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Super Bowl Ads
January 7th, 2010It’s that time of year again. Who’s in, who’s out? Who’s still in business and has an extra million or so bucks lying around for a Super Bowl spot? Why would somebody spend that much on one ad anyway?
On a pure cost-per-thousand people reached (CPM), Super Bowl ads are inefficient. So if you’re a hard-core numbers person, look elsewhere. But on an “event” marketing basis, the Super Bowl offers a number of important advantages. First, it’s one of the few shows people watch for the commercials. Second, because it’s sports and a huge event, most people do not DVR it and fast forward through the commercials. And last, but not least, media outlets (and bloggers!) post their favorite spots so if yours is a good one, it has the potential for additional exposure.
There’s also some research to indicate that sports viewers are more engaged with the content and therefore with the ads.
So who’s in this year? Alas, it pains me to report that GoDaddy will be back with two spots. I have no idea how scantily clad the actresses will be but I hear that Danica Patrick is reprising her role as the “GoDaddy girl.” Boy, I am so bummed I didn’t get that.
Bridgestone is sponsoring the halftime show again this year, which will feature a performance by The Who. That just happens to be my husband’s favorite band.
Anheuser Busch will be back. Monster’s back. Dorito’s is back with ads created by amateurs. Ad Age has the full list here if you’re curious if your favorite brand will be there.
Who will be talked about the next morning? Something tells me Twitter will be abuzz during the game with people loving or hating on the commercials — in addition to tweeting about the game. I’ll be curious to see if Twitter’s trending topics match up with post-game favorability ad scores.
How to Get Followers on Twitter (Fun on a Friday)
August 28th, 2009“I don’t even talk to anybody with less than 900,000 followers,” opines Ryan Seacrest in this satiric little bit with Ben Stiller on how to get Twitter followers. For those of you who came to the Tweetorial yesterday, I thought this might provide some additional, uh, insight. Enjoy!
Ford’s Marketing Dept Gets it Half-Right
August 19th, 2009I’m reading this NYTimes piece on Ford’s use of “guiding personalities” (what we at NTM call “customer personae) to inform and shape their new car design. Ford gets this half-right. At NTM, we use personae all the time to help our clients focus on their core customer’s needs and wants.
What’s a customer persona? It’s a mini-profile, a biography that fleshes out your target demographic. When you have people from all over your company focused on your customer, it’s a lot easier for them to understand who “Bob” is if you’ve provided details of Bob’s life, then it is to understand that the target customer is a “male, 25-54 years old, with an average HH income of $75,000.” Much better to describe Bob:
Bob is a 40 year old middle manager at a logistics company. He’s married to Cheryl, who works part-time at a bank and shuttles their two kids (10 and 6 years old) around. Bob drives a Ford SUV. He wears clothes his wife bought him at Kohl’s and Old Navy. Suits aren’t required at his office; Bob wears the typical business casual uniform of khakis and a golf shirt. The family vacations in Florida each summer, often with another family. For fun, Bob likes to watch NASCAR and college football, especially UGA, his alma mater.
Get the idea? Now contrast Bob with Chris, in the same target demo as Bob.
Chris is an environmental engineer, 30 years old. He got his master’s degree in civil engineering and has been on the job for just three years. He’s engaged to Ashley, a public relations executive. Chris drives a Prius and shops for himself at Macy’s and specialty men’s boutiques in the mall. He has a killer margarita recipe, fancies himself a decent cook, and likes to entertain.
Both these men are 25-54 years old; both make $75,000, but they couldn’t be further apart. Fleshing them out, giving them a story, helps your employees visualize. So if they’re working on a product feature, they can ask themselves, “would this appeal to Bob?” (When we develop customer personae for our clients, we like to clip magazine photos to realize the profile more fully.)
OK, so how is it that Ford only gets this half right? According to the article, they’ve created Antonella, a 28-year old Italian living in Rome, to guide the design of the Ford Fiesta. Their thinking being that party girls are the same no matter what country they live in, and that Italians are experts when it comes to small car driving. That may be true, but the people designing and building the Fiesta are Americans who may or may not be able to relate to this young Italian donna. The whole purpose of creating the persona is so that your team can understand and relate to the person. It should be someone they instinctively “get” or know.
So kudos to Ford for trying. And hey, who am I to tell them what they’re doing wrong? But I sure would’ve used Ashley, a 28-year old living in Chicago, if I were developing their profiles.
King of Pop or Not?
June 26th, 2009
I’ve actually had people ask if I was going to blog about Michael Jackson’s passing which surprised me a bit. I know this blog is random-y and all but I don’t have much to contribute to the conversation, except this: the moniker “King of Pop” was given to him by his public relations people. The media did not dub him that. It did not rise up organically. His press people used to tell the media that if they wanted to use his likeness in a promo (say they were going to feature an interview with him on “20/20″), they could not use it unless they referred to him as the “King of Pop.”
Cross posted at Random Neural Firings.
Facebook Fan Pages
June 22nd, 2009
Did you know that your business can have a fan page on Facebook? It’s a great place to interact with your customers (or allow them to interact with one another), share exclusive content or deals, and continue developing those all-important relationships. And lest you think Facebook is just for kids, think again. 70% of Facebook’s users are between 18 and 44.
Some well-known Facebook fan pages include: Whole Foods, Victoria’s Secret, and Red Bull. But it’s not just the big brands with a presence; small companies are setting up fan pages, too. Look for inspiration at Zutano’s Facebook fan page. They do a great job of interacting with their fans, creating Facebook-only contests, and posting fun, behind-the-scenes photos of their staff. Or check out Positive Parenting Solutions. They have useful tips and special offers.
We’ve been working on our Facebook fan page. Please take a look and fan us! We’re going to have a Facebook party on our fan page next Wednesday, July 1st. Join us from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and win great prizes like Amazon gift cards.


