Would you like a sample of our tasty beverage?

With digital technology growing cheaper by the day and becoming widely available for marketing purposes, companies are going into overdrive to fill every bit of ad space they can find. Following are a few articles covering this phenomenon.

• Anywhere the eye can see – NYT

“What all marketers are dealing with is an absolute sensory overload,” said Gretchen Hofmann, executive vice president of marketing and sales at Universal Orlando Resort. The landscape is “overly saturated” as companies press harder to make their products stand out, she said.

• Freedom of choice – Forbes

Media and tech companies are falling over themselves trying to get more and more media content onto more and more platforms. Web video on your TV! Music and games on your cellphone! Downloaded movies on your home-office PC hard drive transmitted to your living room home entertainment system!

As I am sure advertising will become part of these platforms, the IPod case brought to you by Google in conjunction with BASF and so forth and amid the growing utilization of technology to press brand management I wanted to focus on a tried yet true method of product marketing, the in-store sample. Due to some recent weather issues I was unable to gather my weekly groceries on my regular schedule, when the least possible amount of annoyances are present. Instead I hit my local Target at noon on Saturday. At the head of every aisle was an employee pushing a sample of juice, granola or frozen organic pizza. As I tried vehemently to proceed down each aisle I was halted by two to three people surrounding the sample cart.

This week I also made it to Target on Saturday, witnessed the same sample carts and decided to stop off for some coffee at the Starbucks and observe. Several times I witnessed a patron coming around the corner of an aisle, stopping to check out the offering, exactly what the store and it’s suppliers want. Meanwhile, there are two to three people stopped behind the sample consumer, slowly getting irritated. By the time this happens four or five times, everyone is in a mad dash for the registers already fed up with the shopping trip. By the time I am finished, there are typically three or four items I have forgotten because I am tired of being in the store, purchases that go to the grocery store up the street.

There has recently been a viral marketing backlash.

Videos such as “Bride Has Massive Hair Wig Out” and those posted by Lonelygirl15 on You Tube may help sell products or kick-start a budding actor’s career. But they also have a more pernicious effect on our tendency to trust what seems genuine.

“I can’t see how they don’t make people more cynical,” says Gillian Watson, a social psychologist at the University of British Columbia.

As business and other pursuits take more of our time, can we expect this same backlash against traditional marketing techniques that interupt our schedules? Are markets that over-utilize the in-store sample loosing sales at the expense of increased purchases of a few items?  Regardless, I probably need to take a few deep breaths before my next trip to the store.

 

Superbowl Commercials & Violence?

I refrained from writing any articles analyzing the numerous Superbowl commercials this year. With all the buzz around the big game and the commercials anyway I figured it would just be useless clutter. I did however want to draw attention a NY Times article that attempts to follow along the same lines as my regular Commercial Culture posts. They explore the idea that the level of violence in this years commercials, “cartoonish” as it may be, could reflect the toll the Iraq War is having on the American psyche.

No commercial that appeared last night during Super Bowl XLI directly addressed Iraq, unlike a patriotic spot for Budweiser beer that ran during the game two years ago. But the ongoing war seemed to linger just below the surface of many of this year’s commercials.

More than a dozen spots celebrated violence in an exaggerated, cartoonlike vein that was intended to be humorous, but often came across as cruel or callous.

For instance, in a commercial for Bud Light beer, sold by Anheuser-Busch, one man beat the other at a game of rock, paper, scissors by throwing a rock at his opponent’s head.

In another Bud Light spot, face-slapping replaced fist-bumping as the cool way for people to show affection for one another. In a FedEx commercial, set on the moon, an astronaut was wiped out by a meteor. In a spot for Snickers candy, sold by Mars, two co-workers sought to prove their masculinity by tearing off patches of chest hair.

While I agree that it is likely that the images of war we see daily manifest themselves in ways we cannot immediately explain in our everyday lives; I think men ripping the hair from their chest after having accidentally kissed may be linked to other psychological issues rather than the current state of our foreign policy.

My personal favorite from last night and it appears was a big winner: Blockbuster’s Total Access Mouse

Related Posts:

Superbowl’s Appeal to the Younger Viewer?

The not so hidden costs of the Superbowl

 

Superbowl’s Appeal to the Younger Viewer?

Following the exploits of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake at the Superbowl in 2004 a new wave of American Puritanism began, resulting in the over-enthusiastic FCC to label everything obscene, regardless, the show must go on. In early January I posted an article under my Commercial Culture tag comparing the popularity of beer and wine as a distribution of football viewers.

Although I did not have access to a great deal of market information, it appeared that as with many institutions in our society, the average football viewer is aging, meaning that not as many younger people are becoming football fans or playing youth football; certainly not at a rate to replace the aging boomers.

Earlier tonight I watched the Superbowl (on a personal note, I hate the Indianapolis Colts and Peyton Manning). If it is truly the goal of the NFL to start drawing a younger fan base, let me ask, does it make sense to have Stevie Nicks, Billy Joel, and Prince be the highlighted performers? Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy some Billy Joel and Fleetwood Mac (Prince, not so much), but I don’t see the logic here. The commercial spots surrounding the performers were as such:

Billy Joel
Before – CBS: CSI Miami,
After – Movie: Norbit

Prince
Before – NFL: Walter Peyton Man of the Year
After – Pepsi*

* In all fairness, Pepsi was the sponsor of the halftime show, so it makes sense they would have one of the sandwich spots. I do on the other hand find it ironic that they were once “The Choice of a New Generation.”

Gloria Estefan & Cirque du Soleil
Before – CBS: Survivor
After – Combos Pretzel Snacks

By and large, it would seem these commercials appeal to the opposite crowd based on the relative popularity of the artists.

Related Articles:

The not so hidden costs of the Superbowl 

 

Why we need to understand complexity – Exxon & Global Warming

There is a plethora of energy related news this week. ExxonMobil once again broke the record for quarterly profits, eclipsing the record they set last year a day before the UN conference on climate change where human beings are to be implicated as the direct causal factor of global warming.

Remember about a month ago, ExxonMobil was implicated in attempting to distort facts on global warming in a public communication campaign.

“ExxonMobil has, in a cynical and manipulative strategy, helped create a kind of echo chamber to amplify the views of a carefully selected group of spokespeople whose work has been largely discredited by the scientific community,” said Seth Schulman, the report’s primary author, in a conference call today with reporters. The strategy is built on the notion, the report found, that “public opinion can be easily manipulated because science is complex, because people tend not to notice where their information comes from, and because the effects of global warming are just beginning to become visible.”

Today it has become known that the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil funded thinktank with close ties to the Bush Administration, offered select scientists and economists $10,000 each to undermine the climate change report.

Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Travel expenses and additional payments were also offered.

Once again why we need to understand the concept of complexity and systems thinking in world affairs.

Related Articles:

Why we need to understand complexity

Global Warming is ‘very likely’ man-made

Exxon linked to climate change payout

 

Disney’s Careerbuilder “Dream Job”

I received a special notice from Careerbuilder today, that Disney running a contest to provide people with a one-day “Dream Job” from the following list:

Honorary Disney Pirate

Honorary Disney Princess-in-Waiting

Honorary Disney Jungle Cruise Skipper

Honorary Disney Park Parade Performer

Honorary Disney Haunted Mansion Butler or Maid

As a kid, I had fallen in love with DisneyWorld for obvious reasons. From the moment you arrive at one of the parks, it is one of the happiest places on earth, for children anyway. During my summer internship search at Purdue University, I had the opportunity to interview with Disney for an engineering position (a job which went to my roommate, Jeremy). Following his summer, I found out more about the general summer jobs.

Most summer employees are housed at a central apartment complex, have one of the most stringent dress code policies including a guide of acceptable haircuts, and a sizable portion return having spent more money than was made (largely due to rent). Is it any wonder that Tigger is smacking people around?

Now while I can’t comment on the current status of Disney’s human resources, a 2001 story regarding the cleanliness of approved shared undergarments comes to mind.

Each night, they hand in the underwear with the rest of their costume before going home, and pick up a new set the next day.

Many of the characters have to wear Disney-issued jock-straps, tights or cycling shorts underneath their costumes because normal underwear bunches up and can be seen.

Some workers complained about receiving undergarments that were stained or smelly and Mr Steverson said there have been three cases of costumed workers at the Magic Kingdom getting pubic lice or scabies during the past two years.

Given the difficulty in changing corporate culture, particularly treatment of workers lower in the hierarchy, I can’t imagine things have significantly improved; definitely not enough to qualify the Pirate position as a “Dream Job.” Now taking CEO Robert Iger’s job for a day given his 2006 compensation of $22 million wouldn’t be all that bad.

On a side note, I heard an interesting Disney related rumor, one that has been circulating around the DFW area and web for a few years now, that will be disclosed on Superbowl Sunday. Disney is going to build a fourth US theme park in Frisco, TX.   Of course it could always be a ploy to get dejected Cowboys fans to tune into the big game.

 

The not so hidden costs of the Superbowl

I love football, this coming Sunday is the last game of the season and I’m a Bears fan. So it doesn’t take a genius to figure out I will be front and center on my couch. Let’s take a look at some of the not so hidden costs surrounding the big game.

Superbowl Tickets (2)

Face Value: $800+
eBay: $6000+

It hard to imagine that the first few championship games to be played did not sell out completely. I would truly love to be at this game, since if history repeats itself it I will be in my 50’s before another Bears teams makes it this far. I wonder periodically if the price tag doesn’t hurt the sport, but then again, every October to early February I’m in front of the tube.

Commercial Spot

Prime 30-second spot: $2.6 million

The commercials are the reason some tune into the big game and depending on the quality of play, may generate more buzz around the water cooler the next day. If only the products advertised were worth the money spent. Just imagine what else you could buy with that money:

In the half-hour it could take for a party to drink one six pack of Budweiser, you could buy over 9 million of them, at current ad prices, Debo found.

That same $2.6 million could also…

 

Purchase entire blocks of East Aurora or Starin Avenue in Buffalo, Holcberg says.

Buy 69 Lexus RX series sedans, at just released 2008 model prices

Lost Productivity

Cost to business: $162 million

That’s right, we are even measuring the lost productivity to business due to the Superbowl. This figure only accounts for distractions and delays leading up to and after the game by workers who show up. Not included are the post-Bowl “illnesses.” Not to mention the psychological counseling I will need should the Bears loose to the Colts, but that isn’t likely to happen since my Madden 2007 assures me the game will be 66-35 with Manning going down in the second quarter after a sack by Urlacher. Go Bears!

 

Human Resources: The Window to Your Company’s Culture

A posting on Slashdot ask the posed the following scenario:

“I have been lamenting with friends in the industry about interviewing woes and the candidates that we find. Consider a hypothetical job candidate comes in after some how making it through screening. In the team technical interview they prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that not only is he (or she) not as adequate as he thinks he is, but has demonstrated that he is a danger to any code base. Do you tell them? Quietly step away, usher them out and say nothing? Play with them on the whiteboard the way your cat plays with injured mice? Should you leave them as their own warning to others? Is there any obligation to guide them to gaining real experience? Can you give them any advice or is it all liability?”

– Some Entertainment –

Going back almost 10 years to one of my first job interviews with an electronics supplier, I received a functional interview. I was taken through a sample case and given a written test with two sections, one specific to their technician roles the other engineers. Long story short, the technician section I answered completely with 100% correct, the engineering portion on the other hand was a different matter. Not having worked on those specific problems in some months, I was only able to list the relevant equations but not the procedure for solving them. After turning in the test, the next person through the door asked, “What! You think you’re too smart to have to answer all the questions?” I was then given about two minutes to explain before I was escorted from the building.

Now compare the previous story to that of a peer of mine. After completing his MBA program he was applying for marketing positions. He managed to network his way into an interview with a local shipping company. The interview consisted of meeting with several people culminating with a case study. The only problem, he was never provided the case materials. Turns out the HR manager never had any intent to hire him, she just wanted his friend off her back. Needless to say, he did not get the job.

– Poor Hiring, Bad Culture or Both? –

The point of these two stories is this, just as your marketing program gives your company a voice so does your hiring process. Just as customers spread your brand by word of mouth, so do your employees and those you interview. By giving potential new hires advice, regardless of whether you hire them, and/or taking the time to give them a legitimate opportunity you provide them with a favorable image of your company and perhaps they will correct their shortcomings to become a future asset.

A regional VP at a company I used to work for, who started out as a janitor, was always saying “Be careful how you treat people, you never know who they may be someday.” The old rule is that a dissatisfied customer will tell 10 other people about their experience. In the new Web 2.0 world in which we live, that is no longer the case. Remember the story of Radio Shack laying people off via email. I have certainly not forgotten the names of the two companies in the stories above and should our business paths cross in the future, how do you think they will be perceived?

 

Band Brand Management – Corporeal

This is different from my other posts given that it is unsolicited advertising. Robert Kingston at Small Business Branding has posted an article on the various methods a band may promote themselves.

Thanks to new technology and the ease of recording music these days, artists are able to produce wild tunes for people with even the most particular tastes. Many people don’t realize this but their bands (or Brands as we might call them) are effectively targeting ultra specific niches.

This brings me to Corporeal, whom I first saw on Break.com. I think these guys are pretty good and hope this helps in a small way to get them more exposure. Check out the videos below.

You can find more info on Corporeal at the following sites:

http://www.myspace.com/corporealmusic
http://www.myspace.com/corporealmusic1
http://www.myspace.com/corporealmusic2

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Commercial Culture #3 – Silver Bullet vs. King of Beers vs. Napa Valley?

First an update on Google Video and YouTube in response to a recent article on BlogMaverick – Ripping on Gootube…. Again. I would intend to agree with Mr. Cuban a fellow Dallasite, however I prefer to look on the brighter side from both a consumer’s point of view as well as from a marketing perspective. Perhaps the feedback that will be left on the various sites will provide constructive criticism that will lead to the generation of better media decisions. The instances of commercial skipping brought on by digital video recorders (DVRs) like TiVo have presented an issue for marketers trying to reach consumers. This has led to various ploys and redistribution of funds to combat the problem. Recently the Wall Street Journal gave Yum Brands Inc.’s KFC the TiVo Buster award with it’s inventive ad which effectively made tv goers not use the DVR skip feature to receive a free “Buffalo Snacker,” while other organizations shifted more dollars to strategic product placement. Now back to Commercial Culture.

– America’s Drink –

Personally I love to watch football, furthermore, I love to watch football live. I’ve recorded games, even allowed my DVR buffer to fill so I can zip through commercials, but there is still this notion that the events which impact ‘my team’ (Chicago Bears) have already happened and if I don’t see it live my well wishing added to the collective will for them to win will in some way be negated.Following is one of many Coor’s commercials that have typically been run during NFL football games this season.

With numerous studies being release touting the health benefits and subsequent increased demand for red wine; I wondered if the current advertising trends for alcoholic beverages during sporting events will be seeing a shift away from beer and towards wine.

A study conducted by Anheuser-Busch in 2004 indicates a 0.7% increase in beer consumption compared to a 3.4% increase in wine. In addition their report goes on to show that beer consumption is skewed toward the following demographics:

• Male
• Younger
• Low to Moderate Educated
• Blue Collar
• Moderate Income Households

Now we compare these figures with who watches football. An NFL marketing report indicates the number one challenge for the NFL is to diversify their demographics to generate additional committed fans.

Scarborough Research confirms that NFL fans continue to be among the most loyal and intense of any sport. Approximately 43.4 percent of Americans are “loyal” football fans who are also “very or somewhat interested” in the NFL. In this group, 62 percent have had some form of college education, and over 30 percent generate household incomes of over $75,000. Over 32 percent of fans own NFL licensed apparel, significantly higher than any other sport. Despite this, the league continues to face challenges of expanding its core base.

Despite this strong support base, the NFL is currently experiencing additional challenges with the next generation of fan. Though holding steady at 45%,

The real challenge remains the next generation. Youth football participation has dropped nearly 58 percent over the past eight years.

So a brief comparison of beer drinkers and the typical NFL fan provides some interesting information. While most fans are male, they also tend to be more educated and have above average annual incomes. With the potential shortfall in attracting new fans, the core fan will also have a higher average age. All of these factors, save one (gender), seem to run contradictory of NFL beer marketing. But who is it that drinks wine?

Unfortunately for the wine industry, the typical US consumer is aging with the Baby Boomer generation who account for 30% of sales. Where 18-24 year olds account for less than 10% of consumption. In 2003, wine advertising during sports programming was approximately $3 million whereas beer was in excess of $600 million. Could the fall in youth participation in football lead to the eventual drop in beer advertising and a greater emphasis be placed on the baby boomer through the marketing of wine?

Granted the information and statistics provided above are relatively subjective and I’m sure a greater analysis has been conducted by the various industries to determine their marketing mix. Regardless the eventual result, no matter how you say it, telling your friends you’re going to climb in your chair, turn on the game and sip a tall glass of Cabernet just doesn’t sound as good as a ‘cracking open a cold one.’

Be sure to read the other articles in the series

Commercial Culture #1 – Pizza Hut $5 Deal
Commercial Culture #2 – GoDaddy.com

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Second Life Worth Living #1 – What is Second Life?

I have been pondering sometime writing an article on Secondlife. But where to begin? With the social life? Business? Education? Sex? I have instead opted to create a series articles dedicated to various aspects over the next several weeks. These articles will be anything but exhaustive. I will attempt, however, to expand on the media’s current representation and provide a more in depth focus on potential implications and theoretical linkages between the world in Secondlife and everyday life.

– What is Second Life? –

For those of you not ‘in the know,’ Secondlife (or SL) is an online networking world where users (residents) are allowed to create an avatar, an internet users representation of him or herself, to interact with those around them as well as generate a multitude of objects from clothing to buildings inhabiting a small parcel to entire islands. It has been likened to World of Warcraft (WoW) and other Massive Multiplayer Online Roll Playing Games (MMORPGs). Unlike other MMORPGs, however, SL represents a departure in terms of the flexible environment created by its users. Instead of participating in a guild and completing quests residents may choose a seemingly endless list of activities limited by one’s imagination.

Population

Once online you will find a diverse population representative of persons and personalities from around the world. You can get an idea of the relative population growth of the multiple online worlds which is tracked on Swivel.com. Though in relative terms, WoW still maintains its position in terms of absolute users, but Secondlife’s broader offering and media exposure will surely make it a significant alternative. According to Linden Labs, creator of SL, since going online in 2003 the population has grown to over 2,000,000 users.

World of Warcraft and Second Life: who’s on top?

• MMORPG subscribers World of Warcraft
• MMORPG subscribers Second Life

Environment

As mentioned above, the construct of SL is almost limitless. User generated objects and environments range from personal residences to scenes symbolic of the Elysium fields. Exploring the many islands of SL will yield a plethora of locations, some as recognizable as 30 Rockefeller Center, location of the GE Building (NBC’s headquarters), others as abstract as the University of Texas at Dallas’ ATEC Museum.

Following are links to but only a couple of several blogs that I recommend frequenting at your leisure for information on both residents, events and locations:

Infoisland.org
New World Notes

Though not your typical MMORPG, SL brings a richer environment with serious linkages to Real life (RL). Several companies and universities are gaining a presence in the online world for purposes of marketing, research or to participate directly in the SL economy. Be sure to check back for these upcoming articles:

• Business of Second Life
• Education and Research in Second Life
• Psychology of Second Life and Online Worlds