MarketingInsideOut.com

Hey Volkswagen, you got it half right!  But that creepy pseudo-German techno engineer/droid in your Unpimp your Ride spots tells me how wrong you got the other half! 

Yes, ad agencies want to win accounts without spending months in RFP hell!  Who else has to “defend your life” in order to “win” the privilege to work with an account so you can help them grow their business (Hell, you don’t ask for a fifth as much justification from the person who cuts you open with a knife while you’re lying unconscious on an operating table!).  So we applaud your ability to move an account without submitting a dozen ad agencies to a laborious and painful selection process (Particularly since, in many cases, it’s really over long before the end is in sight – you’ve already decided who you’ll hire, and yet you don’t stop the pain until the fat lady sings her last note – you make every last finalist perform the obligatory dog and pony show finale!).  But don’t get too cocky – because from where I sit what went wrong makes you more of a villain than a heralded trailblazer.  What am I talking about?

I’m talking about the relationship between Volkswagen and Arnold.   Back when Volkswagen came to the realization that they were virtually invisible they hired Arnold to make them an Icon for youth.   And Arnold delivered – brilliantly.  They produced a virtual symphony of work that made Volkswagen stand far above the pack.  They are unquestionably the forerunners of all cool automotive advertising.  And Arnold’s recent ads for Volkswagen are just as edgy and unique as their original work.  In fact their newer work, although still true to the brand, was a compelling testament to the fact that you can still be cool, young and hip as well as a grown up – and if you are these things – you drive a Volkswagen!    

So what happens?  You hire the marketing person who worked with Crispin Porter  on Mini-Cooper.  She dumps Arnold and hires Crispin Porter.   And, as a result of these “unpimp” spots, I’m subjected to a parodistic assault on German technology.  Yes, there are those who proclaim its brilliance – but that’s because it makes them laugh?  An ad has to go way beyond funny to be brilliant – it has to say something.  True to the brand – what brand?  Are you re-re-branding Volkswagen?  Are you taking a page from the “shooting gerbils from a cannon” school and being disruptive for the sake of being disruptive?

Like Adam says in his March 10th comment to this post from Adverblog: 

“It’s only a positive effect if it sells more VWs. If it doesn’t, then it’s just a another pointless funny ad that does little to nothing for sales. How does the 60,000 people watching on YouTube equate to GRPs? Then again that’s Crispin’s M.O. create strange, off strategy, non-traditional ads that ultimately don’t translate into sales.”

You might read this and take issue.  Maybe there is much more to this story than meets the eye, after all this story in New York Times makes it sound swell.  Well if there is – it’s a well kept secret.  I used to be impressed with the folks running the Volkswagen brand – not now.  I can ill afford to lose another idol – so I’d love to hear “the rest of the story” – if there is one. 

It’s a big time of year for advertising. Believe it or not, ad spending during March Madness dwarfs that of the SuperBowl and the World Series. According to TNS Media Intelligence, from 2000 to 2005, more than $2.2 billion was spent on network advertising for March Madness, compared to $834 million for the Super Bowl and $880 for the World Series.  The year’s Madness TV ad spending is expected to reach $500 million with a 30-second spot in the finals averaging $1.2 million.

CBS is paying an average of $562 million a year for its NCAA tournament media rights through 2014 which would be a tough payback with TV ad revenues alone, so in addition to the TV rights, CBS has all media rights to the tournament, including radio, cable, the Internet, and merchandising.

But CBS isn’t the only one trying to cash in.  You can buy condensed versions of the games via iTunes for $1.99 a game or a season pass for $19.99 that gets you access all 63 games. The NCAA will actually stream some of the games not broadcast and we can all pick up those streams free at http://www.ncaasports.com/mmod.

If you’re mobile, you can keep up to date on your PDA or your cell phone.  Cingular customers have their “All things NCAA MEdia Net”. Sprint customers can download video and analysis throughout the tournament.

You can’t escape it.  Tonight in a quick search for March Madness on Technorati there were over 37,000 results. People are chatting online about bball.  And at work.  And if the numbers hold true from last year some 26 million adults will likely participate in an office pool in hopes of cashing in.

It’s everywhere.  It’s madness.  And it’s just begun. 

Day 1–Cox Arena is evacuated when a strange odor is detected at a hot dog stand. Imagine that…a strange odor coming from a hot dog stand….

From:  Agent Will Cerf, U.S. Department of Internet Monitoring (USDIM)

To:  Hugh Duntz, Director

Subject: Activity Analysis

As the congressional conference committee prepares to finalize pension reform legislation, we anticipate a flurry of Internet activity from retiree cyberadvocacy groups via the Capwiz system that enables users to e-mail or fax members of Congress and Executive branch officials.  Capwiz  (http://capitoladvantage.com/capwiz/why_capwiz.html) has become an increasingly popular communications tool for associations and non-profits seeking to impact legislation and regulations affecting them.  The technology is designed to seamlessly integrate its communication forms with Web forms used by 85 percent of Congress and an increasing number of state legislators.

Especially active during recent weeks has been the National Retiree Legislative Network (http://www.nrln.org/) with its well organized grass roots group of volunteers representing every Congressional District in the country.  The Capwiz system provides the capability for the NRLN to instantaneously distribute a call to action via e-mail to thousands of its volunteers who are on the Internet and willing to respond to a legislative alert.  The association’s newsletter explains the process:  “NRLN will e-mail an alert to you explaining the importance of a piece of pending legislation and explaining what we want you to do.  You can then access an e-mail letter, personalize it and send it your representatives in Washington.”

The NRLN Grass Roots Network reflects the reality that most lawmakers only read and respond to messages from their own constituents.  “When hundreds or thousands of messages arrive in the Web form to a member of Congress from his/her constituents, they are bound to take notice,” reports the NRLN.  It appears that these associations are finding their voice after years of congressional policy decisions that have favored corporate and special interests.  So we should expect the current level of cyberadvocacy to increase substantially in the months ahead as the congressional elections heat up.

By the way, Mr. Duntz, we continue to monitor the tampering of Wikipedia entries for congressional members by their own staff members, as well as by sources unknown in the case of Reps. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) and Jim Marshall (D-Ga.).  I refer you to a recent article in The Hill that described how the Wikipedia entry for Rep. Marshall was altered by an op-ed writer now serving as the spokesman for the Republican candidate who is challenging the incumbent.  The changes were less than flattering, as were alterations to Rep. Terry’s entry that falsely accused him of domestic violence.  This activity will merit further monitoring as the election approaches.

Three times today I found myself stuck in the seemingly endless loop of number pushing to try and get a resolution to a problem. The only thing that kept me from throwing my phone across the room when my “problem” didn’t fit into one of the neat little scenarios was envisioning the inventors of IVR roasting over an open fire being flamed by “Big Boy!” (you know…that guy in the CitiBank commercial who is forced to repeat his embarrassing password on the packed train).  

I like being able to get my bank balance at 3am or call and make a change in my Sprint account whenever I choose.  I’m a big user of automated self-service technology both online and via phone.  But it seems like it has gone so far that automated systems have been used/abused to conceal how to reach an actual person. So I’ve got to hand it to CitiBank.  What a simple yet brilliant idea.  Press “0″ and get connected with an operator. Gee…something we already intuitively know and understand.  They are actually making the task of customer service easier, not harder.  I’m sure it wasn’t just a case of corporate benevolence on CitiBank’s part.  It was probably a decision based on competitive logic.  We all get frustrated interacting with machines when we have a problem we want solved–no matter how smart the system might be, it can’t think or empathize. 

I was going to record the magic words I discovered today, but found that someone’s already cracked the code on many of the biggies.  Check out Paul English’s brilliant IVR Cheat Sheet.  While you’re there, check out the rest of the site.  There are some great tips and a way you can make yourself heard.

When it comes to corporate mergers and acquisitions what’s the difference between the merger of two venerable newspaper chains like Knight-Ridder and McClatchy and the plethora of other corporate mergers and acquisitions? Not much you might say – given this brave new world of entertainment masquerading as news. Still, there is that small matter of the First Amendment. There’s a reason the First Amendment protects news organizations, and that’s to protect the diversity of beliefs, opinions, and the right of a “free press” to challenge the very government its owners pay taxes to.  What happens to this diversity — particularly when it comes to editorial and opinion pages — when a single chain owns dozens upon dozens of newspapers, radio and TV stations in markets across the country? What does it mean for the public’s “right to know” information that doesn’t set well with the news outlets’ new ownership? What does it mean to advertisers whose products, services or messages are objectionable to the chain’s ownership? And, what does it mean to the many journalists —columnists, editorial writers, reporters, editors and producers —whose views aren’t in synch with the new owners? But, hey, don’t despair. There is plenty of good news for one group. John Morton, president of Morton Research, points out that despite the depressed market for newspapers, “Knight-Ridder shareholders got a fair price.”

At least it’s fair for someone.

Great post by Andy Beal with tips on how to get started monitoring the blogoshpere to see what’s being said about you, your company, brand, products or service.  He recommends hourly…YIKES!

Although I’ve disagreed with some of his POVs over the years, like most people in the marketing field I’ve read his books and found some worthy insights.  But Jack Trout really dated himself in this interview in Forbes.

Word of mouth may not be anything new, but to think you can ignore it in our hyperconnected world and just focus on advertising is plain naive.

Steve Rubel said it well:

This is nostalgic thinking. It’s almost like saying that we should go back to using typewriters over computers since we don’t have to worry about getting a virus.

 

There’s been chatter for a long time about the concept of a browser-based office suite and now it’s closer to reality with the announcement of Google’s purchase of Writely.

According to a story today in PC World’s Techlog:

What Google is going to do with Writely isn’t entirely clear–it says there are no plans to embed advertising in the service–but it’s yet another recent example (along with Google Base, the new Google Desktop, and Google Page Creator) of Google doing something involving being a repository for information, not just an indexer of it. (They’ve always said that their mission was to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”–maybe it’s time to add “and store it, too” to that statement.

And from Search Engine Lowdown:

What will this mean for marketers? Ad buys on the tools – besides email – that people use all day. The fragmentation of search – now we’ll be optimizing client sites so their white papers and case studies appear on the budgeting spreadsheets people are working on.

Lately, it seems like several times a week there’s an announcement of yet another Google acquisition or new product.  I don’t know how they keep it all straight.  Seems they are making significant inroads towards their goal.  But, frankly, I’m starting to get a tad bit heebie jeebie about just how far Google’s going to go.  They’re certainly not the “little” guy anymore.  “Google it” is taking on a whole new meaning…search it, write it, store it, advertise it,  measure it, buy it….it…it….it….

But you’ve got to admit, the folks at Writely sound like they’re on cloud nine — this from their blog.

Here are our “top 10″ reasons why being part of Google is fantastic for Writely and the Writely team:

10. Writely is like a caterpillar that we hope to make into a beautiful butterfly at Google!
9. We love Google’s philosophy and values — especially “Focus on the user.”
8. We’re as passionate as Google is about respecting users’ privacy.
7. Many of our users are already Google fans using other Google services.
6. Being at Google will help us do more great things faster.
5. Some people didn’t feel comfortable trusting a tiny startup with their documents…and we’re no longer a tiny startup.
4. We like lava lamps and they’re pretty much standard decor at Google.
3. Three words: Free Googleplex lunches
2. As fun as it’s been to launch a popular, global, 24×7 Web service, it’ll be nice to take a vacation once in a while!
…and the number one reason???
1. We’ll be able to bring Writely to not just thousands but millions of users — the more, the merrier 

Someone recently treated the agency staff to a homemade loaf of fromage de tête, or headcheese.  Resembling leftovers from the TV reality show Fear Factor, the gelatinous mass of indescribable ingredients became an office curiosity as people pondered, “What’s it made of?”  When it comes to most prepared dishes, even headcheese, most of us share a common hunger for recipes and advice on preparing the foods we eat. 

This craving was the premise for a consumer education program that was part of the integrated marketing campaign Bozell created years ago for Pork: The Other White Meat.  Throughout this initiative, food editors at major newspapers and magazines across the country were fed a steady diet of pork recipes, photography and special materials addressing the issue of “food literacy.”
Two programs especially effective in whetting the appetite of food editors involved:

• A national consumer quiz in which two-thirds of Americans surveyed lacked basic cooking knowledge even though they considered themselves “excellent” or “very good” cooks.  Among a wealth of press materials prepared for food editors was A Guide to The New Food Literacy cookbook filled with pork recipes and tips to help people learn cooking basics.
• A selection of recipe cards to guide consumers through their pork purchases using the simplest common denominator of all meat cuts: shape.  Each recipe card carried descriptions of different pork shapes, preparation information, sample recipes and menu suggestions. 
   

Both of these educational programs were successful in generating an ongoing smorgasbord of culinary features in the Lifestyle and Food sections of major newspapers and magazines that contributed to a dramatic increase in consumers associating pork with white meat.

As for increasing the literacy of our staffers concerning the making and consumption of headcheese, the overwhelming consensus that day in the office was that some things are better left unknown and uneaten. 

TiVo and Verizon Wireless have partnered to allow TiVo subscribers to schedule show recordings via mobile phones, reports MediaWeek. The service will be available to Verizon subscribers through the company’s “Get It Now” applications sometime this summer.  Presents a whole new set of challenges to advertisers.