A blog about marketing, society, culture & change

Category Archives: Advertising

Cookie Monsters and Invisible Ad Friends

Posted on August 6, 2010 in Advertising
...C is for Cookie Monster...Image by ???? via Flickr

The appetite for advanced consumer tracking technology online has been exploding over the past few years.

Specialized tracking companies that collect and organize your daily online surfing behaviors have been around for awhile. Recently, however, a new breed of companies that collect and build advanced consumer profiles have been springing up like mortgage dealers in a housing bubble as the online ad market grows.

On one hand, this is good news for interruptive online advertisers because at least ads are becoming more relevant via precise targeting. Advanced tracking definitely helps advertisers become more efficient and maximize ad $$.

Invisible Ad Friends

On the other hand, the level at which folks are being tracked & segmented today via incredibly smart algorithms capturing data from everywhere (social networks included) feels a bit creepy. Though most folks probably realize that their actions are being monitored online (cookies have been around since the good ole’ mid 90s) they might not realize that in 2010, they are quasi opting in forced to surf with an invisible “ad guide.” This “invisible hand of Don Draper” serves up reminders of what people previously viewed online (see this Wall Street Journal article on how tracking across the web has grown more sophisticated).

Where does this leave us? I’m obviously not opposed to all online advertising as a Brand guy. But, I personally think we still have way too much “Digital Fog” on the net. I’m all for more transparency when you surf and/or buy something online. In that context, I really like what Jeff Jarvis says ad supported sites should do about this going forward:

If I were an advertising-supported site, I’d be aggressively transparent. I’d tell you exactly what we track and what impact that has on what we serve in advertising and content. I’d create an app to read the cookies placed just for you and explain them. I’d give you the chance to correct information. I’d give you the chance to select your own advertising (now that would be valuable). I’d treat this with radical openness.

Project VRM

I also like the idea that there needs to be a solution on the consumer side. Why can’t we have “independent” tools that follow us around the web and make recommendations for us (without too much of an agenda?) There are folks out there working on this (see Project VRM). Project VRM is looking into the development of tools by which individuals can take control of their relationships with organizations - especially in commercial marketplaces. It will be interesting to see what Project VRM comes up with…

What are your thoughts here?

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Cultural me and Alex Bogusky

Posted on July 23, 2010 in Advertising, Anti

The essence of childhood is innocence. The essence of youth is awareness.  The essence of adulthood is responsibility –Andy Crouch

Cultural Me

High culture, low culture, pop culture, ethnic culture, mass/social media dominated culture, political culture…we’re all part of culture in some way.  Today, we create more culture than ever in today’s crazy world of self publishing (blogs, micro blogs, facebook, youtube, etc.).  It is amazing to watch how the collective  consciousness of this world is being built at breakneck pace.

But some of us are better positioned than others to create and influence culture in a recognizable way.

Alex Bogusky

Alex Bogusky is a self described “culture jammer” and arguably one of the most influential creative directors of the decade (Burger King, Mini, etc.).  Adweek anointed Alex with Creative Director of the Decade honors in December.

Interestingly, Bogusky decided to step down from advertising while still in his prime.  The New York Times picked up on the departure of one of the best pop culture ad guys of the “noughties” pointing out that Bogusky wanted to shift gears and help build a different kind of culture:

“Mostly, what I want to do is participate in this cultural revolution that’s happening,” he (Bogusky) added, “happening mostly outside of advertising.”

Revolutionary You

I’m not sure what Alex Bogusky will be doing next, but it looks like he’ll be looking to support a couple of worthy causes.  In a recent blog post, Bogusky “calls out” advertising to children as a issue that needs to be dealt with urgently (especially in the age of childhood obesity).  He ends the post called The first Cannes Lion for not advertising at all passionately with a plea against excessive advertising to our young.  This was pretty thought provoking, so I thought I would post it below:

We all work to bring our personal values in line with our professional life and there are shades of grey to these decisions. But shades of grey don’t exist in our society’s decision to allow millions to be spent targeting an audience that is literally and physiologically incapable of protecting and defending themselves from a message probably doesn’t have their very best interest at heart…there are children and there are adults. And the duty of adults in society is to protect it’s children. And that is black and white.

If you get a chance read Bogusky’s The first Cannes Lion for not advertising at all post in its entirety , it will make you think about advertising’s affect on culture generally and kids specifically.

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When the image builders ruin your image?

Posted on April 11, 2010 in Advertising, Brand Purpose, Lifestyle, Marketing, Purpose

Back in the late 80s/early 90s, I was a Andre Agassi fan.  I remember thinking how cool Andre’s life must be…jetting around the world, winning the big tournaments, making the big bucks.  Like many others, I liked Andre because he was a tennis rebel in an often lame world of white shirt tennis guys.  Agassi seemed to be a sort of Gen X rebel with an attitude.

Canon picked up on the Agassi craze and launched an ad campaign early in the tennis star’s career around the rebel concept.  In one ad, Agassi famously quips “Image is Everything.” The line was interesting because you could interpret it in a few different ways: i) a play on words because the product was actually a camera capturing images ii)  a tongue-in-cheek slogan about Agassi’s image iii) a pseudo serious claim that creating some type of outlandish image is required if you wanted to be a winner or cool in the “mullet-infested” early 90s.

An image that ruins your image

In his new tell all book Open, Agassi laments this campaign and rants against the ad agency, the Canon execs and everyone involved in making him parrot the image is everything slogan.  While kids & fans idolized Agassi, the sports media bashed him because he became a cultural star before really proving himself to be a true champion.  The sports media saw the Canon campaign rightly portraying Agassi as a guy with style, but no substance.

Part of the reason (I believe) Agassi decided to write Open was to debunk the idea that he was only an image conscious narcissist who used style and flamboyance to get sports marketing deals.  In the book, Agassi definitely reveals his own flaws as well as the flaws of many others he loves (hates?)  Interestingly, in doing so, the press has come out strongly on his side, with glowing reviews of Open.  Indeed, with Open, Agassi may have benefited from the Pratfall effect…

Pratfall Effect?

Psychologists studying the “pratfall effect” find that when a person is generally competent, making a blunder can actually increase others’ liking of that individual (See this article.)  Agassi’s life appears to be 1 giant blunder in Open.  Hearing that the Gen X star was really a pyromaniac, self-loather, people pleaser, part-time drug user, tennis hater, etc. hurts.  But in some ways, it also reminds us that we’re not perfect either.

Reformed Perfectionista & People Pleaser

There’s one brutally honest part when Brad Gilbert calls out Agassi for trying too hard to be perfect on the court:

When you chase perfection, when you make perfection the ultimate goal, do you know what you’re doing?  You’re chasing something that doesn’t exist.  You’re making everyone around you miserable.  You’re making yourself miserable.  Perfection?  There’s about 5 times a year you wake up perfect, when you can’t lose to anybody, but it’s not those 5 times a year that make a tennis player.  Or a human being for that matter.

I’m not a big fan of Gilbert, but I like the idea that we take ourselves too seriously and forget that we’re flawed humans.

No Purpose Man Finds Purpose

Agassi also admits that he saw no purpose or meaning in Tennis.  As his career progresses, it is great to see how he transforms his thinking and realizes that he’s been given all these resources & the gift of celebrity to help people (e.g. Agassi prep academy, Agassi Foundation for Education).  As his website notes…Since retiring in 2006, Andre Agassi has increased his focus on his Foundation and on promoting education reform. He is also building a lifestyle business through endorsement relationships, joint venture investments and real estate development.

But wait, reread the last part of the paragraph above…don’t think for a second that Agassi hasn’t lost his touch with the commercial world; he’s knows he’s still in the lifestyle business.

The Brands are Still There

Agassi has re-fashioned his image over the past decade into family man + philanthropist and the Brands have stayed with him (Adidas, Longines, etc, etc.)  Kreiss even has a Steffi/Andre collection.  Agassi communicates about his activities on this blog.  He definitely still understands the value of image building as he even keeps a PR CEO on his advisory board.

My Own Blunder…

To sum up my rambling comments on the Agassi autobiography, I think Open provides an honest look into the world of a conflicted Sports idol and his relationships/entourage…additionally, Agassi provides some interesting insights into the celebrity world & sports sponsorship/marketing world.  Hopefully he also scares overzealous sports parents into backing off their kids a bit.  Admittedly, I did wonder why Agassi happily promotes this book, which clearly is meant for an adult audience (rough language, etc.) on his education foundation website with an article next to it entitled Agassi’s past doesn’t diminish what he does now.

Maybe on a later blog post I’ll reveal more about my own blunder in trying to get Andre to sit next to me & my German wife in a Stuttgart hotel pub during a Tyson fight.  During the evening, my wife & I were chatting with Brad Gilbert & the rest of Agassi’s entourage.  Agassi walked in and I abruptly asked him to sit with us.  He wouldn’t do it as he probably thought I was a crazed fan.  However, he did shake my hand and we had a small chat about the 1994 US Open.

I embarrassed my own entourage a bit that night with my uncool behavior though.

We all make mistakes…

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A culture defined by brands?

Posted on February 20, 2010 in Advertising, Brands and Culture

How much money is spent Globally on marketing promotion?

eMarketer recently reported (via PWC) that worldwide roughly 420 Billion was spent on advertising in 2009…by 2013, this # is expected to rise to $470 Billion.  This number does not include trade spending and other forms of marketing spend, however.

Interestingly, Forrester reports that today 70% of all marketing spending is locked into trade funds and other non-traditional areas.  If you factor in this estimate and consider that the PWC study only looked at 48 countries in their ad spend survey, then annual marketing spend on driving/influencing consumer behavior across all touchpoints could easily be in the neighborhood of 1Trillion USD.

Let’s just put 1 Trillion USD into perspective:

  • 1 Trillion USD would fund the military might of all NATO countries combined or all US military activity since 9/11
  • 1 Trillion USD is greater than the entire GDP of Australia
  • 1 Trillion USD would cover everyone’s rent in the US for 3 years
  • 1 Trillion USD would buy you every stock on the Toronto stock exchange

See this video from Mint.com for details on 1 Trillion USD.

All this spending happens annually in order to stimulate Global consumer demand, influence purchase intent and grow brand equities. Consumers are footing the bill in a big way today for marketing today…

Additionally, the annual 1 Trillion $ marketing spend is bound to embed brands deeper & deeper into the culture.  J. Twitchell notes that 10% of a 2 year old’s nouns are brand names. More people recognize the Golden Arches vs the Red Cross.

Many young marketers enter the business fray and are excited about the prospect of leading projects and working on big brands with loads of marketing budget. For the most part, I don’t think many even really consider how their promotional programs intersect with culture. I know from my own experience that the fast paced nature of today’s global marketplace combined with intense business pressure does not allow for much reflection. Every so often, however, between the business reports, meetings and discussions, moments arise where marketers almost do a double take–like when you stumble upon people making parity videos of your ads on youtube, etc.

Some would argue that we live in a post-marketing age.  I would argue that we clearly live in the golden age of marketing and brands. In this marketing age, much of our shared experiences come through brands and the advertising/storytelling that brand teams & agencies create.

Like it or not, the marketing orientation is here to stay & will even increase as even the slow to adopt commodity sectors join the marketing revolution.  Even Google, long a poster child for a brand that has been built without much consumer marketing spend, started advertising in the Super Bowl…

There is a lot of power in $1.0 Trillion. There is a lot of responsibility tied up in the $$ as well.  Where will this all go in the future? How ubiquitous and embedded does marketing promo become & how will that impact our culture going forward?

Thoughts?

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Humility is dead…long live humility

Posted on January 5, 2010 in Advertising, Brands and Culture

It’s Hard to be Humble, When your Perfect in Every Way…Country singer Mac Davis

Humility is Dead…

Like some of you out there, I enjoy watching the Apprentice.  It’s interesting to watch cut-throat competition and “The Donald” say “you’re fired” to smart people every week.  Watching “The Donald” push people past their limits is sadistically fun…humility was certainly never rewarded on the show, however.

Humility is a virtue that is rarely discussed today in popular culture.  You hardly ever hear anyone talk about it on the left, or on the right.  Even conservative former drug czar Bill Bennett somehow forgot to mention humility in his Book of Virtues a few years ago.

Why don’t we hear many cultural commentators or business leaders talk about humility?  Probably because it just doesn’t fit into our self-affirming, “you can be anything you want to be when you grow up” culture…or does it?

Long Live Humility…

Jim Collins uncovered a somewhat counter intuitive finding (from our culture’s perspective) around humility in his landmark book Good to Great a few years ago.  Collins discovered that the most effective leaders were characterized as humble and strong-willed instead of brash and full of Trump-like hubris.

In his most recent book How the Mighty Fall Collins delves into the reasons why promising organizations and countries fall.  Stage 1 is, fittingly, Hubris Born of Success.

So, humility seems to be a virtue that business folks and even marketers (like me) might want to pay a little more attention to.

Humility is a little tough to pin down, however…and today, we see loads of false humility (which is really just pride).  Wikipedia notes that “True humility” is distinctly different from “false humility,” which consists of deprecating one’s own sanctity, gifts, talents, and accomplishments for the sake of receiving praise or adulation from other.  How many times have we heard PR consultants say that in order to “fix” an egregious error with the public, a celebrity needs to go onto Oprah and confess his/her “transgressions” only to see that same celebrity up to the old tricks the next week….clearly they did not mean it.

Kant sees humility as “that meta-attitude that constitutes the moral agent’s proper perspective on himself as a dependent and corrupt but capable and dignified rational agent.”  Aquinas defines humility as consisting in keeping oneself within one’s own bounds, not reaching out to things above one, but submitting to one’s superior (tks to Wikipedia for the philosophical help here).

As humility is so counter to the prevailing culture today, adopting a more humble stance with regards to advertising/marketing promotion might be somewhat radical or breakthrough.  People long for hints of humility & authenticity today and flock in big numbers to brands that try to “keep it real.”  When Dove made a radical departure from traditional beauty advertising with a campaign like Real Beauty a few years ago, the brand shook the entire beauty industry (click here to check out Real Beauty if you have somehow missed if over the past few years).  Some might accuse Dove of pursuing false humility while others would say that Dove has stuck with its purpose led campaign for years (instead of using it as a “one shot deal” for publicity & buzz).

Don’t get me wrong…of course I believe a healthy dose of self-confidence is good.  And, we should all stretch our capabilities and use our talents.  Additionally, we all have to apply for jobs and write those dreaded resumes with loads of puffed up language about ourselves.  But, when the smiling self-help guru legions continually try to sell us on “being proud,” maybe we should listen to see if they ever mention anything about humility (at least once).  If they don’t, we should get suspicious…humility is a virtue for the ages and it deserves to be rediscovered.

So what do you think about humility?

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A New Marketing Thought Leader for Gen X / Gen Y

Posted on November 21, 2009 in Advertising, Marketing

“I have a confession to make, I lead a double life.”

Bob Gilbreath in the Marketing with Meaning introduction

If you are looking for a fresh voice from a new generation of marketers…then I highly recommend you pick up Bob Gilbreath’s new book:  Marketing with Meaning.

Yep, there are reasons why marketing heavyweights like Sir Martin Sorrell and Seth Godin rave about Bob Gilbreath’s new book.  It simply delivers.

Too often marketing books are long on hot air (how to use “shiny new objects” that are often just tactics) and short on strategic frameworks, methodologies/cases.  Bob’s book balances strategic frameworks & cases and ties them together under the mantra of marketing with meaning.

Many people have written very eloquent reviews on the book.  Here is a link to a good one by Pete Blackshaw

While cracking open the book cover on my living room couch, I grinned when Bob confessed that he’s a walking contradiction (see intro quote).  Like many of the 17 Million marketing professionals in the US, Bob is a marketer by day…and an avid marketing “avoider” by night (via Tivo, mentally blocking billboards, etc.)

After reading this great intro, I was almost hoping Bob would focus the book’s content around the Epilouge entitled, Adding Meaning to your Life (which you might want to read first) and lead us through an in-depth discussion on the perilous state of the marketing/advertising profession (is it a profession?) Side Note:  Bob also provides a fantastic cause marketing example from Luxottica in the Epilouge.

Though he touched on it briefly, I would love to read Bob’s take on the darker side of creating closer, deeper brand connections with consumers…and his thoughts on the potential negative impacts of marketers funneling cultural, political and community activities through brands (as Rob Walker puts it).  What will a world look like when we are all word of mouth agents touting products to friends, pitching in to spread the gospel virally? But, I’m digressing into shoegazing now…

Go out & buy this book if you want to understand where the future of marketing is going!  Great work Bob.

Full disclosure: Bob & I have traded thoughts/ideas, etc. over the past couple of years in the blogosphere and he was kind enough to send over a signed copy over to Geneva recently.  And, I’m probably biased because Bob has spent several years living life in the brand trenches as a Brand Manager at P&G (like me).

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Experiencing advertising exhaustion? Take 2 & call a friend in the morning

Posted on May 9, 2009 in Advertising

Image from Wikipedia

It seems that the American public is experiencing an acute case of advertising exhaustion.

A recent Harris interactive poll highlighted that Two-thirds of Americans (66%) believe advertising agencies have at least some responsibility for the current economic crisis because they caused people to buy things they couldn’t afford.  One-third (33%) believe they have complete or a great deal of responsibility.

I can understand this–especially as advertising agencies are more visible to the public through shows like Mad Men.  As this post points out, one could assume that much of the anger is directed at the financial services industry and the banks that created loan products which made it look as if we could actually afford over-priced homes (click here for a Great rant on the topic).

What I also found interesting about this survey was the group found least to blame were friends and family.  Note:  I’m not sure if Harris placed companies into the survey though obviously they are responsible for designing the products, paying for ad agency creative & funding the marketing campaigns.

But Back to Friends and Family

So friends a family didn’t get as much blame as everyone else in the Harris survey?  That’s pretty obvious I think…no one wants to blame those they love for a crisis or for influencing them to buy stuff they don’t need.  This is an obvious opportunity social media…people continue to be more cynical about push messaging.  Advice on purchasing decisions from friends & family is, however, more than welcome.

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