A peril of celebrity spokespersons

Disinterested.
Half-hearted.
Talk about "mailing it in".
Who approved this and have they been fired?

These are just a few of the thoughts that come to mind after watching the current Ameriprise television advertisement featuring celebrity Tommy Lee Jones. Take a look.


We know Tommy Lee Jones from his many memorable movie characters - from Lonesome Dove to U.S. Marshals, from Men in Black to No County for Old Men. We have come expect a certain aura, presence, liveliness, wit and banter from Mr. Jones.  I bet Ameriprise did too.

If a paid celebrity spokesperson can't get excited for a product or company they are shilling for, why should we?

Product do-overs difficult... do it better the first time

The comparison is stark:

• Apple sells approximately 200, 000 iPads every 2 days.
• RIM sold approximately 200,000 Blackberry Playbook tablet computers over 90 days this past summer.

The problem(s) with the Playbook?

First (and probably foremost), it doesn't have an Apple logo on it.  However, there are non-Apple issues.  The Playbook was introduced with just a fraction (40,000 vs. 1,000,000) of the available content and apps available to its adopters compared to competing Apple and Google Android tablets. In addition, the Playbook did not come with Blackberry's popular e-mail and collaboration service (Blackberry Enterprise Server).

RIM's proposed fixes to bolster Playbook sales?

1. Encourage app makers to get really busy.
2. Release a "major" software update.
3. Cut prices.
4. Keep telling prospective buyers the Playbook is just as good/better than the iPad.

The outcome? Consumers will soon decide

However, recapturing any momentum that came with the introduction of the Blackberry Playbook will be difficult (impossible?). While a staple of recreational golf, mulligans are in short supply in the business world.  A better path is to hit a quality shot on the first swing.

Keeping an advertising campaign fresh

Ally Bank's promotional objective over the last few years has been to drive home the point that they are not "banking as usual".  To keep their advertising from getting stale Ally's advertising has periodically changed tag lines.  


It started with "It's just the right thing to do".



Then came "Do you love your bank?"



And most recently "Stop accepting nonsense" (poor service, hidden fees, etc.).



Multiple tag lines.
One long lasting theme people can relate to.
Interesting, attention-keeping advertising.

Making your customers the butt of the joke... I still don't get it

Incorporating humor into advertisements is principles of advertising 101.  Humor encourages viewer attention and message retention.  


However, humor can also "swing and miss".  I believe one of the ways humor loses its overall effectiveness is when it is used to portray the advertiser's customers as silly, foolish and/or childish. Some viewers have to wonder "if that's how the customers of that company are, why would I want to join them?"


Here's a recent example of an television advertisement that does just that.



Couldn't State Farm find a humorous way to tell us that they can save customers money without making them look like dolts?  Geico has been using humor for years and also tells us that they save customers money.  However, I can't recall a time when their customers were the butt of the joke.  


Maybe State Farm would be better served having some woodchucks chuck wood in their next commercial.

Holiday 2010 commercials - one strong, one risky

Two TV campaigns - two outcomes: one builds brand, other builds band

This holiday season featured companies that took different routes in their television advertisements.

Planters Peanuts (a division of Kraft Foods) had a witty, fun ad that starred their longtime "spokesperson" Mr. Peanut -- who has been around since 1916 -- in a holiday themed advertisement.  The focus of this ad was the product and Planters brand.


Meanwhile, Hyundai had several commercials that might have crossed the line of showcasing the indie band Pomplamoose more than the Hyundai brand or product. While wanting the attention star power can bring to an ad, care must be given so that such attention does not overshadow the commercial's intended message.

Don't overlook the details

Michael Jordan + humor + a continuing TV campaign = a promising ad -- but please get the other guy a pair of pants that fit!

Hanes has done several significant things promotionally to benefit their brand:

• sign Michael Jordan as a spokesperson
• drop Charlie Sheen as Jordan's sidekick (reportedly to avoid any linkage to Sheen's persistent negative press)
• developed a lasting humor-based campaign to promote the benefits of their product as well as highlight Jordan

If this is how Hanes make you look, maybe he should try Fruit-of-the Loom...
After all that, why not give the actor in the current ad a pair of pants that fit?  His pants are stretched so tight that the white liner on the front pockets show, the front of the pants have a very unflattering pull and the pockets are puckered. While some viewers would recognize the problem is with the pants, others might not. The question is why take the chance when a little more attention to detail would have made the issue a non-starter?

Rapping rodents phat for Kia

Rapping hamsters boost image but without product improvement, how long will it last?

Unlike many businesses, 2010 has been good to Korean automaker Kia.  Sales were up 15% through October -- on pace for a record year in sales.  The company has benefited from a "perfect storm" of circumstances:

• a bad economy
• offering a line of low priced vehicles (approx. $8,000 lower than  competitors)
• public acceptance of rapping hamsters in a television campaign (see below)

The big question...
With product quality sliding in consumer-based rankings (from 15 to 25 place in a recent J.D. Powers  survey), how long will the rodents be able to prop Kia sales up?   In the long-term, it is hard to imagine consumers trading vehicle quality for a formulated image.  American auto buyers have shown in the past that even low prices cannot make up for a poor vehicle (remember the Yugo?).

The current good sales situation offers time for Kia to get their product "house in order".  It will be interesting to see if they take advantage of it.

Power of a brand part II -- Call of Duty: Black Ops

Increasing brand positioning via association (to a video game).

In an earlier post, the integration of Apple's iPad into a product offering to increase product brand position via association with the iPad was discussed.

Now the popularity of Call of Duty: Black Ops is being used by Jeep in an attempt to influence prospective buyers.  If there is any surprise, it might be that the COD: Black Ops brand would be deemed so attractive to enough of Jeep's target market.  Jeep's consumer research would be interesting to see.

     

                                                                             Jeep Wrangle Call of Duty: Black Ops Edition

iPad's growing ecosystem

More businesses are integrating iPad into their offerings -- and hoping to attach their products to iPad's high brand positioning.

By any measure, Apple's iPad is a successful product on its own.  However, it is increasingly being used by businesses as part of their product offerings.  As much as the iPad might actually improve these products, the biggest benefit might be linking the iPad to the products... if consumers think so highly of the iPad, maybe some of the "love" will rub off.

NOTE: This goes beyond merely adapting current offerings for the iPad -- although iPad apps for existing products are extremely popular.

Some recent examples:

• The owner's manual for Hyundai's Equus model is an interactive digital owner's manual on the iPad that comes with the luxury car. See the magazine advertisement below.

          

• Delta Air Lines has installed 200 iPads in their gate area at New York's JFK International Airport. Delta customers can use the iPads for entertainment and to order food at airport eateries.
• News Corporation is developing a new digital newspaper centered around the iPad. The Daily is scheduled for an early 2011 launch. 

Apple continues to reap the rewards for their great products.

Humor without sacrificing customer image

To differentiate themselves from competition, two long-running television ad campaigns focus humor on things people dislike about their industries.

Some things about banking consumers dislike:

• hidden bank fees
• treating new customers better than current ones
• not giving all customers full information
• fine print

Some things about buying and owning stocks consumers dislike:

• impersonal service
• high fees
• feeling that best interest of investor is not broker's priority
• lack of information and support

So how do Ally Bank and Scottrade deal this such dislikes?  By using humor to highlight such common negative perceptions against their own brand positions.

Ally Bank Commercials




Scottrade commercials



One final thought... note that neither ad campaign used their customers as the butt of the joke (see the August 26, 2010 post). 

Retro comfort factor

In these challenging economic times, companies give consumers "comfort" via retro offerings

It's comfort food without the calories... products that remind one of the "good ol' days". Here are a few more recent examples. There are many more.

ThinkGeek's retro style blue-tooth headset (handset?):

Pepsi's temporary return of the retro can labels (even with "real sugar"!):

Proudly showing your age

Promoting the idea that a company is strong and stable by showing you've been around a long time.

Prudential's new ad campaign seeks to assure consumers of the company's strength and stability by highlighting how long the firm has been around.

Highlighting the changing logo:

Television advertisement

If you can't beat them, copy them

Subway's Jared casts a big shadow over fast food industry

Taco Bell's new promotional campaign featuring the weight loss of Christine shows that, even in business, imitation is also the greatest form of flattery.

Haven't we heard this before?

Using careful selections from the Taco Bell "Drive-Thru Diet" menu, Jared... oops... Christine lost 54 pounds.

What's next?
Cinnabon? Haagen Dazs? creme brulee? Ghirardelli Chocolate?

We could only be so lucky!

Responding to competitor attack ads

AT&T counters Verizon's claims

Early in fall 2009, Verizon unveiled a new advertising effort attacking rival AT&T to complement its long running "Can you hear me now?" campaign.

Using coverage maps, Verizon's new campaign claimed AT&T's wireless 3G coverage paled in comparison to Verizon. Verizon hoped that a picture was indeed worth "a thousand words".

AT&T did not wait long to respond
However, it was a lawsuit petitioning the court to require Verizon to stop the ads. The request was declined.

If at first you don't succeed...
Immediately after their court defeat in November 2009, AT&T moved to counter Verizon's claims with an advertising campaign of their own. Since then, AT&T advertisements have been run across media. The ads had themes similar to the ads below.

Where things currently stand
There has been no slowdown at year end 2009 as the wireless giants continue to trade advertising punches. However, AT&T is not allowing Verizon to solely frame and control the messages put out to the public.

And in the meantime
Sprint and T-Mobile will be happy that Verizon and AT&T keep beating each other up.

A viral - guerrilla marketing hybrid

T-Mobile's "dance" spread virally, impacted spectators

Definitions (adapted from Wikipedia)
Viral marketing refers to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives through self-replicating viral processes by users spreading a message among their various reference groups and associations -- analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, or even text messages.

The concept of guerrilla marketing was invented as an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and unconventional; potentially interactive; and consumers are targeted in unexpected places.

How it's a hybrid promotion
Viral marketing: The T-Mobile video below was passed along to me by a family member, who had received it from a friend. Naturally, I watched the video since I received it from family... score one for T-Mobile!

Guerrilla marketing: As you watch the video, notice the reactions of the spectators. One can safely assume they talked about this to friends, co-workers and family for quite some time... score another for T-Mobile!

Three things that can be learned from this promotion:

1. Businesses have the opportunity to make promotions that are not "just the same old thing". Such promotions can often cut through the clutter of advertisements that consumers are bombarded by on a daily basis.
2. Fun can work... it does not always have to be about celebrities, sensualness or fear.
3. People are willing to be a "message emmissary" -- passing along to others what they find fun, cute, interesting, unusual, etc.
   

Can celebrity endorsements work?

Some still wonder if celebrities can really influence behavior.

Take a couple of minutes and watch the following two videos... then you decide.

NOTE: If you want to see something interesting, play both at the same time... starting the second video once Taylor Swift starts singing in the first.

Since celebrity endorsers represent a brand, selection and affiliation should be undertaken with great care. However, celebrities can/do influence consumer behavior.

Music can add the right note

Songs, jingles and melodies can catch your attention and stick in your brain.

Imagine a teacher leaving a high school classroom... the boys start rhythmically drumming their desks in unison.

What's going on? A disorderly mob? No... it was That's G.

Don't know what "That's G" is? Play the following video.

Need to set a tone in a commercial... consider including a song. Regions Bank wants to show how happy they make their customers.

How? Just listen.

Can jingles really help message retention? How much is a foot-long Subway?

Veterans Day promotions

Applebee's and Macy's approach national holiday differently.

Applebee's Veterans Day 2009 promotion

Applebee's Restaurants offered free entrees to all veterans and active military personnel on Veterans Day to show "sincere gratitude for your honorable service".

Macy's Veterans Day 2009 promotion

A traditional sale.

With the U.S. military at war in multiple theaters
++++Macy's promotion rings a bit shallow.
++++Applebee's promotion feels right.

Will passengers get frequent flyer miles?

Northwest airlines has a public relations fiasco... how it is dealt with will be worth watching.

How does an airplane fly past a destination by 150 miles? Apparently when the Northwest Airlines (NWA) flight crew was too busy arguing to maintain "situational awareness".

Ouch. What a public relations mess.

While the airline has reportedly temporarily suspended the two pilots, the flying public will be watching how NWA (and its parent Delta) continues to deal with this situation.

What's at stake? Only convincing future passengers that they will be in good hands if they fly with NWA .

The 144 passengers on the wayward NWA flight could have only wished for U.S. Airways Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III (right) -- pilot of the "Miracle on the Hudson River".

This will be an interesting public relations case study to watch unfold over the next couple of weeks.

Answering consumer questions

Starbucks does not leave consumers wondering why to buy new instant coffee

If anyone had doubts why to buy Starbucks' newly introduced instant coffee, they only needed to open the two-page advertising spreads in the October 23, 2009 editions of The New York Times (A24 & 25) and USA Today (8A & 9) to get some suggestions.