overdog

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Google Buzzed?

February 15, 2010 in Brand Planning, Digital Marketing, Marketing by Steve Poppe | 0 Comments

“Fall forward fast” is a marketing maxim many have followed with great success. Be bold, be quick, correct as needed. It’s a fist-mover approach and it was good advice back in the day.  But the Internet has sped things up a bit don’t you think? Fast today is a lot faster than it was 4 years ago.

Google Buzz was brought to market too fast. Is it correctable?  Sure.  Will Google take some heat? Sure. Will it recover, sure.  That said, I suspect there’s a little tainted blood in the Google bloodstream thanks to this effort and Google needs to take a breath.  When you launch a new service and the phrases “opt-out,” “disable,” “sorry,” “feedback” and “critics” become keywords of the coverage you have not done enough homework.  Google “google buzz”+”critics” and see what pops up.

Facebook‘s Beacon advertising program wasn’t thoroughly vetted before launch nor was the Google Nexus One, released before back-end customer care issues could be properly handled.

Overdogs.

Did you watch the Superbowl? Which team did you root for?  The overdog or the Saints? Overdogs are leaders.  They, more than anyone, need to be careful when bringing new services to market. Take a breath. Do some reconnaissance. Let power users spank the brand a bit (“brand spanking” is a great overdog research methodology). Then launch. Too much Starbucks, as Zack de la Rocha might say, “can killa man.”  Peace!

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Gooing Goggle.

August 3, 2009 in Marketing by Steve Poppe | 0 Comments

 

 

 

No, that’s not a typo. Gooing Goggle is the obverse of Google’s new ad campaign “Going Google.” Ad campaign? Yes, ad campaign. Fueling its insatiable need to make mo’, mo’ money, Google is now targeting Microsoft Office with an out of character  campaign to promote Google Apps. The Going Google campaign will take many forms, including outdoor billboards, but most noticeably we’ll see it infect Twitter – a component will look more like a virus than viral.

 

This effort, if not shut down quickly, will do Google more harm than good. Going Google is fine, being told to go Google is ham handed (what ever that means). Google continues its pursuit of dominance in all things digital (Google Voice is next) and has  been drinking so much Kool-Aid they forget America and many countries dislike the overdog.   

 

Sorry Google, this effort is going to ratchet up your negs. Start watching the comments in the social stew. (Come on? Asking people to print out anonymous nuisance notes and pin them to bosses computers: “Please, please, please, can we go Google?)  You had better clean the goggles quickly. 

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Obama. Underdog or overdog?

October 29, 2008 in Marketing by Steve Poppe | 0 Comments

 
 

Barack Obama’s staff’s decision to run a half-hour infomercial tonight on the 4 broadcast television stations is a mistake. It takes him from underdog to overdog. All the American’s who listen to Sarah Palin go on about how the media handles Obama with kid gloves will have another arrow in their quiver. Unfairly, they will feel the networks are subsidizing Obama and it will make them angry, steeling their resolve against him. 

 

The populace may be tired of political ads, but it is certainly familiar with them as a campaign tool.  A roadblock half-hour infomercial, on the other hand, is a new and heavy-handed tactic. I’m sure the film will be pretty, the choreography and prose wonderful and inspiring, but it feels like a bull rush, heavy-spend tactic inappropriate for these difficult economic times. 

 

How about Senator Obama come out and cancel the show and note in a press release that all the money is going into a fund to kick-start his health program? That’s what an underdog would do.  Peace!

 

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