Archive for September, 2008

September 30th, 2008

How Search Engine Spiders Work

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Most of our gentle readers already know how search engine spiders work, but it never hurts to review some of the basics. What follows is an overview so that you’ll have a basic understanding of what goes on next time you visit a search engine.

As you know, there are three primary search engines — Google, Yahoo and MSN. Each search engine has a software program (called a search engine spider) that “crawls” the world wide web and “reads” the content of each web page. Once the search engine spider has read the content of the site (including things like the ALT tags and the META tags), it drops what it finds into an algorithm (which is essentially a fancy word for a “formula”) and figures out what that page in the website is all about.

When someone does a search for, say, “Discount Camera Gear,” the search engine does a ton of calculations to figure out what exactly it is you’re looking for. Included in that calculation is a visit to their gargantuan database which has their algorithmic analysis of all the websites on the planet.

With amazing speed, the search engine spits out a list of websites that probably match what you’re looking for. When you consider the vast amount of calculating power that has to take place in order to spit out 2.8 million websites in 0.33 seconds, it’s mind boggling. (Give it a try. We just typed in “Discount Camera Gear” into Google and, sure enough, it gave us 2.8 million web pages in 0.33 seconds. Do you know what a hassle it was to scroll through 2.8 million websites to check Google’s work? That took us forever!)

That’s essentially how search engine spiders work, which means you now know more about search engines than 83% of the people at your next neighborhood BBQ.

CategoryPaid Search | CommentNo Comments »

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September 25th, 2008

YouTube Viral Video Comparison: Why Extended Stay Campaign Fails and Why Wii Campaign Succeeds

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Many marketing directors have given serious thought to launching a viral video campaign via YouTube, HowCast or any of the other online video channels available today. It’s an inexpensive way to generate awareness and interest in your product and service. (Side note: You can catch all of our 60 Second Videos on YouTube, HowCast and a bunch of other online video channels.)

There are two YouTube viral video campaigns we’ve blogged about recently. One is an Extended Stay Hotels campaign and the other is a Wii campaign.

Both used the same vehicle — YouTube — to get people talking about their products. But one of them succeeded and one of them failed miserably.

Which one succeeded? The Wii spot, which does a fabulous job of engaging the viewer in an uplifting, fun online experience. The net result, after watching the spot, is a positive one. Viewers complete the experience by saying, “Cool! That was awesome!”

(Okay, correction, viewers under the age of 21 say, “Cool! That was awesome!” The rest of us use different language, but you get our point.)

You can check out the Will spot by clicking here.

On the other hand, there’s the Extended Stay Hotels campaign which ends with a young lady licking the toilet at one of their hotels. We’re not kidding. She licks the toilet to show that the hotels are clean.

The spot was so offensive that it was recently pulled from YouTube by the hotel chain. We’re sure the Winston-Salem, N.C. office of Mullen, who, according to AdAge, created the campaign, tracked YouTube hits, and we’re sure they were huge, but if you get to the end of a YouTube commercial and say, “Ewwwwww!” instead of “Cool!” then you’ve done yourself a disservice.

How did Extended Stay allow this to happen? If we were to guess, there was a young, wippersnapper team of creatives who have won a bunch of awards for edgy, outrageous work. They probably mentioned their award-winning campaigns that “built awareness” for other clients just prior to presenting the storyboards to the Extended Stay marketing team.

And you know what? The truth is, there’s definitely a place for edgy, outrageous work. If you get it right, you can increase mindshare exponentially, which ultimately translates to sales. But that’s the trick — you have to get it right.

In the case of Extended Stay hotels, they got it wrong. In a big way

Here’s an insiders trick: If you’re a marketing director and you have a hip, young creative team presenting edgy, outrageous work, there’s a simple test to see if you should approve it.

At the end of the spot, if you say, “Ewwwwww!” then kill it. If you say, “Cool,” then have at it.

There’s a lot to be gained by doing work that breaks through the clutter. But doing work that’s groundbreaking is a little like investing in a start-up — there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to fail, but if you don’t fail, you just might hit a grand-slam home run.

Using the 60 Second Marketer “Ewwwww!” test is a simple, yet effective, way to tell if a groundbreaking spot has a chance to grow sales and revenue. Give it a try next time you’re facing a young team of wippersnapper creatives.

CategoryGeneral Marketing, Marketing Techniques, Viral Video | Comment7 Comments »

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September 25th, 2008

Will the Bad Economy Kill Social Media?

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A healthy economy affects more than just your pocketbook, it affects businesses’ abilities to focus on projects that might not have a positive ROI during the short-run.

Is social media going to be one of the casualties of the current slow economy? That’s a possibility, given that during slow-growth periods, most corporations look for places to trim budgets. The first to get hit are the training budgets. The second to get hit are the travel budgets. And the third to get hit are the marketing budgets.

If a corporation decides to trim its marketing budget by, say, 10%, the first thing a marketing director does is to look at the hard-to-measure initiatives. (Please note, just because something is hard-to-measure doesn’t mean it’s not important. It just means it’s hard-to-measure.)

So put yourself in a marketing director’s shoes. (If you’re reading this, you probably are in a marketing director’s shoes.) If your CEO asked you to trim your budget, do you cut the highly-measurable direct mail program? No. Do you cut the highly-measurable paid search program? Nope. Do you cut the not-so-highly-measurable social media program? Hmmmm. Now yer talkin’.

This is not a slam at social media. Nor is it a suggestion to cut spending in social media. It’s just a way to encourage the social media gurus out there to continue their efforts at building systems and programs that do an even better job of measuring the impact of social media programs.

Yes, yes, we know. You can measure social media’s impact. But it’s not yet as measurable as, say, a banner ad campaign or a direct response TV campaign.

So, have at it social media experts. If you believe social media is already as measurable as, for example, direct response, then send us a comment. Or, better still, write an article or video script for The 60 Second Marketer.

Alternatively, you could continue your work on developing programs that measure social media campaigns in a more specific, tangible way.

CategorySocial Marketing | Comment5 Comments »

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September 23rd, 2008

Is the YouTube Wii Commercial the Best Viral Ad Ever?

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Viral advertising is difficult because there’s no real way to predict whether your idea will succeed or not. But the makers of Wii have a grand slam on their hands.

This Wii spot on YouTube starts out slow, has some interesting effects that are worth checking out.

Enjoy.

CategoryUncategorized | CommentNo Comments »

September 23rd, 2008

Coca-Cola, Interbrand and a Book Called “Branding Only Works on Cattle.”

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Once again, Coca-Cola has taken the top spot in Interbrand’s list of the world’s most valuable brands. As is often the case, IBM and Microsoft followed closely behind. Google had a good run of events as well, jumping from #20 to #10 in just one year.

This isn’t the first time we’ve talked about Interbrand’s annual report in this blog. The report is essentially a barometer to test the “value” of any particular brand. But in a new book out by Jonathan Salem Baskin called “Branding Only Works on Cattle,” Mr. Baskin challenges the “math” behind Interbrand’s approach.  The book is worth buying if only because of the wonderful way in which Mr. Baskin disassembles Interbrand’s formula. Mr. Baskin’s point-of-view is summed up quite nicely at the end of this passage when he states, “This isn’t math, it is religious scripture, created to reaffirm belief to the flock while ginning up enough obfuscation to dissuade nonbelievers.”

But to say that’s the only time Mr. Baskin shouts “the emperor has no clothes” would be a disservice to the book. In fact, the main premise of the book is pretty extraordinary — that is, that the branding people who tell you it’s about what people think have it all wrong. It’s not what people think about your brand that’s important, it’s how people behave with your brand.

It’s a deceptively simple premise, but one that has profound implications. Baskin writes about Gillette’s introduction of the new Fusion — a five-bladed razor that consumers haven’t embraced. Why? Because it was built on a faulty premise of how consumers think about shaving, rather than how they want to behave when they shave. (Lagging sales would indicate that consumers want to behave by buying a simpler, less expensive shaving solution.)

Just when you thought you’d read everything you needed to about branding, along comes Mr. Baskin’s book that turns everything on its head. Mr. Baskin says that one of the most sacred tenets in marketing — brand theory — needs to be reinvestigated and turned upside down.

To be sure, the book offers plenty of arguable premises. For example, even though the Interbrand approach may include some arguable assumptions, it’s still the best thing we have. And, at a bare minimum, the Interbrand solution can be used as a way to compare your brand’s value relative to your competitor’s and that, in an of itself, has some value.

In any case, “Branding Only Works on Cattle” is a smart, insightful, well-written book that’s worth taking a spin through.  If you like Mr. Baskin’s approach, you can also follow him on Dim Bulb, his blog about marketing and branding.

CategoryBranding | CommentNo Comments »

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September 22nd, 2008

Maytag Repairman, Geico Caveman and Burger King King Meet at Advertising Week in New York City.

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The Maytag Repairman, Geico Caveman and Burger King King will all be getting more exposure this week in New York City. That’s where the annual Advertising Week is being held.

The event is in its fifth year and, word has it, has transformed from a fluffy boondoggle to a working week that’s focused on some of the larger issues facing the industry. This week, attendees will be working through some issues including the rise of digital advertising and the lack of diversity in the advertising business.

It’s interesting to note that the Death of Advertising isn’t on the agenda. After all, the industry is evolving so quickly and so dramatically, that even the term “Advertising Week” is, well, weak. (Okay. Bad pun. We know.)

All that is not to say that the advertising industry is dead. In fact, just the opposite is true — there’s never been a more exciting time in marketing and advertising than there is today. The advent of TV in the 1950s didn’t hold a candle to what’s happening right now. Neither did the Golden Age of Creativity during the 1960s. And the 15 years (1984 to 1999) that ad agencies focused more on awards than sales wasn’t anywhere near as fun as things are today.

So have at it, Advertising Week attendees. Explore all the new and wonderful things going on in marketing. And, while you’re at it, come up with a new name for your annual event. Because traditional advertising is dead and that makes for a very exciting time indeed.

CategoryGeneral Marketing, Madison Avenue | Comment2 Comments »

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September 22nd, 2008

Twitter Reports News Faster than CNN, MSN, NYTimes and MSNBC.

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It’s early Monday morning and the Social Media world is hard at work with updates on a luggage scare at JFK. One of our 60SecondTwitter followers sent a Tweet alerting everyone to a suspicious-looking package at JFK airport. She’s checked CNN and MSN for the story, but so far there’s been no mention. (According to another 60SecondTwitter follower out of Richmond, the Twitter community is also ahead of the online versions of the New York Times and MSNBC.)

If you’re into Twitter, this is just one more example of the power of social media. That’s not to say that Twitter is going to usurp CNN, the New York Times, MSNBC or MSN any time soon, far from it. It’s simply to say that social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, Del.icio.us and others are evolving quickly and that’s something we should all be aware of.

Right now, in some garage in San Fransisco, Boston, Austin or Atlanta, there are a couple of people hard at work on some evolution of Twitter or any number of other social media tools. Someday, if you’re a marketer, you’ll be using one of these tools to create a dialogue with your existing customers or your customer prospects.

It’s an exciting time in marketing and we’re glad to be on board for the ride. The key right now, if you’re a CMO, an Advertising Director or just an entrepreneur trying to get the hang of marketing, is to stay on top of these evolving tools and to try to use them to generate buzz and prospects for your business.

CategoryTwitter | Comment14 Comments »

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September 20th, 2008

25 Interactive Definitions You Should Know

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One of the most popular pages on The 60 Second Marketer site is an article we published a few months ago called “25 Interactive Definitions Every Marketer Should Know by Heart.” It’s part of a list compiled by BKV Direct Response and Interactive that includes 75 additional “must know” definitions (Transparency: BKV is a sponsor of The 60 Second Marketer).

Here’s a quick sample of some of the definitions:

Avatar: A virtual “you” on a virtual reality site. With a virtual home, virtual job and a virtual Interactive Term Glossary to read.

Beacon: A snippet of code placed in an ad, on a Web page or in an e-mail which helps measure whether it was delivered to the browser — and helps track actions in general.

Beta: A test version of a Web site or software, prior to final release. A Web designer’s way of testing a site’s wings out in the big scary world.

Cloaking: “Tricking” a search engine into giving a site a higher ranking. Done by giving false content to the search engine’s spider, pretending the site is something it isn’t. This often gets users to visit a site based on a completely fabricated description, only to find that the site contains completely irrelevant — maybe even harmful — content. Ew!

The full article is worth sharing, so feel free to print it out, re-publish it (acknowledging the source, please) or forward it to friends.

CategoryInteractive | CommentNo Comments »

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September 18th, 2008

Dove Hits a Home Run With Their “What Is Real Beauty?” Campaign

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Twenty years ago, Nike hit a grand slam home run with their now legendary “Women’s” campaign. Today, it’s Dove’s turn with a campaign that will surely make it into the Advertising Hall of Fame.

Dove taps into very powerful emotions with their "What is Real Beauty?" campaign.

It’s called the “What is Real Beauty?” campaign and it does exactly what the Nike “Women’s” campaign did — it delves deep into the psyche of men and women to touch a nerve so sensitive that you can’t help but take notice. In this particular spot, which can be seen by clicking here, Dove presents one of the most emotionally-charged commercials I’ve seen in a long, long time.

The difference between the Dove campaign and the Nike campaign is that Dove has done a wonderful job of using new and emerging media to communicate their message.

And just what is their message? As the father of three girls, I can tell you it’s an issue that parents all across America are concerned about — that is, the onslaught of sexually-charged images that paint a completely unrealistic picture of what it is to be a woman, a young lady or a little girl. (Have you watched MTV or VH1 lately? It’s mind-numbing.)

Dove understands this. And they’ve decided to take a stand by celebrating women of all shapes, sizes, colors, complexions and everything else. In my opinion, they’ve done an outstanding job of letting women know that Dove understands and cares about the people who buy their products.

Bravo, Dove. You’ve knocked it out of the park with this campaign. Someone needed to take a stand against the onlsaught of horrible, sexist imagery coming out of Hollywood and slathered all over TV and the Internet. You’ve done a tasteful job of taking a stand and, from the bottom of my heart, I hope your sales continue to skyrocket as a result.

CategoryDove | CommentNo Comments »

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September 17th, 2008

The #1 Mistake in Web Design

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In an upcoming “Ask the Expert” column, we’ll feature a question that is often asked by people in marketing, which is “What’s the worst mistake I can make when I’m designing my website?”

We submitted that question to Todd Chambers, who runs iMap, a division of direct response and interactive agency BKV. Todd’s full answer can be found in an upcoming eNewsletter from The 60 Second Marketer, but a short snippet can be found here:

“The number 1 mistake made when designing web sites is not a particular color choice, design scheme or even egregious coding error. No, the biggest mistake designers and developers make is simply not approaching the project from their user’s point of view.”

Being customer-centric is important whether you’re designing your CRM program, your retail space, your email program or, as Todd mentioned, your website.

We could write volumes on this topic, but the basic point is worth revisiting — if you’re going to do anything in marketing, the starting point is inside the mind of your customer. Then, and only then, can you really create something worthwhile.

CategoryInteractive, Uncategorized | Comment3 Comments »

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September 16th, 2008

Las Vegas: The Best Tag Line in the History of the Universe

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A few days ago, we had a post on The 60 Second Marketer blog that talked about how “Just Do It” is the most over-rated tag line ever. Trust us, its true, even though there were plenty of people who disagreed with us.

Anyway, in the “Just Do It” post, we mentioned several taglines that were particularly good. They included the following:

• “When It Absolutely, Positively Has To Be There Overnight” for Federal Express

• “Got Milk?” for the California Milk Processor Board

• “Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Back In The Water” for Jaws II (Note: That’s actually not a tag line, it’s a slogan. But who cares? It’s terrific!)

Today, we realized we had passed over one of the all-time great tag lines. It’s for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and it’s “What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas.”

We’re not huge fans of Las Vegas at The 60 Second Marketer (it has the highest suicide rate per capita in America), but we are fans of any tag line that gets to the heart of the matter as efficiently as that one does.

It’s a shame all tag lines can’t be as good as the Vegas tag line.

CategoryGeneral Marketing | Comment2 Comments »

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September 16th, 2008

How To Increase Your Share of Market During an Economic Downturn

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During an economic downturn, there are three kinds of companies: 1) Those that go under, 2) Those that scrape by, and 3) Those that prosper.

If you’re a marketing director, advertising director or sales director and your company is in reasonably good financial shape, there are three things you can do to prosper during this economic downturn.

1) Cut your travel, trade show and sponsorship budgets as close to zero as you can. Trade shows and sponsorships are the extra programs you run when you’ve got the fundamentals (retail and brand marketing) covered. (Come to think of it, you may even consider cutting your branding budget, too, and focusing on supercharging your retail and point-of-purchase programs.)

2) Reallocate your budget into the hard-working programs that are easily measured. These would include paid search, direct mail, direct response television, email marketing and a whole slew of new and emerging media that are highly-measurable.

3) Use your reallocated budget to grab as much market share as you possibly can. Remember those companies that were going to go under and the ones that were going to barely scrape by? By executing points #1 and #2, you can chip away at their market share. This is done by aggressively targeting their customer base with discount programs, premiums and special offers in exchange for long-term contracts.

There’s a pretty good chance your competitors are cutting their advertising and marketing budgets right now. If you aggressively target their customers and approach those prospects with special offers and discounts, you can win those customers over and increase your market share.

To recap, there are three kinds of companies: Those that will die, those that will scrape by and those that will prosper. By re-allocating your budget, you can focus on hard-hitting and highly-measurable programs that can help you chip away at your competitor’s market share.

It’s a tough world out there. Wouldn’t it be great if there were no such thing as economic down-turns? Unfortunately, that’s just not the case. Because of that, you should use this cycle as an opportunity to grow your business by targeting your competitor’s customer base.

CategoryGeneral Marketing | Comment2 Comments »

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September 15th, 2008

Three Things Starbucks is Doing Right

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There’s been a good deal of attention paid to Starbucks recently. They’ve had to shut down some locations and let go of well-trained staff. As a result, a lot of the recent attention on Starbucks has been negative.

But Howard Schultz is no dummy. Starbucks may be going through a tough time, but they’re poised for a turn-around.

How do I know this? Because they’re doing three things right:

1) They’re getting back to basics: Any company that loses its way needs to get back to the basics of their business. Starbucks is doing that with the revived emphasis on what brought them to the dance in the first place: good coffee.
2) They’re owning up to their mistakes: In the era of social media and web 2.0, the concept of “transparency” is paramount. Starbucks is doing just that — they’re owning up to their mistakes and letting the public know how they’re going to fix those mistakes.
3) They’re getting people to talk about Starbucks again: Howard Schultz’s idea to shut down every store in America for 3 hours of training was more than just a training exercise. It was an exercise in great public relations. It told everyone he was serious about making changes. Better still, it got people talking again.

There’s a lot to be learned from Starbucks and how they’re handling this current situation. I’d encourage everyone reading this blog to study what they do and copy as much of it as you can.

CategoryStarbucks | Comment2 Comments »

September 15th, 2008

Seinfeld and Gates: Microsoft Ads Get Their Footing

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Over the weekend, the new Microsoft campaign featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld finally got its footing. Last week, the ads generated a lot of buzz, much of it negative, about whether Microsoft was throwing away money on a campaign that seemed to have little to do with their products.

But when you’re Microsoft, and when you have Microsoftian budgets, you can afford to do a mutli-phase campaign that generates buzz first, then talks about product-specific differentiators.

Here are four reasons why this campaign is actually a good thing for Microsoft:

1) It humanizes the company: Steve Jobs has done a great job (no pun) making Apple the apple of consumers’ eyes (stop it already!). Microsoft, until this campaign, has always been seen as a highly-successful company run by Borgs, Driods and other non-human entities. This campaign helps bring out the human side of Microsoft.

2) It’s gotten people talking about Microsoft again: There are many campaigns that generate buzz, but very little brand awareness. In this case, the campaign is doing both — it’s generating buzz and that buzz is linked directly to the Microsoft brand.

3) It takes the conversation away from Apple’s ad campaign: Make no mistake, Apple’s campaign is brilliant and that must have been driving Microsoft crazy. But this campaign gets us talking about Microsoft again. It also comes at a time when Apple’s wonderful campaign is rounding third base and is probably on its way out the door.

4) It sets up future ads which are going to be product-specific: As mentioned, when you’re Microsoft and you have very, very deep pockets, you can afford to do a two-phase campaign. Phase I is to get people’s attention (Grade: 93 on a 100-point scale). Phase II is to talk about what makes your product better.

We’ll see how Microsoft does in Phase II. But Phase I was an “A” job, which ain’t so bad.

CategoryMicrosoft | Comment2 Comments »

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September 11th, 2008

“Just Do It” — The Most Over-Rated Tag Line Ever.

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There are a lot of great tag lines out there. In fact, you could argue that some of the best tag lines in marketing have helped shape entire brands.

“We Try Harder,” which was introduced by Doyle Dane Bernbach on behalf of Avis in 1962, helped frame that brand in the mind of the consumer by positioning it against Hertz, the #1 brand in that category.

One of the all time best tag lines was introduced just a few years ago (and recently dropped!): “Can You Hear Me Now?” This tag line for Verizon was absolutely brilliant. Every time cell phone users uttered “Can you hear me now?” into a cell phone, they were reminded of Verizon and their promise that their network was bigger, better and clearer.

A few other memorable tag lines include:

• “When It Absolutely, Positively Has To Be There Overnight” for Federal Express

• “Got Milk?” for the California Milk Processor Board

• “Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Back In The Water” for Jaws II (Note: That’s actually not a tag line, it’s a slogan. But who cares? It’s terrific!)

Now we get to “Just Do It” which is absolutely, positively (thanks FedEx) the most over-rated tag line ever. Why? Because most great tag lines differentiate their products, frame the brand in the mind of the consumer, and drive home the core essence of the product.

The only thing “Just Do It” does is fall flat on its face.

That’s not to say that “Just Do It” wasn’t surrounded by a terrific ad campaign for Nike — it was. But the tag line alone is so overblown and over-rated, it’s almost an insult to the other brilliant tag lines out there. “Can You Hear Me Now?” works on so many levels for Verizon, it’s mind-boggling. Even something like “With A Name Like Smuckers, It Has To Be Good” sells the brand and has a personality to it. But “Just Do It” is flat, boring and, if it weren’t for a gazillion dollar ad campaign to support it, completely unmemorable.

Send me your favorite tag lines. Or, better still, disagree with my point-of-view. But something tells me that when you give it some thought, you’ll end up agreeing with me — “Just Do It” is the most over-rated tag line ever.

CategoryGeneral Marketing | Comment5 Comments »

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The 60 Second Marketer is a free online magazine brought to you by BKV Interactive and Direct Response. We try to provide quick updates on the newest tools, tips and techniques in marketing. We also try to accomplish that with a dose of humor or levity. As it turns out, we're pretty good at providing tools, tips and techniques, but we're not actually all that funny. Which would explain why people don't call us "funny" as much as they call us "laughable." Bummer. Our offices, for those of you who are interested, are located in Atlanta (404-233-0332) and Kansas City (913-648-8333). We also have offices on Bora Bora, but they don't have the phones installed yet.

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