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Lachky. Wass Down?

By
Steve Poppe
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Chief creative officer was the most recent title for Robert Lachky at Anheuser-Busch. Mr. Lachky has stepped down and by many accounts his legacy at Budweiser will be viewed as a good one. He presided over many notable TV campaigns.  But he was also a senior officer at a time when many AB properties lost share and relevance.  Coming in number one in the USA Today Ad Meter Survey of Super Bowl ads doesn’t necessarily translate into keg sales, it would appear.  Mr. Lachky deserves props for establishing Bud Light — I’ll give him that — but in my mind his focus on creative rather than product-based differentiation was his undoing. 

 

The next time you see a consumer packaged good executive with the title of chief creative officer, run.  Peace!    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cablevision — A Marketing Intelligence Laboratory.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

 

 

I was talking to my accountant yesterday who is a bit of a firebrand when it comes to local politics and he mentioned how our local cable company, Cablevision, is in position to gather an amazing amount of data about its customers. We on Long Island have always thought of Cablevision as a monopoly when it comes to our television, but check this out: Cablevision owns most of the Internet pipes into our homes. Not to go all “24” on you, but that means they can monitor IP addresses visited. They have intelligent cable boxes in most houses and can easily monitor TV viewing habits by channel, time-of-day, recording habits, commercial viewership, even room. Moreover, they are setting up free a Wifi network which will be able to track our log-ons all over the island.

 

Sound like a lot? Cablevision also owns Newsday, Long Island’s only real newspaper and Newsday.com, an online property that may someday be the cash cow. They own a chain of movie theaters, now tied to a rewards program. They own a telephone company, which is bundled with Internet access and TV for better value. And they own Madison Square Garden, should we ever decide to leave Long Island and visit the big city. Oh yeah, they own the NY Knicks and the NY Rangers. 

  

This company has the potential to know more about the denizens of Long Island than Google or Homeland Security. If they were to invest in a really smart database and decide to use all of this data for good, Cablevision might just become a marketing intelligent and predictive buying company of historic proportion — something they never imagined in their business plan. Peace!

 

 

Food safety before auto bailout.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

 

The current outbreak of salmonella poisoning in the peanut and peanut butter industry is an example of lax government oversight that will only get worse. Remember the milk crisis in China? The tainted jalapeno pepper/salsa problem last year?  Bad farmed salmon from South America? Mad cow disease in American cattle?

 

The NY Times today did an excellent piece on the Peter Pan peanut butter salmonella mess, which started with a family-owned processing plant in Blakely, GA.  Workers weren’t paid good wages, temps were used, roofs leaked, rodent schmoo on the floor and government safety inspectors who were over-stretched. A recipe for disaster.

 

This type of thing, though certainly not rampant, is happening all over. As company profits dry up and workers let go — and as the government eases up oversight due to lack of funds – food safety problem will multiply.

 

And can’t you just see a bunch of marketers stepping into the breach, segmenting the market with premium food brands that tout higher levels of quality control under the guise of  “pure-natural,” or “healthiest choice” or some such — by inference, positioning regular store brands as for the other class of shopper. Whole Foods, to a degree, is already catering to these up-market consumers.   

 

The government needs to step up here and pump some serious stimulus money into cleaning up the food industry. Let’s put the search for the car czar on hold and clean up a food plant or two first.  Food safety before car bail-out.    

 

 

Awareness vs. Action.

By
Steve Poppe
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A smart General Motors marketing executive (no giggles) once said “Good advertising makes you feel something then do something.” All “feel” and no “do” can make a dull marketing effort.  Here’s a digital example: Sony Pictures recently used Facebook’s engagement ad program – a vehicle directing Facebook friends to an app that creates an action, which is shared with other friends – in which they provided a commenting object about a clip from the film “Rent.”  It was tested in a particular city. According to Ad Age, the app doubled awareness of the movie among Facebook members.  Well, did anyone care to see if incremental movie tickets were sold in that city? I’m betting it was measured and the program didn’t translate into ticket sales — that’s why it was left out of the Ad Age story. 

This effort may actually have created some initial “do,” perhaps a little “feel,” but none of the most important “do” which was go to the movies. The target, it seems, may like to hang out online.  Peace!

Pride Sells

By
Steve Poppe
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One word that turns up rich consumer insights when brand planning is “pride.” Consumers know how to articulate pride.  Delving into pride helps planners get to brand truths. It may be one of the seven deadly sins but pride helps planners navigate the psyche and mine selling ideas.

When Hyundai began marketing cars in the US, it was not a car many people took pride in owning, but when the cars designs improved consumers could begin to take pride in ownership. Then Hyundai introduced its 10-year warranty and owners crowed like roosters, looking quite smart compared to other consumers. One can take pride in looking smart. 

Hyundai’s new Assurance program, which guarantees it will take back any new car it sells, at no cost, if the buyer loses his or her job, is another smart move. Add those smarts to the announcement that the newly launched Genesis was named North American Car of the Year at the Detroit Auto Show and you begin to see how momentum is built. Sin indeed.

 

Smile as a predictor.

By
Steve Poppe
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0


Mario Batali of Del Posto, Sirio Maccioni of Le Cirque and
Jean-Georges Vongerichten of Perry St., Nougatine and
Matsugen really really want you to visit.
(Photo illustration by Tony Cenicola, NY Times)

 

I’m no foodie, but I do know who Mario Batali and Jean-George are — and I’ve certainly heard of Le Cirque. The picture above attempts to put a smile on the harsh economic reality of the NYC restaurants business, but it doesn’t.  I wouldn’t want to have been the photo editor for this piece in today’s New York Times Dining section. If you look beneath these stiff smiles you can actually feel their pain.  

In a recent article about Ben Benson’s Steak House, also in NY, Ben said the first 200 covers pay the bills while the next 25 make the profit. Today, many restaurants are not getting close to the next 25 and if world-famous restauranteurs like these are losing their smiles you can well imagine what’s going on in the family run places. A big NYC restaurant shake out is a coming.

 

Mattel’s feelin’ it.

By
Steve Poppe
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0


What’s the idea with the economy? As I wandered the village last Saturday doing chores I asked retailers how the economy is hitting them. Bert the dry cleaner says the volume of shirts is the same but that people are waiting longer to bring in suits. (It’s not good for the suits, BTW, says Bert.) Linda of the barbershop believes people need haircuts to look good so she doesn’t see a downturn.  She’s a bit of a hottie, though, so her role in the survey may not count. Derek the busboy says the weekend dinner business at Al Atalia has slowed.  

Then I read that Mattel’s profits have been halved and sales of Barbie and Hot Wheels are off  21 and 22 percent. Ouch!  When parents stop buying their kids toys it is bad. Forget that my retirement fund lost some serious zeros last year — toy sales are down. What would Warren Buffet say?  We’re in some shizzz boys and girls. Well he might not say that, but you get it. Peace!

Art and commerce.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

What’s the idea with money and art?

The best art is, and always has been, created by people without a piss to pot in. As a student of rock, I’ve seen great bands lose their way as the money gathers. Today’s geezer rock is so bad because the oldsters never were able to recreate their earlier art after becoming flush and tour with old material.  And today I’ve been reading about the downward spiral of Conde Nast magazines which, it would appear, have been written and produced under the thumb of such opulence that the editorial edge has retreated. 

Money impacts the conscience. Hotel rooms and breakfasts in bed soften and deadens artists’ feelings. Drive is de minims in those who are waited upon. Imagination becomes fettered. They are a rare few who maintain their art when fame and money become a way of life.

One of my favorite questions to ask when interviewing people is “What is your art?” Sadly, the question often requires explanation. Marketers who favor art over science are still the most pure and prolific. Peace!

 

For Amazon the price is right.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

 

 

Let’s face it, the economy has sucked for the last 3 years. Why else would Hyundai have grown into one of America’s best selling car brands? It’s just this year the economy is dinging the top rungs of the ladder. Hard. And it’s not trickling down, it’s pouring down.

Marketing has always been about the 4 Ps (Product, Price, Place and Promotion). Most marketers rarely concern themselves with the price P. Though they spend some time with Product and Place (the sales channel) they focus mainly on Promotion. Well, when the economy sucks price becomes very important. And when price is important the cost of goods going in to the product are important. The entire supply chain is important and manufacturers view with a close eye suppliers, efficiencies, headcount and margins. It creates a thinning of the herd, as it were, which isn’t a bad thing long term.

Amazon reported its best ever December. Why? Because it is a price and value leader. Its cost of goods is low thanks to volume, it doesn’t have to promote, shopping is easy and people are confident in the brand. As more people get hooked on shopping Amazon, it will be hard for them to go back. When the price is right, people spend.   Peace!

ThemTube

By
Steve Poppe
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0


When is YouTube not YouTube? 

The answer: When Google makes a deal with Hollywood to include stars and starlets in professionally developed, made-for-web content and host it on YouTube.  That’s just what is happening as they negotiate with The William Morris agency to get professional programming on the net, bypassing the TV model. The idea is a good one, but it shouldn’t be marketed as YouTube. The new entity needs its own name and brand.  The people still want to broadcast to the public and they don’t want to compete with Blake Lively. Leave TV rebroadcasts to the Hulus of the world. Leave YouTube to the consumer generated segment and create a new online property for the pros.

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