I’ll be honest — when I first saw this ad, I knew who was featured in it and I knew what is was about, but I didn’t immediately recognise Michael Jackson until a closer shot was made.  Times certainly change, and not just the 80’s wardrobes.

Just like how both old and banned commercials can come back to haunt you online, they can also give you a free boost through nostalgia.  Showing a commercial ten years old looks dated and lazy.  Show one from 20 or more years ago and it’s nostalgic.  Of course, this one’s now 30 years old, so it’s classic.

Despite the number of complicated legalities involved, there’s a strong marketing case to revive these old commercials, especially online where they can be shared easily.  Sure it’s “just advertising”, but it’s also a distinct slice of history and a reminder of good times.

What do you think?  Are there any commercials that should be released into the public domain due to their historical or cultural significance?

And while we’re on that subject, check out the Vintage Ad Browser for another little slice of advertising history.

Seriously ironic.

There’s so many layers of ironic, I want to take a moment to dissect them.  Some are painfully obvious, but there’s so many it’d be easy to miss a few.

• Misrepresentation of the status quo:  “Free TV” was never free.  It was always paid for by advertisers.
• A new technology being offered as a premium service.
• New technology that allowed greater access of content to places that could not otherwise access it via previously established technology.
• Said previously established institutions screamed bloody murder that the new technology would destroy them
• A mess of regulations and fees that attempted to protect existing parties which felt threatened.
• Multiple content control battles regarding content.
• Threatened monopolies of different sizes and shape.

And last but not least:

• The old status quo is long forgotten, having been replaced by the “new” technology which is now status quo, and screaming bloody murder about how the latest technology will destroy them all.

Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.

According to jpickar (Jason Pickar) of YouTube , this commercial (that his agency at the time created) for Wendy’s was banned, and that they (said agency) were told that they didn’t want anyone to see it.  Since they don’t work for Wendy’s anymore, here it is:

Now I want to try that sandwich.

If Wendy’s never used the commercial as stated in the video description, the fact that it’s on YouTube modifies the original line of “Anything you publish will live online forever” from previous posts.

It changes it to “Anything you ever THOUGHT about publishing will live online forever as long as someone’s got a copy”

For those of you who ever wanted to know how to use social media to help your business, here’s the approach I’d recommend to Wendy’s:

• Release the banned commercial, and emphasize the fact it was banned, unapproved, or deemed inappropriate.
• Provide contact information to Wendy’s across YouTube and other social media networks as the video makes its way through them.
• Handle feedback in a natural, human, non-survey way.

Example #1:  Positive Feedback

• Viewer:  That commercial rocks lol!  Wendys was stupid to ban it
• Response:  We were honestly afraid of offending people and have them boycott Wendy’s.  If we get enough people liking the commercial we might release it.
• Viewer:  lol dude I eat at Wendy’s.  I wanna explode

Potential:  Create a Facebook group, “I want to spontaneously combust!”, letting people sign it in support of the new sandwich and its ad.  See if people sign it.  If they do, you’ve got a new ad slogan and style that should work.

Example #2:  Negative Feedback

• Viewer:  That was terrible!  How could you make something like that?!
• Response:  That’s the reason why the commercial never aired.  It was one of those ’seemed like a  good idea at the time’ ads.
• Viewer:  Why put it on YouTube?
• Response:  Because your opinion matters.  This way we know what not to do.

After all, the money was already sunk into making the basic commercial.  Instead of trying to buy network time, just release it online via YouTube — which gets a lot more viewer time than any network put together.

The Takeaway

Releasing a risky commercial through traditional media is more dangerous because it’s much harder to “take back” and you sink the additional costs of buying air time into it.

Release a risky commercial online and you can apologize right then and there, plus you didn’t have to pay for its air time.

Even if the commercial fails, I recommend leaving it online and associated with your public account.  Why?  At least if you maintain ownership you can still respond to negative criticism and it doesn’t look like you’re trying to just sweep your mistakes under a rug.

After all, if you let other people be the primary source for displaying your mistake, you get all the same negative consequences, but none of the benefits of interaction or feedback.

And now for something completely different:

Yes, this was the original Grimace.  While he’s changed a lot since, apparently his intellect didn’t go up any, considering he stole the empty cups from McDonald’s.

You think that’s bad?  Ronald’s first appearance is about 100 times creepier.

There’s no way an ad like this would fly today, although not for any objectionable content (nightmare-fuel E. Grimace aside)  It’s simply not permissible to direct advertising at kids.

Personally though, I think there’s a major advertising opportunity to create a movie called “Return to McDonald Land”.  Just have a bunch of kids return to McDonald Land as adults.  It’d be advertising and cinematic gold even if (or especially if) it’s horrible.

As the long weekend is coming up, no polls this Friday.  (Unless we get a lot of comments, in which case expect an edit.)  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Presented by Peter Watson at the Tech Alliance Breakfast Club, February 10, 2010

The old advertisings adage is the glass half full or half empty covered the past 30 years of advertising and marketing.

Which is precisely why when I started my self-employed career, I ran to direct marketing. Everything you do in DM is measurable. Mail 10,000, get 300 replies. Call 5,000, connect with 100. In B2B, this form of marketing is called lead generation and it works. Several benchmarks formulas are critical to measuring effectiveness:

What is a customer worth?
What was the cost per order?

But when the Fournaise Marketing Group warned that 60% of all advertising spending it tracked around the world in 2008 failed to deliver the results expected by their marketers, and can therefore be considered wasted, the marketing equation is heading in the wrong direction. Granted, business to business is higher at 47%. The B2C marketers tend to rely heavily on the old and traditional model of brand building: by mainly going after awareness and recall through expensive and impact-driven media buys. They hope to deliver more sales and/or store traffic down the line – a fundamental mistake given the high levels of advertising clutter, which leads to high levels of wastage.

“I’m cool like that” = Tide

And, from your favourite source of Listeriosis, “The Republic of Bacon” = MLF

Fournaise identified the 3 most effective media campaigns to tracked in 2008. The media with the lowest Marketing Wastage Rate (MRW) were:

Text emails and eDMs (online category)

1. Direct mailers (direct mailing category)
2. Newspapers (print category)

In the past 30 years we have witnessed the fragmentation of broadcast television giving way to 500 channels of specialty and movie networks.

Radio has morphed away from AM to become specialty FM networks leaving AM to news and talk radio. Then satellite radio completely eliminated commercials.

And print is losing ground to consolidated ownership with very little local content, against rival free community newspapers that fill the void left by the struggling dailies. Advertising rates are rising and circulation is plummeting. Advertisers are seeking alternative media. Magazines are unable to survive free distribution strategies and more and more the public consults the web as a convenient replacement for news, weather and sports, and lifestyle magazines which now publish online.

Then the market crash took place in September 2008 plunging the world into the worst recession since the Great Depression of ’29. Small business retreated, cutting all marketing spending. Then the media began printing messages of recovery in the first quarter of 2010. Oddly, the metamorphosis of the media continued during the recession. Now, supposedly on the other side, the world has changed and social media has take up the role of primary media. In 18 short months, the way we communicate has changed forever.

Whether the glass was half full or half empty, we are now deep into the digital age. You’ve witnessed this during your emergence as a generation of web people.

Why is all this social media stuff so popular and addictive?

Both make you feel good. But social media also make you feel important.

It gives you a voice that your friends know and the whole world hears.

It lets you share your experiences and discoveries with everyone

It’s not socially embarrassing to be caught doing.

Think about it. 5 billion minutes on Facebook. 142,857,142 items of content shared on Facebook. 3 million tweets on Twitter.

28,800 hours of video uploaded on YouTube. That’s every day, seven days a week 365 days a year, or about 1, 878, 248, 368, 830 (quadrillion) ideas and conversations being shared annually. That’s a lot of conversations. And business should care.

Why?

For starters, word of mouth. The rings of traditional word of mouth used to work in multiples of 16. Today, an unhappy customer can sway hundreds and possibly thousands of friends. Everyone knows about it at once – it’s part of the millions and billions of tweets content sharing and other social media activities going on 24-7, 365.

Word of mouth is powerful because it comes from people we know. We tend to believe information from familiar sources.

Its travels fast and far through social media. The threat and potential for business is clear.

Don’t think your business is a part of social media already?

Do your employees use it?

Do your customers use it?

Do your competitors use it?

Do your suppliers use it?

A reminder: 3 out of 4 Americans use Social Media
70% of Canadians say they use social media
12,482,660 (37.5%) of Canadians are on Facebook
47% of Canadians use Twitter – majority are 19 – 25 years of age

But the online community that is with us now is only the beginning. The pivot point according to Seth Godin, occurred with the introduction of the iPhone in 2007.

Coming out of the other side of the recession, penetration of mobile and Internet enable phones is rising sharply. Perhaps its time to get to know the Mobile Population

Mobile users are inseparable from their devices. Whether they have a smartphone or a traditional feature phone, it goes with them at all times. And as these devices become more capable, they are evolving into extensions of user’s desktops and home communications and entertainment systems.

Penetration will approach near 100% by 2013, reflected in a modest 2.7% compound annual growth rate (CARG) in the number of subscribers between 2008 and 2013.

Usage continues to center around various forms of communication, and text messaging has superseded voice calling as the pre-eminent means of communication on mobile devices. Figures from Nielsen show that in Q1 2009, the average US mobile subscriber sent or received 486 text messages per month but made just 182 calls.

The Future of Marketing; the Convergence of Media.

Strong statement? Not when you consider the marketing channels that routinely appear on that small, hand-held device most of us carry every day - Web, Email, SMS, RSS, Social Media, Video, Radio, TV and Voice. In addition, your phone is fast becoming your e-Wallet and a Point of Sale terminal.

Most marketers are ready to market to mobile devices; they just haven’t thought about it or taken full advantage. Most have Web sites, but few optimize them for the small screen. Many send Email campaigns, but seldom test to see how they’re performing on handhelds. As ubiquitous as mobile devices are, they often remain a mystery as a marketing channel.

Coming full circle, how do you Measure marketing effectiveness?

Marketing can make a dramatic contribution to your success, yet many businesses fail to measure how effective their marketing is. Marketing research can help you assess the effectiveness of your marketing strategy and measure the performance of individual campaigns. You can use market research to help plan your marketing strategy and methods. Very often it’s the combination of marketing activities that produces results.

Measuring marketing performance

It can be very difficult to predict marketing effectiveness in advance, or even to accurately measure marketing performance afterwards. A campaign you have invested in heavily can produce disappointing results. Apparent success can be difficult to interpret - how much did your marketing really contribute to the increase in sales and which marketing activities were the most effective?

Marketing research can make a big difference, helping you measure your marketing ROI (return on investment). For example, advertising research can use simple tracking mechanisms such as coded advertising coupons that let you identify which publications are generating the best enquiries. Web analytics on your website can generate statistics showing how visitors behave and which pages are encouraging purchases. And, the best part is they are free using Google analytics.

Marketing analysis like this doesn’t only help you measure marketing performance - but also predict and improve it. For example, techniques like list splitting allow you to test different versions of a mailing to find out which one will work best. Knowing which marketing messages and media work best helps you spend your marketing budget more effectively in the future.

Strategic marketing analysis

Market research can also be used to assess overall marketing effectiveness at a strategic level. For example, you might want to research whether you are charging the right prices or compare different distribution channels. You can also use brand research to analyze the cumulative impact of your marketing campaigns in terms of brand recognition and reputation. Or you might want to carry out a benchmarking exercise, comparing how you market and how much you spend against competitors and industry norms.

Successful strategic marketing analysis starts with a clear idea of where you’re starting from and what you are trying to achieve. You can then identify key marketing metrics that help indicate marketing performance. For example, if your strategy focuses on product innovation, one key metric might be the percentage of your sales coming from new products.

Other common marketing metrics include measures of customer satisfaction, sales per customer, response per campaign and dollars invested, loyalty levels, percentage of market share and new customer acquisition, as well as the volume and type of customers that leave. All this should be measured against what you and your competitors are doing, to see how they tie together.

Marketing research like this can help you identify what changes you should make. For example, brand research may reveal negative impressions that you need to correct, perhaps by changing your marketing messages. It can also help you identify where your competitive edge lies and how you can capitalize on it.

Why should business care about social media?

Because it is happening right now. While we’re sitting in this room.

In a matter of days, the 2010 Winter Olympic Games will begin. NBC Universal has launched several new mobile initiatives and rebranded its other wireless properties to promote the sporting event. The entertainment giant’s coverage of the Olympic Games spans its various television networks and content channels to bring as much programming and interaction to consumers. NBC has an Olympic mobile website that features breaking news, live results, schedules, TV and online content listings. Medal Counts, Team profiles, slideshows and Vancouver spectator information at http://m.NBCOlympics.com. The age of convergence is now.

Co-sponsor Coca-Cola will also spread mobile cheer with applications that feature noises such as cowbells and air horns. The Coke campaign is anchored by a group of high-profile US Olympians and champions known as the Coca-Cola Six Pack.

And the interesting thing about these mega campaigns, they are totally measurable. Instant user profiles can be compiled for sponsors. And, reversing the popular Facebook formula to profile like users is available to every business. The mandate now becomes a battle to engage mobile or online users.

And the glass is now full of digital ginger ale.

Remember Punchy from last post?

7-Up has this banned update:

Honestly, she’s just as big a jerk as Punchy, but there are a few critical differences here:

• Set up
• Predictability
• Consequence
• Gender

The set-up appears to be an entirely different commercial — both subjects are attractive and it initially appears to be a “sex sell”. In contrast, Punchy is a cartoon character in which mischief and violence is already expected.

When she delivers the punchline headline, it’s going to catch most people off-guard and far more likely to deliver a laugh, compared to Punchy’s obvious upcoming pun.

A critical difference between the 7-Up commercial and the early Hawaiian Punch commercials as well is the fact that after the action, the guy is nowhere to be found.  Opie the tourist on the other hand, is left visibly lying in a heap as Punchy skips away.  That way there’s a lot less time to focus on the consequences of the violence.  Removing that aspect makes it a lot easier to laugh.

Finally, there’s the gender.  Needless to say, there’s no way Punchy would be allowed win a fight against the 7-Up girl.  Not today, and hopefully not even in his day.  (I don’t think there’s been any commercial where Punchy ever hit a woman, although I’ve already shown you he’d do it if given the opportunity)

As always, now that it’s on the web, 7-Up will never be able to remove it.

The questions for this post are:

• Would Punch-Style commercials be acceptable today as long as Punchy was female?
• Should funny cartoon-style violence be acceptable for use in advertising on TV, the Internet, neither or both?

As usual, the questions link to a (2-question) Survey Monky survey, the results of which I’ll post as an edit to this entry.

Hawaiian Punch, a drink which has changed hands several times since its conception (and was originally an ice-cream topping) has a mascot named Punchy.

Hey, want a nice Hawaiian Punch?

And the joke is of course that he gets to hit some guy in the face thanks to a play on words.  He would do this continually — ask the same tourist (named “Opie”) if he’d want a Hawaiin Punch, deck him when he said yes, and move on.

Punchy would hit anyone.  Even a mother of small children.  In a commercial featuring the woman in the shoe (although she’s clearly not old here) you clearly see him winding up.

He’s not allowed to strike her thanks to her kids who tackle Punchy.  But it’s the thought that counts.

Later, they stylized the violence using an old technique used in comedy and horror to either lessen or heighten the impact of an action.  By having the punch turn into an explosion, and not showing poor foolish Opie lying in a crumpled heap afterwards, it’s everyone’s favourite “violence without consequence”.

There’s a difference in execution here that makes it a lot more light-hearted, but Punchy’s still a jerk.

Lessons of “If someone asks if you’d like a nice Hawaiian Punch, duck” or “Hit him back first” aside, you don’t see commercials like this anymore.  For one thing, it’s advertising directed specifically at children which is now regulated.  For another, it’s featuring comedic violence which you generally don’t see in advertising these days.

Like everything else ever published, Punchy’s legacy is now immortalized on the Internet — although being a nostalgic character, he avoids the “suck it up or embrace it” scenario that McDonald’s might with some of their ads.

Given all the now-acceptable death and violence in cartoons these days (thanks in part to Japanese imports) the polling questions are:

• Would “Punchy”-style commercials be acceptable today?
• Could “Punchy”-style commercial characters find new life on the Internet?
• With marketers morally obligated to not target children, could Punchy (and his kind) be marketed to adults via nostalgia angle?

The above questions link to a Survey Monkey survey, the results of which will be added to this post as an edit over time.

Someone has probably asked if you’re on Twitter by now.  If you’ve ever been on Twitter, only to wonder why anyone would want to hear the surface thoughts of various co-workers and acquaintances, then this blog is for you.

Setting Up Twitter

First you will need a Twitter account. Fill out as much detail as you feel comfortable with.

Second, download and install a Twitter application.  I recommend Tweetdeck or Twhirl.  A Twitter application is a critical step because the simple HTML version alone isn’t very useful.

Third and most difficult for newbies, figure out the best Twitter account to follow.

I recommend your favourite news source, such as the Globe and Mail for national news.  If you’re local to Response Generators in London Ontario, there’s the London Free Press (or London Events which is a sub-feed of the LFP), AM980 News, or From My Bottom Step.

Using Twitter

Now while you’re using your computer, you will receive news updates as they occur.  These will pop up in little windows at the bottom-right corner of your screen with Twhirl, or top-right corner with Tweetdeck.

If you’re interested in the update, notice that most tweets come complete with link to the full story.  Click the link to read more.

If you’re not interested in the update, just ignore it and it will go away on its own.  If you’re using Tweetdeck, you can also manually dismiss the update earlier if you feel the need.

Over time, the utility of having little bits of news being delivered to you in a way that’s easily ignored will start to become apparent.  Those short, 140-character blurbs let you know in a simple glance if it’s anything you want to know more about or not.

And that’s a basic way to get started on Twitter.

(Actual tweeting, finding people with shared interests, lists and so forth are a post for another time.)