Dr. Spock Says Buy Cheer Laundry Detergent

I love old ads, and when they include a Star Trek reference, they’re hard to resist.  When I stumbled across the television commercial below from 1969 featuring a Dr. Spock lookalike hyping Cheer laundry detergent, I laughed out loud.  No doubt this would be a copyright lawsuit in the making today.

Find more videos like this on AdGabber

What do you think?

If you can’t view the above video, you can see it here.

Geek Squad Feels Your Pain

Kudos to Geek Squad who approved a funny set of print ads that hits home to just about anyone who has ever used a computer.  The creative comes from the Miami Ad School in Madrid, Spain.

I laughed out loud when I saw these and could completely relate.  I also love Victor Javier Blanco’s brilliant sub-copy, “Fixed before it gets nasty.”  I love simple but incredibly effective ads!

Which one of the above ads is you?  I have to admit that I’m a #1.

Source: Adgoodness

The New Social Media Marketing ROI

I just wrote an article for the Yahoo! Advertising Blog that discusses the new ROI for measuring social media marketing performance.

Following is an excerpt from my article:

“Tracking online brand advertising and social media marketing success comes from tracking return-on-impression, the new form of ROI. Return-on-Impression encompasses two primary soft metric values: eyeballs and perceptions.”

To learn more about the shift from tracking Return on Investment to tracking Return on Impression, follow the link to check out my post on the Yahoo! Advertising Blog.

PETA Launches Distasteful Tiger Woods Ad

I’ve written about my disliking of PETA’s marketing strategies in the past (you can read those posts here, here and here).  This week, PETA launched a new billboard ad that truly takes the cake in terms of being downright distasteful.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about Tiger Woods’ infidelity.  PETA seems to have decided that Tiger Woods’ family problems is the perfect fodder for a new billboard, which will be rolled out in Tiger’s own town, Windermere, Florida right where he, his wife, and his children (albeit to young to read, but that’s not really the point) can see it.  You can check it out below.

According to Virginia Fort, a PETA campaigner involved in the ad’s creation, the billboard ad is, “a fun, tongue-in-cheek approach. … We’re sure Tiger will appreciate our attempt — from a story that’s distracted the world and followed Tiger — to turn it into something positive for little tigers.” (via The Orlando Sentinel)

I think that’s the worst attempt at justification I’ve heard in a long time.  I wonder if Tiger Woods will sue, and I wonder how many people PETA will offend with this “tongue-in-cheek” ad.  What do you think?

Are You Overthinking Your Marketing?

I have written many times about my preference for transparent marketing and an aversion to marketing buzz words and rhetoric.  My motto is, cut to the chase.  If I hear the word ‘paradigm’, I’m leaving.  So I laughed out loud today when I came across a video published on Ad Freak, which was created by U.K.-based freelance animator and illustrator Joseph Pelling.

Joseph’s hilarious video pokes fun at the overthinking of the advertising and marketing creative process.  I have to share it here.

I’m all for thinking out of the box, but you need to know when you’re getting in your own way.

Mercedes E-Class Ad Copy – ‘Butt’ of Critics’ Jokes

One of the points I stress in my book, Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps, is the importance of writing copy that speaks to your target audience.  If your audience doesn’t ‘get’ your copy or it doesn’t speak directly to them in a language they understand, appreciate, and relate to, then your ad won’t drive the sales you need from it.  Case in point — the new Mercedes E-Class print ads shown below.

Ad #1 Copy Reads: “Superfect. The E-Class Coupe. It deserves a whole new language.”

Ad #2 Copy Reads: “Fabuttractive. The E-Class Coupe. It deserves a whole new language.”

The problems with this copy are two-fold:

First, how many Mercedes customers would be motivated by the pre-teen, Valley Girl (okay, I’m dating myself there) language used in this copy?  Who is the target audience for these ads?  How many of them would be positively influenced by the word “superfect” or “fabuttastic”?  And would they want to be associated with a product and brand that is linked to those words?  It’s doubtful.

Second, the glaring inclusion of ‘butt’ within the word ‘fabuttastic’ is hard not to notice.  It’s almost laughable and is a great example of another point I make in my book – always show your copy to many people before you approve it.  While the creative team behind this ad may not have noticed the word-within-a-word subliminal message, many advertising critics have.  I don’t think many brands like Mercedes want to see the word ‘butt’ in such close proximity to their products and brands.

I’m just saying.

Burger King Bets on Tony Stewart and a Polygraph Test

Burger King’s newest celebrity endorsements are coming from NASCAR driver Tony Stewart.  I just saw my first Burger King commercial starring Tony Stewart this week, and it wasn’t bad.  Considering how popular NASCAR is, I’d imagine the pairing of a popular driver with fast food is decent.

Then I heard that Tony Stewart is taking a live polygraph test online where he will be asked if he really likes Burger King Whoppers, and the appeal of this campaign from Crispin Porter & Bogusky became clear to me.  It’s a clever attempt at creating an integrated marketing program driving television audiences to Burger King’s special website — where visitors can submit their own questions for Stewart’s polygraph test.  And that site is in addition to the existing BKracking.com site that already has interactive features and a sweepstakes game.

Will the effort sell more Whoppers?  It’s hard to say.  I’m not well versed in the NASCAR audience demographics, but it certainly can’t hurt.  If nothing else, it’s got people talking, which has to be good for the Burger King brand.

However, I’m not so sure about the Carrot Top and Erik Estrada appeal (check out the commercial below)?  Since Carrot Top got all pseudo-buff on steroids, he’s disturbingly freaky to look at.  On the other hand, what person older than 35 doesn’t get a bit nostalgic when they see Frank Poncherello?

What do you think?

Remember When MTV Played Music Videos?

I’m feeling a bit nostalgic today after reading two recent articles.  The first was published on AdWeek about MTV’s new plans to revive MTV.com by making it a more social and entertainment-news focused online destination to compete more closely with sites like Yahoo!’s OMG and AOL’s Popeater.com.  And the second was published in the New York Times and discussed how great VH1 is doing in the ratings since changing the majority of its programming to celebrity reality shows.

And that got me to thinking….

Remember when MTV actually played music videos?

And remember those great “I Want My MTV” commercials in the 1980s?

If I had a dollar for every minute I watched MTV and VH1 in the 1980s…….

Staples Salutes the Most Wonderful Time of the Year in Classic Commercial

The classic Staples commercial that reminds parents everywhere how much we love the phrase ‘back to school’ is back.  My triplets are heading off to Kindergarten this year, and I’m finally able to fully appreciate this ad’s creative genius.

Enjoy!

Create Loyal Brand Advocates – 7 Steps to Advertising Success

My latest article on Entrepreneur.com is called Create Loyal Brand Advocates – 7 Steps to Advertising Success.

In the article, I discuss the seven steps that businesses need to understand and follow in order to develop a long term, successful brand building strategy supported by effective marketing communications.  Follow the link above to read the complete article.

Read more marketing and branding articles by Susan Gunelius.

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