It might just be me but when I see TV ads for restaurants that have all these shots of their food, I think, so what.
I know what a steak looks like, that pizza has toppings and spaghetti has different sauces.
A & W have a series of great TV ads.
Tony Mariani
Friday, January 28, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Bob Hoffman's brilliant look at the culture lag
Bob Hoffman is the CEO of Hoffman/Lewis advertising in San Francisco and St. Louis.
Bob has created advertising for McDonald's, Toyota, Shell, Nestle, Blue Cross, Chevrolet, Pepsico, Bank of America, Seagrams, and more companies than he cares to remember.
Bob is author of the book, The Ad Contrarian, and the blog of the same name.
His latest post, Culture Lag is an eye opener if you struggle with your advertising and marketing.
Bob has created advertising for McDonald's, Toyota, Shell, Nestle, Blue Cross, Chevrolet, Pepsico, Bank of America, Seagrams, and more companies than he cares to remember.
Bob is author of the book, The Ad Contrarian, and the blog of the same name.
His latest post, Culture Lag is an eye opener if you struggle with your advertising and marketing.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Comedy not working
I heard an ad this morning where the woman was talking about finding someone else. As it turns out the ad was for her affair with a Drug Store.
The comedy just didn't work.
"I came home and the dog was bald". That is a line in an ad for a plumbing company. Did the comedy work?
You be the judge.Read or listen to this week's Monday Morning Memo from the Wizard, Roy Williams.
Tony Mariani
The comedy just didn't work.
"I came home and the dog was bald". That is a line in an ad for a plumbing company. Did the comedy work?
You be the judge.Read or listen to this week's Monday Morning Memo from the Wizard, Roy Williams.
Tony Mariani
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Social coupon sites
The three popular sites are Groupon, LivingSocial and SocialBuy.
Before you jump in with both feet, do the math. Look at your margins and see if the deep discounts are worth it.
If you are a new business, do you want to start building your brand as a discounter?
If business is hurting you might be tempted to discount but its likely a short term fix for whats ailing.
There are pros and cons to coupons.
Know why it should be part your marketing mix and not because its the flavor of the day.
Tony Mariani
Before you jump in with both feet, do the math. Look at your margins and see if the deep discounts are worth it.
If you are a new business, do you want to start building your brand as a discounter?
If business is hurting you might be tempted to discount but its likely a short term fix for whats ailing.
There are pros and cons to coupons.
Know why it should be part your marketing mix and not because its the flavor of the day.
Tony Mariani
Saturday, January 22, 2011
QR code done well and not so well
This is how QR codes are supposed to work.
The code is visible and and when I clicked on it, I was directed to Peak's cause.
On the other hand, here is a movie pass for The Mechanic that has a QR code so small it was impossible to click and see what was embedded in the code. Just a hunch but the code was likely the trailer for the movie.
Oops on the proof reading and press check.
Tony Mariani
Monday, January 17, 2011
Autotrader should be paying me
Adam D. Lee is Chairman of Lee Auto Malls in Maine. This was his guest commentary in Automotive News January 4th, 2011 edition.
Some pretty strong words for Autotrader and a very bold move by Lee. Only time will tell if he is brilliant or cuckoo.
Lee writes:
"As crazy as this sounds, Autotrader, Cars.com and all of their cousins should be paying me to list my cars on their sites, instead of me paying them.
I have told my reps this many times, to which they all smile politely and confess that they see my point, but that I am basically -- well, wrong, to be nice about it.
Here is my logic. When you watch the news you doso to watch the actual news broadcast. You are not watching for the commercials. TV news and newspapers sell a product, which is the news. They have entire news departments with reporters and editors and anchors, all reporting the news. Having a good news show allows them to have high ratings. High ratings allow them to sell advertising for a lot of money. We all buy the news when we do car ads.
What product do the Web sites sell? They sell my inventory. They put my cars on their site and then they sell tons of advertising on top of that. All of the major manufacturers advertise on these sites.
Here is the rub: without my inventory to show people, (your inventory, too) no one would go their sites and they would not be able to sell advertising. Somehow they have convinced us to pay them to show our cars. It is not enough that we have to buy the cars, floorplan them and maintain them. Then they are able to sell advertising on top of that.
Really, sites like Autotrader don't have a product to sell. They just have my cars. Since I have the product and they have none, shouldn't they be paying me to use my cars? My cars attract people to their site and they can sell additional advertising? I think they should.
I am not even addressing the whole science they have developed of selling packages, premium packages, super deluxe premium packages and so on. It never ends.
I have just canceled my contract with Autotrader and Cars.com.
Am I a little worried about it? Yes, I am.
Is it the right thing to do? Ask me in a couple of months.
I am going to take the money I save to beef up Google ad words and my Internet department, and to promote my own Web site.
If I had more energy -- and if the other dealers in Maine didn't think I was crazy -- I would try to organize all of them to create a Web site for Maine dealers and we could sell advertising to the manufacturers and insurance companies and banks and stop paying Autotrader, Cars.com and their cousins.
I can see dealers in every state doing this -- maybe even NADA doing it for us. Think of the millions of dollars we could save. But, I believe our naturally competitive nature will prevent us from doing this. So I am going to give it a shot and keep my fingers crossed."
Tony Mariani
Some pretty strong words for Autotrader and a very bold move by Lee. Only time will tell if he is brilliant or cuckoo.
Lee writes:
"As crazy as this sounds, Autotrader, Cars.com and all of their cousins should be paying me to list my cars on their sites, instead of me paying them.
I have told my reps this many times, to which they all smile politely and confess that they see my point, but that I am basically -- well, wrong, to be nice about it.
Here is my logic. When you watch the news you doso to watch the actual news broadcast. You are not watching for the commercials. TV news and newspapers sell a product, which is the news. They have entire news departments with reporters and editors and anchors, all reporting the news. Having a good news show allows them to have high ratings. High ratings allow them to sell advertising for a lot of money. We all buy the news when we do car ads.
What product do the Web sites sell? They sell my inventory. They put my cars on their site and then they sell tons of advertising on top of that. All of the major manufacturers advertise on these sites.
Here is the rub: without my inventory to show people, (your inventory, too) no one would go their sites and they would not be able to sell advertising. Somehow they have convinced us to pay them to show our cars. It is not enough that we have to buy the cars, floorplan them and maintain them. Then they are able to sell advertising on top of that.
Really, sites like Autotrader don't have a product to sell. They just have my cars. Since I have the product and they have none, shouldn't they be paying me to use my cars? My cars attract people to their site and they can sell additional advertising? I think they should.
I am not even addressing the whole science they have developed of selling packages, premium packages, super deluxe premium packages and so on. It never ends.
I have just canceled my contract with Autotrader and Cars.com.
Am I a little worried about it? Yes, I am.
Is it the right thing to do? Ask me in a couple of months.
I am going to take the money I save to beef up Google ad words and my Internet department, and to promote my own Web site.
If I had more energy -- and if the other dealers in Maine didn't think I was crazy -- I would try to organize all of them to create a Web site for Maine dealers and we could sell advertising to the manufacturers and insurance companies and banks and stop paying Autotrader, Cars.com and their cousins.
I can see dealers in every state doing this -- maybe even NADA doing it for us. Think of the millions of dollars we could save. But, I believe our naturally competitive nature will prevent us from doing this. So I am going to give it a shot and keep my fingers crossed."
Tony Mariani
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Words that make you go hmm
Bigger
Better
Best
Heard the 3 words together in the same line of a radio ad for a yearly home improvement show.
Do those words really work?
Tony Mariani
Better
Best
Heard the 3 words together in the same line of a radio ad for a yearly home improvement show.
Do those words really work?
Tony Mariani
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