Happy Thanksgiving everyone! As I sit up here in Wisconsin I got to thinking about how nice it is to get away and spend time with family and friends. I am thankful for being blessed with opportunities like this.
Tell someone close to you this holiday season that you are thankful for them. Also let me know what else you are thankful for?
On the heels of the $750 Billion lender bailout, there is yet another proposed governmental bailout for the big 3 automakers in the US. It seem that when the Federal Government starts handing large sums of cash to businesses, high powered execs come running from the four corners to lay claim to their portion of the dole.
Someone correct me if I am wrong here, but the way I understand it, the proposed $25 billion for the automakers would be in the form of loans instead of a simple, one time, corporate welfare payment. There are many that claim bailouts equal more bailouts and questions of where it will end are raised. Proponents of the bailout say that it is needed to prevent an economic disaster of global proportions if the automakers go bankrupt.
So am I to understand this right? If we didn't bailout the lenders who made bad loans and bought bad paper, we would have been in much worse shape than we currently are? What if we loan the automakers the money and they can't pay it back? Aren't we in the same situation we were with the mortgage lenders?
Shouldn't a Government loan to the automakers be treated just like any other loan to any other business? The beauty of a capitalistic society is that you realize the rewards and the failures of being in business. If you do it right, you are rewarded. But if you do it wrong, you suffer the consequences. This very principle is why I opposed the lender bailout. Businesses start and fail every day and if you are proactive and stay ahead of the market trends, your business will thrive.
Until about a year ago we had it pretty good in America regarding the cost of fuel. BUT, when gas jumped to $4 a gallon, seemingly overnight, energy dependent Americans felt the slight twinge of panic. Instead of developing, marketing and pushing the largest SUV's like the Excursion and the Hummer, should we have been a little more proactive in decreasing our dependence on foreign oil through the design and development of fuel efficient vehicles? If you haven't seen it yet, check out "Who Killed the Electric Car." Now granted, there is quite a liberal spin in the movie but there are some very interesting points made about choices the automakers made.
For some time now I have been doing a series called "The Advertising of Yesterday." Most of the ads I feature come from a stash of magazines I have from the 60's and 70's. Most of the time it is quite interesting how our views, values and attitudes have changed over the last 3 or 4 decades.
The other day a friend emailed me about a post on Purple Slinky that featured some REALLY old ads that take us further back and REALLY demonstrate the evolution our society has undergone.
The author, Paula Mitchell Bentley has put together an excellent collection of ads that would never see the light of day in today's world.
Ahhh yes, the wonderful benefits of beer for infants.
Make sure you don't abuse your kids, light up first. I think that the use of babies to promote cigarettes was discontinued just a couple of years ago.
And to think that we are trying to stop our kids from watching TV. Between Xbox and TV, the parks seem kind of empty nowadays.
This one is my favorite. "How Soon is too soon? Not soon enough." It will help you kids "fit in" and gain acceptance during those pre-teen and teen years. They even go so far as to guarantee lifetime happiness if you start drinking cola.
I wonder when the word "chubby" made the transition to a derogatory term. It's now "plus-sized" thank you very much.
Yes, the all new safety razor. So safe that you can even let your infants play with it. Give this little tyke 2 or 3 more years and he will be ready for the stitching line at the textile factory down the street.
Out of all the ads featured, this is the most disturbing. It says that the revolvers are not toys, the shoot straight and they kill. At the same time they are promoting how safe they are and claiming that accidental discharge is impossible. I just happen to know quite a bit about these Iver Johnson revolvers. There weren't that safe. "Papa says it won't hurt us." Wow. Granted this and many other firearms ads, featured here, here and here, came way before the gun was designated as evil, but you have to admit this ad is reckless and irresponsible. A big Booooo and a thumbs down for this ad.
There are a couple of others included in her post but I think you are getting the picture. The point is that as we look back over time and see how advertising has evolved, we can paint a picture of how society has changed as well. Remember the Playtex "Cross Your Heart" bra commercials? Remember how they never use to show the bra on a woman? Instead they demonstrated it's features, advantages and benefits on a mannequin.
Today's television is a completely different story. All bets are off and so are the clothes. In 30 years, I wonder how we will look back at the ads of today?
Thanks again for stopping by The Big Bald Blog! Have a great weekend everyone.
Finding new angles to promote your product or service is essential if you want to keep your marketing fresh.
In 1965, Jeep decided to cross the gender barrier, well, sort of. In order to sell a 4x4 vehicle to a demographic that wasn't the typical SUV buyer in 1965, they decided to appeal to the emotional side of men. After all you want your wife and children to be safe, right?
The hook is the headline and the imagery. However, if you get into the real meat of the ad, you will see all the technical jargon that men feed on. The best part is the real message, "...have more fun this winter..."
CNET NEWS reports that Mr. Murdoch is accusing the media of digging themselves into a hole.
The media mogul accuses some traditional media leadership of "complacency and condescension." It is his opinion that newspapers are NOT going to become obsolete. Instead it's the "...editors, reporters, and proprietors who are forgetting a newspaper's most precious asset: the bond with its readers..."
With more and more content available online, I am having a hard time agreeing with his assessment but he does make some interesting arguments.
"It used to be that a handful of editors could decide what was news-and what was not. They acted as sort of demigods. If they ran a story, it became news. If they ignored an event, it never happened. Today editors are losing this power. The Internet, for example, provides access to thousands of new sources that cover things an editor might ignore. And if you aren't satisfied with that, you can start up your own blog and cover and comment on the news yourself. Journalists like to think of themselves as watchdogs, but they haven't always responded well when the public calls them to account."
He reinforced this by citing the famous Dan Rather incident when bloggers assassinated the story of Bush's National Guard service in 2004.
Rupert refers to "A recent American study reported that many editors and reporters simply do not trust their readers to make good decisions. Let's be clear about what this means. This is a polite way of saying that these editors and reporters think their readers are too stupid to think for themselves."
All that being said, I still think that even if you removed all the "offending people", we will still see declines in circulation and ad revenue. If Murdoch was sitting here in my office, I would tell him he is underestimating the power of online news and the increasing potential return for online advertising.
"Murdoch said newspapers can still count on circulation gains if papers provide readers with news they can trust." He added they will also need to embrace technology advances like RSS feeds and targeted e-mails. The challenge, according to Murdoch, will be to use a newspaper's brand while allowing readers to personalize the news for themselves-and then deliver it in the ways that they want."
RSS feeds, customized home pages, email? Hello? Is this thing on? This is already happening. This is exactly why 8-track tapes the printed form of the newspaper is soon going to be a memory.
Ever since I got a DVR on my Dish Network system, I'll have to admit that I rarely watch live TV anymore. I record all kinds of shows, sometimes ones that I have never seen before just to see if I'll like them. When I am watching the shows recorded on my DVR, 99.9% of the time I will skip all the commercials.
Does this mean that I am not being impacted by the advertising that companies have so strategically placed? According to Informa Media the US leads the rest of the world in numbers of DVR's and by 2013, there will be more Digital Video Recorders in the US than Asia and Western Europe combined. J.D. Power and Associates says that over 44% of TV viewers now have a DVR. Wow, it feels pretty good to be ahead of the rest of the world on something. I knew being a couch potato was going to pay off sooner or later.
But back to the question. Are people that have DVR's missing out on advertising? Boston College reasearch says NO. As it turns out, brand information that is placed in the center of the screen is retained even with a "95% drop in frames" when a viewer "fast forwards" through the commercial break. “Even in fast-forward, consumers can focus in on a product logo or brand and that fraction of a second can later influence their references,” said Boston College marketing professor S. Adam Brasel. “It’s not like the advertising disappears when you use TiVo.”
I know I sometimes stop and go back if I see something really cute cool, manly or intriguing, but that's me. I try to never apply my personal habits in marketing situations or recommendations. I can be that free radical that everyone always talks about.
This brings me to my next thought. When developing a commercial, don't you think that we must now plan on and execute for the new DVR factor? Since the studies show that viewers are "scanning" the ads rather than skipping the ads, this requires us to reformulate brand placement. Bearing this in mind, here is yet another reason the commercials from the Truth group will fall short in a big way. Continuous and rapid brand messaging will be critical to get the essential short message across to the DVR viewer. Maybe even in a manner that would appear to be subliminal advertising during a fast forward. Remember Fight Club?
This is yet another example of how technology is changing the way we advertise. Do you have a DVR? Do you view the commercials when you watch a recorded show? Do you find yourself irritated when you can't fast forward live TV? These are the questions that the world wants to know. What say you?
The elections are over, I lost, and we're back to business as usual. Since it's Friday it's time for a little Friday fun with the Advertising of Yesterday.
This ad from a 1970 issue of Outdoor Life, features the new plastic coated blades by Gillette.
Kudos to Gillette. In the days before double, triple and even quadruple blades there was the choice of a straight razor or safety razors with the disposable blades. These were the days of deep nicks and styptic powder. I am not sure that the plastic coating really made any difference but it was a valiant attempt on Gillette's part to move some blades. Fortunately we are much better off today. With lubricating strips, tilting head and multiple blades, we are able to get much closer shaves without the war wounds to show for it.
I remember playing with the safety razors as a kid, sans blade of course. I used them as matchbox car "picker uppers" in my imaginary auto salvage yard. Matchbox salvage yards aside, the one thing I remember even more was the little slot in the back of the old school medicine cabinets with a sticker under the slot that said "Used Blades"
What magical beast lived behind the medicine cabinet and why was he so keen on collecting used razor blades? Was there some kind of spatial anomaly or tear in the space-time continuum that sent the blades to some other dimension?
It wasn't until about 4 years ago I discovered the truth. I decided to remodel my bathroom at home and I had one of these old school metal medicine cabinets between the studs. I removed the screws holding the medicine cabinet to the wall and carefully peered behind the ancient structure. You know what I found? Not some cleverly crafted vacuum tube system to the unknown, but a pile of rusty razor blades sitting on the horizontal 2 x 4 support. My fantasy of finding the holy grail had been ruined forever.
What's the point of all this random rambling? I'm not sure. What I do know is that shaving for both men and women is a much more enjoyable venture today. Is it possible that it may have all started with the "miracle plastic coating" by Gillette? I think it may have.
Today is the day where you can let your voice be heard. Take the time and perform your civic duty. This is one of the things that makes this country great. Regardless of who you are voting for just make sure you get out and vote. Either way the vote goes, I pray that it isn't a close race. I hope it's a landslide victory for one side. We can't withstand another "hanging chad" re-count fiasco.
I apologize for the lack of posts, I have just been buried with the campaign. After this week we will resume our regularly scheduled blog programming.
If you voted early, in the comments let me know who you voted for.
