Super Bowl Ads

Super Bowl 44 was an exciting game. But how were the ads? Seems the Super Bowl ads have lost some of their sizzle from a few years ago. What’s your opinion? Read on and then send me your thoughts and favorites.

My goal isn’t to rate all the ads, but try to pick out some that show good marketing savvy. (And believe me, not all these ads do show savvy...some just show a waste of money!)

Hyundai vs Kia – Clear Winner is Hyundai

You could say Hyundai and Kia are in similar market positions. Trying to gain in a crowded (and slow) market dominated by Honda and Toyota. Hyundai were promoting their redesigned Sonata. They showed their employees as all being part of the quality control team. Showed some of the steps they take to make their undercoating and paint better than Mercedes. They even had a funny commercial with Bret Favre still playing in the 2020 season...tying it to the fact a new Hyundai will still be under warranty. Great spots showing real value of their brand and product.

Kia ran an ad with classic toy and cartoon characters shown more than the Sorento vehicle. The only real feature shown was a button that starts the ignition. Waste of money...it didn’t add to the brand or the vehicle. It wasn’t even that clever when you saw that it was all a dream of the toys that were sitting on the backseat of the car. Yawn.

Coke – Refresh Everything

Coke didn’t run an ad against Pepsi, but they did co-op Pepsi’s concept of “Refresh Everything”. It is difficult to continue to renew a brand with fresh ideas. Their “Simpson’s” ad was a fresh take that ties into an old brand attribute...that Coke makes you feel good and is great to share. A great commercial that was engaging and reinforced the brand.

Bud and Bud Light – I guess it sells beer...

They just seem to try too hard sometimes. The Bud Light commercials weren’t all that funny. And the clydesdales series has jumped the shark. Move on...please.

Monster vs. CareerBuilder – A Tie

Ten percent unemployment and the best the two top job websites can do is have a violin-playing beaver (Monster) and an office full of people in their underwear (CareerBuilder)? Monster did at least tie in a new service feature (advanced targeting).

Flo TV – Great Placement and Content Tie-in

Flo TV ran a few spots, but the real winner was their spot leading into halftime. Using a song from The Who, the halftime show, the Flo TV ad caught attention, and was intriguing visually. It tied together well the creative angle and their product - a handheld TV device that will allow you to not “miss” your generation. Great ad.

Cars.com – Subtle but Effective

The cars.com ad featured crazy smart guy who feels uneasy about buying a car. Subtle message (even if you’re smart, you need help buying a car) but effective...we all feel a bit nervous when facing a new car purchase.

Focus on the Family – Whole Lot of Pregame Hot Air

Based on the hype media coverage, I thought the Tim Tebow ad was going to feature people with pitchforks and torches. Complete non-event on this one. Nice ad, but does it make you go to the website to learn more about Tim Tebow. Maybe?

Go Daddy – Don’t Go to the Website

Speaking of strong call to action, I know that the Go Daddy ads drive traffic to the website. I just choose not to patronize a company that markets like this. Several years ago I showed my young daughter Danica Patrick racing at Indianapolis in the “you can be anything you want sweetie” category. Now I tell her not to watch Patrick in the Go Daddy ad. Free country...they can advertise as they like. And I can choose not to shop there.

Washington, Please Stop!

The census ad. Why? Don’t waste our money that way Washington (in fact stop wasting our money in a million ways!). If you are going to do an ad for the census, here’s a crazy idea: actually say something more than “there is a census in 2010”. How about some useful information, like what the requirements are for citizens. What to expect (are they calling, visiting, emailing me?). Something! Don’t just do a “cute” Super Bowl ad with no point.

The Mind of a Guy

Dove skincare and Charger both hit on the guy thing. Guys have to put up with a lot and so they need/want something for themselves. I just wonder guys...would you rather have smooth skin or a hemi?

No matter what type of marketing you do, here’s a couple pointers to takeaway from the Super Bowl ads:

• Don’t trade cleverness for product info. It’s almost always more effective to communicate benefits and have a strong call to action.
• Stop Borrowing Interest. Sexy women, silly ads, famous stars...they make an ad memorable, but rarely does that interest borrowed from another source rub off on a product. It has to have a reasonable tie in to the product.
• Direct Isn’t Bad. As a mentor of mine used to say, “Tell them what you’re going to say, tell them, then tell them what you told them.” It never hurts to directly tell the consumer why they would be well served to buy from you.

Let me know your thoughts. Have a favorite? Hate one of the ads? Let me know...email me.

SLE

Webinar on the Web and Selling

What’s the Web Doing for You?

How Business Owners can Integrate the Web in their Direct Marketing and Selling...

“You’ve got to be on Facebook! Or Twitter!” You may have heard this type of comment in the last year. Social Media Marketing is all the rage (and with good reason). However, you’ve probably never heard a really good explanation about WHY social media, and your web presence on your website and beyond, is important.

Join us on February 22, 2010 at 1pm ET for a web event that explains WHY social media, Web 2.0, and the way people’s (and business’) buying behavior has changed.

The recession has mixed with Web 2.0 to fundamentally shift the way consumers and businesses buy. (If you don’t believe it, ask yourself if YOU’VE changed how you buy over the last two years!)

This web event will unpack the issues business owners, marketers, and management teams need to understand to gain an advantage by integrating the inbound marketing/web strategy with the direct selling effort.

This event DOES NOT just push Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. It will give you the tools and working models to develop a cohesive online/offline marketing and selling plan.

Learn:

• How traditional direct marketing and selling gets customers...and how things have changed!
• How buyer (both consumer and B2B) behavior has changed...and what to do about it...
• How you can maximize your web exposure to gain an advantage over the competition

To register click here. For more information, email me.

SLE

Best of 2009 Articles and Ideas

An associate of mine asked me about an article that I wrote.

“Why don’t you publish a bunch of your articles?” he asked.

So I did. “The Best of 2009” is a downloadable PDF of 30 top articles and ideas from 2009. Subjects vary from tips and techniques to thoughts on strategic integrated marketing. Some examples:

• Small Business Branding
• Getting Publicity for Your Business
• Ways to Increase Sales in a Downturn
• Building an Effective Marketing Process
• Developing a Plan that can be Implemented

And many more...

Get the download for only $5.95.

Printed version coming soon!

SLE

How Much Marketing? Free Web Event on Jan. 11

“How Much Marketing Should We Be Doing?”

That’s the second-most asked question I hear. People aren’t sure how much marketing they should be doing. So, they decide based on how much they can afford. Obviously, budget is a factor, but it would be much more effective to understand on a little deeper level what marketing can do for meeting our goals.

This free web event on January 11 at 1pm ET will help you understand the moving parts and give you a roadmap for answering this prickly question: How Much Marketing?

Learn:

• How to unpack your go-to-market strategy and connect the dots to make your marketing more effective...
• How to track and measure how much marketing your organization needs to meet its goals...

Limited registration for this free event, to reserve your seat, click here!

Can’t make it? Buy the video download now here...

SLE

Job Seeker Marketing: Marketing You!

My associate Neal Grielbling, the Pittsburgh Career Coach and owner of Future Design Studio engaged me on marketing techniques that might help his clients as they seek work they love. The result was a white paper entitled “Marketing You”. This document explores ways for job seekers to utilize marketing techniques that I’ve applied for organizations from start ups to Fortune 500 firms.

Rather than focus on resume writing or other techniques which are readily available to job seekers, Neal suggested that some of the principles I use to help small organizations better market themselves be applied to individuals marketing themselves.

The white paper covers:

1. Uncovering and communicating your personal brand
   

2. Understanding and utilizing prospect (employer) response variables
   

3. Developing strong response mechanisms
   

4. Creating compelling direct marketing messaging
   

5. Marketing techniques to employ in a job search
   

Neal was pleased with the resulting document, which is available through his website. If you know someone who is in a job search, pass along this information. In a tight job market, polished marketing can help set a candidate apart.

SLE

How Much Marketing in 2010?

Marketing plans (and some business plans) went out the window in 2009. Now it’s time to determine strategies and tactics for 2010. Is the recession over? Are we headed for a double-dip downturn? How much marketing should we be doing?

Business owners struggle to know how much marketing to do. Often times they choose based on reasons that make sense...until you see them in a list on a blog somewhere. Decisions based on:

1. How much can we afford?
   

2. What is our competition doing?
   

3. What’s the latest thing I can try?
   

What Can We Afford?

Budget is a concern, obviously, but determining budgets at the tactical level (how much direct mail can we afford to print...) is not sound business reasoning. The conversation should be at the strategic level, basing our activities on our goals (whether financial, project count or other goals). The key is choosing tactics (and their budgets) based on their return in the selling process.

What is the Competition Doing?

Many business owners cede their business decisions to their competitors...which assumes that their competition somehow is smarter and makes better decisions. Sure we sometimes HAVE to go to the trade show because our competition is there. Yet this thinking can lead business owners to spend their valuable dollars, time and effort on marketing tactics that aren’t the most effective for their selling process.

What’s the Latest Thing?

Sure, the latest thing could be the next big thing. But just like websites (back in the early days of the web) or social media marketing more recently, no tactic is going to be THE ONE to yield instantaneous and amazing results. But often business owners chase the latest marketing idea because they are frustrated by the lack of results from their existing marketing and selling tactics. That’s why it’s so important to understand how to integrate new ideas into the current selling process.

The first step to developing an effective go to market plan is understanding how much marketing to be doing. We’ve developed a downloadable video that teaches this first step in building a quantifiable process. It’s quick and easy, but can pay big dividends as you consider your 2010 strategy.

Not the video download type? Email me to schedule a one-to-one session. And start taking control of your marketing process.

SLE

The Web and B2B Sales Cycles

Brochure-ware. E-commerce. Web 2.0. The evolution of the web...

Where is your website on that list? Is it just “out there”? Is your web presence integrated with how you go to market? With how your prospects and customers use the web in the buying cycle?

The web continues to evolve as a business tool. We all understand the direct to consumer model...everybody’s bought from an online retailer. Yet there is still a disconnect in the B2B space about using the web. Is this an article about SEO (search engine optimization), social media marketing, or online pay for click advertising? Not really...

Sure there have been lots of media on, and you’ve received sales calls about, using social media like twitter and facebook or buying new web services. But I believe there is a fundamental lack of understanding about how the web affects the selling cycle.

That’s why we’ve developed a simple model to help organizations understand how buying behavior affects the selling cycle in industries from professional services to manufacturing and other B2B vertical markets.

The purpose of this model is understanding how the internet is used by prospects and customers in the buying cycle and how to integrate inbound web techniques with the direct selling model.

We’d love to show you this model. It will give you insight into how you can be thinking differently about your website and web presence and how they can impact your selling cycle and resulting sales.

Join us for our web event on January 11. You’ll leave with insight:

• How traditional direct selling models work
• What the web can do to improve your direct selling
• Why “drip marketing” and other techniques to eliminate competitors fail
• Ways to increase the integration of your inbound/online and direct selling efforts

Email me to receive the full program outline. This web event is free.

SLE