Archive for July, 2009

Remember the first time the Dems tried to get a government health care plan through Congress? Lemme refresh your memory. It was back during the Clinton years. Hillary was in charge, and she and her merry band of secret advisory panelists put together a plan with no outside input, then punted up to Capitol Hill. The plan was effectively D.O.A. One of the things that was credited with torpedoing the plan were commercials featuring “Harry and Louise” – a stereotypical, middle-age, made-for-TV couple, who turned out to be shilling for the Health Insurance Association of America, an industry lobbying group. The commercials showed them, sitting around the breakfast table, expressing genuine concern over how HillaryCare was about to force socialized medicine on the country. They were effective spots, and probably did more to  wake up the middle class as to what was going on in D.C. than anything else. Read the rest of this entry »

When I was a kid, I was in the Boy Scouts. I came home one day, with a bag full of supplies for my first Boy Scout camping trip. Giddy with a new find, I proudly regaled my Dad with the wonders of SPAM, not realizing that there was a reason that he was busy turning green as I talked. Seems he’d been well-acquainted with the joys of SPAM in WWII. Poor guy couldn’t think about SPAM without getting seriously queasy. He literally turned a pale shade of green.

I feel that way about Spam. There’s few things I can think of that bother me more than unsolicited intrusions into my online activities. What’s worse, is I’m now dealing with some Spammer that thinks it’s acceptable to hack into this blog and insert code so he can pump Spam to my readers.

I hate Spam. But I hate Spammers – and hackers – even more.

I can tell you it’s not been a problem for any of you – because this clueless hack is such a moron, he apparently doesn’t know how to properly hack a blog – his code simply makes my blog disappear. No code. Just a blank page. Mind you, I still don’t know how the little bastard is getting in…I’ve taken all the precautions I know, and I’m still getting several pages changed without permission.

I can promise you, though, that my patience is wearing thin. And I have a buddy who has a buddy that does high-level contract work for the code spooks at the NSA. I may call in a favor. Or three. And then we’ll see how much this little twerp likes it when HIS computer gets hacked.

I should have known better. Really. When a company has bad marketing, 99 times out of 100, it’s because of bad management at the top. You see, smart management won’t greenlight bad ads (at least not very often), so bad ads – particularly a bad series of ads is a bellwether of bad management. Case in point: UPS. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been visiting my Dad for the past week or so, and I’ve been watching his DirecTV. (When you’re visiting your parent, you’re activities are pretty much limited to what they do. He watches a LOT of TV.)

What’s interesting to me is the dichotomy between the ads from both DirecTV and Dish Network, versus the experience of actually using their services. Since I have Dish Network at home, I have a fair amount of perspective now on both systems.

Lately, Dish has been marketing themselves as a “cheaper” but every bit as full-featured alternative to DirectTV.  That’s definitely an “Avis” strategy (you know…”we’re number two, so we try harder”). I would therefore assume that Dish is running second to DirecTV in sales. (If they aren’t they need to take their marketing team out back and shoot them – this is NOT the right strategy for a market leader.) Dish, on the other hand, markets themselves against cable systems. I’m a big believer in satellite – I’ve had universally crappy service from cable, and there’s no way they can match satellite’s prices, largely due to their inherent disadvantage due to their fixed infrastructure costs.

What’s interesting, is that from their ads, aside from price, there’s little differentiate Dish and DirecTV from each other. That is, of course, until you use them.

As a user interface specialist, I’ve been underwhelmed forever and a day with Dish Network’s clunky U/I. I see so many things I could do better. I’ve been told that DirecTV’s is better. Not sure I agree with that. On the whole, I think the Dish Network’s remote is easier and more intuitive to use. Certainly, the modal nature of the DirecTV remote is a barrier to use – until you get used to it. On the plus side, DirecTV’s menus seem to allow more customization. On the negative side, that customization (which is largely to limit the lists to specific channels)  is harder to figure out, and once you have it customized, it’s difficult to switch modes (back to seeing everything, rather than just the ones you picked for your custom list). What’s interesting is that both systems could stand a U/I reworking, and neither seems to be overly-interested in what is an essential aspect of their product.

So which one is “better”? I don’t know. From a usability point of view, I’d say Dish wins. From a marketing point of view, DirecTV has better ads, and a market-leading strategy.  (I also worry about the DVR offered by Dish, and the fact that they will eventually lose their battle with TiVO, and I’ll probably be out one DVR.) This is largely a case where the edge in marketing (by DirecTV) probably translates to a sales lead – but not because of a superior product – but slightly better marketing.

As a creative guy, I love coming up with creative ways to market things. Nothing jazzes me more than to come up with an ad concept, a slogan, or a logo that will resonate with the public. But I’ve learned something about successful marketing over the years – repetition is the key to turning a great idea into effective marketing.

Repetition. Sounds simple. Just create your message, and repeat it, ad nauseum, until it works. Think of it as the marketers version of the Rinse, Lather, and Repeat instructions you find on shampoo bottles. Of course there’s more to it than that. If your message doesn’t resonate, it will get lost in the noise. But it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that if you don’t repeat your message enough, even the best marketing simply won’t work.

I can’t tell you how many clients I’ve had that either don’t commit to a big enough media buy, or they get bored with their spots and want to change them before it’s appropriate to do so. When you see a commercial enough to get bored with it, you’ve just witnessed marketing penetration. Everybody wants to run commercials or ads that get people talking, but successful marketing is not built on a momentary “buzz” (i.e.: “did you see that new ad for ________”), but on effective ads that are repeated over and over.

Another point that may have escaped your notice is that in life, everybody is a marketer. I’m dealing with a situation in my personal life right now that has brought that lesson home. Just like what the world learned in WWII, if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes indistinguishable from the truth. Having the truth on your side is nice, but it’s no guarantee that you’ll prevail. No, I’ve learned that repetition of a marketing message can overcome the truth, even when I have the truth on my side.

I’d love to tell you that truth will win in the long run. I’d love to tell you that if you have a superior product, or a message that resonates, you’ll win. But while being right or building a better mousetrap is good and important, remember that it’s no guarantee of success. Without repetition as a key component of your marketing, you’re fighting a battle where you are, effectively, an unarmed combatant.

Yes, today is my birthday. Nothing remarkable there…everybody’s got one per year. For those who don’t like birthdays, consider the alternative. I’ve had some bad birthdays before, but never one so bad I’d consider death as a way to avoid another.

Since this is a marketing blog (and I’d like to get back to enjoying my “special day” [insert ironic pause here]), I’ll simply remark that I find that the leaders in one-to-one marketing seem to be…online forums?

Yep. That’s right. Online forums. When you sign up for one of these online forums, they routinely ask for your birthdate. The software then obligingly kicks out a “happy birthday” email automagically. Nice. It’s a great way for the board to remind you that they exist, and a nice thing for the recipient, even if you know it’s not the thought, but the programming that counts.

Honorable mention in the birthday email sweepstakes: Jack in the Box. I received a “personal” email from Jack Box today, along with a coupon for a free desert. Way to extend your brand – and your tongue-in-cheek marketing attitude to Jack-lovers around the country. Nice job, Jack!

NOT a photo of the author.

I recently fell prey to the marketing campaign staged by Classmates.com. You know…the site that purports that they will help you reconnect with all the friends you had in high school.

Balderdash.

It turns out, Classmates.com is (as far as I can tell) a complete waste of time – unless you pony up for the monthly membership charges for their “Gold Membership” package. Now tiered membership levels are nothing new. Lots of social networking sites do something similar. However, other social network sites with dual-level memberships actually give you something of value at the “free membership” level.

Robert Metcalfe (founder of 3Com and inventor of Ethernet) identified what’s come to be known Metcalfe’s Law: The value of a network increases exponentially with the number of users connected to the system. Read the rest of this entry »