Does advertising work? We learn from the current AdAge CMO Strategy column that
…the September, 2007 issue of Vogue weighs over 4 and a half pounds and 87-percent of that heft is advertising. Advertising! So the answer to whether or not consumers will pay to look at ads is – yes. Your specific ad, who knows. But a doorstop sized collection of coated paper pages titled Vogue, then yes.
Clients often ask how they can protect their hard work from being stolen by imitators. Most think a patent is like Kevlar when it comes to fending off ripoff artists. They’re an important part of protecting your (manufactured) work, but we think an equally important level of security is afforded by trademarking a unique identifier for your product.
All you have to do is Google “Chinese copyright” to get a sense of the problem. The full magnitude of violations is huge; right now, the biggest stick in reining in the IP thieves are the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympics and the embarassing fallout the Chinese government hopes to avoid by launching an internal crackdown on the wholesale stealing of protected Western ideas.
While copyright is usually the second process that comes to mind in any discussion concerning intellectual property, that category was primarily designed to benefit fine art creators – publishers, writers, photographers, now web creators – and which extends to the marketing and advertising community.
Between the primal scream “Leave Britney Alone!” and the primal duh! “Don’t Tase Me, Bro!” it’s clear the water’s a lot murkier when it comes to intellectual content these days. The screaming momos starring in both these YouTube hits are obviously twin sons of different mothers.
My alma mater is the University of Florida, so it’s understandable I’m a little miffed at seeing a journalism student – senior no less! – get the lead role in what looks more and more like a setup with the sole purpose of recasting Whitey as Rodney courtesy of the campus cops. During my stay in Gainesville, they were favorably compared to the Keystone Kops, for reasons obvious and otherwise.
As a communicator, it’s troubling when so much bandwidth is consumed eyeballing these whacked out vid bits – extreme street racing, anyone? – at a time when the majority of the population readily admits to virtually ignoring newspapers and of treating reading in general as something last practiced during Victorian times.
So what’s this doing on a powersports site? If we agree there are only so many moments during the waking hours for information to be consumed and interpreted, then it follows that with content like this on the buffet it’s less likely your message gets heard. Or viewed, as the case may be.
Right now there’s increasing concern over the rise in motorcycle fatalities, and a fair amount of disagreement as to cause. Industry leaders are pretty well informed on the subject though views vary. But we’re left wondering if the actual at large biking audience has any inkling there’s a serious discussion going on. Web forums notwithstanding, the issues that intersect our lives need to be communicated in a fair, accurate and efficient manner by those involved, for those involved. If not, it’ll be the realtor turned legislator who happens to hate bikes that’ll do it for us.
With the mixed bag of marketing news currently rolling in – TMC to cut shipments, overall growth down in most markets – the swath KTM’s cutting in the media and the showroom is nothing short of astounding.
For a brand that’s seen its share of rudderless drifting, what’s happening now is something the Big 3 US automakers wished they could channel. Editorially, KTM’s all up in everybody’s face these days. And these days it’s orange and black. No, not over there. Over here. Lets take a look at this bad boy badge.