Caffeinated posts from a copywriter/adgrunt. I write about advertising, design, astronomy, cooking, and pretty much anything else that strikes my fancy, including random bits of reference info for work purposes. You may also know me as 'that other gal' who helps run Adland. | make contact | RSS Feed | ATOM

Sunday, August 28, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Kraft goes digital ]

+ Adage.com reported earlier this week on Kraft's new marketing idea to provide recipe downloads via iPods.

Late last month the package goods behemoth began offering consumers the chance to download 100 of its summer recipe “hits” into the little-used Notes area of Apple’s mobile digital music players. Promoted via its own recipe website, kraftfoods.com, as well as in weekly Food & Family e-mails to roughly 3.3 million consumers, the innovative approach is just one of many Kraft is eying to reach modern-day consumers.

“More and more consumers are out of home and away from their Internet connections and we need to determine how to get recipe ideas to them where they are,” said Ian Smith, director of global digital marketing at Kraft. Whether through iPods, cell phones, Blackberrys or PDAs, he said, “you’re going to see these new media get a lot more attention from us in the future.”

In addition to getting a foot in the water with iPod technology, Kraft is likewise testing text-messaging efforts with cell phones and PDAs that it similarly hopes to expand soon and support with greater marketing attention.

An interesting idea. I think that they might have more success with the PDA and iPod type than the cell phones. I mean, really the only thing I could see that being useful for is if you were wanted to make a recipe from their site but forgot what ingredients you needed or something along those lines. I cannot see most cooks trying to read the recipes off their iPod screens while trying to cook in the kitchen. As the article mentions, screen sizes do present a small problem in that they make reading on the devices a bit difficult due to their sizes. If in the future those screen sizes get larger, and reading off of them is easier, then this concept could be much better. But I'm also sure that this won't be the only advertiser to take advantage of this type of program.

[ :: adgruntie:: Complainers suck ]

+ Over at AdLand, Dabitch pointed out that One Million Moms group has started a protest over Dish Network's latest ad campaign because it "teaches kids to use crude language." What's the crude language? The word "Sucks". Now apparently One Million Dads group is also in on the protest. Is "sucks" really that terrible of a word? I can think of 100s that are worse.

I'm sorry but aren't there more important things for parent groups to be concerned with? There has to be. The worst part too is that if these groups actually do good deeds (of which I'm not sure they do- they could just be those whiney groups) than proteesting something as benign as this makes them look stupid and ruins their reputation of the good they do. Whipping up a storm over silly things just blows.

[ :: adgruntie :: Kodak aims for cool ]

+ Can Kodak be cool and warm? They sure are trying. With the help of Ogilvy, Kodak is working to transform their brand to something that retains it's branding of "warm and fuzzy" but also adds cool and innovative. The brand transformation is touching every aspect of Kodak (possibly even including a logo redesign) to the tune of $500 million.
The article describes some of the new advertising, which still seem more warm and fuzzy than cool and hip. So far there are 2 :60 TV spots, :60 and :120 movie commericals, and a 6 minute webcast all based around a guide taking a group of "eager youngsters" on a gallery tour".

Each starts out with an affable-looking guide taking a group of eager youngsters on a gallery tour. In one 60-second spot, internally titled "Innovation," they pass a suited astronaut looking at a framed picture of himself on the moon, a group of dentists looking at X-rays, and Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd asking directions to the 1893 World's Fair ("Over in digital restoration," they're told). It ends with a little girl saying, "This place is cool, what's it called?" The answer, of course, is Kodak. The tag line is "Keep it digital. Keep it Kodak."

In "Emotion," the second short spot, family pictures are interspersed with historical shots, like Muhammad Ali when he was still Cassius Clay. "Shhh," says the guide, "can you hear them?" The pictures, he says, are saying "Keep me, protect me, share me, and I will live forever." As the children excitedly say, "I can hear them!" the camera pans to a well-dressed old man looking wistfully at a photograph of a smiling middle-aged woman that you know is his late wife. The tag line: "Keep it forever. Keep it Kodak."

So it seems they are advertising their Kodak Gallery more than anything else (previously Ofoto.com).
Thursday, August 25, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Actors whoring themselves out? ]

+ Heath Ledger attacks actors who "whore" themselves in ads. A while back Russell Crow made a similar comment about actors who appear in ads.

Ledger said he did not care about his image in the movie industry and hit out at image-conscious movie stars who appear in adverts.

"I'm certainly not someone who wants to go out and sell f...ing Tag Heuer watches and L'Oreal and all that whole stupid fashion that has come in right now," Ledger said.

"It is whoring ourselves for millions of dollars.

"I'm not sure I put thought into how I want to be perceived and how I come across.

"I've never really concentrated on that. All my effort goes in between the time of action and cut."

Although unlike Crow, Ledger didn't mention anyone in particular.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: USP ]

+Paul Kitcatt, creative partner at Integrated agency Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw, writes a piece for the Media Guardian: The Strange Death of the USP. He questions why there is a decline in advertising that uses the USP.

In other words, the clients don't bother to come up with USPs, preferring to let the creatives invent something meretricious.

In some of my experiences, it does seem like there are clients who don't want to be too different from their competitors. They want their ads to look like and sound like the top seller in their category. But there's also the parity issue.

Perhaps the problem is complexity. There are so many products, that differ so infinitesimally, that it's impossible to make a flat-out claim of superiority for any of them.

And this is also a big problem. You can't come up with a USP if there isn't anything unique about what you have to offer. Advertising and branding then become the differentiating factor.

Faced with such choice, it is in fact reasonable for customers to do what clients seem to do, and let the advertising do the work. The clients abandon the search for a USP and wait and see if their agency can make an ad that's better than the competition's. The customer can then choose the product with the advertising they like best. And thus, in effect, the advertising becomes the USP.

So maybe it's not dead after all - it's just moved home. But every now and then some one comes up with a product that has a genuine USP - like Dyson, for example. And transforms the market. Which proves, I think, that it's better to come up with a USP that is inherent in the product, rather than in the advertising.

Because after all, ads are ephemeral, and the public's response to them unpredictable, even whimsical. And ads based on no real product superiority are the most likely to descend into vacuous (but expensive) nonsense. Look at most banks' advertising.

Kitcatt definitely raises some good points. And my personal belief is that a good amount of advertising today forgets some of the most basic, rudimentary "rules" or words of wisdom for advertising. Sometimes it feels like we're going backwards instead of forwards. Even worse is to see a brand with a USP not using it in their advertising. Especially when there are so many categories out there that are really just a sea of "me-too" type products or services, not taking advantage of the USP when you have one is just plain stupid.

[ :: media :: Billboards go high tech ]

+ BusinessWeek has an article on Mirage's "interactive motion panels." They sound pretty interesting. Looking like regular billboards, when a person walks past them they play and when the person stops it stops.

Ogilvy's Collins was jumping ahead to the possibilities only a few minutes after first hearing of the technology. "What I want to know is: What do you do in that moment when you stop somebody? The question is not 'what does this do?' but 'what does this start?'"

Commercial manufacturing won't begin until November but they have done some testing already in Toronto.

[ :: adgruntie :: Did McD's rig promo games? ]

+ Burger King's National Franchisee Association sues McDonald's for losses due to McDonald's rigged promotional games. Wow I guess I had missed that news.

[They are] seeking damages for unfair competition arising from McDonald's 'false, deceptive and/or misleading representations concerning promotional games that McDonald's used to attract customers to its restaurants and enhance customer loyalty from 1995 (if not earlier) through at least August 2001.' Approximately 50 people have pled guilty to criminal charges associated with the rigging of these McDonald's games.

The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division under the Lanham Act, which prohibits false advertising to protect not only the rights of deceived consumers, but also the rights of competitors against unfair competition. The suit alleges that McDonald's rigged promotional games diverted business away from Burger King franchisees restaurants and allowed McDonald's to generate windfall profits, customer loyalty and market share that it would not otherwise have obtained.

The suit details how McDonald's contracted with Simon Marketing, Inc. to administer its promotional games, including its especially popular 'Monopoly' games. On August 21, 2001, however, the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI announced the first eight arrests, including Simon's Director of Security Jerome Jacobson, of a criminal ring responsible for fixing McDonald's promotional games for years by embezzling at least $20 million worth of the rare, winning high-value games pieces. Then U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft described the 'fraud scheme' as one which 'denied McDonald's customers a fair and equal chance of winning.' Subsequent court proceedings have documented that virtually all of the 'million dollar prizes' were wrongfully diverted from McDonald's contests at issue in the case.

I bet McD's isn't lovin' it. ;-)
Monday, August 15, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Emotional vs Informational ads ]

+ A new study by researchers at the University of Washington, Seattle University, and Washington State University claims "consumers who are very skeptical about the truth of advertising claims are more responsive to emotionally appealing ads than ones peppered with information."

"Skepticism leads to less attention to and reliance on advertising, and generally a decreased chance that the consumer will purchase the advertised product," said co-author Doug MacLachlan, professor of marketing and international business at the UW Business School. "Highly skeptical consumers have likely become skeptical over time, in response to numerous interactions in the marketplace that have led them to distrust ad claims. Advertisers have developed strategies for approaching these skeptical consumers, including using emotional appeals, whose success does not require acceptance of informational claims."

[ :: adgruntie :: Sexy TP ads ]

+ Branding luxury toilet paper? Strange ads. Really strange. Definitely an interesting branding propostion though. More ads over here at AdLand.

[ :: adgruntie :: Some ad agency sites reviewed ]

+ The Independent reviews UK ad agency web sites. They include JWT, AMV BBDO, RKCR/Y&R, Ogilvy&Mather, TBWA London, Saatchi & Saatchi, Euro RSCG, St Luke's, Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), Clemmow Hornby Inge, McCann-Erickson, and Cake Media. Looks like BBH's site was found to be the quickest, simplest, and easiest to understand.
Saturday, August 13, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: What's in a name? ]

+ Came across this on werbeblogger. Perfect name for the brand.

[ :: web :: Tell me it is a PDF ]

+ Dear Web Designers and Writers for The Web:

Please remember that it is very important to put some sort of notation for PDF files. I want to know ahead of time that I'm going to be viewing a document as a pdf, rather than as HTML/asp/etc. Is it really that difficult to add [pdf] next to the link? I don't think so. It should be common practice. I cannot believe that in the number of years using and linking to PDFs online has been around this has not become common practice. I submit to you that we work towards making it a standard thing for all websites to make information and usability easier and more clear for those surfing your pages.

Cheers,
Caff
Friday, August 12, 2005
[ :: media :: Target targets the New Yorker ]

+ A first for the New Yorker, they will have a single advertiser sponsor an entire issue.

The Aug. 22 issue of The New Yorker, due out Monday, will carry 17 or 18 advertising pages, all brought to you by the Target discount store chain owned by the Target Corporation. The Target ads will even supplant the mini-ads from mail-order marketers that typically fill small spaces in the back of the magazine.
The Target ads, in the form of illustrations by more than two dozen artists like Milton Glaser, Robert Risko and Ruben Toledo, are to run only the one time in the issue. They are intended to salute New York City and the people who live - and shop - there.

All illustrations/ads will feature the red and white target and from the couple of samples shown in the article, they look like they are b/w with red spot color. Woop-de-doo.
The really only semi-interesting bit is that "there is to be no editorial acknowledgement of the sponsorship." Which is good really. If Target has bought all the ad space in the magazine, do people need to be bombarded by it in the editorial as well? No. I'd think that'd be a bit overkill.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Branding - K.I.S.S ]

+ Branding: keep it simple and go wide round walls is an interesting article about branding and the how the big brands have coped with the changing ad world.

The BusinessWeek ranking of the 100 most valuable global brands shows the names that gained the most in value focused ruthlessly on every detail of their brands, honing simple, cohesive identities that are consistent in every product, in every market worldwide, and in every contact with consumers.

So basically they are creating advertising that is more targeted and more relevant. Sounds smart to me.

It is no accident that most of the companies with the biggest increases in brand value this year operate as single brands worldwide.
Global marketing once meant crafting a new identity for each local market. But the goal for many now is to create consistency and impact - a lot easier to manage with a single identity.

Keep It Simple Stupid...a mantra to live by. ;-)
Monday, August 08, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Commentaries from Adage ]

+ Al Ries takes a "critical look" at ad agencies lack of self-promotion while pump up PR and his own company. What a shocker! Al, listen, we all understand how much you're not a fan of advertising and how you obviously think PR is more powerful, but, if you're writing an article to be published in Advertising Age, I really don't need to read about how wonderful you think your company is.

A much more interesting commentary is Jonah Bloom's commentary on Ben & Jerry's marketing.

How many companies say they want to be differentiated, then choose safe, broad messages to please everyone? Answer: Most of them. This is a world in which food companies apologize for food, pharmaceutical companies apologize for improving the nation’s health, alcoholic beverage providers shy away from ads showing people having too much fun, and most marketers beg for public mercy the moment some fringe advocacy group declares itself offended by a message that wasn’t aimed at them in the first place.

How refreshing then to hear Walt say that he doesn’t care if everyone likes Ben & Jerry’s. “Half the people will love it, half the people will hate it,” he says. “We don’t try to pretend we’re anything we’re not. You shouldn’t be afraid of who you are. Take a stand. Or even just be fun and irreverent.”

Sure, it’s not easy to be so carefree when there’s a battery of lawyers and politicians eager to make capital out of any corporation that oversteps the boundaries, but many companies use that as an excuse when what they really fear is offending a single potential customer. Such fear leads to ineffective, vanilla marketing. Maybe Ben & Jerry’s success suggests more marketers should release their inner Chunky Monkey.

Yup. Yes. Right. Bingo. Couldn't agree more.
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Adidas acquires Reebok ]

+ NYTimes reports that Adidas announced today it has acquired Reebok for $3.8 billion. Press release is here on the Adidas-Salomon site.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out and what kind of new compeition they'll give to Nike, even though the article states that even combined, "Adidas-Reebok would control about 20 percent of the market, but would still remain behind Nike, which has about a third of the $145 billion worldwide market."

[ :: adgruntie :: Advertising Week to engulf NYC ]

+ Advertising Week is back...or will be coming back at the end of Septemeber to "engulf New York". Yet again they are asking people to vote for their favorite icons and taglines. Oh joy.

[ :: adgruntie :: GM back in LA Times ]

+ GM resumes advertising in the LA Times after pulling its advertising in April over a story they disagreed with. According to the article, regional dealers were still placing ads, but it was the national advertising that had been pulled. I find it funny that the LA Times reports on it. I think it's just my odd sense of humor. ;-)
Monday, August 01, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Paid placement in magazines ]

+ Adage has an interesting article on product placements in magazines.

Deborah Wahl Meyer, Lexus division’s vice president of marketing, won’t say which publications might sign such deals.

“In TV, product placement has really stepped up,” she said. “That’s paid for and accepted by the public. It has become pretty widespread. There’s a lot of opportunity to do that in the print world, too.”

Accepted by the public to a degree maybe. I think that's probably not extremely accurate. The public doesn't always know when it's seeing paid placements on TV.

Even more of a danger still, is the old old arguement about the integrity of magazines (and newspapers) with hidden paid placements mixed in with editorial and articles.

“It's the idea of devaluing the legitimacy of the journalism you’re doing,” Jane's auto columnist Annemarie Conte said. “If we start taking product placement for one part of the magazine, we have to take it for all of it. I want readers to know my content hasn’t been dictated by advertising.”

The American Society of Magazine Editors opposes product placement in magazines, said Marlene Kahan, ASME's executive director. She declined further comment, noting that the organization is revising its guidelines and will publish additional rules on product placement this year.

Its current guidelines spell out how magazines should differentiate advertising from editorial. It recommends that ads should not be placed next to related articles in a manner that implies editorial endorsement of the advertised product. That includes advertising that features the same celebrity or product image as the cover image.

The organization also suggests that an advertiser’s name or logo not be used on any editorial pages in a way that suggests sponsorship of those pages.

There needs to be a clear and obvious notation of some sort to the readers that what they are reading or looking at is in fact paid for. Deception of the consumer will only result in backlash for the publication and the advertisers in the long run.

[ :: adgruntie :: Burnout ]

+ According to a survey by recruitment firm Hudson UK, 44% of those working in the marketing, advertising, sales and PR sectors are at risk of burning out. Not really a big surprise to me.

[ :: adgruntie :: Ipsei vs Pepsi ]

+ Coca-Cola is considering launching a soft drink in the UK that is likely to be challenged by arch-rival Pepsi over the product's name, Ipsei, which looks and sounds like Pepsi.

Pepsi is concerned that the name of Coke drink Ipsei, which carries the strapline "Think what you drink", bears a remarkable similarity to its own name and may pursue legal action.

Ipsei, which is already available in the Netherlands and Germany, is a mixture of water, grape juice, vitamins and herbal tea. Although it is not yet available in the UK, Coke has already made moves to prepare the brand for a UK launch, including applying for a UK trademark.

[ :: adgruntie :: Music and ads ]

+ The new trend in ads? Music.

Music fans may bemoan the crumbling boundary between commercials and song-making, but there's more to come in an industry turned on its head by portable digital music players like the fast-selling iPod.

U.S. advertisers and their agencies are becoming talent scouts, music producers, programmers and promoters to reach the consumers who tune out from the world around them with iPods and other music players, eschewing ad-heavy radio.

And thankfully, iPod folks have gone out of their way to avoid adding commercials into the iPod or through iTunes. It's smart considering the basis for the product is that people listen what they choose to listen to, not what they are fed. Adding ads would be against what the product is all about.