Number 87: February 9, 2005

If you think your friends and colleagues would enjoy this newsletter feel free to forward it to them. If  someone sent this to you,  today. Outlook 2003 and AOL 9 users, please add us to your trusted or buddy lists, so you won't miss an issue.

This week in Katydid:

• Super Bore Advertising
• Subscription Information

Super Bore Advertising
I hesitate to write about a subject that has been beaten to death over the past week. However, people who are paid very little money are criticizing people who make a great deal of money for spending a great deal more money.

To advertisers, the Super Bowl is an annual party that everyone wants to attend. Some go to be seen. Some go because they're expected to go. Still others try to crash the party.

The result, the perennials look great as usual, but having nothing new to say. A few new folks show up and impress the perennials with how much they can look like everyone else. And everyone stares disdainfully at the gatecrashers who inevitably act too wild and foolish.

So, this year as the New England Patriots held up the Vince Lombardi trophy, I closed my eyes and tried to remember one advertiser from the evening.

There was beer, and cars, and insurance (or was that a bank), and some other stuff. Now, I remembered the bloody cat held aloft by the boyfriend, and I remembered the guy frozen in his car; but for the life of me, I couldn't remember what the products were. Okay, the convertible was definitely a car, but I couldn't recall the brand. In fact, there was only one product I could remember by name, GoDaddy.com. I'll give you two guesses why.

I work in marketing, so you would think I'd pay closer attention to these details. Thank goodness for web sites, because I was able to go online and view all the Super Bowl ads. It turns out the beer was Budweiser and Bud Light; the car was a Ford Mustang (which is a car I really like).

Anheuser-Busch was ranked by USA Today's Ad Meter as the most popular commercial. Ameriquest Mortgage came in second for their "Don't Judge" campaign where the storeowner thinks he's being robbed by a guy talking on his hands-free cell phone. Career Builder came in third with the "I work with a bunch of monkeys" spot.

I forgot all about that one because as soon as I see a chimpanzee in a commercial I just space out. I hate the rationalization that "They look just like people, except it's okay to humiliate them and laugh." I mean, at least Burt Reynolds and M.C. Hammer were paid to humiliate themselves.

Products with brand recognition don't need to call attention to themselves in the commercial. They're selling the lifestyle. Unfortunately, I don't think people differentiate between the Bud lifestyle and the Coors lifestyle. Perhaps, if I drank more beer, I would.

The USA Today Ad Meter is nothing more than a measure of the commercial's entertainment value. It says nothing about whether anyone will remember the product or be disposed to purchase.

On one extreme, you have the commercials that are entertaining but not memorable and on the other extreme, you have commercials that are memorable but not entertaining. As fun as the Bud Light commercials were, I think they do very little to move beer. As obnoxious as the GoDaddy commercial might be to some, it was at least memorable. Still, just the fact that we know the name does not mean that we will be encouraged to purchase. Controversy alone will lead to increased exposure (which oddly enough happened the other way around last year) but it won't increase purchases.

So, what's the smart marketer to do? I think the cycle goes something like the following:

1. Create incredibly controversial commercial sure to be rejected.
2. Talk about it with the press, so they have to show the objectionable material repeatedly. 
3. Air it once, and get a discount when subsequent placements are pulled for indecency. 
4. Talk about it with the press, so they have to show the objectionable material repeatedly. 
5. Wait several months for people to forget they wanted to remember to hate your product because they were so offended. 
6. Advertise heavily with a less offensive campaign. 
7. Become a major industry leader with huge profits and market share. 
8. Wear best suit to annual Super Bowl party. 
9. Don't be annoyed if you have to remind people, "No, I'm with the other beer company."
10. Show disdain for the gate-crashing upstart.

Top »

Thanks for Reading
This e-mail newsletter spreads mainly by word of mouth. Please send it on to your colleagues. Also, you can read other back issues.

If you have suggestions of web sites to review, writing that buzzes, or a new way of looking at things, let me know. Send your suggestions to .

If you received this newsletter from a friend, please today. Our subscriber lists are confidential; we never sell or rent our lists to third parties. If you want to from this newsletter, please let us know.

Kind regards, 
Kevin Troy Darling

Top »

©2005 KTD Communications | Privacy Information