by mark June 22nd, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
No, I’m not going anywhere near that debate. I have enough people who take a dim view of me without getting the Kansas Board of Education riled up. However, it did seem like the perfect title for the “compare & contrast” exercise you see here. Honestly, sometimes the difference between ordinary and extraordinary advertising seems so patently obvious it’s hard to believe we see so much of the former.
But here you go. Two spread ads from a recent edition of Fortune magazine that appeared no more than ten pages apart. Both are for hot-looking (and presumably hot, period, cars). Both are shot in such a way as to call your attention to how nice the cars look. So far, so good.
Continue reading ‘Intelligent Design’
by mark June 20th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
Am I losing my mind (please hold your answer for a moment) or did I read what I think I did last week? That after months of efforts on the parts of Coca-Cola’s many creative resources, the brand has decided to abandon the pursuit of iconic advertising for its Coke Zero brand and is instead producing a rooftop, rap rendition of its classic “Hilltop” spot. (”I’d like to teach the world to bling…?”)
If this is true, it’s truly sad. But it would be consistent with Coke’s 20+ year quest to be hip. Going all the way back to that “Max Headroom” nonsense in the mid-80s, Coke has been obsessed with trying to be cooler or hipper than it thinks it’s perceived to be. But this Homeric odyssey has been a search for exactly the wrong thing.
Continue reading ‘Hip Check’
by mark June 15th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
Normally, an ad this silly wouldn’t merit commenting upon, but this one has something interesting buried in the fine print.
However, first we should deal with the question of whether or not I’m just some totally humorless, crabby guy who simply can’t see how hysterically funny it is that this woman is downing a glass of Pur-filtered water while remaining oblivious to the fact that Rover is gnawing on her turkey.
Continue reading ‘Stupid Pet Tricks’
by mark June 13th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
It’s ads like this that give the pursuit of extraordinary advertising–and maybe advertising period–a bad name. Clearly, the people at Grant Thornton have something to say. Specifically, that now that the Big Eight accounting firms have condensed down to the Big Four, maybe there’s room for one more. And obviously, the firm’s well-intentioned (and I’m being extra kind here) advertising people want this message to be noticed.
But why, oh why, put a rose between this poor woman’s teeth? It’s not like Grant Thornton is a flamenco dance studio, it’s a fairly large firm of CPAs eager to get audit work from Fortune 1000 companies. But I’m sure this ad was sold to them as an example of work that will “really break through the clutter”. An ad that’s “unexpected” and maybe even a little “edgy”, but that’s good because it will “stand out”, right?
Continue reading ‘No Accounting For It’
by mark June 10th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
You probably don’t need me to tell you that General Motors CEO, Rick Wagoner, is in a world of hurt. Heading into the year, the company thought it would generate $2 billion in cash. By March, it was instead saying it would need to fork over $2 billion. (It must be nice to have a job where you can be off by $4 billion in just three months and still have a job.)
Of course, GM has about $20 billion in the till, so it can mess around like this for a few more years. And based on an article I saw in The New York Times this week that seems to be exactly what the company intends to do.
In an internal memo, Mr. Wagoner outlines how he plans to “fix” GM in North America: “deliver great cars and trucks”, “revitalize our sales and marketing strategy”, “intensify our focus on cost and quality” and “address the health care burden.” But nowhere does he say: do more extraordinary advertising.
Continue reading ‘Circling The Wagoner’
by mark June 8th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
One of the points I emphasize in the book is that extraordinary advertising is probably the most underleveraged tool in all of business. Why do I say that? Basically because the incremental cost of extraordinary advertising is essentially nothing; it costs just about the same as ordinary advertising. But the results it can achieve are quite significant relative to the investment required for many other business initiatives.
For example, I was just reading the other day about how Steven Heyer, the chief executive of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, is planning to bring the coolness and cachet of that company’s W chain to the world of limited-service hotels like Hilton Garden Inn or Courtyard by Marriott. Because, as the Wall Street Journal quotes Mr. Heyer, “We believe we’ve found a white space in the industry–a place that nobody’s gone.”
Continue reading ‘Heyer-Brained?’
by mark June 3rd, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
A number of people have told me I should read this article by James Cherkoff that appeared on the changethis.com site. The title of the piece is “What Is Open Source Marketing?”, and I finally got around to it.
As is almost de rigueur in articles on a mission to characterize the world as dramatically changing, Mr. Cherkoff opens with a rather sweeping statement. He claims that “Today’s consumer is unrecognizable from even just twenty years ago. More savvy, more skeptical, wealthier, better informed, less deferential and generally more in control.”
Is that so?
Continue reading ‘Open Season’
by mark June 1st, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
Some of you will no doubt wonder what I think is so extraordinary about this ad. It’s not all that cool looking. The layout is pretty standard. The headline is mildly amusing, but just “mildly”. So what’s the big deal?
Well, if you click on this image you should be able to make out what’s going on at the bottom of the ad. Which is a butt-simple, but damn effective product demo.
Continue reading ‘Show & Tell’
