A new blog

Thursday, April 16th, 2009

Hello. This blog has been moved and repurposed. After merging Creative Reason to form Spoke this blog has been underutilized. I’m trying to correct that… From henceforth, Creative Reason will serve as my personal blog. This URL remains appropriate because it’s my name on Twitter, plus I like the name for the same reasons when I chose it for my business: I try to combine logic with creativity and make them work together.

Speaking of technology, this blog is now using Word Press, complete with a theme I’ve customized to use the old Creative Reason logo. I hope you like it, I’ve sure liked using Word Press thus far. I’ve imported all of my old posts from the old blog in here, but they don’t have Tags, so unless I get some free time, the categories will need to be used for old posts, tags for new.

As for where I’ll post what, here I will focus on posting personal insights, family updates, and anything that strikes me as important.  Typical personal blog stuff… I’ll also continue to post at the Spoke, Spoken Whirred blog (which I’ll be migrating to Word Press soon also) and my “important” posts will be posted in both spots. Hope you enjoy the blog!

No Fireworks for Me and Why “Buy One, Get 7 Free” is Stupid

Monday, July 7th, 2008

So for the first time ever (or at least since I was 5 or 6), I didn’t shoot off one firework this year around the 4th of July.  A little background about me and why this is a big deal:

1. For three straight summers in college I spent 20 days managing / living in a fireworks stand (I didn’t actually shoot any off then either – that may have been dangerous, but I did shoot after the "season" was over).
2. For a long time, my uncles were in charge of the "big" fireworks display at my grandma’s lake house.  Which meant for as long as I can remember I’ve been shooting off 2in mortar shells every 4th of July.
3. My family loves fireworks.

Guess what?  I didn’t miss the faulty bottle rockets going off a few feet after the left the bottle (or my hand).  I also didn’t miss having burnt thumbs.  This year, I was watching from afar, holding my 5 month old son enjoying other people doing the work. 

What does any of this have to do with marketing? It’s a tangent – but it does, because I want to know why offers of "Buy 1, Get 7 Free" actually work.  

The fireworks stand I managed in college was actually reputable and we didn’t do crazy giveaways or manipulative pricing, we just sold everything for a low price and most people respected that (although they sometimes needed an explanation). However, some people never got it.   

Other stands always seemed to do the same thing – following some absurd advertising structure that usual starts as:
Buy 1, Get 3 Free, then progresses to
Buy 1, Get 4 Free, then finally
Buy 1, Get 7 Free

All of which is bunk because they are charging you the same price (per item) as I was, but actually making the consumer buy 8 of each item instead of 1. 

How did they work this?  Simple math.  Other than the basics (bottle rockets or firecrackers, which they are selling as a loss leader), the rest of their pricing is rigged so you pay for all 8 items (or at least close enough – that they make up the difference on volume).  An example, I would’ve sold a big "cake" firework for $10 for one.  They would probably sell it for $75 and you receive 8 of them.  So you paid 9.38 for 8 versus $10 for 1.  But you’re forced to buy 8 of them, which is stupid because you just blew most of your budget on extras you don’t want.  Even if they sold it for $60, you’re still paying way more than you should and spending a larger percentage of your budget on that one item.

My question is why don’t people understand this?  I would always get consumers (I use the word loosely here), asking me "Hey – What’s the deal here, how many free do I get?", to which I would explain the  math above (hopefully in a simpler manner) and say, "we give you the freedom to only buy 1 and buy what you want", instead of being conned into buying 8 of every item.  Most people would get it, but then again, 20% or more wouldn’t and would leave the stand.

Driving to and from our weekend trip I saw the usual fireworks signs out, including one near my house where it said" Buy 1, Get 7 Free" and I’m still baffled to this day why people actually think this is a deal.

I guess you can fool all the people, all the time or at least enough to make a profit.

Musings: TV News Scare Tactics, Saturday Night Live sudden fixation with NBC shows

Monday, May 12th, 2008

To keep up with my posting here I’ve decided to do occasional musings posts that will cover a coupon topics at a time, this is the first, enjoy!

Local News Sweeps Scare Tactics

In case you were unaware, we are in the May sweeps time that help determine local TV ad rates.  If you hadn’t noticed, you may have noticed the scare tactics that some news stations have been pulling.  For example, tonight on KMOV-TV St. Louis (local CBS Affiliate – Channel 4), they are running an investigation on how dangerous the ice is at local restaurants.  They had hidden footage of the fast food joints and lab reports and everything.  Mind you I haven’t seen this report, but I’ve seen a thousand commercials for it and heard ads on the radio.  So, this is apparently big news which will likely kill me.  Funny how I haven’t heard anything about it before now. 

The other one that was teased was how someone can hack my cell phone and track every text message, email and conversation I have on my cell.  Nice. 

Thanks local TV for trying to scare me into watching your news program.  I’ll pass.

SNL + NBC Character Involvement = Boring Skits

Here’s the other trend I’ve noticed lately.  My wife and I DVR Saturday Night Live.  I usually skip through most of it on Sunday after church, but I’ve noticed that every episode has a skit or two featuring a personality from one of their other stations (CNBC, Bravo, etc.).  Most of them are people I know nothing about:

• Suze Orman
• Jim The Shouting Stock Guy
• Some dude from Top Model
• Brian Williams and MSNBC

As a result of knowing nothing about them the skit is pointless to me.  Why does this matter?  Because it seems like this is trend is being forced upon SNL writers from the higher ups.  I doubt that they would just always choose NBC property cast members over other funny trends (like American Idol or any other reality show nightmare).   Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems like cross-promotion is winning out over entertainment that may be funnier.

You’ve Been Meatloafed

Thursday, May 1st, 2008

I admit it.  I watch American Idol.  I haven’t really gotten into it in years past, but this year I’ve been watching it every week.  It’s interesting, sometimes in a train wreck kind of way, but interesting nonetheless. 

One thing I consistently comment on to my wife as we watch is how in almost every show it gets closer and closer to one big infomercial for apple, coca cola and at&t or the artist who helps that week (who usually conveniently has an album coming out around their appearance, surprising, no. not really). 

So I’ve read and heard reports (AdAge maybe?) about how networks love reality shows because they are more likely to be watched in real time, as opposed to being DVR’d and watched while skipping commercials.  We still skip at home, but sometimes we catch the commercials, and I’ve now seen the WORST COMMERCIAL EVER (let’s just call it meatloafed for short) several times, most notably on American Idol.  If you aren’t familiar with this monstrosity, it is a commercial for AT&T go phone with Meatloaf, his son (?) and Tiffany singing a new version of Paradise by the Dashboard Light. 

Two things about being meatloafed that drive me bonkers. 

One – Why does Meatloaf’s son shake his head like he is all excited about this phone while they are singing?  It really creeps me out. 

Two – What does Tiffany have to do with Meatloaf and his son?  Why is she carrying meat?  Is this a subtle joke about Meatloaf?  Is this what meatloaf looks like before its cooked?  I thought it was ground beef? 

In closing, American Idol is good, even as it drifts closer and closer to being one big infomercial, however Meatloafed is the WORST COMMERCIAL EVER.

Cheers,

Brian Schwartz