Do Fatter Asses Lead to Bigger Slogans?
One of my guilty pleasure online destinations is the British-based Sun Newspaper (and it’s not for the Page 3 girl). I find the entertainment gossip amusing, the football (soccer) news occasionally informative and the headline & copy writing a real treat..
Today, I can across this story that reported on London Olympic facility designers making seats bigger because, well, spectator’s seats are bigger. That is, people are getting fatter and the stadium seating needs to be more spacious to accommodate them.
To quote:
OLYMPICS chiefs have ordered super-sized seats for London’s 2012 Games — because fans are getting FATTER.
All 20,000 chairs at the capital’s gleaming new Aquatic Centre will be 4cm wider and 5cm deeper than originally planned.
Organisers agreed to the changes after talks with stadium designers, who warned normal-sized seats would be unable to cope with a bulkier UK population by 2012.
It would be my personal hope that people interested in attending sporting events would themselves be participants in physical activities and fitness of some sort. But perhaps that is naive and not a particularly well-supported position if you’ve been to an NFL football game (where, at least, pant seams are well-supported).
So…my challenge is to consider how this will be marketed. After all, the honest truth (Built Ford tough???) will hardly endear fans to the games organizers. Setting aside that there is now more space on the seats for corporate advertisers to flog their wares, I’ve jotted down potential slogans/pitches:
- Olympic-sized seats for Olympic-sized spirit
- Where the only thing spilling over the side is water
- London 2012: The Biggest Games Ever
- Free Deep-fried Mars bar with every seat purchase
And so on….These are off the top of my head. Thoughtful suggestions welcome as well…
P.S. Obesity is a serious issue and this is not a good sign for us all.
Tags: slogans, Olympics, marketing, London 2012, obesity
My Boys Got Their Names in Lights
Marketing magazine’s Sept 10th issue contains the annual Ones to Watch feature. If you’re unfamiliar with the OTW, it’s their list of marketing professionals who are under 30 and poised to be industry leaders (having already made a significant mark on the business). It’s behind the firewall so you can’t read the full profiles without a password/subscription.
However (enter shameless plug), my bosses made the list and I’m re-posting their profile here (with thanks to Lesley Young who wrote the piece):
Brady Murphy & Adrian Schauer
Co-Managing Partners,
Vortex Mobile, Toronto >> Age: 29, 28Three years ago, at one of their many brainstorming sessions over beers after shooting hoops, longtime pals Brady Murphy and Adrian Schauer hit upon a winning idea about mobile marketing.
The technology was huge in Asia and Europe, but not so in North America. "There was a big void in understanding around text messaging or SMS [Short Message Service] at the time," says Murphy. The pair would zero in on developing cutting-edge marketing technology for North America. Enter Toronto-based Vortex Mobile.
Murphy has the marketing cred, including a few years in account services, while Schauer brings the technical expertise from a stint managing new product development in the wireless industry. The two are an agency match made in heaven, says Michael Keefe, senior director of mobile and interactive strategy at client Carlson Marketing Canada.
"Delving into the mobile industry can be intimidating for some clients. They [Vortex] have incredible knowledge of industry best practices that accompany clear marketing objectives…which takes the guesswork out of the equation."
David Soyka, consumer marketing manager at Vortex client Levi Strauss & Co., agrees. "They’ve given us flexible, terrific MMS [Multimedia Messaging Services] solutions without elaborate infrastructure." A recent campaign for Levi’s, which allowed customers to vote on their favourite jeans model (integrating SMS and viral consumer engagement), resulted in more than 16,000 votes. Vortex also enabled a mobile video campaign for Microsoft Canada.
They’ve come a long way since starting up in Murphy’s basement; growing revenues more than 300% in each of the past two years. They’re now working out of a new downtown Toronto office with 11 employees. "Eventually, we’d like to sell and become part of something bigger," admits Schauer. But until then the two friends will keep shooting hoops, and looking for their next big idea over beers
Brady’s also been blogging at the CMA blog on matters mobile and since I’ve already made one shameless plug, you can find that here.
Naturally I’m very excited for them and I know they’re honoured to be included. Thanks Marketing mag.
Tags: Marketing, Ones to Watch, Vortex Mobile
Old Friends More Trustworthy or CPR for the 30 Second Spot
A just-released study called Compose (conducted by Kantar Media Research and the Dutch firm Pointlogic) examined the impact different media has on consumer choice, awareness, preference etc…Among the findings are:
- Consumers recognize TV as the No. 1 medium for building awareness: 43% rate it as excellent or very good. Magazines (31%), newspapers (29%) and radio (24%) all also performed well
- Asked which media helped them decide whether "they can trust a brand," TV ranked first again with 26% of the respondents, followed by newspapers (21%) and magazines (19%).
- The newest media tracked in the survey – platforms like video games, video-on-demand, interactive TV and streaming online video – by contrast are still regarded by most consumers as being niche communication vehicles. Their scores on these measures ranged between 2% and 5%.
This is useful reminder that for all the hype around social media, emerging technologies and what not, the vast majority of people still consume and trust more traditional media. Of course, the future for these new media is good. The popularity of 2.0 apps/site among younger demographics is high and will translate into greater acceptance over time.
I suspect a major barrier for the new media is a credibility gap. With UGC or community/citizen journalism, its hard for the average consumer to evaluate the accuracy or trustworthiness of content they consume online.
Tags: compose, media consumption
Brain hurt – too much thinking outside of box
Seth Godin has started a Squidoo lens on the Encyclopedia of Business Cliches. There’s a top 10 that has morphed into a Top 83 (and counting) and that will change as votes are cast in favour of one or another & other cliches are added. The current top 3 are: Best Practices, Synergy & Thinking outside the box.
The main thrust is that these terms, though (arguably) once useful, have been discredited through over-use and by functioning as a shield agaisnt actually saying something useful, insightful or relevant.
Cliches are more than just linguistic shortcuts, they’re typically also intellectual & creative shortcuts. It’s easy to fall back on one of these vacuous expressions, deferring responsibility for saying something meaningful or least forcing the reader (listener, etc..) to interpret for themselves. In fact, its probably better that these cliches are used so often. It allows the consumer/interpreter to come to their own conclusions.
I’m sure if business rhetoric all of a sudden became honest, transparent, insightful and useful, we wouldnt have a clue what was going on & what was expected of us. At least now, when some someone says "lets think outside the box" we know they don’t have clue what they want and are expecting us to come with the answer that will save their skin.
Tags: business cliches, godin, language, squidoo
The Apologetic Blogger or I Know What I’m Not Doing This Summer
I’ve noticed a trend among certain blogs I read – the post apologizing for a lack of activity. Never one to want to be left out….here’s mine.
It’s summer. There’s vacations. Great events in the city. Opportunities to escape the city to cottage country. Golf. Etc. Etc. Etc. Seeing as I’m not making money of this blog, I feel no obligation to satisfy any stakeholders or other regulatory bodies. I would hope that those who do read this are out enjoying the summer rather than waiting patiently for my latest post.
This is my summer hiatus as I work on next season’s scripts, develop the promotional strategy, enter pre-production, record episodes that will kick off the fall with a bang. I may test the waters with some pilots of things I’m hoping to develop later.
True, I’m not a major network and the always-on internet means you can find me even if I’m not broadcasting new episodes. Infrequent posting doesn’t make for good conversations. I’m well aware of that, but sometimes its good to just listen and take it what’s going on around you.
I’ll get back in the groove, but for now I’m going to enjoy the sun & heat. Cuz there’ll be plenty of time to spend in front of the computer during the winter. We’ll soon return to regularly scheduled programming.
PS. I’ve cross-posted this on my Marcomedy blog b/c it allows me to use another tv phrase…a simulcast.
The Apologetic Blogger or I Know What I’m Not Doing This Summer
I’ve noticed a trend among certain blogs I read – the post apologizing for a lack of activity. Never one to want to be left out….here’s mine.
It’s summer. There’s vacations. Great events in the city. Opportunities to escape the city to cottage country. Golf. Etc. Etc. Etc. Seeing as I’m not making money of this blog, I feel no obligation to satisfy any stakeholders or other regulatory bodies. I would hope that those who do read this are out enjoying the summer rather than waiting patiently for my latest post.
This is my summer hiatus as I work on next season’s scripts, develop the promotional strategy, enter pre-production, record episodes that will kick off the fall with a bang. I may test the waters with some pilots of things I’m hoping to develop later.
True, I’m not a major network and the always-on internet means you can find me even if I’m not broadcasting new episodes. Infrequent posting doesn’t make for good conversations. I’m well aware of that, but sometimes its good to just listen and take it what’s going on around you.
I’ll get back in the groove, but for now I’m going to enjoy the sun & heat. Cuz there’ll be plenty of time to spend in front of the computer during the winter.
We’ll soon return to regularly scheduled programming.
PS. I’m cross-posting this on my jargonism blog b/c it allows me to use another tv phrase…a simulcast.
You Have To Tell Me Something To Sell Me Anything
Colin McKay over at Canuckflack continues meeting the high expectations we all have for his blogging output. This post, Marketing Tagline for Morons, puts an example of useless and confusing marketing rhetoric under the microscope and finds substance severely lacking.
Cribbed from Colin’s post:
“If electromagnetic waves can penetrate walls, imagine what they can do to your skin”
- spotted at a Clarins makeup counter at Macy’s
Umm – the same thing they do to walls – nothing?
What really got me about this was I had put my friends through a rant on the very same subject over the weekend. We were playing poker & using a set of corporate-sponsored cards. The cards were emblazoned with the company’s slogan: Delivering Sustainable Value.
That’s it. Oh, there was a logo & website URL as well. I naturally don’t remember what the URL is and have only a vague recollection of the company name. I’d imagine that recall (or lack thereof) is pretty common. The thing that stood out for me was the tagline. That may even have been what was intended.
The problem? The tagline is totally meaningless. How do they deliver value? Who judges it to be sustainable? Who is this valuable to or how does one determine its value? I can’t answer any of those questions…and if I can’t you haven’t told me anything. You’ve just assaulted me with utter drivel.
Bad Marketer. Bad.
Tags: Canuckflack, jargonism, promotion, taglines, marketing
100 Words Every High School Student Should Know
From American Heritage, a new book 100 Words Every High School Student Should Know.
According to the promotional copy:
"The words we suggest," says senior editor Steven Kleinedler, "are not meant to be exhaustive but are a benchmark against which graduates and their parents can measure themselves. If you are able to use these words correctly, you are likely to have a superior command of the language."
I’m pleased that I know most of them. Though I would use only a fraction in my day to day vocabulary.
Also, I think the key word in the title is SHOULD. I’m sure testing a random sampling of people on the streets of any western, English-speaking, city would be discouraging if we used this list as a benchmark.
Update: A hat-tip to the good folk over at the CommonCraft blog for the link.
Tags: vocabulary, 100 words, American Heritage
Refreshingly Honest Obituary or This really is your life.
Hat-tip to Matthew Ingram for pointing out the Best.Obituary.Ever.
Obituaries, unlike eulogies, aren’t bound to the convention of presenting the deceased in the best possible light. In fact, good ones are highly accurate accounts of an individual’s life & impact – whatever it may be. However, it’s still common for them to paint a favourable portrait as the person writing them is often intimately acquainted with the person (friend, family, etc..).
So what to make of one that starts:
Count Gottfried von Bismarck, who was found dead on Monday aged 44, was a louche German aristocrat with a multi-faceted history as a pleasure-seeking heroin addict, hell-raising alcoholic, flamboyant waster and a reckless and extravagant host of homosexual orgies.
and ends:
He never married.
You can find the full obituary here. It’s definitely worth reading.
