Archive for May, 2007

As viewers continue to tune out or fast forward through the TV commercials, network excecutives, desperate to keep the advertising dollars in house, are trying all manner of “creative” - by that we mean desperate - means to disguise the ads as something else. Ed Swindler (no seriously, that’s his name!), exec VP of ad sales at Universal NBC puts a friend-of-the-consumer spin on it: “No one on the creative side or the business side wants to make commercials intrusive, but we do need to commercialize efficiently so viewers can afford to get free television.”

A common ploy is to put original content into the breaks (the implication being that commercials cannot be described as such). For instance, next fall NBC Universal will be pepping up ad breaks with Jerry Seinfeld to keep the viewers watching (and to promote his new movie). And the kind folks at ABC are considering clever ways to hoodwink viewers into thinking they’re still watching their favorite show when the commercials have already started. For instance a TV set that Ugly Betty is watching might dissolve into the commercial break. (Maybe Betty will fast-forward through the real ads on the pretend show… No, probably not.)

Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, understands that what we really need to do is to make commercials that don’t suck as much: “A commercial has to be like a DVD extra. It has to be an added value, not an inconvenience.” Then Mr. Swindler and his friends wouldn’t need to find sneaky ways to trick the consumers into staying tuned.

We made a series of online videos a couple of months ago featuring two lovely ladies (Cleo and Anna) talking about Punk Marleting while removing their clothes. It appealed to our sense of humor and we thought it would be a fun way to deliver some marketing wisdom. We didn’t now if it would work or not, but the idea was in line with the tongue-in-cheek tone of the book, so thought it was worth a shot.

Well, the first video featuring Anna has just passed 150,000 views on YouTube, which is pretty amazing. Many of the viewers are probably adolscent boys, but even if 2% of them are potential business book buyers that is pretty respectable for an outlay of just a few hundred dollars. And number of views is still rising daily.

Shopping at Sears is such a depressing experience. The decor is Dismal, the lighting Dull and the Displays dowdy. (Contrast this with Target stores, where you feel cool-as-shit just walking into the place.)

The only reason a consumer with any sense of style might be tempted to go to Sears is because of the prices on the boring stuff you just hafta buy - the vacuums, ovens and wotnot - otherwise you’d never make the trip. I went on one of those necessary-evil trips this weekend, to buy a stainless steel dishwasher. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot my heart sank. as I plodded through the store it somehow reminded me of an elderly person in a care facility just waiting to die.

But, beneath the dull exterior there are more sinister forces at play. Having picked a Bosch dishwasher as the one of my dreams and went to check out I was told the actual price was $200 more than the large sticker on the displayed model. Apparently the price shown was for the white model not the stainless steel. So, I wondered and asked, why put the cheaper price on the more expensive model? Eh? The shop assistant was sympathetic but unable to help. Apparently it is new company policy. Not something she agreed with, but there it was.

This practice that Sears head office has adopted in its wisdom is wilfuly misleasing. I think they expect people like me who are time poor to simply pay up. But, no, that would be succumbing to their wicked manipulative ways. I went home, found the same model online for way less than even the white model in Sears was being sold at and bought it there and then. (Shipping was free.)

So now I’ve been duped by Sears I won’t make the same mistake of thinking I have to suffer their stores to get a good deal again. I’ll order online instead and advise as many people I can to do the same.

Shame on you Sears.

How many marketers put a short film on YouTube every day in the hope that it’ll become the next viral phenomenon only to see it fall flat on its face? OK, so we don’t know the answer, but we bet it’s A LOT. We love that marketers are willing to take risks and try new platforms, but the fact that so few of them succeed means that most of them still don’t get it. The media is NOT the message. Just because YouTube is hot does it mean people care about a marketing message that is stuffed on it. The content has to be great and relevant to the adolscent boys who are watching.

A recent campaign for Diesel underwear got oodles of attention by creating a big audacious idea and seeing where it went. It seemed to have worked, with millions visiting the Diesel website, a lot of PR buzz and likely accolades at the Cannes ad festival.

A few weeks ago blogger, John Grant, seeking attention for his new marketing book criticized some online videos we’d created to promote Punk Marketing. Cool, no problem there. And what’s more he said he and his readers could do better. We said, great. In fact we said we’d even make any of the ideas people come up with that were better than ours. Fair enough, right? OK, so we waited. And waited. Nothing. Not a sausage. Tried to email him for an update. The email bounced back. Hmm. What’s up John? It’s fine to crticize - hell, we do it all the time - but if you say you can do better, do it. The offer still stands by the way. Thanks.