Author Archives: John

cash makegoods – new pain of giving back

In the heavily discounted world of powersports print advertising make goods for shortfalls are still the norm, but it’s somewhat of a surprise that over in the grown up playground of broadcast that NBC is opting for a cash back plan to the tune of $10-mil over ratings shortfalls.

According to Ad Age, NBC took in $6-billion in 2006, so what’s relevant isn’t the amount of the settlement but why. In this case, make-goods were delayed anticipating a big ratings hit that never occured, and the bigger implications for a move from program ratings to an actual ads viewed basis for compensation.

We mention this because of the predicament facing traditional print publications in an era of declining readership and advertiser defections. Audited circulation notwithstanding, knowing how, where and when to invest in print is becoming more and more difficult for the small industry model that’s the backbone of the aftermarket powersports market.

pri at 20 — what a show

Performance Racing Industries 20th annual show went off last week under Chamber of Commerce skies and filled to capacity with show goers — 45,000 as a matter of fact. This event is all about speed — no pump up the volume here unless you’re talking about nitro.

This is a seriously well done show that moved to Orlando a few years ago to take advantage of the million square feet of exhibition space. We’ll upload a full report soon, but in the meantime consider what it looks like when you start with go karts at one end, drag boats, pulling tractors and LeMans rides in between, and finish with a Benz powered Freightliner pickup on the other.

before long it’s a trend

Advanstar’s announcement this week that they’re shutting down publication of their stand alone American Big Twin comes on the heels of the cancellation of the still-born Big Twin West counter to Easyriders V-Twin Expo.

What began as a quarterly in ’92, then bi-monthly, then monthly before folding into a regularly featured subsection of Dealernews ends life as an ambitious tabloid that entered a crowded field amidst lots of fanfare and minimum market support.

New plan is to produce a bi-monthly dedicated section. The marketing guy in me says, at some point events become trends. And this event’s time has come and gone.

ok, i guess advertising does work

Proctor and Gamble (P&G) is the world’s largest advertiser, and according to Ad Age’s Global Marketing Report earned that title by spending $1-million an hour making sure we knew who to turn to for teeth that sparkle and outdoors fresh laundry. To the tune of around $8.5 billion in ’06, nearly twice that of closest competitor Unilever. And that’s a lot of toothpaste and detergent.

The short take is that P&G wrote the book on knowing the product, knowing the market and supporting the message to reach the desired result.

ape + drums = cool

Like gorillas? We do. Phil Collins? Uh, depends. Drums? Way. Chocolate? Dumb question. Then hurry on over to Glass and a Half by Cadbury and ch ch check it out. This is what marketeers mean when they throw the viral adjective around. Don’t get it? You’re trying to hard. Stick around after the show to see what the larger point of the exercise is.

Check back later to get linked to the latest in French cartoon stripper porn that uses pole dancing flamingos to sell the hell out of chock full o’ vitamins fruit juicy delicious Orangina brand beverages.

voodoo brands – oooo, they’re really scary

Sharp-eyed readers will recall that earlier this year reference was made to the recently resurrected Orville Redenbacher’s starring role in a new popn’ corn campaign that’s been referred to as “Deadenbacher”. Ouch!

In what I call nostalgia gone nuts, Schlitz is back, and guess what? This time around it’s positioned as a “premium” lager, which for someone with a memory of the original (me) ranks it right up there with Busch Lite and Old Milwaukee.

In 1976, the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company was 2nd in the country, but shortly thereafter cost cutting led to skunky beer and the century-plus brewery bowed out to the flickering image of their final way less than effective tv campaign, quickly dubbed “Drink Schlitz Or I’ll Kill You” by ad industry types. Stroh’s acquired the brand and it’s now back in bottles, running in Florida and Minnesota test markets.

blackwell tackles dealers, vendors

LeMans Corp. Sales VP Greg Blackwell offers fresh insight on the dealer-internet situation in the Aug/Sept 2007 issue of Dealer World. In a candid, should-read interview he also touches on marketing, or lack of same, by the aftermarket segment in building brand and creating consumer demand.

“I think a lot of vendors have forgotten how to build demand for their product,” says the Parts Unlimited/Drag Specialties sales overseer.

He makes the points that to retail successfully dealers have to stock product in depth and offer it in a knowledgeable and exciting way, and that product demand and interest is created by the manufacturer, not the distributor. Along the way he also dispells the nagging doubts of some springing from the recent slowdown in two-wheeled sales.

online view vs. page view

The trade news is full of it. The “it” being the continuing defection of marketeers from print to digital. For instance?

According to Advertising Age, last week’s Association of National Advertisers meetup had as one highlight – or lowlight, depending – ConocoPhillips’ brand manager complaining about the lack of solutions for advertisers need to reach their market.

Formerly with LA’s Dailey & Associates (who also handle media for Honda) the company brought their account in-house in 2005. Since then they’ve gone from spending about $20 million in measured media to $18.7 million in 2006 to $3.6 million for the first half of this year. Looks like a trend.

But they’re not happy with a continuing lack of awareness by their market. And they don’t have a solution, either, other than to call out agencies in general for not solving their, and others, problem with communications.

All of which indicates a time that’s either quickly approaching or already on us requiring open minds and clever thinking when it comes to message creation and dissemination. Please stay tuned.

and then the snow began falling…

The 33rd Annual Cycle World Trek’s history, and this one topped the ’04 Slushy Finale by a ton. Details to come, but if you ever think you’ve done a cold ride, unless it was below freezing at 7,000 feet in the middle of a full-on blizzard, you haven’t.

Complete posting to follow.

back from the brink

Once again Coke’s stymied its detractors by clawing its way to the top of the best brand recognition mountaintop. Perceived by the market as the top cola beverage in a crowded field, Coke’s bragging rights are secured for the time being with edgy ads, pervasive online presence, and new product rollouts – we’ll see on the Zero thing – that keep the competition off balance.

We thought they’d made another classic blunder when they pulled back from the bears. Guess again.

How’s your brand doing these days? Recognized? Recognized in a lineup of three? First to come to mind when someone mentions your channel or category? Brand development, building and maintaining is an ongoing part of any marketing plan that considers success inevitable. Learn from the best…it’s the real thing.