With all our advancements in technology, companies focusing on the bright and shiny objects and mantras that say, “Email is dead. Facebook > Company Websites,” marketers lack of smart, targeted advertising is upsetting.
While companies are in a Gold Rush state to innovate, we often forget the simple things. We forget the data that is right at our fingertips. We forget the 101′s of CRM.
I’ve gotten the same emails from several companies for months, but I’m finally annoyed enough to blog about it
I’m a big fan of Godiva chocolate. I’m an even bigger fan of their loyalty program. It provides real value – a free piece of chocolate every month! But, I’ve never been a fan of their advertising. To me, their “deals” aren’t deals. But, I digress. Back to their loyalty program. They have tons of great data about me. They know what types of chocolate I buy each month and they know whether or not I’ve redeemed my free piece for the month.
I redeemed my free piece of chocolate for the month of June. Yet, weeks later I got the below email. Why?
The same goes for Southwest. It’s one of the airlines I frequent most, despite their new, horrific loyalty program. Because I flew it so much, I also signed up for their credit card. I have their credit card. I use their credit card. My credit card information is saved in their system for easier bookings. So why on earth do I get at least one email AND direct mail piece a month asking me to sign up? For me, the direct mail piece is the icing on the cake. Did you really just spend print and postage costs to make me feel like you don’t know me at all?
Marketers, before putting all your eggs into Google+ or whatever bright, shiny object has your attention, look at the channels that are your current moneymakers and do a better job of utilizing them.
I love this campaign from Dentyne. It’s simple, yet profound. If you think about how emotions are being “digitized” these days, this campaign is a good reminder of the “analog” goodness being left behind. Even with all our technological advances and upcoming innovations, nothing will ever compare to spending time with someone face to face.
I wish I could hate Apple, but then they go and make brilliant commercials like this one.
This is what we believe, technology alone is not enough… when technology gets out of the way everything becomes more delightful, even magical. That’s when you leap forward.
It always impresses me when big brands are able to move fast enough to capitalize on current events.
While not a new video/viral concept, kudos to T-Mobile for having the foresight to spoof the Royal Wedding in a fun, appealing way that the masses can relate to.
As a marketer, are you keeping abreast of current events that might tie to your brand? Is your brand, your team and your Executives open minded and limber enough to make a move when inspiration strikes?
Inspiration is all around us. Remember to stop and take the time to let it soak in.
I haven’t written a rant in quite some time, but the current use of QR Codes infuriates me to no end. I’m sure my fellow marketers are sick of hearing my rant and frankly, I’m sick of hearing it myself since I loathe complaining without doing anything to fix the situation. But, here it goes anyway.
I love the idea of QR Codes. I love imagining the possibilities and I love thinking about where QR Codes could take us in the future. But, I also know that with the way 99.9% of marketers are using QR Codes, we are never going to get to my vision of the future.
While it takes marketers a bit of time and effort to create a QR Code, it takes the consumer even more time to interact with it. Think about it – a consumer has to:
See and recognize a QR Code for what it is
Take their phone out of their pocket/purse
Unlock their phone, which these days typically also involves inputting a password
Then, they have to flip through the screens to find the app (which they had to download beforehand)
Open app
Scan QR Code
Wait for it to register
Get content
Holy shit, that’s a lot of steps. In this day and age, even though some of those steps take mere seconds, getting to what’s behind a QR Code isn’t necessarily instant gratification. Consumers have to work to get that content. When you have to work for something, especially when it’s an advertising message, it better be a damn good one.
Unfortunately, what’s behind most QR Codes these days is not only worthless but also a frustrating waste of time. Here’s a few examples of pure horribleness that I’ve discovered:
Print shop sends direct mail piece with QR code on it. Nothing else, including no instructions because clearly all their potential clients are QR Code savvy When scanned, the code takes you to their NON-mobile optimized homepage. This was just a #FAIL all around.
QR Codes were abundant at CES. I was excited. If anyone was going to get it, it had to be advertisers at CES, right?! WRONG. Maybe I missed the good ones, but all the ones I scanned took me to… wait for it… their NON-mobile optimized homepage. WTF. Why do this? Because I can access a QR Code from somewhere other than a MOBILE device?
Admittedly, the last two years I have loved the social advertising campaigns for The Grammy’s. This old school brand has jumped head first into the digital space to engage audiences. Not only have they jumped but they’ve also put some serious dollars behind that jump. This year, all their print ads were tagged with a QR Code. Unfortunately, half of them didn’t scan correctly and the other half took you to a flash-like site that couldn’t be seen or utilized via any mobile phone I was using. I hope the advertising agency that failed to properly test the QR Code before putting it on EVERYTHING got fired.
Dear Marketer, If you’re spending all this time to create a QR Code and the consumer is spending all their time to get the content, why not make it worth everyone’s while? Why not milk it for all it’s worth? Let’s have some video, let’s have a phone number that I can click to call, let’s have a MOBILE OPTIMIZED website AND a special landing page for the campaign. Let’s have something worth the effort it took me to get to there.
Marketers, my biggest fear is that if we continue to do a piss poor job of using QR Codes to communicate, consumers are going to stop engaging with them. It will be a case of the Boy Who Cried Wolf… by the time marketers figure out how to use them to their advantage, consumers won’t believe it enough to scan the darn things.
Thanks to Penelope Trunk, I stumbled onto the below “About Me” page. Wow. By far, this is the coolest, most succinct and well told about me / biography. It’s a quick, easy and light hearted read about a serious subject. More importantly, it sets Joel apart from the pack.
In today’s advertising world, is the creative brief outdated? My vote is absolutely! But, it also shows that we, as marketers, continue to ironically be awful communicators. While we have 100′s of “new” tools for communication, we still have to revert back to the outdated method of RFPs and creative briefs. Why? What would happen if we did neither? What would happen if we broke tradition and “rules” and requested creative/campaigns/ideas informally and like normal people? Is making agencies/subordinates jump through crazy hoops simply an ego boost and power trip?
It’s that time of year again… Super Bowl XLV. The more things change, the more they stay the same. After seeing the commercials, I have to wonder, has advertising gone downhill or as consumers (and marketers) are we expecting too much from Super Bowl ads? The interesting piece? It seems like we’ve turned back time. This year, there were no crazy specials (remember Dockers free pants), no reason to visit a YouTube page to see the long version of a commercial and very few strong calls to action to visit a website. Sure, this year, some companies had paid search running – kudos to Coke, Chevy and a handful of others. And, you have to love that the Google ad from last year’s Super Bowl popped up as the #1 video search. Coincidence? I think not
All around best. Honestly, I wouldn’t expect anything less from Weiden+Kennedy
The one that pulled on your heart strings. Kudos to VW for clearly putting some additional pre mainstream advertising around this commercial. With 16.4MM views, it’s outpaced even the best (i.e. Chrysler only has 7,783 views)
Telefora’s ad cracked me up. Sadly, Telefora didn’t even upload it to their YouTube channel. Luckily, someone else uploaded it to theirs and are reaping the rewards.
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