Hasta La Creative!

The newest “Priceless” ad shows a young father and his son doing what young father’s and sons do: spending quality time together. It begins with the boy filling up a water glass for his father (no bottled water here) and walks through how the boy helps his father become a better man by showing him how to save the environment by purchasing low-wattage light bulbs and choosing paper over plastic at the grocery store.

Honestly, I have always enjoyed the ads, (and the parodies) feeling that the campaign was well thought-out and made an impact. Until now.

This is a picture of my actual credit card letter that came in the mail prior to President Obama’s “reform” of the industry.

But it doesn’t matter anyway…the whole reform is a scam:

So notwithstanding today’s Obama ballyhoo, companies can and will continue to charge basic rates up to 30 %. Congress could have regulated interest rates limiting them to a few points above prime. But Obama and the Democrats (and, of course, the Republicans almost all of who take contributions from credit card companies) hypocritically caved in.

Raising Your Family With Good Moral Values: Priceless. For Everything Else, There’s Visa/Master Card.

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you, so leave a comment or follow the links: linkedin.com or twitter.com.

One month ago, I posted a column regarding Microsoft finally taking a crack at Apple (after two years) in the “I’m a PC, I’m a Mac” war waging on TV. I did take some comments from Apple users regarding how “stupid” PC users were, which is to be expected. I suppose it either shows fierce brand loyalty, or that Apple owners need to take some time off.

The agencies for which I have worked used both…a testament to the strengths of each platform. I do applaud Apple for putting the smackdown on Microsoft regarding customer service. If you’ve ever had the misfortune of trying to get anything out of Microsoft that is not available on their web site, good friggin’ luck. There are a billion steps to go through, and no easy way to do it. In fact, even if you do get through, the answer is usually not the one that fixes the problem. Such is the empire of Darth Gates.

Microsoft didn’t make much of an effort to fight against Apple’s Get a Mac campaign when it launched 2006. Finally in 2008, Microsoft announced a $300 million ad campaign to fire back. The company’s first few bullets shot at Apple appeared ineffective, beginning with some quirky commercials starring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates, followed by a friendly campaign called “I’m a PC.” Microsoft’s latest Laptop Hunter commercials are the fiercest yet, delivering sarcastic lines such as “I guess I’m not cool enough to be a Mac user” that appear to be echoing in the chambers of consumers’ brains.

Wired reports that Microsoft’s “Laptop Hunters” spots are, indeed, hurting Apple.

Based on the chart for A18-34, Apple clearly dominated the race until late March when Microsoft started trending up. However, this information needs to be taken with a grain of salt as it merely shows the “Value” perception of PC’s being higher. Apple still leads on quality and reputation. Microsoft also overtook Apple in “Satisfaction” and “Willingness to Recommend.” Other than that, the needle did not significantly change. Yet, it’s still a bruised Apple.

The best thing to come out of this “war” is that it clearly illustrates that advertising does, indeed, change perception. (Whew!)

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Account Coordinator. His passion is writing. If you would like to get in touch with Jeff, please leave a reply or follow the links: www.linkedin.com or www.twitter.com.

First, Current TV put it’s RFP out to everyone on Twitter. Now, CareerBuilder (CB), a company with no less than five Super Bowl ad appearances, has dumped its agency and gone “public.”

Wieden-Kennedy, CB’s most recent agency, did not lose the account to another agency, but to the general public. CB is asking for the creative 25-second spots via a promotional drive that will be on their website. The winning spot will air in the upcoming Super Bowl (February of 2010).

“For a brand like CareerBuilder, which is about helping people get to their next great position, this made sense for us, and with the situation [the country is] in economically,” says Richard Castellini, the company’s chief marketing officer.

CareerBuilder, like any company that chargers employers to advertise job postings, has lost money during the tough economic climate, reporting a 27% revenue loss during Q1 2009. By removing their agency, CB will save about 20% in annual marketing costs.

However, the gambit comes with risks. Although Frito Lay’s recent Super Bowl spot contest was won by two brothers over several highly creative shops, one spot certainly does not an advertising strategy make. In the short-term, though, CareerBuilder is most likely looking for a few good advertisers…

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you: linkedin.com or twitter.com.

Craigslist is dropping the “erotic services” portion of it’s site due to pressure from impending lawsuits and a murder linked to the site.

Unfortunately, the fix is nothing more than lip service. The category will simply be renamed and Craigslist will charge an additional fee for its use. Additionally, Craigslist employees will monitor posts before they appear online, something for which Craigslist has been criticized since adult advertising on the site started. Police in numerous states have used Craigslist as a tool to set up prostitution ”stings” and the fact that sex is available on Craigslist is well-known. Is Craigslist worried?

Probably not. According to Craigslist attorney, Eric Brandfonbrener, appearing in federal court for a hearing on [an Illinois] lawsuit, told U.S. District Judge John Grady that the site would change to satisfy the lawsuit:

“My expectation is that it will be moot,” Brandfonbrener told the judge. [Illinois] attorney Daniel Gallagher said he remained skeptical. “They’ve made promises to attorneys general in the past,” Gallagher said, noting that
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal had brokered an agreement with the site in November to crack down on prostitution ads after being contacted about several complaints about photographs depicting nudity. “I’m not going to take their word for it, we want to see action.”

The best thing to come out of this is that if you are searching for sex, AshleyMadison.com is now available! Ashley Madison is an adult service that encourages adults to have affairs, and their tagline says it all: Life is Short. Have an Affair.™ Unlike Craigslist, however, Ashley Madison guarantees that if you are not knocking boots, or at least hooking up by your 90-day anniversary, they’ll refund you $249.00 (the cost to join?). In April, Ashley Madison began advertising in Chicago, and although many US stations have refused to air their ads, some Chicago stations are running the spots. Ashley Madison’s newest innovation is that members can Have An Affair Anywhere, a mobile phone service that allows members to hook up while traveling.

But, a Guarantee! And to think of all money I wasted on drinks…

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you: linkedin.com/in/jefflouis or twitter.com/jlo0312.

In the United States, there are currently over 44 million people with no health insurance. HealthJustice is introducing five TV spots featuring B.J. Hunicutt (Mike Farrell) of the hit televisions series M*A*S*H. Mr. Farrell has graduated from TV doctor to author and activist. HealthJustice produced a series of five ads with B.J. speaking to doctors and nurses about “Single Payer” health care.

What is Single Payer Health Care?

Single-payer healthcare is the payment of doctors, hospitals and other healthcare providers from a single fund and is one of the systems used to provide Universal Healthcare. A bill has been introduced to Congress, H.R. 676, that outlines the “health care for all” strategy.

The Campaign

There will be five ads in rotation coordinated with a nationwide calling, emailing and faxing campaign to Congress and the White House. As of Friday, May 8th, over 25 thousand faxes, 2000 voicemails/phone messages and numerous emails had been sent to Congress and the White House, all requesting single payer health care.

The campaigns and the TV ads are funded entirely with donations to HealthJustice, typically less than $100 each. Seed money came from Physicians for a National Health Program and from the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care. 

Who Pays?

In short, we do. Although there are no specifics, the bill does cover where funding would originate:

The bill is hitting at an opportune time as more and more Americans find themselves without jobs and health care. For more information, or to get involved, visit www.1payer.net.

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you: linkedin.com/in/jefflouis or twitter.com/jlo0312..

Craigslist may face criminal action in South Carolina unless the online classifieds service stops running ads the state says promote prostitution and pornography, the state attorney general’s office said Thursday.

Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster probably never guessed that his name would be involved with murder, a sociopath, and angry Americans. After all, he simply ran a classified ad website…what kind of trouble could he get into?

Well, he may spend time in the big house if he is not careful…although it is highly doubtful. However, he has taken his share of legal and  public flogging, so much so that he has responded via the Craigslist blog: 

“When critics rush to tar craigslist as especially dangerous, it’s important to put things in perspective,” he writes. “Craigslist users have posted more than 1.15 billion classified ads to date, easily 1000x the combined total ever posted to the print publications involved in all of these ‘print ad murders.’”

In its “terms of use” section, Craigslist says it is not responsible for ads on its sites. Which is basically the same as the disclaimer that smoking can kill you on the outside of the cigarette box.

Sex on Craigslist is not hard to locate: Just go to the “personals” and look for the link that says “misc. romance and casual encounters.” Now it is true that Craigslist is not the first public “portal” that has been used for people trying to hook up for sexual activity…MySpace, Chat Rooms, AOL…they have all been exploited for sexual purposes. With any service that is used to put two people together that have never met, there is a good chance that the person you meet may not be the person that was portrayed. It’s one of the pitfalls of personal “online” branding: we have the ability to be who we want to be.  

Mr. Buckmaster does have a valid point in that predators have found prey via other methods, and not just Craigslist. However, when newspapers used to run classified advertising, there were no pictures of naked women, no promises of sexual gratification-and if there were, they were veiled as something else entirely.

It’s really nobody’s fault anymore. Craigslist is just another company that is not responsible for the indirect damage they’ve enabled. The CEOs of banks, automakers, mortgage lenders…it’s not their fault, either. Let the public beware! After all, they were just trying to make a little money. So some people died. Other’s lost their life savings. It’s not our fault.

However, as the world becomes interconnected, some sort of responsibility must be taken by those that provide the means. We assume that others are as ethical (for better or worse) as we are, and it is not too much to ask for a little corporate responsibilty, as well. If someone was hurt on your property although being warned prior to the fact that danger existed, there would still be culpability inolved for having something of danger exposed to the public.  

It’s not that I think Craigslist is guilty; rather, I feel that they should take some of the responsibility. Yet, the fact that Craigslist has entirely blamed everyone but themselves, and has even researched other murders that have happened via classified ads seems a bit caustic and a little too casual. Luckily, the killer was caught quickly…maybe at the beginning of a serial killing spree. What would Craigslist have done if there were ten murders?  
 

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you: linkedin.com/in/jefflouis or twitter.com/jlo0312.

Best Week Ever

Late last week, Chrysler filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and Omnicom’s BBDO Detroit was listed as the second-highest unsecured creditor, with some $58+ million in outstanding invoices. Most of the dollars are believed to be for spot TV buys placed when Chrysler opted to dump it’s national advertising to save money. The Chapter 11 filing gives the carmaker time to restructure under government protection from creditors. So, while Chrysler does NOT have to pay their creditors at the moment, they will still receive cash infusions from Uncle Sam. Now that is what I call the American Dream!
Like a spoiled child whose parents are too weak to say the word, “NO,” Chrysler now finds that they are in great shape: safe from creditors and still receiving their billion dollar allowance. Chrysler, of course, is not celebrating…or are they? The automobile company may not be dancing, but they are acting as if they’ve got America by the short hairs. Sadly, with backing from Obama, they do. Thus it’s no surprise that Chrysler is launching a national, prime-time TV, newspaper, and digital campaign set to hit the public on May 11th, 2009. The tagline for the campaign is, “We’re building a new car company. Come see what we’re building for you.” This move back to the national advertising arena must mean Chrysler does not need to worry about reducing expenses anymore. Whew!

What Do You Mean You Want The Money?

Well, no, that’s not the truth. The real story is that Chrysler does not intend to repay dollars borrowed from private interests prior 
to government intervention. The private “investors” are unlikely sources; the University of Kentucky, Kraft Foods’ retirement fund, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, pension funds, and teachers’ credit unions. The Obama administration is not going to let that happen, and has even berated the companies that were willing to bet on a loser (Chrysler) as “a small group of speculators” who “endanger Chrysler’s future by refusing to sacrifice like everyone else.” This, despite fact that the terms of the agreement state that lenders would be repaid first should bankruptcy became a reality.

The Final Straw

In a last “screw” you from the government and Chrysler, it is now being reported that taxpayers will never see a single dollar of the billions lent to Chrysler. From Monday’s bankruptcy hearings:

“They’re offering financing with a low likelihood of being repaid,” said Robert Manzo, an executive director for Capstone Advisory Group LLC, according to the Associated Press. As part of its Chapter 11 reorganization, Manzo wrote Chrysler expects the U.S. Treasury to forgive a $4 billion bridge loan the automaker received during the Bush administration, a $300 million fee on that loan, and the $3.2 billion in financing the Obama administration approved last week to help the company stay afloat while it is in bankruptcy.

CNN did confirm that the Obama Whitehouse stated that it did not expect Chrysler to repay the money. It’s interesting, but Bernie Madhoff went to prison for less than this.

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you: linkedin.com/in/jefflouis or twitter.com/jlo0312..Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you: linkedin.com/in/jefflouis or twitter.com/jlo0312.

I have a love/hate relationship with the aggregators that provide the news feeds to my lap top. I’ve been using two…one that is on my desk top that is on pretty much all the time. It works well, but some of the sites that I want feeds from don’t load correctly. So, I also have my feeds set up on iGoogle, and Google Reader. Actually, looking at it new light, it’s not the aggregators; it’s the state of the advertising industry that has my panties bunched up in a wad. Just to give you an idea of what we, as an industry face, I went back in time and pulled some of the juicier headlines from the last couple months:

TV Revs to Decline 21% in Two Years

Media Industry Job Cuts Soar 57%

The number of job cuts in corporate America between January and April was up 9 percent from the same time period last year. In the media industry, job cuts are up 57 percent over last year, according to a survey from consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Although analyst’s state that it’s not time to panic, what is it time for? Tea & Crumpets? (These statistics are from 5/2/2008)

Media Jobs Disappearing

The job market for U.S. media employment has dropped to it’s lowest point in 15 years. Much of this has to do with the dying throes of newspaper industry, as well as the automotive and housing industry “set-backs”, which were not what would be commonly known as beneficial. However, one bright spot is that the market consultant profession gained the bulk of new jobs last year, according to AdAge. Media positions are low compared to levels in 2000. It’s estimated that newspapers, nationwide, have cut 25% (1 of 4) positions since 1990, when newspapers made up half of the media jobs available in the U.S.

Analysts Expect More Major Media Company Cuts to Come

The U.S. Labor Department reported that some 530,000 jobs were lost in November of 2008 which, at the time, brought the unemployment rate to 6.7%. The media industry did it’s best ensuring the numbers were high, as Viacom and NBC combined to chop 1400 postions.

Viacom and NBC both cut jobs last week. Viacom dumped 850 workers, while NBC cut jobs at its NBC News and broadcast ops in an ongoing effort to hack a total of 500 jobs. And those cuts are just the tip of the iceberg, says Barclays Capital analyst Anthony DiClemente (via Mediaweek). “Further work-force reduction announcements should be expected from the other large-cap media companies,” he says.

WPP to Trim Thousands, Ogilvy Already Feeling the Knife

WPP announced that they would be cutting around 7,000 jobs worldwide. The media giant employs approximately 100,000 people. The U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain were cited by the company as markets under pressure, writes Reuters. The cuts have already begun. Adweek reports that WPP’s Ogilvy Group reduced 10% of its staff today. The cuts affected Ogilvy & Mather, OgilvyOne, Ogilvy Interactive and OgilvyAction. 

Omnicom Group is bracing for cut-backs, estimating that 3,500 of its 70,000 workers will get tossed.

Conclusions

The competition is fierce, to say the least. Right now, even receiving a phone interview is a victory. There is a lot of demand, and zero supply. The bright light at the end of the tunnel is that advertising and media professionals tend to be extremely flexible, strategically creative, and work well under pressure–all huge assets. Think progressively, and be bold; after all, what is the worst that could happen?

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you: linkedin.com/in/jefflouis or twitter.com/jlo0312

This is an excerpt of an early 2009 interview with a McDonald’s Coffee-Banger Street Lieutentant who asked to be kept off the record. I asked him what he would do with $100 Million…

“A hundred million? We’d use it to knock Starbucks the *&^% out! Yeah! We’re tired of that punk chain hanging around. Don’t they know who we are? We are Mac-Don-Olds! MacD. Or Big Mac, to our friends. And that Starbucks been runnin things for too long. I thougAwright man, so here’s the story. Starbucks been cornerin the coffee business for a while now, you know? And for us, that was too long. They lost their focus. Got sloppy. Opened too many stores. Charged too much. People got tired of goin there, ya know? So, other shops started hanging out on their turf, right? Dunkin’ Donuts. 7-11. Caribou. They all make a pretty mean brew. And, you know what? A dude don’t have to wait in line for no 20 minutes at those other places, or use fancy terms that don’t make no sense! A grande means small! What? All them other places produce quality product…and it’s all about gettin’ caffeine into the blood, right? Mmm. I can feel it now.ht we had ‘em a couple months back, but they hung on like a booger. But we got the credibility, ya know?

We were just watchin, you know, playin’ it safe for a while, but then we got tired of those little coffee-bangers running around…this is our turf. They was ruining da whole coffee business! We are Mac-Don-Olds. King of all these streets! Why not let the real King take over? We brought in all the heads, the bosses, and met out at Hamburger U. It was decided to sock it to ‘em! Free Coffee Mondays. Everywhere. Give it away, earn their trust, then sell it, sell it, sell it! All the way to the bank.

(KFC tried to do it with chicken… Chicken? Who wants to walk around with a chicken breast in their hand!? Man, give ‘em a Coke! But not a hunk of chicken!)

Anyway, Starbucks started runnin’ around, not sure which way they was goin’…sending out crazy messages that they weren’t “special,”  just a regular cup of Joe. What regular coffee costs $4? Well, they cut their own brand apart, right out from underneath their own-selves. Punks! But, they still here. So, now we gonna finish it, And, after we’re done with Starbucks, we goin’ after that creepy-King-looking %*&!)$&@#+)$ that plays with sponges…”

And there you have it…McDonalds once again to make the streets a virtual coffee war zone. AdAge printed a story this morning, speaking with Neil Golden:

“I assure you that we’re going to be surrounding the consumer with very relevant messaging,” said Neil Golden, chief marketing officer, McDonald’s USA. He said the initial ads “will pulse on and off very strongly through the summer, with sustained weight well into 2010.” 

The fast-food chain won’t state how much they’re going to spend overall, but the goal is to add $100 billion to the bottom line in 2009. With McDonalds on the prowl again, the other competitors are circling the wagons for the upcoming battle.

Starbucks, after directionless floundering a month ago, finally responded by running full-page newspaper ads designed to tell their story and to warn consumers not to “trade down.” This marks the first branding campaign of any weight in years, and comes six months after  Wieden & Kennedy quit the account, citing that Starbucks did not seem receptive to driving the brand forward.

One  has to wonder at the recent choices made by Starbucks, and their new agency, BBDO. They’ve closed 600 stores, cut  1000 jobs, and sent out conflicting messages that stated “we are like everyone else” but “we are still the premium  choice.” To top it off, they choose newspaper, a medium that is failing in its own right, to deliver their messaging?

 Time will tell if Starbucks is able to survive in the long-term, but one thing is certain: McDonalds is coming. Again.

 Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is  writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from  you: linkedin.com/in/jefflouis or twitter.com/jlo0312.

Introduction

Is it good business practice to reduce or eliminate marketing expenditures during a recession? The logical answer would be “yes,” as the revenue stream reduces to a trickle. History, however, has shown this practice to be counterproductive, even detrimental, to long-term success. Weathering the storm is certainly a priority, but the objective is to get back to port safely after the storm abates. History, with nothing but facts on her side, has never been proven incorrect. One thing is certain: Making decisions based upon awareness is good practice; basing them on fear is not.

A Tale Of Two Cereals

In the early twenties, both Kellogg and Post Cereals were not sure that they would overcome cream of wheat or oatmeal to the popular breakfast foods of the day: a hearty cooked breakfast, cream of wheat, or oatmeal. The two companies fought one another for market share dominance until the depression hit.

Each company took a different path. One braced for the economic storm, cutting marketing budgets, reining in expenses, and laying off workers. The other stepped into the storm, doubled advertising expenditures, aggressively took advantage of radio advertising, and focused all their strength behind a single product. By the early 1930s, the economy had fallen to it’s lowest point, yet one company showed a 30% rise in profits. Which cereal company came out ahead?

The answer: Kellogg Cereal, with their top-selling product, Rice Krispies. A bold decision made during crisis defined Kellogg Cereal’s future, and they’ve maintained industry dominance for the past seventy-five years.

But That’s Just One Case Study…

Okay, so that’s a single success story. A fluke. An anomaly. Fortunately, there are numerous examples: In February 1930, four months after the historic market crash, Henry Luce launched an expensive, “irreverent, and vibrantly-colored arsenal of human interest stories.” At $1.00 per copy, it was more than many could afford, and it kicked off with 30,000 subscribers. Seven years later, Fortune’s circulation was at a half million, and the company was in the black. Kraft Foods is another example. Kraft realized that consumers were downtrodden and needed something to help them through the depression, not to mention that Kraft’s mayonnaise sales were plummeting. So, Kraft decided to launch a new product called Miracle Whip (a dressing/mayonnaise) at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933. “A sandwich just isn’t a sandwich with out the TANGY ZIP of Miracle Whip,” was the tagline for the new product, and six months after launch, Miracle Whip was outselling every single brand of dressing and mayonnaise available.

It’s Innovation, Stupid!

Innovation is the key. Kellogg Cereal focused on one product and doubled their marketing expenditures. Fortune filled a niche that was missing from The Wall Street Journal. Kraft introduced a new product. Other examples: Revlon,a start-up cosmetic company, introduced a classy polish for fingernails. Within years, they were the most well-known cosmetic company in the world. Two brothers began a company that marketed the first car radio successfully, and began a company later named Motorola. In England, a man came up with books that were affordable for the masses by making them entirely out of paper (no hardcovers). The man became the founder of became Penguin books, and “paperbacks” sold exclusively through Woolworths. Texas Instruments, Hewlett-Packard, basketball, The Pittsburgh Steelers, Allstate Insurance: all rooted in the depression. Studies completed during recessionary periods show that this was not a fluke; the same results are seen for companies that innovate and stay on course through the tough times: they emerge stronger and more profitable than those that remained static.

In a study of 600 business-to-business companies, McGraw-Hill Research found that businesses that maintained or increased their advertising expenditures during the 1981-1982 recession, averaged higher sales growth during the recession and in the three years following. By 1985, sales of aggressive recession advertisers (those that either maintained or increased spending) had risen 256% over those that cut-back on advertising. (Innovating Through Recession)

A few years ago, a small book came out; “Whatever You Think, Think The Opposite,” written by a former Saatchi and Saatchi Creative Director named Paul Arden. The book is a guide that points out that one of the most dangerous practices in life is playing it safe.

The first page is emblazoned with this quote: “It’s the wrong way to think, but the right way to win.”  That leaves two paths from which to choose: the safe, well-traveled path, or the road less taken. The latter may be treacherous, but it will certainly be more fun: afterall, how often does a company get a chance to reinvent themselves?

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you: linkedin.com/in/jefflouis or twitter.com/jlo0312.