We can sell them anything. ANYTHING.

I have just started a new category: From Hell. This will be dedicated to showcase the highlights of Austrian advertising. It was sparked when I walked through the supermarket of my choice when I ran into this: Aha. Arnold. Prominently placed before the exits.

 

 

 
 

Wow, an Ahnold endorsed product…this must be good… Styrian Power… awesome! What could this be?

The secret recipe behind Arnold’s muscles? Steroids?

 

 

 

 

 

An Apple? Just how stupid do people believe consumers are? Pay 1 Euro for one apple, while two metres away you can get 2 kilos of the same natural, Styrian apples probably even from the same farm for 2 Euros. And some Ahnold packaging will make people do this? 

WHO believes this? Who of the marketing people responsible would fall for an offer like this themselves? Why is it that the conviction still persists that advertising can just TELL things and whoever hears BELIEVES them? Why is there nobody to stand up and say: “This will not not work. I would not buy this, you would not buy this and we know it. What leads you to believe that people in stores are any different?”

Are Powerpoint slides and business suits of advertisers that intimidating?

This is for real. They even have a website, but I am not going to link there. http://www.arnoldapple.com

 

Edit: A week later that thing is gone. I can only hope they went bankrupt.

 

  • Oktober 21, 2007
  • From Hell
  • comments closed

APSotW Assignment Feedback

Gareth Kay, planning director at Modernista!, posted his feedback on the last assignment of the Account Planning School of the Web. There were 6 entries discussing Mr. Clean and Gareth has taken the time give useful critique to all. Brett and Hayley were named winners.

Here is my entry:

 

  

And here is Gareth’s feedback:

Visually I think this is the best presentation and kept my interest levels up – good way of showing competitive clutter, etc.  I like the implicit call for brand humility.  But here I had a real problem in understanding your recommendation – I see the issues you raise but don’t get a sense of what the recommendation is.  What are the things you would recommend the brand to do? Just saying make better product is not the answer.  Some seeds here, but I would have loved to have seen the flower.

Yeah, when I put the finishing touches I pretty much knew this was not complete. I guess it is a limit of the format: 10 slides without any written coming with it. You just can not add everything that swings between the lines.

The recommendation really is that Mr. Clean should try become part of the process of cleaning. Right now, people spend more time with brooms, buckets, cleaning cloth than any cleaning detergent. The P&G Swiffers of the world come with those special brooms, while Mr. Clean just handed out a license to a broommaker in the US to produce Mr. Clean branded cleaning utensils. So you see what caught my attention.

I figured that a “New Formular!” would not really help. But a brand that would start saying “We work to improve cleaning!” and does everything to relieve us of the nuissance would have impact. Instead of that magical thing out of the bottle that never cleans like on TV, Mr. Clean should become a strong, physical support. Does that make sense?

Thanks very much to Gareth for taking the time.

 

 

the deer now have guns…

the deer now have gunsDuring the Planning seminar in Retz Oke Müller of TBWA mentioned this quote when discussing how Web 2.0 is changing the marketplace. The image above has been in my head ever since.Of course, the obvious thing of Web 2.0 are cases of corporate bloopers. Company X tries to silence a blogger who dared complaining or pointing out a major error of their product. The Streisand Effect should tentatively be taught in Public Relations 101.On the other hand, my observation is that those beloved brands envied by their competition for their passionate followers are more and more becoming the prey of their users. Especially those companies that have been able to create a passionate user base. Of course I am talking about Apple here. The iPhone is a perfect example: Apple’s users DEMANDED a breakthrough piece of perfection. No less. The pressure on Apple was immense (in fact, so immense that they preferred to push back the development of Leopard). Compare Microsoft’s Zune. Who cares about the quality of that product? Who cares it sucks?Greenpeace’s Green Apple follows the same pattern. Users were informed, they cared about the issue. Anybody seen outrage on other bad performers on the list? Steve Jobs had to act.The more passionate consumers are about a brand the more they will demand.Your best consumer will be your worst enemy. The whip that pushes you forward.