a post about the certain pitch(es) / campaigns brought up in the show.  Sorry, no plan to discuss Joan, Betty, or Don Draper’s current squeeze.

Well, onward an upward.  Please take a couple minutes to subscribe via the RSS link at the bottom and we’ll see where this goes…

DISH Network not assisting Tahoe fire victims

I haven’t written in a while, and I am not sure when (or if) I will use this space again; however, I was just reading some news about the Angora Fire in South Lake Tahoe thought that this item deserved to be spread around the Internets as much as possible (even though I now probably receive one page click / month).

According to this Letter to the Editor, DISH Network is refusing to waive a cancellation fee for those without a home in which to watch their television.  If true, this is horrible.

As a person who has lost everything in the Angora fire, I thought it was important to let anyone who might be in the same position know what kind of “customer service” Dish Network is not offering the victims of this fire. I called to cancel my Dish Network account since I no longer have a TV, a satellite or a house, and they informed me that I owe $300 for a leased receiver that I have had in my home for at least 3.5 years.

They were very unhelpful, and basically just kept telling me that my insurance would cover it, so what was I worried about. What am I worried about? Well, let’s see, somehow I think my priorities are more along the lines of getting my family clothes and shoes, and the necessary things we need to survive. So, having to spend an extra $300 for a receiver that burned down in my house … somehow that doesn’t fit into my priorities. I think the worst part is that the equipment I had was so outdated now anyway, you know they would never put it in anyone’s house now, so why try to capitilize on someone’s pain and suffering.

Anyone who is thinking of joining Dish Network should keep this in mind as well. Outstanding customer service? I think not!

Zune: Was it launched correctly?

Zune. It’s supposed to be the iPod’s toughest competitor yet. It might actually be better than the iPod.  Hell, there are probably a few mp3 players out there that are better that the one that happened to change our culture.

If you, as a marketer,  had a device in your hand that could rival the best-in-its-class, would you release it to the market in a commercial like this:

 

or this…

 

 

?

 

I am not asking this to be critical. I am asking because I am not sure yet what to think about such casual advertising for what could be a very strong, and industry changing, product.

 

On one side, one could argue that the Zune will be one that will slowly gain market share via word-of-mouth and recommendations by those who purchase and enjoy the product. For one to move away from the iPod, or purchase something other than the iPod, they must be convinced that the product is absolutely better than Apple’s offering. The Zune, or any other mp3 device, simply cannot survive if its functionality and “cool” factor do not outweigh that of the iPod. So, I think it would follow that if a handful of people become fans of this player, they will help spread that to the others in the market. Since the Zune will have to gain market share through other channels than advertisements, one could conclude that subtle and casual advertising might be a good way to get people somewhat interested. By launching the product like this, Microsoft is depending on word-of-mouth and early adopters.

 

On the other hand, one could argue that Microsoft should take it’s television introduction more seriously. Can this product gain share during the holiday season? Sure. Can it become a formidable threat to the iPod? Possibly. Will it do either of these by showing a commercial of a dog scratching itself? Probably not. I think it can be argued that to create an initial buzz that revolutionizes the industry, a more mature and meaningful message needs to be delivered. Witness one of the most famous commercials ever:

 

 

This commercial, shown in the 1984 Super Bowl, announced the release of the original Macintosh computer. (Full story) In viewing this, and in viewing Zune’s initial campaign, some might wonder if Microsoft is doing enough to release a notable competitor to the iPod.

 

So, what is it? Is Microsoft being too casual about the release? Should they have taken this product to the next level by creating a commercial of “epic” proportions? Has advertising / marketing changed so much that commercials like the mac commercial can no longer be compared to campaigns of today? How much does tv advertising matter for a product like this?

 

My vote is that the game has changed. Microsoft is hoping it has a good product out there that people with disposable income enjoy. They are throwing conventional advertising out and just hoping that when they throw this player out there, it sticks to the wall.

Borat = Cash Cow

I was just reading an article about the new movie: Borat.  It turns out that Fox, who is releasing the film, is pulling back the amount of screens on which it is going to open. There was an original plan to open on 2,000 screens, but it was just cut down to 800. While the movie seems to be tracking well on the internet with a core fanbase, the worry is that there is still not enough knowledge about the movie to have it realeased on thousands of screens.

The story of this movie is an interesting one.  Borat is a fictional character created by Sacha Baron Cohen.  Baron Cohen is also known as Ali G, and there is a television show on HBO that shares the same name.  In the past three years, there have been two seasons of the show on the premium network with a grand total of 12 episodes.  I believe there was a sketch by Borat in each one of those episodes.  Unless one had seen the show, or heard about it from a friend, they wouldn’t know who Borat was before this movie was marketed.

Borat has been shown in various film festivals over the past few months and has received resounding reviews.  It continues to have a solid internet fanbase, if not a very vocal one about the excitement about its opening.  However, Fox has legitimate concerns about the movie and I believe they are taking the appropriate precautions.

Had we believed the pre-opening hype about Snakes on a Plane, the movie would have been one of the best grossing of all time.  Yet, there is only so much power bloggers and MySpace users have.  One must also remember that the Snakes on a Plane hype came as a result of the “screenplay by committee” approach the directors took to it.  The internet only carried that movie so far.  Borat does not share that characteristic.

With Borat, I believe we are going to have a mix of two strengths: 1. Internet hype and 2. High quality movie.   Of course, this is what every studio should shoot for, but if I am correct, this may be one of the first situations where both truly exist in a world of internet chatter preceeding the movie’s release.  The internet backbone on this one is noticably smaller than SOAP, but at the same time, Borat is not going to rely just on that hype.

The graph below illustrates the location I feel recent movies have fallen in regards to pre-opening internet buzz and ending revenues.  My prediction is that Borat will end up being the “cash cow” of the matrix below, even though it sounds as if Fox is a little nervous about that right now.

Where will Borat be positioned in comparison to other recent movies: borat.pdf

Chevy Trucks: Somehow related to 9/11 and Katrina

Someone at Chevy greenlit a horribly exploitative new advertisement that tries to link a John Mellencamp song, Chevy trucks and two of our most recent and horrific national tragedies. This ad has no place on television now or at any other time after a tragedy.

Seth Stevenson of Slate also reflected on this advertisement with similar thoughts. Video link to the commercial is on the site as well.

One should note that this is the first and only advertisement to directly use the tragedies in an attempt to sell a product. One exception is the 2001 Superbowl commercial when the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales bow facing the New York skyline. At the time, that was seen as a moderately controversial, but sensitive advertisement.

It would be lazy for me to say that this ad is possibly targeted to someone a bit more conservative than me, but I don’t think that is the case here.   I think it was a horrible judgement by GM to use these images.  I truly think that 9/11 and Katrina have zero reason to be used as lightning rods for patriotic vehicle purchases.

Instead of continuing a negative diatribe, I think it would be more constructive to offer concepts that would help the American auto industry:

1. Build reliable cars

2. Grasp the value of having hybrids in your fleet

3. Design cars that are aesthetically appealing

Until then, please don’t link national tragedies to vehicle purchases. It doesn’t make your company look good.

The Marketing Power of Bill Simmons, The Sports Guy

Adam Carolla claims that every white male between 18 and 35 loves Bill Simmons, ESPN’s most popular columnist and a best-selling author. Simmons’ columns mix sports and pop culture references.  He’ll often write about new movies, technology, television, or other products of which he approves or disapproves.

I will admit that with Simmons’ advice, I’ve consumed / purchased items he has recommended. For one, my devotion to the TV show 24 is directly related Simmons’ advice, and I can think of a few others who can say the same thing.

It’s no wonder then, that marketers are beginning to take note: our generation listens to what he says.
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During the last basketball season, Kobe Bryant compared himself to a Black Mamba. For lack of a better term, Simmons pounced on the preposterous proclamation and referred to Kobe as the Mamba for the remainder of the year.

Sony Electronic Sports has just released a game called NBA 07: The Life. The primary ad campaign features former NBA player Billy Joe Cuthbert acting as “the Mongoose,” rival to the Mamba.  Cuthbert claims to be mad that he was passed up for the cover of the video game and challenges the Mamba to a game of one on one. Website for the campaign.

I contend that if Bill Simmons did not keep the Mamba joke running, the campaign would not exist as it does today.

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Randomly, another video game company is likely using Bill Simmons influence for a campaign.

To step back a bit, Tiger Woods had an appearance on ESPN2’s Cold Pizza a couple of years back. It was just after he had bleached some very odd looking spots in his hair. At 7am, he was standing on a major street in Manhattan doing an interview with the host. My memory on this is hazy and I cannot find anything else online about it, but I know he was wearing a vertical striped shirt and in general looked as if he was headed out for the night. It was awkward. He had just had, or was about to have, a birthday. The interviewer asked what his perfect birthday would be, and Woods responded something like, “One that I wouldn’t remember the next morning.” This had to be the most odd thing I had ever heard him say. It was clearly visible that his handlers were trying to create a urban / modern image for him, and it went over horribly.

Cut to the present. EA Sports is in the middle of launching Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07. Along with a substantial television advertising campaign, EA launched the product in Los Angeles recently. Time was made for Bill Simmons to play Tiger at the game. A small order, but no doubt a valuable move for EA. I’d venture to guess too that it was a better idea than having Tiger act like a partying 20-something. We all knew he wasn’t.