advergirl

What ad agencies can learn from parades

I’ve been clicking back to Adland’s peach-filled find (below) for weeks now. I think I find it so fascinating because its very creation seems so profoundly unlikely. It’s a crazy installation piece combined with the aesthetic of a holiday parade.

Which got me to thinking, what else could ad agencies learn from holiday parades…

• Anything CAN be created: What better callout to your favorite ‘it can’t be done’ naysayer than people create life-like house-sized butterflies out of little more than hundreds of thousands of roses and a glue stick, I think we can pull off a 6-color print.


• Standard materials need not apply: Astroturf, twinkly lights, torn up feather boas, spray paint and paper mache. You call it your attic, I say it’s a 500-square-foot celebration of the Chinese new year OR the boldest in-store Pressidents' Day weekend installation the Home Depot has ever seen.


• Don’t make people too comfortable: There is no better illustration of our willingness to suffer for what we love than the sidewalks lining the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. If your brand / event / story is compelling enough, people will invest themselves in the experience by huddling on cold sidewalks, staking out space, wiping drippy noses and lifting little ones onto view-blocking shoulder chairs.


• Nostalgia is fun: Not the Cracker Barrel are-they-racest-are-they-not(?) kind. The make it into our photo album kind. The it’s part of the holiday kind. The Marshall Fields windows, mall Santa Claus, ElfYourself kind.


• It takes more than one person to handle the big ass balloons: If it takes 10 perfectly-coordinated people to guide Snoopy through Manhattan, I think it’s fair to say that a little collaboration might be in order on the strategic rollout of your big client’s new widget.


• Interesting things do happen outside of prime time: Sometimes 6AM in the morning is the best time to get in queue to catch some flying tootsie rolls and gape at parade princesses. Oh, wait, Starbucks maybe already owns that time slot.


• Volunteers can create change: Don’t let the frustrated members of the Board of your favorite pro bono client get you down. Volunteers can produce unbelievable results. Say, getting 11 bands, 24 floats, 700 clowns, 11 giant balloons, and 1900 performers to walk 43 blocks together powered by little more than 400,000 cubic feet of helium.


• Trucks pull the most delightful things: Dear Detroit, how about the next Dodge Ram commercial shows off towing power by hauling a train of ALL the Parade of Roses floats. WITH fire engines on either end. Come on – that’s power.

From Adland:

 

Lipstick Jungle and Maybelline: When ad partnerships undermine editorial

This year’s choice for hot mid-season television formula is Sex in the City gets married and goes to the office. Combine several high-powered, hottie women execs with contentious, creative work environments and stressed out home lives and voila(!), advertisers line up like in the ultra-competitive days of the 1994 renaissance of sexy, smart doctor dramas. 

Tomorrow night will mark the third episode of one of the front runners of the mini powerful-woman genre: Lipstick Jungle.  And, at this point, I’m wondering if the ad partnership won’t be the downfall of the series.

I should preface with this: All television shows based on professions boldly simplify, cast unusually sexy characters (think of the “CSI”s with fully made up faces and low cut shirts scouring trash truck crime scenes or George Clooney still delightfully coiffed after a gory 48 shift) and are generally unrecognizable to people in the actual field.

BUT, still…

Lipstick Jungle’s marriage to Makeup Artist Chuck Hezekiah of Maybelline is a little reductive even for Prime Time. At each commercial break, he pops up with advice on how to get ‘the look’ of the exec featured in the last segment.

I’m not suggesting that the Ad Council should break in with a series on how to raise our young women, but,  when we take a relatively accepted convention (TV sexing up real-life humans) and make it driver of the story, well, it gets a little ugly. Afterall, they weren't exactly paying for ER with hair gel sponsors or CSI with tube top designers.

With such a prominent and potentially-controversial sponsorship, it will be interesting to see what part Maybelline plays in the success or failure of Lipstick Jungle.

Miller brand wins with 'second tier' media

After rejecting Miller Lite's Bud-mocking spots in 2005 over fear of offending the bigger beer sponsor, the Super Bowl ad sales division got smart and locked in exclusivity with the King. Now only Anheuser Busch can show its sweaty bottles during the game. But, that hasn't stopped Miller's pesky harassment of big brother's ponies and puppies on the big day.

This year, Miller showed its contrarian side - buying out all the non-Super Bowl inventory to catch viewers who might be channel surfing during cut #7659 to Payton Manning shaking his head at Eli. Then, layered it on the next day with full-page print ads in major newspapers offering to by Bud a beer for their Super Bowl commercial 'win' (a better beer that is) and with some great online snark, like this YouTube video featuring the Miller High LIfe delivery man commenting on the big game ads:

As Bud's product development, packaging design and advertising continue  up-market, appealing to a somewhat more discriminating drinker (uh, beer consumer), Miller Lite heads down-market toward the blue collar beer of choice. And, fiesty really fits for these second place suds. Up with the Miller.

easyTXTR.com: Converse in the streets

Remember last year's 'Share your Secret' promotion in Times Square? P&G's Deodorant PR mavens took to the sidewalks, encouraging passersby to share their secrets on the giant NASDAQ and Reuters billboards nearby. A few thousand brave souls told their previously-closely-guarded tales via text messages, kiosks and the ShareYourSecret.com Web site (now defunct). The secrets ranged from "I’m afraid he’s falling out of love with me” to “I ate the last pudding!”  and effectively opened the brand to consumers & created a solid bit of buzz.

Fast forward to last weekend.

easyTXTR brought the same level of pop-up interactivity to Columbus' Short North with a projected display that enabled gallery hoppers to tell all - or nothing at all - on a real time outdoor conversation wall. On its first unveil, ~800 people sent funny moments, sports updates, and even a proposal.

I see this technology as a great opportunity to create real dialog around a brand without the usual fears associated with a long-term conversation online - complete with righteous admin tool and devastating stomach ulcers. This pop up tech lives in a real community (there's much less anonymity than online) and is point-in-time specific (meaning less opportunity to plot against the tech).

I'm seeing this on malls the day after Thanksgiving, at Festivals (captured on cell phones), at grand openings, etc ... anywhere a conversation builds the community & customer experience.

Experience it virtually here.

See video, pics, etc. here.

Brawny Academy: Retro TV online

After much buzz about Lifetime’s Perfectmatch.com show last week, I thought we’d pretty well soiled our advertising selves in the retro world of brand-sponsored TV, but it looks like this is just the beginning of our return to a campy TV world where everything really can be made with Campbell’s Soup…

Next stop: Brawny Academy

Working with veteran reality show producers the Feists and Biscuit's Tim Godsall, Fallon is about to launch an 8-episode online TV serial called “Brawny Academy.” In the show, under-performing hubbies have been recruited for a retraining experience that looks like something between Survivor and the early seasons of The Real World.

The trailer includes some fun clips:

• Sloppy men living with actual pigs
• See-what-women-go-through races, forcing the men into high heels to push baby carriages, clean windows, etc.
• Attempts to school the eight in the “masculine” arts – like an ax tossing lesson where all miss the target
• And, genuinely horrible dancing

Overall, it appears to be a laugh or SCREAM proposition, heralding back to the original days of brand TV and wallowing in the social stigmas of the time. High heels and baby carriages? What a conceit. Try long hours and getting the pizza boxes out to the trash.

(Oh, but I'm not saying I won't watch it. TV I can watch at the office. Come on, you got me.)

Submitted by: Mr. Lance Dooley

Testing commercial EFFECTIVENESS

Interesting news from the Wall Street Journal - USA Network is working with Starcom on a five day test of substantially shorter commerical breaks - to see how people respond to a less cluttered advertising environment.

A typical commercial break is two to four minutes. (The chart above shows that for the average hour of programming, users see 15 minutes of commercials.)

One USA program will feature a commercial break that runs just one minute - AllState and Walgreen bought the two 30-second spots.

(In all this talk about the death of the 30-second spot, I haven't heard anyone talking about how a change in direction by the networks could results in a huge drop in supply, skyrocketing of costs, etc.)

The test is focused on how (lack of) clutter effects message recall. But, surely, there must also be some interest in interaction by DVR users. Is the one minute break not worth the aggravation of fast forwarding, only to go past the program start, rewinding, whoops - missed it again...

Found at: Brandflakes for Breakfast (the best named ad blog out there)

Average Internet viewing overtakes TV watching

Check out this article from the BBC -

UK media consumers are changing their diets:

Each year, they spend:

41 days online
          vs.
37 days watching TV

If anyone knows of a similar US-based study, I'd love to see it. For now, though, it looks like marketers should be worrying less about Tivo and worrying more about reaching consumers on their monitors.

Google Offline

Not exactly the latest news, but now that all the details seem final - here's the overview of the Publication Ads program from Google AdWords:

Essentially Google is taking the AdWords auction model offline. Advertisers search available print publication by target demographics, circulation details or keywords.

Advertisers choose the publication(s) they want to bid on, submit creative and their maximum price. If they win, they receive proof of publication and an invoice.

Print publications are likely looking forward to this offering getting out of current customer BETA and reaching a larger audience - anything to restock a flagging inventory of ads.

But, traditional media buyers, comfortable with long lead times and set budgets, may find themselves uncomfortable with this new "fly by the seat of our pants" auction model. As will frequent online advertisers who will be walking away from measurable ROI and conversion rates to try out a print model.

Circulars still relevant

As some retailers are moving to RSS and email newsletters to deliver weekly sales to customers, Vertis is drumming up research to prove the continuing value and viability of traditional newspaper inserts.

Advertising insert readership levels are consistently at 85% or above, and web-savvy consumers still rely on them, as 88% of Sunday newspaper readers surveyed via the web say they read the inserts, while 79% of those surveyed by telephone say they read them.

::Customer Focus 2006: Retail study from Vertis.

Vertis also highlighted the decision-making power of the circulars, noting that 52% of those surveyed by phone and 71% of those surveyed via the web said they use the inserts to decide where they buy groceries; 29% / 41% to decide where to shop for health and beauty care products; and 28%/39% for office supply decisions.

Other Key findings

• Since 1998, the percentage of women aged 18-34 reading grocery inserts has increased 14 percentage points
• These women tend to like discount stores, and have shown an interest in the grocery stores' ethnic and organic departments
• 40% of women aged 35-49 said advertising inserts influence their overall buying decisions, while television only influences 20%
• Women aged 18-34 are an important demographic for furniture retailers, as 33% of these women said they plan to purchase bedroom furniture, 26% plan to purchase bedding and 24% plan to purchase living room furniture. When these women were asked about their last furniture purchase, lowest price was the greatest consideration for 39% of them, increasing nine percentage points since 2002; meanwhile, highest quality dipped seven percentage points since 2002
• The percentage of women aged 18-34 turning to the internet first when ready to make a purchase has increased from 19% in 2004 to 27% in 2006
• The percentage of "do-it-yourselfers" has grown nine percentage points since 2004, as Americans are increasingly more willing to take on home improvement projects. Specifically, this group has grown most with women aged 35-49, growing 12% in two years
• 73% of women aged 35-49 who read ad inserts compare similar home improvement inserts before heading to the selected store

Release
Full report

But what if advertising doesn't die?

While many commentators are busily proclaiming the death of traditional advertising, a few Net-savvy types are figuring out how to bring the flexibility, trackability and speed of online formats into the real world.

Wired covers three approaching trends.

My favorite is custom-tailored commercials - a single metafile working with special routers that can deliver custom creative by neighborhood and even take commands from clients - allowing them to quickly swap offers and creative in real time to respond to market trends.

Read the article.
PDF

DVR views count toward ABC ad pricing

“[F]or the media agencies to come to the TV networks and tell us they want to give us zero credit for TV viewing via DVRs is not a tenable position. It is unreasonable, unfair and unjust. It is just not a responsible way to approach this issue.”

::ABC sales president Mike Shaw

Looks like December's Nielsen decision to issue three sets of TV ratings measurement is quickly translating into a dollar war.

The December change accounted for DVR behavior for the first time, measuring viewership by live, live plus same day and live plus 7 days. Although network execs have already held press conferences explaining the upside of recorded reviewing, media buyers understandably don't want to buy time blocks likely to die by the fast forward button. In fact, several media agencies, including Magna Global USA and Carat, have publicly taken the position that live ratings should be the basis for ad-pricing negotiations.

Interestingly, it may really be technology itself that's allowing this debate. Consumers (also known as people) have been recording and fast forwarding for years. DVR technology is just trackable whereas the old VHS was a invisible to the Nielsen.

Media Week article

College kids motivated by online ads

A 2006 Experience, Inc., study of 300 college students and recent grads found that 98% had purchased a product of service online.

Other key findings:

No Purchase Without Online Research First

• The majority of respondents spend 1-2 hours researching a product or service prior to making a purchase (53%)
• 27% spend less than 1 hour
• 20% spend 3 hours or more

Online Ads Have a Significant Influence on 18-34 Year Olds

• 52% of respondents said they have purchased a product or service based on an online advertisement
• 34% find online advertising the most influential means to get them to learn more about a product or service

Context is Key

• 41% of respondents said online advertisements will resonate if they are related to the content that they are reading
• 34% said a contest or promotion that presents them with some value will motivate them to act on the advertisement
• 17% responded that personalization is critical as they will respond to a banner ad that is based on their profile or online behavior

Experience