TV may no longer have seasons

It started with shows like Survivor, Big Brother and the Amazing Race. Not just the reality TV business, but the lines between the TV season and the land of re-runs are getting, well, a bit dirty.

But now the recently settled writer’s strike may help further blur the line. The NY Times is reporting that the giant ad agency holding companies are looking for a year-round television season. The rationale is that September is full of hyped shows that usually don’t make it to Christmas.

The other system that the agencies would like to change (and the networks almost certainly would not) is called the “upfront“– a May period in which the advertisers pre-sell their new shows. According to the article, the media buyers still want to buy ahead of time, but they don’t want to have to make all their bets during the same month.

A lot is changing in advertising and in television broadcasting. In an era when college football is now on virtually every night of the week, all those weeks when there is “nothing on” represent lost opportunities. You can safely bet that those opportunities won’t stay lost for long.

Having Fun with Your Brand

HEMA is, I'm told, a Dutch department store that opened in 1926 and has stores all over the Netherlands. They have a great web page up that is being pretty widely circulated on email.

Click this link, and then wait for the page to load. It should look like the picture below. Then wait 10 more seconds and enjoy...
This is a fun use of Flash, a great way to have fun with your brand and a great way to encourage people (like me) to tell people about your company just because you did something interesting.

As usual, the benefits accrue only to the people who do it first, so don't copy them. Find another way to take a small risk with your brand. It's good marketing.

Can't Fight Tivo? Use it...

Let's say that you're a local car dealer in Utah and you fear that everyone is using Tivo to skip over your TV ads. You can fight it, whine about, move your TV budget elsewhere, or get clever.

Tony Divino Toyota decided to place two 15-second "bookends", spots that run at the beginning and end of a commercial break. Check them out. (There are two sets below, each of which would ordinarily be split by other commercials. )





Pretty clever. Can't do it forever, but it will likely get good buzz for them for a couple of months.

"Creativity" in Ads May Be Linked to Media Buying

In an earlier post, I've talked about how important the media buyer is to the creative team. No matter how creative the ad, it does no good if it's in the wrong place. Now, new data from Tivo is providing further proof that the "right" ad in the "wrong" place is not worth much.

Would you believe that the top three least skipped ads among 20,000 Tivo families were for:

• Cort Furniture Rental
• Dominican Republic Tourism
• Hooters Restaurant

Not particularly "creative", not funny, not touching and not big budget, the Cort Furniture Rental spot shared these attributes with other winners. They tended to be straight forward and, most importantly, relevant to their viewers (that's where media buying savvy comes in).

A Bowflex commercial running during professional wrestling was one good example.

Watch for more segmentation to come, not just among stations, but WITHIN INDIVIDUAL SHOWS. Digital signals will allow one type of household to get one TV spot, while another type of household can get another TV spot, even during the exact same show, at the exact same moment.

Yeah, best be nice to your media buyers...

4 Fun Ads for a Friday

Sorry for the fewer postings recently, but I've been swamped the last couple weeks. I did want to do a quick post showing four fun print ads for you to enjoy on a Friday morning, to make up for the four horrible TV ads we looked at last week. Here goes:Full credit to Technospot, who collected all of these and 11 more. Check them out. Have a great Friday.

~Jim Tobin
Life Is Marketing

Revenge of the Media Buyers

In a lot of agencies, the creative team gets all the glory. They create the spots that make people cry, make them laugh, make them buy... They write the ads that win at Cannes, that win Addys, that win Tellys.

But often it's the media buyers who have the real power. If they buy the right shows, the right space, the right type of media, the great creative gets its chance to shine. But now the website Oddee shared these examples of ads where the media buying was probably not as careful as it could've been. And the creative message definitely changed as a result.










So remember, be nice to your media team... Or your creative might end up licking a garbage can... You can see more of these at Oddee.

~Jim Tobin
Life Is Marketing

Volkswagen's Latest Crossover is Bourne Spot

A "crossover" used to mean a cross between an SUV and a minivan, but the new VW spot for the Touareg 2 may redefine the word. 80% of the spot is a movie trailer for "The Bourne Ultimatum" featuring footage of Matt Damon running from crooked police in, of course, a Touareg. But then, there's a brilliant 2 second shot of another guy, looking at the car and uttering the "Holy..." This is, of course, the signature line of VW's powerful earlier Safety Happens campaign.



The ad, done by Crispin Porter out of Miami is part of a much larger $40 million deal between VW and NBC Universal. That's why you've seen VW's in movies from "You, Me and Dupree" to knocked up, but the team is doing more. VW has movies on their website showing how the stunts in the Bourne movie were done, and much more.

The ad is a great surprise with VW going from subtle product placement to movie star in a couple of seconds. This is a great example of outside-the-box cross promotion thinking, and it's getting some good attention in the blogosphere around the globe: Link 1, Link 2.

New Look at Old Friend in German Commercial

This is just a really fun spot. Watch it first, and then we'll chat.



There's so much to like about this spot.

• First of all, the long format (2 minutes) is brilliant. I'm assuming this ran on German TV, and I'm not at all familiar with their commercial breaks, but it seems clear that this was longer than normal. The payback includes, among other things, over 600,000 views on YouTube so far.
  
• Secondly, the documentary style. Classic.
• The scenes of him just messing with people. Of course, that's great.
• But most of all, how the agency took an assignment that could've led to the same ole same ole green power, save the world creative. And they twisted it, but not just for a gratuitous joke. The twisting amplified the message instead of taking it away, as it usually does in a beer commercial, for example.

Congrats to Epuron, who just won the coveted Golden Lion at Cannes for this ad. Great casting, too. The guy who plays the Wind is excellent. There is likely must celebrating at Nordpol+ Hamburg, the agency that created the ad. They deserve it. Brilliant.



Whether you're going online to read about Germany, get yourself some free online music, or you just want some advice on buying a new computer for the family, the Internet is full of useful knowledge that might help.

"Thank you, come again!" 7-Eleven and Simpsons are a great match

I'm amazed by 7-Eleven's recent moves to turn about a dozen of their stores into Kwik-E-Marts. They're going to even sell Simpson's related-products, like Krusty-Os, and Squishees and Buzz Cola. They've decorated the outsides of the stores to make them look just like Kwik-E-Marts as part of a promotion for the upcoming Simpsons Movie.The amazing part is not that someone thought of the tie-in. That's a no brainer in this case.

• What's amazing is that they're laughing at themselves.
• What's amazing is that they're willing to cover up their brand temporarily.
• What's amazing is the fact that Apu is a stereotype didn't stop them from doing it.

After decades of carefully packaging messages, the companies that are going to thrive in a Web 2.0 world are the ones that can be real. 7-Eleven is going to get a lot of benefit from this promotion. It's a great way to increase the value of the brand, don't you think?

Jim Tobin
Life is Marketing

Mini-Creative is Maxi-Idea

I can almost see the creative brief that was written for this one. "We want to demonstrate the fact that the Mini, despite it's small size, is actually rather roomy on the inside."

What I can't imagine is personally making the leap to come up with this rather brilliant creative from a subway stop in Zurich, Switzerland.There's a growing trend toward "invasive advertising." The thinking, I guess, is that agencies should spend more time finding ads that can't be Tivo'd. That leads to a lot of junk. But everyone once in a while, it leads to a lot of creativity, like this. Nicely done. Credit to Hemmy.net for the find.

Why Brand Loyalty is Vaporizing

One of the general rules of marketing is that the leading brand doesn't have to "enter the fray." Let the second and third tier brands fight it out. Let them make comparisons, because after all, they'll be comparing themselves to you.

But Advertising Age is reporting that huge companies (Apple, Subway, Pizza Hut and Diet Pepsi specifically) are now taking the gloves off and doing comparative advertising.

The reason: brand loyalty is down...

As much as it's my job to build brands, to support brands and to encourage brand loyalty, it is sort of a funny concept. Some act like brand loyalty should be a function of history and previous practice. Like you had a commitment ceremony with Coke because you bought it six times.

But brand loyalty is diminishing for a few reasons, among them:

• Brands are doing too many line extensions. What is Bayer, for example? Aspirin, of course. But as Ries and Ries point out, Bayer introduced their own brand of "non-aspirin pain reliever." How dumb was that? It's like holding a sign up on their flagship product saying, "We're really just a commodity, buy the store brand."
• Brands don't earn loyalty. You spend billions to get me to buy your product and 50 cents on the call center. And then you're surprised that I don't come back to buy?
• Product innovation and promise delivery generate brand loyalty. I got a Mac a year ago. My next computer will be a Mac. It costs 3 times what a comparable PC costs, and I'm sorta cheap. Don't care. The thing just works. It's simple to use. It's fast... That's brand loyalty building...

You can do comparative ads. Many may be better than some of the nonsense out there today in the big ad world... But look inward big brands... I bet your ad agencies will look smarter, and consumer loyalty will increase, when you start being loyal to your own brands first.

What do you think? How can brands build their loyalty?

Enjoy this *&#@!)% spot

I'm taking a break from the heavy discourse on how clients and agencies should work with one another because, well, I'm tired... And because a friend of mine sent me this spot and I thought it was funny.



For those of you who expect a marketing lesson with every post, go *&#@!)* yourself... Aw c'mon, I'm just kidding... It's a reference back to the spot... Don't get all mad like that! Come back here... There there...

But seriously, here's a quick fun fact. This spot comes from bud.tv, which is being widely panned in the blogosphere as a weak attempt at using social media. You need to log in to see the spots, provide personal info--even your drivers license number! Like YouTube doesn't have enough content like this for free? Heck, it HAS this spot... Why would I go give Bud my info... Funny spot. And a how to in what not to when you're trying to reach out...

~ Jim Tobin
http://www.lifeismarketing.com

8 Ways to Pick the Right Agency

In the last post, I outlined Ten Tips to Being a Good Client. Tip #1 was pick the right agency, which is important enough, and complex enough, to warrant its own discussion. So, here it is, 8 ways to figure out if you're picking the right agency. I've written this mostly toward picking an ad agency, but similar principles apply for picking a PR firm.

1. Pick by size. Often the size of your account may align with the size of the agency you end up with. Or you may prefer a "nimble boutique" or a "name brand shop." Bigger is NOT necessarily better. You want right for you. While the industry may have formal categories for these things, in my experience shops fall into these categories:
• 1-10 people: just starting or small.
• 11-40 people: over the start-up hump, some critical mass
• 41-75 people: crossing 40 seems to be a milestone that takes people to a different place
• 75-300 people: these are getting to be some serious shops, likely with a few national brand name type clients
• 300+ people: these are likely owned by one of about 3 giant holding companies that own everybody. If you don't know who they are, you can't afford them.
2. Pick by your budget. Most firms that have been around a while have minimum project or monthly fees. We won't take companies without a certain budget, not because we're mean or greedy, but because we're set up to help in a certain way. We can't provide that help in a meaningful way for $5,000. Are you likely to spend $25,000 in fees, or $250,000 in fees or $2.5m in fees? The answer to that question takes you to different types of firms.
3. Pick by your specific needs. Are you trying to get some collateral designed, or are you trying to run a small campaign, or are you trying to run a large campaign? If you need collateral, find a design shop. If you're investing hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars on an ad campaign, don't use a design shop. Find a strategic marketing partner. (Heck, call me... ;-)
4. Pick by experience. Find a firm that's done it before. Either in your category (i.e., retail, healthcare, b2b, etc.), or with a lot of creative experience in the media you want to use, or by skill set. It's amazing to me the number of clients who can't tell the difference between a PR firm, an advertising agency and a marcom firm. And every agency with more than 1 person claims to be "full service." Dig deeper.
5. Pick your team. If you've used steps 1-4 to narrow it down well, then a lot comes down to the skills of your team and the chemistry you have with them. Don't be wowed by the pitch team. Know your team. Talk to them. Do you trust them with your money and the growth of your business? This is a great filter after you've narrowed down the list.
6. Be reasonable during proposals. Remember that work starts when you start paying for it. If you've got a big budget, if you're the biggest juiciest account in the market, you can play puppetmaster and ask for spec creative, spec media plans, etc. Otherwise, remember that the work starts when you start paying for it. If you've got a small budget (like under a million for an ad campaign), judge creative skills based on track record. The spec creative isn't going to be right anyway, because the firms don't know you well enough yet. Don't waste your time and theirs.
7. Don't hide your budget. This is a classic one. People who won't say (or don't even know) their budget. And don't say "Tell me what it should be," because the answer is "More than you have..." You can always do more marketing and we'll think of stuff that you can do faster than you'll find money to pay for it. Some think if they share their budgets it will cost them more. Not true. It will tell bidders if they're in the right place, it will get you talent that might otherwise walk away figuring you have no money. There's a difference between agency fees/prices and budget, but hiding your budget doesn't help anyone. (Make 'em sign an NDA if you're worried about your competitors, or give a range.)
8. Be as specific as you can. During this two-way wooing stage, say what you know. Say what you don't yet know. If you don't really know how the campaign is going to shape up, don't ask "how much will you charge for this?" That's like asking how much a painter would charge to paint a house without telling him how big the house it. In my experience, price is usually not the biggest factor (if you've done some filtering up front), but you can ask for hourly rates of key positions if you want to compare.

Hopefully these tips get you closer to finding the right kind of agency for you. Because almost nobody is teaching marketing directors how to do these things... I remember being sort of clueless the first time my boss told me to find an agency... Maybe better selection processes would lead to longer relationships--and that benefits everyone.

~Jim Tobin
http://www.lifeismarketing.com