If they’re so hard up for money, my wife is willing to throw a few dollars their way to make it stop.

I think I need to be alone now. Watch the extended mix while I go burn my Bat out of Hell tape.

And what the heck is this?

Friggin marketers screwing with my 80′s glam-rock memories. Oh wait, I’m a friggin marketer by day. Must beat self with cat o’ nine tail to atone for all lazy marketers who substitute crap videos to nostalgic rock songs.

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Here’s an example. Mike pulls up to rental car lot after hours and the car is absolutely filthy. Girl is waiting patiently for him to return the car:

Girl (staring at her fingers): “What’s that?”

Mike: “That’s poo.”

Girl: “Like from a butt?”

Mike: “Does it come from any other place?”

Girl: “I got poo in my hand.”

Mike: “And now you got keys. Happy Birthday.”

That run in with the car rental agent and other assorted characters all get chronicled in Mike’s correspondence with fans via the tablet PC.

Not much gets me engaged lately, but this was truly fun. They got me to sit and watch all the videos (5 videos, roughly 4 min each) and ponder how I might use a table PC. Well done, HP!

Viewers can embed the video source into their own blogs, etc. But there doesn’t seem to be anything else. Seems odd that there’s no method for viewers to engage further (other than chat with an HP online sales rep). Clicking on the non-Flash link, the alternate HTML page says videos will be posted April 19 and a sweepstakes is coming soon. Looks like someone dropped the ball — that’s disappointing and a point of failure for the campaign efforts. Realistically, will the majority of visitors ever come back again?

You can watch all the Mike Rowe videos here.

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Last December, the “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” campaign ran a “Don’t give up on Vista” advertising on Cnet.com’s Windows Vista news and reviews page. They cleverly sync the sidebar ad to the ad unit at the top of the page. It was a clever use of the page and a serious jab at Microsoft on a page about their flagship operating system.

Yesterday, Apple reproduced the magic, this time on PCMag.com with even more jabs at the negative press Microsoft has received.

Congrats to the sharp folks who saw an opportunity and took advantage of it.

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Look carefully, these linked ad units appeared on a Microsoft Vista page on cnet.com/windows-vista.html. It has since been taken down and Microsoft advertising currently appears. (I imagine there were a few grumpy phone calls made to come to a compromise or long term commitment.)

Regardless, it’s a great reminder. Often times, I’ve seen account and creative folks design ads for the lowest common denominator so they can fit the broadest number of properties and media units. In this example, it’s obvious the agency took time to think about where the creative would appear, capabilities of linking ad units to come of with an awesome (yet short-lived) execution that got impressions and buzz.

It’s a good reminder to:

• Involve media and creative early in the media planning and creative process.
• Review each media property to assess whether your ad unit will be complementary in their respective layouts.
• Always design with the target audience in mind.
• Explore non-traditional units.
• Dare to be edgy or potentially generate some buzz.
• Secure non-competitive placements on sensitive brand pages. It will cost more to lock it down and requires a long term commitment, but let the client decide if it’s worth embarrassment. (And make sure you have that in writing.)
• Float the concept around to a few folks to make sure it’s as cool an idea as you think it is.

I’ve worked on many campaigns where we release over a hundred individual units in order to take advantage of the nuances of individual media properties. I admit that it becomes challenging to manage (requires good organizational skills and QC testing); and yes we do create some common units that don’t require customization. Ultimately we may also make tradeoffs based on ROI forecast or budget constraints.

Regardless, do your due diligence and always try to think different.

-Roland

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Here’s a bit of the lyrics from one of the songs:

Hardware based technology,
has finally set me free.
Remote manageability,
puts the power just where it should be,
with managers of I.T.,
like meeeeeeee.

What I like about this is the refreshing approach to taking a boring product, embracing the user as a hero, and conveying how to improve the lives of all. Plus they did it well. With a hint of the cleverness seen in “This is Spinal Tap” and “A Mighty Wind.”

Definitely check out the Hard Meets Soft campaign.

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Essentially, they’re a series of cheezy videos recorded and posted on various sites showing the host do things with a blender that every young man only dreams of. The host demonstrates the power of the blender to chop a garden rake, hockey pucks, an iPod, golf balls, marbles, toy cars, a soda can, light bulbs and more.

Household appliance + bad behavior = Many eyeballs/impressions for an extremely small investment

Enjoy.
-Roland

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1. HSCS-010 – 9 Cheap and Easy Ways to Energize Your Marketing

Burger King to sell three Xbox/Xbox 360 video games that incorporate brand icons–including “Subservient Chicken,” originally the star of an online viral campaign. The games, “Pocketbike Racer,” “Big Bumpin’” and “Sneak King,” will sell for $3.99 each when consumers buy a meal.

What probably makes these work:

• For the low price, it would be hard to pass up. Although free would be more desireable.
• Although creepy, the “Burger King” is oddly aluring and I can’t quite turn away. (It’s almost like you have to stare at that car accident on the road.)
• They look fun and self mocking. (You can’t just stuff any stoggy looking corporate mascot into a bumper car.)

It’s not often that we see blatantly branded video games based on corporate mascots. (Just to be clear, I’m NOT talking about inserting corporate logos into video games, or games about movie characters, like the new Scarface game). If the Burger King Xbox games are successful, we may see the start of an interesting trend. Here are a few thought starter ideas to kick around:

• Wendy’s Wendy in her own Sims-like virtual game
• Kellog’s Tony the Tiger in his own urban jungle stalking adventure
• Brauny Man vs. Mr. Clean
• Tony the Tiger vs The Exxon Tiger combat game
• The Planter’s Peanut Dance Dance Revolution
• Chef Boyardi battles Bobby Flay
• Kool Aid brick busting adventure

What do you think? Post a comment whether you would or would not buy/play corporate branded games.

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Most recently:
September 19th was “International Talk Like a Pirate Day.” — Who knew? I discovered it accidentally because Meebo enabled a secrete pirate speak function to translate instant message text into pirate gibberish.

July 15th was “World Firefox Day” – World Firefox Day gives everyone who uses and loves Firefox the chance to introduce Firefox to one other person they care about. If your friend starts using Firefox on or before September 15, 2006, both of you will be recognized on the Firefox Friends Wall, and in Firefox 2.

June was “Backup Awareness Month” (according to Seagate). Too bad, many people I’ve spoken too didn’t hear about it until July.

Point is, other marketers are taking liberties, so why shouldn’t you? Go ahead and create an occasion/event! But first:

• Make sure it has perceivable value.
• Make it shareable.
• Make it worth someone’s time to briefly engage with your brand.

Then spread it out over the Web. Make it hip! And use good old fashioned grass roots promotion all the way.

Have fun.
-Roland

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It made me curious…

Was it for the recent Curious George movie about to be released on DVD?

Was it for the new Curious George TV series on PBS?

Was it a plot by the Global Board of Banana Growers United Liberation Front to tap into my inner child and stimulate me to subconsciously buy bananas?

It probably doesn’t matter since I’ve obviously been exposed to these things unconsciously. And all it took was a cheap, little sticker placed on my banana by some clever marketer to trigger brand recall and make me connect the dots. Ding! My banana is part of an integrated brand campaign!

-Roland

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There are some great learnings in this article about how the brand team went about defining and refining the persona for this icon.

BUSINESS WEEK: Brawny Rolls out a New Guy
September 6, 2006

Excerpts…

Consumers have long recognized the paper towel brand by its lumberjack mascot. But to stay relevant, he needed an update.

… For 30 years the paper products company had only minimally tinkered with the visage of its successful spokeshunk. He had, after all, helped the paper towels reach an enviable 98% name-recognition rate in the U.S.

… The sandy-blond, sweeping hair and blue denim shirt … both looked out of step. Even the style in which he was drawn seemed to hark back to the glory days of Burt Reynolds and Tom Selleck.

The team set out to create a “character book” for the Brawny man. It includes adjectives to describe him: real, genuine, strong, the ideal next-door neighbor. It also notes he likes to drink beer—Labatts Canadian or a light domestic—and listens to progressive jazz and country music. The debate about his marital status heated up so much that his handlers decided to leave it an open question as to whether he’s single or not.

… Yearlong customer research led to a new, more clean-cut look.

… However he still loves the outdoors, knows a lot about chopping down trees, and is back to wearing the familiar red hunting shirt.

After the change, the company says, his 7% likability score with consumers rose to 74%.

“Brawny stands for strength,” says the executive. “The more he conveys strength, the better.”

… core customers, mothers 25 to 49 years old, are looking for some new things in a man these days. “Women’s expectations of men are very different than they were 30 years ago,” he says. “Eighty percent of our target women work. She’s multitasking. She seeks balance, and she seeks more organization in her life. Men are evolving to play a much bigger role in that area. That provides for a fairly significant emotional connection to our audience.”

Check out Business Week for the complete article and other great articles.

Be sure to checkout the Brawny Academy Web site, where the Brawny Man spurts “woodsy wisdom” while carrying a boulder, chopping wood or performing mouth-to-mouth on a raccoon. [I'm not kidding!]

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