Volkswagen Sweden’s gotten plenty of attention for their DDB created spot featuring a Stockholm subway, an escalator, and a giganourmous set of stairway piano keys ready to be trod upon.
This is just plain good stuff, showing – again – how much a role creativity plays in shaping and directing behavior. If you haven’t seen it yet, go ahead. Smile at your inner self. And thanks again to advertising for contributing to the best that’s in us.
In today’s digital world there’s more time spent on measuring than creating. The word used is metrics, and it refers to how the bean counters parse a grasshopper’s head hair into a thousand different points of occasionally interesting reference.
Here’s one metric that doesn’t require an introducton or a powerpoint full of pie charts. I call it “fatness”.
The 2010 Motorcycle Product News Buyer’s Guide arrived in today’s mail – and it didn’t take Spidey Sense to figure out PDQ that the gas tank’s nearly empty.
My “fatness” index clearly proves that MPN’s Buyer’s Guide lost 3/16″ over the past 12 months, going from a still respectable 1/2″ in December, 2008, to an anemic 5/16″ in December, 2009. At one time this annual issue required a small burro to transport.
It’s no secret that A) advertisers are fleeing print and that B) powersports is leaking market like the Titanic took on ice water. This isn’t about any particular brand or channel. It’s just an honest take on a distressing trend that shows no signs of improvement.
As someone comfortable in either print or web I see a massive error in judgement in the stampeded abandonment of print advertising for the evolving medium of the internet. For a great take on how monster good advertising does work, and more importantly about how the entire retail conversation is interrelated, check the blog entry by Social Media guru Chris Brogan on his prediction about the future of retail.
Adweek’s post on The Motor Company’s latest hail Mary makes me seriously wonder if Anyone’s Got A Clue Up On Juneau Ave. This is a brand in total freefall.
According to the release, H-D “…hopes to ride onto screens large and small in coming months. The motorcycle brand announced last week that it is has teamed up with entertainment consulting agency Davie Brown Entertainment for a major product placement push in film, TV, music and video games.” Folks, hope is not a strategy.
Corporate ad director Dino Bernacchi explained that, “We want to use it to socialize Harley-Davidson motorcycling . . . Entertainment can sensationalize the excitement and thrill of riding to the point of moving people to check it out.” Did you get that? Socialize Harley-Davidson motorcycling? Sensationalize the excitement? I’m not even going to ask what that bafflement of babble-speak gibberish is supposed to mean, because I really don’t want to know. But if Grand Theft Auto’s the model for consideration, it’s worse than it looks.
Listen to Sr. V-P for Davie Brown Entertainment Rob Souriall make the case: “They (Harley-Davidson) do a great job (ummm, not so much) of speaking to the core male 35-plus, but we want to open up the sport of motorcycling riding to the younger guys, women, African Americans, Hispanics…really broaden the demo.” Pure genius. Wait for it. Meanwhile he’s drawing a paycheck.
Lets rewind. After all-too-recent placement laughingstocks like Wild Hogs and the Viva Viagra over-the-hill ads, it’s difficult to recall what it really took to connect testosterone to Harleys in a different time and space: the movie genre typified by Hells Angels On Wheels. The small screen quickly caught up in prime time with Then Came Bronson, allowing Michael Parks to catapult James Dean derivative mumbling into an art form. Like twin sons of different mothers, sorta’.
But seriously, how do you “…really broaden the demo,” without denying the modern era heritage once and for all? Sons of Anarchy notwithstanding.
One of the great benefits of membership in a professional organization is the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of the unsung meeting committees’ hard work. Over the past four weeks I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to attend four functions by four different groups in two states, with three more events to participate in through the rest of November.
My business delivers public relations and advertising, nearly all of it conducted digitally and absolutely all of it in a state of flux. For instance, much of the buzz these days revolves around social media – what it is and how it works. Some experts are, some wish they were, but it’s all part of learning what works and what doesn’t and local events are a big part of keeping up to date in a social context.
Five weeks ago the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) Tampa hosted a roundtable on social media trends. The following week I was in Baton Rouge for a Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) chapter meet-up. Next, back home, where the Florida Public Relations Association (FPRA) hosted a fascinating look at the metrics used to measure social media’s ROI by industry expert Josh Hallet. And last week PRSA Tampa Bay held their semi-annual Professional Development Day, featuring speakers from Disney PR and Media Relations, nationally syndicated columnist Chris Elliott and a state and local editorial and media relations panel discussing best practices for targeting niche markets.
Rounding out this fall’s mini-seminars next week are (so far) an Adobe User Group font management workshop, a PRSA Independent Practitioner’s meeting and an Ad Fed Tampa Bay luncheon featuring Nike’s digital agency R/GA’s creative director Jim Hord.
By taking advantage of the often thankless task born by the commmittee members who not only come up with themes but tirelessly pursue speakers, venues, sponsors and not least of all caterers who can work a budget without having the room turn ugly on them, I get the benefit of strategic thinking offered by peer vetted pros from a variety of disciplines.
Bowing to requests to identify the Worst Powersports Ad Ever, I went to the archives for proof that things can always spontaneously combust when marketing concept, content, and construction are left to the client.
Then family-run, now investor owned distributor Mid USA ran this hot mess back in 2002. Cape Fear it’s not; by comparison, Carvel Ice Cream’s Cookie Puss easily qualifies as brilliant.
It’s said that DIY doesn’t equal ROI. The latest proof is the current advertorial on behalf of National Powersports Auctions, one of several wholesale clearinghouses enjoying salad days in the wake of a motorcycle and scooter market awash in surplus inventory.
The questionable ad in question leaves us scratching our head as to point, audience, call to action or theme. Other than the passe NPA trademark black background color field, the main element is a loosely categorized political cartoon that pokes a sketchy satirical finger in the eye of the Bush-Obama economic recovery strategy. We guess. Headline? None. Humor? No comedians here. Message? Uh…
We say that NPA claiming credit for sector growth in this unprecedented market situation is not unlike the undertaker touting genius when the Black Plague delivered a bonanza. Assuming that’s the point, of course. But why cull this example from a herd that’s mostly unremarkable in the best of times? Because this ham-handed advocacy approach doesn’t just reflect poorly on the advertiser; it damages the entire sector. Continue reading
In somewhat of a shocker, Scorpion Sports, Inc. prez Rick Miller did an about face arachnid takedown of Scorpion founder and former marketing vp Eric Anderson. In a tersely worded release dated September 1, 2009, Miller says that, “…the basic business paradigm has shifted,” leading to “the decision to terminate Anderson.”
Scorpion charged into the lid and rag trade just five years ago, led by Anderson’s vision and quickly making a mark in a very competitive field with popular dealer direct pricing and a tech-heavy approach to helmet design. Since then they’ve branched out to include an apparel line under the somewhat quirky exo brand, a reference to the venomous insect’s external armored skeleton.
This summer they announced their products would also be available through distributors in a controversial departure from their former policy of dealer only protected sales.
Anderson, formerly with Intersport Fashions West, is one of the original pioneering apparel marketeers in the powersports channel, and is also a familiar columnist writing on a variety of topics aimed at improving dealer selling practices.
Seeing the anti-campaign for Buell’s late Blast continuing to pop up has me wondering what the fuss is all about. The latest in snicker snicker tsk tsk from CP+B sure doesn’t break any new ground. From my perspective the best that can be said is that it’s – I suppose – a sort of reverse psychology swipe at pumping sales of two cylinders because the one cylinder was so not about performance. Well hooda hey, color me caught totally off guard.
More interesting is that the spunky little bike that looked like it could have shown up on the front door step from Sharper Image – when Sharper Image had an image – was getting traction as a chop-bob base for kits and remans here and abroad.
It was never going to be a big seller, but by the same token, why devote so much ink and effort to a discontinued line? It’s not like it was a disaster, as in Edsel. At the very least, however many Blasts Buell actually crushed would have made a great contribution to some worthy bike cause.
But more and more, CP+B’s focus is on, for lack of a better phrase, smart-ass promotion at the expense of digging deeper for the hard to get ore. And Buell’s not setting sales records as is.
Startup electric motorcycle manufacturer Brammo’s hit a bit of a rough patch as they roll out their instore marketing effort. The Ashland, OR bike builder set out to travel the road less traveled, yet the uproar over the latest wrinkle from the South Florida ad shop charged with making their market is not what’s needed in a struggling channel.
Background: Swoopy machine with state-of-the-art content; aluminum frame, lithium ion fuel, quirky – quirky? – naming strategy. Nicely interactive work-in-progress web site. Looks like a well constructed, well thought out machine that, if not ready for the masses, is certainly intriguing, albeit pricey, for some of us who already ride. So far, so good. Continue reading
File under things I thought I’d never see happen: several Goodwill stores have cleaned up their act to attract a more affluent demo. It’s true. According to DDI (Display and Design Ideas) magazine, the poster child for thrift store retail has decided the time is right to recalibrate and relaunch in an attempt to draw a coveted upscale shopper.
The first do-over, in Chelsea, NY, has already reported a noticeable increase in foot traffic and that can only be good for the brand, regardless. Other stores around the country are also ditching their bargain basement roots as they aggresively target a more affluent customer.
Marketing includes local t.v., direct mail and print, online ads, social media and events.