Perception Analyzer Dial.Log

AARP uses the Perception Analyzer to better understand "How She Will Decide"

As part of its 50^th anniversary celebration, AARP teamed up with iVillage to create the dynamically interactive town forum – “How She Will Decide” – on February 1, 2008, at the historic Alex Theatre in Glendale, California. To learn about how important topics will shape the way women will vote in the upcoming presidential election, hundreds of women from all walks of life were invited to express their opinions and be engaged by forum moderator Val Zavala and panelists Ron Brownstein, political director for Atlantic Media Company; Frank Luntz, political consultant and author of Words that Work; Nancy LeaMond, AARP Group Executive Officer and Director of the Divided We Fail initiative; Donna Addkison, political consultant and pollster; and Paula Madison, Executive Vice President of Diversity, NBC Universal.

Each of the 400 women were given a Perception Analyzer dial as they arrived and used it to give feedback and register their opinions in real-time during the event.  Such involvement became the focal point of the event as audience opinions were instantly generated and displayed on large projection screens.

“The goal of our event was to engage the audience and involve them in a two-way conversation to discuss the issues,” said AARP Research Director, Jeffrey Love. “Using the Perception Analyzer did just that.”

The event may be watched in its entirety at iVillage.com.

Perception Analyzer used during Democratic presidential debate in Philadelphia

Most debate watchers have seen those opinion line graphs that get plotted during televised debates. Those graphs are created by our Perception Analyzer system during dial groups.

For the April 16, debate in Philadelphia the Perception Analyzer was used to get real-time feedback from a group of undecided voters. An overview of how the technology was used maybe watched here and the news story about the research during the debate may be watched here.

Can't Quite Place That Voice?

My wife and I like to play name-that-voice with the more and more celebs we hear doing voiceovers for TV commercials.  If you've been stumped lately, maybe this will help you settle an argument or two.

I caught Kiefer Sutherland's voice for Apple right away and thought it was the perfect blend of recognizable and captivating.  Is it worth seven figures?  Who knows.

Hey Kids, Here Comes the Pitch (VII)

As a parent of a 3 year-old, I can certainly relate to this interaction between BloggingBaby's Sarah Gilbert and her son.  Seems the little guy is far more interested in the bag of brand name Cheetos than the already open bag of store brand Cheeto-like snack thingies.  Well, the bag of Cheetos has a cartoon cheetah on it which her son calls "the Cheeto guy," so yeah, they got him.

More Space

I want to share with you an interesting project by fellow blogger, Todd Sattersten, called More Space.  It's a book that came together by Todd offering nine business bloggers more space in which to write.  He wanted to see what they would come up with when they had more than a short blog post to work with.

Well, the outcome is quite good.  What I like most about the book is that he's given these bloggers more space, but not too much.  So many business books are 10% good stuff and 90% crap, repetition and repackaged ideas just to fill a book.  This book is just the 10%.  It has many good ideas and is written in a fresh tone that makes for a very good read.

If you enjoy good business books, want to try something different and want to support a very creative effort, I suggest you pick up a copy (or a few and spread them around).

Learn more and buy the book here.

Cult of IKEA

Here is an interesting article on the worldwide sensation that is IKEA.  There are some great lessons to be learned.

Hey Kids, Here Comes the Pitch (VI)

The British Heart Association has launched the Food4Thought campaign designed to give kids the real (and sometime scary) scoop on what they're eating and how to make better food choices.  They aim to shock with images of raw, unprocessed ingredients in such fast foods as hot dogs, chicken nuggets and burgers.  But more importantly, they offer food facts (for the good and the bad), a glossary of food label items, recipes and more.  This is a great effort!

Previous relevant posts:
Hey Kids, Here Comes the Pitch
Hey Kids, Here Comes the Pitch (II)
Hey Kids, Here Comes the Pitch (III)
Hey Kids, Here Comes the Pitch (IV)
Hey Kids, Here Comes the Pitch (V)

via [Slashfood]

TV: Online and On Demand

I just watched the first NBC Nightly News Netcast.  It's an online replay of the NBC Nightly News available after 10:00pm each night.  The netcast opens with an ad or two, launches into the program and breaks twice more for a couple of ads each time.  One interesting ad model I observed was when an video ad for Listerine played in the left pane and a still ad for Listerine was served-up in the right pane.  If interested, you can click the right pane to go to the Listerine website.  That model could certainly be effective if the two ads worked synergistically to use the video ad to drive viewers to click for more information or to continue with an interactive experience.

Between this netcast, NBC and CBS selling reruns for $0.99 and ABC making content available through iTunes, television and its ad models are certainly changing.

Environmentally Unfriendly Marketing

My associate, Wes Breazeale, took issue with a FedEx direct mail piece he (and apparently many others) received today.  Here's his rant:

I work in sales, so naturally I have nothing against aggressive marketing.  We need it to get the job done and I appreciate a well done piece as much as the next guy.  But there are certain points where other factors seem to be more pressing than the marketing aspect and a recent mailing I received from Federal Express is a sample of marketing done poorly, at least in my opinion.

Announcing FedEx's new ground shipping options, the piece encourages people to "share the great news" that you can now use drop boxes to drop off your packages.  I'm not sure I'm ready to call all my friends or buy the next round in honor of this exciting news, but I will tell them (and you) about why the piece really makes me angry.

The piece was akin to the omnipresent AOL cd's sent out by the millions in that my main issue is what it is made of.  Measuring 10" x 6", it's really no bigger than a large postcard, but it is made out of rather thick plastic or vinyl.  For something they must know is going to be tossed in the trash by a large number of recipients, this is a rather serious example of a corporation being completely and utterly socially unconscious.  This thing cannot be recycled, even by the most die hard recycler.  Thousands (if not millions) of these cards will fester in our dumps for centuries.  But fortunately, when future archaeologists finally unearth them, they will be able to share the news that there is a quick and easy way to ship their discoveries back to the office.

It's frustrating that every time we take one step forward, something like this pops up that takes us one step back.

Experiential Divine (II)

Tom Peters had an excellent customer service experience at The Four Seasons.  He and his wife were traveling and dinner plans conflicted with a TV show they wanted to catch.  They asked the Concierge if the show could be recorded and the requested with granted.  In addition to returning from dinner to find a VCR with the recorded show and a nice note in their room, they were also left a plate of treats.  Recording the show was nice enough.  Having it ready to watch in the room that same evening was above and beyond.  Leaving a plate of treats is what makes The Four Seasons remarkable.

Another great example of this is last week an associate of mine, with a brutal cold, was traveling all week and staying at his usual Hilton hotels. One evening he felt so bad he phoned the Concierge and asked for a thermometer to check his fever. They brought one to him right away and then proceeded to send up some soup and checked-in with him periodically to see how he was feeling and if there was anything he needed. 

How many people will they both tell about their great and unexpected experiences?  How may people reading this blog and Tom's will spread the word.   What are you doing to surprise your customers and garner this kind of word of mouth?

Experiential Divine

Some great stuff on customer experience today...

First, Daddy Types tells us that The Cheesecake Factory brings kids a snack plate while their family is waiting to order and get their food.  Sounds like you don't have to ask for it, they just know that's the time when kids get the most impatient and start causing a ruckus (let's be honest).  This simple thing keeps the kids happy which in turn keeps the parents and other diners happy who then reward The Cheesecake Factory with repeat business.  It's the circle of life (or Hakuna Matata - a reference those with kids will certainly get).

Next, Decker Marketing shares a great list of 10 ways to create and manage experience: [via EX Group]

1. Experiences don't just happen; they need to be planned.
2. Think about the customer experience first—and then about the functional features and benefits of your brand.
3. Be obsessive about the details of the experience.
4. Create a small touch that sums up and stylizes your experience. (The Conrad Hotel in Hong Kong places yellow rubber ducks in its bathrooms—a quirky, memorable touch.)
5. Think situation, not product: "Grooming in the bathroom," instead of "razor"; "casual meal" instead of "hot dog"; "travel" instead of "transportation."
6. Strive for holistic experiences—experiences that are sensory, emotional, thought-provoking and relevant.
7. Track experiences across media: logos, ads, packaging, advertising and websites.
8. Use multiple metrics—from quantitative to verbal to visual. Be explorative and creative and worry about reliability, validity and methodological sophistication later.
9. Consider how the experience changes as the brand expands onto the Web or across international borders.
10. Add dynamism and "Dionysianism" to your company and brand. Most brands are too timid and too bureaucratic. Be ecstatic, passionate and creative.

Brand Building

Here is an interesting article from Brand Channel about the challenges and potential benefits of launching a new brand into a particularly saturated market.

via [AdJab]

Deception Marketing (II)

There's guerrilla marketing, buzz marketing and word-of-mouth marketing, then there's just plain deception marketing.  My coworker, Wes, tipped me to this little diddy about suspicious sudden interest in Halloween masks of the Burger King mascot.

Not that the character isn't creepy enough to make a good halloween mask, mind you.  But is deception the most effective way they could think of to build buzz?

Deception Marketing

What are the six products singled out by by The Center for Science in the Public Interest for having misleading food labels?

• Gerber Graduates for Toddlers Fruit Juice Snacks
• Betty Crocker Super Moist Carrot Cake Mix
• Smucker's Simply 100% Fruit Spread
• Kellogg's Eggo Nutri-Grain Pancakes
• General Mills' Yoplait Light Fat Free Yogurt
• Quaker Oats Pasta Roni

Here is the rationale for each one.

Are these the only ones?  Of course not.  Are they even the most egregious offenders?  Who knows.  But, they are big companies with tremendous influence on what people eat.  If your carrot cake is made with carrot power and not carrot pieces, don't show carrot pieces on the box.  It's pretty simple really.  If you can't make a product that people will want if they knew the truth about it, then maybe you shouldn't be making that product at all, eh?

More on my own frustrating food label experience here.

[via Slashfood and ABC News]

McSubway

This is an interesting study - customers of McDonald's and Subway were interviewed on their way out of the respective restaurants and asked how many calories they thought they had consumed.  Those data were then compared with how many they actually consumed.

The results of the Cornell University and University of Illinois study as published in USA Today are:

• Customers at McDonald's consumed about 710 calories and estimated that they had eaten about 670 calories each.
• Those at Subway each ate about 560 calories but estimated only 335.

"The customers at McDonald's ate a lot of calories and knew they'd eaten a lot," says Wansink, director of Cornell's Food and Brand Lab. "But those at Subway experienced the 'halo effect,' which allowed them to think they were eating better than they were."

These Views Do Not Necessarily Reflect...

According to this article in USA Today, Starbucks is planning to run a religious quote on its cups in 2006 as part of a campaign designed "to carry on the coffeehouse tradition of conversation and debate."  What I was prepared to write about is how absurd it seemed to me that on the cups is the disclaimer that the opinions "do not necessarily reflect the views of Starbucks."  I thought, how can a company serve-up a message on its product, then claim the views do not necessarily reflect those of the company.  If that's the case, don't print the message.

Then I thought about where else I've seen a similar disclaimer.  Television networks, magazines and newspapers routinely make such disclaimers regarding content and I have no problem with that.  If NBC broadcasts a news story about someone who advocates racist behavior, I don't then believe those at NBC are racist.  So why does the Starbucks thing strike me so differently?  And it's not that I necessarily object (or don't object) to the particular message.  It's the notion that a message that may not reflect the opinions of the company is being used at all.  Is content on a Starbucks cup any different than content on a TV network or in the pages of a magazine or newspaper?

Hey Kids, Here Comes the Pitch (V)

Freakonomics blog points to a press release by the American Beverage Association outlining its new recommendations for cutting back on sodas in school vending machines.  While the idea is great, substituting soda for high-sugar (and thus high-calorie) fruit juice isn't necessarily helpful as calories are calories.  They also list things that they believe to be okay like sports drinks and low-calorie soft drinks.  But sports drinks are generally sweetened with the same high-fructose corn syrup as sodas and even low-calorie soft drinks have artificial sweeteners and caffeine that kids don't need.  Maybe the problem is having vending machines in schools in the first place?

Online Stats

CNN.com has an interesting special report called Online Evolution. Particularly interesting is a summary of online data collected from various sources.  I can't link directly to it, but you can see it by clicking the "Tracking life online" link in the "How Has The Internet Changed?" section.  And, in case you were wondering, "Britney Spears" was the top Google search term of 2004 followed by "Paris Hilton," "Christina Aguilera," "Pamela Anderson" and "chat."  At least we have our priorities straight.

TiVo-proofing Commercians (II)

As a follow-up to this post, TiVo is now offering advertisers banner ads that remain on the screen in fast-forward mode.

Medius Overwhemlus

I think it was the addition of 3000 podcasts to iTunes that finally put me over the edge.  With limited non-working, non-sleeping, non-parenting and non-husbanding hours in the day, there is now way too much media available.  In addition to 3000 podcasts (plus all the others not available through iTunes) there are millions of blogs, countless other websites, hundreds of cable and satellite TV channels, hundreds more satellite radio stations and good old terrestrial radio, print magazines and newspapers.  It has not only become stressful to decide what media to consume, but it has also become stressful to think about how much I'm missing.

So, the question is, when will the bubble burst?  When will people become so overwhelmed by what's available that they start resisting it?  I'm starting to feel that urge for the first time and I'm not sure what to do with it.

TiVo-proofing Commercials

In an effort to make television commercials effective even when seen through a DVR in fast-forward mode, research firm Frank N. Magid Associates suggests the following:

• Give an ad the "fast-forward test" to be sure "if people fast-forward they can decipher what's going on"
• Use more text which can often be more effective in the no-sound environment of fast-forward
• "Focus for longer periods on interesting images rather than quickly cutting from image to image"
• "Graphics should be placed on the screen where the DVR fast-forwarding bar isn’t covering the screen"

This Media Life article (from where the above recommendations came) also contains other stats on DVR viewing habits gleaned from a Magid online study.

via [Lost Remote]

Logo Trends

Here is an interesting look at current trends in logos.  For fun, you can also test your logo knowledge with the four versions of the Retail Alphabet Game.

Appeal of Off-beat Product Names

In a recent paper, marketing professors from Wharton and Boston College looked at the positive response consumers have to imaginative names, even if they are not particularly descriptive.  Very interesting!

via [Seth's Blog]

Place My Product, Please

CBS Chairman Les Moonves recently discussed how he sees a significant increase in television product placements on the horizon.  He references selling rights to everything from the brand of car driven that to the brand of orange juice characters drink.  Interestingly, it wasn't long ago that product brand names were being obscured because shows didn't have the rights to use them.  We all remember seeing cereal boxes and soda cans with tape over the names or some other alteration to the packaging.  Now, those very same brands are paying to have their product names shown.

I actually think it makes perfect sense, as long as viewers are treated with respect.  Let's face it, television ads are becoming less and less effective and more and more people will be skipping ads through their DVR's in coming years.  If I were a television advertiser, I would much rather have my product used by a popular TV character than lost amidst a sea of 30-second spots.  The trick is, it has to be natural.

For instance, I recall an episode of Alias where the good-guys were chasing the bad-guys and the good-guys said something like, "There they go...in the F-150."  It was so blatant and silly that my wife and I both laughed out loud because that's not what someone in that situation would say.  They would say, "There they go, in that blue truck."  I also recall an episode of The West Wing that had three or four blatant product placements, only two of which I even remember now.  One was where one character told the other to "Google" someone to get more information on them and another character was called "Mr. Moto" (a la Motorola's recent ad campaign) for not being willing to part with his cell phone (or pager) for a few minutes (or something like that???).  While that may be how people really speak, it was just a little too in-your-face.

Viewers are smart and the subtleties of using real products in a show makes that show more realistic.  But, if those products are thrown in people's faces, they will resent it and the result will likely be the opposite of what advertisers want.  So, to promote a brand of mobile phone service, don't have a character say, "Call me on my Verizon Wireless phone."  Instead, have the phone simply ring with the ringtone we are used to hearing from that provider's ads and their phones on the street.  People will get it.  In other cases, naturally show the screen of a website someone is using, or the logo of the car they are driving, or the packaging of the beverage they are consuming. 

I believe there is huge potential for the effective use of product placements to be lucrative for both the advertisers and the television industry.  They just need to be subtle, natural and in context so as not to abuse the very viewers advertisers are trying to persuade. 

From W to XYZ

Calling it 'Project XYZ,' Forbes reports that Starwood Hotels & Resorts plans to launch "a new line of lower-priced hotels based on its upscale W Hotel chain..."  Luxist likens the "cheaper but still cool" idea to brands such as Target, Mini Cooper and JetBlue.

For anyone who has stayed at a W Hotel, you know they have mastered the art of creating a unique experience and carrying it throughout a guest's entire stay.  From the look and feel of the hotel to the materials used in the guestrooms to the little touches offered by the staff, W's have it down.  Seth Godin describes this well as it relates to a recent stay of his (where the W Hotel in San Francisco was the bright spot in an otherwise tedious trip).

What will be interesting to watch is how Starwood carries the W vibe to a lower-priced extension of the brand.  I look forward to staying in one and sure hope they call it XYZ.

Answers.com

Many of you may already know about this, but I just recently discovered Answers.com by clicking the "definition" link in the upper right of Google's results page.  This is a beautifully simple site that provides what they call "snapshots" of information on over a million words, topics, etc.  One one page, they deliver results from dictionaries, encyclopedias, glossaries, atlases and many other types of reference sources.  In many cases, they provides just the info you need without having to click through dozens of search engine pages.  You can also download free browser and desktop plug-ins allowing for what they call "1-Click Answers" where pressing Alt+click on any word will initiate an Answers.com query.

My company is currently going through some internal marketing activities and I have found this site very helpful for quickly and broadly drilling down into into words and phrases as I think through potential marketing language.  They are definitely on to something.

Hey Kids, Here Comes the Pitch (IV)

Dan Jaffe of the Association of National Advertisers believes research is showing that advertising may not be the primary culprit in the increasing childhood obesity problem.

For those interested in advertising, Dan Jaffe's blog seems like a great one to keep up with.  Very interesting.

via [Adrants]

Party Like It's (insert year here)

I don't know quite what to make of this except it makes my head hurt a bit to think about it and I'm pretty sure it's a really cool idea.  A student at MIT is hosting a time traveler party on a specific date at a specific location.  The location (on the MIT campus) is listed as geographic coordinates on the invitation "in case MIT is long gone by the time a time machine is invented."  So, in essence, people of the future are asked to hop in their time machines, come back to this date/time/place and bring proof that they are from the future.  Invitations are being left in books and interviews are being given in hopes they will be posted and found online someday.  I sure wish I could go!

Sleep, Work, Watch TV

AdAge reports on how the average American spends their time each day.  The top three - sleeping, working and watching TV.  Here's a chart and the full article (free subscription required).

via [TV Squad]

Double Huh?

Just made my post-lunch pilgrimage to Starbucks for some refueling and encountered two oddities.  First, they were prominently displaying a new plastic beverage bottle with an attached screw-on cap.  Printed on the accompanying tag was, "Not intended for hot liquid."  Do they mean like...I don't know...coffee?  Huh?  Second, my horoscope (displayed on the counter) told me, among other things, to "keep my hands clean."  Double huh?  I mean, what the hell kind of horoscope is that? 

Make a Decision Already!

Lifehacker points to an academic paper by a professor at the University of Baltimore on the science behind, and dos/don'ts of, leadership decision making.  There's something in there for all of us, I'd say.

Turn Respondents into Audience Members

Brand Autopsy points to a strategic planning, branding and communications consultancy called Just Ask a Woman that has a very interesting twist on the traditional focus group.  They create a talk show environment populated with "audience members" (rather than respondents).  This shift of perspective seems like it could lead to a very interesting and valuable dynamic.  Check out their site for a more detailed overview and clips of some actual "episodes."

When Is It More Than Spam?

AP reports, "A man convicted in the nation's first felony case against illegal spamming was sentenced to nine years in prison Friday for bombarding Internet users with millions of junk e-mails."  They believe he was responsible for 10 million emails a day and through fraud and deception grossed up to $750,000 per month.

To me though, this is not a case of someone going to prison for sending "spam" or "junk emails."  This is someone going to prison for fraud and theft.  Not that I'm defending spammers, but to me spam is an email, that I didn't ask for, soliciting a product that will supposedly enlarge my undercarriage or whatever.  When an email tries to bilk me with a scam, that's fraud.  Does the fact that it came to me via email, and not by phone or in person, classify it as spam?  While spam is unsolicited bulk email and technically that's what this guy sent, what he did is really much more than can be neatly characterized as spam.

V is for Veggies???

As much as I've been advocating that junk food stop being pushed on our kids (more here and here), I'm not sure how I feel about Sesame Street's Cookie Monster eating less cookies and instead opting for fruits and veggies, even going as far as saying "A Cookie Is a Sometimes Food."  I mean, his name is Cookie Monster - they kind of made that bed a long time ago and for good reason...who would love a character named Eggplant Monster?

Seriously though, I'm sure this kind of messaging will help with the lessons I want to teach my son.  I'm just not sure they need to mess with Cookie Monster.

Style Over Substance (in a good way)

Excellent post by Seth Godin on taking responsibility and thinking about how your customers (and people in general) feel when something doesn't go quite right (or even terribly wrong).

Mind Mapping

I read a very timely post today from Creating Passionate Users. I have been looking for a way to better document both existing projects and product/strategy brainstorming sessions.  I have been familiar with the concept of mind mapping, but never really tried to use the technique.  Creating Passionate Users linked to some great tools for executing that type of note-taking and brain-dumping.  I'm going to try both the free java application called FreeMind and the free trial of MindManager to see if this process works for me.

I'll give feedback once I get into them and welcome thoughts from anyone on the pros/cons to mind mapping as well as alternative techniques.

Hangin' in PDX

Had a great time last night in Portland getting to know Bren (the Slacker Manager) and Jon (the Business Evolutionist) in person.  We had really interesting discussions about balancing life, work, blogging, etc.  We are all at different places with those challenges, but each knew what the other was talking about.  We are three really different guys with really different backgrounds and interests, but also had a lot in common.  If you are not familiar with them, check 'em out and learn a thing or two.

Here's to new friends...

London

I'm planning my first trip to London in late-April and will have a couple of free days.  Can anyone recommend a good mid-priced hotel that's near all the action?  Also, any interesting things to do other than the obvious stuff and favorite pubs/restaurants would be great.  Thanks.

Enormous Perception

Today Burger King unveiled its new Enormous Omelet Sandwich breakfast offering containing one sausage patty, two eggs, two American cheese slices and three strips of bacon weighing-in at 730 calories and 47 grams of fat. Needless to say, the press and critics are having a field day.  I can only imagine Burger King is following the Hardees Monster Thickburger trend of going to the extreme opposite of the low-carb, low-fat craze in hopes of finding a market with people who just want to eat big.

What stuck me most though was a quote by a Burger King spokesperson who cited that this sandwich has virtually the same calories and fat as many offerings at local diners and restaurants.  They cited Denny's Grand Slam breakfast which has 665 calories and 49 grams of fat with the implication being that no one is screaming about that.  According to the Denny's website (in the Breakfast Menu #1 PDF), that stat is accurate and it got me thinking about the perception of all this.  No one raises hell over good ol' Denny's and their Grand Slam breakfast, but when Burger King takes essentially the same food and puts it in a bun, watch out!  So, it's not as much about the food, calories or fat as it is about the perception of what restaurant (or what type of restaurant) is making it available.  Why is that?

For more on the appeal of the whole "extreme food" thing, I previously turned to Laura Ries.  Here's what she had to say.

Ofoto, Where Art Thou?

In 2001, Kodak acquired Ofoto and recently announced that they are changing the name to Kodak EasyShare and ofoto.com is becoming kodakgallery.com.  I'm sure this was done for both brand consistency and to leverage Kodak's strong name association with photography.  But, Ofoto is a cool name that is short, easy to type and easy to remember.  Kodak EasyShare and kodakgallery.com are none of those things.  In a world where they are competing with the likes of Flickr, who goes from Ofoto to Kodak EasyShare?

The Long Tail: Television

If you are new to The Long Tail principle, read this to get up to speed.  Then, read about the Long Tail of television and the ratio of content produced versus content available to the average viewer.  Fascinating.

I'm Sorry Sir, That's Only For New Customers

For the last month or so, Verizon Wireless has been advertising the Treo 600 for $199 after instant and mail-in rebates (I've only seen the ad in print or else I'd link to it).  That's a great deal considering the regular price is $350 (excuse me, $349.99).  So, last week I visited my local VZW store and the catch is, the deal is for new customers only.  Since I have been a Verizon Wireless customer for just over a year, I am not eligible for the deal.  Once I hit two years, I will be eligible for a trade-up credit toward a new phone, but that's it.

So, my options are:

1. Pay full price for the Treo
2. Wait until my two-year anniversary with VZW to apply whatever credit I have "earned" toward a new device at whatever price they are charging at that time
3. Find a great "new customer" deal with another wireless provider and switch

Option #3 sounds pretty good to me right now except that I'm locked into my two-year contract with VZW.  So, they got me for two years (to which I happily committed) and, for being such a great customer, won't let me have the screamin' deal they're offering to new customers.

I realize the economics of the wireless industry is such that they offer low prices on hardware to lock you into service and it's all based on a maximum of one great deal on hardware per customer every two years.  Trading out customers' phones more often than that would throw things out of whack.  The problem is, now we can take our numbers with us and I'm pissed.  So, when my two years are up, am I going to get a new phone with Verizon Wireless or switch to another provider that has not yet pissed me off?  Not sure, but I'm thinking about it and that's not something I was doing last week.

Any business model that dangles great deals in front of existing customers, but only offers them to new customers, is deeply flawed, especially considering how much more it costs to earn a new customer than keep an existing one.  In this case, rework the model to allow anyone to take advantage of these deals, require I extend my contract with them for another two-years from this point (thus locking me in as a longer-term customer every time I trade-up) and make me happy!

Sitcommercials

According to this article in The New York Times, advertisers are turning to recurring ensemble casts for TV spots in hopes people "...will look forward to the ads, wondering when and how the cast will turn up."

Other Advertising

Couldn't Adweek have come up with a more creative name for its new alternative advertising publication than Other Advertising?  According to Adrants, Other Advertising "will cover non-traditional advertising categories it defines as mass transit, sports stadiums, in-store, product placement, cinemas, elevators, cell phones, guerrilla marketing. Content will include business news, case studies, profiles and guest editorials."  I just wish an advertising publication could have come up with a better, less on-the-nose, name.

And while I'm ranting, how about the new A Diamond Is Forever tag line: I Forever Do??? Whereas "I Forever Do" sounds silly and grammatically incorrect, "I Do...Forever" would have been a much classier and less silly way to convey the same message.  Just my two-cents.

Hey kids, Here Comes the Pitch (III)

As a follow-up to my last post, this article cites how PepsiCo is planning to restrict advertising to children and reduce serving sizes in schools.  A trend that I, for one, hope catches on.

via [URBANintelligence]

Hey Kids, Here Comes the Pitch (II)

British consumer advocacy group, Which?, has taken issue with cartoon characters being used to market unhealthy foods to kids.  Their research showed that "77 percent of people think using kids' favorite cartoon characters such as Shrek, The Simpsons and Scooby Doo, on the packs of foods high in fat, salt and sugar makes it difficult for parents to say no to their children."  This, to me, is one of those "no-duh" stats that only makes me wonder what the other 23% are thinking?

I do the grocery shopping in my household and am always on the lookout for foods that I think my young son will find fun and interesting.  I turn over box after box and package after package of food items being marketed to and for kids only to put them right back after reading the ingredients.  High-fructose this and trans fat that.  There is no way I'm putting that stuff into my kid's body in any significant quantity (except for the occasional treat or to allow him to be social).  Overall, kids' activity levels are down and their consumption of high-fat and high-calorie packaged and prepared foods is up and we all know what it's doing to their weight, general health, self-confidence and well-being.

If tobacco companies can't market to kids because their products are known to be addictive and unhealthy, why is the same not true for food companies?  If Joe Camel can't be used to promote cigarettes, why can the likes of Shrek be used to promote sugary cereals and high-fat snacks?

via [Blogging Baby]

When Your Product is Just That Good...

3M's new street advertisement for its Security Glass is bold, creative and shows what you can do when your product is just that good.

via [Seth's Blog]

Wal-Mart In-store Television Network

Interesting article in The New York Times about Wal-Mart's upgraded in-store television network, the reach it has with shoppers/viewers (average shopper watches seven minutes per store visit) and how much advertisers are willing to pay ($137,000 - $292,000 for a four week rotation of a single ad).

TV Advertising Drives Real-time Web Traffic

The New York Times has published website traffic data for companies that advertised during the Super Bowl as compared to their average of the four previous Sundays.  I am unable to capture the link to the pop-up screen that displays the graph on NYT.com, so here is a copy of the graph. 

(click to enlarge)

Very interesting.  I'd be curious to see how this compares to other television advertising, like a new primetime ad buy, for instance.

Door WILL NOT Open - Door WILL NOT Close

Why do "Door Open" and "Door Close" buttons in elevators almost never work?  Every elevator has them (it's probably required), but they rarely do anything.  In fact, there is only one elevator I use regularly that has functional buttons.  And, everyone who rides that elevator knows it and uses the buttons all the time.  People want the buttons and they are there anyway, so why not have them actually do what they say they do?  This is one of those great mysteries that will likely keep me up all night.  Maybe I'll just shoot an email to Otis and see if I can get to the bottom of it.  You go to sleep...I'll let you know if I learn anything.

2/18/05 - UPDATE: I did email Otis Elevator Company with my question, to which they kindly and promptly replied.  If you are even remotely curious, click here for their response.