Tag Archives: Get it off your chest

Who Won the Superbowl?

February 8, 2010 – 2:00 pm

Okay, I admit it. While you’re reading this during the week at some point after the SuperBowl aired and know who won, I’m sitting here writing this blog entry on SuperBowl Sunday instead of watching the big game. And while I’ll be interested to hear who won (Go Saints?), I, like you, will go online tomorrow to find out who advertised and which spot was the funniest or most outlandish. And then I’ll go on with my day and probably never think about those spots ever again.

However, the Superbowl is the most watched televised event of the year with some 100 Million people expected to watch. According to a recently televised report, a 30 second spot on American TV during the Superbowl will go for between $2.5 and $2.8 Million. That’s about $80,000 a second!

But the larger question being asked these days, especially by a lot of young people I know, is whether that money could be better spent. Especially with everything that’s going on in the world right now.

Now after years of producing some of the most memorable Superbowl ads in history, PEPSI is asking the same question and has decided not to run an ad. Instead, they’re going online with “The Pepsi Refresh Project”. http://www.refresheverything.com/

According to their “refresh everything” site, they’re looking for people, businesses, and non-profits with ideas that will have a positive impact. “Look around your community and think about how you want to change it.” Submit your ideas and vote on your favourites. Those chosen will be awarded up to $250,000 in grants in categories ranging from Health, Arts & Culture, and Food & Shelter to the Planet, Neighbourhoods and Education.

And the so-called Pepsi Generation is eating it up. This is just one example of what’s going on right now. We saw the impact the internet and social media had and is having post-Haiti. This is more of the same great trend. The NetGeneration is getting involved and looking for something more fulfilling than a gratuitous 30-second spot where the money spent to buy the media could eradicate so many issues affecting Haiti, Cambodia and the Congo to name a few — and those affecting us right here at home. Pepsi is on to something and other brands ignore the trend at their peril.

By Bryan Tenenhouse | Posted in Advertising | Also tagged , , | Comments Off

Social Media Pollution

December 16, 2009 – 2:00 pm

Consider the following scenario: Your plumber approaches you after completing a repair in your home. He seems like a nice enough guy, so you give him a chance when he begins speaking to you. He asks if you’d be interested in receiving his weekly newsletter. You are confused and a little bit uncomfortable. You decide to play along, though, and ask him what the aforementioned newsletter would touch on. He responds, “Oh, various items on plumbing and how you can get the best out of it. I have different tips on how to maximize the effectiveness of your toilet-water… I also review new fixtures and pipes that are hitting the market.”

At this point, you awkwardly decline, allow him to leave, and lock the door. Why did this happen? It’s simple; there is no need for an exterior relationship between the service (our weird, hypothetical plumber) and the consumer (you). When my water pipes are busted, I require the service. Beyond that, it’s not really part of my world – and I’m okay with that. So why do so many marketers try to force the same kind of irrelevant content down the public’s throat on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook? As these sites continue to grow in popularity and international reach, uninformed marketers are latching onto their coattails and, consequently, making a fool of themselves.

When done right, many brands have been quite successful utilizing this young medium. Clothing company H&M posts photos of their new seasonal collections and other interesting materials that their close to1.5 million fans on Facebook legitimately care about. As marketers, we are obligated to understand and properly take advantage of the trends that affect our consumers. There is no doubt that social media provides an opportunity for branding. However, that opportunity isn’t open to every business out there. You must have something unique to offer the consumer – beyond a price listing or link to your website. If there is no demand for additional material, don’t provide it. You’ll just be polluting an emerging media that consumers are still interested in.

So before you hop on the social media bandwagon, please take a minute to consider if anyone wants you going along for the ride. After all, it’s already pretty crowded out there.

Brook Johnston @marketingman.ca

By CMA on behalf of Brook Johnston | Posted in Alberta Business | Also tagged | Comments Off

Surprise

November 2, 2009 – 2:00 pm

Not many things surprise me after so many years in this business, but I have to admit, this did:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag.html

Since starting my own creative consultancy two years ago, I’ve written many websites for clients who think that key words actually matter. So you can imagine my surprise when I learned that Google doesn’t use the “keywords” meta tag in their web search ranking. Obviously this isn’t as earth-shattering as learning that cigarettes are bad for you or that Balloon Boy was a hoax, but it does raise an eyebrow given that Google hasn’t exactly advertised this news. Thoughts?

By Bryan Tenenhouse | Posted in Advertising, B2B | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments Off

Enough! Please stop! No more! I can’t stand it!

May 26, 2009 – 2:00 pm

There are times when there is no possibility of being constructive when writing about the absurdities inflicted on an innocent world by others in our field. There are even times when, as honest proponents of our business, we have no choice but to call it like it is. And this, Ladies and Gentlemen, is one of those times. (By the way, stop me if you’ve heard this one!)

I am referring to the Province of Alberta rebranding project — the one (I am not sure whether it is for tourism or just for the sake of doing it) which has as its tag line: “Alberta. Freedom to Create. Spirit to Achieve”. Normally, as those who know me would expect, I would let a slogan as completely mysterious and meaningless and nonsensical as this pass with barely a snide comment. But this isn’t normally.

Seems the marketers in Alberta (or whoever is responsible for this) took the “Freedom to Create” part literally, and “created” a beach and coastline for the province in order to make a point in an ad. Yes, I kid you not. They used a scene from a beach in Northumberland as the image in an advertisement. More than just the beach, they also used the image of two English girls romping on the beach.

Not surprisingly, they were caught out in the blogosphere, and this is where the fun really starts. It turns out that the image, over which the Alberta logo and the tag line appear written large, is not meant to depict Alberta — it is meant to be a visual depiction of Albertans’ concern for the future of the world (this according to Olga Guthrie of Alberta’s public affairs bureau). It is likely that the intent of the campaign may be to counter the idea that Alberta’s oil sands extraction process is an economic depiction of Albertans’ lack of concern for the future of the world. If that is the case, then wouldn’t the fact that they could not find a pristine example of concern-for-the-world in their own backyard, rather prove the critics right?

Apparently not. The Prime Minister’s head of media relations (sorry, but what the hell is the Prime Minister involved in this for?), helpfully points out that, “There’s no attempt to mislead here. The picture used just fitted the mood and tone of what we (we? we?) were trying to do.” Obviously, whatever Alberta is trying to do, is something they can’t do, if they can’t find a picture to fit the mood and tone of whatever it is, in Alberta. Whatever happened to authenticity?

The little English girls, too, were not meant to deceive — they are meant to be British girls because (implicitly) only English girls are suitable “symbols of the future.” (Olga again).

If you don’t believe me, here is a link to a PDF of the article in The Guardian Weekly.

Need I say more? Have we achieved absolutely nothing in the marketing world? Has everything we’ve been trying to do and say really been so tediously boring that it is totally ignored? I am desolate, disappointed and going to Mexico!

By Laurence Bernstein | Canadian Marketing Association Website | Posted in Advertising | Also tagged , , , , | Comments Off