Billboard Vacancies

Riding around, I'll often see a billboard that is unsold, and a message on it reading, "Your Ad Here" + a phone number to call to buy the ad space.

Just a thought-- you've got this massive square footage of unused sign space, can't we use it for something for the public good in the meantime? Perhaps a photo of a missing child on one half and your ad on the other half? Or maybe you donate the ad to a charity for a week at a time, until the space gets sold. Or display a work of art by a local artist. Something, anything.

Billboards are considered to be an eyesore by many people. Why not try to counter that opinion with an engaging message instead of just shamelessly self-promoting yourself? In the end, if potential clients see the great possibilities that a billboard can offer, they'll be more inclined to want to rent it. Plus, seeing a sign that essentially says "nobody else wants to place an ad here, why should you?" is not exactly all that enticing to a prospective customer.

In other words, let's see billboard companies get creative and put their Monet where their mouth is.

Procter and Gamble: Stealing Marketshare Thru Coupons

As a frugal shopper who's always looking to save money when buying groceries, toiletries, and, well, pretty much anything, I've learned to take notice of when there are good deals going around. And lately I've noticed that Procter & Gamble is loading up on the discounts in recent weeks.

For example, I shop at BJ's Wholesale Club because I like the fact that I can get certain items in large quantities at reasonable prices. Things like cereal, which I eat every day and run thru rather quickly. All in all, it's a good place to go to refill the cupboards once a month or so, since things are cheaper in bulk.

To add to it, BJ's has its own circulars with exclusive coupons on a wide variety of products. Procter & Gamble always has coupons in the circularas, such as $2 off a package of 10 boxes of Puffs tissues, or $3 off Tide laundry detergent. But lately they've been laying the deals on heavy. My guess is that they're trying to build up on market share while the economy is in a dive and consumers are being pinched.

Some examples I've seen from their coupons include:
-Buy one package of 30 rolls of toilet paper, and get a package of four tubes of toothpaste for free... a $7.59 value.
-Buy a large bottle of Tide laundry detergent, get a large bottle of Joy dish detergent for free.
-Buy Bounty paper towels, get Zest soap for free...
Etc., etc.

As you can see, these are pretty substantial offers that they're pumping out, and they all tend to be $7-8 values. I suppose that they're big enough and can handle these discounts for the short term with the goal of trying to scare off other competitors. Seems like a reasonable marketing strategy since consumers are always looking for good deals, and it gets their products in people's homes to try out, even if they've never used them before. When the economy improves, my hunch is that they'll gradually go back to advertising their normal coupons.

But hey, when the economy improves, I think we'll all be much happier to go back to any sort of normalcy.

Prediction: Barring Any Change, Facebook Will Fossilize

Over the past few months, I admit, I've become a frequent user of Facebook. It's a fun, useful site that enables you to easily connect with friends and get an occasional glimpse into their lives, while also letting others into your world, one chunk at a time.

I never really got into MySpace because I felt there was just too much going on and it was more designed for kids to use or it was too corporate or something. Facebook is a lot cleaner and more straightforward. And it seems like others agree with me because I don't know anybody who uses MySpace anymore.

But interestingly, the same benefits that Facebook has over MySpace may actually become Facebook's downfall.

For starters, when I think of Facebook now, even though I still do use it, I can't help but often think about the Seinfeld episode where George Costanza's wife becomes friends with George's friends Jerry, Elaine, and Kramer. In other words-- "worlds collided."

The easy accessibility of Facebook means that your network of "friends" can grow, perhaps not in an exponential manner, but certainly to an unmanageable level. What happens is that you start off becoming friends with the people you are closest to in your real life. And then a friend of a friend wants to be your friend. And then a kid you knew in middle school who you hardly talked to wants to friend you. And then your parents start an account and want to see what's going on in your life. And then your co-workers. And then people you don't even know, who just want to rack up more friends than other people. And then all of a sudden you have 500 people on your friends list, and anything you post becomes virtually public knowledge.

So what does this all mean? It means you either have to be a person who really has nothing to hide in life and doesn't mind sharing everyday experiences with the world. Or, in reflection of Shakespeare's famous line-- "All the world's a stage... and one man in his time plays many parts." Meaning: different people know you in different ways... can you truly be "one person" to everybody when they can see everything that you post?

This makes you think... do I REALLY want to post that photo of me passed out at the party?" Or, similarly, "what if my friend posts a photo of me passed out at the party, and my boss sees it?" To quote another famous writer, "Big Brother is watching you," is what it can feel like when using Facebook, as any reader of George Orwell's "1984" can attest.

So here you have a personal limitation in what you can say-- though of course you have the other choice of denying a friend request so somebody does not get let into your world, which makes it look like you really do have something to hide. Ultimately, you have to make a lot of decisions about what you write, unless you really have nothing to lose by posting it, whether in your mind or in reality. After a while, I think people will tire of having to make these types of decisions.

The other issue at hand is that of advertising on the site. Big Brother is indeed watching you on Facebook... even if it is Big Brother of the Marketing World. I think nothing says this more than when you go to sign up for an application and you get this message:

"Allowing (name of application) access will let it pull your profile information, photos, your friends' info, and other content that it requires to work. Allow or Canel"

Ok, if that doesn't make you wonder about things, then I don't know what does.

So then, let's say you agree to allow access to this application, and let's say that you take part in a game application. Well, the game, being free, is advertising supported, so you're getting hammered with ads everytime you play the game. Oy!

To top it off, each Facebook user will have different pay per click ads hovering on screen anywhere within Facebook, and each ad is tailored to things that you have a tendency to like. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it tracks the sites you go to and homes in on hitting you up with ads for similar sites. On one hand, yes, this is good marketing (reach out only to the people who are inclined to like your product, rather than wasting money on people who are less inclined), but on the other hand, it feels, well, a little creepy.

As a Facebook user, I'm not sure how long I will be able to put up with these downfalls of the site. It's possible I will just overlook them and enjoy the site's functionality. Or, I, along with others, may just ditch the site altogether like has happened with MySpace, due to getting burned out by the constant ads, or the milktoast conversation that ensues due to not wanting to give away too much info about myself to my world of "friends."

Now let me go search around on Facebook and see what kind of shenanigans my boss is up to...

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

This troubled economy has brought down many businesses, but one business it seems to have bolstered is the "going out of business" advertising shops of the world. Case in point:

Oskar Huber, a Philadelphia-area furniture store is reorganizing under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, meaning EVERYTHING MUST GO GO GO GO! (Sorry, I got a little caught up in the moment there. -Ed.)

The interesting thing is that since they announced this bankruptcy plan, it seems like the company has poured more attention on itself than ever before. For example, the Cherry Hill store has done all of the following to try and get people in the door:

-rented a billboard truck that simply drives around all day with a sign announcing to all passers-by the discounted furniture that is for sale
-paid a poor shlep or two to stand in front of the store by the roadside holding a sign (in gaudy neon pink and green no less), on wooden pole announcing said sales
-placing a portable stadium light in front of the store and pointing it right at the sign above the store front, presumably so drivers will notice it at night while driving by
-hanging shiny red and blue streamers up on the light poles in the parking lot, making it look like a used car dealership

And that's probably just a tip of the iceberg as far as Oskar Huber's going-out-of-business advertising goes. Which tells me that when things are going bad in the economy, riches can be made in the "going under" advertising business.

In other words, catch people when they're desperate and they'll toss all kinds of money around to undertake desperate measures...

AT&T Commercial: Thumbs Down

Sorry, it's another negative blog post by me ripping on a bad television commercial. But what voice does a lowly consumer have when it comes to these terrible commercials that are forced down everybody's throats? The good ole blog is probably the best bet.

So you've undoubtedly seen the AT&T Wireless commercials showing a closeup of two hands holding the typepad on a Samsung phone. The thumbs, used to type in a text message, have faces superimposed on them. Not only do these thumb-faces make me want to gag because they look bizarre, but they talk and try to say funny things like "Shake your funnymaker." It's really quite torturous and annoying.

I get the concept here, but the execution doesn't work for me. I'm all for a little innovation and having fun with TV commercials, but hopefully AT&T can come up with *ahem* thumb-thing else.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

Pillsbury Doughboy: Happy 40+ Birthday

It dawned on me that the Pillsbury Doughboy has been around for a long time. Turns out, Mr. Doughboy popped into the advertising world in the 1960s, making him over 40 years old.

Which leaves me with the simple question... shouldn't he be the Pillsbury DoughMAN by now?

Chew on that one.

Book Review: "Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Advertising"

They say that in order to succeed in any given industry, you really need to immerse yourself in it. In other words, read books, read trade journals, listen to mentors, and generally gain a passion for the field. By doing this, you will become a student of your job, and eventually an expert.

In the weird, wild world of advertising, there are myriad books and magazines and awards shows that a young devotee can immerse herself in. One book that is able to effectively summarize the art of advertising and how to improve yourself in the field is "Hey Whipple, Squeeze This" by ad vet Luke Sullivan.

Anybody in the ad business knows that advertising is largely subjective, ever-evolving, and a creative challenge that is not easy to master. Sullivan describes in detail why these points ring true, while primarily delving into the art of making good ads. And rather than producing a dull, intellectual, research-driven book that could potentially turn off any curious reader, Sullivan has fun with it by showing many great examples of premier ads. Indeed, his passion for advertising jumps off the page. It's a solid book for any college student considering studying advertising in college, or for a burgeoning member of the advertising field, or even for a seasoned pro who just needs a light refresher course. The book is quite versatile in that way.

The book was originally published in 1998, followed by new editions in 2003 and 2008. As a result, "Hey Whipple" touches on new media avenues, such as internet advertising, but still mostly focuses on the big ad outlets of print and TV. I'd say that one area where this book lacks is its small focus on how to create great ads in this new world of media, and where advertising will be going in the future. Since the world of advertising is so rapidly changing, it's important to have a plan for how to adapt.

Another area that lacks in this book is accurately describing life in an ad agency. Sure, if you're a Madison Avenue all-star, this book hits the spot, but the vast majority of ad agencies are not in New York, and in fact many are not even in big cities. So there are many stereotypical references in this book to the life of an ad guy (or gal) that reflect on the one we know so well from the Big Apple. This quote from Neil D. Brown in a recent book review on Amazon.com reflects my sentiments exactly:

What you [Sullivan] espouse about agency life proves you have no idea what the real world of advertising is like. You have a lovely and accurate view of the myopics for New York agencies and clients and processes and even though you now call Austin home you have never really worked in the world of small agencies, smaller clients. And it shows.

His "myopics for New York agencies" notwithstanding, I think it's a good book that breezily depicts the creative side of advertising. That said, you should take this book as just one of thousands of potential sources in your ongoing immersion of the field. Everybody in advertising has an opinion, and this is just one of them. Enjoy your exploration.

Shouting Out a Web 4.0 Prediction

So here we are in the world of "Web 2.0"-- or maybe it's Web 3.0 by now, I don't even know. The main concept being that the internet has grown from a series of static sites to robust, interactive tools. Feedback, from a marketer's perspective, is probably the biggest thing going. You can see customer reviews, people talking about products on blogs, pay-per-click ads producing instant results, and many other web intricacies that show that customers can have an instant and widespread effect on how products are marketed.

My prediction now is that the web will become increasingly more sophisticated in how customers can affect performance of a site, sale of a product, and so on. I realized this just moments ago, in fact.

I was in my Yahoo Mail account. My cursor was at the top of the screen and I dragged it down to the middle to click on a message. But during the course of my drag, it crossed a banner ad that automatically expanded when rolled-over, thus blocking the message I was trying to click on. I inadvertently did this three times in a row. After the third instance, I yelled a loud, profanity-laced statement that was directed simultaneously at Yahoo, my computer, and the marketing industry in general for being so annoying at that moment.

And thus sprung the idea that yelling at your computer will, someday in the future, help deliver instant feedback to Yahoo and the advertiser, to let them both know that these kinds of ads are obnoxious to me, the consumer. It will be a beautiful combination of instant gratification on my part and a helpful tool to advertisers to understand what works in reaching consumers and what doesn't.

I look forward to that day when voice-interaction will be able to do all the work for me. That way I won't have to write a blog post about it and hope for a change... instead I'll just have to yell and I'll get what I want right away.

F- YEAH BABY!!!! WOOOHOOOO!!!!

TV Commercials for TVs

So the Super Bowl commercials made quite a buzz this year, once again, and once again the Super Bowl commercials where rather underwhelming in my book. But that's not what I'm here to ramble about. I'm here to talk about TV commercials. As in commercials for new TVs.

Every time I see a commercial for new TVs, I have to laugh.

If I'm sitting at home watching a TV commercial on my 26", fuzzy but functional TV, and I see a commercial for the latest in a long line of plasma, HD, LCD, DLP, ABC, whatever TVs, and the narrator in the commercial is crowing about the crystal clear clarity of the picture, but all I see is a fuzzy but functional version of it on my set... why would I want to buy a new TV?

Worse yet, what if I'm watching that same commercial on a black and white 13" screen TV?

In other words, the TV in the commercial can present the new-fangled product as having the sharpest picture imaginable, but it will only be as sharp as I can see it on my current TV. Thus, the whole persuasive argument is lost in translation.

Now pardon me while I go adjust the bunny ears...

Marketing Innovation Hall of Fame: The Tea Kettle

Any house I go to, be it in the city, suburb, or rural areas, I almost always spot a tea kettle (or teapot) sitting on the kitchen stove. Informally I'd say that 80-90% of American households have a tea kettle, and the tea kettles, in turn, are almost exclusively found on the stove at any given moment, rather than being packed away with most other kitchen implements.

The curious thing to me is that I know of few people who actually use these tea kettles on a regular basis. I'm guilty of having a tea kettle on my stove, and I'm also guilty of rarely firing it up. Ever since studying abroad in Manchester, England for a semester, the land where it practically rains tea, I've been a tea lover. But I have no interest in actually using the tea kettle to boil water, instead delegating that job to the microwave. Why would I want to use a tea kettle when it takes longer, requires cleaning, drying of the inside to prevent rust, and makes an obnoxious whistle, when I can put a mug full of water in the microwave and have simmering water 2 and a half minutes later? There's no comparison really.

Yet I still have a tea kettle!

I consider this a true marketing victory. For starters, rarely do I see a tea kettle being advertised, save for circulars where department stores announce a sale. Otherwise, when was the last time you saw a commercial for tea kettles ("Just Brew It," perhaps?). You certainly won't see a Super Bowl ad for tea kettles any time soon. Nor will you see slick publicity campaigns or massive billboards touting the virtues of tea kettles. But amazingly, these things pop up as housewarming gifts and on bridal registries to no end. Even more amazing to me, in a quick search for tea kettles on bedbathandbeyond.com, I found FIFTY different tea kettles for sale!

All in all I think it's safe to say that the tea kettle has truly mastered the concept of "selling itself", making it a stealth marketing success story. For whatever reason, it's a truly hot item for any household.

8 Things I'd Like to See Disappear from America by 2010

Sure, there's more than 8 things that I would like to see removed from the American landscape. But, here's a start...

1. Paris Hilton: Need I say more?
2. Preposterous health insurance plans: There's got to be a better way than paying skyrocketing premiums for high deductible plans, not to mention having millions of people uninsured or under insured. I understand there are a lot of factors here, but I can't imagine the system being worse than it currently is.
3. Gas stations: I cannot wait for the day when I no longer have to fill up my car at a gas station. Granted, gas stations have served a long history as being that last resort for getting directions, grabbing an overpriced and undercooked hot dog, or squeegeeing your windshield, but every time I think about where the gas I'm buying comes from (a foreign country), how it gets to me (via sophisticated and dangerous logistics), how much it costs (a good 50 bucks a week for getting to work), and what it's doing to the environment (not much good, that's for sure), I want to gag. I also want to gag thinking about people who actually buy those hot dogs.
4. American Idol: Yup, I'll be the first to admit I can't stand the show. Are we this desperate for live music and up and coming talent that we have to watch a bunch of karaoke hacks sing other people's songs and generally make fools of themselves? Thanks but no thanks. I'll stick to real comedy, like The Office.
5. Bad teeth: It is too easy and affordable not to have presentable teeth in this day and age. Brush. Floss. Go to dentist. Done.
6. Toys, ad nauseum: I know too many kids who have stockpiles of toys, 95% of which are never used more than once (or even opened). I was an only child growing (still am!) and generally got what I wanted. However, I honestly didn't ask for all that much... I've always been tough to buy for because I have rather simple tastes. When I look at the gifts that people shower on their kids nowadays, I can't help but think about what a monumentally spoiled and materialistic society that will be leading our future. Good for the economy, but at what cost?
7. Bad advertising: It's everywhere. I work in the industry and sometimes I just hang my head in shame about the poor marketing that is done out there. Just imagine how much better this world would be if commercials/ads where entertaining AND effective at driving sales. There's got to be a way.
8. Wars: Well, I guess I can't have everything. But I can always hope!