Some Random Whys From The Weekend

Why will Evander Kane make 6 million next year?   Jonathan Toews will make 7.5 million and has won two Stanley Cups, an MVP, a world junior hockey championship and a gold medal for good measure.

Why does Hollywood make crappy movies?

Why are you buying into the social media bullshit (thanks B.J. Mendelson for a great book on social media)? Walk the aisles of any store and pick a product social media made.

Why do cellular phone companies and cable companies treat long term customers like garbage?

Why do government offices make it impossible to reach a live person?

Why was my garbage collected on a stat holiday and my recycling was not?

Why did the City of Winnipeg Forestry cut branches down on all the trees on my street but not pick up ALL the branches?  (Thanks for the mess.)

Why do people pierce their ears and leave holes you can drive a semi through?

The Golden Age of Bullshit

Brilliant message given by Bob Hoffman, The Ad Contrarian,  at the Advertising Week Europe held in London. 

Ad Aged: A Thursday poem.

Ad Aged: A Thursday poem.: Whatever happened to hashtags? They were going to takeover the planet. You wouldn't just read an ad. You'd interact and scan it. ...

Some Random Whys From The Weekend

Why can’t you find a good set of windshield wipers?

Why do ad agencies insist on turning advertising from an art to a science?

Why do ads use words like, “they say”? Just tell me who they is!

Why isn’t golfer Miguel Angel Jimenez not doing  TV commercials? 

Why does Old Spice produce crappy ads?

Why do politicians use the excuse to increase something on the fact they there hasn’t been an increase in years or better yet, “we are still lowest in the country"?

Why didn’t the tall foreheads not put a dome on Investors Group Field?

Why doesn’t the Winnipeg Blue Bomber football team hire a good public relations person? Staying hush on the water damage is….damaging!

Why does the NHL let players on the shootout come to stop?

Why doesn’t Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz forego on hiring more communications people and hire a good public relations person to help the Mayor with his speeches  so he never again says, “to be honest with you” when answering questions?

And The Survey Says

Surveys can be useless.

Especially the ones that ask you to rate from 1 to 10. 

One being not likely, 10 being most likely.

Most surveys are long and boring.

Isn’t it easier to have three questions?

Did we help you find what you needed?

How did we do helping?

What could we do better?

Either way you have to know that if you help me, I share.

If you don’t I share.

2-9 is a long way.

Or to put it another way, a load of bs.

Who Is Not Buying New Cars

According to Edmunds.com, The share of new cars purchased by those aged 18-34 dropped 30% in the last five years, 

AARP reports that 50+ drivers purchase 6.2 million new autos each year, while 18-34 year olds account for 1.3 million. That’s a remarkable 400% 50+ advantage.

Tom Libby reports in his Polk blog that, "The much-coveted new vehicle buyers age 18-34, sometimes referred to as millenials, are a dwindling group.  Five years ago they accounted for 17% of all new vehicle buyers and now 11%". 

In his post, The Great Debate: Do Millennials Really Want Cars, or Not?, Bob Tuttle of Time says that,  "one theory has it that the generation that came of age with the Internet and smartphones thinks cars are pretty lame."

Bob Hoffman, The Ad Contrarian continually blogs about how the automobile industry is in love with this market that doesn't buy new vehicles.  From his post, Cats Who Want To Be Dogs,

"People over 50 buy 62% of all new cars, but are not in any auto maker's media target. Auto makers typically buy 18-49 years-olds or 25-54 year-olds.

In other words, auto sellers direct about 100% of their effort at 38% of the market and about 0% of their effort at 62% of the market." 

Yet with all this data the automobile industry continues to target the shopper who represents  about a third of all new car buyers.

And if you are going to hand your ad agencies multi million dollar accounts, you could at least ask for some creativity.  Four car manufacturers TV ads all have current top 40 songs on the radio as the music beds in their ads.  

Talk about sheep.

Nissan is using Bruno, Mazda has Capital Cities, Kia Soul features Lady Gaga and Fiat has Pharrel Williams with P. Diddy, Sean Combs, Puff Daddy or whoever he wants to be this year.

Robin Williams plays Sam Roberts in the TV comedy, The Crazy Ones a show about an ad agency Williams owns with his daughter.  Roberts is an old school ad agency guy.

In one episode he chastises the concept for an ad saying, "It's annoying and obvious.  There is enough visual pollution in this world."

Amen.