Pepsi and Coke Kicked Bud Light’s Butt During The Super Bowl
Just in case you weren’t watching, Bud Light had the worst series of Super Bowl ads they’ve ever produced.
Coke, on the other hand, went simple and easily outclassed Bud Light, who seems to have run out of inspiration … or just likes looking stupid.
The Coke spot, dubbed ” It’s mine ! ” was far better than any of Bud Light’s tired ol’ stuff. And in case you think Bud’s ads are “generational“, let me help you identify what “stupid” and “tired” look like.
Even Justin Timberlake’s Pepsi / Amazon mp3 Store ad was notches above Bud, who seemed to have just mailed in the check this year.
Justin’s commercial may actually come in a close second this year, right behind Shaq and vitaminwater.
vitaminwater kicks Gatorade’s Butt During Super Bowl Commercials
After the lamest commercials in Super Bowl history, we can at least say that vitaminwater easily kicked Gatorade’s butt, commercial wise.
Using Shaq as a jockey easily was the most creative commercial in 2008.
Not only did they easily have the best, Gatorade’s commercial with a dog lapping up some ‘rade was easily one of the lamest of the night and of all time.
Thanks to the censors who make it almost impossible to do anything really good, poor ol’ GoDaddy, and to the economy for being a bit shaky, we endured some really crappy commercials, but enjoyed a great football game.
My favorite part of this is I stop at a local convenience store every morning to see my buddy Jim, grab a USAToday and a vitaminwater, with the XXX pictured being my favorite so far.
Cheers to vitaminwater for having the best commercial during Super bowl XLII !
What Do Cadillac And FeedDemon Not Have In Common ?
There’s not many commercials that do anything at all for me anymore.
I watch little TV, except for a few selected sporting events and Survivor. Don’t ask, because I don’t know why I watch it, but I do.
Watching a little football a few minutes ago, I actually stayed there on FOX, I think, and watched a new, I guess, commercial from Cadillac.
After extolling all the virtues of the new Cadillac, the woman speaking ended with this gem:
” All that really matters is this: When you turn your car on, does it return the favor ? “
That is absolutely the best tagline I’ve heard in years and all of us who sell physical products, scratch that, a product of any kind should be reaching for that exact destination.
Why ? Because.
If your product turns your customers on, they’ll tell 10 people, who’ll tell 10 people and so on.
It also works in reverse.
My feed reader, FeedDemon, used to turn me on, but of late it’s been all jazzed up about wanting me to resubscribe to the online version, which is free, just to remain synchronized.
Synchronized ? It’s a paid for product, it shouldn’t need to synchronize with a free web-based app. That’s total nonsense and having to sit and delete feeds for an hour after it got unsynchronized was a pain in my ass and I’m delighted to tell everybody that it sucks when your time is wasted for a stupid reason.
FeedDemon doesn’t turn me on anymore. They owe me an hour.
I want it back.
Car Ads Prove Buyers Want Steak, Not Sizzle
As I was perusing the NYTimes online this morning, I came across a story that kinda disproves Elmer Wheeler’s saying from 1936 - ” Sell the sizzle, not the steak. ” Or was it, ” The cow’s don’t sell the steak, the sizzle does. ” ?
Either way, it may sell steak, but it ain’t selling cars.
In an article titled Car Ads Sell Sizzle. Drivers Don’t Buy It, Marv Salter goes on to show that Mercury’s ads aren’t helping them gain ground on the top-selling Camry, of which I’m a multiple time owner.
The Mercury ads seem to try to use a sexy actress to “sell” you on their product. That tactic doesn’t really work, does it ?
It just might, as that post I referenced has been my number one most viewed each and every month since I wrote it.
I apologize if you have to, but don’t want to subscribe to see that article. I’ve been a subscriber for many, many years and it hasn’t hurt me yet, so don’t be paranoid, go ahead and join. They want to serve up content and info to you. They love you. Don’t be afraid.
Tag Lines Can Make Or Break Your Advertising
I remember several great advertising tag lines:
Don’t squeeze the Charmin !
Have a Coke and a smile !
We try harder.
Let your fingers do the walkin’.
I also have seen a million terrible ones, too. Just yesterday I looked over a piece of crappy copy that someone was thinking of using and the tagline on the top of the page was as poor a choice as could have been made.
That started my thinker and I tried to come up with an answer as to how and why the good ones come from. Pure luck is what I’ve decided.
Whatever you do, don’t force it. If you can’t come up with one, just run the ad and see if anybody suggests one after they see the campaign.
Most of the time the really good one’s are accidentally created anyway.
Good tag lines stand alone and make people think of your product.
Bad tag lines make people think your company is run by monkeys.
Coke Suing New Coke Commercial Is Beyond Stupid
There’s only a very few times during the year that I see commercials on a network channel. Now that the NCAA Tournament is on, I’ll have to suffer thru a few of them.
I’ve got problems with this puppy all around the dial, so I’ll just name a few and you can either straighten me out or help me.
I won’t care if you disagree, so help your self.
I won’t pay you if you agree, but feel free to.
The premise is stupid. Incredibly stupid.
It just makes me feel that Coke’s people think we’re dumb and dumber. By approving that ad, they showed how little they think of our sensibilities. They also showed how dumb they are.
If you’re the one that approved that ad, turn in your executive washroom keys, pack your bags and go home.
If you’re the one’s that created that ad, lock the doors on your firm, go home and find some other line of work.
It’s another bad product, like New Coke was … only worse.
Why is it worse ? Because you’ve already made this mistake once.
Remember New Coke ? I do … barely. Bombs away !
You’re making the same mistakes that are killing the American automobile manufacturers. You’re cannibalizing your own sales and products.
Check this scenario out:
Years ago there was the Buick Skylark, the Olds Cutlass and the Chevy Chevelle.
Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth did it too.
Ford, Lincoln and Mercury were also guilty.
Same car, different name. One company selling against themselves.
Good things don’t always come in threes. Remember that.
Does Toyota do that ? Nope. They make one car per class and make it really good.
Hmmm. Wonder why they don’t compete against themselves. The Japanese marketing schools must not teach it. Neither should ours.
Marketing is supposed to sell the product, not try to win awards.
If you’ve got a humongus ad budget, do not, I repeat, DO NOT award it to anybody that uses stupidity in place of expertise, imagination, creativity or skill.
It’s your money. spend it trying to sell or promote your product to interested people. Do not allow an ad company to spend it trying to win awards for their firm.
Enough is enough.
The dumbing down of America has to stop … now.
PS - You’re welcome Coke, for all the hits this’ll get for you on your YouTube video.
Would You Consider Golf Ball Packaging As Product Placement?
Over on Travelling Golfer, my golf blog, I get all kinds of offers to review golf related products. Once in a while, the advertising part of it warrants a closer look here on this blog.
For now, let’s look at the packaging that golf balls come in. I play in so many golf scrambles every year that it’s not even funny. A charity, an organization, a vendor who works with one of the companies that pay me, whatever.
At every one of those, somebody hands you a pakage of golf balls, usually 2 or 3, with their logo. For years it was only the golf balls that were inprinted, but now it the golf ball packaging itself.
Would you consider that as product placement or just as advertising ?
Would you consider making the box part of the advertisment or just the golf balls, if you were to use this method ?
Would you consider buying the specific brand of golf balls you want you customers to have and only buy imprinted boxes ?
How effective do you think this would be as an advertising method ?
If you’d like to consider this form of advertising, please give my friends over at golfBOX.com a try.
Whether you have a fudraiser, want to say thanks to your customers, need something to give away at a tradeshoe or whatever, they can take care of your needs.
From their website:
Business use of golf balls takes place with packaged golf balls. The size and impact of the gift has been dictated by what the golf ball manufacturer did in terms of packaging. Done the conventional way, the corporate gift giver gets no recognition at the critical time of handing the gift out. What better time to deliver a message, show off a product or thank your customer? What if you wanted the packaging done in the same colors as the company logo?
Make the gifts you give more memorable and imprint the whole box and not just the golf balls.
This review was sponsored by golfBOX.com. They didn’t ask for a favorable review, just for my thoughts. But as one who gets umpteen dozen golf balls given to him every year, I can say without a doubt, I’d be far more inclined to remember the giver if i saw their name on the box the gift came in.
Ad-Verse Added To My Blog Roll
Wooooooo-weeeeee ! I’m not sure I’ve ever read anybody who’s more passionate about advertising than Eric Weaver. He also seems to be sensible, which is rare for an advertising guy. Most of ‘em are self-absorbed idiots who think the world cares about their stupid ads that are trying to win awards, instead of sales for the poor customer who paid them for their idiot ad.
Here’s a Bit-O-Eric from a recent post :
” All this effort, all this angst, all this handwringing over the power the customer has to avoid shoehorning your boring, irrelevant crap into their busy day. All these formulaic, me-too methods to reach them despite their desire to NOT hear from you. All these eager numbers-oriented marketers attending this webcast because they want to get your attention when you don’t want to give it. How they can bypass consumer freedom to build a relationship with people that generally don’t want one. ”
Dude, if you can’t get into a scathing rebuttal like that to some poor direct marketer, don’t click thru and don’t subscribe to his RSS feed.
If you can stand it, do both. I did. Also added him to my Blog Roll.
Keep it coming, Eric !
Ketel One Does It Again…Sort Of
Well, well, looky here. The magnificent minds at the agency that Ketel One pays have done it again.
This time, as opposed to last time, they paid for a full page ad in the Thursday, December 15th edition of USA Today. They keep buying ad space in the Money section, because that’s what they’re wasting every time they run an ad. Money.
They also have one of the dumbest, hardest to navigate websites I’ve ever ran across. Nothing there that will turn a web cruiser into a Ketel One user.
Here’s what the ad says :
” Dear Ketel One Drinker, It’s the thought that counts. Thank you for thinking of us. ”
I’m not opposed to thanking your customers, but how do we know they’re all gonna turn to page 3 of the Money section on Thursday ? Why not find a way to actually thank the users and not just some readers who happen to wander across an ad ?
Why not create a Rewards program whereby you sign-up actual users and reward them for their purchases during the previous year ? Why not use a form of advertising that’s trackable as to it’s effectiveness ?
Why throw away money indescriminately ? Got too much ? Well if you do, I know of some fine childrens hospitals that could use some of what you’re wasting. Email me and I’ll put you in touch with their reps.
Dear Ketel One, you’ve wasted more ad dollars. The fine folks at USA Today don’t mind and neither do I, really, but those dollars could be used to actually increase your share of the market.
They could also be spent doing some good in the community, if you’d rather waste them, keep doing what you’re doing. You’re doing a fine job at nothing.
More Wasted Ad Dollars
I’m reading the Thursady, October 27th, 2005 edition of USA Today. It’s the only newspaper I read and I’m sure bad things would happen if I missed and edition.
I get to page 6A, which is in the main section and I come across a white page entirely devoid of everything except these words:
Dear Ketel One Drinker
If you like our advertising please
continue to buy our product.
If you don’t like our advertising
please continue to buy our product.
What the heck did you hope to gain with this ad ?
Why should I try your product ?
How do I benefit ?
How do you benefit ? You don’t ! The ad agency does ! Them and USA Today.
You didn’t ask for those that don’t consume to try it, so they won’t.
You really didn’t ask the reader to take any action that would benefit you in the slightest.
You wasted your money. Money that I could have spent on more golf clubs. Send it to me and at least I’ll get something from this post, which is probably a better ad than your stupid one. I’ll bet you get more new converts from this post than you will from a full page ad in the A section of USA today on a Thursday.
Please help these people. I’m sure some great ad people read this blog. Give the people some advice and help.
They deserve it after what the agency that did this did to them.
EDIT: Troy White, whose blog is part of the Duct Tape Marketing Blog Network makes some good points that are right in line with what I attempted to say.
You can read his post HERE.
And if you want to learn more about advertising, subscribe to his RSS feed.
