Tom Asacker on Relevance Apr 1, 2009
Posted by magnostic in Advertising, Marketing.add a comment
Nice post by Tom Asacker on the importance of being relevant with your marketing message.
If you’re interested in owning the most important real estate in the marketplace – that space between your customers’ ears – then make sure your message is different, to gain their attention, and desirable, so it will be relevant to them when they’re exposed to it and when the need arises to recall it.
“Bailout” as Ad Copy Mar 19, 2009
Posted by magnostic in Advertising, Marketing.1 comment so far
Leave it to clever marketers to turn an increasingly toxic word like “bailout” into advertising fodder:
- Win Domino’s Pizza for a Year in the Domino’s Super Big Taste Bailout!
- Overstock.com Monthly Family Bailout Contest!
- Denny’s: Who’s Gonna Bail You Out?
Article: The New Reality of TV Advertising Feb 9, 2009
Posted by magnostic in Advertising, Broadcast TV, Contextual advertising, Marketing, Marketing measurement, time-shifting.Tags: interactive TV, The Advertiser
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I have the cover story in the latest issue of The Advertiser magazine. The topic is interactive TV, specifically how a bunch of different players are hoping to make TV a lot more “web-like” in both functionality and measurability. The nut graf(s):
After years of fits and starts trying to turn the concept of interactive TV into a broadly based reality, a collection of service providers, technology companies, agencies, and marketers finally seems to be making some legitimate headway in transforming TV into a more addressable, more targetable, and more measurable advertising medium.
Sure, we’ve seen this dance before. For years, we’ve been hearing promises of two-way engagement, better buying and measurement systems, and addressable ads for TV viewers. But real milestones have been elusive in an industry known more for inertia than innovation.
Something feels different now, however.
Execs from Google, Unilever, Lenovo, Canoe Ventures and others weighed in on the topic.
Super Bowl Observations Feb 2, 2009
Posted by magnostic in Advertising, Super Bowl.Tags: Super Bowl, TV ads
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Random thoughts on the Super Bowl:
- Great game, obviously. I was pulling for a Cardinals’ upset but had no emotional stake in the game, which made it easier and more enjoyable to watch. But where was the booth replay at the end?
- The refs had too much influence on the game. The best zebras are invisible – this group seemed to crave the spotlight, to the tune of a Super Bowl-record 18 penalties, 11 for Arizona. Let the conspiracy theories begin …
- I watched about 3 minutes of pre-game coverage over the weekend, but the one segment I did catch was prescient. On ESPN, Trent Dilfer and Keyshawn Johnson explained why Ben Roethlisberger is not a running quarterback as many people think – he’s a scrambler who can “extend plays” by running around in the pocket, keeping his head up, still thinking pass first. Damn – that’s what he did the entire game.
- The ads were so-so, nothing particularly memorable. Typical head-scratching stuff from GoDaddy.com (what was Danica Patrick thinking?), enough of the Clydesdales already, lots of random violence, and of course at least one spot featuring monkeys. My kids’ favorite was CareerBuilder, though it got pretty tedious after the fifth repetition. My favorite was probably the spot for Hulu.com with Alec Baldwin – with possibly the best tagline ever (“An evil plot to destroy the world. Enjoy.”).
100 Years of Journalistic … oh Never Mind Dec 31, 2008
Posted by magnostic in Advertising, Contextual advertising, Journalism.4 comments
How depressing to discover that UPI – whose tagline is “100 Years of Journalistic Excellence” – is using those beyond-annoying in-text ads on its website. Seriously, ads for the Chevy Volt and Prudential Insurance embedded in a story about the Israeli-Hamas conflict? I weep for journalism. Again.
New Article: Neuromarketing Dec 19, 2008
Posted by magnostic in Advertising, Marketing, marketing research.Tags: MarketingNPV
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MarketingNPV just published an article I wrote on neuromarketing (free registration required).
From Collateral Damage: Top 10 Marketing Blunders of 2008 Dec 11, 2008
Posted by magnostic in Advertising, Marketing.Tags: collateral damage blog, constantine von hoffman, Top 10 Lists
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Well, it’s more like the top 25, but Con von Hoffman has compiled an inspired list of the year’s worst marketing gambits. There’s still 19 days to make the list!
Election Day Nov 4, 2008
Posted by magnostic in Advertising, Broadcast TV, Journalism, Marketing, Media, User Generated content.Tags: election day, Politics
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So here we are, finally. Being from a swing state (NH), oh how I will miss the robo-calls (as opposed to the calls to Rob O), the overflow of laughably lame direct mail in my snail-mailbox and the attack ads on TV, none of whch gave me any useful information about the candidates sending them. There was no shortage of outdated, ineffective marketing techniques brought to bear by both parties during this campaign season, especially at the local level.
Even on the Web, useful (objective) information was difficult to find. Any fence-sitters on election eve in NH would have been hard-pressed to Google their way to a decision regarding the hotly contested congressional races between Shaheen/Sununu (Senate) or Bradley/Shea-Porter (House of Reps). The media accounts were mostly of how the candidates “sparred” during debates; the candidates’ own websites were unconvincing at best, misleading at worst. And why do they post the same mind-numbing TV ads they’ve been subjecting us to over the local airwaves since January! Are you kidding me?
From a media standpoint, tonight will be one of those throwback nights, where families and friends gather for an increasingly rare (excepting major sporting events) shared experience around their TVs. The pundits will pundit and the network news teams will try to convince themselves that they still really matter – and for one night at least, they will have our rapt attention. (I will miss Tim Russert.) For anyone looking for an alternative (and more participatory) experience, CurrentTV is partnering with Digg, Twitte and 12seconds.tv - a “celebration of democracy” according to Current’s CEO.
No excuses – get out and vote!
