We’ve all seen Mad Men. Well this is the kind of video you get when your Creative department is drinking scotch and hitting on secretaries all day. Take a drink every time you see something sexist and/or something that would get a Marketing Director fired today.
Category: Marketing (Page 6 of 25)
It’s hard to think back to 2008, back before the Seattle Sounders officially existed in anything more than everyone’s imagination.
The Sounders were to become the 16th team in a league with a couple of marquee names in David Beckham and Landon Donovan. LA, DC and Toronto were the only teams to draw more than 18k fans a game.
So when the Sounders announced that Xbox was going to commit $20 Million bucks to the team and the league, it really seemed like – and was – a large sum of money to risk.
But now as we look at the end of the 3rd year of the deal, it’s the Sounders who can’t wait for the contract to expire. Unfortunately for them, they still have 2 more years of the deal. When you look back, the Xbox media team made a heck of a deal.
At $20 Million over 5 years, you are looking at a deal that is only $4 million a year. For that 4 million Xbox got rights to the front of the jerseys, signage in all MLS stadiums, naming rights to Xbox Pitch at Qwest (then Century Link) Field, and TV spots on all broadcasts.
Let’s look at some of the other deals in the MLS (sourced from The Brotherly Game):
So if we assume the national value to the Sounders sponsor is roughly the same as the value any other team’s sponsor receives, the delta is in the value at home. So lets say maybe 1/2 – 2/3 the value is in national exposure, and 1/3 – 1/2 is in local. If that’s the case, then the national value is about $2 million for each team.
So in those terms, the local value of DC United’s sponsorship would be about $1 Million per year. For Salt Lake, it’s $3 Million per year. Now the 38,500 fans per game in Seattle just about doubles everyone but the #2 LA Galaxy at 23,000 per game. So if the Sounders drive 2x more fans than Salt Lake, and 2x the TV impressions, you’d have to estimate the local value is at least $6 Million per year (2x Salt Lake).
There are probably more scientific ways to figure this out, but we don’t have access to impression volumes, jersey sales and hard stats. And we haven’t included the premium that Xbox pays for being the local guys recruiting employees, and the international value of having the team play across Central America and Mexico, or the fact that they’ve gotten a smoking deal the last 3 years.
So let’s ballpark a number of $9 Million per year to start the new deal in 2014. ($2 Million National Value, $6 Million Local value, $1 Million Premium.) How does that look?
Quite often in marketing, we focus on the “Acquisition” aspect of the formula. How do we make someone aware of what we’re selling and then get them to buy it? And usually, the marketing team will get laser focused about the campaigns they are running, evaluating whether those campaigns are being successful.
But only the savvy marketer will audit the entire company. Is there anything else going on in any other division, where customers are literally being driven away?
Let’s take a personal example. Years and years ago I bought an Acura from Acura of Seattle. No, out of good marketing, personal laziness or just because I don’t know any better, whenever I need something fixed, or just to buy a certain part, I call Acura of Seattle. The number is even in my Contacts List. (Well, it was. Not anymore. Thanks Apple. Different story.)
So I need a simple part, so I call the guys down at Acura of Seattle. They don’t have the part, but it can be there in a few days. No big deal. Inconvenient, but not inconvenient enough for me to go looking somewhere else. But then comes the kicker.
Acura of Seattle: “We’ll need you to come down and pay for it in person, then we can have it sent to you.”
Andy: “I’ll just give you my credit card over the phone.”
Acura of Seattle: “Can’t do that. Need you to drive down to Tukwila and pay in person, then we’ll ship you the part.”
Andy (Staring at phone): “Or I can call Acura of Bellevue.”
And so I call Acura of Bellevue. They need to order the part as well, but tell me to just come in tomorrow and it’ll be there for me. Done deal.
So when it comes time for me to buy a new car, it really doesn’t matter what kind of clever marketing campaign Acura of Seattle throws at me. Facebook, Twitter, Direct Mail, it really doesn’t matter. All I’ll really remember is that Acura of Seattle wanted me to drive to Tukwila for no reason and Acura of Bellevue was helpful.
Moral for the marketers: Find out if other parts of the company are crushing your campaigns…
If you haven’t seen this ad from Nokia yet, give it a shot. Super creative use of stop motion animation, utilizing the Nokia N8’s Cellscope Technology.
As we enter Q4, the team over at Social3i is happy to release two new products into a private alpha stage.
Relaborate is a tool for helping professionals with Blogging. We’ll debut publicly at NWEN’s First Look Forum.
Animakast is a project we’re doing with our friends at FlyingSpot. It’s the simplest, easiest and cheapest way to turn new or existing audio content into compelling animated video.
We love the prospects of both these little start-ups. Let me know if you would like to join our private alpha program for either.
I’ve been a fan of the Northwest Entrepreneur Network’s First Look Forum for a few years now – and not just because I’m on the NWEN Board. The Seattle entrepreneur community has a lot to offer, and while you probably aren’t going to see the next Google or Amazon pop out of it, First Look Forum could be a spot to watch for your next Gist or Tippr.
Now, I’ve been in and around a number of startups over the years, including partner roles (Spring Creek Group, Social3i) and marketing consulting roles (Imagekind, GotVoice, Savester, Movaya, Golazo, Lilipip). I’ve also worked on wild and fun side projects with no revenue model to speak of (MyElectionChoices) and non-profit philanthropic efforts with even less of a revenue model (EvigSeattle). On every company, there’s a little something to learn.
But this is the first year I worked on a team taking a startup through the First Look Forum process. For the last 6 months at Social3i, we’ve been building and testing a number of social media related products, and are now in the alpha stage of two separate ones. One of them will make it’s debut to the NWEN investment community on Oct. 18, thanks to FLF. (The other you’ll have to keep an eye out for – it’s coming soon.)
So what’s the point of this post? Well, First Look Forum has been a great experience for us, serving as a forcing function to hit deadlines and milestones. Plus, throughout the process, we’ve been able to meet with investors and entrepreneurs who’ve provided excellent feedback on a wide array of topics relevant to launching a new product. Being on one side of the First Look Forum process for a few years had given me one perspective. But now being on the receiving end of the help, I really think FLF should be on the top of the list for anyone thinking about launching a new venture.
Anyway, if you’re an investor or angel, go beg Daniel and Caitlin to let you have a ticket to the event in October. If you’re a would-be entrepreneur in corporate clothing, get your team together and make a run at FLF in Spring 2012. It’s definitely worth the time you’ll put into it.
Can’t resist posting this ad promoting FIFA 12, starring Steve Nash and Hope Solo. Pretty funny stuff. Would love to have seen the actual shoot. (And I still don’t understand what you get when you cross a gorilla and a leopard….)
Another nice find by DigitalBuzzBlog.
This McDonald’s campaign asks you to watch a :50 YouTube video and look for a certain character hiding in the scene. If you click on the character, you move on to the next level.
It’s actually a little hard at first, so don’t lose your patience the first time to get to the end without spotting Grimace. It’s a neat gimmick for a campaign, and definitely something you could replicate if you have the creativity and motivation.
Leave it to a 100 year old chocolate company to create a truly innovative interactive campaign utilizing augmented reality and an app called Blippar. I don’t have these candy bars in front of me, so I can’t vouch for the game yet, but I’ll try to pick some up on my next trip to QFC. (Video via DigitalBuzzBlog)
Love this stop motion video from SumoScience for Nokia’s N8 phone. Not only is the video itself great, but I appreciate the end of the video where they make it easier to see “how” they did it.