December 2007

It’s only December 20th, and we have already had a near record amount of snow in Salem, MA for this month. And technically, it’s still fall. How cool is that? The roof in our 100+ year old converted mill building has been leaking steadily for the past three days, while the work crews have been racing to fix the problem before our forecasted rain this weekend. I have no doubt they’ll make it right.

The streets from Boston up to the North Shore are a bit tough to navigate; sidewalks are narrowed by the trenches dug for pedestrians by shopkeepers hoping to attract last minute shoppers. That incredibly gray concoction of ice, snow, cinders and sand fills the street edges, so we leap from street to sidewalk, hoping to nail a sure-footed landing. And before long, the mess will melt, and we’ll forget the minor hassles of the winter.

With just a few weeks until the presidential primaries get under way, the candidates are looking to score final points for voters. The home stretch is in sight, and now that they’ve exhausted selling points on Iraq, oil, healthcare, the mortgage crisis and the economy, we’re moving into profile pieces on candidates often aimed at their faults or past missteps – the epitome of who-cares content.  The candidates are also wrapping up their apologies to one another for negative debate comments and attack ads.   And, we see the mainstream media is playing their game of building up candidates to knock them down later.

Will people vote based on new information dredged up on personal religious beliefs, positions on infidelity, unflattering pictures and rumors of health problems – I really doubt it. But thankfully, the months of cheap shots, negative campaigning and accusations of flip-flopping will shortly give way to a 2-person race that hopefully will sharpen the two candidates’ messaging and start positioning us once again as a world leader. Our new President is faced with the responsibility of repairing our image with other countries, and he or she had better plan to make this job one. I have confidence that they will.

From New England streets to the voices of our candidates across the country, listen for it and you’ll be amazed: people are upbeat, and they’re generally positive. There is an overwhelming sensation of hope and an effort of goodwill that I haven’t observed for some time. Can the Christmas and holiday season have that great an impact on people? It can. And it is working.  Life can be tough, and every person out there has their own personal challenges. Most of them can be overcome, but some will not. That’s what we’re dealt, and so it goes. But as we head into a new year the county is eager for a positive change and a new attitude. Take a look and see for yourself.
 

As we head into the home stretch of the holiday season, I am thinking about two media images that are juxtaposed in my head.  The first is one you have all seen – the crazy rush of people charging stores like Best Buy and Wal-Mart.  Check out these clips from YouTube, the one from Best Buy was taken by their own staff  - priceless.  I don’t think I am going out on a limb by saying this may not be our finest moment as a country.  We in the marketing/media industry need to take some of the responsibility in helping create this insane frenzy over material products and the mania to buy the latest and greatest toy or electronic gadget for ourselves and our children.  The ad blitz starts right after Halloween, and it has turned Thanksgiving into a speed bump on the way to “Black Friday”.  That night the news is full of stories about people lining up at 4 am and acting like maniacs to get their hands on stuff no one really needs.  TV and newspapers are full of ads that make it seem like if you don’t get out there now and fill your cart you are a bad parent. 

The whole furor over the Wii is an eloquent symbol of this excess.  My 9 yr old nephew and 10 yr old niece HAD to have these – a $250 product.  Not only do their friends have them, but they have been exposed to hundreds of ad and media images selling them this video game.   My brother got my nephew his Wii and like a true New Yorker paid a $50 premium on ebay; my New England brother-in-law got his at list price for my niece by standing in line for five hours.  I love these kids more than anything, but this is just nutty.  I can’t even imagine how the conversation with my parents would have gone, asking for a $250 toy back in the seventies when I was their age.  I was more than happy with my anatomically incorrect GI Joe.

Don’t get me wrong; I am as much a capitalist as the next guy, (although my Fox News loving father-in-law has called me a Communist on occasion).  But, maybe things need to be taken down a notch. Do kids need to be sold and pitched all day long on the dozens of cable channel aimed at them?  The ads all have the same theme – if you don’t have product X, you are not cool and don’t measure up.  That’s a lot of pressure for pre-teens.

This brings me to the other media image – one that struck a cord with my personal sensibilities.  I came home tonight to a front page story in my local paper about the dire conditions of food banks across our region and the county.  Local food banks are at an all time low in donations and an all time high in demand.  The reasons for this have been well documented – out of control energy costs, the credit crunch, foreclosures, rising health care costs and a stagnant economy.  It is going to be a tough winter here in New England, as skyrocketing heating oil prices will force many people, especially those on a fixed income, to make hard choices between heat, food and prescription drugs.  Add to this the monetary pressure of the holidays and you have a sad situation. 

So, take a break from buying and going to parties and donate either time, food or cash to your local food bank – every town and city has one.  There is a great one in my town, Beverly Bootstraps, and I will be bringing them a donation on my way home.  Or check out this new site www.redefinechristmas.org that makes it easy to donate money you may have used for gifts to worthy charities, and it has a viral element to pass along the message to friends. It’s the least we marketing professionals can do in return for our role in making Christmas and Hanukkah an orgy of spending and excess.
 

This recent Boston Globe article does a nice job out outlining how media companies and advertisers are dealing with the DVR phenomenon.  Currently, 20% of US household have one, and that is projected to rise to 35% by the end of 2011 –representing 40 million households. Of course, the issue is the fast forwarding and skipping of commercials.  Once you own a DVR, your days of being a slave to the TV schedule and watching endless commercials are over. 

The fact that 40 million affluent household will be skipping commercials is not good news to the ad supported networks and cable channels.  Nor is it great news for ad agencies that create and run commercials for their clients over expensive “rented” media channels provided by the networks.

The article points out several fixes and solutions the networks are trying to force people to watch commercials by running fixed logo, making some programs so you can’t fast forward them; and coming up with commercials within the actual program.  I will predict right now that all of these will all fail because of one basic fact – the consumer is now in control of their media choices; and they do not want their TV watching interrupted by commercials that have no relevance to them.

Try this small personal experiment and it will bring it to life for you – watch two hours of network TV shows that you usually watch and are basically aimed at your demographic.  Take note of the commercials and keep count of how many are:

1. Of completely no interest to you and something you would never buy for any reason.
2. Of such poor marketing quality, you don’t even know what they are selling or what the benefits of the product being advertised are.
3. Advertising a product category you do buy, but it is brand you would never switch to because you are satisfied with your brand or you don’t like the brand advertised.
4. Advertising a product you already buy or plan to buy.

I will wager that 90%+ of the commercials that you see in that two hour block will fit into one of those four categories.  Think of the wasted dollars spent reaching you and others who are skipping the commercials or don’t care about them.  This type of advertising is a vestige of the past when broad based media – TV, radio, magazines and newspapers were the only option.  You could do some audience targeting via MRI, Arbitron and Nielson, but it is more art then science, and the waste is incredible.  Also, this type of advertising has little or no accountability.  You really have no idea how and if it works.

The big media companies and ad agencies have a vested interested in keeping this system going even though it is not an efficient use of the client’s marketing dollars.  Granted, there is ego involved here on the client side – marketers and their CEOs like to see their ads running on famous shows where their family and friends can see them.  It’s like those corporate branding ads that run during the Sunday morning news shows.  Please write to me if you can name a greater waste of marketing dollars. 

We are heading to an inflection point in the advertising/marketing business where companies are going to eventually put a stop to spending their money in this manner.  They will turn to custom and private media solutions to generate new leads and create a meaningful dialog with customers.  The technological change over the past 10-15 years (Web, wireless, DVRs, iPods) has changed the game for the delivery of media and marketing messages.  Broad-based advertising has its time and place, but some of that money being spent to create glitzy commercials could be redeployed to market to the company’s database.  Companies who master their customer and prospect database can own their media channel rather than rent it; and create specialized private media communication and content for their best customers and prospects.  Owning your media channel will provide a tangible ROI for the bottom line rather than a commercial that rents network time and where the clear likelihood is for a skipped, ignored and expensive message.