Marketing Pet-Peeves
August
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Is This Really What Calvin Klein Thinks His Customers Do All Day?
2011 at 07:28 pm Posted by Sherri Sharp
From the once brilliant house of Klein advertising comes this?? If you watch AMC's Breaking Bad, it kind of reminds me of what's going on in Jesse's house right now. If you don't, it involves lots of drugs - really bad drugs.
This has to move onto my top 10 ads list of a useless waste of money and our time.
Posted in: Marketing Pet-Peeves
July
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So What Happens If The Dead Ad Guy Likes My Idea?
2011 at 05:03 pm Posted by Sherri Sharp
To continue the centennial celebration of Ogilvy & Mather founder David Ogilvy, the agency launches a new iPhone app that invites the public to pitch their "big ideas" to the ad man "himself". I find myself having a bit of a problem with this app. First of all, Ogilvy is one of my favorite advertising icons, "Confessions of an Advertising Man" is still a must-read today and this cartoony-creepy version of him seems a bit disrespectful to me. Second, what is the agency's motivation in creating this app? They could have done so much more to honor the man that ad students will still be studying 100 years from now - is this a smarmy ploy to get fresh new ideas on the cheap? What happens if Dead David likes my idea? Do I get a plane ticket to come visit the agency and pitch my idea in person? Do I get compensated if the agency decides to use it or pitch it to one of their clients? I haven't found the answer yet. Maybe I'll download the app and ask David himself.
Posted in: Marketing Pet-Peeves
March
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Chrysler Puts The Brakes On Grassroots Jeep ‘Imported from Toledo’ Ad Campaign
2011 at 03:25 pm Posted by Sherri Sharp
One of the ad industry's biggest grievances is when someone steals your creative concept. Especially if you spent $3 million to air your brainchild during the Super Bowl. So Chrysler took action from their own copy from the Eminem 200 commercial. This is the Motor City and this is what we do. AutoGuide.com reports that in an attempt to capitalize on Chrysler’s ‘Imported from Detroit,’ ad slogan, a group of Jeep Dealers made up their own printed slogan ‘Imported from Toledo,’ complete with a stylized image of a classic Jeep nose.
One dealer even placed the logo on the doors of a Wrangler and drove it onto the ice during the Toledo, Walleyes minor league hockey game. Needless to say, Chrysler brass weren’t too impressed with this unofficial idea and have now put the kybosh on the campaign, fearing that it will detract from their original slogan and cause confusion among buyers.
The ‘Made in Toledo’ idea is said to have originated at Monroe Dodge/Jeep in Monroe, Michigan (just across the state line from Toledo), where store owner Ralph Mahalak Jr. made up some 600 shirts with the logo, designed to celebrate the iconic Jeep brand’s 70th anniversary.
Said shirts were reportedly selling for $19.41 a piece, but now to prevent a trademark battle, Mahalak has elected to give the shirts away, offering one to each customer that comes into his store to test drive a Jeep vehicle.
Posted in: Marketing Pet-Peeves
November
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I Think Kraft Cheesy Explosion Mac and Cheese Would Have Been a Better Product
2010 at 05:39 pm Posted by Sherri Sharp
The first real memory I have of actualizing product placement was for Reese's Pieces in ET, and this was some time before I had college professors discussing the merits or pitfalls of the tactic. One of my favorite articles about product placement is by Erwin Ephron - he talks about the fact it is not scalable and works only for established brand names that are well identified. Lesser-known brands are "dummy" brands to the viewer. My favorite is his discussion of the paradox of product placement. If you notice, it’s bad. But if you don’t notice, it’s worthless. Such a narrow line that either the viewer or the advertiser feels betrayed.
How true, Erwin. When I had the time to watch day-time drama, I would have probably thrown something at the small black and white, rabbit-eared television in the dorm room if I had seen this. Please - who is the General Mils Product Manager that signed off on this hurl-worthy (double pun intended) mess of product placement?? Kraft, I think it's time to step up your game.
" title="Days of Our Lives Product Placement">Days of Our Lives Product Placement
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May
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This “Mad Men” Statistic Makes Me Mad.
2010 at 05:13 pm Posted by Sherri Sharp
Sure, I love the show and can't wait for the new season, but I don't want to see my industry still stuck in the '60's. My AdRants Daily reports that 100% of the 2010 Super Bowl Ads were created by white men. Of the 52 professionally produced ads by advertising agencies and aired during the Super Bowl, 100 percent of the creative directors were white, with only 6 percent of them being women. That's one of the findings in a new study from the NAACP to be released today at a press conference in New York. The study was done by Dr. Richard Lapchick and a team of graduate students at the request of the Madison Avenue Project, an initiative of Mehri & Skalet, PLLC, and the NAACP.
So I guess the challenge lies in the immortal words of Don Draper, "You came here because we do this better than you, and part of that is letting our creatives be unproductive until they are."
I'm just hoping that future creativity for the pinnacle of TV advertising is derived from a little more diversity.
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April
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The E*Trade Babies as a Movie?? Would You Watch?
2010 at 02:57 pm Posted by Sherri Sharp
OK - I like these commercials. I wouldn't want to sit in an editing booth trying to match voice overs, but that's one reason I admire editors. But, seriously, a movie? Erik Davis from Cinematical is reporting that one is actually being planned. Remember the Geico Caveman TV series? Nope. Apparently Hollywood didn't learn that taking funny TV commercial gimmicks and trying to turn them into something bigger really doesn't work. The plot supposedly involves a group of talking babies as they make their way across a playground. I don't know how many parents would shell out money to see this when can they see this for free everyday - and babies are just naturally funny. Unless this is some brilliant move by ETrade to infiltrate our minds with subliminal messaging about living the broker high life, then Hollywood should learn from its mistakes and leave good advertising alone.
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November
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Why hire an ad agency when you can give your money away to John Q. Public?
2009 at 04:10 pm Posted by Sherri Sharp
We've all seen the ads on late night cable featuring Matthew Lesko, AKA question mark suit dude. I even found one of his books in my husband's moving boxes. He's up there as one of those infomercial/make money scammer types that really grind a nerve that he makes so much money by being annoying. Well, now he's sticking it to the ad biz, which makes him more annoying to me. Lesko has literally spent millions on TV advertising and has used several ad agencies to help with his campaigns. To promote his latest gimmick, he's shifting his ad budget to be able to give away money to the people. He promises to pay five dollars to anyone who visits and joins "My America Benefits Plan". Of course, to get the five dollars, a person has to sign up for the program, pay one dollar and then receive five dollars back. It's a win-win for him - he makes more money and he gets access to your personal data. Sure, I'd like an extra five dollars, but is permitting him to now be able to literally in my face on my computer screen worth it?
We'll see how long his internet strategy lasts - at least with traditional cable buys, he's pumping money into the industry and we can all pick up our remotes.
Posted in: Marketing Pet-Peeves
