by Next Wave Team | Sep 20, 2005 | Advertising, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Guerrilla Campaigns
“We don’t do guerrilla,” says a big agency in NYC, they also “don’t do web” and, no, you have to hire a design firm to do your collateral- we’re an Advertising Agency (with capital “A’s” for effect). When you get to local agencies, it’s even worse- at least around Dayton Ohio and vicinity (that would be Columbus and Cincinnati too) where they don’t even get the advertising part right.
Selling isn’t something companies can do part time. By that, I mean, your brand must live 24/7 in the world- that means on store shelves and the customers cerebral cortex. Your employees should eat, sleep and breathe your product. Think about the employees at Harley Davidson, Apple, Nike – do you think anyone rides a Yamaha into Harleys HQ or anyone is using a Dell that works at Apple- or running a marathon in Reebok’s if they work at Nike- the answer isn’t no, it’s hell no.
So- if your agency can only do one part of the dance that is critical to marketing in these days of fractured media and message overload, you may as well just give up. It ain’t going to happen. Driving your message home isn’t about creating a campaign today, run it for the next six months and work on the next one. It’s rapid fire and maneuver, because if you aren’t shooting your message at your target, your competition is.
There is no one magic media; there is no one great ad that will sell it all. You put an ad out there and you start working on a new angle to hit the market in a different way. You won’t be able to score the same way twice, the landscape changes too quickly.
So, what is a brand manager to do? A couple of things have to change- it’s time to pay for creative- and pay well, forget about the media commissions, how was anyone supposed to really make money on a 15% commission anyway? The rest of the world works on 40 points, so, if you think 15% is going to get you great ads- instead of great media bills, you can go home right now.
The scope of the work should change too. It’s not about just ads- it’s the whole experience that has to match. Expect the website, the brochures, the field work- all to have the same consistent voice, coming from the same people- the agency in partnership with the brand manager. It used to be called “integrated marketing communications” - now the “total brand experience” may be more apt.
It’s also critical to be flexible- to experiment with new media, new placement, new ideas, and especially a new honesty. Ads can entertain, but they also must inform. If you aren’t hitting an emotional chord with the audience while reaching for their gut and their brain at the same time, get back to the drawing board.
No one has time for ads anymore- they want to be part of something bigger. Your agencies job is to create that brand experience that makes the consumer feel a part of something bigger. Look at Harley Davidson’s Owners Groups (HOGS) or the Mac heads that will defend their computer to the death.
When an agency does get it, like Wieden + Kennedy got Nike, it’s a beautiful thing. So, instead of saying what an agency can and can’t do- find one that can Just Do It.
by Next Wave Team | Sep 5, 2005 | Advertising, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Guerrilla Campaigns
Sergey Brin and Larry Page, I hope you read this.
(The founders of Google)
To help with the Katrina/New Orleans disaster, could you set up a site where people across the country can offer a job and housing to people in their profession?
So mechanics invite mechanics to their home, bakers bring bakers, bankers and bankers and ad guys invite ad guys.
For the next six months, these people need purpose in their lives.
It’s not a question of give a man a fish, or teaching a man how to fish- it’s giving the fisherman a place to continue to fish.
I’d also say it’s a way to bring a bit of that infectious Big Easy Cheer to places across the country. Between Katrina and the War, we need to remember how to have a good time.
I’ve opened my home/office to help. I’m asking my clients to do the same.
Can the kings of Internet search help? Please?
What do you think?
I’ve just been alerted to this site- although it doesn’t do the job part well-
http://www.hurricanehousing.org/
it’s an effort of moveon.org
by Next Wave Team | Jul 13, 2005 | Advertising, BMW Advertising
Since 1923 BMW has been making motorcycles. Very good motorcycles. So good in fact, that when the Japanese first started moving hard into the higher performance bike market, the bike they dissected wasn’t a Harley- but a BMW.
Unfortunately, BMW Motorrad (that’s the motorcycle division in BMW speak) either:
1) doesn’t get advertising at all, or
2) their agency (that doesn’t get the bike or the rider) has some sort of magic potion that makes the people who approve the ads become stupid.
The headline in the ad is “You don’t need a hibachi to cook Japanese” the copy that follows is:
“So I’m riding through the city and I pass this guy over the bridge. Apparently, he wasn’t too happy about it because he wound up trying to pass me back. Guess he saw that BMW logo and decided to put me in my place. Well, that didn’t happen. Because I shifted up a gear, flicked the throttle, and there went Mr. Hot Shot Racer Boy, disappearing in my rearview mirror. I guess he didn’t know that I was packing 163 horsepower. But you know what? He knows now.”
This is an ad for a K1200 R- “the most powerful naked bike ever”- you can find out more at bmwmotorcycles.com (which isn’t working today)- but, here’s what I have to say to the micro-dick copy jock who wrote this ad: you suck.
The K1200 R is a $14,250 MSRP motorcycle. Hardly something that crotch rocket boys can afford- you can buy all kinds of “rice-burners” with splashy graphics, a seat that only someone who doesn’t value their family jewels can love (not saying BMW makes great seats either) and a high pitched whine that makes your head hurt- for about half the price of the K bike. Plus, this isn’t exactly a bike for beginners- no 1200R is.
Now, BMW has a slight problem with their line to begin with- with no true BMW bikes under 1100cc’s (the 650’s are all equipped with a non-BMW engine- and have a totally different feel). So there is no entry-level BMW competition for the crotch rocket crowd. But that shouldn’t stop the agency from understanding who should be interested in this bike- and how to craft the story that goes with it. The agency by the way is Merkley & Partners (who’s lame site fails to list Arby’s as a client since Sept. 2004 (update: Sept. 18 2005- they now list Arby’s and have Arby’s work on the site- too bad they still haven’t redone Arby’s lame site).
Update: Jan 30 2006- Arby’s site STILL SUCKS. But, Merkley and Partners is producing TV spots that cost 100x more than what it would to at least put up something close to relevant to the campaign.
So- what is the answer to this advertising problem? Well, at one time an agency wanted to win the BMW car business, so they sent out disposable cameras to 1000 new owners of Volvo, Mercedes and BMW- and asked them to take pictures of their cars- and send them in. Not a cheap research exercise, but really revealing. When they put the pictures up on the wall, the strategy became clear- and I believe it also applies to the BMW motorcycle messaging.
The photos were amazingly similar:
Volvo owners had pictures of the cars with their kids.
Mercedes pictures all were of the car and the house, on the curved driveway- with people dressed up- and BMW- well, those motorheads all took detail pictures of parts of the car: the BMW roundel, the gearshift knob, the logo on the back of the car, the engine. These people loved the machine. Hence- “the ultimate driving machine” came to be. At least that’s the story as I recall.
Back to the bad bike ads: the tag “the ride is on” means nothing. “The ultimate riding machine” means everything. The BMW riders I know, and the ones I see (when the weathers bad- that’s all I see) ride BMW because it is a technologically superior, reliable, responsive bike with things like ABS brakes and heated handgrips, that are there for one reason and one reason only- the ride. It’s not about being macho; it’s about being a rider who rides, who puts miles on the bike, who does it with style and confidence. Others get it, as evidenced by this dealer site: http://www.danburybmw.com/miscpage_002.asp. The BMW site, that’s another matter.
The BMW rider doesn’t need a 100 lbs of chrome to say, “I’m a biker” because they spend more time riding than polishing chrome. Actions speak louder than chrome. Next time you walk by a row of bikes- start looking at odometers, the BMW will be the one with the most miles on the newest bike almost every time.
Most of the time I ride past the rice-burner crotch-rocket crowd, they aren’t even on their bikes, they’re all milling around, posing. I don’t need 163 HP to blow by them; I don’t even need to shift out of second.
This ad, on the inside front cover of Aug 2005 Playboy cost BMW sales. Here was the chance to explain why you don’t need a Harley for your mid-life crisis, you need to say, “I’m sophisticated, I’m different, I’m one who knows the best motorcycle on the planet” instead of screaming, I’m still a little boy with a little penis.
Someone needs to cook some agency creative ass. This ad is an embarrassment, and the dealers deserve better. Never mind the BMW faithful that always have to smile and tell people that BMW has made bikes since 1923, thank you.
What do you think?
added note: BMW (and any other major advertiser) should post their print ads on their web site. This post has been copied into biker forums where it is the subject of much (heated) discussion.
Seems that many “crotch rocket” riders are offended- these are the people that BMW might want to convert one day. Oh yeah, they do like the fact that the bike is popping a wheelie- a totally unsafe and unBMW type riding style.
by Next Wave Team | Jun 22, 2005 | Advertising, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising
Sony.
It was the brand that everyone wanted to beat in electronics.
They were the innovators.
They were the leader.
Now they are playing catch up.
A gaijiun is in charge, and they are playing shuffleboard on the Titanic re-arranging their agency rosters.
Instead of being smart- like when IBM stopped using 50 agencies and gave it all to Ogilvy, Sony is still “spreading the wealth.”
If you need any further clue that they don’t have a clue- look at the roster shop Bagby and Company website. Not only is the site about as fascinating as a rock in a stream, it’s technically a failure- not showing up for shit in google:
Web Results 1 - 4 of about 7 from bagbyco.com for . (0.28 seconds)
Meetings and Events Video 3
A full service marketing communications firm that develops and executes strategic
branding initiatives - delivering the right message to the right audience at the …
www.bagbyco.com/content/me3-quicktime.html - 4k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages
Bagby and Company Inc.
who we are.
www.bagbyco.com/content/opportunities.html - 3k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages
[FLASH] bagbyco.com/bagbyco_tempSite.swf
File Format: Shockwave Flash
Similar pages
Bagby and Company Inc. Brand Expressionism.
www.bagbyco.com/ - 2k - Cached - Similar pages
In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 4 already displayed.
If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included.
This is the best that Sony can find?
No wonder, they are no longer like no other.
by Next Wave Team | Jun 21, 2005 | Advertising, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Guerrilla Campaigns, Marketing & the Web
If there is one industry that believes in advertising- but doesn’t understand it- it’s car dealers.
Formulaic, stupid, boring, and inept. If I have to hear “drive a little, save a lot” or “home of the low priced cars” one more time, I think I’m going to puke. Face it, they all sell the same thing as everyone else- a car- made in some factory far away- that’s exactly the same as the car their competitor has on their lot.
So, price and product are not the way to go. But, they still do.
Big egos also are hard at work in this business- so the owner of the dealership thinks that they need to be in the ad, on the marquee, and even stick their name on the back of your brand new car with some cheap sticker.
So, when I found these “Trunk monkey” ads at first I thought it was a production company poking fun at car dealers- but low and behold- it’s for real. Suburban Auto Group in Sandy Oregon is the home of the “Trunk Monkey”- a chimp who lives in your trunk and can do everything from buy off a cop to deliver your baby- I’m not kidding.
Entertaining- yes, enjoyable- yes, makes you want to visit the site- yes, makes you feel good about Suburban Auto Group- yes- and they even have a hip logo.
If only the car dealers in Dayton- especially our nearby neighbor, Frank Z Auto Group, who spends crazy money in the Dayton Daily News, would wake up to the power of good advertising.
Enjoy!
A little more research- and of course I find more to the story: The ads were created by R-west.com in Portland OR (their site sucks btw- all Flash- practically kills Firefox on the Mac) and then syndicated to other dealers. In Canada- they were banned for violence, and then PETA complained. For more than you can stand to know about Trunk Monkeys- see of course: trunkmonkey.com
Still wouldn’t hurt for Frank Z to take a look.
What do you think?
by Next Wave Team | Jun 17, 2005 | Advertising, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Guerrilla Campaigns, Marketing & the Web
You’ve never heard of Ruder- Finn- but, you will.
Sooner or later- someone is going to e-mail you a Mr. Piccassohead- and then you will want to do one too.
What is a Mr. Piccassohead you ask? Well, it’s a Mr. Potato head in 2D online- with Picasso inspired parts to assemble. When you are done- you send it to someone- and they go to the site- and admire your work. While you are at Mr. Picassohead you see the Ruder-Finn logo- and you can click to their site- and read about how their creativity delivers- which it did- it delivered you to their site.
This is an example of viral marketing- where each person you contact, then contacts someone else- and it spreads- just like a virus. There have been other examples of viral marketing- subservientchicken.com for Burger King by Crispin Porter Bogusky helped up the sales of the new BK tender crisp chicken sandwich jump over 270%, Carl’s Jr. is scoring points with a naughty Paris Hilton video that is “too hot for TV” to hawk their latest belly buster. If CKE Restaurants had run the spot on TV it would have cost them millions, by producing a spot that was controversial, they got millions in free media exposure. This is what viral marketing/ PR ploy’s are all about.
The difference between Mr. Picassohead and Spicy Paris- is the difference between art and porn. But, considering the audience for fast food is hormonally charged young men- they are both effective.
Viral is here to stay. The original online viral campaign was for free e-mail, with a message on the bottom of every hotmail delivered e-mail asking you to sign up for hotmail. It’s come a long way since then. We’ve only just seen the beginning.
“I love you too, but…. (ode to Roy Lichtenstien)
a Mr. Picassohead drawing by Atalie Gagnet
What do you think?
