As I have been recuperating from some surgery, I have inevitably seen
more TV commercials than ever before in my life. I wish I could laud
the state of the art in these days where technology enables creativity
to run wilder than ever. Unfortunately, I found a disappointing lot.
In working across a variety of industries on both market research and
marketing strategy projects over the last few years, we have seen a
growing focus on the customer experience, and specifically how employees
play an instrumental role in delivering that experience. In fact, our
interactions with brands have become such an integral part of our daily
lives, it is not hard to find examples in our own experiences.
The other day my two-year-old son became very excited about a greeting card I had just opened. “We have that movie!” he exclaimed. Puzzled, I turned the card over to find the logo for American Greetings, which I soon recalled owns the intellectual property rights to a cartoon video my children have watched a dozen or so times. He can’t read and he’s easily distracted, but somehow in the handful of times he saw that little red rose at the end of a video, the image was burned into his memory. THAT is the power of logos!
Is it better to be fast or slow? “FASTER!” you say automatically,
perhaps in the voice of a noisy child, thanks to the creative, popular
ad campaign by AT&T.
Continuing on what I see as misguided marketing moves, I submit the
merged American Airlines and US Airways. Poor marketing from this
combination should come as no surprise
Imagine the best management magazine decided to focus an issue on advertising. What would that be like?
Earlier this year, Chevy announced a change in their tag line from “Chevy Runs Deep” to “Find New Roads.”
Every bad acquisition has its own story. And, of course, there are almost no good acquisition stories (except for those who cashed out).
While the Awards do command a premium for ads since it is a widely-seen program which is mostly viewed live, the ads do not get close to the traction of the Super Bowl(s). In one sense, this is strange, since the program is known (to me at least) for having long spaces of tedium in which one could talk about the ads. It is also strange because the audience each year is one of the largest for women, often second to only the Super Bowl.
In a time where loyalty rewards programs are more table stakes than
innovation, how can marketers create programs that continue to excite
and engage?