Archive for the 'Analysis' CategoryPage 2 of 2

Hairy Soap - A Look at Old Spice Body Wash

Published
by
Matt
on Aug 13, 2007
in Advertising, Analysis, Branding and Products
. Comments

To continue Old Spice’s new look and re-branding, they’ve re-released their body wash with a new package and a new ad campaign.

I love it. The scary music, the dramatic cuts, the slow reveal of the soap, it all builds to the “aww gross!” moment. It’s semi-shocking, but definitely gets your attention. The moral of the story? Use Old Spice body wash and no more hairy soap. Wow. As a member of their target market, I can honestly say that this ad resonates with almost every younger guy.

I like this ad, and more importantly, I like where it fits in with Old Spice’s new direction. The “Experience” campaign, with the ever-cool Bruce Campbell (check him out in USA’s Burn Notice) has given new life to a lagging brand. Old spice was getting clobbered and needed something to combat AXE’s edgy, sexy appeal. Their answer? Old-school with a touch of class and sass. Check out the old and new body spray designs:
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Old Spice was smart here in recognizing that you can’t win by following the leader. Their move was similar to Nintendo’s with the Wii because they decided to go in a different direction. Sometimes the answer isn’t overtaking the leader in your niche, but either taking a different angle at the same niche or finding a different one all together.

A Revolution? Be a DIY Editor-in-Chief

Published
by
Matt
on Aug 9, 2007
in Advertising, Analysis, Blogging, Communication and New Marketing
. Comments

“Revolutionary” is a word that gets thrown around a lot, so you’ll understand my hesitation in using it. However, something is happening now that just might fundamentally change the way people get a lot of their information.

Every morning, my Dad wakes up, grabs his coffee and spends about half an hour reading the newspaper before work. The Editor-in-Chief (EIC) of the Philadelphia Inquirer, has decided what might be important/of interest to my father. And not only my father, but most of the newspaper readers in the greater Philadelphia area.

Every morning, I also wake up and grab my coffee, but instead of paging through the newspaper, I fire up my laptop and spend 30-45 minutes going through the new posts in my RSS reader. And who decided that these stories/posts would be important or interesting to me? I did. I didn’t have to worry about the greater Philadelphia area. I didn’t even have to worry about the rest of my family. Just me. I’m my own Editor-in-Chief.

This could be a revolutionary change. No longer do you have to let someone else decide what matters to you, now you control what information you recieve. Love the NY Times’ book reviews, USA Today’s entertainment news, and the Wall Street Journal’s economy reports? No problem. As DIY-EIC you can create your own media outlet.

The impact of this on marketing is huge. As people become more selective, they might not be interested in the entire paper anymore, but the segmented content that matters to them. Pretty soon, RSS feed advertising will become a more efficient and effective way of reaching people compared to traditional media outlets. As the feeds become more segmented, targeting audiences will become easier, for example the NY Times already has 67 individual feeds.

If you’re trying to stay ahead of the game, then you can’t ignore the power of RSS and the growing number of DIY-EICs. After all, if you don’t understand the way that people are interacting with their media, then how can you expect to reach them?

Where’s the hook?

Published
by
Matt
on Aug 1, 2007
in Analysis, Marketers and Products
. Comments

I love TV on DVD. I’m not sure where it came from, or who thought of it first, but there’s no question that it’s good for viewers and networks.

But there’s one huge opportunity that’s being missed. The hook.

By selling a series’ first season at such high prices, they’re cutting out all the people who want to get into the show. There are several shows out there that I’d probably love, and what better way to get started than to buy the first season on DVD? The thing is, I’m not willing to shell out 50-70 dollars just to catch up on something I might like. And I’d bet that I’m not alone.

If I were the networks, I’d sell the first season cheap. Not at a loss, but cheap enough to get people interested. The benefit would be twofold. First, it would make the studio money, and second it would increase the viewership because people would want to continue to follow the story.

Who knows? It might just be all the hook you need to take a show from obscurity to the big time.

The Big Duh

Published
by
Matt
on Jul 27, 2007
in Analysis and New Marketing
. Comments

I think it’s great when a company decides not to take itself too seriously. Enter Hyundai’s “Big Duh Sales Event”

All to often big businesses, especially car companies, can act very high and mighty. With this campaign, Hyundai explains that The Big Duh is the “biggest no-brainer you can have when purchasing a new car this summer”. What got me was the the surprise. Usually when an auto company runs a sale it’s called “The Semi-Annual Sales Event” or “The Model Year End Clearance”, Hyundai chose to go with “The Big Duh Sales Event” and offer “Duh Cash” back. That got my attention and got me laughing.

They’ve even made an accompanying interactive website that allows you to listen to some classical songs “Duh” remixed, and to make your own Duh Tracks. Definitely worth at least a quick look. The Hyundai Big Duh Sales Event.

With “The Big Duh”, I really like what Hyundai is going for, and hopefully it’s lighthearted approach will be well-received by their target audience. Maybe we could all learn a lesson from Hyundai and just take a step back and laugh a little bit.

Do you know Chuck’s Secret?

Published
by
Matt
on Jul 3, 2007
in Advertising, Analysis, New Marketing and Viral Marketing
. Comments

NBC has begun running the following commercial for it’s new show Chuck. The commercial, which intentionally appears subliminal, runs about 30 seconds. See what you can pick up.

It’s a great shot at viral marketing. My guess is that they intended for people to TiVo or DVR this commercial, slow it down, and watch it again and again to try and figure it out. When a company gets you to voluntarily watch their ads, I’d say thats a success.

Here’s the video slowed down so you can read the captions.

You can go to www.chuckssecret.com and watch the same video, but this is where NBC falls short of a true viral campaign. Underneath the video is a link to the NBC fall preview page that gives you an entire two minute trailer for the show and explains everything. The right amount of mystery is what makes a viral campaign really work, and by giving it away already, NBC takes a lot of the momentum away.

If I were running this campaign I would have started three months ago with just a ten seconds of a blank frame except for the words “Chucks Secret”. I would run that for a month and stir up some interest and then add www. and .com to it, so it would read “www.chuckssecret.com” where the video would be playing. Then I would open up and start playing the thirty second spot on TV and then a month or before it airs, I would run the whole trailer.

NBC shows a good effort towards some new marketing ideas, but gets a little trigger happy with the exposure, canceling a lot of the viral effects.

How would you run this campaign?