Andy Boyer

Category: Marketing

  • Some Random Notes from Ad:Tech SF

    Well alrighty.  My first trip to Ad:tech San Francisco is in the books.  They claimed to have about 300 companies exhibiting, and I think I talked to more than my fair share.  So as promised, here are a few companies I thought were pretty interesting.

    1) Without a doubt, the guys at AdReady.com were the hit of the show.   A well funded company with a simple solution for a common problem.  That’s a pretty good formula for success.  Plus, I got to chat with a Senior VP.  When a Senior VP is schlepping time on a show floor, it shows something about the caliber of people they hire.  Check them out if you have a few minutes.

    2) Before I go into all the companies that I walked away from thinking, “Wow, that’s cool,” let me throw out a caveat.  There were a lot of future unemployed people at this show.  My bubble alert would go off every time a company claimed they were a “revolutionary way to optimize your ad budgets” and you talked to some 25 year old who had just cut his teeth as a junior media buyer at a 3rd tier ad agency.  I saw a lot of companies, none of which I’ll name, that seemed to have the strategy of, “Well we have a Series A, and we’ll get some Series B funding in 2010.”  Except, there may not be any VC funding in 2010.  Plus, everyone seems to have a strategy of selling to Google, Yahoo or Microsoft in 2 years.  I think the best job you could get right now is a M+A guy at one of those 3 places…  

    3) Ok, some things I liked:

    • SeeSawNetworks – Rep firm for all types of weird ways to advertise
    • SproutBuilder – I didn’t quite get the full concept, but looked like a cool way to make widgets 
    • LSNMobile – Serving Mobile Ads, but in a cool way and they are profitable.
    • IdeaLaunch – There were tons of companies offering Landing Page Optimization services.  I can’t remember why, but I liked these guys.

    4) Affiliate Programs and Networks – It was fascinating to me how many new affiliate networks are out there these days.  Equally fascinating was the fact that all the big guys didn’t bother to attend the show. 

    5) Final shout of annoyance: I’m going to express a little displeasure toward the Rubicon Project.  Only because, I RSVP’d for their party and they didn’t have me in the database, so I couldn’t get in.  Probably my fault for not noticing the lack of a confirmation email.  You see, since they weren’t sure if anyone was going to come to their party, they invited EVERYONE in the world.  Then when more people showed up than they expected, they had to adhere to the RSVP list, which caused an issue of portraying themselves as an internet company who had a internet sign-up form that didn’t work.   Now, I’m a nobody, so leaving me stranded outside is no big deal.  And there was plenty of stuff to do so I didn’t really care.  But here’s where I thought they looked kind of unpolished – the door people even refused to admit an extremely well connected CEO of a pretty strong VC backed company, while their own Marketing Coordinators and their friends drank free Grey Goose.  Bubble alert – when your junior level guys are getting drunk at a party you are hosting, and you don’t have anyone senior enough at the door to let in a CEO of a company you should work with, you need to re-evaluate why you are throwing a party.  Let your guys get drunk at home.  Use Ad:Tech to talk to the CEO that wanted to talk to you. Or, I guess you can be that cocky and see if it works for you.  I guess I just wouldn’t be that cocky in a recession.

    6) Final note: I can only hope the Seattle light rail will be as efficient as the BART.  I was off my plane, on the BART and in my hotel in like 45-50 minutes, for a $5.00 fare.  Compare that to the $50 cab ride I would need to take to get home from Sea-Tac today.  Love that BART.

  • Airline Queues

    Ok, one quick rant before I leave, because I’ve been meaning to write this for months and always forget.

    I’m leaving for San Francisco tomorrow.  There is absolutely no reason that I shouldn’t be able to logon to the Sea-Tac Web site and see the following things:

    • How many total people have tickets bought for all flights leaving from my Terminal during the 2 hours before and 1 hour after my flight?
    • How does this number compare to other days, and what % of capaicity is this?
    • How long have the x-ray line queues been over the last 7 days at the terminal I’m leaving from?
    • How long have the x-ray queues historically been the last 3 years for the 2nd Monday in April?
    • How many people total have flown out from Sea-Tac this week, in comparison to previous weeks?

    Why do I want to know this?  Well, they have all the data.  And I want a better idea whether I need to be there 2 hours early or 30 minutes early.  I want to know if I’m going to be driving all over Sea-Tac looking for a parking lot that isn’t full. 

    The point is, an airline ticket is a luxury item, and here’s a really easy luxury service that costs almost nothing on a cost-per-customer basis.  This shouldn’t be hard data to track and post.   I mean, if it takes 1 man year of development time, and the airport serves 2,000,000 people, this comes out to something like a nickel per flyer.    And I don’t see why or how it’s a national security risk. 

    Plus, think how it would aleve stress on the workers.  The only stressful flyers are those who are surprised by long lines and who think they are going to miss their flight.  These are usually the same people who are stressed at work and want to leave at the last possible moment.  So why can’t we log-in, check out how long it’s "likely" going to take to get through the line, and decide when we need to leave?  Heck, I might even start choosing flight times based on how long historically the lines are at different times of day. 

    Anyway, that’s my idea.   Can someone get on this?  Thanks.

  • Mickey Mouse Marketing

    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.   

  • Looking for fun startups?

    killer.jpgHere’s a neat little web site that you can get lost in for a few hours if you aren’t careful.

    KillerStartups.com says they review 30+ sites a day, so that database gets pretty big pretty quickly.  The site prolies a wide range of companies, from the goofy to the geeky, and they mostly accentuate the positive.  After all, no start-up isperfect, but you have to root for someone willing to throw it all out on the line like that.  Plus, it doesn’t look like you need a +$10k a month PR firm, work at a VC firm or be a close friend of Michael Arrington to be profiled on KillerStartups.com, so it’s almost like the "anti-TechCrunch."

     

  • How Would You Market the MLS?

    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

    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.   

  • Classic Media Awareness Test

    Here’s a pretty interesting ad based on an old awareness test you may have seen before. I saw this on Seth Godin’s Blog.

  • March Madness Ads, Hour 18

    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.

     

  • Turbo Tax YouTube Comedy Contest

    Now here’s good marketing.  You take a product that is inherently boring, like tax software.  And rather than being all professional, you sponsor a user generated comedy contest on YouTube.  Now, I don’t know if it’s successful, but it’s certainly a smart attempt at reaching a younger demographic.

    dimuro.JPG 

    So check out the Turbo Tax Comedy Showcase.  But don’t just watch.  Make sure you interact.  And here’s a good way to interact. 

    1. Go to the showcase
    2. Click on the vote tab
    3. Search for "DiMuro"
    4. Watch the 3 minute routine
    5. Vote Thumbs up.
    6. You feel good, Turbo Tax feels good, and Greg feels good. It’s happiness all around.  

  • A Feel Good Story, Courtesy of the New York Yankees

    Maybe it’s because the new Yankees regime is headed by the Boss, Part Deux.  Or maybe they just seem softer now that Red Sox Nation has taken over the mantle of "Most Obnoxious Fans Alive."  But for whatever reason, the Bronx Bombers trip from Tampa to Virginia Tech to play an exhibition game and visit the student memorials certainly feels like altruism and genuine caring, not a marketing stunt.  Amongst all the hate and rhetoric being thrown around the political fields these days, it’s nice to read something like this ESPN.com article.