by Next Wave Team | Jul 12, 2006 | Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Future of advertising, Future of TV, Marketing & the Web, Media, Web strategy
I admit it- I’m a sucker for Rockstar Supernova (and Rockstar INXS before that). Now that we’ve gotten that embarrassing part out of the way- let’s look at why it’s absolutely necessary to have your show available for download at the same time it’s being broadcast- that is if you want to keep your audience.
Last night was only the second week of the elimination program- had it been the final there might have been mayhem, because, viewers in Dayton OH and Southwest OH, had the show at first interrupted- then preempted by a tornado. WHIO-TV, Channel 7, the CBS affiliate in Dayton, in their haste to be “The Leader” had their “Newscenter 7 team” showing off their latest Doppler radar- for over 50 minutes of the show. This guaranteed that the viewers wouldn’t be able to see the performances – or vote- or be a part of the “Rockstar” community- which is what makes these shows so popular and successful.
Tonight’s elimination show will mean nothing to the viewers here- and some may not come back next week, because once disenfranchised- it’s easy to find something else that holds your interest.
If the show was available over IP- viewers who weren’t in the danger zone- wouldn’t have been lost- and or driven to something like Bit Torrent to get the content. Unfortunately, Mark Burnett productions is tied in with MSN- and the site Rockstar.msn.com is biased to Windows- an
d Windows media player- leaving us Mac users having to suffer through poor streaming video downloads- and no access to the forums (where they claim to support the latest version of Firefox- but not on the Mac). I have also just found that when using flip4mac to view WMV – that I only have access to Magni’s performance off the site- once again, a developer who ignores all 508 standards (tagging and navigation for the blind).
When this show began last year- they had a 3-episode week on Network, which quickly shifted to 2 network, 1 cable, and this year- it’s 2 network and one download. The question to ask Mr. Burnett- with running the risks of local preemption- and having to fit into the networks time slots- why not try a complete online, on demand program? Your ability to build community, individually target ad messages to your viewers- and offer interactive sales opportunities for the music, clothing, and products that are showcased on the program could be huge.
I’m sure I’m not the only viewer in Dayton that’s ticked, or the only Mac user that’s left out- but, more importantly- I’m an advertising target who just got totally missed.
What do you think?
by Next Wave Team | Jul 11, 2006 | Advertising, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Guerrilla Campaigns, Low Budget Advertising, Viral Marketing
Urban Legends Reference Pages: Business (Bihn Label)
Would you purposefully put something on your label or packaging to get people talking about your product? If you wouldn’t, you aren’t interested in getting the most buck for your marketing buck.
Tom Bihn Inc. decided to have a little fun with their care labels by putting something in the French part of the label that isn’t in the English- you can read their reply on the Urban References Page above- but the translation is something like: “we’re sorry our president is an idiot, we didn’t vote for him.”
I’m not going to make a guess if this is about President George W. Bush, or the company president “Tom Bihn” as the company claims- but, it has made it onto the Urban Legends Reference page (snopes.com) where people go to check out if an e-mail is a hoax or not.
Now, I’m writing about this in 2006, and the answer about this tag was answered in 2004- so you can see, a good stunt can keep working long after the initial buzz is over. There are people who probably would never buy a Tom Bihn bag because of the label, and there are others that absolutely would- but, here is the zinger- this little stunt probably made more people go look up Tom Bihn than could have possibly be accomplished any other way for a lot less money than a conventional ad campaign. That, my friend, is the premise of both a guerrilla campaign and a viral campaign- and that’s the kind of advertising we at The Next Wave like (make that love).
What do you think?
by Next Wave Team | Jun 29, 2006 | Advertising, Design, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Great Ad Agencies
Advertising Age - HOOVER TO DYSON: IT’S ON NOW
Dyson and Hoover have been having a fight over who sucks more. That’s suck as in vacuum- and which one cleans your carpets better.
Hoover is the old business- been around forever. In fact, in Dyson’s home country, England, or the United Kingdom as the Brits like to refer to themselves, when you vacuum your floor- it’s called “hoovering”- so how could Hoover end up being threatened by this upstart, premium priced vacuum? Simple- it’s got nothing to do with who cleans better- it’s all about who understands marketing better. The winner is Dyson- hands down.
Both have worked with great ad agencies- Dyson was with Fallon before switching to Element79, Hoover is now with TBWA/Chiat/Day - so they are all obviously aware that advertising helps sell products that suck.
As an owner of several vacuum cleaners- and one and a half dogs that shed more than snow falls in the Rockies, I can tell you that if you emptied the bag as often as you emptied the Dyson canister- I’m sure you wouldn’t lose suction either. We empty the Dyson every time we vacuum- we empty the bag when it’s all the way full (which is about once every 10 times we vacuum). And, no, this isn’t scientific fact; it’s just a common sense observation.
The reason Dyson is killing Hoover- and everyone else is design- pure and simple. They glamorized the lowly vacuum into a fashion accessory- and put a status price tag on their product. Hoover was still selling it as an appliance to hide in the closet. Just look at the product graphics on the two machines- Dyson hasn’t mucked their lines up with a million messages- your typical Hoover looks more like a NASCAR- with stickers everywhere.
Now- if you still don’t believe me- consider this. Up until about 2000 or so, Dyson licensed their same design to a US distributor- who had the product made in black with purple accents- it had a stupid name like “Phantom”- and looked like a NASCAR too- just like all the other machines- only it cost a bit more. It didn’t sell worth a crap. Then Dyson pulled the agreement, came to the US with their signature yellow and gray machine- with simple graphics, hiked the price, did classy ads- and now everybody wants one.
That’s proof- good design helps sell products that suck.
What do you think?
