Posted on June 25, 2008 by cpmccrory
OK. So we buy a house in Phoenix, having relocated from New Orleans. In preparation, my wife starts contacting the various services—electric, gas, telephone, cable. For almost all of them, it goes as you would expect. They confirm the address, check the cancel order from the previous owner, and agree to [...]
Filed under: Consumer Experience, Customer Service, message | Tagged: checklist, picture ID, proof of identity | No Comments »
Posted on June 13, 2008 by cpmccrory
This is an odd follow up to my post from yesterday. I was commenting to a friend this week about how I found myself looking at people differently, based on the work I was doing. That work essentially gives me a new lens, a new perspective on how people interact and what type [...]
Filed under: Consumer Experience, Customer Service, Sales, message | Tagged: perception, perspective, prejudice, world view | No Comments »
Posted on June 5, 2008 by cpmccrory
I’ve been writing about companies’ creative not matching up with their core brand or message. I really see only two possible reasons why. One, it could simply be poor execution. The other, comes down to not truly understanding what the creative is intended to do.
Before embarking on a new ad, promotion, or [...]
Filed under: Advertising, Design, brand strategy, message | Tagged: briefs, measure, message, project, strategy | No Comments »
Posted on June 4, 2008 by cpmccrory
I wonder if the good people at Overstock.com really have a message about who they are and what they represent. Their initial ads focused on a women sexually describing that it was all about “the O”.
Now, they apparently have some state of the art delivery system so that nothing gets between you and your [...]
Filed under: Advertising, Communication, Image, brand strategy, message | Tagged: ads, Advertising, branding, commercials, Communication, content, marketing, message, Overstock.com, strategy | No Comments »
Posted on May 30, 2008 by cpmccrory
For those of you that have been reading my posts regularly, you know that I have little tolerance for silly ads that lack content and that only those messages that get to the heart of the brand are worth sending. Something I’ve seen recently on HGTV (which is an iteration and longer form of [...]
Filed under: Advertising, Consumer Experience, Promotion Strategy, message | Tagged: ads, commercials, consumer, content, HGTV, K-Mart, long-form | No Comments »
Posted on May 21, 2008 by cpmccrory
When I wrote yesterday about ads missing the mark, I should have included Nextel in the mix. They had the perfect opportunity to show how they help real people work smarter and decided to go for humor instead. Let me set the stage.
Nextel has two new commercials. One is a group of [...]
Filed under: Advertising, Promotion Strategy, message | Tagged: Advertising, commercials, message, Nextel | No Comments »
Posted on May 20, 2008 by cpmccrory
National advertising campaigns don’t come cheap. The concept, production, placement and associated commissions add up quickly. Even a pure cable TV run will end up costing in the hundreds of thousands. So, if you are going to make that kind of investment, you want an ad that makes sense, gets the message [...]
Filed under: Advertising, Communication, Image, Promotion Strategy, message | Tagged: Advertising, Chevy Malibu, commercial, Communication, Image, Laughing Cow, Maytag, message, promotion, strategy, TV | No Comments »
Posted on May 2, 2008 by cpmccrory
We have certain biases about what we do, the products we sell and the organizations we represent. It’s only natural. We get so involved in it because we live it every day. But we assume that since we feel or believe a certain way others should as well.
“This is such an important [...]
Filed under: Communication, message | Tagged: bias, communicating, Communication, message | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 30, 2008 by cpmccrory
Jenny Craig’s change in marketing message has been good. Instead of focusing on people reaching some sort of ideal weight or size, they have taken a page from SlimFast, encouraging customers to reach a goal that is appropriate for them. They use messages like “a size healthier” to get the point across. [...]
Filed under: Advertising, Communication, Pricing, Promotion Strategy, marketing, message | Tagged: consistency, Jenny Craig, marketing, message, mixed messages, Pricing, promotion, SlimFast | No Comments »
Posted on April 29, 2008 by cpmccrory
We are right in the middle of the 39th Annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Every year, for as long as I can remember, visitors have been subjected to the original banner advertising—an airplane circling the grounds with an ad attached to its tail. Normally, the ads are for area bars, encouraging [...]
Filed under: Advertising, Communication, Customer Service, Promotion Strategy, marketing, message | Tagged: Advertising, banner ads, Communication, contact, festival, information, Jazz Fest, marketing, Pop-a-Lock, promotion | 1 Comment »