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The ads are running in prime time shows, they have people in suits standing around a car, talking about “Buick’s total value promise” – here is the transcription:
“Introducing the total value promise, from the award winning quality of Buick. I promise to stand behind your Buick, with our 4 year, 50,000 mile new vehicle warranty, and the serenity of a quiet tuned interior, I promise you the security of On-Star, Our 2006 LaCrosse has standard side curtain air bags, and V-6 power with an estimated 30 miles per gallon highway, the LaCrosse CX is under 22,600 after all applicable offers, see your Buick dealer – today.
Now of course, it has the car ad production feel- with a different talented actor for each line, and you see beauty shots of the car, but- is it talking about your new car- or theirs?
One of my favorite quotes in advertising comes to mind here:
“When people talk to themselves, it’s called insanity. When companies talk to themselves it’s called marketing.”
~Steve Bautista
Buick spent over $300,000 to produce this ad, and probably just as much to run it in ER- and it’s Buick – talking about what they think Buick is. How many people do you know will respond with “award winning quality” when you ask them what they think about Buick? Zero- and that’s probably even including Buick owners.
If there is a brand that absolutely has no persona, no cha-ching, no reason for being in the automotive category, it’s Buick- and its ads like this that get it there.
If there wasn’t a dealer pipeline to fill, and plants to run, Buick could go away tomorrow, and no one would miss them. A brand that hasn’t been relevant in a lifetime- except to old folks who still are reminiscing about a car company that hasn’t built a memorable car since, well, way back when.
Now GM is promising a “Total Value Promise” which means absolutely nothing- and bragging about a 50,000 mile/ 4 year warranty- has anyone looked at Hyundai lately (America’s Best warranty)? If you have such quality- go for the gusto and promise something more than a “quiet tuned interior.” To see the difference between an ad that means something and this drivel- see the post below about another GM division- one that gets it. This brand is dead.
For comparison- try to catch the ads for the New Passat from VW- talking about all the new features- demonstrating them to the customer- showcasing the little things that people fall in love with with a car- like hooks for hanging grocery bags in the trunk- all to a delightful diddy- “Thank you very much”- an ad that you want to watch again- and sing over and over in your head. When you visit the site- there is a mini-site that has some humorous little films like showing an elephant drop a log on command- which of course demonstrates a remote “trunk release.” Which do you think will sell more cars?
What do you think?
You can read about Buick’s follow up folly on Mark Silveira’s Ordinary Advertising blog
My father bought one of the first Saturns. Four doors, A/C, 5 speed manual, FM radio- no haggle cheap transportation. He still has his plastic car and it runs like a champ. When Hal Riney and Partners started with that “A different kind of car, a different kind of car company” people just thought it was another tagline.
Well all these years later, I read a story my dad sent me from Business Week and get this- they really are a different kind of car company:
Recently, a man called Saturn’s customer-service number with a big problem: His daughter’s car had broken down in Arizona, and she was stranded. He reported her location, her license plate number — and the fact that her car was a Honda (HMC).
DIRECT ACTION. When the Saturn representative pointed this out to the upset father, he said “You’re the company that cares about people, and that’s why I called you.” What would your company do? Saturn sent out a truck to pick her up, towed her Honda, and let her father know that she was safe.
Think about it: competitive brand, no warranty card, absolutely no reason to help. Except that there’s no substitute for this kind of concrete action when it comes to creating a brand with real meaning.
How many times do you not go back to a restaurant because of one bad experience? Or not shop at a store again because someone was rude to you? It’s always been said that do something wrong and someone tells 10 people, do it right, and they may tell 1, or possibly none.
Sure, Saturn may take this story and turn it into one of those warm and fuzzy commercials (or they may not- since they can’t afford to tow every car that breaks down) but it comes back to no matter what your ads say- your company has to over deliver.
Bad ads may kill a company slowly, but great ones will kill a bad company faster. All business is one-to-one, even in the days of the Internet- your user experience governs how likely you are to do business with that company again.
The BW story continues:
It’s the sum total of all your actions. Yes, positioning messages and advertising imagery play a supporting role in developing your brand identity, but what really matters is what you do and how that makes people feel.
And everything matters. If you want to make a great brand, you need to pay attention to all the ways it gets expressed in the world. How is the user manual written? How does the off/on switch sound? How do you hire people? How does the receptionist answer the phone? All of these things are as important as expressions of your brand as an ad campaign.
So when building your brand story, don’t forget to teach your employees how to live it as well.
What do you think?
I wrote about this back on 4/3/2005, Cable system DVR’s are not the future, and yesterday Apple released new iPods that can play video. Immediate reaction of people- who wants to watch TV on a little iPod screen- that’s right up there with the IBM chairman Thomas Watson Sr. estimating the global market for computers at ‘about five or six’ in 1946.
The big deal isn’t seeing video on the iPod- it’s that you can now buy last night’s episode of Lost for $1.99. I’m not sure if that’s with or without commercials, but, soon, imagine it’s $1.99 without commercials- or free (or cheaper) if you download and ACTUALLY watch commercials that are targeted to you.
That is the future- and it just came to you via Apple computer.
Currently the video is not high resolution to play on your TV- but, that will change as codec’s improve. TiVo may just be seeing the end of their business model, or it may be the beginning, if they figure out a way to sell programs direct too.
A message to the “Broadcast” industry- your days are numbered. To the producers of quality content, you may be seeing a bigger piece of the pie coming your way. How many people will skip paying HBO and buy the Soprano’s direct? A season subscription for $50- I’d buy it.
What do you think?
Every week The Dayton Business Journal publishes a “list” of the top 12 or 24″ players” in a field from Hospitals to Title firms, and once a year they publish their “List of Advertising Agencies” which is always good for a few laughs by those of us in the business.
As I am fond of saying, “Good research is expensive, bad research is more expensive” (in case this is instantly apparent- the cost of doing the wrong thing because you did your research poorly is always more expensive than doing the right research to begin with). The Business Journal’s methodology is suspect at best. They fax a questionnaire out to the agencies they have identified- never telling us how many it is sent to then they take the responses, without verifying the answers, and compile a “ranking” based on number of employees, or gross billings as reported, and this creates their “List.” I don’t claim that my list of agencies that aren’t The Next Wave is complete, but I update it every time I run across another firm, and it has links to other resources.
I was going to buy the 10″ x 1″ ad at the bottom of this Years Agency list to promote my list- but they only are going to have 12 agencies this year- a half page, because they didn’t get enough responses. How lame is that. I admit, after not being included last year (when I had my largest employee count and billings) and seeing smaller firms on the list, I wrote “why bother” on my questionnaire and sent it back.
The wonderful ad rep that I deal with at the Business Journal suggested I talk to the publisher. She transferred me, I left a message and got a call back from the Editor, who was about as flexible in her thinking as a brick wall. So, according to the Dayton Business Journal there are only 12 Ad Agencies in Dayton. End of story (except here).
Not only that, I tried to explain to them how a list could be complete and useful like my list, but they aren’t interested. They have to be able to rank agencies by size or employee count, I feel that alphabetical works just fine. I offered other ways to rank- number of awards won per employee was one 
No matter, they will republish their list in an annual publication called “The Book of Lists” which is just as worthless. They hawk it for $29 and describe it as:
“PERFECT for: Sales Prospecting, Job Search, Fundraising, and Business Research”.
I call it a poorly researched advertising vehicle.
If you are looking for a list of advertising and design firms in Dayton OH, and surrounding areas, Agencies that aren’t The Next Wave is your best resource. You can contact their publisher to let her know that incomplete lists are a waste of your time and that a complete list would improve their publication. Or you can just use our List of Advertising Agencies in Dayton.
What do you think?
Sometimes things happen beyond your control. Sometimes they are good things, and sometimes, they are not so good. We have done award winning posters for the 2nd Street Public market for the last few years. People want to steal the posters. One woman told me her boss decorated his living room based on our color scheme for a poster- and had it framed on the wall. We’ve talked about selling copies of the poster, that’s the difference between good and great.
As Howard Luck Gossage said “people don’t read ads, they read what interests them- and sometimes it’s an ad.” These posters are interesting, people read them- well, we’ll let you pick-
this year, before we were scheduled to be done with the poster, another publication was going to press and a page was donated- as was the labor, there is a saying, you get what you pay for… so compare:
The “Free” poster or:
The Next Wave poster. (click on image to enlarge)
What do you think?
The Next Wave is owned by a Service Disabled Veteran- that makes us a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business. We are also small enough, to be a SBU or Small Business Unit. We are located in a economically disadvantaged area and our employees live within it, that makes us 100% HUB Zone qualified. The State of Ohio DAS (Department of Administrative Services) EDGE Certificate (Encouraging Diversity, Growth and Equity) has granted us special status. We operate in the following NAICS codes:
54143 Graphic Design
541810 Advertising agencies
541613 Marketing Consulting Services
541511 web development
518210 web hosting
512110 video production
and if that isn’t enough to get you excited- we do good work too.
We are a founding member of VOB108; a group of Veteran business owners who are trying to navigate the maze of Federal Contracting opportunities and start winning government contracts.
By law, Federal buyers are to direct a percentage of funds to Veteran owned businesses, yet, the obstacles put in front of the small business owner to comply with all the purchasing requirements is monumental. To get a GSA schedule requires filling out a ream of paper and then a six-month wait- just to be able to tell the Government what you charge for various services.
If you are a large business involved with Federal purchasing and would like a sub-contractor to help meet your requirements, we are more than happy to work with you.
If you are a fellow SDVOB or VOB or SBU that wants to team with us, let us know as well – and if you are in the Dayton Ohio area consider joining VOB108.
What do you think?
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