by mark September 29th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
Supposedly not, but they’re sure not shy about telling Marshall Field’s. Specifically to drop its name and replace it with Macy’s. That’s what the folks at Federated Department Stores have decided, having spent $11.9B to acquire Field’s owner, May Department Stores, earlier this year. And viewed from the perspective of national advertising efficiency, this might seem like the obvious choice. But only if you think money counts for more than goodwill. Because for the generations of Chicagoans raised with the expression “meet me under the Field’s clock” this is a big deal, and not a good one.
So will loyal Marshall Field’s shoppers vote with their feet? That remains to be seen. I’m sure Federated did oodles of research to assure themselves this won’t happen. But there was tons of research done in support of New Coke and we know how that turned out. We’ll see what the holiday season’s shopping report is, although the numbers may be buried inside Federated’s overall results. But don’t be surprised if sometime next year you see the return of Marshall Field’s and a few marketing executives consigned to the remainder bin. Because a hundred plus years of brand equity is generally worth a lot more than ten million dollars in advertising efficiency.
by mark September 22nd, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
I arrived at this conclusion via a circuitous path, so bear with me. I was thinking about what CMOs do, (besides change employers with alarming frequency), and I was reminded of something my father once told me (having spent the bulk of his 35-year career at IBM in various marketing posts), which was that “90% of marketing is just common sense.” Of course, what he neglected to mention was that common sense is about as “common” as finches that play golf left-handed, but that’s my Dad for you.
At any rate, that got me thinking: if this is indeed the case, then why the C-level designation. I can understand the need for a CFO what with all the complexities of complying with SOX, mastering the arcane world of credit derivative obligations and figuring out how to expense options without being forced to give half the company a big raise–that’s more than anyone could expect the CEO to shoulder.
Continue reading ‘The CMO Must Go’
by mark September 20th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
A while ago (3.16.05, “Fred & Wilma” to be exact), I took issue with a Microsoft advertising effort that took the “our customers are idiots”school of advertising to the level of an Oxford. Since that posting predated my ability to upload images I could only describe it, but here it is again in all its vainglory.
Yes, it’s still running. Happily however, the IBM “knights of the round table” advertising I took such pleasure in excoriating at around the same time is not. Which takes me back to a question I never tire of asking.
Continue reading ‘Microsaurus Rex’
by mark September 18th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
Under normal circumstances, I would have probably zoomed right past both of these ads. They are about as ordinary as can be, and trust me, the copy you can’t read here does nothing to salvage them. But what caught my eye is that both of these are brands that rose to prominence on the backs of quite extarordinary advertising campaigns.
Timberland was just an obscure brand of deck shoes when Ally & Gargano got its hands on it in the 80s. (My “no naming names” policy doesn’t apply to agencies that have gone to that big conference room in the sky.) And Sony–remember “The One And Only”–was ably helped by advertising done by Doyle, Dane, Bernbach (an agency that is still around as a cufflink monogram, DDB, but bears little resemblance to its former self).
Continue reading ‘Out Of Milk’
by mark September 16th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
About once a week I get an e-mail from Madison + Vine, AdAge’s vehicle for keeping us abreast of all the exciting developments in advertainment, you know, product placements, sponsorships and all that other jazz that’s supposed to render traditional advertising deader than a doornail sometime this week, this year or this millenium depending on who you listen to. I only get the top line because access to the full articles would cost me $299, which to me would be like paying the price of a Ruth’s Chris sirloin for a McDonald’s 1/4-pounder. Plus, there’s usually enough in the top line to send my blood pressure into digits normally reserved for tachometers.
For example, this week I learned that Wal-Mart has struck a deal that will make it the exclusive source for Garth Brooks music, old and new. How this qualifies as “entertainment” I’m not sure. Seems more like unlawful imprisonment to me, but whatever. I’m not a big Garth Brooks fan, so the fact that I refuse to set foot in Wal-Mart because I don’t like its business practices shouldn’t cause me any problems.
Continue reading ‘Stranded Entertainment?’
by mark September 14th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
There was an article I read recently; I don’t remember where, maybe in The New York Times, that went on and on about the parlous state of business magazine advertising. Not the quality of the advertising mind you, (that I would have remembered), but just the decline in number of advertising pages in Fortune, Forbes and BusinessWeek ever since the dot-coms cratered.
Which made me think, maybe I should be directing my crusade for more extraordinary advertising to this audience–magazine publishers–and not just to clients and their agencies. After all, it’s very possible that magazines are the unwitting victims of ordinary advertising insofar as if ordinary advertising produces the lackluster results (if any) that I think it does, is it any wonder clients are growing less and less enamored with it?
Continue reading ‘Misfortune (Or Maybe Not)’
by mark September 12th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
I generally avoid naming advertising agencies in these postings. Not that I harbor any delusions of ever going back into the business; those bridges were converted into Kingsford briquettes long ago. It’s just that I believe ordinary advertising is first and foremost a business problem and thus, ultimately the client’s responsibility. So if I’m going to name names, it’s the clients’ I prefer to cite.
However, the recent migration of an enormous number of high profile assignments to Crispin Porter + Bogusky down in Miami prompts me to violate this policy. Because it’s really quite amazing. First, they get the Mini introduction from BMW. Then, Burger King. Just days ago, Volkswagen, and now Coca-Cola has given them the Sprite assignment. So what’s up here?
Continue reading ‘Non-Traditional Migration’
by mark September 9th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
An unexpected visual is certainly one means of getting to an extraordinary ad. However, it helps if this visual actually means something, which I’m kind of struggling with here. As in, what the heck do zebras have to do with locomotives, pray tell? (Aside from demonstrating someone’s facility with PhotoShop.)
Reading the body copy, which I know you can’t do here, doesn’t provide much illumination either. It tells us that the Evolution (TM) Series locomotive is a “beast” for whatever that’s worth. And then goes on to claim that this–the locomotive, not the ad–is “what happens when you let your “ecomagination” (sic) run wild.”
Continue reading ‘Optical Delusion’
by mark September 2nd, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
So I’m walking down the train platform the other day passing beneath tens of thousands of dollars worth of utterly ignorable ordinary transit advertising when my eye was caught by this all-white-type-reversed-out-of-black poster. (Often, but not always an indication of something better-than-average to come.) Which in this case, it certainly was.
The first poster read: “Millions of Lutherans swear by our financial services. (Okay, so they don’t actually swear.)” And its companion, which I saw a little later, featured this thought: “Financial worries should retire when you do.” Both are for an enterprise called Thrivent Financial For Lutherans and I think they certainly did a very good job of making me instantly aware of and curious about this new (to me) financial institution. There’s just one hitch.
Continue reading ‘God Damn Good’
