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    Wu hoo…activism.

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    Google Reason.

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    A Clear Brand Idea.

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    Marketing

    What’s the deal with HP?

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    Steve Poppe
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    I can’t for the life of me figure out Hewlett-Packard. When you think they make a good move, it doesn’t work. When you think they make a bad move, earnings rise. You read about new marketing focus, bad press follows. You read about board tumult and unrest at the top, earnings kick butt.
     
    This company is an enigma. Never a Carly Fiorina fan, and I actually did call the downturn under part of her watch, I must admit I may not have given her credit she deserved for long-term planning. Today, 70% of HP’s revenue comes from outside the U.S. – the source of a good part of today’s positive earnings report — which I am going to attribute to the Compaq purchase she engineered. 
     
    HP is doing well in printers, brilliantly in computers (who knew?) and, I suspect, well in services. It’s going to take a Harvard B School case study for me to figure out this company, but at the moment I’m digging their staying power and blocking and tackling.
     

    Good Call

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    Steve Poppe
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    Good call.

    Oh, I hope not to end up being one of those self-aggrandizing bloggers who pat themselves on the back for being right all the time.  I find that so cumbersome. But I had to smile this morning upon learning that Crispin Porter Bogusky resigned the Miller account. A few days ago I indelicately suggested that Alex Bogusky fire Miller, which he and Chuck Porter did. Congratulations.  Good call.    

    What caused the rift? Miller Lite’s decision to create and produce an ad in-house. I saw that ad last night and it had all the markings of a client-produced spot: it was an “awards” ad. Clients’ love awards ads. They love ads about themselves. Agencies love ads about consumers.

    I don’t for a minute believe Miller Lite will remain in-house, it won’t. They are too smart for that. And, the “unfurl the award banner” spot may actually sell a few extra kegs of beer near term. But next agency beware. Miller needs a big strategic idea, but more importantly they need to believe in it.  

    Tags: Miller Brewing, Miller Lite, Crispin Porter Bogusky, Alex Bogusky

    Rolling Down Rodeo

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    Steve Poppe
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    There is a wonderful story in today’s Wall Street Journal about shopping on Rodeo Drive. The writer was accompanied by a test shopper who specializes in monitoring the body language of store employees. The degree to which shoppers are welcomed, smiled upon, engaged, and treated well, are all gauged by the guest shopper. The end game on Rodeo is to make customers feel comfortable, happy with their purchase, and pleased with the value received. 
     
    Reading about this exercise made me think of Internet usability. Usability is huge today on the net, supported by legions of digital ad agency professionals whose sole responsibility is to map user navigation and deliver a successful, positive experience.  If you go to sneakers.com and can’t find your favorite brand, color, and style within thirty seconds, you are likely to leave for another site. Not successful. 
     
    Usability on the net is not easy to achieve, but it should be driven by the same characteristics the best stores on Rodeo Drive use: be welcoming, attentive to the habits of all visitors, be thoughtful and caring about the users’ time, and lastly, don’t be snooty.  
     

    Is NBC Heroes Losing It?

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    Steve Poppe
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    I’m not sure what it was about Heroes, NBC’s 3 year old hit of show, but I’ve never found it too easy to watch. Having had the opportunity to do some promotional work with Hayden Panettiere, one of its stars, and having been sold by some fans I made an effort to watch and admit to being mildly attracted. But after watching the first 2-hour episode this year, it confirmed my initial feelings. I’m done.  Hayden is a major talent and going to have some wonderful success, but Heroes is running out of steam.

     

    Part of the problem is the airways are being flooded with these sci-fi type of shows. Burn out is around the corner.  It started with Lost, I believe. That said, my favorite show in the genre, in its second year, is “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” on FOX.  Summer Glau’s Cameron is the coolest, most brilliantly acted character on TV.  This kid’s got more acting chops than anyone I’ve seen in years. Amazing!

     

    Get a Life?

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    Steve Poppe
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    The stores on Second Life are open for business. Or is that virtual business? Or is that experiential virtual business? Beats me. It also seems to beat marketers, not many of whom are actually attributing real product sales to Second Life shops. In fact, I wonder if fake shopping will have a negative impact on real shopping. Will it desensitize the shopper to a real purchase because play-acting a purchase just isn’t as much fun?
     
    For instance, if I go to the Reebok store on Second Life and buy my avatar (a cartoon image/likeness) a plaid pair of high-tops with orange laces, am I building these sneakers because they are cool looking and I would wear them in public? Or am I trying to decide if they are cool and I would wear them in public? Or am I buying them because there’s no way I’d wear them in public, but can pretend I might? And do I even need sneakers at the same time my avatar does? 
     
    Then the phone rings, someone asks me to go to the beach, I grab my flip-flops and say “Would I?”
     
    Second Life might make sense for new, category-busting products, but I’m not yet feeling the love for traditional products. Not yet.
     

    Robert J. Coen To Step Down.

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    Steve Poppe
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    I worked for McCann-Erickson-NY in the 90s and was a big Robert Coen fan. Bob, famous for being the advertising’s spending guru, is stepping down after 6 decades in the business.  Two quick stories about Bob: Well into the 1990s, he presented his findings on large oak tag boards written in crisp magic marker.  He didn’t use PowerPoint.  No way. Second, one time I ran into him in the halls and suggested he might want to start tracking ad spending on the Internet. Though he didn’t exactly scratch his head, he said that spending at the time was just a blip compared to the numbers. He didn’t start including online for a few more years.

     

    Bob is a great ad man and a great economist. Always very accurate, he may be the most important, powerful ad executive of the past 50 years.  Check out the story here. Peace!

    NJ Nets Promote Jobs

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    Steve Poppe
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    The New Jersey Nets have a brilliant promotion whereby their out-of-work fans can attend a Nets game for free and have their resume distributed to Nets sponsors. Being out of work is a kick in the pants and one that impacts discretionary spending. The Nets have turned this negative into a sales positive. It creates trial for new fans who may never have been to a Nets game. It suggests empathy for the fans, creating loyalty. And it’s newsworthy – I just heard about the promotion on the radio. Good free PR.

     

    It’s what the marko-babblists call a “win, win.” And if the Nets actually win, it could be a three point play (sorry.) Peace!

     

     

     
     

    Vitaminwater10 Ad Campaign. Hmm.

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    Steve Poppe
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    Glaceau Vitaminwater, owned by Coca-Cola, is a smart marketing company, no doubt. Its low-calorie product Vitaminwater10 should be a success but I read about the new campaign today and am a little worried. The idea “Vitaminwater10 has one-upped mother nature,” sounds fertile enough, yet mother nature has been turned in to a dysfunctional corporation a la The Office and the ads poke fun at it. These days when everyone is pretty much rooting for mother nature, it is going to take some funny tongue-in cheek work to deliver the premise. BBH is the agency so I’m thinking they’ll handle it.

     

    That said, the quotes I read by Emma Cookson (BHH-N.Y., CEO) and Vitaminwater CMO Rohan Oza don’t give me huge confidence. Mr. Oza talks purely about the comedic effect of the advertising and Ms. Cookson about the packaging dry facts. A branding idea can package facts, so I will wait to pass judgment.

     

    As for the OOH which may not be a big part of the budget, it’s not “on idea” at all.  It’s all borrowed interest stuff mocking poor transit advertising.  The simple fact is, when you need a low calorie version of water, something is wrong.  Capisce?

     

    Marketers With A Conscience.

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    Steve Poppe
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    In tough times conspicuous consumption and wastefulness are uncool. In tough times we eat more leftovers, think about all the plastic water bottles we put into landfills, and ride our bikes to the store.   It’s the way we should live all the time, but what we really need is to have our kids remind us to be more thoughtful about waste. Just like when they told us not to smoke or drive after drinking a beer. Kids are our conscience.
     
    In tough times, marketers that help educate our kids about the perils of wastefulness and poor environmental habits will be viewed by adults as more worthy of our business. And marketers who don’t just “preach” but “do” will be viewed most favorably — like the milk company that changed the shape of its gallon jugs to save energy consumption 3 ways.
     
     
     

    Product Placement Finesse.

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    Steve Poppe
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    I’ll soon be sending my son off to college and he has no real reading skills. Were college conducted as a videogame he’d be golden.  Some college kids in journalism class, by a show of hands, have never read a newspaper. Magazines for teens, tweens and millennials…well you get my drift.

     

    TV, computer and mobile phones are the media of choice for kids.  Product placement on those screens is a viable investment for marketers. But product placement is a funny thing; it can be amazingly persuasive or it can fall flat. When well integrated into a story it’s a beautiful, ferociously effective selling tactic. Yet when slapped into a story without finesse, it just lies there like a stanky flip-flop. If a cast member of Gossip Girl drinks a bottle of Honest Tea, it’s “passive” and smart. When the Celebrity Apprentice builds a project around, say, a Maybelline cosmetic, it’s “active” and weak. 

     

    Forced product placement sticks out and everyone recognizes it. It just doesn’t feel right. As marketers we need to minimize that smelly flip-lop or we’ll alienate consumers young and not so.

     

     

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