Dear KFC,
Not sure what you were thinking with one of your latest spots titled 'Cricket Survival Guide'. According to this spot the best way to make friends with a bunch of African American, dancing, steel drum playing cricket fans is by offering them fried chicken?
You might want to rethink that strategy. My only hope is that the agency doesn't get fired because of this (like we saw with Mr. Sub in 2009). At the end of the day the spot needed to be approved KFC.
Sincerely,
Showing posts with label Brands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brands. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Rewarding Social Media Leaders
Hello Online Social Media and the Brands that use the outlets,
When I look back at the beginning of online social media we were so confused as marketers and advertisers about how we were going to harness the power of the consumer to help our own cause. Ohhh the aches and pains we suffered and the number of PR disasters their were along the way.
Smoking Smarties. Too much of this is sure to cause Diabetes (bad joke)
Domino's Pizza. They should have had better employee incentives. I will say that this was handled really well by Domino's head office.
Those two are great examples of how Social Media can work against you. But as time goes on we continue to find new and innovative ways to yield this awesome power and use it for good not evil. All I can say is that when it works...it works really really well. Most recently I found a new example of a win for PF Chang:
Clearly PF Chang's head office gets how important their consumers are in the world of social media and has taken it to the next level by rewarding them for being brand advocates.
I think that this could be a very valuable model in the future of social media on how we can recognize our most valuable consumers. The only thing I am wary of is our ability to time and time again exploit these wins and diminish the credibility of these advocates as an extension of our own brands. I guess only time will tell.
Sincerely,
When I look back at the beginning of online social media we were so confused as marketers and advertisers about how we were going to harness the power of the consumer to help our own cause. Ohhh the aches and pains we suffered and the number of PR disasters their were along the way.
Smoking Smarties. Too much of this is sure to cause Diabetes (bad joke)
Domino's Pizza. They should have had better employee incentives. I will say that this was handled really well by Domino's head office.
Those two are great examples of how Social Media can work against you. But as time goes on we continue to find new and innovative ways to yield this awesome power and use it for good not evil. All I can say is that when it works...it works really really well. Most recently I found a new example of a win for PF Chang:
Clearly PF Chang's head office gets how important their consumers are in the world of social media and has taken it to the next level by rewarding them for being brand advocates.
I think that this could be a very valuable model in the future of social media on how we can recognize our most valuable consumers. The only thing I am wary of is our ability to time and time again exploit these wins and diminish the credibility of these advocates as an extension of our own brands. I guess only time will tell.
Sincerely,
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
TMN on Demand
Dear TMN,
Its great to see that you finally figured out a way to earn ad revenue without the need to expose your viewers to ads outside of previews for whats new this month on TMN and HBO. I have been a subscriber to TMN for about a year now and have enjoyed the service based on the quality of programming and its On Demand service. Until recently TMN had not allowed any brands to meddle in their programming. Being the ad person that I am I had been trying to think of ways for Brands to attach themselves to TMN's programming specifically the HBO shows.
Over the years HBO has produced and still produces some of the biggest hit TV Programming for a very wide demographic with shows like; Sex in the City, Entourage, Six Feet Under, Oz, True Blood, The Sopranos and Flight of the Concords just to name a few. Those who don't subscribe to TMN end up waiting a year or two before getting their first glimpse of these blockbuster shows and are left out of the water cooler conversation about Vince and the boys. I digress.
Recently TMN has discovered a way to have a sponsor for those of us using TMN On Demand. Alexander Keith's has jumped on board to pilot this project and all I can say is kudos to whoever made the decision to pull the trigger on spending those sponsorship dollars. Seems like a good place to own considering there is no other competition and the hit shows continue continue to roll out.
I will be interested to see how many other stations/shows will start to pick up this model of one brand per show as the PVR revolution continues.
Sincerely,
Its great to see that you finally figured out a way to earn ad revenue without the need to expose your viewers to ads outside of previews for whats new this month on TMN and HBO. I have been a subscriber to TMN for about a year now and have enjoyed the service based on the quality of programming and its On Demand service. Until recently TMN had not allowed any brands to meddle in their programming. Being the ad person that I am I had been trying to think of ways for Brands to attach themselves to TMN's programming specifically the HBO shows.
Over the years HBO has produced and still produces some of the biggest hit TV Programming for a very wide demographic with shows like; Sex in the City, Entourage, Six Feet Under, Oz, True Blood, The Sopranos and Flight of the Concords just to name a few. Those who don't subscribe to TMN end up waiting a year or two before getting their first glimpse of these blockbuster shows and are left out of the water cooler conversation about Vince and the boys. I digress.
Recently TMN has discovered a way to have a sponsor for those of us using TMN On Demand. Alexander Keith's has jumped on board to pilot this project and all I can say is kudos to whoever made the decision to pull the trigger on spending those sponsorship dollars. Seems like a good place to own considering there is no other competition and the hit shows continue continue to roll out.
I will be interested to see how many other stations/shows will start to pick up this model of one brand per show as the PVR revolution continues.
Sincerely,
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Buick Ads Make Brand Look Newic
Dear GM,
Caught your New Buick ad today and I have to say that I am not mad about it at all. Not only did it introduce the Buick in a younger light it also used the song 'Here Comes the Hotstepper' - which is a personal fave. Seriously though it is great to see Buick finaljavascript:void(0)ly introducing itself to a younger generation of car buyers. I guess its not just for my grandparents anymore.
What I really liked is that GM is moving away from this whole reinvention platform after announcing their bankruptcy. Who isn't going to announce a reinvention after you've gone bankrupt (I know I'm a little bit late on this but I wanted to get this off my chest). What would have been less obvious would be if they came our with a 'we're going to build even bigger cars campaign'. Now that what have turned some heads.
Sincerely,
Caught your New Buick ad today and I have to say that I am not mad about it at all. Not only did it introduce the Buick in a younger light it also used the song 'Here Comes the Hotstepper' - which is a personal fave. Seriously though it is great to see Buick finaljavascript:void(0)ly introducing itself to a younger generation of car buyers. I guess its not just for my grandparents anymore.
What I really liked is that GM is moving away from this whole reinvention platform after announcing their bankruptcy. Who isn't going to announce a reinvention after you've gone bankrupt (I know I'm a little bit late on this but I wanted to get this off my chest). What would have been less obvious would be if they came our with a 'we're going to build even bigger cars campaign'. Now that what have turned some heads.
Sincerely,
Monday, July 13, 2009
Unbelievable
Dear Coke Zero,
I apologize if I'm reporting an old piece of creative but I just stumbled across this tv spot for Coke Zero that was created by Wieden+Kennedy and all I can say is 'unbelievable'.
I'm not sure if this is a platform that will continue to be explored but I think that while the combo idea may have been seen before I think that this might be an area that Coke Zero could hang their hat on. It seems since the launch of Coke Zero that the brand has had a hard time finding and sticking to one platform producing a number of spots unable to create any real synergy for the brand.
Don't get me wrong many entertaining spots have been produced as a result I'm just wondering if Coke Zero will ever be able to carve out clear strategy and communication for the brand.
This is still my favourite.
Sincerely,
I apologize if I'm reporting an old piece of creative but I just stumbled across this tv spot for Coke Zero that was created by Wieden+Kennedy and all I can say is 'unbelievable'.
I'm not sure if this is a platform that will continue to be explored but I think that while the combo idea may have been seen before I think that this might be an area that Coke Zero could hang their hat on. It seems since the launch of Coke Zero that the brand has had a hard time finding and sticking to one platform producing a number of spots unable to create any real synergy for the brand.
Don't get me wrong many entertaining spots have been produced as a result I'm just wondering if Coke Zero will ever be able to carve out clear strategy and communication for the brand.
This is still my favourite.
Sincerely,
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
"All Aboard!"
Dear Steam Whistle,
I want to be the first to welcome you to the wonderful world of TV advertising. I saw your spot the other night while I was watching 'The Hour' and I have to say that I liked it...I didn't love it but I certainly will not hold anything against you for your valiant effort.
Steam Whistle has always been a huge supporter of the indy music scene so it only makes sense that the spot would appear during a show with another supporter of the scene George Stroumboulopoulos. I look forward to seeing what this campaign will lead to. The obvious would be to take it to the street with Street Car and Go Train wraps but hopefully my first thought isn't as far as this brand will be pushed.
All Aboard!
Sincerely,
I want to be the first to welcome you to the wonderful world of TV advertising. I saw your spot the other night while I was watching 'The Hour' and I have to say that I liked it...I didn't love it but I certainly will not hold anything against you for your valiant effort.
Steam Whistle has always been a huge supporter of the indy music scene so it only makes sense that the spot would appear during a show with another supporter of the scene George Stroumboulopoulos. I look forward to seeing what this campaign will lead to. The obvious would be to take it to the street with Street Car and Go Train wraps but hopefully my first thought isn't as far as this brand will be pushed.
All Aboard!
Sincerely,
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
