Men’s Health – Tech & Gear – How To – You Know You Want It (But Do You Know Why?)

This is an interesting article in Men’s  Health about consumers subconscious when making purchasing decisions.

Men’s Health – Tech & Gear – How To – You Know You Want It (But Do You Know Why?).

Read the book, or View Martin Lindstrom’s Web page.

I will be soon read this book, to incorporate it in some of later posts.

The Marcus Graham Project

As I partake in my  daily peruse of Ad Age, I was able to scroll over a blurb that said “Eddie Murray’s Long-Term Effect on Ad Agency Diversity.” Automatically, I knew what they were talking about when I read that.

Boomerang is one of my favorite movies, as the lust drunk Advertising Executive has his pick of women. Only until he is picked off by the very woman who happens to be above him in the corporate ladder. He had an eye for perfection in women; however, that same eye in his work started to topple off towards the climax of the movie.
As my blog isn’t about movie reviews, I have to point out The Marcus Grahm Project which is a project that prepares African Americans for a career in Advertising. The individuals behind this project have a lot of inspiration from various outlets, two of them being Marcus Graham (Eddie Murphy), and Barack Obama.

Here is the video that was featured on AdAge:

As there are still cultural biases in the workforce, I feel that this is a step towards creating a path less traveled by minorities. Getting progressive experience with various agencies will allow anyone in this program an upper hand on someone with basic ad agency internship experience.

This is something that could be adapted easily by the Multicultural Advertising Internship Program, (MAIP) which was founded in 1973 by the American Association of Advertising Agencies. (4 A’s)  This new program is not as developed as the MAIP program. However, if different regions were to adapt the program, there will be opportunities available to talent that would not think of advertising as a career path.

The Diary of a Mad Brand Ambassador

I can’t really say I am mad, I just thought it would be interesting to play with some words and a movie.

Although I haven’t had the acceptance of a major advertising firm,  I have been enthusiastically granted access to the world of guerrilla marketing.

Recently, I have been putting a lot of time in with a company based out of Chicago called Marketing Werks. As one of their 3,000 plus Brand Ambassadors, I take their key messaging of certain items and promotions and I help the public know about upcoming products.

For about a week and a half till November 5th, I have been promoting the Verizon Wireless Droid phone. I can say that in that week and a half, I had many experiences which convinced me that I shouldn’t be selling gym memberships anymore.  However, my sales experience has aided in my understanding of Verizon Wireless’ bottom line, and that my chipper attitude will only give them a greater ROI. It was also chilling to realize that I was part of a campaign that Verizon Wireless spent over $100 million on.

These invigorating experiences I have had, from the hours of at least 7:00 pm to about 11:00 pm was beyond normal. The phone itself was something fun to handle and had an easy user interface, but the interacting with the crowd was highlight of my experiences.  Living in New Jersey, there are only a few selected spots and bars that usually have big crowds and probably none of them are hopping on a daily basis. Our territory however was in New York City, which made this promotion easy because the cliché it true because the city never sleeps.

One night we were able to be granted access into a function inside of Manhattan Motorcars. With the envious feeling of being around six figure vehicles with double digit cylinders, I took heed to the crowd for a brief moment then I got back to work.  Being that it was a benefit for firefighters and disabled veterans, I bumped into one of my old track teammates from high school who now happens to be a firefighter in New York City. I ended up taking a camera phone picture with the Droid featuring a conspicuous Rolls Royce. The funniest part was that I saw him the next day downtown.

Even with his recent media blunders Stephon Marbury seemed to be enthusiastic about trying out the phone before it was released. My team and I were able to take a picture with him. Although I wasn’t star struck by the former NBA player it did give me a perspective as to what I am capable of.

The night crowd seemed to be very enthusiastic about trying the phone; however they are in a mood that is more relaxed and intoxicated. The day that seemed like more work than anything was the one daytime shift I worked, where we spent most of the day on the campus of NYU. I knew I was going to see someone I knew when I bumped into my cousin walking to work. At no point was anyone from the age of 18 to 25 walking slower than 3mp. The highlight of that day was seeing MC Hammer, where he was adamant about the fact that he was getting the Droid Phone when it came out at midnight. I knew this phone would be handy for him with his addiction to twitter proven by his show. Although he was not dressed in his parachute pants and rocking a flattop, he did seem energetic.

Having the promotion of a mysterious phone during Halloween was a brilliant idea on Verizon Wireless’ part, playing into the inquisitive attitudes of individuals during this time period. I do feel that being advertised as an “I Phone killer” gives it an edge and an adventurous profile for people to inquire about. I feel lucky to be part of this promotion, and I hope to be invited for more. Eventually I would like to be involved in the account management side of things, which would allow me to enhance creative ideas and bring them to light. But for now I’ll have fun doing promos and selling memberships.

The Contraversial “Body Issue”

ESPN The Magazine: For Sale by Owner

Posted using ShareThis

While Reading this article in ESPN Magazine: The body Issue, I felt it was something good to blog about. It brings me back to one of my college Sport Management classes, where I had to discuss gender issues in sports (not related to Title IX, which was the big issue at the time).

As this issue was released I thought that it was something nice to look at because of the pictures, however while reading the article, I started to double check my thought process when browsing this piece of print on my lunch break.

Female athletes have had their shortcomings in terms of the Marketing of themselves; however that past is soon to be ignored. It is subconsciously understood by most that sex sells, and if it doesn’t sell, then it draw unwanted attention too (bad PR). A lot of times this is geared by the misunderstanding of Marketing and PR Principles, and treating that human being as a CPG.

As I may sound like an activist for women rights, I do feel this edition of this magazine has been  done in a way that they explained which is to pay homage to the bodies that aided in their powerful athleticism of both males and females. The article does argue some double standards that exist, however we do have to look at where we came from. I may be only 23 but I cannot recollect any female allowing themselves to be seen in a strong light in the 90’s. The only person I could think of unfortunately is Nancy Kerrigan with a move that could get her on the Cincinnati Bengal’s.

In the article I noticed that WNBA has stuck to a strict guideline of being family friendly. I would suggest a solution that might sound silly, but adding humor the marketing of their athletes similar to that of little penny, or the Kobe and Labron commercials would definitely add an aspect that never existed. (I wouldn’t mind seeing a Candace Parker puppet dunking on a Lebron puppet). If I were an agent of a WNBA player I would study a series of Pixar and some Disney movies, which house minor adult humor that is suitable for children. As crazy as it sounds it may get them somewhere.

I do see the future of female athletes being successful regardless of what the critics may say. The old school ideas of gender rolls will be ignored as this young twitter generation will evolve from consumers to decision makers.

Hip Marketing Strategies Pt. 1

I have been on hiatus in the past few months due to my busy lifestyle in Marketing (sarcasm). With the start of fall comes a host of things, which could be considered as a hindrance of a creative mindset. That would include getting back into a routine. Although I have been in the same routine for the summer, as a considerably recent college grad I am still conditioned to be on the “ball” in September.

With an overflowed in box full of countless Marketing, PR and Advertising news and tips, I have a big pool to choose from to expand my thoughts on today’s world of Communications.

As I review things like an HR person looking over résumé’s, I’m going to point out the topics that tickle my creative bones:

1.) HP’s You on You Project

If you have ever seen the Hewlett Packard commercials where they displayed a famous person describing the intricacies on their life without showing their face, you know what You on You is. If you haven’t here’s an example:

HP is using the favorable popularity of their commercials, and using it to promote its brand of creativity. Users uploaded content via youtube with the same style of the commercial and the top 100 post were selected.  Check this link to view the top videos. On September 21st the top video was chosen by none other than my fellow Youtuber’s for a $40,000 grand prize.

My take on it:

I love this idea that brings out the vast creativity of individuals. Even though Apple is killing HP in the market share of creative suites, this is a way to pay homage to dedicated users of HP’s products. I may have a bias because I love these commercials so I wouldn’t be able to have a post of critical element. The only regret I have is I wish I got to this earlier.

I was able to see this one on one of my Chief Marketer website updates through my cluttered in box. It was part of The Big Fat Marketer Blog.

2) KFC thinks outside of the box (And outside of land too)

As KFC maximizes its sponsorship at The 2009 AVP CROCS CUP CHAMPIONSHIP KENTUCKY GRILLED CHICKEN CHICAGO OPEN, they generated a buzz and appetites by serving up their newest value menu items.

The twist is they happened to do it by boat. They had a KFC boat on Lake Michigan, and ended up serving to the local jet skiers and boaters during the Volleyball Championship on the shore of Lake Michigan. I’m pretty sure recreating on a lake could make you hungry, which is why having a sampling of Grilled Chicken Value Box, Mini Melts and Brownie Bites from KFC would help ace that hunger.

My Idea:

I love the idea, but what went wrong for them was the weather. If I was them I would have done one of two things. I would have had that along with an on shore sampling station. Or, I would have had a promotion where the X amount of people would receive a pass to use a rent-able jet ski or boat to go out to the floating restaurant.

I was able to view this one on Chainleader.com.

3) Procter & Gamble finds college students as marketing assets.

Procter and Gamble has found new ways to promote their TAG body sprays, Herbal Essence shampoos, and its PUR water filtration system.

They were able to assign 100 college students as Brand Ambassadors all around the country to promote these products. They left the creative ideas up to the students. The overseeing of the project is done through Repnation which is part of the Mr Youth promotional marketing company. Their only job is to track the progress and the activity of the Ambassadors.

Leaving the students open to whichever way they feel they can be creative is a fantastic idea. A lot of times individuals who work do not always have the time to find out what’s hip and cool, thus sometimes falling short or not being able to hit all of the trendy bullet points. For the most part college students know what the biggest trends are, and they have more spending power than High school kids.  Giving them the opportunity to practice some of the things they might have learned in class, and mixing that with their community learned knowledge is a way companies can save large amounts of money spent on market research on the 18 – 25 target market.

While reading the Forbes.com article I was able to point out one of my favorite ideas. A TAG body spray ambassador, considered holding a stickiest college athlete contest. Honestly, as a former college athlete, I think I knew some people that could have won that contest at my school.

My Idea:

If I were at school, I would take the tag contest I would try to consider the smelliest sports team, and the winner would receive a month’s supply of the body spray. I would also have a contest of the person on campus that drinks the most bottles water. The one that does the most would receive a year supply of PUR water filtration system.

Sonic – Americas Drive-in

I have come to the conclusion that putting Sonic commercials in locations where this establishment doesn’t exist for miles, would be either extremely foolish, or a very smart marketing tactic.

In fact, check one out:

Although tot rejection does not exist any more, that’s one of the funniest ones I remember from years ago. (I bet Napoleon Dynamite would be mad)

For years I have always said where the heck is there a Sonic, I have looked online and never saw one in New Jersey.

My first encounter with one happened about a year ago, which is about 3 years after seeing my first commercial. I happened to be driving home the morning after my one of my college roommates wedding in PA, when we saw one off of Rt 33 in Nazareth PA. (3808 East Nazareth highway, Nazareth PA) The line was ridiculous; we waited for about 20 min but decided not to wait and went to a Red Robin instead.

Recently, they have opened one about 20 min away from me in Totowa NJ (244 Rt 46) and again the line is always insane. Every time I go there are cops doing crowd control with cars. The first I time went there they turned me away because it was so crowded. So I journeyed to the one on RT 17 in Hasbrouck Heights, and the same thing happened. I started to get really upset.

I think this is a smart marketing tactic on their part to promote something years before it will arrive, just so they know their sales will boom in the future. Having some PR damage control would be imperative for them to have a good reputation. However it is not needed with their current marketing strategy, because they don’t necessarily place opening dates in their advertisements. They have a “figure it out/word of mouth” approach going, which does not need too much damage control.

Jack in the Box is another fast food joint that has no proximity to my stomach in North Jersey. In fact the closest one is in North Carolina. They have this same tactic, with commercials that are equal in humor, but different in style. I do however feel that they are preparing to open locations in the northeast pretty soon.

If you would like to know, my first visit was amazing. Iit as sort of nostalgic, and reminded me of a scene from the happy days. I had to sit there and take it all in because it was a fast food menu that I never had. I had no Idea what to order, all I remember from the commercials were their tots and that they had a series of Limeade beverages, as well as a plethora of shakes. After ordering my food the car hop skated up to my car, something I’m not used to at all. I felt like I was in a scene from Grease. My selection of food was far from par of what I should be eating because I work at a gym, but didn’t care because it was amazing.

Sonic never existed in North Jersey, but now were blessed with its presence. Here is a list of other places that NEED to show up in the northern part of the Garden State:

Wawa

Waffle House

Chick-fil-A

Jack in the Box

(Please feel free to make our own suggestions)

Product Placement or Celebrety Endorsement?

The real question is if Duff Beer were to actually exist, how many college students would have memorable nights with this substance? Would their sales be naturally higher than anything that Oprah plugs on her show? Or does it depend on the psychology of the target audience? All of these awkward questions go back to my previous post in Unusual though processes.

Product placement could be a very successful way of marketing a product. Honestly, I think it will be more successful than TV commercials, especially with more and more people using DVRs. (I’m guilty of it too) Although my correlation with Duff Beer could be considered a form of celebrity endorsement as well as heavy product placement. It still is a form of sponsorship that could yield more benefits than TV commercials. When watching TV, I always see product placement as opportunities to gain leverage over other brands. It also shows great credibility. I am not a fan of FILA sneakers, but if I saw someone who was on a popular MTV show wear their sneakers in a tasteful fashion, I might think about adding it to my wardrobe just to change things up. I do feel that if you are a sponsor of a TV show or a network it would be wise to think about investing in this form of promotion.

We have all seen the success of celebrity endorsement, and the effect that the “Halo Effect” has on a product. Celebrity endorsements also show a product’s credibility not only as a good product, but as a high quality product or service. To get there, there has to be an insurmountable amount of work that has to be done to get there; from strong PR efforts, to getting the goods to the right stores in the right neighborhoods at the right times. The length of this credibility could always die down with the popularity of the celebrity, but it also has to do with the psychology of the consumer, or the fan. A fan could and should not be used as a savvy shopper, and would only be a fad shopper for a few months. The goal of a brand when thinking about celebrity endorsements is how to turn those fans into consumers. Consumers who think before their purchase, to see how it could benefit them, not just the lifestyle they are trying to live at the time.

Out of the two, if done properly, I think you could get a greater return on your investment through a celebrity endorsement. The reason being, is you need a good amount of money already to have a commercial, or be a sponsor of a show. However if you are a new product and a celeb finds out about you, you could be a success story in one day. The only issue with it is it could be as up and down as the stock market. And it should not be used as the top means of promotion, but when done right and integrated properly within the marketing plan it could yield high rewards.

Creative Commercials This Week Pt. 4

I like watching commercials and analyzing them. The more and more I watch them the more I learn about these companies. I think to understand these commercials, you need to understand the history of the company, or at least care about the history. Understanding how brands evolve with time, and how successful ones adapt to the current societal trends allow me to  critique these visual renditions of these companies.

Internet Explorer 8: G.R.I.P.E.S

This was done by Bradley and Montgomery which is based in New York.

This commercial is terribly funny, it kind of reminds me of myself while I teach my mother how to attach a document to an email (terrible). Internet Explorer 8  actually has a string of these commercials on Youtube. The one thing I don’t understand is how this falls into place with anything Internet Explorer stands for or if they ever stood for anything, but the first browser used by most. Then again they have never had adverting campaigns that I can remember. If they have taken the same path that GM has with their recent ads, I think it would make it more memorable, and allow people to go back to their old ways, instead of this popular Firefox browser I’m using. Also I feel it was smart to use the second version of Superman as a way to reach out to my generation, who remembers Louis and Clark. (This was before Smallville)

Report an issue
Your Email
Issue:	What’s Wrong? Video won’t play Image is distorted Audio is distorted No sound Other
Other Comments

Your email was sent.

McDonald’s: Are We There Yet

This was done by DDB out of Stockholm.

This was was kind of freaky. It has a little bit of a Children of the Corn theme to it. I like to think the group of extremely creative individuals working with McDonald’s are not being held back much.  As a brand that can roll off the tongues of every continent in the world I feel that the management of this account has taken a backseat when it comes to restrictions. Either that, or they’ve gotten overshadowed years ago by the Creative people. Overall though it was a memorable commercial, and for a brand like McDonald’s that’s all they really need to do.

Nike: Driven

This was done by Wieden + Kennedy of  Portland. As I show the type of emotional advertising that W+K has done for Nike for almost 30 years. Does it make you want to go and buy something from Livestrong?

With the help of a multimillion dollar company, this multimillion dollar non-profit has made numerous strides towards cancer research. In fact I feel very sympathetic when I see bright yellow or even bright pink (Susan G Koman). This commercial however is not about being down about cancer, but more how survivors of cancer are fighters against everything. Lance Armstrong is getting back at all the haters and the doubters.  He has beat cancer, and even thought the critics don’t believe in him, cancer survivors do.

This coincides with Nike’s whole image, and falls in line with their usual forms of  advertising which never stressed the benefits of their products, but rather the value of  their lifestyles.

Pepsi: Michael Jackson Street

Last but definitely not least I had to put this one in here as a tribute to the late great Michael Jackson. This was done by BBDO of New York  some 20 plus years ago.

Honestly Pepsi has always been my favorite over Coca Cola. While growing up however I have noticed that everybody has been a fan of Coca-Cola. I must have just started to walk when this commercial came out, but this is one of the few things I remember prior to turning 5, I also remember my brother attempting the moonwalk then falling. (A few years later I had a better moon walk than him)

As one that pays attention to media, and word of mouth. I’ve noticed a lot of negativity towards Michael Jackson.  Both negative and positive point of views are culturaly influenced. Growing up in an urban area in Essex County NJ, I heard nothing but late versions of Disco and Hip-Hop compared to the steryotypical Bon Jovi, or Bruce Springtein that Jersey People are known for. Every piece of music I heard had a dance to it that was inpired somehow by this man. He will be missed.

Nike; Just Do it, and how they achived ‘Victory’

While watching CNBC’s Special on Nike called Swoosh! Inside Nike. I’ve noticed Nike would be an excellent company to pay attention to if you wants to know how to do well in communications.

As a runner I think Nike’s success is blessed by the ghost of Steve Prefontaine. But that’s a whole different type of blog. With that said, Nike has always been a company for the athletes, or the wanna be athletes, not the every day consumer. Nike came about and was successful at around the right time in the market, where the fitness boom started to come about. The intertwinement of sports and fitness of everyday people allowed Nike to grow tremendously. Had it have been founded in the 60’s Adidas would have been the worldwide leader in sports apparel still.

Watching the special I have had many realizations about Nike, and noticing their advertising structure. There is no basic informal structure, of product information. Most of their ad’s would force an individual to see how it would be to dunk a ball, or to shoot a 3 pointer, or to just laugh. When Nike started out, Phil Knight did not believe in advertising. They started out with John Brown and Partners where they had a tagline “there is no finish line” specializing in informal ads, Phil Kinght did not like the idea of Advertising, and thought of it as some sort of trickery. Soon after dealing with John Brown and Partners they switched over with eager persuasion from Dan Wieden (Co Creator of Ad Agency Wieden+Kenedy). They took a more than generic approach.  In the 80’s they utilized a lot of up and coming athletes to stake their claim in basketball and other sports as well. Michael Jordan was one of their first athletes, Bo Jackson was another. When I was five, I wanted to “Be Like Mike,” and attempted to dunk on my 3 ft hoop with my tongue out before bumping my head on the ground. There have been many athletes that have Nike attached to their names; Labron James, Michael Johnson, and Tiger woods to name a few. None of these athletes had the effect on the brand like Jordan. Now any rain maker athlete in any sport tries to be the Jordan of their sports while getting a Nike deal.

The ‘Just do it’ tag line became the integral part of Nike. Back in the 70’s and 80’s Nike benefited more than any other sports apparel brand from Viral Marketing because of their products use in the fitness boom and their famous phrase.  Nike was a great benefactor of Viral marketing, but now their aim is Niche Marketing. There are many different personalities they have taken on. They have created Nike+ which measure distances and pace of runs, which caters to runners. Although I am not an advocated of their running sneakers, I always wore their track and field shoes.

Another surprisingly lucrative niche is the “Sneaker Heads.” Sneaker heads, own multiple pairs of sneakers for various reasons; some for fashion, for bragging rights to add to their street status as a fashionable individual, also are art. On the CNBC special there is an individual who spend in excess of $2000 a month on sneakers. If there are any readers who watch Entourage on HBO, there was the one Fukijama episode where the character Turtle paid $20,000 for these sneakers. The only way I can see it is as art, in that case I would never wear them. I feel with this Niche, this is strictly by Word of mouth, which Nike was mostly about in the beginning.

To stay on the topic of communications, I will go to a PR issue which almost ruined them. They were accused of unfair labor practices below minimum wage. When discovered by the head soccer coach at St Johns University.  The sweat shops which were outsourced in Vietnam also had hazardous working conditions, sometime forced to work overtime without pay. There are many ways to look at this, and think Nike is guilty for not doing more research on the companies/ factories that are making their products, or blame it on the Vietnamese government. For many years Vietnamese factory workers have been treated unfairly compared to government employees. Should the Vietnamese government have taken responsibility for Nike’s tarnished reputation?

I digress from a point where I am pointing fingers, and go to how Nike turned it around. Nike then hired a staff of 100 plus to manage its corporate responsibility initiatives. They also provided free meals, and high school equivalency classes. However due to the flawed culture of the factory worker in Vietnam, they still suffer from unfair conditions, but that is part of the red tape that exist when trying to get things done when outsourcing.

Who is better; PR, Advertising, or Marketing?

I understand a good amount of communications principles. I may not have the valid experience to make any major claims, but I have a lot of knowledge from the research.

If I were at a PR, marketing, or advertising agency, depending on the client I would want to know the paths that other agencies have taken with their promotional mix. If I am at a marketing company I would want to incorporate certain ideas that an ad agency has utilized for that client. I would also want to create awareness so that it would fall in line with a PR company’s goals. It would also be good to understand these specifics for differentiation so that one party can be more specific in its creative process. I am only one person, but if I were to work at any of these places I would make sure I would be functioning in a well oiled Branding Network. With enough experience I should be able to start my own one day, but I’m still only 23.

There are many parent companies for these creative communications shops. There is; WPP, out of Dublin Ireland; Havas, which is based in France; Publicis Groupe, which is another French company;  Interpublic group (IPG), which is American; and Omnicom, which is also American. There are many other successful individualized firms that are not part of these parent companies, but for the most part from my research these five seem to be some of the top dogs in the communications spectrum.

It has me thinking if there are at least hundreds of companies under each company shouldn’t there be some sort of way to communicate to each other. I would imagine there is a platform that exists like this, but it may not be formalized. If I were a freelance advertiser I would definitely like to contact the PR person or agency that would be handling that company to see which path I should take to keep in line of the companies’ message. There is always a way to tarnish a companies image. There would not be an Axe-style commercial for Disney; it just won’t fall in line with their family friendly image.

A good example of this might be an obvious one to some communications professionals. But the whole issue where Oprah told people about the free grilled chicken from KFC was a bad Idea. This all goes back to my view of the Oprah effect, where if she tells the public about something it comes back a million fold. This was a mix up of poor advertising techniques and an unprepared Public Relations move.

I understand that if you advertise something as free or extremely cheap, you better make sure you have enough of that product on hand. Your staff better be extra prepared, kind of like how they ask people to come to work early on Black Friday.

After reading The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier, I made major realizations, that a lot of companies as well as agencies have more communication problems amongst themselves, let alone with other agencies. There seems to be a lackluster approach to combining business strategy and the creative side of things. The two rarely meet, and when they do egos are on the line.  So if an individual agency or company has issues like this, what kind of errors are they making when it comes to understanding the other side of the communications in the company? One thing I hope is true that my views do not go unnoticed.

So when I ask the question who is better? I will say neither is better, becasue if they all are competing then they are not working together to help out the brand.