Category Archives: Big Businesses

The Story of An Underperforming Campaign

Posted by Andy Boyer in Big Businesses, Politics

(And now we get back to this being a marketing and business blog…) 

This article from the New Republic chronicles mistakes the Clinton campiagn made over the last 15-16 months.  Note: I’m not saying that her campaign is over, but I think if you start as the overwhelming front runner, and then become a candidate struggling for survival, it’s fair to say your candidacy has underperformed.

While the article is interesting on a political level, it’s also a perfect example of simple business mistakes that can make you lose consumer confidence and fall behind in the marketplace.  A couple of themes that transfer include the following: failure to recognize competitive threats, total lack of long-term focus, not taking care of the people who can give you free publicity, what happens when you choose the wrong message, and how the public turns on you if they think you are dishonest.

Check out the article here. 

“My Next Request, All Oklahomans Born in 2009 are to be Named Clay”

Posted by Andy Boyer in Big Businesses, Politics, Sports

No matter how scummy Clay Bennett has been to Seattle, there was a tiny sliver of me that thought, "He’s just an Oklahoma guy who wants to bring the NBA to his hometown.  At least he’s a liar who has a constituency in mind."

Well check out this article from NewsOk.com.  Apparently, Bennett is now holding Oklahoma hostage as well, demanding tax refunds on payroll taxes, or he isn’t bringing the team. 

" Lobbyists schmoozed lawmakers at the state Capitol and some received telephone calls and e-mails from Sonics owner Clay Bennett and other representatives of the ownership team a day before the state House is scheduled to consider final passage of legislation that will give the team a rebate on a portion of payroll taxes it will pay if it relocates.

Rep. Charlie Joyner, R-Midwest City, who also voted against the bill, said he received an e-mail from Bennett that said the team might not come to Oklahoma City unless the House passes the tax incentive. "I just don’t think this thing has been handled right. That’s kind of holding legislators hostage," Joyner said."

Read the whole article.  Amazing nerve. 

Mickey Mouse Marketing

Posted by Andy Boyer in Big Businesses, Marketing, Personal

So, I was down in LA this past weekend for the wedding of an old college friend.  A beautiful beach ceremony and a long day filled with great people who know how to have an even better time.  So on Sunday, we had a day to kill and were looking to do something that would be much less destructive on our livers.  And suddenly, we were in Disneyland.

Now you may laugh, as I did when we were heading there.  Disneyland?  What a cliche.  Do the rides even still work? 

But for the purposes of a marketing blog, Disneyland could not be a greater case study, and it’s time we all took a quick look at their marketing machine to pick up a few tips.

So, think about Disneyland as an amazing trendsetter back 50 plus years ago.  But today, their image has morphed into one of family entertainment.  Somehow along the way they realized they could not compete on a basis of building the world’s greatest roller coasters every 3 years, so they took their established product line and expanded it to the next generation.

I remember being much much younger and seeing Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, the Matterhorn, Pirates, plus all the tried and true Disney characters like Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Pluto.  Well now you walk around Disneyland and those same rides are still appealing to dads and moms in my generation, while their kids are all over the newer characters walking around and the Buzz Lightyear ride. 

You see this devotion from Yankees and Red Sox fans. Disneyland has doen such a great job of being cross-generational, that the revenue stream can almost be considered recurring.  The brand loyalty is just amazing.

But what are some other aspects of this marketing plan:

  • Price:  $66 for a day at the park.  Spendy, yes, but you get 10 hours versus the 3 you get at a football game.   And for families who live in LA, spending $129 for a year long pass is almost a gimme.
  • Product: Realistically, in those 10 hours you are on rides for about 20-30 minutes.  But the detail is in the way they hide you in buildings and give you things to look at while you are waiting in line.  Very few people walking around the park leave with images of long lines.  And those 20-30 minutes are packed with cool stuff.
  • Place: Close enough to a major destination that you randomly pick up folks like me.  Far enough away that you need to spend all day there.  Tons of hotels across the street, and for some reason $11 for parking if you drive there doesn’t seem ridiculous.
  • Promotion: The brand is ubiquitous.  Every Disney movie promotes a Disney theme park which promotes another movie.

So since this post has taken no real shape or form, here are a few fun Disney facts we learned from riding with a Disney employee on his day off.

  • Disneyland can hold 70,000 people, at which point they stop letting people in.
  • Total # of "Cast members" is about 5,000.
  • Every ride in Disneyland has at least one "Hidden Mickey," meaning if you look hard enough, you can see a Mickey Mouse face in every ride.  True story – this guy showed us the one in the Indiana Jones ride.
  • The Disney Pillars (in this order) are Saftey, Courtesy, Showmanship, Efficiency.
  • Best time to go is late January and February.  It’s the only time when all kids are in school, and all parents are paying off Christmas debt.  The park is empty.
  • People do get hurt in rides.  What they do is shut the ride down, tell everyone it’s broken, get the paramedics in quickly and quietly.
  • There is also quite the underground city which includes a full cafeteria, and other rooms for cast members.

And now here’s something else I found amazing.  I’d estimate the crowd was 30-40% Hispanic.  Remember, this is LA.  Yet Disneyland does not have a single sign in Spanish.  This is a park wher Safety, Courtesy and Efficiency are three main pillars, and they are making it difficult for a sizeable percentage of their audience to understand what they need to do onthe rides.  i couldn’t decide if the company is telling Hispanic Americans to learn English, or if the company is just too ignorant to realize how much of their audience base may not be English speaking.  I can’t believe it’s the latter.

Anyway, I had a blast there, despite the prices, the lines and the amount of strollers that were trying to knee cap me.  There’s just something about the Disney model that works.  They aren’t the best rides, it isn’t the cheapest thing to do, it isn’t the most convenient place to get to, and you have to wait around a lot.  But it’s great.  So there must be something to learn from them.   

How Would You Market the MLS?

Posted by Andy Boyer in Big Businesses, Entrepreneurism, Marketing, Personal, Sports

mls_logo.gifOk, marketers: Here’s your project.

  • A sport with huge appeal to a small niche audience
  • One brand name that is more powerful than the league itself
  • A product that is sub-par in quality in comparisons to similar products in other countries
  • In other countries, history and tradition are built on rivalry and proximity, which your league does not have
  • Established round-the-calendar competition from 5 mega-sports (MLB, NFL, NBA, NCAA FF, NCAA BB) and 5 to 8 mini-sports (NHL, WNBA, Arena, UFC, Golf, Tennis, Boxing, Lacrosse)

Now you see what the MLS is up against.  It’s the equivalent of a European-wide Basketball League trying to compete against soccer in England.

But here’s the thing – For the first time in the 10 or 15 years the MLS has been around, I am actually aware that this is opening weekend.  I actually am somewhat interested in catching a few games.  I am going to be in LA and actually looked to see in the Galaxy or Chivas would be in town.  Why?  Several potential reasons.  Let me know if you can think of others.

  1. jozy.jpgSince Seattle is getting a team next year, i want to learn about the league.
  2. I’m growing tired of the other sports(?)
  3. I’m watching enough English League Soccer, that I recognize more players on more teams, some of whom who played in the MLS.
  4. I’m following the US National team enough, that I want to see them play a few times on their MLS teams.
  5. Fifa 08 for Xbox has consumed enough of my leisure time, that I want to see who these guys really are.

Anyway, the point is that I am fully aware that this sport has HUGE marketing and logistical issues in front of it, but I am slowly coming around.  And really, I’m the sweet spot for their marketing.   A small % of the country would come watch them play in a high school stadium.  And you have a huge percentage of the country that wouldn’t watch if they served free beer and pizza all game long.  But people like me, who spend too much money on the Mariners, who irrationally go to a bar to watch a college basketball game, and don’t think it’s weird to take a charcoal grill out of a pickup truck when there is a restaurant right across the street, we’re the guys the MLS needs.  Sports fans – people who are there for the experience more than the result.  And I’m coming around, even though I know the product will not be as good as one I could see on channel 401.

Anyway, MLS starts up this week.  Take a peek if you get a chance.  And if that doesn’t grab you, start with some EPL and Champions League Games on TV, or even better, at the George and Dragon.   

Does Youth Marketing = Long Term Sales

Posted by Andy Boyer in Big Businesses, Marketing, Sports

NikePremierClub_03_black.jpgNow this may or may not have existed when I ws a kid, but today there are exclusive soccer academies for youth players, boys and girls.  I was talking to a parent of one of a player in one of these elite programs last week, and fascinated by all the expenses.  Monthly dues for coaches salaries, several hundred dollars for travel, and sveral hundred dollars for a complete kit.

The kit is what made me laugh (in soccer a uniform is called a "kit").  Home and away jerseys and shorts, practice kits, 5 pair of socks, warm up gear, sweatshirt, jacket, bag, etc…and they all are NIKE.
 

Furthermore, don’t even think about showing up onany field with your team in anything other than Nike.  Let’s say by chance, as you are putting your socks on, you rip a giant hole in the heel and toe.  So mom runs down to the local sporting good store to get you some new socks.  If they don’t have Nike socks, you will not get to play that day.  That goes for games and PRACTICE. No Nike, no play.  (Thankfully, for safety reasons, shoes are a player’s personal preference.)

nikeball.jpgNow, I get what Nike is doing.  They must provide some equipment or something to the program, and in return, this academy becomes a running, shooting, tackling billboard all over the state.  But I have to wonder if it’s effective.  If kids see Nike as a "uniform" that they have to wear (and buy), is it the same as "choosing" to wear something?  When they get older, will they choose Nike because it is ubiquitous in their mind with "Soccer gear" or will they choose another brand that represents "going against the grain" and "not what your mom made you wear for soccer."  And the other teams, the ones who get beat 8-0 but this Nike wearing machine, does that leave them with a feeling that they want to wear Nike as well?  Or does it make them mad that Nike is sponsoring kids that aren’t them.  

I’d love to see research into this.   

March Madness Ads, Hour 18

Posted by Andy Boyer in Big Businesses, Marketing, Media, Sports

Ok, so I am justifying my near addiction to watching March Madness by doing “research” on national TV ads running non-stop on CBS.  Now while they are all interesting the first time you see them, here are my reviews 18 hours in:

1) The “What does your creative team actually do all year?” Award – Enterprise Rent-A-Car:  Seriously guys, who’s sleeping with the head of the agency you are using for these predicatble, lame ads.  Your as are on ike 20 times a game.  And there’s a hand written sign that says, “Repair Shop” in frame in case we can’t figure out why there is a mechanic working under a hood. You’ve been doing these ads for 10+ years, spend a couple bucks and get a real creative team.

2) The “Thanks for The Cool Highlights, Do You have Anymore” Award – Again, Enterprise.  4 or 5 awesome college highlights.  But only one spot?  You can’t find another 40 or 50 cool highlights and splic ethem together so I get new highlights all the time?  Please?

3)  The “Best New Ad Tagline I Remember So Far” Award: I dig the new AT&T ad where everyone says hello in a different way.

4) “Best use of a Single Letter” – I can’t remember which car the are promoting, which is a problem, but the visual concept of a world without the letter H is clever.

5)  “Second Favorite” – The Bud Light “Dude” campaign.  It works because you get it whether the sound is on or off.

6) “Favorite Ad” – This ad isn’t exclusive to the Tourney, but I love the Nike Sparq, “My Better is Better than your Better” campaign.

Other Ads I have positive feelings toward:  I think I remember liking the CBS shows (Brittney Spears on next week), DiGiorno, Papa John’s and State Farm.

Sunday Aternoon Additions:

  • Ok Enterprise, your ads just get more annoying with every watching…
  • Why does State Farm think it’s cool for a groom to be wearing tennis shoes?
  • I’m almost compelled to join the Marines or Army.
  • I’m also getting ready to jump on Rhapsody and listen to the Apple Air theme song in its entirety.
  • Finally, the Saturn ads make me laugh every time.

In conclusion, I guess I don’t understand enough about brand marketing and TV ads to know why you would buy and entire weekend worth of ads, playing for people who will see them over and over again, and not really spend a lot of time or money on top-notch creative.  Congrats to the companies who put in the effort.

 

The Fight to Keep the Sonics – A Hero Emerges

Posted by Andy Boyer in Big Businesses, Marketing, Media, Sports

simmons.jpgThe sad story concerning the absolute theft of the Sonics from Seattle by Oklahoma oilmen has gotten almost no publicity to date.  Considering we are the city that launched Amazon, Starbucks, Microsoft, RealNetworks, Cranium and Pearl Jam, you would think collectively we might have the phone number of one PR person in town.

But amazingly, for the most part, no one outside of Seattle seems to take note of a very simple story:

  1. In 2006, Oklahoma guys buy team that’s been in Seattle for 41 years  A team that plays in a 17,000 seat arena, in the middle of downtown, that was renovated 10 years ago.
  2. New owners demand $500 Million new arena from taxpayers, an arena that would cost more than the 70,000 seat football stadium and 47,000 seat retractable roof baseball stadium.
  3. City tells Oklahoma City guys to stick it.
  4. Oklahoma guys claim they can’t be successful in Seattle and announce they have remarkably found a city willing to take the team – in Oklahoma City.
  5. Local Billionaires who were asleep at the switch in 2006 say they will buy team to keep it in Seattle.
  6. Oklahoma guys, who now have Kevin Durant and six 1st round draft picks in the next 3 years, tell the local Billionaires to stick it.
  7. David Stern looks at Seattle fans, and tells them to stick it.  Then stick it again for good measure.
  8. Everyone acknowldges the only question is whether they leave in 2008 or 2010.

Thankfully, one national reporter has taken up the cause.  And the amazing thing is, he is the Sports Guy, Bill Simmons, as influential as any writer in sports today.  His letterbag column is a must read, and carries with it the potential that NBA fans from across teh country could tell David Stern, "Hey, this isn’t right.  I support the Pistons, but damn if I’m going to support a league that will let some oil baron rape and plunder a 41 year old legacy."

So please, read Bill Simmons.  Send an email to thank Bill Simmons.  Join the Bill Simmons Facebook Group.  Send the Bill Simmons column on to your friends.  Blog about Bill Simmons.  Because this Bostonian has emrged as the only sportswriter who seems to care that the Sonics belong in Seattle.  

Digg the Bill Simmons article here.

Dirty Rotten Comcastic Scoundrels

Posted by Andy Boyer in Big Businesses, Media

Net Neutrality is a term that isn’t sexy enough to get the iTunes, MySpace and Facebook crowds excited.  But thankfully, we have a bunch of watchdog technologists keeping a close eye on this.

In a nutshell, as I understand it, Comcast and other Internet Service Providers want to control how fast certain web sites can deliver content.  Think about Web site content as a car.  Right now, every car has access to every super wide highway, and there are no speed limits.  But if Comcast and its friends get their way, they would get to decide which cars get to drive on super highways, and which ones have to drive on pothole filled dirt roads.  They argue this would allow them to control piracy. 

But most others argue that its a way for them to effectively shut down blogs and alternative media.  For example, my blog could be stuck on their "dirt road" list and take 2 minutes to load, effectively stopping anyone from reading it.  They could charge millions o fdollars for super highway access, and only the major media outlets and super corporations would be able to deliver content quickly. It would be impossible to launch a small web business, because your site would take much longer than the established ones.

Since most people don’t follow this too closely, most people don’t really think it’s a big deal.  So here’s evidence that it is INDEED a big deal.  

How big are the stakes in the so-called network neutrality debate now raging before Congress and federal regulators?

Consider this: One side in the debate actually went to the trouble of hiring people off the street to pack a Federal Communications Commission meeting yesterday—and effectively keep some of its opponents out of the room.

Broadband giant Comcast—the subject of the F.C.C. hearing on network neutrality at the Harvard Law School, in Cambridge, Massachusetts—acknowledged that it did exactly that….

Be sure to read the whole article on Portfolio.com.  Very shady, very corrupt, and an indicator of the lengths Comcast and others will go to  control what web sites you have access to. 

On Site Super Bowl 42

Posted by Andy Boyer in Big Businesses, Marketing, Media, Personal, Sports

So, I would love to go into detail about the NFL Experience, a giant travelling tradeshow attached to Super Bowl 42. And so I slogged out the 30 miles to God forsaken Glendale to file a report at 1:00pm on Friday.

 
However, much to my chagrin, the NFL didn’t have an experience for the public from 1:00 to 3:00pm. During those hour, it’s only experience is for season ticket holders and special guests. Since I had already burned a half day and $10 in parking, I gamely decided to see what else the NFL had for me.

Unfortunately, the only experience I was allowed, was Westgate Center.

Now I need to properly frame Glendale Stadium. And I think the best way to do this is to weave in a popular conspiracy theory. You see, 10 years ago there was this giant expanse of desert wasteland far west of Phoenix. The conspiracy theory is that a bunch of rich guys bought up this worthless property. Then, for some unexplained reason, a highway was built through this wasteland, a giant loop that ran around Phoenix, from I-10, all the way around the city and back to I-10 on the other side. Shortly thereafter, legislators decided all this open land with this convenient highway would be an ideal place for a new sports stadium. And since the stadium was so far removed from ANYTHING, the natural solution was to build a hockey arena as well, and build up the property around the stadium with hotels, bars, restaurants, condos and shops.So if you google Glendale, what you will see is 2 huge stadiums, a shopping mall, and then acres of empty land in all directions.  Desert wasteland which is now worth a fortune.

But I digress.

Now I’m out amongst the cacti and my only option is to go hang out by the shopping mall and hope for the best.  To be fair, Westgate is pretty cool if you are looking for a place to grab food and drink before a game.  All the standard chain bars are there (Margaritaville, Bar Louie, Fox Sports, etc….)

But this really re-iterated the point that at Super Bowl Weekend, you need VIP or Insider Status if you want to do anything cool.  Sure, they have parkinglot exhibits and stuff liek that, but without any kind of priority access, you are really getting about 10% of the total experience.  That’s not a lament or complaint, just a realization.  And now that I think about it, I kind of remember things like the NBA and MLB All-Star Game being the same way (but I had the access then, so I didn’t care…)

So, no great report from NFL Experience.  I heard secondhand stories that it was crowded, there was no food and the exhibits were so so.   So, i probably lucked out.