Archive for December, 2008

Here’s the deal…the Big Three are at it again. They’ve come back to the Hill, hats in hand, to try and con Congress into giving them a space at the bailout trough. So what’s changed since they were turned away and told to go back home and come up with a workable turnaround plan?

Marketing.

Yep. Ford’s chair drove all the way from Detroit to D.C. in an Escape Hybrid. Wow. There’s a PR move, if ever I’ve seen one. ‘Course, it would have been ever so much more effective if he’d done it a couple of weeks ago, instead of flying in with his corporate jet. “I just drove in from Detroit, and boy is my butt sore,” makes ever so much better a punchline than “I just flew in from Detroit, and boy is my stewardess tired.” Oh, and the Big Three CEOs have offered to take $1 a year for a salary! (No word on stock options and other incentives.) And they’ll give up the corporate jets! (Now we’re talkin’ pain!)

It’s interesting to see the Big Three get hip to appearances, and start doing something to make it at least look as if they’re trying to be contrite. Pity they didn’t come up with anything more than smoke and mirrors for a plan. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ll admit it. I just don’t get it. You see, in my years as a marketer, I’ve learned that the fundamental principle behind just about every human interaction is that if you can make someone’s job easier, it makes it easy to get what you want. For instance, if you wanna get ink, write a story with a compelling angle and pitch it to an editor. If it hits the mark, they’ll take it – they get a free story and you get the publicity you need. So when all the brouhaha about Detroit’s Big Three hit the headlines, I realized that there was an opportunity there for a friend of mine. What I didn’t realize, is how difficult it is proving to turn that opportunity into a success story. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ll admit it. I used to write and direct ads for car dealers. It was an educational process. I went into the job, convinced that I could create ads that would sell better than the really annoying ones you hear, were the pitchman screams at you, with an urgent “BUY NOW!” message. Turns out, that particular subset (some would say “subculture”) of the industry has a name for such ads. “Hype ads,” they’re called. It’s bizarre. Car dealers are absolutely convinced that if you scream loudly enough at your customers, they’ll buy. In reality, what’s happening here is that people pretty much tune out most car ads, until they are in the market for a car. When their “CAR-DAR” is active, they pay attention to car ads. In a way, it’s kind of like Modern Bride Magazine – you have a limited window (presumably between the time you’re engaged and the time you get married, unless you’re obsessed with being a bride) to pitch your wares to the bride-to-be. So you better make the most of that window of opportunity. Unfortunately, car dealers thing hype ads work. In fact, there are a lot more effective ways to rise above the noise level and grab the attention of a potential customer. Hype ads may work sometimes, but they are not a panacea, and can alienate as often as they can work. 

That got me to thinking about hype the other day. Not “hype ads” in particular, but the way marketers use hyperbole on a regular basis in advertising. Heard this lately: Read the rest of this entry »