Spoke

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008

Coming Soon.  More to follow.

Banner Ads… On TV??

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

Watching last comic standing and couldn’t help but notice the banner ads promoting the mummy movie. The attempts to get ads past the DVR take a new step. Hope this doesn’t catch on.

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.

What is Marketing?!?

Monday, May 19th, 2008

Seriously. What. Is. Marketing?

(Instead of burying my lead with the sentence after this one, I decided to throw something snazzy up above, did you like it?  Anyway…)  I was reading an article on the ad agency model being broken and it occurred to me that very few things I learned in college marketing classes actually apply to what I do.  That lead me to think about what marketing actually is.  My handy-dandy Mac dictionary defined it as such:

the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.

I guess that is pretty accurate, but if you look at the wikipedia entry for marketing you start to see where all the confusion comes in:

Marketing is an ongoing process of planning and executing of the marketing mix (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) of products, services or ideas to create exchange between individuals and organizations.

Marketing tends to be seen as a creative industry, which includes advertising, distribution and selling. It is also concerned with anticipating the customers’ future needs and wants, which are often discovered through market research.

Essentially, marketing is the process of creating or directing an organization to be successful in selling a product or service that people not only desire, but are willing to buy.

Therefore good marketing must be able to create a "proposition" or set of benefits for the end customer that delivers value through products or services.

I probably disagree with the entire third paragraph; there is plenty of unsuccessful marketing out there, and there is also marketing that is not intended to drive a sale for a product or service, at least directly (brand awareness, marketing for non-for-profits, etc.).  So let’s rule that part out.

Is this blog post marketing?  (Probably, although not the greatest form). 

Is sales (as in a person actually selling) marketing?  – I’d probably say no, but then all the people I know who wanted to become salespeople went to school for either marketing or communications. 

As a result of marketing being such a broad term, we end up with all these specialties in marketing like advertising, branding, direct marketing, sales, brand building, etc.  So someone who is good at marketing strategy, might be horrible at sales and someone who is great at online marketing, might know nothing about print and advertising. 

So as I type this post and explore what marketing is (this was really a free form article, no real goal in mind at the start other than to discuss the broad term of marketing) I realize one big thing:
How does this huge category with a million specialties become one major in college?  Why not degrees (or as they called it at Mizzou emphasises) in sales, marketing research, branding, etc?  I’m sure some schools are on board with that, but it now it makes sense that my job as a marketing consultant and specialist has nothing to do with what I learned in college.  Maybe, I should have studied history, english or science, because those are narrow degree paths, unlike marketing.  Err, nevermind, scratch that. 

Cheers.

Project: The Omni Difference

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

We launched a new campaign last week for The Omni Clubs, a series of health clubs in Georgia and Florida.  The site we launched is www.theomnidifference.com.  The Omni Difference campaign focuses on the difference that the Personal Trainers at The Omni Club make in ensuring you meet your fitness goals.  These personal trainers and the difference they make are the focal point of the campaign.

We feature two personal trainers from Fort Myers Florida and two personal trainers from Athens Georgia  and this campaign features direct mail, the microsite, banner ads and a few guerrilla tactics. 

If you are looking for a personal trainer in Fort Myers Florida or a personal trainer in Athens Georgia, check out the success coaches at The Omni Club and experience The Omni Difference.

Why Not A Microsite?

Sunday, April 13th, 2008

Hello.  As I type this I’m watching the end of the final round of this year’s Masters (somewhat anti-climatic this year, but I digress), and I keep seeing ads for IBM where instead of giving us a microsite to go to or a URL, they provide us with search terms.  The ad that I just saw said "search: IBM go green". 

I have no reason to follow this call-to-action, as I have no need to use IBM’s server products, but it stood out to me.  Why use search engine results in TV advertising when they are so subject to change or competitor influence? 

Last year some time, Pontiac was running TV advertisements with donuts for local markets, where the call to action for St. Louis, MO was "google pontiac st. louis".  Chris Hammond, a former co-worker of mine, thought it would be funny to try to take over the top spot for this term.  He did for a short time (I think, Chris if you read this jump in with what position you got up to). 

Regardless of who it is: WHY DO THIS???

Why not a microsite, (go to pontiacstlouis.com, go to ibmgogreen.com, etc.) where you can control the results?  Any SEO guru, competitor with an agenda or disgruntled former employee could throw up a site or blog post, an expensive PPC ad or something similar to get on the top page of google that could disrupt your best efforts for this TV ad.

Also, why make a consumer choose between 10 results (example: Pontiac St. Louis) when you can control the message with one?

Microsite’s are great for reaching specific audiences with specific messaging, but search engine algorithms are subject to change. 

If someone has a reason I’m missing, please let me know.  Until then, I’m rejecting this method in favor of microsites for my clients. 

College President’s Apparently Don’t Understand TV Viewing Demographics

Thursday, April 10th, 2008

On the way to the office at 5:00 AM this morning I heard a report that said over 100 college presidents signed a complaint expressing outrage at all the beer advertising during the NCAA tournament.  In theory, their complaints are valid, they don’t want all those innocent impressional students being influenced by the power of advertising.  All kidding aside, they are missing a large point.  Who is viewing the tournament?  Is it only students?  No. Without actually doing the research, I’m sure It’s a lot of males in the ages 21 – 49 age ranges.  Prime audience for beer commercials. 

So to the college presidents who are upset about this I say: "You worry about beer on your campus and let the advertisers worry about whats on TV". 

Cheers,

Brian Schwartz