Church of the Customer: January 2005 archives
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January 28, 2005
If you have the believers...
This is how fun and wacky Seattle retailer Archie McPhee's promotes its email newsletter: Join the Cult.
You gotta love a store with a sense of humor, especially one that sells Mozart action figures. Archie McPhee's is all that and a million Pez dispensers.
Any trip to Seattle should include a stop at this store, which makes the experience the marketing.
January 27, 2005
Putting a stop to pre-movie ads
An open letter to:
Mr. Peter C. Brown, Chairman, President & CEO, AMC Entertainment Inc.
Ms. Michael Campbell, Co-Chairman & Co-CEO, Regal Entertainment Group
Mr. Lee Roy Mitchell, President & CEO, Cinemark Inc.
Mr. Michael W. Patrick, President, Chairman & CEO, Carmike Cinemas Inc.
Mr. Travis Reid, President & CEO, Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corporation
We, the marketing-saturated American movie-going public, respectfully ask you to stop showing ads before movies. To be clear, we mean the commercials, not the movie previews.
Why are we asking? We pay you an admittance fee to be entertained. To escape. That's why, for years and years, we spent many dollars at your movie theaters every month. Often, every week. Movie nights with friends meant we regularly brought customers to you.
But now you disrespect us. You prostitute us, your paying customers, with commercial ads before movies. If the companies advertising in your theaters could advertise in churches, they probably would. There's no opt-out to the ads we're paying you to watch. We're a captive audience. Aren't you so clever.
Enduring 10 minutes of gigantic, disruptive and head-shaking ads for cars, deodorant, soda, video games and other stuff we'd rather not buy is not why we pay a sitter, hail a taxi, and spend $15 at the concession stand for movie treats to trudge across your soda-sticky floors while putting up with the guy on the cellphone who's chatting about nothing in particular.
A movie theater used to be a sanctuary for the movie experience, not a giant TV screen. Do you attend movies in your own theaters? Do you realize what they've become? Your sanctuary is now just another bathroom stall of your smelly disregard for customers.
So, we give up on you. We already did for much of 2004. Your prostitution ring of advertising was the last straw. If a theater promises an ad-free movie experience, we'll reconsider.
Now, about those paid product placements in the movies...
Sincerely,
Your former customers
P.S. We are asking all of our friends who feel the same to send a letter, asking you to stop pre-movie ads by clicking here.
January 26, 2005
Time for a Lexus blog
In the blogosphere, word of mouth spreads faster than fire. Right now, tonight, Lexus has a small fire burning that could grow hotter.
It's because of this this story and this story: Bluetooth technology may be making new Lexus models susceptible to viruses. The viruses could disrupt the cars' on-board computers, which seem to run just about everything these days in luxury models. This seems credible given that a Wired story last year exposed how Bluetooth is filled with security problems.
Today's speculation about Lexus illustrates why the company needs a blog immediately. A "could not be reached for comment" line in a news story doesn't stop the blogs gone wild. A blog does. Better yet, the brand's customer evangelists, on a Lexus blog, can more effectively act as PR crisis firefighters.
GM's Bob Lutz is blogging, and so should Lexus. Probably a lot sooner than they'd expected.
(Tip o' the hat to Bob Watkins for the tip.)
Another paid influencer
It must be tempting, even flattering, to be offered money from influential people to evangelize something you already support.
Conservative commentator Armstrong Williams was caught up in the headiness of it all by taking money from the Bush Administration to support its conservative positions. And it appears another syndicated columnist fell for the bait, too.
The Washington Post reports that Maggie Gallagher (pictured), president of the Washington-based Institute for Marriage and Public Policy and a syndicated columnist, took $21,500 as part of a $300 million Bush initiative to encourage marriage. Other than the obvious question of "$300 million to promote marriage?" one might ask, how does this square ethically?
"Did I violate journalistic ethics by not disclosing it?" Gallagher told the Post. "I don't know. You tell me." She said she would have "been happy to tell anyone who called me" about the contract but that "frankly, it never occurred to me" to disclose it. Later in the day, Gallagher filed a column in which she said that "I should have disclosed a government contract when I later wrote about the Bush marriage initiative. I would have, if I had remembered it. My apologies to my readers."
Gallagher's rather callow response is surprising, especially for someone whose primary asset is credibility. She says her case is "a very different sort of government contract" than what Armstrong Williams had, but is that the point? The mere appearance of impropriety is enough to impugn credibility in the advocacy of a position.
Credibility is the foundation for those of us who evangelize ideas, products or services. If the rationale of our advocacy of a cause is supported with financial support from the beneficiary of our ideas, then the conviction of our ideas is circumspect. In that scenario, evangelism becomes just another paid placement, another cog in the advertising machine.
All of this seems like a solid rationale for those who traffic in ideas to create and maintain a transparency statement. All of this seems to illustrate, too, why stealth marketing, aka paid evangelists, are bound to draw heavily on credibility equity.
UPDATE: A third columnist admits to being a paid advocate for Bush Administration policies:
Columnist Mike McManus received $10,000 to train marriage counselors as part of the agency's initiative promoting marriage to build strong families, said Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families.
The disclosure came as the Government Accountability Office sent a letter to the Education Department on Friday asking for all materials related to its contract dealings with commentator Armstrong Williams.
That department, through a contract with the public-relations firm Ketchum, hired Williams to produce ads that featured Education Secretary Rod Paige and promoted the No Child Left Behind law. The contract also committed Williams to provide media access for Paige, who was replaced this week by Margaret Spellings.
Federal law bans the use of public money on propaganda.
The story behind ipodmyphoto
David Schroeder is an Internet developer and writer based in Washington, D.C. He is also the co-founder of ipodmyphoto, which has grown into a word-of-mouse phenomenon much like a fancy new Apple gadget.
Recently, David wrote us explaining how the idea took shape, how blogs and word of mouth fueled its growth, and how the customer evangelists who love Apple eventually led to a feature story in the New York Times:
Way back in December of 2004, I was chatting over Instant Messenger with friend of mine. A self-confessed iPod fanatic, he was trying to explain to me his idea for his family Christmas cards. "I want it to be like an iPod ad", he said. I was confused, "You mean, you want to use an iPod ad as your Christmas card?" "No.", he explained, "I want to be in an iPod ad. I want my son and daughter to be turned into silhouettes and wearing iPods."
I contacted an old colleague, now working as a freelance designer and sent him a photo of the kids to test this idea on. An hour later, he sent back a work of art that would make Messrs. Chiat and Day proud. There they were, my friend's kids in crisp silhouettes with just the right amount of texture and opacity added to their clothing, on a beautiful purple backdrop, and, le piece de resistance -- hanging from their cherubic ears -- the ubiquitous white iPod cords. "iWish You a Merry Christmas", the bold white text read. It was done - they had been iPodified.
It was one of those a-ha moments, where something so simple just makes so much sense. What self-respecting iPod lover could be complete without this? A business idea was born. But could this actually work? Would this take off? Would people actually pay to be put into what is essentially an advertisement for Apple Computer? We were about to find out.
ipodmyphoto.com was launched 10 days later. At first a few blogs took notice. Then more blogs picked it up. By the end of the first week, we were receiving orders from around the globe - Japan, UK, Sweden, the Netherlands, the US. By the second week, the story hit the technology trades -- Macworld, CNet, Wired, and Ziff-Davis. As each day passed, more orders flowed in. By week three, the mainstream press had stories about iPodification [sic]. The New York Times, the Washington Post, and scores of regional newspapers that pick up the wires were reporting on this curious phenomenon, on a brand that resonates so deeply with people that they will pay to insert themselves into the advertising for its product.
It’s hard to think of a brand that enjoys the consumer loyalty that Apple does. But for those brands that do, an amazing thing can happen. Evangelism for that brand becomes viral. Like any true revolution that can only come from within, the brand can set the message, but it can only be carried out by the people. No amount of money can buy this kind of endorsement. The popular term is open source marketing. Like the software movement, you can create the product and the framework, but in order for it to grow to its potential, it's released to the community. Great ideas win. The people will be heard. Hopefully they'll say good things.
When one looks at the path of the Apple iPod ad campaign, it makes perfect sense for people to get involved. The early ads had amorphous silhouettes representing everyman, subtly inviting you to picture yourself in there with your iPod. The recent U2 campaign began to show us faces of the stars. In a world of reality TV, are reality commercials that far off? Based on the amazing variety of photos that have been submitted to ipodmyphoto.com -- newborns, family portraits, weddings, couples, fisherman, snowboarders, karaoke stars -- one thing is clear, we want to be the stars of our own lives. And by doing this, we complete the circle, returning right back to the brands we love.
From fan-fiction writing based on the “official” books of major sci-fi authors to DJ dance remixes of popular songs, today's technology allows us to remake the world around us. To pick and choose how we want to associate with the things we care about. To engage consumer popular culture on our own terms. Just ask the mother who wrote her own caption for the pictures of her kids rock-climbing, knee-boarding and playing outside. Brand marketers, look beyond the silhouettes, these are the faces of your customers, and they are shouting out loud: "i Got iPodified!"
January 25, 2005
New York Marketing Wonk roundup
Thanks to all who braved the icy winds of New York City Friday night to attend the Marketing Wonk. It was, literally, 7 degrees that night and a bracing first course to the next day's entree of 18 inches of snow.
(An entertaining scene I saw Saturday in Times Square was taxi vs. front-end loader. After a few moments of incessant honking, the taxi finally yielded.)
Despite the unforgiving weather, we had a strong turnout of marketing pros and students. Without question, the topic of the night was blogs and blogging, which may have been colored by several of us having been part of that day's blogging workshop, put on by the American Marketing Association. (It was not particularly clear from my announcement post that I was in New York that day to speak at the AMA's workshop.) Jayme Maultasch has a write-up on his trip to the wonk.
Our wonkathon began at Samplings in the Crowne Plaza, then moved by foot for a frostbite-defying walk to La Loconda for dinner, and a frostbite double-dare back to Samplings. I highly recommend either venue.
I took a pathetically inadequate number of photos from our wonk... too caught up in the chats, I guess. But here are a few photos.
Next wonk is in Chicago, Feb. 18 in the fourth-floor dining area of the Nordstrom building in the Shops of Northbridge, 520 N. Michigan. This wonk, too, immediately follows a full-day blogging workshop held by the American Marketing Association.
Truth in advertising
Jesse B. Hunt thinks some of the statements in my "Exposing Stealth Marketing" post are absurd.
He goes on to say:
It appears to me that the companies that are doing the [stealth marketing] have simply found a way to put their products in front of consumers in such a way that the consumer is actually willing to pay attention... Given the shortcomings of their mainstream marketing, if they can deliver their message in a way that makes consumers pay attention, what’s the problem?
...stealth marketing appears to simply be creative marketing (something we could all use more of.)
There's a wide, wide gulf between excellent creative marketing and stealth marketing.
The problem with stealth marketing is when prospects become unwitting participants in a cloaked process. It's opt-out marketing. Prospects are used by advertisers who stealthily insert commercial messages into real-life situations and hope they aren't found out.
There are laws, too, that govern advertising; it would seem stealth marketing violates those laws. From the Federal Trade Commission's web site:
When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product which might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement (i.e., the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience) such connection must be fully disclosed.
Truth in advertising has never been more important lest the global watchdogs, i.e, bloggers, sniff it out and pummel you.
That doesn't mean don't be playful or engage in irony, double entendres, or even snarkiness (Ben loves that word). It means, simply, don't lie (unless you're the president of the United States).
That seems of little consequence to the stealth marketers. No wonder two-thirds of Americans say they would pay for products or services that would block out unwanted marketing.
Mainstream marketing is failing because there's too much of it. The answer is not more creative ways to lie.
The answer is deliver more truth.
January 12, 2005
My blogging award
Oh my.
The smallbusinessbranding blog just named me one of the Top Smartest Blogging Babes.
Bow-chicka-wah-wah!
Quieting those noisy cellphone talkers
They're everywhere, of course, including public bathrooms.
Until cellphone manufacturers finally get it together and force the volume of the ear buds and ear pieces of cellphones to be disproportionately louder than the volume of the person speaking in to the cellphone, then the world will have to resort to a guerilla campaign to quiet down the noisy talkers.
Especially in the bathrooms.
A great manifesto here from Seth Godin's ChangeThis site has the guerilla campaign tools.
January 11, 2005
Exposing stealth marketing
A respected management journal recommends lying and cheating as a marketing tactic.
No kidding.
"Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously," published by The California Management Review from the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley, recommends reaching new customers via deceptive, covert marketing.
Authors Andrew M. Kaikati, a consultant with Accenture, and Jack G. Kaikati, Emeritus Professor of Marketing at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, write:
"Stealth marketing attempts to catch people at their most vulnerable by identifying the weak spot in their defensive shields.....[Stealth marketing] is considered to be a viable alternative to conventional advertising because it is perceived as softer and more personal than traditional advertising."
"Identifying the weak spot in their defensive shields" is just so... wrong. It's predatorial. It conjures an image of pedophiles luring naive or vulnerable young girls or boys into their cars with the promise of candy, not marketers trying to clearly identify value and build genuine relationships with prospects and customers.
Again, from the paper:
Brand managers looking to move beyond the traditional reliance on 30-second TV commercials should explore the feasibility of using stealth marketing techniques.....The future of stealth marketing is rather rosy since large advertisers are embracing the concept with open arms [and cites P&G's in-house agency Tremor].
This is the nightmare scenario for many organizers and members of the Viral Buzz and Marketing Association and the Word of Mouth Marketing Association. For several months, both groups have been debating the limits of ethical and unethical word of mouth marketing and its offshoots, buzz marketing and viral marketing.
A recurring question among those debates: How visible is the company behind the campaign and how transparent are its intentions? Many participants in that debate agree that stealth marketing is absolutely wrong. The sponsoring company should be clearly identifiable, with zero tolerance for any tactics that could be considered covert, sneaky or deceptive. (Some say it's OK to disguise the sponsoring company if it's associated with entertainment, ala the Blair Witch movie marketing campaign, but that's debatable, too.)
But the Kaikatis suggest, "The main objective is to get the right people talking about the product or service without it appearing to be company-sponsored."
Word of mouth marketing has enough components to confuse regular practitioners in the field, much less the people who occasionally write about it. Let's contrast stealth marketing which involves using undercover, covert means to create customer awareness vs. creative buzz marketing that also gets people talking but clearly indicates who is behind the campaign.
I'll outline the stealth marketing tactics and examples mentioned in the paper and contrast them with more ethical buzz marketing examples of the same tactic. [Click on the links for more detailed explanations of the campaigns.]
Viral Marketing
* Definition: Word of mouth via digital platform.
* Stealth marketing usage: Dr. Pepper's Raging Cow campaign pays bloggers
* Buzz marketing usage: Hotmail, JibJab
Brand pushers
* Definition: Hired actors who approach people in real-life situations to slip them a commercial message.
* Stealth marketing usage: Sony Ericsson T68i camera phone campaign that hired actors to pose as tourists, Freedom Tobacco pays "leaners" in bars
* Buzz marketing usage: Mini Cooper hiring professionals to drive around cities with the car bolted to the top of a Hummer
Celebrity marketing
* Definition: Paying celebrities or famous people money to covertly or overtly promote products.
* Stealth marketing examples: Political pundit Armstrong Williams being
paid by the Bush administration to talk up No Child Left Behind, Lauren
Bacall on the Today show talking about the drug Visudyne, Ann Wilson of
Heart fame mentioning a weight-loss device called Lap-Band on The Early
Show
* Buzz marketing example: Chuck Norris and Christie Brinkley star in infomercials for Total Gym
Bait-and-tease marketing
*
Definition: getting people interested in something which is revealed
later to be something quite different (my paraphrase as the paper's
authors don't spell out the definition); it sounds vaguely like "bait
and switch" which is illegal in most states
* Stealth marketing example: Mercedes-Benz fictional movie trailer
* Buzz marketing example: BMW mini-movies
Marketing in video games
* Definition: embedding brands and logos in electronic games, sometimes called "advergaming"
* Stealth marketing usage: Toyota and other car manufacturers pay for their cars to appear in Sony's Grand Turismo video game
* Buzz marketing usage: Electronic Arts's NFL license for Madden Football
Marketing in pop and rap music
* Definition: embedding commercial messages in popular music
* Stealth marketing: Rapper Jay-Z was paid to mention Motorola in his music
* Buzz marketing: Run-DMC's song "My Adidas." Adidas did not pay for this; the rappers just liked the
shoes. (Lesson here: create a remarkable product worth talking, er,
rapping about.)
For the California Management Review, promoting stealth marketing by mere fact of its publication could be excused as a case of out of touch editors who failed to recognize the growing demands of transparency and credibility. But, by publishing this piece, the Haas School has given an absolutely unethical marketing practice a measure of credibility.
The regents of the University of California should be concerned. Would they approve a teaching methodology that encourages law school students to lie to judges and juries? Or a political science course that encourages future government leaders to secretly steal from vulnerable citizens to fill government coffers? After all, when the "defensive shields" of citizens are down, that means they're easy marks.
Marketing "research" (I use that term lightly here) like this adds to the coarsening nature of an all-advertising, all-the-time marketing system. It perpetuates reptilian marketing practices that do not engage customers; it reinforces the misguided desire for fast-and-easy marketing solutions.
No offense to Messrs. Kaikati, but your viewpoint represents everything that's wrong with marketing today.
More on stealth marketing:
* 60 Minutes: Undercover Marketing Uncovered
* CMO Magazine: Under the Radar (free subscription required)
[Thanks to johnmoore for the tip on this paper.]
