Spend millions of dollars to tell us that they’re the Friendly skies- but break one guitar, try to deny a claim- for several years, and it all goes bye-bye faster than a rocketship.
One week after Dave Carroll, a relatively unknown singer in a band called Sons of Maxwell, released a music video called “United breaks guitars” he’s had over 3.3 million views. It was all over twitter the very first day of release, and United was finally making apologies two days later.
Companies can’t afford to tick off customers anymore- because customers can fight back.
Taylor guitars took the cue from the video- and posted an info video to talk to guitar players about how to travel safely with their guitar, and offered to repair their competitors guitars, should this happen to you:
Of course, while United has spent literally millions to associate themselves with Gershwin, I’m pretty sure that for the next few years- Rhapsody in Blue won’t be the first thing many people think of when they think United.
In fact, the total absence of information on the United site- about this, or on a response from United on YouTube, instead- having Dave Carroll telling folks that United decided to pay up after the release of the video, show United just doesn’t get it.
When you search on their customer service site- it says it all:
Screenshot from United Site for United Breaks Guitars
This is not how to respond to 3 million plus views on YouTube.
So, remember- next time a customer calls with a complaint- think of it as an opportunity to create a good news story, ’cause the bad news one will hurt.
Peter Arnell has managed to create a reality distortion field that must have an epicenter at Pepsi HQ.
Ad Age reports that his latest work for Tropicana is being tossed:
Pepsico’s Tropicana brand is junking the new orange juice package design it only just launched weeks ago. The beverage marketer is switching back to its old design whose centerpiece is an orange skewered by a drinking straw. In this video recorded at a press conference five weeks ago, Arnell Group CEO Peter Arnell vigorously defends his agency’s carton design that has now been withdrawn from the market.
There is a PDF document floating around (Pepsi Gravitational Field or “Breathtaking Design Strategy) that purports to be the “design rationale” for the move to the new logo (that has been likened to the Obama logo over and over). Ad Age questions the validity of the document, and both Pepsi and Arnell aren’t talking.
Ad Age graphic of the Pepsi logo evolution
The cost to implement a new logo for a company like Pepsi is huge. Every truck, machine, cooler, point-of-purchase will need to be retooled and updated. Great for sign companies and printers and design firms like Arnell’s.
However, I found this even more interesting: Pepsi is about to launch “Pepsi Throwback” for a limited time. The “throwback” is replacement of the low-cost high fructose corn syrup and returning to pure cane sugar as the sweetener in the product, a real, tangible product improvement and point of differentiation.
As a conniseur of root beers, I can tell you that there is no comparison between those that use pure cane sugar to those using high fructose corn syrup. Virgil‘s is one of my absolute favorites.
Had Pepsi really wanted to improve their marketing, maybe, they should take the lesson from their orange juice business- making your product taste better can make up for a bad package design any day of the week. And, if they went back to the Pepsi taste test campaign, once they’ve returned to pure cane sugar, they might find the magic mojo they need to finally beat Coke. Of course, they’d have to stop believing in “breathtaking design strategies” and focus on product quality, which should always be your first step in marketing anything (ask the big 3 auto companies).
Renamed as TriComB2B, the new brand is designed to stress the agency’s business-to-business expertise in marketing products and services, especially to industrial manufacturers and technology-based companies.
“The re-branding of our agency is a unique opportunity to emphasize our strengths to the industrial and technical markets we serve,” said Chris Eifert, Vandalia-based TriCom principal, in a news release. “With our new brand, we are building a distinctive identity that will allow us to more easily attract clients.”
Other company changes include a new tagline, “Smart. Strategic. Technical,” a redesigned logo and a newly updated Web site. All changes went into effect Tuesday morning. The Web site will provide clients with access to digital asset management for projects among other features.
TriComB2B has 24 employees and provides services such as branding, developing and implementing plans for marketing and communication, public relations, electronic media and trade-show services. Clients include Dimco-Gray Co., Accutemp and Rittal Corp.
After 18 years in business, The Next Wave doesn’t need to rebrand. And we’re still the agency in Dayton that promises to make you more money than you pay us. If you landed here while looking for TriCom, it’s because we’re the ones who fully understand Web 2.0.
Steve Greenblatt, formerly VP and Executive creative director at BRC Marketing has opened www.greenblattcreative.com. The Dayton Daily News (which unlike the Dayton Business Journal) provides a website and phone number, where you can see a long list of clients and some representative work. The paper reports that he will be offering freelance creative resources to business.
This is the second ad agency announcement in as many days- with U! Creative announcing their spin off from Wilson Advertising yesterday.
It seems the new trendy word to name your agency is “Creative.”
Here is to Creative! Let’s hope clients start buying it, instead of the same old hum-drum “advertising” most locals seem to actually pay to produce.
Today I was at the farmers market and their were clowns/mimes there from Cirque Du Soleil doing advance work for the Saltimbanco show next week. Call it “street teams” or guerrilla marketing, it was refreshing to see a business go out and actively seek customers in their environment. Doesn’t happen much anymore. We’ve gotten lazy- trying to invite our message in by interrupting their entertainment with commercials, their landscape with billboards and their websites with ads.
But while I was shopping, I was listening to American Public Radio’s Marketplace on my iPhone, and heard a story of how Procter & Gamble invented the market for Crisco- and it reminded me why they are the marketing powerhouse- not just by dollars spent, but by long history of working hard to connect with consumers. Our current industry fixation with “Branded Content” is nothing more than a new name for the soap opera- a P&G invention.
Here is an excerpt of the podcast- and a link to the whole she-bang. Highly recommended short podcast:
Marketplace: Crisco: A marketing revolution
…Crisco maker Procter & Gamble was a pioneer in the emerging science of creating demand. Historian Susan Strasser says the Crisco experiment started in 1911, when the company was selling Ivory soap. Cottonseed oil was a key ingredient.
Susan Strasser: And they decided to develop a product that would use a lot more cottonseed oil, so that they could control that market, really.
P&G’s scientists came up with this white, fluffy substance. It sort of resembled lard, and yet had no taste and no smell. It wasn’t food, exactly, but the company would ask consumers to bake and fry with it. Thus began an American mass-marketing milestone.
Strasser: Originally, they tried to call it Crispo, but then they discovered that a cracker factory already had the trademark.
P&G hawked its new product as a “scientific discovery.” The company sent free samples to every grocer in America. They held Crisco teas — an early version of the focus group. P&G even niche-marketed the product as kosher to the Jewish community….
In the podcast they talked about how P&G educated the consumer in how to use their products- something that the web is incredibly useful for. Yet, how many company websites feature big how-to communities built around their product?
For instance, BMW motorcycles has an xplor area that’s focused on tips and tricks for sport touring - the segment of the market that they have a preferred position. How to pack your bike best, tips on GPS usage, and segments on where to go. However, it’s a members only site for BMW owners- you have to provide a vin number- and not open to the general public. Why not open the doors- so that potential customers can get a feel for what “joining the family” by buying BMW means?
Back to the Crisco story:
Marketing scholar David Stewart says P&G’s genius was not only giving people a convincing reason to try the product but training them to use it as well, with free cookbooks and recipes.
David Stewart: First of all, they focused on the health benefits — recognizing that this was a time we didn’t know about transfat and so forth. And then they taught people how to use it, they taught people how to cook. They gave them ideas. And between giving them a real benefit and information about how to use the product, they were able to get people to adopt it.
Crisco’s crowning achievement was creating demand for something nobody knew they wanted.
In today’s open information economy- putting your “recipes” behind a log-in is as silly as trying to charge for it. Would Google have been as successful if they had asked users to pay per search? Sounds absolutely stupid, doesn’t it? How about having to log in to use Google? Again, very silly.
To make friends with consumers today you have to be informative, useful, practical- and be able to demonstrate value. So, before you do an ad that is either hard sell- or entertaining- think first about what it does to enhance the customers life. The same way P&G introduced Crisco as the consumers friend: “Honestly, with a little Crisco in your frying pan, you can have supper on the table in a jiffy.”
I guess they are stuck on companies that start with V in their rolodex at Volkswagen- bringing in former the Volvo ad director to direct marketing and VW agency Crispin Porter Bogusky to try to sell some Vee dubs in the USA. It won’t help until VW addresses shoddy workmanship, poor resale value, low JD Power ratings and now, they will be fighting a rock bottom dollar when compared to all major world currencies. VW may as well put a revolving door on the office- and keep it spinning.
New title
Though his title is new, Mr. Ellis will succeed Kerri Martin, director of brand innovation, departed the automaker in January. Volkswagen works with MDC Partners Crispin Porter & Bogusky in the U.S. and Omnicom Groups DDB Worldwide elsewhere. Volkswagen spent about $419 million in measured media last year the U.S., according to TNS Media Intelligence.
Mr. Ellis ran the recent account review that ended up with Volvo shifting its global ad business from Havas Euro RSCG to sibling Arnold and independent Nitro.
In a recent interview, Volkswagen of America President-CEO Stefan Jacoby told Ad Age that the marketer didnt plan to change agencies, though he did say some of the work done under Ms. Martin was too narrow. “We have to address our communications with a wider net,” he said.
Creative reputation
Since joining Volvo in 2003 from independent Swedish agency Forsman & Bodenfors, Stockholm, where he was a managing partner, Mr. Ellis, an American, has been known for doing more creatively with fewer ad dollars than his competitors.
Mr. Ellis is best known for 2004s “Mystery of Dalaro,” a hoax that started with a fake news story about 32 families in a tiny Swedish town all buying the new Volvo 540 model on the same day from the same small dealership. That led to a documentary about the eerie coincidence, which was soon revealed as a fake, by a director who didnt exist. The “Mystery of Dalaro,” created by Euro RSCGs Fuel Europe, ran across Europe in TV spots, and at great length on Volvos website.
Mr. Ellis, and Fuel, followed up with another low-budget, web-oriented effort called “Life on Board.” To make Volvo seem warmer and friendlier, they staged a series of conversations pairing interesting people who had never met getting to know each other by chatting in a Volvo.
Interesting revelation that VW spent $419 million on media- a bump from what was previously reported as a $300 million dollar account. Also, Mr. Ellis moved Volvo to Arnold- VW’s previous agency. Could a change be in the works? Stay tuned to the continuing drama of VW’s search for the old Bernbach mojo.
