Andy Boyer

Category: Marketing

  • 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.

  • Thanks to all the Folks at the SVC

    I want to thank Larry Asher and everyone who attended the seminar on Social Media that Spring Creek Group principal Clay McDaniel and I hosted yesterday at the School of Visual Concepts.

    It was really interesting to see a roomful of people who wanted to figure out how to promote their blog and social media presence, from perspectives as varied as ad agencies, design firms, newspapers, aspiring authors, philanthropic endeavors, small businesses, freelancers and giant medical centers.  I don’t think Clay and I expected such a wide range of interest.

    (In a shameless plug, I want to extol the virtues of GotVoice’s Voice-to-Text service.  We were in the seminar about 7 hours and I never checked my voicemail.  It would have been a total pain if I had to listen to each one instead of being able to just read each voicemail as a text message.  Full disclosure: I do some work for GotVoice.  But it was very useful yesterday regardless.) 

    It sounds like we may put another one of these together in April or May.  If you missed this one, hope to see you then.

  • Are Lower Clickthrough Rates a Problem?

    Business Week asked the question this week:

    "Google: Are Ad Concerns Overblown? – The number of ad clicks fell in January for Google and Yahoo. But how important are those click-through rates, anyway?"

    "comScore (SCOR) said clicks on ads placed on Google were little changed in January from a year earlier, and that they fell 12% from the last three months of 2007. For Yahoo, ad clicks fell 3% from the fourth quarter."

    According to Google and Yahoo, Internet Advertising is alive and well.  But others have questions.  The detractors say:

    • "Advertisers are simply bidding on and buying fewer keywords."
    • "Credit-strapped consumers are simply doing less shopping online, and therefore clicking less often on the ads that direct them to retail sites.
    • "We remain concerned that a slowing U.S. and possibly global economy could further hinder Google’s growth," Stanford Group analyst Clay Moran wrote.

    But Google, Yahoo and their friends say:

    • Google co-founder Sergey Brin, contends that an economic downturn will accelerate a shift in spending from radio, print, and TV advertising to the Web. "It makes a lot of sense for advertisers, if they want to be careful about their spending and they want to make sure they are getting a good ROI to use the exact kind of advertising that we are offering.
    • Barbara Baldwin, senior director of Polycom’s global brand programs, says her company has no plans to reduce spending in 2008. "During a recession it’s really important to maintain a consistent presence, rather than dropping your campaigns and then trying to restart," she says.
    • "I think click-through was not a great measure to start with," says Michael Leo, co-founder of Avenue A/Razorfish, which was acquired by Microsoft (MSFT), and current CEO of ad software and consulting company Operative. "I don’t think clicks tell us what is going on."
    • "This myopic fixation on clicks really does a disservice to the publishers who are putting together the inventory and the advertisers who are not getting a real sense of the performance," says John Chandler, principal analyst at Atlas, a division of Microsoft’s advertiser and publisher solutions business.

    What do you think?  Will a decrease in ad clicks torpedo the ad sales industry, and cripple all the new start-ups relying on advertising revenue?  Does the loss of these start-ups spell major doom?  Or does it merely allow for consolidation?  And is this consolidation needed anyway?

  • The Fight to Keep the Sonics – A Hero Emerges

    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.