Recently in Marketing Category

I'm man enough, my friend, to admit my wife KO'd me twice last night in Wii Boxing (perhaps, though, not man enough to let you know how our Wii Tennis match turned out).

Maybe it's just that we're all under siege from both political parties and various Vote No and Vote Yes groups, but I have no idea why Apple and Microsoft have gotten into an ad war that looks like a McCain v. Obama shootout.

Microsoft launches Windows campaign with Jerry Seinfeld

Then pulls them

Microsoft launches their "I'm a PC" ads, complete with appearances from Eva Longoria and Deepak Chopra (Really? Deepak Chopra? They chose Deepak Chopra?) in obvious answer to Apple's "I'm a Mac ads".




Well, now Apple counters with their own take on the $300M ad campaign by Microsoft




Media Bistro says "Clearly, the above Apple spot completely undoes the $300 million project, in one swift kick to the nards."

I can't say I agree. I use both PC and Mac and, well, they both have their issues (I'm not currently a fan of Vista, which I use at home), but are these ads really going to make me lean one way or another?

I don't know about you, but when I bought my last computer there was much more to consider than what my OS "said" about me.

How about:
 
Cost of system
 
Whether or not useful applications are included in the software bundle (Word & Excel, anyone?)

Ease of use

Look and size of system

Ease of switching platforms

There are some programs which just aren't Mac compatible (which is why I have to use Parallels at work, which is painful) and many things about a Mac are just easier to use.

I see none of these points outlined in these ads.

But maybe they're just marketing the Brand Experience.

I guess if it sells their OS, then I guess they've done their job?

You know, it's all I can do to try to get people to be more "eco", "green", or choose your own environmental catchphrase, without appearing to be Hitler Youth and yelling at someone every time they throw out their Coke can instead of putting it in the recycling bin.

Yelling at people is a great way to become unpopular, by the way.

I'm thinking of those heavily-accented New Yorkers yelling "Fur is murder!" at the fur clad women coming out of Neiman Marcus. (It did sound a bit like, "Fehr is Merhder!")

In fact, if there's something you take seriously: politics, hunting, fashion, baseball... there's a good chance when you get to yell mode you're going to start irritating everyone.

Which is why you've never seen Michael Jordan on TV holding up a pair of Nikes and screaming, "Hey, buy these damn shoes!"

Screaming is the easy way out. It's what you do to kids so they'll do what you need to do. And it's rarely used to get someone older than 18 to do something you want them to.

Which is why I prefer getting people on board the "Green Movement" by subtle suggestions, like those "Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail" tags on the end of people's email.

As a staffing company, we get a lot of paperwork on a monthly basis. Basically everyone who comes into the office needs to fill out an I-9, W-4, and go through about 15 other pages of paperwork. Not only is manpower involved filing all those things, it's a ton of paper. (Literally, after you get enough of it.)

Which is why I'm so happy we just moved toward filling out our I-9s electronically and offering the option of both Talent and Staff getting their pay stubs (and prior year W2s) electronically, which cuts down on paper and the real and environmental costs of getting those documents to everyone's houses.

The next big step? Getting our clients on board with signing electronic time cards.

Right now we we process nearly 300 every week in our office alone. That means Aquent Talent have to print out their time cards, have their supervisor sign them, then fax them to us, which produces another piece of paper. So that's two pieces of paper right there. Maybe 600 sheets of paper doesn't seem that much, but we have over 75 offices who do this every Monday of the year.

So is that big picture or little picture?

I think it's a step in the right direction.

If you just start changing your mind on this one thing, then it follows that you'll start looking at the world differently.

Just so you know, I'm not going to be screaming at you next time you chuck your Pelligrino water bottle into the trash.

And that I'll probably wait until you're out of sight before I take it out of the trash and toss it into the recycling bin for you.


BTW, If you're an Aquent Talent interested in getting off the paper pay stub addiction, just go to MyAquent "Work" section's new "View Pay Statements" option. If it's confusing, just email me and I'll walk you through it.


(Photo by zappowbang)

You need to look far and wide, my friend, to find a Webcast that is more free.

If you're interested in what's going on in Marketing, career-wise, set your browser to stun and listen to the AMA's Ask the Expert, Matt Grant talk about: 

Careers in Marketing: Flux, Flexibility, and the Future

(I should put in here that Matt is Aquent's Minister of Enlightenment and my fellow Blogger).

Here's the skinny:

The nature of business, the structure of markets, and the practice of advertising have all entered a state of perpetual change, thanks to the internet and related technologies. There have never been more ways to communicate and sell more products to more people than right now. There has also never been such a variety of marketing roles and ways for marketers to work together.

Free registration can be had by clicking right here!

If you do find a more free Webcast, please email me.

Why is the fact that people are arguing about peanut butter important?

Is it important?

I guess time will tell what kind of effect a site like Mouse Print, which "exposes the strings and catches buried in the fine print" has on consumer awareness.

Topic of the day? Unilever reduced the size of their Skippy brand peanut butter, but the packaging looks exactly the same, a feat executed by hollowing out the bottom of the container (see picture here). Their competitor, Jif (made by Smuckers) has already made darn sure to promote the fact that their jar is still 18 ounces.

Mouse Print asked Unilever why the change, and the company responded that, essentially, rising prices have led them to lower the amount of product to keep a competitive price.

I don't know about you, but my grocery store gives a Price Per Unit ratio below the product which is danged helpful to those of us who are woefully math challenged.

A friend of mine had complained last year on her blog about how confusing it is that companies (which she referred to as "Marketers") are forever changing the playing field, so it was hard to be an informed consumer.

I think that's always been the case (there's an old expression which captures that sentiment, "Have you ever heard a huckster yell, 'Rotten tomatoes?'") People who make their living selling things aren't usually going to give you the product/service's downside. That's left up to us, the consumer.

Thus the other ancient expression, "Caveat emptor".

The good thing about sites like Mouse Print is that they let the consumers rant and rave and check facts with each other (and the companies), so consumers at least have some facts on their side. Which is better than hearing from a coworker, as I did years ago, "Did you know Snapple has KKK connections?" who then pointed at the label of his Snapple Iced Tea.

My reply?

"Um, that's the Kosher symbol."

If you're interested, NPR had a talk with Ben Popken from Consumerist about this whole topic, which you can listen to here.

Okay, let's face it, The People have caught onto the "green" Marketing tricks.

And they're mad as hell.

Saying your plastic bag is saving the Earth just because you can use it again as a garbage bag (as the American Chemistry Council insists) or that you're an environmentally friendly green gas station has made a lot of "green marketing" efforts seem ridiculous and lame.

So what's a Marketing or Production Manager to do if they want their efforts to be more sustainable?

Well, I think the first thing you have to do is be honest. If you can save 1,200 trees by using recycled paper in your mailing, then not only should you do it, you should feel good about promoting it. But you should also be aware that the bar is being set higher and the knuckleheads may be confusing the issue just to sell more tires than their competitors.

A few years ago, a few of us saw Chris Hacker who was at the incredibly green Aveda, but had signed on as Senior Vice President of Global Design and Design Strategy at Johnson & Johnson, and it was a real eye opener. I mean, I have a compost pile, but this guy is now on the leading edge of a Fortune 500 global brand.

(Which doesn't mean I'm giving up my compost pile, but rather that I'll stop bragging about it.)

If you're looking to educate yourself in true "green marketing" efforts, from paper buying to soy inks, you may be interested in a free Webinar on the topic, sponsored by Neenah Paper.

It's called Far-Sighted Sustainability and hosted by Marc Alt, president and founder of Marc Alt + Partners, "a design, research and brand strategy agency dedicated to sustainable innovation".

Here's the Webinar link and, as I said, it's free.

And, I believe, fairly sustainable.

Daphne, who used to work in the LA office with me has an excuse for missing these viral Dove Ads - she's in our Sydney, Australia office.

But me, who sits at his computer all day in the second largest city in America, blogging about media stuff?

Sadly, no excuse.

But! To make up for it, in case any of the rest of you are recovering Luddites, I'm including two of the films from Dove's Self-Esteem gallery. (On a side note, I've watched these a number of times and my self-esteem remains remarkably low.)

There's been a heck of a lot of controversy about these films and Dove "taking on" the beauty industry. There's even been venting at Ogilvy, who produced these film, because they also produce ads for a well-known girl's doll that is not so loved by many women.

I'm not sure what I think of the campaign as a whole, is it whitewashing or just a step in the right direction?

Either way, the visuals in these films speak for themselves. Whether that changes your decision whether or not to pop into Victoria's Secret or Abercrombie & Fitch, is up to you.

Onslaught

Evolution

Interestingly, Greenpeace posted their own YouTube response ad (below), protesting Dove's use of palm oil in their products. They claim the palm oil industry is destroying the Paradise Forests in Indonesia and that "as the biggest single buyer of palm oil in the world" they need to help stop it.

As a result, Unilever met with Greenpeace and "agreed to support the call by Greenpeace for an immediate moratorium on deforestation for palm oil plantation".

So maybe one step in the right direction, the Real Beauty Campaign, is leading to other right steps?