Now that the dust has settled from a mediocre game with very mediocre advertising, and we’ve been inundated with analysis of both, maybe we can see things for what they are.
Simply put: the Go Daddy spot and the analysis that followed, given by ‘advertising and marketing experts,’ together highlight the absurdity of advertising and agencies. Advertising is meant to be part art and part science... isn’t that what we tell ourselves and our clients? These past few days we’ve seen the man behind the curtain and he ain’t pretty or smart.
A few very clear observations we all should have made:
1. The Go Daddy kissing spot was weak by any measure: not very creative, not well done, average at best. Here’s one way you know this -- all the hype the agency put out about the ad prior to the game tells you that they knew it was ho-hum. They built up the ‘45 minutes of kissing’ with a supermodel in hopes of getting the audience to ‘understand’ the coolness of the concept.
Even more telling, a spokesperson for Go Daddy reported the highest level of phone calls ever during the 24-hours after the ad ran. But s/he wouldn't release any numbers (telling those of us in the industry that this is a little white PR lie).
2. The audacity of some ‘experts’ to claim that, “since we’re still talking about the ad it was successful” is damn nonsense. This is the excuse that advertising losers use to keep their jobs and validate their salaries. If, as an industry, we can’t universally ‘condemn’ the ad for being boring, trite and unimaginative (or better yet, a waste of money) -- then we have no standards by which to judge our work. Rather, we are shysters hiding behind a concept of ‘creativity’ that’s as simplistic as saying, “anything that stands out is good.” If that’s the case, then any 10-year-old can be an ad executive or run an agency.
3. Look, it’s essential to stand out, but that alone is nothing more than being a carnival barker. And for any agency to claim success based on this lowest common denominator is ludicrous. You know, you can ‘stand out’ for being exceptionally stupid or exceptionally crass or exceptionally uninformed. In claiming the lowest ground you are as special as another well-endowed pole dancer in Las Vegas.
4. We either have standards or we’re hacks. Either Picasso is a great artist or his work is no better than any first grader. Either “The Sun Also Rises” is great literature or Barbara Cartland and Ernest Hemingway are just two more pulp fiction writers.
5. Anyone who plays devil’s advocate and claims that “the ad might not have been to your taste but it was successful because we’re still talking about it,” is a fool.
C’mon -- successful executives will tell you that in any meeting you should do something to make your presence known. You don’t want to be anonymous in a room. How, then, to accomplish this? Well, one way would be to prepare for the meeting and ask an intelligent question. Fine. You’ve been remembered. Or you could stand on the table and pull down your pants. That would be very unforgettable. And you’d be a Go Daddy advertising jackass or a partner in Deutsch New York. (The agency is still tap dancing about the ad... rule #1 of PR, never admit you might be wrong.)
NOTE: On one agency site (PPBH) I found this sentence about the Go Daddy ad: “This is the commercial that we all love to hate, but of course can’t help but talk about.” On another site, one ad executive asked if the ad was meant to be 'purposely bad,' and a paradigm of a new style of advertising with built in errors to engage the public.
Do you see what's wrong with agencies?
“Consumers want a new story... authenticity, not spin... participation, not propaganda.”
Pornographic Movies and Marketing Have the Same Problem… Too Many Layers, Not Enough Myth
What’s the flaw when it comes to pornographic movies? Layers.
You start with a man and a woman (usually), then things have to escalate. Two women and a man; two women, two men; three women, a young man, an old man and a dwarf. Every subsequent film has to go one better… another layer, ad infinitum.
American movies are the same, which is why they are declining in quality. Start with two murders, one affair and three car chases. Then it escalates: four car chases, two affairs and a dozen killed. Next? 3D slaughter.
Advertisements and marketing are the same: low price, then low, low price, then ridiculously low price, then crazy Eddie… prices so low we’re losing money (and he was, which is why he allegedly sold stolen goods).
I keep arguing that the nature of consumers has changed. Part of that is driven by ads and marketing that pile layer upon pornographic layer until consumers (B2C and B2B) just stop believing anything and everything… and the more you pile on layers of bull, the less they believe (which is one reason why ‘under-produced’ movies, ads and reality TV shows are somehow judged as more ‘honest’).
We pile on pornographic layers with absurd claims and use digital media to promote our work so our porno can be seen in every corner of the online world, whether consumers like it or not.
Pornography and movies have one advantage: they can be seen as fantasy; and as such the unbelievable layers are a bit more tolerated. James Bond can fend off five paid assassins with a duffle bag and we’re OK with that; some couples can keep up with dozens of partners, hour after hour and we’re still OK.
But… then some cosmetic promises instant wrinkle relief or a Dr. Scholls’ insert can help you ‘get your life back’ and we’re suddenly not OK (and advertising and marketing are further relegated to havens for shysters, liars and thieves).
What’s the solution? Marketing/advertising that’s less sophisticated with fewer layers, more depth, more primal themes, and more mythical (archetypical) appeals.
Less sophisticated doesn’t mean dumbed down. That would be like saying that Hemingway’s simple sentences were written for idiots.
And mythical doesn’t mean King Arthur (although it could).
I’m thinking of basic archetypical myths -- the reluctant warrior (Arjuna or Achilles), the long return home (Ulysses, The Prodigal Son, The Searchers, Star Wars), the journey to adulthood (The Graduate, Huckleberry Finn), The Damsel in Distress (look at Tarentino’s Django -- right up front one character tells you about the Siegfried myth of rescuing the woman), 40 days in the desert (Jesus), trial by fire (Job), finding our long, lost love, being perfect mothers and fathers, seeking forgiveness, rediscovering belief, growing old with grace, etc.
These primordial tales are not layered, they are single-mindedly simplistic: one inch wide and one million miles deep… they are poetic (“To be or not to be”), they transcend changing consumer natures and strike (again) at what’s hard-wired.
Marketing and advertising have lost this ‘simple’ depth, preferring to add layer upon layer of (fake) story, CGI, music, fantastic stunts, ridiculous claims and promises that a six-year-old can see through.
No… you’re not going to take this approach for toilet paper. But for anything NEW and GAME CHANGING, primal ideas are ideal.
-The Prodigal Son (or Daughter, these days) who finds his/her way home thanks to the newest smartphone or the next Facebook.
-The young entrepreneur who uses the latest software to start his or her own company that brings down the malevolent giant.
- A new biometric testing unit that allows people to take back control of their healthcare destiny from the medical bureaucracy.
-Look at the iPad ads showing their positive effects on children. What parent can resist that image of giving their offspring an advantage in this cold, cruel world?
-Last year’s Chrysler ad with Clint Eastwood in Detroit (David and Goliath, Rocky).
These single-layered, deeply emotional ads bring immediacy, authenticity, humanity… and the perfect combination of head and heart. They can lodge deep in the personal unconscious where symbols are being made; and the emotional connection with the product itself will be carried along.
This seems to me to be the new way to market and advertise and the only way to overcome consumer boredom, malaise and distrust.
Otherwise, we’re just cynical marketers whose true ancestors are the money changers in the Temple… creating our own marketing and metrics Tower of Babel… following the worst of direct response without style, humanity, emotion or creativity.
But marketers must deal with what’s real, so I’m always cognizant of the dollars.
Creative, mythic themes are a way to break through a crowded, me-too marketplace and align your product with our hard-wired nature so that consumers are happy to buy.
Talk about marketing that sticks, yet doesn’t seem cheap, intrusive or silly. All it takes is a lot of thought, some creativity and a great, honest product…. and, oh yes, dialing it down on the (Hemingway) bullshit meter.
Digital Catch-22 Has Stolen Marketing… Right from Under Our Noses
Let’s be honest -- marketing as most of us know it no longer exists.
There are several reasons for this and many of them lie at the feet of marketers themselves: poorly conceived campaigns, slow delivery of the creative, the attitude that we are ‘ar-teests,’ the derivative nature of most of our work these past two decades and agency billing procedures that are a micrometer short of highway robbery.
Marketers have been replaced by IT and software guys who have redefined our art/craft so that they can claim to be marketing experts. They define the job so they are the job. And that job is numbers, numbers, numbers.
Better still, here’s the new marketing task in a nutshell:
Trick consumers into seeing ads for products they don’t want and don’t believe in.
Sure, larger, more sophisticated companies still understand the need for marketing in the sense of defining a market, positioning a product and telling an emotional narrative that drives sales. Please look at the Samsung Galaxy III spot… the story it tells, the images it uses and how it’s positioned Samsung as superior to the iPhone. That’s marketing.
But most medium to smaller companies have been convinced by the plethora of Internet/SEO/automated sales people that they have no need for this type of marketing and storytelling. Instead they willingly spend on software and analytics and email lists and multiple landing pages. Numbers, numbers, metric, metrics.
Here’s the cool part: the metrics are meaningless. They were created by digital guys to match the capabilities of the software. It’s a shell game: we measure those measurements that we can measure. Catch-22 if there ever was one.
Do these metrics equate to sales or profits? Rarely, if ever. But by God they can show their clients digitally-generated numbers, so they must be true.
They toss a bone to ‘content,’ but don’t care, really. Had Google not mentioned that new algorithms would be driven by content, these Net people wouldn’t give marketing narratives the time of day.
You know that old line about ‘sell the sizzle not the steak’? These guys sell neither.
Again, they have one goal: To trick consumers into seeing ads for products that consumers don’t want and don’t believe in.
That’s Marketing 101 in 2013. Live with it.
Amazingly, these guys preach the need for a personalized message but then send unwanted and totally impersonal junk to any name they can get their hands on. Personalized? They can’t spell it.
Now here’s the real Catch-22. Because these automated mavens have the numbers and count the numbers, they never fail.(Remember what Stalin said about elections? He didn’t care who voted as long as he got to count the votes.) If a product doesn’t sell it’s because of a weak story -- fire the $20 an hour copywriter. But, if the product does sell, it’s all in the software and programming.
And gullible CEOs are lining up for the privilege.
Did I just read that 83% of company execs think that marketing has ZERO effect on sales and/or profits? Ask these same men and women about the value of automated, integrated, digital, analytic programs and they’ll virtually wet their pants with glee.
At a time when smart marketing is desperately needed, it’s been co-opted, vilified, scorned and ignored in favor of software, metrics and meaningless numbers.
There are several reasons for this and many of them lie at the feet of marketers themselves: poorly conceived campaigns, slow delivery of the creative, the attitude that we are ‘ar-teests,’ the derivative nature of most of our work these past two decades and agency billing procedures that are a micrometer short of highway robbery.
Marketers have been replaced by IT and software guys who have redefined our art/craft so that they can claim to be marketing experts. They define the job so they are the job. And that job is numbers, numbers, numbers.
Better still, here’s the new marketing task in a nutshell:
Trick consumers into seeing ads for products they don’t want and don’t believe in.
Sure, larger, more sophisticated companies still understand the need for marketing in the sense of defining a market, positioning a product and telling an emotional narrative that drives sales. Please look at the Samsung Galaxy III spot… the story it tells, the images it uses and how it’s positioned Samsung as superior to the iPhone. That’s marketing.
But most medium to smaller companies have been convinced by the plethora of Internet/SEO/automated sales people that they have no need for this type of marketing and storytelling. Instead they willingly spend on software and analytics and email lists and multiple landing pages. Numbers, numbers, metric, metrics.
Here’s the cool part: the metrics are meaningless. They were created by digital guys to match the capabilities of the software. It’s a shell game: we measure those measurements that we can measure. Catch-22 if there ever was one.
Do these metrics equate to sales or profits? Rarely, if ever. But by God they can show their clients digitally-generated numbers, so they must be true.
They toss a bone to ‘content,’ but don’t care, really. Had Google not mentioned that new algorithms would be driven by content, these Net people wouldn’t give marketing narratives the time of day.
You know that old line about ‘sell the sizzle not the steak’? These guys sell neither.
Again, they have one goal: To trick consumers into seeing ads for products that consumers don’t want and don’t believe in.
That’s Marketing 101 in 2013. Live with it.
Amazingly, these guys preach the need for a personalized message but then send unwanted and totally impersonal junk to any name they can get their hands on. Personalized? They can’t spell it.
Now here’s the real Catch-22. Because these automated mavens have the numbers and count the numbers, they never fail.(Remember what Stalin said about elections? He didn’t care who voted as long as he got to count the votes.) If a product doesn’t sell it’s because of a weak story -- fire the $20 an hour copywriter. But, if the product does sell, it’s all in the software and programming.
And gullible CEOs are lining up for the privilege.
Did I just read that 83% of company execs think that marketing has ZERO effect on sales and/or profits? Ask these same men and women about the value of automated, integrated, digital, analytic programs and they’ll virtually wet their pants with glee.
At a time when smart marketing is desperately needed, it’s been co-opted, vilified, scorned and ignored in favor of software, metrics and meaningless numbers.
Bad Direct Response Advertising Is Telling You the Truth... If You Listen
We’ve discussed this several times: how it’s best to show what you mean rather than come out and say it. Remember? “If I say I’m cool, I’m not cool; if others say I’m cool, then I am.”
Understanding this simple difference is essential to telling a good story or writing a good ad.
If we’ll listen closely to most DR ads (because most are poorly written these days), we can find out the REAL truth of a product… this idea is Human Nature 101… we intensify and over-compensate for what we fear.
Recall poor Richard Nixon. During the height of the Watergate scandal he went on TV and proclaimed, “I am not a crook!” Surveys showed that a large number of Americans thought he said, “I am a crook.” In fact, that’s what he REALLY said if you listen. His proclamation to the contrary reinforced the very idea he was trying to eliminate.
Here’s what I mean. Recently, I saw a new DR spot for yet another blond, perky, California trainer with a weight loss and exercise plan. Here are a few sentences from the spot.
“This is not like any other program on the market.” They just told you the truth: this IS like every other plan. They’re afraid you’ll see that, so they shout a disclaimer up-front to appear honest and proactive.
“Mary isn’t your average trainer, she’s Hollywood’s most sought after celebrity fitness expert.” The truth? She has no way to standout from the crowd… she knows it; you know it. Again, a bit of preemptive puffery by the writer is thought to be the solution.
“The music behind her program is a new combination of salsa and hip hop that gets you moving.” The truth? You couldn’t tell one of her exercise songs from any number of Zumba-like programs and she knows it.
You see, these DR spots are telling you the truth… just listen. Every time they claim they’re different (rather than showing the difference), you get the TRUTH that they’re very, very afraid of.
“New Wave DR is unlike any agency you’ve ever seen.”
“Our ads are unique and truly creative.”
“Our service is second to none.”
Blah, blah, blah. Read the above as, “average agency, a bit creative with reluctant customer service.”
Understanding this simple difference is essential to telling a good story or writing a good ad.
If we’ll listen closely to most DR ads (because most are poorly written these days), we can find out the REAL truth of a product… this idea is Human Nature 101… we intensify and over-compensate for what we fear.
Recall poor Richard Nixon. During the height of the Watergate scandal he went on TV and proclaimed, “I am not a crook!” Surveys showed that a large number of Americans thought he said, “I am a crook.” In fact, that’s what he REALLY said if you listen. His proclamation to the contrary reinforced the very idea he was trying to eliminate.
Here’s what I mean. Recently, I saw a new DR spot for yet another blond, perky, California trainer with a weight loss and exercise plan. Here are a few sentences from the spot.
“This is not like any other program on the market.” They just told you the truth: this IS like every other plan. They’re afraid you’ll see that, so they shout a disclaimer up-front to appear honest and proactive.
“Mary isn’t your average trainer, she’s Hollywood’s most sought after celebrity fitness expert.” The truth? She has no way to standout from the crowd… she knows it; you know it. Again, a bit of preemptive puffery by the writer is thought to be the solution.
“The music behind her program is a new combination of salsa and hip hop that gets you moving.” The truth? You couldn’t tell one of her exercise songs from any number of Zumba-like programs and she knows it.
You see, these DR spots are telling you the truth… just listen. Every time they claim they’re different (rather than showing the difference), you get the TRUTH that they’re very, very afraid of.
“New Wave DR is unlike any agency you’ve ever seen.”
“Our ads are unique and truly creative.”
“Our service is second to none.”
Blah, blah, blah. Read the above as, “average agency, a bit creative with reluctant customer service.”
The Big Lie: Software Is Eating Marketing
Software, testing and analytics cannot displace marketing... they are processes meant to enhance marketing, not direct it. Without the right message, product and positioning, analytics and measurements are useless.
Just like those of us who aren’t painters/artists will look at a painting by Braque (my favorite) or Picasso and say, “I can do that” or “that’s rubbish,” Web analytic and software guys are often clueless: they think they’re actually selling something... actually marketing when they're simply measuring parameters of their own making: clicks throughs, abandon rates, CPC and any number of spurious SEO calculations... all data that may or may not be relevant.
Recently, I had a 'guru' tell me that his company was developing "159 landing pages" for a client so his team could find the ideal message? I'd love to see that invoice!
That’s marketing, huh? Sure, like a stick figure is modern art.
Here’s a marketing message for you to populate throughout social channels: “I be a good marketer so send me sum money and I fix yer ad good.”
I don’t care if you fire up the latest software, lists, analytics, landing pages that are optimized with above the fold content, Adwords or affiliate programs… you have nothing.
CEOs with limited budgets are so happy to hear they can have impact through software and analytics alone that they eagerly buy a snake oil sales pitch. (To be fair, you can have impact with minimum budget if you direct GOOD ads and INFORMATIVE information to the right channels.That’s marketing 101.)
And let’s be honest: most 'executives' and Internet numbers guys really don’t like creatives: "You know, these people sit around all day in jeans, thinking… not getting anything done!”
In contrast: “The Internet guys are adding SEO words and creating back links and buying lists and fiddling with knobs, they’re really working. Here, look at this report!” (BTW, you just paid $1,000 for numbers that Google generated for FREE and $5 software added your logo to the top for 'personalization'.)
So these poor souls cut checks for $20,000 a month for social media and web analytics and 159 landing pages, but moan if they have to pay $2,000 for an ad that changes their company… like the Samsung Galaxy ad restructured the smartphone market in a heartbeat.
Again, let me use polysyllabic words for the net number gurus:
If you don’t have a good pro duct with a good stor y and good grap hics, YOU HAVE GOT NO THING! NO THING!
Run that through you’re analytics… and make sure your response is ‘above the fold’.
Just like those of us who aren’t painters/artists will look at a painting by Braque (my favorite) or Picasso and say, “I can do that” or “that’s rubbish,” Web analytic and software guys are often clueless: they think they’re actually selling something... actually marketing when they're simply measuring parameters of their own making: clicks throughs, abandon rates, CPC and any number of spurious SEO calculations... all data that may or may not be relevant.
Recently, I had a 'guru' tell me that his company was developing "159 landing pages" for a client so his team could find the ideal message? I'd love to see that invoice!
That’s marketing, huh? Sure, like a stick figure is modern art.
Here’s a marketing message for you to populate throughout social channels: “I be a good marketer so send me sum money and I fix yer ad good.”
I don’t care if you fire up the latest software, lists, analytics, landing pages that are optimized with above the fold content, Adwords or affiliate programs… you have nothing.
CEOs with limited budgets are so happy to hear they can have impact through software and analytics alone that they eagerly buy a snake oil sales pitch. (To be fair, you can have impact with minimum budget if you direct GOOD ads and INFORMATIVE information to the right channels.That’s marketing 101.)
And let’s be honest: most 'executives' and Internet numbers guys really don’t like creatives: "You know, these people sit around all day in jeans, thinking… not getting anything done!”
In contrast: “The Internet guys are adding SEO words and creating back links and buying lists and fiddling with knobs, they’re really working. Here, look at this report!” (BTW, you just paid $1,000 for numbers that Google generated for FREE and $5 software added your logo to the top for 'personalization'.)
So these poor souls cut checks for $20,000 a month for social media and web analytics and 159 landing pages, but moan if they have to pay $2,000 for an ad that changes their company… like the Samsung Galaxy ad restructured the smartphone market in a heartbeat.
Again, let me use polysyllabic words for the net number gurus:
If you don’t have a good pro duct with a good stor y and good grap hics, YOU HAVE GOT NO THING! NO THING!
Run that through you’re analytics… and make sure your response is ‘above the fold’.
What Do Republicans, Montezuma and Apple Have in Common?
You’re probably familiar with the apocryphal story about Montezuma II. The Aztec chief stood on a hill overlooking the Gulf of Mexico as a fleet of Spanish vessels approached. Yet, the wily Montezuma did not see them as they sailed into the harbor virtually right before his eyes. He couldn’t see them because he had no concept of such large ships. He didn’t see because he didn’t believe.
Advantage Cortez.
True or not, the story illustrates the falsehood of the old saw “I’ll believe when I see it.” In reality it’s quite the opposite: “I’ll see it when I believe it.”
Understand this and you’re on a new marketing plane. Add one more truism, ‘facts don’t build belief,’ and you’re moving to the top of the class… and beyond 75% of B2C marketers and 99% of B2B (the purveyors of facts, facts, facts and more facts).
Case in point: How difficult was it for republicans to see that Romney could not win?
C’mon, before the first vote was cast, Obama had in his pocket about half of the electoral votes he needed: New York, New Jersey, the entire northeast, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, California, Oregon, Washington.
Republicans didn’t believe their own polls, so they never saw the hard truth. When positive job numbers came ahead of the election, they refused to believe… said the numbers were just plain wrong... an Obama conspiracy.
When economic think tanks tallied up Romney’s economic plan and declared that it would add to the deficit, republicans screamed ‘liars’ and refused to believe. They saw the ‘facts’ and acted just like Montezuma.
Advantage democrats.
Marketing 101: Build consumers’ belief and you initiate sales. Share a vision rather than a fact, and the number of your followers will grow. Appeal to the heart rather than the head and you’re almost always on the right track, unless you’re selling commodities like Drano. Yes, ‘Drano clears clogged drains 5 times faster than the competition’ is a great fact-based ad that works in that arena. ‘The new Dell is 5 times faster than the MacBook Pro,’ is a stone cold loser.
And look how quickly an emotional ad can change the marketing landscape.
Case in point: the Samsung’s Galaxy III. One ad, the nerds standing in line for the latest iPhone, has shoved Apple from the top of the heap. That one little ad did what hasn’t been done in almost a decade.
Sure, there’s a few facts sprinkled in (larger screen size, tap to send files) but the real message is that the Galaxy is way cooler; and Samsung treats you like an adult and not a child standing in line to get the newest Beanie Baby at Toys R’ Us. Only a few diehard nerds and old people (mom and dad in the ad) think that standing in line for hours to get a smartphone is somehow cool or sensible.
Apple took its customers and their loyalty for granted… Apple execs didn’t understand the shift in consumer perspective because they didn’t believe they could ever be overtaken… just as republicans didn’t get the new demographics and Montezuma saw nothing but clear sailing.
‘I’ll see it when I believe it’… no truer marketing words have ever been spoken.
(PS: Allow me to gripe for a minute. Whomever created the Samsung ad should have been paid in stock options. How much is that ad worth? Hundreds of millions at a minimum. Yet, why do I think the agency charged $1 million or so and Samsung bean counters kicked up a fuss. If the ad’s creators were paid $50 million it wasn’t enough!)
Advantage Cortez.
True or not, the story illustrates the falsehood of the old saw “I’ll believe when I see it.” In reality it’s quite the opposite: “I’ll see it when I believe it.”
Understand this and you’re on a new marketing plane. Add one more truism, ‘facts don’t build belief,’ and you’re moving to the top of the class… and beyond 75% of B2C marketers and 99% of B2B (the purveyors of facts, facts, facts and more facts).
Case in point: How difficult was it for republicans to see that Romney could not win?
C’mon, before the first vote was cast, Obama had in his pocket about half of the electoral votes he needed: New York, New Jersey, the entire northeast, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, California, Oregon, Washington.
Republicans didn’t believe their own polls, so they never saw the hard truth. When positive job numbers came ahead of the election, they refused to believe… said the numbers were just plain wrong... an Obama conspiracy.
When economic think tanks tallied up Romney’s economic plan and declared that it would add to the deficit, republicans screamed ‘liars’ and refused to believe. They saw the ‘facts’ and acted just like Montezuma.
Advantage democrats.
Marketing 101: Build consumers’ belief and you initiate sales. Share a vision rather than a fact, and the number of your followers will grow. Appeal to the heart rather than the head and you’re almost always on the right track, unless you’re selling commodities like Drano. Yes, ‘Drano clears clogged drains 5 times faster than the competition’ is a great fact-based ad that works in that arena. ‘The new Dell is 5 times faster than the MacBook Pro,’ is a stone cold loser.
And look how quickly an emotional ad can change the marketing landscape.
Case in point: the Samsung’s Galaxy III. One ad, the nerds standing in line for the latest iPhone, has shoved Apple from the top of the heap. That one little ad did what hasn’t been done in almost a decade.
Sure, there’s a few facts sprinkled in (larger screen size, tap to send files) but the real message is that the Galaxy is way cooler; and Samsung treats you like an adult and not a child standing in line to get the newest Beanie Baby at Toys R’ Us. Only a few diehard nerds and old people (mom and dad in the ad) think that standing in line for hours to get a smartphone is somehow cool or sensible.
Apple took its customers and their loyalty for granted… Apple execs didn’t understand the shift in consumer perspective because they didn’t believe they could ever be overtaken… just as republicans didn’t get the new demographics and Montezuma saw nothing but clear sailing.
‘I’ll see it when I believe it’… no truer marketing words have ever been spoken.
(PS: Allow me to gripe for a minute. Whomever created the Samsung ad should have been paid in stock options. How much is that ad worth? Hundreds of millions at a minimum. Yet, why do I think the agency charged $1 million or so and Samsung bean counters kicked up a fuss. If the ad’s creators were paid $50 million it wasn’t enough!)
New Wave Marketing and Advertising 101: What Marketers Should Learn from the Last Election
(If you’re old enough to remember the Doors, you know that Morrison usually opened his concerts by shouting WAKE UP!
)
Here are a few takeaways for those souls interested in marketing and advertising and politics.
1. Attack ads work as does frequency (which is how Romney got so close)… but they have to be bolstered with some sort of positive vision. You can’t win/sell anything simply by defining what it’s not: ‘Vote Romney because you hate Obama’ is not enough.
The same for marketing. When it comes to attracting consumers, a product has to stand for something with a positive, inspiring long-term vision. Pepsi used to advertise that it’s not Coke. So what? Then they did taste tests… still, so what? Then they began their Pepsi generation theme and things took off.
2. It’s nauseating how pundits keep saying that republicans need to change their message. That is duplicitous at best and downright evil at the core. Change the philosophy and adapt your ideas to the 21st century, THEN change the message to match the new soul of the party.
Putting out a new message while your beliefs don’t change is the worst kind of cheap direct response. Change the product then change the message... not the other way around.
3. Let me repeat for the umpteenth time: after September, 2008 everything has changed: consumer expectations, middle class incomes, trust in banking, the role of government, belief in technology, levels of consumption, demographics and YES, THE AMERICAN NARRATIVE ITSELF.
4. You’ve heard all about the demographics, but let me add one more: each month, 50,000 Hispanics turn 18 and are eligible to vote. Do the math for 2016.
5. The American belief in self-reliance, perfectly defined by Emerson’s famous essay of the same name, has changed... only angry white guys have missed this watershed moment.
Want proof?
The republican mantra is built on individual hard work, an independent, entrepreneurial spirit and a refusal to take handouts from the government.
Think for a second: this philosophy is strongest in Asian and Hispanic communities. These folks work and work and work (more than most white communities), so they should be prime republicans, but they’re not.
Over 70% of Asians and Hispanics voted democratic.
Why?
Because the republican, classic American belief that small government is best for the individual is not shared by immigrants. Most don’t see government as the villain; rather, they see big, greedy business as the obstacle to their success, as it tilts the playing field against them, barely pays a living wage and sends jobs overseas.
Bottom line: marketing and politics are both about telling a story with vision, one that corresponds with consumer/electorate desires and is in step with their core beliefs. Anything else, and you’ll spend billions for frequency and market share and still lose to a smarter, more passionate, more in-tune competitor.
And... when you try to sell anything with a story that runs counter to the prevailing meta-narrative (core, unquestioned beliefs) you will fail, just as the republicans did… and you will continue to fail until you change more than your marketing message.
A new tag line won't do it... you have to change your heart.
Here are a few takeaways for those souls interested in marketing and advertising and politics.
1. Attack ads work as does frequency (which is how Romney got so close)… but they have to be bolstered with some sort of positive vision. You can’t win/sell anything simply by defining what it’s not: ‘Vote Romney because you hate Obama’ is not enough.
The same for marketing. When it comes to attracting consumers, a product has to stand for something with a positive, inspiring long-term vision. Pepsi used to advertise that it’s not Coke. So what? Then they did taste tests… still, so what? Then they began their Pepsi generation theme and things took off.
2. It’s nauseating how pundits keep saying that republicans need to change their message. That is duplicitous at best and downright evil at the core. Change the philosophy and adapt your ideas to the 21st century, THEN change the message to match the new soul of the party.
Putting out a new message while your beliefs don’t change is the worst kind of cheap direct response. Change the product then change the message... not the other way around.
3. Let me repeat for the umpteenth time: after September, 2008 everything has changed: consumer expectations, middle class incomes, trust in banking, the role of government, belief in technology, levels of consumption, demographics and YES, THE AMERICAN NARRATIVE ITSELF.
4. You’ve heard all about the demographics, but let me add one more: each month, 50,000 Hispanics turn 18 and are eligible to vote. Do the math for 2016.
5. The American belief in self-reliance, perfectly defined by Emerson’s famous essay of the same name, has changed... only angry white guys have missed this watershed moment.
Want proof?
The republican mantra is built on individual hard work, an independent, entrepreneurial spirit and a refusal to take handouts from the government.
Think for a second: this philosophy is strongest in Asian and Hispanic communities. These folks work and work and work (more than most white communities), so they should be prime republicans, but they’re not.
Over 70% of Asians and Hispanics voted democratic.
Why?
Because the republican, classic American belief that small government is best for the individual is not shared by immigrants. Most don’t see government as the villain; rather, they see big, greedy business as the obstacle to their success, as it tilts the playing field against them, barely pays a living wage and sends jobs overseas.
Bottom line: marketing and politics are both about telling a story with vision, one that corresponds with consumer/electorate desires and is in step with their core beliefs. Anything else, and you’ll spend billions for frequency and market share and still lose to a smarter, more passionate, more in-tune competitor.
And... when you try to sell anything with a story that runs counter to the prevailing meta-narrative (core, unquestioned beliefs) you will fail, just as the republicans did… and you will continue to fail until you change more than your marketing message.
A new tag line won't do it... you have to change your heart.
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