For President Barack Obama
—————————————————————————
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!
A study has been released by Wharton indicating that far fewer grocery purchases are impulse buys than prior research would indicate. 60% of trips to the supermarket contain no impulse purchases, and the elderly and HOHs that shop for larger families – in other words, shoppers most likely to be managing to a budget - make the fewest impulse buys.
What’s particularly interesting to me is that there appears to be an opportunity to customize (or at least test) messaging by “shopping style,” including whether a shopper considers herself “fast and efficient,” how a shopper obtains prices in advance of a store visit (e.g. newspaper vs. TV) and whether the person tends to shop during the week or on weekends.
All of this information is theoretically available to – or could be deduced by - grocers who run frequent shopper programs via card or fob; whether that information is actually captured in a usable form right now is another question entirely! impulse_shopping Wharton
Just kidding. I actually did do this once – and it was fun – but it was a more innocent time back then. Now the cops won’t even let you leave to pee. One must draw the line somewhere.
It amuses me how the media sometimes appears to struggle to assign some form of magic to Wal-mart.
AdAge recently had a cover story on the chain that made the odd observation that Wal-mart benefits because most of its locations are in states where gas is cheap(er). The article’s thesis is that falling gas prices have helped Wal-mart shoppers in part because the chain is concentrated in Midwestern and Southern states “where prices have fallen the most,” WSL throws in that declining gas prices benefit lower- and middle-income consumers the most.
Does this strike you as… grasping? It certainly struck me that way or, at best, as something that deserved a one-sentence observation rather than a multi-thousand-word piece. BJs, Kohls and any other large chain will benefit from the same falling prices. If Wal-Mart has more stores in more depressed areas of the country, fine: but revelation? Hardly.
Then in the same issue, there’s a very large article describing how some are blaming Wal-mart’s advertising for the trampling death of an employee in Valley Stream, NY on Black Friday. As a more rational consultant points out, we don’t blame musicians when fans get hurt at concerts, or cereal makers when moms buy sugary cereals in the grocery store. Not enough security outside the store? Possibly. But blaming “specific marketing techniques to specifically attract a large crowd and create… frenzy and mayhem?” That’s just weird.
It all goes in one bucket: people struggling to uncover some piece of black magic that can account for Wal-mart’s performance. Whether it’s the global phenomenon of falling gas prices or hypnotic post-Thanksgiving advertising, we need some explanation on a grand scale.
There’s no there there. I’m the first to criticize Wal-mart, talk about Wal-mart, stay away from Wal-mart… but Wal-mart is just doing what it does best: leverage real estate, buying clout and regressive employee policies to deliver low prices and lots of variety. It’s not magic: it’s just retailing.
Every year, I go holiday card shopping on the day after Christmas and buy up lots of cards at 50% off.
I undershot this year.
So Saturday night, I wandered into Papyrus and Kate’s Paperie along Third Avenue and began looking for the 2-3 additional boxes I needed. Every box had cards visible from the front, and a plastic top whose edges sunk into the sides of the box. Each plastic top was sealed to the box on at least two sides by sticky tape rounds.
Now there is no way that I’m going to choose a card without seeing both what it says and how it looks inside. What if the type is ugly? What if it has odd decorative thing-a-ma-jigs all around the words? And sometimes the package doesn’t note what the inside of the card says at all, so you have to open the box to make sure it doesn’t say “Merry Christmas,” for example, when you’re going for 100% secular.
This is not a big deal, but it did involve me slinking around, trying to hide behind displays while I slit the boxes’ little tape rounds… and then couldn’t fit the boxes back together. I was leaving a slew of half-open boxes in my wake and did feel sort of bad about it.
The only thing I can say in my own defense is that I was not alone: two employees at Kate’s appeared to be fairly busy just following around and cleaning up after box-openers such as myself.
Why don’t cardmakers print the entire inside of the card on the back of the box, in color and to scale? That way, you could flip over the box and see an exact shot of the inside panel. No more having to open the boxes to check out the cards.
Some would still crack open the packages to check out paper quality, but this change would surely cut down on a lot of this activity.
It seems so obvious. I’d be interested in learning whether there are a lot of other box-openers out there and whether the card companies have ever considered this.
All hail to holiday coolness in Grand Central Station!
For those of you who may not live in NYC, Grand Central is always a fun place at this time of year. There is a twinkly light show that plays on the walls and ceiling, music and an annual gift market that’s always packed.
This year, Sharp has parked a 26-foot high Christmas tree made up entirely of TVs in the main hall. Called the “Aquos Experience,” the tree features 43 Sharp Aquos LCD TVs that run video content every few minutes. Yesterday the tree displayed shining snowflakes that looked as though they were falling to the ground.
The company is also sponsoring the traditional Grand Central holiday light show, and holding a sweepstakes to give away all the TVs. It’s easy to register nearby. For every person who enters, Sharp will donate $1 to The HOPE Program up to a max of $100,000. If you can’t make it to Grand Central, enter the sweepstakes here online.
I think this is awfully well done. Sharp has conceived and executed an idea that creates a fun experience that fits with its surroundings. But even with their new spiffy effort, the company went ahead and sponsored the building’s most important existing holiday effort – the light show – thereby showing an appreciation for NYC’s existing traditions. Finally, Sharp chose a worthy and NY-specific non-profit in The HOPE Program, which helps New Yorkers living in poverty find jobs and become self-sufficient. The company has hit all the right notes on this one.
Only one thing I would add: Sharp staff should be walking the main hall (in addition to manning the kiosks) giving away a Sharp-branded item related to the event that’s slick enough for someone to want to keep and take home. We’ve all seen greeting cards that play music, for example – my/an idea would be to use a paper-based computer chip on a greeting card-like piece that can stand by itself on a desk or table. The chip could power an animated version of the tree… and reinforce Sharp’s name in the home in a positive, pleasant way.
When possible, offer a give-away that turns a ephemeral stunt/event into a long-term interaction with your brand in a prospect’s own home. It’s a smart, low-key way to make your brand part of the person’s (and perhaps her family’s) everyday experience. And at this time of year – when folks are buying electronics – having them look up from the Sunday circulars and see your name adding value to their own surroundings is priceless.
One of my favorite newsletters has labeled the trend toward brands offering special perks as “perkonomics.”
Trendwatching.com points out that while the credit card, travel and hospitality industries have relied on rewarding good customers with cashless privileges (seat and room upgrades, etc.), most other businesses and brands have not seized the same opportunity.
I think there are many many reasons why perkonomics is going to become increasingly important: (a) I haven’t heard anyone talk about this, but I believe that consumers are going to become desensitized to discounts. As we dive into this recession, everyone is offering dollars or % off in big numbers and – over time – this will lose its power. The prevalence of discounts will simply serve to lower overall price expectations. It’ll take more to jumpstart a consumer’s loyalty. (b) Have you noticed that it’s harder just to navigate the world lately? Companies under pressure tend to cut services and benefits. Those who can offer experiences that cost them little to nothing will see appreciation that far outweighs their actions. (c) Competition means that it’s too easy for a consumer to dump you and move on. The little things are what will keep them. (d) There are still segments with cash and market power who – at least for awhile – may wish to be less ostentatious with their purchases. Brands need to stay fresh and memorable (and appreciated) during the downturn.
I’ve been thinking about this since a friend told me that Visa Signature offered exclusive lavatories to cardholders attending a big music and arts festival. Would you expect a special potty from your credit card? No. Will you always remember the huge lines for the regular icky bathrooms while you were treated to a better experience? You bet.
Whether it’s a dedicated line at club, a special reservations phone number at a restaurant or a free bottle of water in a hotel room – these are the things that consumers will remember and that cannot be “bought.”
Wednesday November 19th 2008, 9:55 am
Filed under: stephanie fierman
Is Whole Foods for real? Even those who don’t read the papers would probably assume that a retailer commonly known as “Whole Paycheck” might be feeling the economic crunch… but are their snow hats on too tight, as well?
The company has announced “Shrimpsgiving” just in time for the slightly better-known Thanksgiving holiday. Founded on the “little-known fact” that the Pilgrims and Indians ate seafood alongside their turkey, Whole Foods is highlighting $8.99 shrimp from Thailand and numerous recipes and “time savers for holiday hosts trying to appease hungry families.”
The Pilgrims played marbles with cherry pits and died of scurvy due to a lack of fruits and vegetables, too… but you don’t see anyone adopting those habits anytime soon.
This is going to be a very bad holiday season. Families are cutting back and Thanksgiving will not be immune. Wal-Mart has just announced that it is selling all the ingredients for a Thanksgiving meal for eight for $35 (including a 12 pound turkey and two bottles of wine…). This is not the year that people are going to experiment and it’s likely that hosts already have plans for any guests who don’t do the turkey thing.
Whole Paycheck squandered an opportunity to generate some meaningful goodwill at a time when everyone could sorely use it. Forget about selling exotic shrimp from Thailand. If you really want to “appease hungry families,” call some terrified food banks and feed thousands who will have no Thanksgiving this year without you.
Woo-hoo! OfficeMax is offering a tidbit of good news by bringing the Elf Yourself campaign back for the ’08 holiday season.
For those of you living under an Internet rock, OfficeMax’s 2007 ElfYourself campaign is legendary. It’s a fun, extremely easy to use site at www.elfyourself.com that lets you upload a photo, put it on top of the body of an elf and then make that elf do all kinds of silly dances… You can send your elf to friends… It’s sure to give anyone a laugh.
Last year the ElfYourself site received 193 million visits and spent the equivalent of 2,600 years on the site. One in ten Americans visited the site and more than 40% of those who tried the application credited OfficeMax with creating good will at holiday time. 30% also expressed (OfficeMax) purchase intent.
This year there are new features including the ability to create a YouTube video featuring your dancing elves.
OfficeMax may have lost over $400 million in 3Q08, but this is so smart. The campaign is relatively cheap and has gotten so much positive coverage. Companies need to look for and continue to execute on opportunities like these: ones that lighten the spirit and that do not look outlandish and overly expensive to consumers. Resist sticking your head in the sand. Marketers must convince their management that you’re in business until you’re not.
Even after I’d read about the site, it took me a few days before I had the nerve to check out www.UnbuttonYourBeast.com.
The site is a new effort from Levi’s geared to create a lot of talk and viral activity for Levi’s 501s. Purchases? I can’t say. But talk? For sure:
* “The raunchiest ad ever.” Australia’s Daily Telegraph
* “Devilish adverting” that’s “appropriate for a college frat party.” Mercyman53 at UncensoredSonOfGod.com
* “Levi’s has taken sex to a place of an adolescent middle school locker room [sic]. Unbutton your beast? Please don’t.” Style site DesignFail.net
You have to see this thing to believe it.
At first I was grossed out, but the ads soon had me pondering Gossip Girl’s advertising (“a sex soaked promo campaign,” according to USA Today), which I thought was absolute genius.
If the Levi’s campaign ultimately influences sales among boys/men, the two campaigns have a lot in common: they hold enormous appeal for their target audiences and freak out everyone else (which only serves to heighten the effect).
Did someone say “Sock nasty??” OMFG!! Gossip GirlLevi’sUnbuttonYourBeast.com
Ben & Jerry’s is doing its part to get out on the vote with – what else? – free ice cream. Bring your “I voted” sticker, or a picture of yourself at a polling place, or do the “‘I voted’ dance”… and you can scoop up a gratis scoop tomorrow from 5-8pm at participating stores.
And to help you find a participating shop, the chain offers a Google store finder on its website. Nice touch.
This program is in keeping with the company’s long commitment to economic, social and environmental initiatives.
I’m wondering if they’ll also give out grocery coupons; it’d be a smart thing to do. It’s highly unlikely that, at this point, grocery cannibalizes ice cream shop traffic: the brand is too mature for that. Ben & Jerry’s is also so active online… maybe they give out coupons in-store, but you can get higher-value “I voted” coupons online by giving the company your email address.
Starbucks is also offering a free tall coffee to anyone that says she voted. Or how about a free red, white and blue donuts from Krispy Kreme?
Ice cream, coffee and donuts. My kind of election.
If you’re anything like me, you have set aside the strategic plan and final 2008 budget deliverables due to your boss next week to do something really important: plan your Halloween costume!
Ah, so many choices. In New York, as I’m sure in other places (maybe…), temporary pop-up stores abound just to sell Halloween costumes – so the mind boggles.Stressed out executive?Nah. New York resident pushed to the ‘burbs because of rising apartment prices?Gee, fascinating… but no. Then I saw it.So weird, so disgusting, so bizarre that it has its own Wikipedia entry… an icon originally introduced in the 1970s and brought back to us in 2004 care of Crispin Porter + Bogusky… As if the tv ad showing this dude waking up with you in the morning wasn’t enough to give me nightmares, it’s (GAH!@*!!) Creepy King!
Alley Insider has posted a list of 10 “embarrassing” product placements from film, Web and TV, along with associated videos.
I’m not sure how this list could possibly fit with the site’s raison d’etre - and from the look of readers’ comments, neither can anyone else (“Please don’t sell out to cater to the Digg crowd…”) – but here we are.
The product placements on this list are not all bad: there’s a huge range here. Converse’s participation in I, Robot was highly relevant to the story, in my opinion. eBay in MIB? Funny and seamless. But Pepsi One in The Thomas Crown Affair? When Rene Russo’s character is supposed to be a health junkie who drinks green glop that makes everyone want to toss their cookies? And the way the can is tilted toward the camera? Ouch.
In the middle of this list is FedEx’s participation in Runaway Bride. Not spot-on but not distracting, either. FedEx has done a fine job in this arena. I disagree with many naysayers who feel that the movie was a walking billboard for the company. To me, the company was as much a character in the story as was Hanks. FedEx’s involvement in Cast Away was gutsy and gut-wrenching. The movie is imminently watchable, and the company is just as relevant upon multiple viewings.
Everyone knows that social networking is today’s IT girl of marketing. Most people aren’t exactly sure why, but there you are. What’s given me a chuckle are networks tossed together on a very loose definition of “shared” interests. Facebook, ironically, may the best example of them all. While it’s the media darling, to be sure, and has a kagillion members (including yours truly), most of whom have little in common. So its cosmic customer growth has been great for news outlets, but not so wonderful for marketers who quickly discover the limitations of Facebook applications and the difficulty of uncovering and aggregating “like” people.
Enter Unilever and their ad agency, Bartle Bogle Hegarty who chose Kodiak, Alaska for its harsh physical conditions and promptly set up a storefront where they began giving away free bottles of a new Vaseline lotion, Clinical Therapy. From there, Vaseline representatives began asking visitors to pass the word and subsequent visitors had to name the townsperson who had referred them. In other words, they went hunting for a key influencer: a “tipping point person” whose advice people heeded and who could influence others to try a new product.
This is the way they found Petal Ruch, who tried the lotion when she read that the company was giving away samples.
Once she did, the company claims that she passed the product along to 1,000 town residents in only two weeks. The company set up a special website, www.prescribethenation.com, where visitors could see individuals who have tried the lotion and how many people they passed it on to. Unilever also spent several days filming documentary-like footage for the ad campaign, and site visitors can watch videos of each person talking about why they like the product.
This is an outstanding word-of-mouth effort that I hope wins some awards. The effort itself could not have been that expensive (no doubt the filming was the most costly element, not the consumer/storefront piece) and, most importantly, Unilever built a “social network” from the inside out: by finding a passionate advocate first, rather than building the network and hoping someone will pop out of it.
Andree Brooks penned an article for Saturday’s Wall Street Journal and I can’t tell if it’s satire, or truth, or whether she gets paid by the word (1,069 of them, to be exact).
The piece goes to great lengths to describe the horror (the horror!) experienced when a woman of a certain age must give up shoes she likes for “old lady shoes.” Brooks puts that age somewhere in a woman’s 50s, with a generic explanation from “medical experts” having to do with flattening arches and weakening ligaments.
I have absolutely no idea what she’s talking about.
It’s certainly true that women, in particular, tend to wear pointy, too-high and otherwise torturous footwear to look good. And when they start to hurt your little feets… you should stop. Or if an injury makes such footwear painful. Or when your eyesight isn’t helping you see those street grates anymore. All good reason to stop wearing spiky shoes.
But age on its own? I don’t think so. And the chest-beating vocabulary Brooks uses is sillier still: a “heavy heart,” parting with “long time friends” (i.e. shoes), “grief.” Good grief. She equates shoes with power, reminding us of Dorothy’s ruby slippers in The Wizard of Oz. This is so dumb, it’s beside the point that Dorothy’s shoes were about 1-inch high, with a sensible toe box: a shoe not likely to outlive its wearability.
I think the article caught my eye because I went to high school in a part of the country where girls wore dresses, make-up and 3-4 inch shoes and I, too, had to give such shoes up: because of a herniated disc. But “a bad case of shoe envy?” Not after I was introduced to Stuart Weitzman…
I guess I ought to chalk this up to my original impression of the Saturday Wall Street Journal: that there’s at least one article each week that’s a little unhinged. There to fill space. Goofy. But hey – compared to taking music advice from John Malkovich (October 6, 2007 Saturday edition), this article makes perfect sense.
I wrote a post last week about marketers who are creatively capitalizing on the mangled economy, highlighting both Wal-Mart and KFC. All are trying to do something.
More and more fast-food and casual dining chains are introducing value meals, including IHOP’s $4.99 all-you-can-eat pancakefest, lunches at Applebee’s for $5.99 and hamburgers at Ruby Tuesdays for $1… and now we learn that several states are stepping up their lottery advertising with messaging like, “Maybe It’s Your Lucky Day.” Taking real advantage is Missouri, who is offering gas discounts with the purchase of a $2 lottery ticket.
What do fast food and lotteries have in common? They both disproportionately impact low-income individuals who can least afford the come-ons, with respect to both their financial affairs and their health.
Very Short List (VSL) may be one of the most unique and special endeavors to come out of the IAC stable.
The idea is very simple. In a world drowning in news and content, most of questionable quality and all promoted with equal force, Very Short List serves up one daily email recommending one thing having to do with culture. It might be a good book or movie or a video on YouTube. Some recommendations are actually for free stuff, which is nice, and – in a no/low revenue-producing example of the long tail in action – VSL may recommend something too old (or “vintage,” as they say) to be found anywhere but on the Web.
When I read the recommendation for and then viewed the funny ”‘CharlieRose’ by Samuel Beckett,” I felt my brain loosen up (in a good way). It was a short but much-needed respite from Extra/Hollywood Insider/The Enquirer/OK Magazine, etc.
Kurt Andersen leads the small group running VSL, so you get a well-curated and edited recommendation for one thing, just one time, once a day. And it’s probably safe to say that it’s unlikely Britney, Lindsay, Heidi or Mariah will make an appearance anytime soon.
There are also VSLs devoted to science and the Web, with versions focused on food, books and kids to come.
VSL needs to add RSS to the service, as has been noted in a number of reviews, but it’s still pretty wonderful. In contrast to IAC’s Internetish description of it as an “entertainment filter,” I think VSL may be the most finite and succinct example yet of why we still need humans to create value. Try it out.
I know they were just trying to be honest, but… let’s just say that they were smart to make the last slide in the presentation the picture of a bartender.
Sequoia Capital is a well-known VC firm that has invested in hundreds of companies including Cisco, Apple, Facebook, Google and PayPal. Last week, Sequoia hosted an emergency meeting for 100 executives from its portfolio companies to notify them that the sky is falling and they better be able to reach profitability, or else.
When entering the room, the attendees saw the opening of what was clearly going to be an interesting slide presentation: a huge mock tombstone that said ”RIP: Good Times.” Venturebeat posted a link to Sequoia’s slide show HERE. It’s worth reviewing. Their parting messages: cut spend now now now, become cash flow positive as soon as possible and spend every dollar as if it were your last. The last slide before Q&A: GET REAL or GO HOME.
Newsflash: the whole idea that a consumer can watch TV, surf the Internet, listen to her iPod and talk on the phone all at the same time is bunk.
MRI conducted a survey and found that nearly half of at-home media consumption occurs when a consumer is “exclusively engaged in one medium.” 55% of newspaper reading, 49.4% of TV and 54% of magazine reading are exclusive on the average day.
Even your own SF:MOGD may want to dial back the multi-tasking: last week I dialed a phone number and, while it was ringing, forgot who I was calling. FORGOT WHO I WAS CALLING! That’s scary. Not too scary, though: I had the presence of mind to stay on to find out who the lucky callee actually was…
impulse_shopping 
Wharton
Is Whole Foods for real? Even those who don’t read the papers would probably assume that a retailer commonly known as “Whole Paycheck” might be 
Starbucks is also 
halloween costume
halloween
