Mar
11

Game of Thrones is no place for automotive content

By | Advermarketing

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GoTLeadAutomakers love the opportunity to have their vehicles star in a hit TV series or movie. Hyundai and The Walking Dead, Jaguar and Mad Men, Chrysler and Fast and Furious 6; and the list goes on and on.

This is nothing more than good ol’ fashioned product placement. Brands have been doing it since the beginning of advertising. In many cases product placement works well, especially if combined with an appropriately timed and strategized campaign across other mediums to build on the groundswell of brand chatter. But that doesn’t mean it always works well.

Game of Thrones

At the end of this month the long awaited HBO series Game of Thrones returns. Disclaimer: I’m a big fan.

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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...]

May
01

Will User Generated Content Crowd Out Creative?

By | Advermarketing

In case you missed it, Adobe, the company behind popular creative programs such as Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator is betting big on online collaboration. The new service, christened Creative Cloud, will give users access to every program within Creative Suite 6 (CS6). This will cost users a monthly fee of $30 for students/teachers and $50 for everyone else (Adobe is running a $30 monthly deal for current CS suite owners).

What does this mean for brands? Simple – a conceivable creative shift.

Over the years brands have amassed hundreds of thousands of online fans and are always looking for inventive ways to engage with those fans. Adobe’s online push could offer brands a way to collaborate on user-generated content (UGC).

The concept of using social media to request, curate and share UGC isn’t new. What would be new is an approach wherein brands openly collaborate with users to create approved promotional content, instead of paying a creative agency.  This means the next piece of direct marketing a brand sends out could come be the work of a brand advocate and not the creative agency of record.

The Tides are a Changin’

The advertising industry is evolving. Large agencies, eager to play in the social arena are partnering with and/or acquiring pure-play social firms. This transformation is a great opportunity to evaluate the acquisition of creative content.

Adobe’s Creative Cloud would allow brands to build and manage a group of volunteers skilled in Creative Suite products, who are also believers in the actual brand. These volunteers are passionate about the product; understand how it works and how it makes them feel.  Imagine – an army of [Read more...]

Mar
06

Flash Cars for Kids

By | LOL

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Three months ago I became a father.  Becoming a dad almost certainly requires automotive sacrifices. Long gone are the days of two-seats, targa tops and golf club-sized trunks. While fatherhood will alter your automotive decisions, it opens up a whole new opportunity.

You are the most influential person to your little boy or girl. He or she looks up to you. Take advantage of that. Expose them to [Read more...]