Great Radio Ad for Buckley's

I heard one of the best radio ads in a long time yesterday, and it was for Buckley's Cough Syrup. I can't remember it word for word, but the concept was plain as day, and brilliant from a marketing standpoint.

Basically a guy calls up what equates to the "Buckley's Customer Service Center," and starts complaining about how awful the cough syrup tasted, likening it to all kinds of disgusting things. The support person agrees, and fully acknowledges it. She said that their cough syrup certainly does taste horrible. Then she asks the man about his cough, to which he replies he hasn't coughed since he took the medicine. Point made.

This is a classic example of great branding, because the company explicitly says that it's cough medicine isn't supposed to taste good or even "not that bad," but that it tastes extremely awful. However, the point of the medicine is to stop your cough, not taste good. So they demonstrate that perfectly with this ad, and with their entire campaign. They have television spots, too. They even have a Buckley's MySpace page that, although I'm not a fan of MySpace, was executed fairly well.

I will definitely keep this brand in mind the next time I get sick and have a bad cough. I just have to see how bad it really tastes! And also see if it works!

New eBay Ads

I must say that I really like new TV commercials for eBay, and the overall message they're sending. They really positioning the online auction site as a competitive shopping destination.

The idea is that with other e-commerce sites, you're just picking out something and buying it outright. Where's the fun in that?? Why not compete against others for the bid to purchase something, and win it in the final moments. In the end, you're "Shopping Victoriously," as the new commercials put it. Quite frankly, buying items through an auction is simply competing against others for the goal of ownership. What a great way to differentiate.

I know the next time I'm in need of competing with someone else to spend my money, I will end up on eBay. See you there, too...and may the best bidder win!

CareerBuilder with Wieden & Kennedy now

As a follow-up to my previous post, CareerBuilder has chosen Wieden & Kennedy for it's $60 mil creative account, according to a recent Ad Age article. I'm happy for Wieden, but hope that CareerBuilder doesn't judge the work they do based on a one-time viewer's poll without looking at actual results. I guess we'll have to wait until Super Bowl XLII...

"Cavemen" Airing on ABC This Fall

It's been decided. The sitcom that was in the works about the Geico Cavemen has been picked up by ABC to debut this fall. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I can't wait to see what they do with it. Something tells me it will be well-liked, but that's only my personal speculation. The Richmond Times-Dispatch's inRich.com story has more.

A Look at "Komen Commercialization"

*Length Disclaimer: This is one of my sporadic long-winded posts. Be warned!

For those who don't know, it is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I'm a strong supporter of breast cancer research, education and treatment. It's less rare than most other cancers and can be just as deadly. I have donated to the Lineberger Cancer Center at the hospital of my alma mater, UNC-Chapel Hill. I'm also willing to buy products that support the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, but I'll have to admit that the "commercialization" of the breast cancer cause it getting a bit out of hand. I think companies are taking cause-related marketing a little far these days.

Yes, it's a great way for the Komen Foundation to raise money, I don't disagree with that. And it's a great way for a business to show their support for a particular cause while being charitable at the same time. However, it seems like every business from A-Z is jumping on the cause-related marketing bandwagon when it comes to breast cancer, and it makes sense, because it's proven to be a great way to boost sales. You usually don't think about that fact when you go to buy a product that supports the Komen Foundation, if in fact it does support the Komen Foundation, or breast cancer initiatives at all. The Komen Foundation web site actually has a list of questions to ask when deciding which companies to buy from in support of the cause; another site, www.thinkbeforeyoupink.com, has more questions to ask. The Komen Foundation also has a list of their corporate partners so you know who is a part of the program and who isn't.

So most companies do this as a gesture of goodwill and act of philanthropy, but they're also doing it to boost sales. Take this snippet from the Power of Pink article published on recordnet.com: "These companies often actively court Komen." What this means, to me anyway, is that they are including the cause-related marketing into their business and marketing strategy, AKA their strategy to increase sales and goodwill towards the company, not just the cause. So, they're essentially commercializing the cause. And that's really what cause-related marketing could be boiled down to in one respect. But, I'll be the first to say it's way more complicated than that, and cause-related marketing is not "evil," or even bad, when used properly and for the right underlying reasons.

On one hand, I totally understand and agree with the decision to do cause-related marketing like this, but on the other I'm disgusted that the cause is being used as a way to increase the annual profits of these companies. Everywhere I turn I see a company exploiting the issue of breast cancer to sell product - tennis racquets and yogurt, to candy and sticky notes - but, how much money actually goes to the cause?

I think that if a company wants to do cause-related marketing, they should donate a significant portion of the money to the cause, and be more transparent about the program and how they fit into it. We, as the consumers, shouldn't necessarily go buying everything we see with pink on it just to support the Komen Foundation. Instead, we can donate directly, or simply make our normal purchases in hopes that our favorite brands are partnered with the Foundation.

It's a tricky thing, cause-related marketing. On the surface it's about charity and the cause, but underneath it's all about making sales and fattening the bottom line. Thoughts?

John Hancock, Unique and Meaningful to Generic and Mundane

John Hancock is changing its marketing campaign...but why? They're changing their tagline from "Insurance for the unexpected. Investment for the opportunities," to "The Future is Yours." Holy crap, are you kidding me??

C'mon JH, you can't be serious. Talk about running toward differentiation, then doing a 180 and sprinting in the opposite direction. Why would you change a campaign ("fix it") that probably isn't broken ("if it ain't broke")?

What I get from this is that John Hancock is totally abandoning a tagline and strategy that actually says something - what they offer - to people in a "real-life," clear and catchy way. And in turn, they're coming up with a generic tagline and strategy that any XYZ company could use. "The Future is Yours" says nothing to me, except "Hey, I'm generic, boring and unmemorable." The future ultimately is nobody's, it's just the future. Your future is yours, but not the future. That belongs to all of us, including those not yet born. I think a better alternative would have at least been "Your Future, Our Support," or something like that. But I honestly don't think the new tagline speaks to consumers on any kind of emotional or rational level. Even Nike's "Just Do It" tagline is simple, yet powerful. It basically says, no matter what excuses you have, just get out there and perform...we have the products to help you do that. As for John Hancock, they have the services and products to help improve your future, but that's not really what the tagline says.

I could be completely wrong and this may be a great change for JH, but only time will tell...about 10 years or so.

Panera Knows Customer Service

Ok, this post was a must. If not to give Panera Bread credit where deserved, then to demonstrate customer service at its finest.

I'm currently sitting in Panera Bread in Greensboro, NC, waiting for a colleague of mine. When I first arrived, I sat at a table near the order counter for about 15-20 minutes, checking email and such. The manager, or at least someone who seemed capable of the title, looked over the counter and said, "Are you Daniel Monday?" Well, I am. So I said, "yes." He tells me that the person I'm supposed to be meeting will be about 20 minutes late. Awesome, it was if I was at a hotel, getting personal messages from the staff.

That's not the best part. He asks me if I would like anything while I wait, which is great customer service in itself. However, when I asked for a caramel latte, I didn't have to get up and get in the long line that was beginning to form, nor did I have to pay! A young lady brought the coffee out to me at my table, and when I asked if she wanted money, she said, "Don't worry about it." Well, being the person I am, I attempted to pay a couple more times, only to be met with the same answer. Talk about royal treatment. No, they didn't do it for everyone, but they didn't have to. They knew I'd have a long wait and catered to me at that moment. That's great customer service, and great customer relationship management, which is sometimes better done through simple human action than with databases.

I will definitely be back to this Panera.

Google Attempting Cost-Per-Action

Sooner or later, Google was bound to give a nod toward Snap.com, which I recently posted about regarding their Cost-Per-Action ad model. Well, sure enough, they've already started in that direction. And with their recent launch of Google Checkout, you can see how they're intending to bring a measurable (and functional) CPA model to their advertisers, among other things, like the fact that this application, if it has the cajones, could simplify e-commerce on a larger scale for the billions of Internet users out there (like you and I).