An homage to a well designed site? Maybe, I’m more of a google guy myself so I can’t really say. But you would think the designer would have made a few more cosmetic changes, no?
Last week, MediaPost printed results from some Gen-Y research. There’s a sweet sweet list of the top 15 brands according to 100 of the most trend-forward individuals. Wow…100 people! And they’re trendsetters so I have to believe them! First of all, here are 15 of the top brands (note, this was before the whole Jet Blue fiasco, but I’m still down with Jet Blue. Sure I may have to wait a long long LONG time, but hey - DirecTV!):
1. Apple
2. Trader Joe’s
3. Jet Blue
4. In-N-Out Burger
5. Ben & Jerry’s
6. Whole Foods
7. Adidas
8. American Apparel
9. Target
10. H & M clothing stores
11. Levi’s
12. Volkswagen
13. Converse
14. Vitamin Water
15. Red Stripe Jamaican beer
Alright, cool I can accept most of these. Sure, Levi’s seems out of place but OK. Now, lets look in depth at one specific case: Trader Joe’s. Now, as a part of Generation Y (Really? Generation Y? That’s the best we could do? REALLY?!), I’m down with Joe’s because I can always get food that I can’t really find anywhere else, I feel like I’m supporting smaller distributors, and all in all the quality of the food is pretty damn high. The chance to support smaller companies and farms follows that pesky cultural trend toward a Greener lifestyle - makes sense, right?
Apparently not. Apparently, I’m supposed to like Trader Joe’s because “the company has a dorky newsletter and makes their employees wear silly Hawaiian shirts.” WHAT?! I don’t go grocery shopping because of HAWAIIAN SHIRTS! Are they kidding? I can just imagine the interviewer - “You like Trader Joe’s? They wear Hawaiian shirts, do you like that?” Come on, give me a break.
Ever since I watched that video about “coolhunting” in both my sociology and marketing communications classes back in college, I’ve been skeptical about the results of Marketing Research. Well, not just because of that video, but work with me here. They were finding the cool trendsetters, you know, like the guy that stopped who was wearing a gasmask. I kid you not, he was an example of a trendsetter. Because gasmasks have been really trendy recently. Well, maybe in…no, I’m gonna hold back from making an Iraq joke.)
What’s the point? Yes, these brands are popular. Many are popular because of the culture within their corporation that then leads to better customer experiences. We shouldn’t look at research and then claim that “they also responded to brands that they saw as ‘dorky’ but ‘totally themselves.’” Let’s use our brains here - it’s not that brands are dorky (hawaiian shirts are dorky? Oh crap…) The brands listed strive for authenticity: that uber-important buzzword that means the brands aren’t bullshitting the consumers, or at least aren’t appearing to. They’re looking at cultural trends and entrenching themselves within different cultural groups - and that’s great.
Come on MediaPost, don’t believe the hype (hooo-wa-yea-yea-ha or however that should truly be spelled). (Yeeeeeeeeya booooyeeeeee.)
Since I was born and raised in the DC Metro area, it makes me smile when I hear about a DC franchise like the Washington Nationals doing something right. Of course, something had to go wrong first.
Apparently, the opening day at RFK could have gone smoother. Aside from complaints about the team itself, the main issue was the extremely long lines at concessions, and the conspicuous lack of hot dogs. What kind of ballpark doesn’t have enough hot dogs? Knee-jerk answer: not a good one. But apparently, after an email complaint to Nationals President Stan Kasten, one lucky guy not only got a few gift certificates as an apology, but also a visit by the man himself
“The biggest surprise, though, came last Friday night when Mr. Kasten himself came by our seats to apologize in person. That’s the big deal here. It’s not often you see the President of the team in the upper deck visiting people who’ve written him, and that gives me an awful lot of hope for the franchise in the long run, even if this year’s 2-7 start doesn’t.” [**NOTE TO SELF: get a style sheet with a better looking blockquote]
Aaaahhhh…going above and beyond. It should be at the forefront of everyone’s mind each step of the way. Kudos, Stan Kasten - you just earned your team a lifelong fan. The other guy, that is. Not me - I’m more of a football/hockey guy myself.
I’m about to make a really big confession, one that may hurt my indie-web cred. This is kind of hard for me to deal with, but here we go: I don’t use an RSS feed. There, I said it. I don’t RSS. Is that a crime? Should I feel ashamed that I read blogs the old fashioned way? When I am scouring the interwebs for entertainment and information, I don’t want to go to a boring, gray page with a long trail of articles that I should be reading because I subscribed to the feeds - it’s just not my style.
Personally, I like thinking “hey, I wonder what Tyler Durden is reporting”, immersing my self in the celeblog gossip, and then moving on to a different mindset, like Gizmodo or Seth Godin. I know that RSS is the cool thing to do, that I don’t need to go all over the web to read sites that I like - but there’s something to be said for deeply scouring the updates in one subject, and then moving on to another whenever I feel like it. I find this far more enjoyable than scrolling down a long page of mish-mashed information.
RSS keeps you locked in to reading a few blogs that you like - I’m not locked down, I can read whatever I want, whenever I want. That may just be my two cents, but I’m sure there are others out there who feel the same way.
Pandora (in case you have been living under a rock) lets you input a band, artist, or song you like and creates a personalized Internet Radio station based on your preferences. You can constantly give it feedback and tell it if you like or don’t like a certain song. Thanks to Pandora, I have found many new artists and have gone to concerts that I would not have known about - all good things for the music industry, right? Apparently not.
Gizmodo interviewed Tim Westergreen, the co-founder of Pandora, asking his opinion of the new royalty rate hike that promises to put many many independant radio stations (both online and on-the-air) out of business.
He brings up some excellent points. Point the first:
…higher rates mean more money for artists. The reality is that the few Internet radio companies that opt to continue (and it will be VERY FEW) will be forced to license directly from labels. In this scenario, the artist share of the revenue will shrink to almost nothing as the monies will go directly to the label and be subject to the usual artist royalty rate (post-recoupment) of single digit percentages. So not only will this eliminate the vast majority of online stations that are the ONLY source of indie music exposure, it will take what little revenue is left from the artists.
Interesting, the RIAA so rarely seems like it wants to needlessly suck money from groups that were already paying to publicize and popularize artists. Point the second:
…contrary to any statements by SoundExchange or RIAA representatives, Internet radio is not a highly profitable business nor will it be. For most (including Pandora), it’s still a money-loser at the old rates that we are working as hard as we can (15 full time sales people are on the job) to turn profitable in a year or two. The growth figures put out by JP Morgan (recently revised downward from $500M to $150M) don’t mean profitability—they mean more revenue which comes with greater costs. It’s a thin margin business at best. No one’s profiteering here.
There is something very broken about an industry front-group seeking to hurt its members while looking at the short-term gain of a few more bucks. This affects every radio station, including internet and college radio. It just seems like foolishness - let’s hope companies like Pandora find a way to survive.
“Show off your dance moves!” “Audition to the whole world!” it says, in an obvious attempt to capture the market that love “So You Think You Can Dance?” (is that show even on anymore?) and any or all Audition-based reality shows. It makes it seem like you design choreography when in reality its a glorified button-masher - which actually sounds more fun. You can get your tweens and teen girls into Audition, sure, but you’re misleading them as to the ultimate product. This won’t lead to repeat customers.
Go after the DDR crew, or if you still want to target the cheerleaders and dancers, work the game into “Bring It On Again 4: Bringin It On Harder Than Ever”. And maybe, if you want people to go to your website, think of something more memorable than nexon.net - I spent a full minute this morning trying to remember the site - first i went to nexus.net and then i googled “Audition”. Honestly? That’s one step too more than I’d normally be willing to take.
The role of this blog is not usually to hate on the work of other people. But this will have to be an exception. Oh. Wow. I’m speechless. My fingers don’t even know what to type. I mean, what better way to woo the women (nice little alliteration there) is there than the URL aa.com/women?
The site looks like it was designed 5 years ago, but it was just recently launched by American Airlines in an attempt to ‘connect’ travelers who are women. Let’s ignore the appalling page title of “Women Travelers Connected” (should it be Woman Travelers Connected? Female Travelers?) It’s all about connecting the women - through business, through lifestlye, through…each other…
This is some serious ‘we want women’ lip service. What kind of half-assed attempt at a community is this? You can get 20% off a trip to a spa? Girlfriend Getaways? Romantic Escapes? Interviews with ‘inspiring women’? I’m just in shock.
And Consumerist notes that the “women’s” search for a flight is not nearly as functional as the “men’s” search. I’m flummoxed. I honestly don’t know what to say. I understand the strategy, this page is just shouting it loudly and in a voice that noone wants to listen to - kinda like one of those “End of the World” guys on the street. “LISTEN TO US! WE LOVE WOMEN! WE UNDERSTAND YOU!”
I’m not a woman, but I’m pretty sure that no, American Airlines, you do not understand women. If you did you would have made a more functional, interesting website that actually adds value and provides an interesting experience. And it would never have been called “aa.com/women” - what about “aa.com/mystique” or “aa.com/connect”?
This is the first post in what will be a recurring series in which I feature awesome local commercials. If a national brand other than “Head On” could capture the camp value of “Flea Market Montgomery”, we would all live in a better country. (I know this made its way around the internet 4 times months ago, but I still love it)
Goal:
Find an agency where I can put my sense of humor to good use while improving my skills as a copywriter and doing great work for a plethora of clients.
Relevant work:
Copywriter, MRM Worldwide (June 2006 – Present)
Wendy’s, Nikon, Exxon-Mobil, Kohl’s
Copywriter – Intern, McCann Erickson (Summer 2005)
Intel, Biscuits & Bath (dog day care)
Somewhat-relevant work:
Store Manager, Hold The Carbs (Summer 2004)
Opened/Closed store, took inventory, sold low-carb food
Tour Guide, Queen’s University (2003-2006)
Led guided tours of the school’s campus
Irrelevant work:
Reality Show Cameraman, “BillionAyre” (A week in May 2006)
Was cameraman for the pilot of a failed reality show starring “Bodog.net” founder Calvin Ayre
Swim Instructor, JCC Camp (Summers 2000-2003)
Taught kids how to swim
Speedo Salesman, Speedo Store (Summer 2003)
Sold bathing suits
Education:
B.A.(Honors) Film Studies, Queen’s University in Kingston, ON
Awards:
Stunningnikon.com/dslr, Medalist - New York Interactive & Alternative Media Festival
“F is for Cookie”, Official Selection - Swansea Bay International Film Festival
Participant Trophy, “Little League” baseball
Stuff I can do:
Final Cut Pro, Film and light for 16mm/video, improv comedy, write
Marketing guru Seth Godin sometimes gives away free stuff on his blog. As a guy who is constantly online, I’m usually privy to this free stuff which is offered on a time-constrained basis. A few months back, I was given his compilation book Small Is The New Big for free. This time, I got a free seat at the Future of Online Advertising Conference
Much like the photographers in my Stunning Nikon campaign, I have decided to become a shill just because I received something for free (Just kidding, you’re all really good photographers and I would never compare you to shills.) The conference looks really interesting, with speakers from Tribal, Digg, Brightcave and a bunch more. I even saw Jim Coudal on the list, who I recognized from his response to the Agency.com fiasco from this past summer.
Just cuz I can’t stop hawking their product, if you want to sign up you can get a super secret 10% discount code: 10p3rc
The topics?
* How to guarantee the success of your online ads
* Tips for packaging your inventory and maximizing ad revenue
* Online Advertising Basics - Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask
* Advertising in RSS feeds – the next big thing?
* Marketing Beyond Google, Yahoo, AOL & MSN with Scale, Quality and Safety
* It’s all in the creative - how to create successful online ads
* Targeted Ad Networks - Cost Per Influence Vs. Cost Per Thousand
* Ads in Online Video – the future of interactive advertising?
Some topics sound more interesting and exciting than others, but it should be a pretty sweet couple days. I hope to see you all there June 7-8
