Author Archives: John

interactive wow factor squared

We claim to dabble in webology, but sites like uber designer Marc Ecko’s fresh new interactive wonderment compels us to kneel down and kiss the hem of URL guru WDDG’s robe. Those cats are sooo good.

WDDG. Stands for World Domination Design Group. If you’re gonna’ talk the talk, you’d better be able to serve up some nifty code. And Bob’s your uncle, their product absolutely screams Master of the Universe.

As digital technology and technique really begin to merge we see the outlines of a new communications paradigm. If the early days of the web were about reproducing print pages onscreen and adding a few frills, design firms like WDDG are clearly the mapmakers as to how corporate communications will be projected in the future.

Indeed, Ecko’s retail sites are an education in extending brand management while maintaining individuality.

The raw ingredients – visual art, sound and copy – don’t change. But how they relate, and how they’re presented, are the keys to effectiveness. Contextual experience, anyone?

the weird art of not so subliminality

Notwithstanding the excellence of the Shark helmet itself, corporate marketing to North America follows a different metric than that followed by Coke. Or Yugo, for that matter.

We’re not going to beat the French up for this particular instance of bizarre imagery, not when that country is head and shoulders above us in using perkily great topless billboards to sell what you got.

But whoever’s behind this latest in a series of just plain goofy juxtapositions needs a hard shove out the door. (When they added a Canadian distributor a few years back, the event was accompanied by umbrella booth girls clad in, wedding dresses, followed by print ads as something slightly less sophisticated than The Club for cars.)

Now it seems as though “Protect Your Crotch!” is all that’s missing from the wordless lips of Mr. Crash Test Dummy and his androgenous package sidekick. The cruel irony here is that suddenly the universal refrain uttered by women everywhere – that all men think with their appendage – may, in fact, be the real inspiration behind this messy message.

creative insight – how’d they do that?

Steve Bauer takes readers behind the scenes for an in-depth look at how Polaris’ Victory division served up the revolutionary Vision in the August 11 issue of PowerSports Business.

The article features interviews with lead designers Greg Brew and Michael Song as Bauer breaks down the importance design and focus feedback played in creating Victory’s bold stroke in the touring market segment.

Obviously Polaris had the resources to mount the effort, but the takeaway here is why they’ve succeeded in launching a truly breakthrough product that goes far beyond slapping new graphics on familiar styling and calling the result fresh.

Recommended reading for a variety of reasons – team goals, administrative encouragement, marketing insight, breakthrough styling and creative freedom.

guerilla marketing olympic event

guerilla olympic marketing effort wins gold

GM’s Chevy division’s Olympic ad blitz, smart and contemporary, is attracting the buzz. And at $750,000 every prime time 30-seconds, that’s good, especially if you’re curious about the Volt.

But out back of the swim cube, BMW cooked up a tasty little guerilla marketing campaign of their own. That’s a whacked in half MINI Cooper trundling around town behind the front end of what used to be a pedicab.

Which proves – again – the worth of creativity in the right situation. No word, though, on how the a/c’s holding up.

brand id required

PR Week reports on what’s surely the tip of the iceburg – the hijacking registration of a major corporate brand by an imposter “employee”.

Twitter, the social flavor of the week site that’s attracted a huge following and is now closely followed by corporate America – just ask Comcast – began issuing tweets from ExxonMobil, registered on their site by someone called Janet.

Imagine the surprise when the corporate cats at the real ExxonMobil found out after the brandjacking was first reported in the Houston Chronicle a few weeks ago. A quick petition to Twitter and control of the account name reverted to the real owner, no damage done for now. But it doesn’t take a genius to figure out how bad the mischief could have been.

The lesson’s probably this: if you’ve got a brand worth protecting, it’s your responsibility to perform the due diligence required for policing the internet and making sure everything said in your name is, in fact, something you meant to say.

harley charts new, uh, territory

Curious about the new ’09 Nightster I instinctively Googled “Brazilian waxing” and wasn’t disappointed for my effort when this smart little banner popped up.

This is the kind of synergy that can only happen when you combine a healthy interest in stylized female hygiene and Sportsters. Thanks to the web, TMC can parse their market finer than frog hair. Or similar.

Was this serendipity or a carefully laid Google adsense trap? Either way, we’ll keep searching. The truth is out there.

marketing dilemma: ink or web or…

While no one’s writing obits for the most popular titles in automotive print, it’s difficult to fathom how the most popular form of information delivery for the past half-century’s going to fare in the very immediate future.

Folio yesterday put up a jaw-dropping stat (left) on the 07-08 half-year change in circulation among automotive and tech titles. Not good, definitely not good.

We’re not bright enough to know why, or what to do next. We suspect a combination of more and more info posted to the web, mostly free and increasingly sophisticated, combined with a shrinking newstand market. Albertson’s Supermarket, for instance, is closing down most of their remaining stores over the next few weeks.

In the end the answer may be nothing more complicated than a finite resource – time – and a nearly infinite information source – internet – on a collision course that’s competing with print’s limited page count and production cycle.

Are those, like us, who continue rooting for print’s survival hopeless romantics? Or is there a solution, a hybrid, that can blend the best of both in a fresh and utilitarian way? The answer can’t be far off, that much we know.

planes, trains and – planes and trains

“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” Even HST couldn’t have seen this quiniela coming down the toll road of what the hell else can go wrong.

We won’t dwell on the details. If you somehow missed the Bus Ride From Hell, you can get up to speed here.

And no joke, when it comes to GPS and navigation sometimes you really do have to Just Say No.

What do these two tales of the psychotic kind have to do with each other? They’re pr nightmares with no good ending except for the competition, should they choose to play the hand.

The GPS manufacturer with the slightly faulty POI will no doubt be revealed soon, as in just as soon as the competition gets to the survivors with a fistful of cash and an exclusivity agreement for what surely is the ultimate comparison ad.

And Greyhound? It’s a safe bet Jack Nicholson’s not in their plans as a corporate spokesman. So the next time some insurance type brings up road rage in response to your screaming at the idiot who cut you off on the way to the airport, wave this story in their face as to the real consequences of getting on someone’s bad side during a road trip. At least in Canada.

does F-R-E-E advertising work?

You’ve seen the ads, maybe TiVo’d one or two. “Now my legs’re stickin’ to the vinyl and my posse’s getting laughed at,” all because of Bad Credit. F-R-E-E does spell free, except it’s credit reporting monster Experian trolling for consumers to take the bait and sign up for monthly hits for something that’s – well – free here, just not there.

Online sign-ups are up 20%, a pretty remarkable stat for the likeable ads from Martin Agency as part of a $70M campaign (up 200 percent since 2002) to drive new biz. Viral? Ya’ think? This thing’s crawling all over YouTube, which we think is a little weird considering the core message. Read more details about the campaign and why it’s taking flak here on the New York Times site.

can you spell y – m – c – a?

Blame it on Florida’s exquisite bureaucracy, of course, and the fashionistas lurking in the Department of Transportation. Who knew they could be so stylish and yet so clueless? I’m all for improving the visibility of bikers, but at the same time reserve the right to maintain a little dignity.

Midnight Cowboy’s the only thing that comes to mind when I saw the state’s latest genius approach to reducing bike fatalities. Somewhere in Tallahassee, there’s a career desk jockey who’s life’s work is to make day-glo chaps a requirement for a two-wheeled endorsement. Ride safe, little Hulksters.