Marketing Rants
Girls Give Advertisers “The Flip”
Heidi Dangelmaier has a problem.
Heidi runs 3iying, a marketing company that specializes in reaching girls age 15-25. I met with Heidi in her NYC offices last summer to talk about an exciting new idea she was working on. When Heidi speaks with agencies and companies targeting this group, she tells them about the less than stellar job current advertisers are doing trying to speak to girls. The problem is, these companies and agencies haven’t believed her.
So Heidi took it straight to the girls themselves.
“Flip It” is a series of videos where girls talk about ads and why, specifically, the ads are not relevant to them. It started with some girls around the office, but as word spread, Heidi had girls lining up out the door. A handful of examples has taken off into 400 videos and counting.
When I first heard the idea, I wondered, Will this really work? Will people listen to girls complaining about ads? Then I saw the videos, and I was blown away. (For the record, it’s very hard to impress me.) These girls are articulate, thoughtful, and the insight was flat out amazing.
So, how do girls age 15-25 really feel about ads that are targeting them? Taking my cue from Heidi, I’ll let them speak for themselves.
(RSS readers, click here for video #1)
(RSS readers, click here for video #2)
(RSS readers, click here for video #3)
Heidi and her team are not out to condemn advertising. They’re out to make it better.
3iying is not in the business of flipping. We are an all-girl strategic and creative think tank that helps mass-scale brands become more relevant to girls. 3iying offers our contribution to ending this gap. We cannot do it alone. The new millennium girls reflect a consumer shift that will lead generations to come. Their mindset cannot be ignored if we wish to keep our client’s brands alive and powerful and stop wasting their money.
Heidi Dangelmeir is my hero. The whole reason why I’m in the business of marketing to women is to create better marketing for them. Girls, like women of all ages, are bombarded by ads and images, day in and day out. At best, they’re annoying. At worst, they’re actively offensive. Keep in mind, these are ads targeted at this group. Marketers are spending millions of dollars to create ads that turn off perspective customers. Instead of connecting with customers, they’re proving just how disconnected from consumers they really are.
Heidi has found a brilliant way to give voice to how girls and women really feel. Are you listening?
Find out a few other reasons why 3iying is succeeding in understanding and communicating with 15-25 year-old girls.
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Written by:Holly Buchanan
Fight for Kisses
A geek buddy passed along a link to an interesting video clip today, commenting on how it was “such good marketing”. Now, anytime I hear a techie say this, I’m pretty much assured it’ll be *bad* marketing — or no marketing at all, just a good advertisement. (Hell, that’s a whole other post.)
Anyway, human nature being what it is, I perked right up; everyone likes to gawk at a car wreck.
I don’t want to say much specifically until you’ve had a chance to watch this yourself — am I’m helping to make it viral? — but give a look-see and let me know your reaction.
Don’t read any further until you watch this video:
(If video doesn’t load, click here.)
OK, now you’ve seen it. This brought up a few points for me:
First, it felt a little longer than expected, didn’t you think? I figured once I saw the ad for the Quattro — a name I’m fond of for obvious reasons — we were near the end. But no, it continues for some time past that. And the ending gave me a bit of a surprise, as I had only a hint of a feeling we were dealing with a game.
Second, even at the end when the game nature became clear, I kept thinking Shick Quattro was probably just a commercial sponsor.
Third, I actually went through the bother of going to the main site for this beast, ffk-wilkinson.com. Other than commenting on how extraordinarily painful it was to wait for this site to load — close to 2 minutes on a broadband connection!? — it turns out the razor itself is one of the characters in the game. So, Quattro isn’t just a commercial sponsor of a game; it seems Shick actually produced the game as theater for showing off its product. Well, that “shortened my leash” on how much I’ll allow this game to shave minutes off my valuable free time.
Finally, let me defend my geek: The clip was entertaining. But if marketing were entertainment, every day would be the Super Bowl.
The funny thing is, although I’m curious to see the game in play, I’m not terribly excited about the prospects of playing it.
What about you? Are you interested in this product, or were you simply entertained by the video clip? Do you have a passion to fight for kisses?
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Written by:John Quarto-vonTivadar
Hey, Web Guru, Your Advice is Toxic! (Avoid if Easily Offended)
If you’re responsible for planning, measuring or optimizing online marketing, you’re already too busy to breathe. Nevertheless, you have to keep up with all the latest and greatest developments.
That is why you look to the blogosphere and the collection of publications that publish advice from “experts”.
Like you, I keep current with a lot of what industry experts have to say. Some of it’s excellent, some is good, some of it’s neutral, but a dangerous yet substantial portion of it is toxic. I sometimes point to the excellent. I sometimes prod the good with a question or comment. I largely ignore the neutral or harmless even though it provides a source of endless chuckles for my team. However, my tongue is bloody and scarred from repeated biting in an effort to refrain from attacking the toxic misinformation being published.
STOP! Don’t drink that! The Kool-Aid is poisoned!
I can’t say that, can I? You might think I was mean-spirited, unprofessional, spiteful or disrespectful of someone’s opinion.
So, why do people drink the Kool-Aid? If you say anything with enough conviction, someone will believe you. If you put a thought in writing, on a blog, your credibility increases. If you sprinkle in a collection of conventional wisdom, paraphrased concepts and some pseudoscience, the cocktail is ready. Bottoms up!
I haven’t linked to any such toxic advice, even though I read two blog posts and an article this morning that I know will send some people off on expensive wild goose chases.
I hate being called an expert. I’d rather the results speak for themselves. I’d also rather have the right questions than the right answers in a truly accountable marketing system.
I’ve been involved in cleaning up experts’ messes for almost a decade. If you’re a client, you know I wouldn’t hesitate to tell you the truth.
Dear reader, how can I tell you the truth? Perhaps it’s impossible, but I’d like to know if there is some way I could save you the pain.
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Written by:Jeffrey Eisenberg
BusinessWeek: Are Big Ad Agencies Clueless?
BusinessWeek’s Bruce Nussbaum asks: “Are Big Ad Agencies So Clueless That Corporations Should Avoid Them?”
It’s not this bad, is it?
(Video may not be work-safe… If you work in an ad agency.)
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Written by:Robert Gorell
Best Buy, Worst Buy — Updated
Updated: Best Buy Customer Service responds.
Among electronics retailers, Best Buy (BBY) is one of the top brands because of its reputation for service, and they’re often able to command a premium because of it.
I’ve written previously of their customer-centricity efforts and use of personas to improve the Best Buy experience. How’s that working out for them? Here’s a quick story…
My mother wanted to upgrade her bedroom TV. Mom’s a widow now, and she knew with our crazy schedules, it might be hard count on my brother Jeffrey and me to help with the installation of the new 40″ LCD television she was buying. She was excited and couldn’t wait to get her new TV, so the plan was to pay someone to do it all for her — rather than waiting for her sons to come through.
On Sunday, Jeffrey came over and helped her take down the old TV from the shelf on the wall; she was told the installers couldn’t do it. I’d found a great deal on a new Logitech Harmony remote on Amazon (AMZN) and she ordered it right away. She was going to upgrade her cable box to HD-DVR. She was all ready for the delivery of her order on Monday, and for the installers on Tuesday, but that’s when the fun and excitement ended.
This is the email she was about to send to customer service before sharing it with me last night:
I was at the Best Buy (BBY) store on Bay Parkway (Brooklyn) and a nice young man helped me decide on the 40 inch LCD TV I wanted. We went for a Samsung that was on special that week. I could not buy it at that moment because the salesman told me that I have to have the old television removed before the new one was delivered and I had to go home and find out how I could do it. He gave me the model number, the price, the amount it was going to cost me to have it installed on my wall, the price of the wall mount in the back of his card and he told me the offer would probably last one more week.
I was not able to go back to the store so I decided that I would place the order with Best Buy online. I wanted to make sure that when they installed the TV I had all the correct wires, plugs, etc. that I could possibly need to have a successful event. I then called the number on the website so I could set up the installation and finalize the purchase.
I spoke to Joyce. She was very pleasant and she told me that the installation I needed was going to be $150.00 and not the $400.00 - $100.00 discount = $300.00 that Aram, the salesman, quoted me. She told me that the one she recommended was the one I needed. I asked if there was anything else I needed so everything went smoothly and she said that if I needed any wires the Magnolia (the ones who do the installations for Best Buy) people would have it in their truck. She also told me to get the free home theater that went with the television set I choose and I went for it. So my order was complete with a TV, a wall bracket, a home theater and an installation package. I was all set.
I received the delivery on Monday and the guy asked me where the television was going to be installed and I told him it was going to be in my upstairs bedroom. He left it in the downstairs living room. He even called someone and I had to verify to the lady that he did leave it in the living room. Why did he even ask? I asked him if the installer would bring it upstairs and he said that they would and that they would also bring the wall bracket and the home theater as they did not have it in their delivery truck. He did not give me any shipping confirmation papers and then left.
The first thing I was told when they installation guy came in was, “Sorry, I cannot and would not bring anything upstairs.” For 2 days I didn’t have a TV in my bedroom, I was ready to cry because he told me he couldn’t do it then and he was telling me I would need to reschedule. I was not informed that the piece to be installed had to be in the same room where the installation was. The delivery guy had to know about this, why did he leave the TV downstairs in another room? Aren’t they all part of the same company? I just wanted a hassle free experience.
The installer then when outside and came back and said that OK, he would bring the TV upstairs and he proceeded to set it up on top of the dresser. I told him that I purchased a wall bracket. He made me read the description of what he was sent and I had already paid for and nothing about setting up the TV on the wall. Why would I order a wall bracket and installation together if I wasn’t going to have it installed on the wall? If I needed to buy something else should I not have been offered it. Then I started to feel the extortion pressure. He told me if I didn’t pay $250.00 plus tax additional to hang the TV and set up the home theater I couldn’t get it the way I expected.
I felt like I had no choice now. He would not start doing any work unless I gave him the check, so I did. “Could this have been because I was a women alone in the house?” I wondered. I did not get the $100.00 discount and it ended up costing me $400 for the installation. I did buy everything together. Why would I buy it if not to have it set up properly as well?
In fact, they were supposed to setup any components I had as well. Well, they didn’t have the wires in their truck to install my DVD player. They told me if someone else hooked it up and not them that it would “null and void” the guarantee of their installation. I had to run to the local Radio Shack and pick up the wires for them. Only after I told him that he promised that if I had the wires before 4pm and I called him he would come back later and install it but only until 5pm today. I called and he did in fact return to install the DVD.
I reviewed the contract and it says, “Ensure that all wires and cables are neatly dressed using wire ties.” They left the wires hanging loosely and the wires in the back all bunched up. They considered the home theater installed because the wires were connected, to the TV and the speakers were attached to the back of the main unit. They left the Home theater on top of my dresser without unwinding the wires, the speakers sitting around it. Would you consider that an “expert” home theater installation? It seemed they could not wait to get out even without “providing instruction to familiarize the customer with the basic use of their system.”
This has been a nightmare for me.
I’ll have to waste even more time, on top of the money, getting it installed properly and fighting with customer service. Best Buy has become the “Worst Buy” for me.
The money being spent for the proper installation was not the issue. A salesperson’s job is to help the person buy what they want. My mom is a very detailed oriented person. I’m sure she explained exactly what she was looking for to both Aram and Joyce, the Best Buy salespeople, and even still the whole experience left her with a bad a taste in her mouth.
How will Best Buy, recently ranked #1 in customer experience online, measure the success or failure of this type of experience? Should they keep relying on these panel surveys or look elsewhere? In this case, the online store — together with the Best Buy’s brand reputation and some assistance from a call center — converted the visit to a purchase. But where should the online experience end?
Best Buy has had numerous issues as of late. Just this past week, they fired a Geek Squad crew for ripping pictures (including porn) from their customers’ computers. Are these the things Best Buy counts as part of its “customer-centricity” strategy and great experience?
Seems like the strategy and tactics are way off.
UPDATE: Here’s the customer service response email. I’m not sure what’s worse; the experience, or the customer disservice email:
Esther,
I am Paul with Best Buy Customer Care.
I apologize for any inconvenience you have experienced related to your
TV purchase.Best Buy strives to make each experience you have with us positive and
as fun as possible, and we are disappointed if we don’t live up to that
expectation. Best Buy relies on feedback, both positive and negative,
to help us find areas for improvement.Please do not hesitate to contact usfor any questions or concerns. We
look forward to your next visit to one of our stores or to
www.BestBuy.com.Thank you,
Paul
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Written by:Bryan Eisenberg
Monkeying Around With Web 2.0 Strategy
Steve Rubel’s post on “Why We’re Like a Miliion Monkeys on Treadmills” made me smile. Bryan and I are also way too often asked questions about how to create a Facebook, blogging or Web 2.0 strategy. Our answer is similar to Rubel’s:
Surely, channels are where the action is at. However, it’s important to remember they are just that - and they change. Circa 1998, perhaps when many of you were 10, The Globe.com, GeoCities and Tripod were all the rage. They faded from our horizon over time. The same thing will happen to many of today’s hot sites. In fact, I advise marketers not to invest too much time in creating “a Facebook strategy” as much as they don’t have “an NBC strategy” or “a New York Times strategy.” Instead, I encourage them to people watch, learn and then plan based on their audience and the big picture.
The most interesting action is in sociology. In other words, how does technology change our culture and how we interact with media, the web and each other - and to what end? This was a major realization for me a few months back and you have probably noticed it in my writing, which is less channel focused. These days, I am far more interested in what people do with technology rather than on what the latest new “shiny object” is. … [read the post]
By the way, I know where Rubel got that great monkey picture he used for the post.
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Written by:Jeffrey Eisenberg
Are Record Labels Being Shortsighted?
Internet radio broadcasters have lost an important copyright battle in court that will make streaming music much more expensive and that could force them out of business. The record labels see Internet radio as a threat. They think that radio encourages record sales but that streaming music does not. The record labels haven’t been so smart in the past. Are they being shortsighted now?
If the subject interests you, then also check out SaveNetRadio.org
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Written by:Jeffrey Eisenberg
In Defense of Big, Bad, Google ;)
From the files of: When Passive Verbs Happen to Good People.
Recently, the WSJ (subscriber link) served up the ultimate in passive, poor me, whining. When Matt Cutts is getting quoted in the Journal, isn’t it possible we’ve gone just a bit too far? I mean, seriously, it’s a wonder the world managed to have a single entrepreneurial success story before Google debuted on the scene.
Even if traffic to Topix, which gets about 10 million visitors a month, dropped just 10%, that would essentially be a 10% loss in ad revenue, Mr. Skrenta says. “Because of this little mechanical issue, it could be a catastrophe for us,” he says.
I can’t even talk about the entire article without my blood pressure boiling over, but it reminded me of days long past at Georgia Tech. (And for the record, no, I’m not a GOOG shareholder, but I do preach accountability for a living. It strikes me as pretty convenient that website owners who have trouble monetizing that which Google gladly hand-delivers them would prefer to cry in their milk and bite the hand that feeds them rather than simply say ‘thank you’ for the free traffic and focus on building stronger business models that aren’t so dependent on un-game-able technology.)
Back to Georgia Tech. Atlanta was gearing up for the Olympic games, which were still a few years away. Major construction projects were underway all over campus, blocking access to certain roads for months, sometimes years. My house was just off one of these blocked roadways–the route known as the place to park while heading to hoops games at the Coliseum.
Being the enterprising young engineers we were, it didn’t take us long to smell opportunity. We gave birth to an impromptu parking lot … in our driveway! Through one full hoops season, revenue was good (we spent our profits on “books”). But eventually, even the slowest of construction projects wrapped up, and the need for our overflow parking lot evaporated. Being the more logical, left-brained types we were, we moved on to other new and equally “innovative” ways to make extra cash.
I wonder now why didn’t we just sit around and campaign the campus newspaper to write about the loss of our little cash cow? Why didn’t we call the university president and demand he reinstate the construction? Why didn’t we create an industry designed to divert cars from the streets drivers preferred to travel and send them along the streets that led past our front door?
If all the money spent “optimizing” search engine traffic is any indication, we should be sitting next to Mark Cuban at an owners meeting.
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Written by:Howard Kaplan
Search Engine Marketing and the 2008 Election
All politics aside, observing the 2008 US Presidential election from a marketing perspective alone will be quite fascinating.
How effective will the candidates be at using the the web and all it’s mojo? techPresident is a blog set up to do just that, check out this post about how the current candidates are utilizing (or not) Google Pay Per Click (PPC).
It’s time all candidates recognize the power of search to drive highly-targeted traffic to their fledgling websites. Get cracking, everyone! We’re watching.
We’ll be watching as well, and I am sure we can find a few great lessons to share with you about online persuasion.
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Written by:Anthony Garcia
The Transparency Imperative: Moving Beyond the Suggestion Box
Your business can use transparency to its advantage, turning ordinary customers into tireless advocates for your brand
Do you ever get annoyed when a business’s online communications are as poor, if not worse, than their offline customer service? One of the most sacred promises of the Internet is that we have the power to chat with total strangers, regardless of how fragmented the information or disproportionately strong the opinion, to piece together the bigger picture about a given experience anytime, anywhere. Access to third-party information is always a good thing for any current or would-be customer; it’s the quickest way of saving ourselves the time, money, and opportunity cost of a bad decision. Besides, most customers take information from peers with a grain of salt. So why should business be afraid of online transparency?
Read the rest of this article.
Read the entire newsletter: Volume 136
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Written by:Robert Gorell
