Posts filed under “Marketing and PR”

Word of mouth advertising is powerful. So is a good parking spot...

Range Rover Lemon

From Daily Mail via Jalopnik

Eric Karjaluoto has a great post talking about companies slashing marketing budgets during this recession. (Which many are.)

What baffles me about all of this is how people are choosing to cut their spending. I can appreciate reducing office space or negotiating a lower lease rate. I similarly understand reducing staff members or entertaining job sharing options. What I can’t quite grasp, however, is this tendency to narrow the pipe for incoming sales. When you aren’t getting dates, you don’t go home and watch re-runs of Matlock; you get out of the house and meet people.

It seems that most companies are in fact doing the opposite of this though. I talk to numerous people in key roles who look a little like they’re a moment from crapping themselves. When I ask what they are doing in terms of marketing they typically respond in the same fashion, telling me something to the effect of, “We know it’s something we should be doing, but we have to cut right now.”

A nice office space doesn’t directly drive sales. Office perks may heighten morale but they don’t necessarily bring in new clients. In times like these, all of us have to look at what keeps the machine running. As such, there’s one simple truth that I want you to embrace: your company has to accelerate its marketing and sales efforts...

...So, let’s just say you’ve taken a few moments to skim this article, and you think that I’m perhaps making a small amount of sense here. Well this then is the spot where I need to sell you on the notion that this whole “marketing” thing could actually work for you. Let me take the next few moments to push you off that cliff.  ;-)

When you’re half-way through a grueling run, feeling like you want to “puke your lungs out”, you tend to forget that you’re not the only one. Everyone else around you is likely feeling just about the same way, and it’s the one who can suck it up and push harder who wins the race. Although there are a few lucky ones who have managed to escape the pinch, I feel I can safely say that your competitors are hurting badly. So while they are retreating and licking their wounds, I want you to press the gas pedal and haul some ass. They’re vulnerable; isn’t this the perfect time to strike?

In fact, they’re running so scared that there’s less “noise” out there. When times are good, everyone’s clamoring to have their voice heard. Today, however, your marketing dollar has more bang, largely because fewer people are advertising, selling, and getting the word out. It’s ripe for you to get out there, bang your drum, and perhaps even grab a couple of your competitors’ clients in the meanwhile.

Read the rest of it: Stop Acting Like a Sissy and Market Your Company.

GM Pontiac Ad Loose Mispelling

There are 12 words in this ad and one of them is misspelled... Maybe they laid-off their proofreader? Not only that, but General Motors really piles it on as the car shown is a Pontiac, which is one of the divisions they're axing. Who's in charge over there? This sort of marketing is not winning hearts and minds of the (literate) American public.

The next time you get the opportunity to design on an environmentally friendly project, consider Seeded Paper. It's plantable recycled paper with seeds embedded into it. The idea is that after the recipient is through reading your message, they can plant your seeded paper in some soil and watch it grow. It can be used exactly like normal paper so you can print just about anything on it. You can even make your own for fun!

Ruh roh! Burger King's Facebook app/social media marketing bombshell, Whopper Sacrifice, was just as popular as we thought it would be. It managed to get Facebook users to ditch almost a quarter of a million of their friends in the course of one week. All for the sake of getting a free Whopper. Then Facebook pulled the plug.

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What!???? One of the big guns of advertising jumps into Facebook with what can only be called a resounding succes in mutual benefit social marketing and they pull the plug. Ridiculous. Full story at TechCrunch.

37 Signals AB Split Testing

Jason over at Signal vs. Noise is sharing some really interesting data from an copy writing A/B split test.

Writing Decisions: Headline tests on the Highrise signup page.

They basically discovered that short, punchy copy, combined with assurance of a low-cost of adoption spurs more sales. These are things that any copy writer worth their salt knows anyway, but now they have empirical data that proves it.

PETA Sea Kittens Campaign Image

No, this is not an Onion article...

A CAMPAIGN to rename fish as "sea kittens" in order to improve their image has been ridiculed by the Federal Opposition.

Outspoken animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is using the "sea kitten" name as part of its push to restrict fishing.

"Nobody would hurt a sea kitten!" the group says on its website.

"People don't seem to like fish.

"We're going to start by retiring the old name for good...

Link to full story.

Image from PETA website.

Burger King Facebook Campaign - Whopper Sacrifice

Burger King's new Facebook app rewards you with a free Whopper coupon when you get rid of 10 friends. The campaign is Whopper Sacrifice and it smartly taps into one of the largest problems social networkers face over time: friend creep. If you want to ditch that guy you hung with for 6 hours at your college orientation weekend the time is now; you'll receive a delicious fat-filled flame-grilled sodium-bomb from America's perpetual #2 burger joint for your efforts. This is a truly brilliant use of social media marketing via mutual benefit. Burger King is getting Facebookers to try their product and expose their friend list to the Burger King brand. In exchange, they help them fight friend creep in a way that is humorous and rewarding.

Be warned though. The friends you sacrifice will know it was for a Whopper...

Burger King Facebook App - Whopper Sacrifice

I don't know when this new Facebook App launched, but when I started writing this post, 30 minutes ago, the counter on the App's site showed 13,150 friends had been sacrificed. In the time since, it has jumped 16% to 15,260. Looks like a hit to me. How high will the flames go?

Vince Offer - Shamwow Guy

Vince Offer's name doesn't disappoint and neither does his act. Despite what is assuredly a soon to be fleshed out Wikipedia entry that I can only describe as mostly-dubious, he seems blessed with the ability to deliver a truly hypnotizing pitch. Vince Offer first greeted us as "Vince with Shamwow." A low budget infomercial that's gained a cult following online:

And the cult is picking up steam. That Shamwow infomercial is well on it's way to a half-million views and has 2000+ comments. Comments like, "You following me camera guy?" (a quote from the commercial itself) and "Vince rules!" In fact, several lines from the Shamwow pitch are achieving web-meme status. Lines like, "You know the Germans make good stuff."  And, "You know we can't do this all day."

Not even to mention what's sure to be an instant classic, "You're gonna love my nuts" (don't worry, he really sells it) from Vince Offer's next assault on our collective pocket books. The Slap Chop:

Yeah, it's the same junk Billy Mays has been hawking since '99 and Ron Popeil since 20 years before that, but it's never been about the stuff. It's about the salesman. How can they draw you in? How can they sympathize with your plight? How can they solve it? How can they go the extra mile after that?

Vince plays the game well. All the hallmarks of a classic infomercial formula are here. Fantastically realized demonstrations, trade show booth-side testimonials, freebies and offers that double in the last second- only if you call in the next twenty minutes, naturally. But there's something about this headset-sporting Velociraptor with spiky hair and a Brooklyn accent that's mesmerizing in a way the bearded-guy never was...

Watching Vince do his Pitch reminds me of watching Scream. It's a self-lampoon that brilliantly walks the line between camp and the real thing. He knows we know all the tricks. So he plays them up, winking and laughing at them alongside us while methodically rolling out every single one in the book. I think part of his charm is that all the special-offer, made in European nation x (does it even matter which one?) and this-will-change-your-life statements arrive right on cue. We (along with Vince) can see them coming and when they finally arrive we're all glad they're here.

Vince and his backers are onto something. Shamwow (Full Length) was uploaded in June of 2008 and has 350,000+ views as of this writing. Vince with Slapchop (Long Version) was uploaded December 19th, 2008 and already has 190,000+ views as of this writing. The Slapchop pitch is gaining viewers and comments around 500% faster than the first one. Jim Rome just spent 30 minutes talking about Vince on The Jim Rome Show. A three hour syndicated sports radio show with 2.5 million listeners daily.

The SlapChop pitch was even more entertaining than the Shamwow and the set budget has clearly gone up. Why wouldn't it though? Maybe Vince is pitching the producers for more budget. Love him or hate him, Mr. Offer is gaining momentum.

I cast an unusalluy critical eye on marketing I come across in the wild, and I know for a fact that I can get all manner of chamois and kitchen clutter from my local Target. Even though, I'll bet I'm not alone reaching for my wallet just because I want to see more of this guy.

Steve Jobs Collage by Charis Tevis for Fortune Magazine

Apple's stock goes in the tank every time someone publishes a rumor that they saw Steve Jobs sneeze at the local Pinkberry. And with Job's unprecedented bow-out of the 2009 Macworld Keynote tomorrow it was bound to happen again; Apple stock dipped 2% on Dec. 30th after Gizmodo published a sensational story quoting an unnnamed source about how "Steve's health is rapidly declining."

So the man himself has stepped in with these words:

Letter from Apple CEO Steve Jobs
Dear Apple Community,

For the first time in a decade, I’m getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.

Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.

I’ve decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.

As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.

Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause—a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.

The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment. But, just like I didn’t lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery.

I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple’s CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.

So now I’ve said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.

Steve