Nov
14

Auto Show: The Product Strip Tease

By | Industry, LOL

Click the arrow below to have me read this post to you.

As we get closer to the auto shows automakers will begin to ‘leak’ photos, videos and stats about their upcoming product reveals. This is done to create excitement, a veritable groundswell of awareness.

But is there value in all this media foreplay leading up to a reveal? Or does it suck the wow factor out of the whole thing? What tickles your fancy more as a car person?

Think of a product reveal as seeing a person naked.

The first method is the long, erotic, drawn out dance - The Strip Tease. It makes for good [Read more...]

Nov
07

Automakers as media makers?

By | Advermarketing, Social

Click the arrow below to have me read this post to you.

If you’re reading this you’re connected to the internet. If you’re connected to the internet you know Felix Baumgartner. In case you don’t, here is a quick recap of who he is and what he did.  Felix jumped from a balloon-space-capsule 128,000 ft. above the earth, fell towards the ground at 833 MPH, opened a parachute and landed, alive.

This historic endeavor was brought to you by…Red Bull. Yes, the energy drink.

The significance, apart from the gigabytes of data on what happens when you turn a human into a rocket and break the sound barrier, was the marketing story.

This event generated reactions across the global scientific community, but it also stirred up [Read more...]

Oct
16

Should brands live tweet TV?

By | Advermarketing, Social

When watching TV automakers have two chances to put product & messaging in front of your eyeballs: the traditional 30-60 second ad or in-show product placement.

The advent of the digital video recorder has given users the ability to skip past commercials pushing automakers towards product placement as the operative eyeball grabbing media buy.

In case you aren’t familiar with what automotive product placement looks like - I’ll describe it for you.  During a television show it typically comes in the form of a long akward shot of a vehicle or its navigation system. It can also present itself as an out-of-place comment about a vehicle’s fuel economy while doing something unrelated, like speeding to catch a murderer.  That is product placement.

The most recent Nielsen Cross-Platform Report showed that viewers who watched Live [Read more...]

May
08

Would you tell Facebook what you drive?

By | Advermarketing

When I like a brand on Facebook the first thing I do is hide their updates in my news feed. Why? I prefer to read what my friends are doing, not brands. Its a personal preference that I’m learning is very common. But does my LIKE + unsubscribe make me worth less to brands? While my LIKE helped move the acquisition needle, my UNSUBSCRIBE reduced overall reach. But would brands even measure that – LIKES vs. LIKES-that-unsubscribe? Facebook could create dual-news feed tabs: brands &  friends…hmmm. Keeping brand updates in feeds is a bit off topic for this post and I’m trying my best to avoid any large mental detours, so back to the original topic: my LIKES.

What good then is my LIKE? It gives Facebook data on my personal brand preferences. This data allows Facebook to help marketers intelligently target advertising campaigns at me for certain products. Well, that’s the overall theory. Facebook has yet to show they are actually using that data wisely. The ads on my Facebook page this morning – eyeliner and cupcakes from a bakery in California. I neither wear eyeliner, eat cupcakes or live in California.

But if people like me hide brand updates from their personal news feeds – then the only real value is the brand preference data set. But is this even valuable? This data isn’t nearly as valuable as what my credit card company or bank has on me. Their data, unlike Facebook’s, is wallet-endorsed. They know where and what I spend my money on. Facebook just knows that I LIKE a brand.

Juan OWNS a Ferrari vs. Juan LIKES Ferrari.

I LIKE Ferrari on Facebook. Does that mean I own one or could own one; regrettably, no. Not without some type of illegal activity. Then again I live in D.C., define ‘illegal’.

But what if marketers knew I owned a Ferrari? Wouldn’t that provide them [Read more...]