Why?

Why do ad firms and more importantly their clients allow commercials to portray their current customers as nimrods? I understand if you’re making someone who uses your competitor’s product or service, but why bite the hand that feeds you?

This has bugged me for some time. Two recent examples are a Comcast commercial and a TGI Friday’s commercial. The Comcast one shows a family having dinner and shouting at each other because of the high noise outside of their house. White Bread mom’s response to her son’s success is “that’s Comtastic!” The camera zooms out to show the family is living on a freeway. The commercial implies that life is fast (on the electronic super highway that is metaphorically portrayed by a dirty, congested, real-life highway?) with Comcast. If you’re dumb enough to live on the highway, perhaps you’d like Comcast? A similar commercial about two years ago, spoofing cables prices and how they suck, had a family that had to shout because their TV acted like a vacuum cleaner – obnoxiously loud and pulled everything towards it. The cable sucks campaign made a lot more sense and didn’t make satellite customers look dumb.

The Fridays example is in the vein of most beer commercials. White dudes have it rough when they date dumb women ( a quick aside, this as offensive is the “sausage fest” campaign from last year where four dudes sat together loving their meat.”) In this case, the man and woman are dining at a Fridays and are trying to order. The woman can’t make up her mind because of all of the possible selections on the three-course menu. While she keeps changing her mind, the boyfriend/husband gives up and his head drops to the table. Beyond the undercurrent of misogyny, we have the customer looking bad? In this case, why do they look bad, because the Fridays menu is so damn confusing -- we've got features, features, and more features, as our marketing hacks are turning us into a commodity. Fridays, why don’t you take it a bit further and just have your new tagline be “Fridays, where suburban dumbasses are separated from their money.”

Packaging a Nation?

Travel and Leisure has an article about the packaging of a nation. To promote tourism, among other economic reasons, some countries are turning to brand “experts” for help position their country to outsiders. The attached article discuss some things that work and others that don’t.

In the case of this article, the limitations of the term brand are evident. I think “symbolic identity” would be more interesting and valuable. However, the articles is thought provoking as it still brings to mind questions about how people view the world around them and live in a symbolically created world which provides meaning, emotion, identity, and motive for action.

Here’s some hyperbole from the article:

"Ecuador and dozens of other countries are using increasingly sophisticated
versions of "brand theory" to attract visitors. Indeed, place branding may
be more important than ever, both as a way of standing out from the
competition and as a ballast against the buffeting winds of an increasingly
global popular-media culture that can shape perceptions drastically and in
an instant. "

Thanks to Alyssa for the article.

Lovemarks: Book, Strategy, and Kevin Roberts as self-proclaimed hero

More on the Lovemarks phenomenon. I posted something similar in September.

Amazon Launches Askville

I received an email from Amazon introducing Askville. It appears to be a very Web 2.0 social website that combines consumer generated knowledge (like Wikipedia) and looks to maintain community and status via “experience points.” Let's see if the content and community help it grow because as MySpace proved, you don't need a good looking site to get millions to flock to it.

Generally, I like the concept of Askville, it seems like other, earlier bulletin boards, but uses more technology to filter out, or tag, those that may be helpful -- and more importanlty those that are not.

After the rush of the holiday season, I will explore it in greater detail.

Happy holidays and best wishes to all of you for a safe and happy new year.

Ad Age Online: Top Ten Lists for 2006

Ad Age Online has a few year-end Top Ten lists to close out 2006.

In a question of awareness vs. advocacy, or even utilization, how many of the ten most watched videos had a positive impact on the client's bottom line?

Notes from the Field turns 1

Notes from the Field, the official blog for Sanctioning Agent celebrates its one year anniversary today. I'm sure you're very excited about this red-letter day.

It started with this post and has since turned into the incredibly insightful and humorous blog that you know and love.

They grow up so fast.

Turning 23? I Don’t Think So

Turning 23 is the latest ill-advised campaign from Dr. Pepper. I have two problems with it.

1. The music is a take on The Vapors 1980 hit “Turning Japanese.” The song widely rumored to be about masturbation with racist overtones. That seems like a weird place to start for commodity-esque awareness campaign. It is almost as absurd as a major cruise line using an Iggy Pop song about liquor and drugs. Then I’m further confounded by what it means to turn 23. Well, this leads to the next point.

2. Doesn’t Dr. Pepper have really one flavor? That’s the Dr. Pepper flavor. That’s it. Beyond the weak brand extensions of cherry vanilla or berries & cream, you just have one flavor in that bottle. Mmm, yes, make sure to swirl the plastic bottle before tasting, let it breathe, and then you can really taste the phosphoric acid and the sodium benzoate. When you’re done, you may notice a slightly nutty aftertaste of high fructose corn syrup and/or sugar.

Barack Obama on MNF

On Monday, U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D – IL) made a special announcement about a “very important contest. A contest about the future… which will ultimately be decided in America’s heartland.” Obama then announces that he’s ready for the Bears to go all the way. You can see the whole thing here.

I thought it was a great set up for the game and boosts the image of both MNF and the junior senator. The intro fits, in a self-referential, mocking way, with campaign countdown to Monday night, as the most important night of the week. For Obama, it’s even better – he receives more positive exposure in the national media, it shows that he has a sense of humor, and that he’s not afraid to take a stand… at least when it comes to the Monsters of the Midway

Kudos to the production team and writers that made that happen.