Altyrian View

I thought the new Batman movie was fantastic. What was really fun was the marketing before the movie. Warner Brothers did a great job of hyping the movie with “fake” graffiti from the Joker. Unfortunately, however, this easy-to-do vandalism has taken on a life of its own. Below are two examples that I came across this morning.

Did Warner Bros. do anything wrong? I don’t think so. They are getting free “advertising” for their motion picture, but I’d bet Chad Perkins isn’t too thrilled about it. I doubt that anyone charged with marketing the movie would have thought that people would start vandalizing using their guerilla tactics. Although I doubt they would have changed the campaign if they had known the consequences, we as marketers have to think ahead.

That’s my Altyrian View.

Sometimes a healthy dose of controversy is a good thing. Take Conservative Cafe as covered by the Chicago Tribune. This unique coffee shop serves up “Radical Right” coffee with pictures of Ronald Reagan on the wall and Ann Coulter’s books stacked by the fireplace. The last sentence of the article sums it all up:

“If I called it ‘Dave’s Cafe,’ no one would talk about it. There’s nothing intriguing about that.”

Exactly right, Dave! Sometimes in PR we want to avoid controversy, but we have to remember that sometimes creating (yes, creating) controversy is a good thing.

A friend of mine used to run political campaigns. He would choose a campaign issue that no one cared about except for 10% of his opponent’s base, and his candidate would take the opposing viewpoint. His candidate would get free press talking about an issue that did not hurt him politically but would fire up his opponent. His opponent would focus on this unimportant campaign issue while his candidate could expand his message. This tactic won many political races for my friend. Remember, keep your eye on the ball.

That’s my Altyrian View.

Sometimes a brand tries to spice things up by jumping across the pond to add an international flare to their advertising. Many times it works as a British accent is often equated to high society and wealth.

VH1’s Best Week Ever has compiled this list of the Top 10 Most Annoyingly British Commercials. Pretty funny stuff. Here’s my favourite:

That’s my Altyrian View.

I just read an interesting post over at JaffeJuice arguing that Apple should “Join the Conversation” (utilize social media for those not familiar with Joseph Jaffe). While I generally feel that most companies can utilize social media to their benefit, there are some that should not. Apple is one of those companies.

First, the full disclosure: I’m in the cult. I’m using a Mac Mini to write this post. On my desk is a MacBook Pro that connects to the Xserve through an Airport Extreme. iPhone? Yup, I’ve got that too, complete with MobileMe for the push syncing. I’ve had an iMac, a Cube, a Quadra 650 and a few iPods. I rarely get steaming mad at my Mac products like I do anything Microsoft. Every day I check out the rumor sites to see what might be coming next (tablet PC anyone?). I bought the Cult of Mac to see if I was in there.

And that, my friends, is why Apple should think twice about jumping into social media with both feet. Apple’s cult was built on that veil of new product secrecy. Apple has never had to defend itself because it’s got millions of us doing that for them (MobileMe certainly put some cracks in that shield, but it held – hence the “leaked” memo). I’m one of those cynical PR guys that believes that few “leaks” aren’t planned ahead of time.

If Apple were to join the conversation as Jaffe has suggested, it runs the risk of hurting its brand. It runs the risk of drying up some of the rumor sites, opinion sites and blog posts like this one. Transparency runs contrary to Apple’s brand. Keep in mind that participating in social media does not equate to good customer service. Generally speaking, Apple rates high in customer satisfaction and customer service.

And where does Apple “want to go today?” (sorry MS, couldn’t resist.) Into the business sector. Not a group that’s chomping at the bit to participate in social conversations. In this case, Apple is better off keeping its binary mouth shut.

That’s my Altyrian View.

NBC Universal is at it again. They have created a “real person” social media account for a character in a television show. This time it’s Sci-Fi Channel’s original Eureka that is getting into the social media act. According to this AdWeek article, S.A.R.A.H. the talking AI house has a Twitter account.

Fantastic idea! NBC is brining the Eureka experience to those that enjoy the show. Without additional filming, NBC is about to feed those who love the show extra insights into the characters and the plot lines.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that NBC has taken this approach. Dwight from the Office has a blog and Chuck also had a Twitter account.

That’s my Altyrian View.

Last week, I posted an entry that I stole from our intern blog. Not to be outdone, our other Summer intern, Erin Larson, posted this gem on the blog. Well, I couldn’t post one without the other. Some years you have great interns, other years, not so much. This year, we have great interns. Thanks, Erin!

This is her Altyrian View.

I have talked to a large number of my male friends lately who have taken notice of Canadian Club Whiskey’s new “Damn Right your Dad Drank It” ad campaign. The billboards and magazine ads have done a great job of grabbing the attention of my friends (in their early-to-mid twenties) partially, I believe because of their unexpectedly blunt tag lines and partially because they promote a hyper masculinity that is attractive to a high percentage of young men

The ads feature headlines such as “Your Mom Wasn’t Your Dad’s First”, “Your Dad Was Not A Metrosexual”, “Your Dad Had Groupies” and “Your Dad Never Got A Pedicure” accompanied by 60’s and 70’s style images of men surrounded by women, engaging in masculine activities such as fishing and playing guitar on-stage. The ads can be found at Canadian Club Whiskey’s website, which also allows visitors to insert their own dads’ pictures in the advertisements and offers merchandise such as t-shirts and posters featuring images from the “Damn Right” campaign for sale.

After spending much of my day researching how companies are adjusting in order to market to the rising Generation Y, I have come to several conclusions as to why these ads are striking such a chord with young consumers. Most notable is the no-fuss language used in the ads. The headlines are definitely blunt but the ads also feature short phrases that reinforce the simple idea that real men drink whiskey.

He went out. He got two numbers in the same night. He drank cocktails. But they were whiskey cocktails. Made with Canadian Club. Served in a rocks glass. They tasted good. They were effortless.

The above is featured under the “Your Mom Wasn’t Your Dad’s First” headline. What makes this type of language so effective is the fact that members of Generation Y appreciate advertising that is no-fuss and direct to-the-point. Many experts point out the belief that ‘Gen Yers’ respond much better to advertisers that simply state their points than those who they feel are making too much of an effort to push products upon them. Gen Yers appreciate authenticity which is exactly what they are getting from the “Damn Right” ads, many of which even feature personal pictures submitted by the company’s employees.

According to Campus Advantage, members of Generation Y have “been over saturated with marketing and advertising.” For this reason, they along with others who have studied the new group of young adults believe that companies must “deliver a consistent brand message in surprising ways with creativity.” Canadian Club’s new ads have hit the mark right on the head with the clear yet somewhat shocking and new approach to advertising an old product.

I “sign” my name on everything the same way: John T. Mims, APR. If you see a comment from me on any other blog on any topic, you will see John T. Mims, APR. Press release: John T. Mims, APR. Quote in a news story: John T. Mims, APR. Email signature: John T. Mims, APR.

I recently had someone ask me why. It’s very simple. Based on census data, there are approximately 400 people named “John Mims.” In middle school, I knew another John Mims, and he would get my birthday cards every year. Here’s what happens when you Google “John Mims.” To be fair, a few of the entries on the first page are mine. But Google “John T. Mims, APR,” and I’m it. Six pages of just me.

I recognize that many people looking for me will simply search for “John Mims.” That’s okay because they will find me that way too. But I am working very hard on branding my name spelled the same way every time. We’ll see how it works out.

That’s my Altyrian View.

First, the prank:

I found this on the YouTube home page, and I assumed that it was a featured video. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the vid was placed where ads normally sit. In other words, this is actually a paid advertisement for OfficeMax.

This is extremely clever, and I watched the entire 1:17 vid waiting to see what happened. Now, while I think this is cool, I can imagine that OfficeMax will get plenty of people who want to pay with pennies.

I don’t want to ruin the ad for you, but there is an excellent marketing message here.

That’s my Altyrian View.

My good friend Jesse reads news from across the pond and sent me this interesting piece from the Times. It seems that UK bookstores are getting these giant printers that can be used to print books on demand. Think about it: You visit a bookstore and browse for books. You don’t find the one that you are looking for so you go to the back desk. They don’t have a copy of the book in stock, but in less than 10 minutes, they can print you one. The possibilities are endless.

Let’s face it, the Internet and electronic readers are not going to kill printed books. The biggest problem with books in my opinion is they can be painful to get. With the Internet, I can get any information that I need in a few clicks. Sure, I can find any book, but I have to wait a few days to get it in the mail. And that assumes, of course, that the book is still in print. And visiting the bookstore might not yield any results because of the physical limitations to having as many books as online retailers offer. We are to much of a “now” culture to wait for books.

Now, books that are in print, out of print, rare, popular are available to me in less than 10 minutes. What’s more, authors can sell books without printing the first copy. We are about to see another explosion of self-publishing mayhem. It’s my prediction that if these on demand publishers hit the states, we will see a complete shift in the bookstore business model.

And that’s my Altyrian View.