From Left-compact white Apple Powerbook power supply, The Next Wave business card, Sony DSC-T1 camera and un-compact power supply.
Sony used to be the cool kid on the block- especially when it came to small things- remember the Walkman?
I’ve had this Sony DSC-T1 for over a year- and love it for it’s size and it’s picture quality- 5 megapixels in a tiny package.
But, when you take a look at the power supply, as I did when packing for a motorcycle trip- and realize that for all the elegance of the camera- the power supply was ignored by the design team.
Compare the Apple designed power supply for my Powerbook- the graceful cord management system that’s built in- the choice of two options for the wall plug- the short mount (shown) and a long power cord.
Design isn’t something you just do to the product- it’s the peripherals, the packaging the software interface- the complete package. If Sony wants to stay competitive- they need to look at the total design package.
I’d also make one other recommendation- the sliding lens cover/on/off switch, needs some sort of positive lock- so often, as I pull the camera out of the pocket- it’s slipped open. If I was buying another pocket camera- I’d probably look at something other than a Sony for this reason- as well as the bad power-supply design.
The State of Maine hired a NY ad agency, Warren Kremer Paino Advertising, LLC, to handle the Maine Tourism account. WKP then built a site- and bought search terms with State money to direct traffic to the site. Apparently there are no creative people living in the state of Maine, but, there is one semi-smart web developer.
Lance Dotson is the owner of the Maine Web Report- a blog, who quickly found the cost of his google ad words increasing when WKP started bidding up the prices of keywords using tax dollars. He said some things on his blog- that suggested that WKP was “pissing away” Maine tax dollars- and competing with him. WKP decided to sue.
This story is making the rounds in several spheres- bloggers concerned about being sued, free speech advocates worrying about rights disappearing, ad agencies worried about bad pr, and maybe even the people selling search words like Google and Yahoo.
Here is The Next Wave take on this mess: The State of Maine and Lance Dotson and WKP all have made a mistake- because buying search terms instead of creating sites that generate organic (unpaid good results based on the quality of the content) is the lazy way to generate hits for your site.
The State of Maine, and anyone else who hires an agency like WKP- who’s entire site is built in Flash- and has no real search results on it’s own, should be questioning their agencies ability to build an effective web site in the first place. To see how many pages are indexed in google- go to the search window type in: site:yourdomainname.xxx and you will see the results- WKP has 3- with zero indexed content.
Instead of buying search terms- that money could be used to continue to develop useful and informative content- or to promote the site and the State using other media.
Maine should fire WKP- because they’ve brought the State into an embarrassing situation with negative PR, and because they were “pissing away tax money”- but this is typical of government buyers who issue RFP’s without fully understanding what they are buying.
I’m sure this story isn’t over- there are lots of places you can look to read more: The blogging journalist Fuzzy Blog Boston.com Maine web Report
But the important thing to remember on the web is that content is what is important- and if it can’t be found by search- it’s not good content.
Now- I’m going to say what I really think:
Agencies that buy search terms as part of a media strategy are whores. Even if they aren’t marking up the buy, they don’t love their client- they just are too lazy to work to make the site sell itself. Good content gets you the search engines love for free. Ask us- or look us up- we’re on the front page of Google for quite a few search terms.
For right now- the search engines revenue engine is driven by Internet lust- by clients like the State of Maine who don’t know what makes a site index- or work. The search companies are feasting on the uneducated by pimping the top spots and the right side of the results page to the highest bidder. While we don’t believe prostitution should be illegal- we do believe that pimping is the most deplorable form of trade there is- and both the search companies – and agencies who buy results are nothing but pimps.
Those are fighting words- and for good reason, this is a controversy that needs to be discussed. The model of agency compensation has been broken for a long time- but paying auction prices for placement is not a win for the client. The agencies job is to ADD value to the clients products or services- by finding a unique selling proposition- or creating an aura of desirability that wasn’t there before. Not by slapping some keyword make-up and a bigger budget on some haggard creative.
What do you think?
Last night, watching TV, I saw 2 new campaigns- by two of the best advertising agencies in the business: Chiat/Day and Crispin Porter Bogusky.
The clients: Apple and Burger King respectively.
Both clients spend more to run a spot than any of our clients spend in a year- but, that’s beside the point- the point is; who gets the most out of their advertising budget; who maximizes the value of every dollar, and how can you get the best advertising for less money?
Apple’s new campaign is a simple production- 2 actors (the button down guy, John Hodgman, is the PC and the young hipster, Justin Long, - is the Mac) talking on camera, white background, - with a logo at the end on an iMac screen. Six different spots- Viruses, Restarting, Better, iLife, Network, WSJ. Each covers a different reason a Mac beats a PC. Entertaining yes- but where is the call to action? Sounds really trite- but, no where in the spot is any indication that if you go to Apple.com you can find out more.
Luckily- most people can figure that out on their own- and if they do- right on the front page of a fast loading site- Apple has the spots running- and links to why you should get a mac.
The cost of production and editing these 6 spots in Dayton OH would be under $30,000, shot in HD (not including talent rate). On the web- all the spots are downloadable in different sizes, and easy to link to. This is how viral campaigns take off- easy to point to, easy to send. On the other hand- we have the BK “Manthem”- a very expensively produced spot- with scenes of men marching through streets with their new Burger King Texas Double Whoppers. Yes I am a man- hear me roar- but after CP&B got done with the musical score- the multiple scenes, the huge cast- the dumping of a mini-van over a bridge into a dump truck- to be pulled by a circus strongman- we have a :30 spot with a budget that some independent film makers make a feature film with.
Now, even if the spot was amazing, fantastic, one that I wanted to watch over and over- I can’t- at least not easily.
The Burger site at bk.com is made in Flash [note: the site was built by VML]- with no way to bookmark a page, send a link or even download the spot. If I’d like- I can send the spot to a friend- which I tried to do- so I could send you an easy link- but the link that it generates- fails. So much for a multi-million dollar budget (including creative, production and media). You will just have to go to BK.com, find the cinema link, then click on the Manthem reel (note- all the other spots have download links). NOTE: Feb 2007, I’ve added the Manthem Burger King spot with a link from YouTube at the bottom of this post- since BK still doesn’t understand how to maximize their ad dollars online. This post still generates a lot of search results- all for BK, almost none for Apple.
As more people time shift TV programming- can you afford not to have your spots as easy to get to as possible? Why hide behind menus, locked content, and long downloads? Do you have the script in a searchable format- so someone searching for “I’m am man, hear me roar” or “Texas Double Whopper” or “Eat this meat” etc- so that people looking to see what you spent so much money on- can find it- instead of this post.
Crispin Porter + Bogusky is where Chiat/Day was around 35 years ago- having the pick of clients and talent. But comparing these two campaigns, shows that the steady old hand of Chiat understands it’s about delivering a message instead of showing off. The Apple campaign isn’t going to set the world on fire- but at least it’s accessible and supported online. Instead of spending huge on production- they bought more media- instead of posing- they deliver.
At one point Jay Chiat asked “How big can we get before we get bad?” and many would argue that Chiat/Day on a bad day was better than many agencies on their best- but, if you really want to know how to get the best bang for your ad dollar- make sure your agency checks it’s ego at the door- instead of out of your ad budget.
What do you think?
Here are the complete words (Lyrics) to the Burger King “Manthem” tv spot for the Texas Double Whopper:
I am man, hear me roar,
In numbers too big to ignore,
And I’m way too hungry to settle for chick food!
‘Cause my stomach’s starting to growl,
And I’m going on the prowl,
For a Texas Double Whopper!
“Man that’s good!”
Oh, yes, I’m a guy!
I’ll admit I’ve been fed quiche!
Wave tofu bye-bye!
Now it’s for Whopper beef I reach.
I will eat this meat
Chorus (Eat this meat)
‘Till my innie turns into an outie!
I am starved!
I am incorrigible!
And I need to scarf a burger beef bacon jalapeno good thing down!
(Yeah!)
I am hungry!
(I am hungry)
I am incorrigible!
I AM MAN!
The Texas Double Whopper: Eat like a man. Man.
By the number of hits we’re getting for people searching for this- it’s even more proof that CP&B isn’t managing the BK site properly-
We’re not getting any searches on the Apple spots- meaning people are finding the PC/Mac spots easily on Apple’s site.
Note: This post is generating an incredible number of search hits- all for the BK spot. According to Ad Age- this was a spot that was unveiled at the BK franchisee annual convention. After complaints about the spooky king- and the focus on the 18-24 yr old male customer- and almost everything else Crispin has done for BK- the franchisees looked at their sales figures- and this overblown production- and cheered.
Maybe the difference between BK and Apple has more to do with the client- Steve Jobs is a visionary king- BK is a horde of franchisees who like to think they are all kings. The big question will be if the franchisees will be able to let Crispin let go and keep making new, fresh ads- or will they try to force this into eternity. Ugoff was brilliant- but it would be old and annoying if it had run much longer.
You can see the spot and read comments on YouTube - the quality isn’t as good as the BK site- but they still don’t have it available to share. There may even be a directors cut out there somewhere- CP+B has been known to float some viral versions. It may have been on MySpace for a minute- but it’s gone now.
