“Pardon me, please check your cell phone at the door” might be the future greeting at Wal-Mart- or any other retailer. Today many health clubs don’t allow cell phones in locker rooms because picture cams could be used to take pictures of people without their permission- your local retailer may not want you to be scanning barcodes into your web-enabled cell phone.
Picture this: you walk into Best Buy intent on buying a 60” Plasma High Definition TV. You’re ready to spend $5000 and then some- but, before you say yes to the kid in the blue shirt who’s thinking about the neon he’s going to be putting under his new Honda with his bonus for selling that big TV to you- you whip out your cell phone, scan the product barcode- and send it off to Google’s price comparison site- Froogle and back comes the information that if you drive 1.2 miles over to Circuit City (and here’s the link to the Google map) you can buy that same TV for $4200, and if you order it from Amazon.com you can get it for $3995.
Whoa. Did I just say going out of business sale for every brick and mortar store?
Quite possibly. There is a rule to retail, you can’t be cheapest on everything all the time- and still be profitable- even if you can accomplish huge economies of scale like Wal-Mart has, because there will always be someone else out there ready to beat your price on something.
A client of mine in the very competitive pizza business calls it the race to the bottom- and refuses to take part. He focuses on quality, value and being distinctive- making pizza that no one else does.
So in the retail wars- what has Wal-Mart really brought to the table that isn’t available somewhere else? Nothing. Just as GM flooded the market with different versions of the same vehicle- with so many dealers all competing to sell the exact same thing, Wal-Mart, even with the low price, can be beat by someone else- and if you have the power of the Internet in your palm- you may realize that you can get your milk, bananas and eggs at the Kroger on the way home for 20% less- so you skip Wal-Marts profitable items and just stick to the stuff that they make no margin on.
What retailers are going to be immune from this Internet assisted buyers- those that have unique products – like Target has done with its designer lines. Or where the branded buying environment is a lifestyle statement- like the new Harley Davidson showcase stores. Although I would have sworn that Apple was making a huge mistake by investing in retail stores- they’ve done two things very right- true customer service with hands on experts to guide the uninitiated in the way of Mac- and extended their brand into a branded environment that reinforces their high style franchise that differentiates them from all the other processor in a box manufacturers.
So, before you worry so much about the utilitarian low price behemoth that is Wal-Mart, or the froogle enhanced cell phone price shopper, start identifying how to evolve your shopping experience into a one-of-a-kind branded lifestyle. If you need further reinforcement of this branded experience- here are some of my favorites: IKEA, BMW Mini Cooper, Apple, Chipotle, Trader Joes, or W hotels.
What do you think?
Today, the Dayton Daily News decided to deride the Dayton Public Schools for their “ad splurge” (Page 1, lead story- “Schools defend ad splurge”- Scott Elliott). While half a million dollars over three years is hardly a huge buy, before Daytonians get their panties in a twist, this is what happens when you turn education over to free market economics.
Colleges and Universities have advertised for students for years- and the for-profit career schools spend considerably more. When you stop giving the public schools a monopoly- advertising isn’t optional, it’s a requirement, especially when you dole out State money on a per student basis.
While the Dayton Daily News stood pretty much mute while the School Board purchased the former Reynolds and Reynolds headquarters building- without an appraisal or an operating cost evaluation, they are quick to jump on this measly expenditure.
In fact, not advertising for “Count week” would have been a really stupid move. Typically attendance runs 93.39% - by spending $58,000 on advertising and their in-school reward efforts- they got attendance to 96% a 2.61% improvement- with 16,500 students this means they had an extra 430 students in their census- when you multiply that times the State per pupil reimbursement of somewhere around $5000 the Dayton Public Schools gained about 2.1 MILLION dollars in annual funding!
I’d say that expense is justified.
In fact, the true issue isn’t the ad budget- it’s the quality of the ads that are the main problem. The Dayton Public School brand is still a brand in distress. Instead of clearly communicating the progress that has been made in the last 4 years under Superintendent Percy Mack, they are still trying to use the weak transitional campaign “a new day is dawning” which almost begs to ask- when will we get to lunch?
If there is any doubt that the brand message hasn’t done the job, why else would Donice Gatliff from the “Kid’s First” School Board team have lost her seat in the last election? Voters don’t believe the Dayton Public Schools have any success stories over the last 4 years.
As a bit of full disclosure, we’ve tried to talk to the Dayton Public Schools about their campaign, and even went as far as to do a spec ad to show the difference a good campaign would make. Here is what they ran “Don’t be late, School starts August 8”
Compare that to: “I can’t wait, school starts Aug. 8” with a focus on the positive story of the Stivers Jazz band that won first in the country last year.
Note- you can click on either for a larger view. I Can’t Wait- is only a comp- we used stock photos- it is for concept only.
If you look at the name of this firm- you see Peter Drucker stamped all over it. I first read his quote “a business has only two functions in society: marketing and innovation” in a Tom Peters book and it hit me like a two by four to the forehead.
When I named this firm, it wasn’t supposed to be an “ad agency” which really confuses a lot of people, it was supposed to be a resource for companies that understood that quote- and were looking to be ahead of the curve.
The problem that Drucker couldn’t tackle, was that most leaders in business don’t fully understand either- with maybe the exception of Steve Jobs at Apple computer. When Drucker came up with this statement, he thought a company could survive on one or the other. Times have changed.
Marketing isn’t something done in a department, and innovation isn’t done in a lab, it has to be in the DNA of the company, full court press marketing and innovation. With the pace of business quickening and product lifecycles shortening, and supply chains becoming an on-demand world, Drucker’s maxim is even more important today.
I got to sit in on one of Drucker’s lectures at Claremont University a few years back, he even autographed one of his books for me. It’s always nice when you get to meet the people who’s mind you admire.
Unfortunately, today, little emphasis in the corporations that Drucker studied is on either marketing or innovation- it’s on playing with the financial numbers for maximum short term return for the grossly over paid CEO’s. The company that gave Drucker his start: General Motors, has forgotten about both marketing and innovation and lost over half its market share in the last 20 years.
One thing that I still laugh at, is that Drucker, who had a school of management named after him- couldn’t have gotten tenure at my University because he lacked a PhD. Sometimes I think the world is totally upside down.
Drucker died Nov. 11, 2005- but, what he gave us will live on for a long time. At least part of it will live on here, at The Next Wave, Marketing • Innovation.
There has been a lot written in the trade press about Procter and Gamble, one of the worlds largest buyers of advertising, looking to improve their haul at creative awards shows. Quite frankly, this isn’t difficult to figure out. P&G is famous for testing- testing and committees introduce the CYA (cover your ass) factor that kills “award winning creative” instantly.
Now, while we have soldiers dying in Iraq, the idea of using Marines in an attempted comedic P&G TV spot for “Tide to go,” a stain removal pen is an insult to the military and to those who have sons and daughters overseas.
The spot goes something like this:
A Don Rickles type drill Sergeant is yelling at a line of five “Marines” and one has a red stain (metaphorical blood?) on his shirt- one Marine slips the other the pen- he eliminates the stain- which seems to confuse the DI- and the spot finishes with the DI yelling at the camera- in a pleading voice, for you to go to tidetogo.com to win a trip to the Martha Stewart Apprentice finale.
What is P&G thinking? The days of “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.” went away a long time ago.
As our young men and women are dying in Iraq, tying something as inane as a spot remover to people who are about to risk their life for their country, seems about as stupid as tying your product to a convicted felon (I don’t care if she has her own tv show). How this helps to engender trust and lust for this product, I don’t know. All it does is disturb me. Maybe it’s because I spent time in the military, maybe it’s because I believe that advertising should be interesting, stimulating, entertaining, intelligent. This is not.
It’s certainly not a “big idea” or an “award winner.”
As to the concept in general- it has no chance of having any kind of legs- this DI isn’t “Mr. Whipple” and even if he was, “Mr. Whipple’s “ day’s are long gone.
If P&G was smart, they’d pull this stain of an ad faster than their stain remover appears to work.
What do you think?
[note- update 20 Aug 08] The spot I saw is not available on YouTube- but a newer one is- where they identify the stain as catsup and eliminate the pleading at the end:
We review a lot of portfolios. We meet a lot of people. We don’t hire very many.
The reason all these people don’t get hired is generally, they aren’t prepared to get hired.
My first question is always- before I look at the work- do you want me to be nice- or do you want the truth?
Truth almost always wins, and many times, I lose.
In this day of self-actualization and self-esteem coddling, it’s not the best way to win friends and influence people even if you give “constructive criticism.”
So- I turn to my friend Sally Hogshead’s blog for: 83 things I wish someone had told me while I was learning how to be creative.
I’ve added a few in the comments-
But, if you are looking for a job in advertising here in Dayton, or in the big city Mecca’s these suggestions will do you well.
As to knowing what work is good enough to put in your book- I quote my hero’s at Chiat Day- “Good enough is not good enough.”
Good luck.
November 14, 2005 issue- Business Week, with IKEA on the cover- in the letters to the editor: “Soon, TV advertisers will be thanking Steve Jobs”
It’s not movies Apple Computer Inc.’s (AAPL ) iTunes Store will revolutionize — it’s TV and the ad industry that fuels it (“Hollywood holds its breath,” News: Analysis & Commentary, Oct. 24). Now you can buy last night’s Lost for $1.99. Next you’ll be able to get it for less in exchange for watching and interacting with targeted ads. The return-on-investment model Google Inc. (GOOG ) has championed, combined with the customer profiles of an Amazon.com Inc., (AMZN ) will let advertisers buy the exact eyeballs they want, with a feedback mechanism. Bandwidth and digital- rights issues will be solved as the $46 billion TV ad industry realizes that this is the future. Hollywood may be the last on this bandwagon, but there’s no question that once again, Steve Jobs is leading it.
David Esrati,
Chief Creative Officer
The Next Wave
Dayton
This is the second time I’ve had a letter published in Business Week. The first one was on “mass markets“
