Advertising Age – HOOVER TO DYSON: IT’S ON NOW

Dyson and Hoover have been having a fight over who sucks more. That’s suck as in vacuum- and which one cleans your carpets better.

Hoover is the old business- been around forever. In fact, in Dyson’s home country, England, or the United Kingdom as the Brits like to refer to themselves, when you vacuum your floor- it’s called “hoovering”- so how could Hoover end up being threatened by this upstart, premium priced vacuum? Simple- it’s got nothing to do with who cleans better- it’s all about who understands marketing better. The winner is Dyson- hands down.

Both have worked with great ad agencies- Dyson was with Fallon before switching to Element79, Hoover is now with TBWA/Chiat/Day – so they are all obviously aware that advertising helps sell products that suck.

As an owner of several vacuum cleaners- and one and a half dogs that shed more than snow falls in the Rockies, I can tell you that if you emptied the bag as often as you emptied the Dyson canister- I’m sure you wouldn’t lose suction either. We empty the Dyson every time we vacuum- we empty the bag when it’s all the way full (which is about once every 10 times we vacuum). And, no, this isn’t scientific fact; it’s just a common sense observation.

The reason Dyson is killing Hoover- and everyone else is design- pure and simple. They glamorized the lowly vacuum into a fashion accessory- and put a status price tag on their product. Hoover was still selling it as an appliance to hide in the closet. Just look at the product graphics on the two machines- Dyson hasn’t mucked their lines up with a million messages- your typical Hoover looks more like a NASCAR- with stickers everywhere.

Now- if you still don’t believe me- consider this. Up until about 2000 or so, Dyson licensed their same design to a US distributor- who had the product made in black with purple accents- it had a stupid name like “Phantom”- and looked like a NASCAR too- just like all the other machines- only it cost a bit more. It didn’t sell worth a crap. Then Dyson pulled the agreement, came to the US with their signature yellow and gray machine- with simple graphics, hiked the price, did classy ads- and now everybody wants one.

That’s proof- good design helps sell products that suck.

What do you think?

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Posted in: Advertising, Design, Everything you want to know about advertising, Great ad agencies

Google Checkout Video Tour – Google Video

Google isn’t just the best search tool out there, it’s becoming the best of everything online. (It’s amazing what you can do with googles of cash). With a ton of money, and a different vision of the online world than Microsoft- Google is advancing into building relationships of convenience with their users- in other words, they keep trying to make your life easier- which is a GREAT marketing strategy.

We, at The Next Wave, like to say marketing is a simple concept- create lust, evoke trust. Google is working their way into the hearts of consumers everywhere by offering a complete selection of services- for free, that are useful, honest and open, that make your life online easier.

The big question will come when they face their first security failure- that is bound to happen. Will they do it more gracefully than PayPal, the VA, Ohio University or others- that have “lost” customer records.

Eventually, Google is going to be the king of digital content distribution (even though Apple has designed a better interface with the iTunes store and solved digital rights management issues) because they have the capital- the brains and the vision to do it right.

Google checkout is the first step to the complete customer relationship management solution- that will involve everything from Micro payments to credits for interacting with ads. Keep an eye on Google- they will inherit the earth- sooner than you think.

What do you think?

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Posted in: Change the world, Everything you want to know about advertising, Future of advertising, Marketing & the Web, Retail, Search and Business, Web strategy

Advertising Age – GM Moves $225 Million Cadillac Account to Modernista

The day of the Mega-Agency for Mega-Accounts may be nearly over. Car accounts, once only could go to the largest network agencies, with their large overhead, and even larger expense accounts.

Cadillac left Leo Burnett for upstart Modernista who has handled the Hummer account since it’s launch. Similar to the Crispin Porter + Bogusky win of VW, the move followed a move of the marketing chief from one brand to the other.

Unlike VW, Cadillac has a brand that has credible product- but is still not connecting with all its target markets with the right voice. The Burnett produced fashion show spot for the new Escalade that aired in the SuperBowl was blamed for the switch- but, once again- car clients are looking for excitement about their brand- generated by advertising, as opposed to being generated by the merits of the vehicle.

Toyota sells a ton of vehicles in this country- with the most unremarkable advertising- but a high quality, high value, reliable product.

We believe that there are more cost effective ways to market motor vehicles- including a total rebuilding of the dealer networks. Look to what Harley Davidson, Apple and Nike have done with their brand experience retail destinations for a look at what the future of automotive retailing should look like.

It’s not the agency that’s the problem in most cases- it’s the manufacturers who still haven’t let go of their old ways of doing business. The questions is can small ad agencies keep the creative energy and freshness once they land one of these monster accounts- and come under the watchful eye of the old school masters in a new school world?
It will be interesting to see what Modernista does with Cadillac- and if they will be able to hold on to Hummer too.

What do you think?

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Posted in: Advertising, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Everything you want to know about advertising, Future of advertising, Great ad agencies, Retail, VW advertising

Nielsen to Offer Commercial Ratings

Yep, you read it right, Nielsen, the people who deliver the ratings for TV shows now are now going to offer ratings on commercials. This is so the networks can say- “sorry, we delivered an audience- they just thought your commercial sucked.”

Which brings me back to the monster sitting in the room- who is rating the audience? While Nielsen offers all kinds of demographic info- it’s still broad swipe data- which is so passe.

All these attempts to improvise a way to avoid the inevitable- a unique data set about each viewer- with all the likes and dislikes – and preferences- that allows advertisers to absolutely nail down who is seeing what ad- and when- and then getting feedback- think Amazon.com with it’s suggestions, it’s reviews – all on steroids- but not quite as bad as the ACLU pizza scenario. You would actually receive credit for viewing and interacting with commercials in the form of discounts on the programming you wish to watch.

The real future of TV advertising is more like a website- and as the two merge, you will be hard pressed to tell the difference. Commercials will have stats packages much like websites- telling marketers exactly what they need to know about the buyer- so they can either continue marketing to them, change their message, or abandon all hope.

And Nielsen, should abandon all hope of this service offering meaningful data.

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Posted in: Advertising, Everything you want to know about advertising, Future of TV, Future of advertising, Marketing & the Web

The Blogospher seminar was profiled today in the Dayton Daily News. The seminar teaches businesses how to use blog software (or content management system software) to manage content on their site and optimize it for search. One of the reasons this site has seen it’s average monthly unique visitor-ship rise over 800% is the use of WordPress to manage this part of the site.

It’s also been the reason many people searching for other ad agencies in the Dayton, Cincinnati or Columbus areas end up here.

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Posted in: Everything you want to know about advertising, Guerrilla campaigns, Marketing & the Web, Media, Web strategy

Channelnewsasia.com

It’s coming- and if you are a middleman in the content delivery system, watch out. To define middlemen: record labels, movie studios, television networks (cable, broadcast, pay-per-view)- the people who come between the content producers – and their audience. The only people who will still be able to profit from this are the quality aggregator distributors like the Apple iTunes store, Amazon and probably Google (who may or may not – own the online world in the near distant future).

Read the link above- to find out how an unknown, small time singer, gave a concert to 70,000 people from her basement. Even if this was a set-up by a label, there are enough nerdy music geeks out there that can figure out how to do this on their own.

Sandi Thom now has a number one UK single- just recently the hip-hop band Gnarls Brakley have a UK number 1 hit purely from downloads.

Music is driven by word-of-mouth and the preferences of the “early adopters/ innovators”- more so than other product or service categories. If you are trying to build a brand quickly- using good webstrategy can get you to the top quicker than conventional media. If you don’t believe it, go ask Sandi Thom.

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Posted in: Advertising, Change the world, Everything you want to know about advertising, Future of advertising, Guerrilla campaigns, Low budget advertising, Marketing & the Web, Media, Viral Marketing, Web strategy

Evolution of Dance – with Jud Laipply

Advertising you don’t have to pay for is like warm cookies and cold milk before bed, getting a puppy on your birthday, or winning the lottery on the only ticket you ever bought. Well, maybe you bought a bunch of tickets and won the lottery.

It’s been said that the most powerful word in advertising is “Free”- and if you look at the stats for Jud Laipply’s “Evolution of Dance” video on You Tube- you’ll see how powerful even a low quality video can be.
In advertising, marketing, public relations (PR) the idea is to get your message out in front of your audience in the most cost effective way possible- and the Internet is certainly making that possible. Here is a six-minute, single camera production with over 22,623,270 views. It’s got 5191 comments and has been favorited 41210 times (as of 11 June 2006) – all at a minimal cost.
For an unknown motivational speaker, this bit of brilliant marketing has changed his world- opening doors to appearances on national TV morning shows and speaking engagements as well as his own line of merchandise.
Compare the costs of this video to the Burger King Manthem spot- and you quickly see who gets more bang for their buck. However, for all his genius, Jud is getting away with something no ad agency or major corporation can do- he’s using some of the best-known music in the world as his background track- without securing rights or paying royalties.
From reading his site, it is clear that Mr. Laipply is acutely aware of the rights issues- and he is not selling his video or providing the mix for people to download and do their own dance.
Our only hope is that this mix starts getting played at every sporting event in America- so sports fans only have to suffer through a small section of the Village People’s YMCA, Cotton Eye Joe by Rednex, the Macarena by Los Del Rio instead of the whole thing at every game.
What do you think?

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Posted in: Advertising, Everything you want to know about advertising, Future of advertising, Guerrilla campaigns, Low budget advertising, Marketing & the Web, Viral Marketing, Web strategy

Review: Video goggles turn iPod into TV – Yahoo! News

We’ve said that the big thing with the video iPod wasn’t the fact that you could watch TV on the iPod- but that you could buy a show for $1.99 that you could have got for free the night before.

The critics were quick to say, “who wants to watch video on that tiny screen”- and blew off the video iPod. Well- these glasses answer their complaints- making the video iPod turn into a 27″ TV- and you will look like Geordi LaForge on Star Trek, The Next Generation. Watch your TV- while you work- or drive (and you thought cell phones were bad)- or drop some iPod porn for that virtual enhanced evening. See more about the myvu personal media viewer here.
While on the subject of TV anywhere: This weeks Advertising Age had a huge article on the Slingbox- which takes your TV feed and sends it over the Internet to remote locations- and how the NFL in particular was unhappy about the prospect of Browns fans being able to “blacked out” game. This is what we call the Henry Ford syndrome- or the head in the mud view- because the Slingbox will be totally useless once we start getting all of our programming direct over IP.

Advertisers- who pay the freight for TV, aren’t interested in broadcasting when they can pick and choose directly who sees their commercials- which is what IPTV or the iTunes store, Google video, etc- deliver.

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Posted in: Advertising, Future of TV, Future of advertising, Marketing & the Web

HERE IS THE LINK TO BILL BALSAMICO’S SITE: Casa D’ Ice – North Versailles Fine Dining and Live Entertainment

Everyone can get their 15 minutes of fame, thanks to the Internet. Some pastors have managed to do the same with weekly church sign-board messages (7 days without prayer makes one weak, etc.) but Casa D’Ice has taken their owners political pontificating on his sign board and generated a viral campaign that came into my e-mail box this morning.
You may, or may not agree with his messages- but, you might spend more time reading these political rants than you would watching a low budget local TV spot on cable for his restaurant.
I’ve never been to North Versailles PA, but if I did- I might go to look at his sign- or ask what the locals think about his restaurant.
Guerrilla marketing at work.

What do you think of Mr. Bill Balsamico’s marketing campaign?

Our advice would be to alt tag the images- and change the site to have an RSS feed- but, if you’ve read much of our site- and about our Blogosopher seminar- you already would know that.

Please note- this is story about viral marketing- if you want to contact Mr. Balsamico, his e-mail is billb@casadice.com

It is unlikely he will read the comments below.

HERE IS THE LINK TO HIS SITE: Casa D’ Ice – North Versailles Fine Dining and Live Entertainment

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Posted in: Advertising, Everything you want to know about advertising, Future of advertising, Guerrilla campaigns, Marketing & the Web, Viral Marketing, Web strategy