Tag Archives: Advertising and Marketing

June 17, 2014 · 8:49 am

Anthems

The World Cup is my favorite sporting event and one of the more interesting parts of it relates directly to our TunesDay theme.

Español: Equipos de Paraguay e Italia en el mo...

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Every match is preceded by the national anthems of the teams involved and those are our topic today.  Why I think this event is so great is, in part, due to the national fervor it stimulates.  Here in the U.S., I think it’s doubly so for those who are following it.  After all, in addition to rooting for team USA, nearly all of us are from somewhere – we’re a nation of immigrants, right? – so there are at least a couple of teams we’re following.  For those of us who love the game, we pay attention to the best teams in the world as well – Spain, Germany – actually, I won’t miss watching ANY game if I can help it. We hear a lot of anthems – more so than at the Olympics where we only hear those of the gold medalists.

Putting on our marketing hats for a second, national anthems are a form of audio branding.  In commercial terms, audio branding is supposed to unify an identity (think NBC’s chimes, Intel’s audio tags, McDonald’s jingles, etc.) as well as bring certain brand attributes to mind.  I think the better anthems do that as well.

One of the best is that of France – La Marseillaise.  Its lyrics evoke revolution, conflict, taking up arms against tyranny, preparing for a fight – pretty good in a sports context – set to one of the world’s great tunes.  By contrast, the Spanish anthem is a march that has no words and which isn’t in my mind particularly Spanish-sounding.  Some – like Germany’s – were songs written by famous composers (Haydn) to which nationalistic lyrics were later added.  Others (like the USA) were poems first that were sung to popular songs (“To Anacreon in Heaven” in this case, a popular British song).

There are songs about the monarch, the countryside, the strong will of the people and yes, even about a flag.  The business point today is that obviously an anthem – audio branding of a people – can relate to almost anything.  It’s meant to be a signature and perhaps to inspire.  So ask yourself this:  what’s my business anthem?  What does my brand sound like?  As my team lined up before a crucial meeting, what song would we write or use to represent us?  What message would it send out to those standing (it is an anthem, after all) and listening?  Give that some thought as you get ready for the next match.

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May 14, 2014 · 8:12 am

Love It Hate It

We all have people with whom we have a love-hate relationship.

"No Mom, I can't explain this any more cl...

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Maybe that starts with our parents as we’re becoming adults or maybe it’s with that dear friend who constantly drives you nuts.  We extend this sort of relationship to inanimate objects as well; technology specifically.  I want to ramble on about people and tech for a second but I think you’ll find that it has implications for your business as well.

A question for you to begin.  If you left your cell phone at home and discovered you had done so, would you be willing to turn around and go get it or could you get through the day without it?  A survey by the USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future and Bovitz, Inc. found that nearly one‐third of respondents said if they left home without their mobile device, they would return for it no matter how much time was needed to get it.  Only 23% said they’d never go back.  Technology has become indispensable in most of our lives.  We love it.  Turns out we hate it too.

Those same folks did another survey and found that

  • Thirty-one percent said technology has made it harder to separate their work and personal lives.
  • Twenty-six percent said they are stressed because technology has made them always on call for work.
  • Twenty-five percent report they struggle to figure out new technology.
  • Twenty-one percent said being accessible through a mobile device has made their lives more stressful.
  • Twenty percent said they frequently resent having to work at home because of what technology makes possible.
  • Sixteen percent said their personal lives have suffered because of technology in their work lives

Yet we’d go back for the phone.  It’s become an addiction of sorts although there are a lot of positives too.  People are able to do more in less time with their technology.  We have more time for family and friends because technology enables us to do work from anywhere.  The broader point is this.

If we can provide a product that offers benefits which far exceed the potential downsides, we’re going to be in it for the long haul.  One could argue that many pharmaceuticals stay on the market for exactly that reason despite a laundry list of nasty side effects.  Smoking is vanishing for the same reason – the downsides far outweighs the positives.  I don’t think the device manufacturers have figured that out yet.  A Harris Poll found that more people find technology too distracting than in prior surveys and fewer say they find it has improved the overall quality of their lives.  Fewer think technology enhances their social lives and the proportion who say it has improved their relationships with their family decreased.  Maybe they need to rethink marketing?

It’s ok to engage in a love-hate relationship with your customer provided, of course, that your product becomes as indispensable to their lives as mobile devices have.  How are you going to make that happen?

 

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April 28, 2014 · 9:47 am

The Truth Hurts

Sometimes one has to wonder if the whole ad game is just an exercise in futility.

English: YouGov logo

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Billions of dollars are spent on ads and media to sell products and services yet much of that money is for naught  and I don’t mean in the classic “half my advertising is wasted” sense.  OK, so maybe I’m being a little too gloom and doomy this Monday but let me tell you what’s prompting the screed.

The folks over at YouGov did some research about how the public perceives advertising.  The results are kind of scary if you’re in the business of marketing:

Half of Americans (50%) who are aware of advertising don’t trust what they see, read and hear in advertisements.  44% think that advertisements are dishonest.  A clear majority (58%) thinks that there should be stronger requirements for proving claims in advertising. 

Charming.  The study also says that the more education you have the less likely you are to trust ads with 65% of post grads thinking advertising cannot be trusted.  So much for appealing to the customer’s intelligence…

Another finding does help to point us in the right direction:

Many of the common advertising tactics like comparative advertising, scientific endorsements and awards claims may be counter productive and put consumers on alert.  Although 16% think they are more likely to believe an advertising claim, which includes the testimonial of a scientist or expert, that expert makes 29% less likely to believe in an ad.  Ads making comparisons with brand competitors are more likely to be believed by 15% but less likely to be believed by 26%.

In other words, maybe it’s time many brands stopped talking smack about their competitors and treated their relationships with the customer (or potential customer) as if it were a first date.  Think about it.  You wouldn’t spend your time on a date citing studies about what a good person you are or talking badly about other people who might be in the available dating pool.  You’d spend the time learning more about the person you’re with.  What do they care about?  What are their needs?  How might the two of you be good for one another?

Marketing has changed (about the 500th time I’ve written that in 1,500 posts) and our thinking about it needs to change too.  We won’t build trust – and generate sales – if we’re doing the same old thing.  Maybe we need to start taking our customers out on mental dates?  Thoughts?

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