Congress may have taken only a few days to successfully hammer out the details of its $700 billion bailout plan, but some experts say battered financial brands will have to wait a lot longer before consumers begin to trust them again. "Right now, consumers' opinions of all financial brands are very low," says Laura Ries, president of Ries & Ries, a brand consulting company based is Roswell, Ga. "It's like when you have a major airline crash--people are afraid of every airline, because they're all the same--they can all have crashes." It's the same with just about every sector of the finance industry. "Some of these companies said at some point that they were fully liquid, and now look. The smartest ones are laying low, because the last thing you want to do is be out there advertising, 'Hey, we're okay' if it turns out you might not be." Two brands that seem to be doing well so far are Bank of America, which acquired troubled Merrill Lynch, and Wells Fargo. "People are extraordinarily angry at these companies, and measures of consumer trust in the financial world is eroding faster than a sandcastle in a rainstorm," says Robert Passikoff, head of Brand Keys, a New York-based research consultancy that focuses on customer loyalty. "The value on banks and financial institutions is the lowest we've ever seen." Passikoff believes it will take these brands between 5 and 10 years to rebuild consumer trust. "This has fundamentally shifted consumer perceptions of financial service companies." YouGovPolimetrix's BrandIndex, a research company that tracks the perception of leading consumer brands, says that for September, while most financial companies had a "buzz" measurement of around zero-which means there was just as much negative perception as positive--Bank of America's score jumped 565% from 2.6 to 17.3 earlier this week. And Wells Fargo rose from a 0.8 score to 7.2 earlier this week--a gain of 890%. Not surprisingly, the brands that dominated the "Wall Street debacle" headlines--Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch--were all regarded as extremely negative. And while the attention in most recent weeks has focused on investment banks, with consumer ire lasered on issues of executive pay, they haven't forgotten--or forgiven--companies that are viewed as especially responsible for mortgage and credit disasters. For example, Americans for Fairness in Lending, an advocacy group, released testimony of two former employees of MBNA, now owned by Bank of America, saying the company required them to strong-arm consumers deeper into debt. Add it all up, and you've got an anti-Wall Street zeitgeist that's powerful. A Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll released earlier this week found that 55% of Americans say no taxpayer money should be used to bail out private companies, even if their collapse would damage the economy. The poll also found that in addition to blaming President George Bush, people are angry with Wall Street. But how they will channel that generic rage against individual companies, Ries says, depends on how responsibly companies maintain their visibility during the crisis period. "While it's important for companies to get out in front of consumers," she says, "the best thing is to fight a PR war with PR, not with advertising." Still, she predicts, "while this looks like a disaster short-term, there will continue to be a banking and investment industry. The kinds of brands that get killed by something like this were the weak ones anyway--people aren't about to start stuffing their money under the mattress. They will forget about this, and move on."
The 2009 model of Honda's hot-selling Fit subcompact is getting a new ad push that focuses on fuel efficiency with lighthearted, computer-animated TV spots. The effort also includes co-branded ads, and a first-ever roadblock by an automaker on MTV.com. Via Santa Monica, Calif.-based RPA, the campaign includes co-branded Fit/CW Channel short-form creative to support a national sweepstakes, and a microsite launching next month that includes a cinematic game featuring the characters in the TV spots. Three TV spots, keeping the "Fit is Go!" tag, will air during NFL games and on appointment-viewing network TV shows. The ads make fun of gas-guzzling cars with visual metaphors based on old American cars from the 60s and 70s. In each ad, the Fit escapes being "attacked" by the carnivorous vehicles. In one spot, the gas-guzzling cars are mosquitoes zooming about over a highway--lighting on tankers, cars, and trucks, and sucking the fuel out of them. But they can't catch the Fit. The ad touts the car's 33 mpg rating. In another ad, an old car with exaggerated fins is a shark prowling city streets. When the shark approaches an intersection at which a Fit has arrived, all the other cars dash for cover. But the Fit, confronted by the shark, expands like a porcupine fish, scaring it away. "The messages are pretty close to what we have done before--focusing on fuel efficiency and interior space and fun-to-drive aspects," says Curt Johnson, VP, associate creative director of Art at RPA. "But I'd say the tone in this launch is more aggressive." He says the target consumer is a younger, nonconformist, metropolitan consumer. The 10-second, co-branded Fit/CW spots direct viewers to www.cwtv.com/hondafit to enter to win one of five 2009 Honda Fits. Co-branded promotions on CW.com will drive traffic to the microsite. The short ads will air on CW's "Gossip Girl," "90210," "America's Next Top Model," "Smallville" and "Everybody Hates Chris." Honda is doing similar efforts on NBC. Later this fall, co-branded ads promote the Fit and the premiere of the network's "30 Rock." At MTV.com, Fit will be the category-exclusive sponsor of "Vault," where MTV aggregates past and present music videos. Users will be able to make video playlists, share videos with friends and embed them on social network profiles.
Apple recently launched a TV spot called "Paint" to market the Nano's makeover. Bright, long and thin are back. The MP3 players now come in pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple--and yes, grayish-black and sparkling silver. The spot, created by TBWA/Media Arts Lab, uses a catchy tune, "Bruises," from the artist Chairlift. The video, which can be viewed lengthwise or widthwise on an iPod, shows Nanos floating through the air. They come to a stop, staggering against a white background like colorful paintbrushes on a blank canvas, bleeding from the bottom their respective color. Each displays an album cover that matches the color of the Nano. The message "Nano-chromatic" flashes in the ad before seeing the Apple logo surrounded by splatters of paint. Apple communicates well with its target audience by tapping an unmet need for self-expression through customizing music playlists, says Amy Shea, EVP at marketing and branding firm Brand Keys. "This is a modern phenomenon because in my generation you bought a CD or album. There were groups of people who listened to The Grateful Dead or Aerosmith. Now you have real individuality through creating your own soundtrack." Shea says Apple does not have superior MP3 technology, but rather a delivery system that also makes it easy for people to express themselves through iPod and Nano color choices. Another marketing move that set Apple apart from the competition, she says, were the white earphones and wires at a time when other companies only offered black, making the consumer stand out. "Apple knows the generation they communicate with speaks in visuals, color and music," Shea says. "They are a less language-oriented generation and more visual and musical." Caroline Johnson, a trend specialist based in New York, says Apple's ad addresses the more adventurous, expressive consumer, and creates "design news" without taking too much of a step forward. In referring to the new iPod colors, she says the ads are reminiscent of a "rainbow" color marketing strategy that Apple used for iMac in 1999. That year, a Manhattan Bloomingdale's window featured an iMac display with flavor colors: Strawberry, Blueberry, Grape, Lime and Tangerine, the colors coordinating with women's fashions. The television ad featured twirling iMacs in different colors as the Rolling Stones sang "She's a Rainbow." Although the message has transitioned from iMac to iPod, Johnson wonders if the bright "new colors are enough to attract consumer interest in a darkening retail climate," as many tighten purse strings in uncertain economic times.
Times are tough for CFOs everywhere, but those in the retail industry are really suffering. A new survey from BDO Seidman reports that they are worried about how everything will affect holiday sales this year. Some 57% of the executives at leading retailers included in the survey say that while high fuel costs have done the most to hurt consumer confidence so far this year, going forward they see the main threats to consumer spending in the critical months ahead as being gas prices (47%), the housing market (28%), the pending Presidential election (13%) and inflation (11%). The poll, which included executives at chains with sales greater than $100 million, found balance sheets are in bad shape: Only 36% say sales increased when comparing the first halves of 2008 to 2007, which is down from the 56% who cited an increase last year. And 44% say comparable-store sales in that period declined. "Overall, the CFOs estimate that the average comparable-store sales growth for 2008 will be virtually flat, averaging 0.72% growth," it says in its analysis of the poll results. "Retailers may remain wary for the rest of the year." The good news is that most predict a "meaningful turnaround" in sales by July 2009; the highest concentration of CFOs (28%) believe this will happen in the second quarter. One way retailers may try to goose sales, predicts Mediamark Research & Intelligence, is by targeting the 62 million consumers who start shopping before Black Friday--the day after Thanksgiving and the official kickoff of the holiday season. That group--about 35.1% of the population--is more likely to be female, in the Baby Boomer age range, and to be heavy purchasers of toys. "Black Friday may be the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, but--as many retailers have recognized--its strength has diminished as millions of Americans begin their shopping before Thanksgiving," the company says in its release of its latest Omnibus survey. "Understanding who these consumers are and how best to reach them will give marketers a leg up in what is shaping up to a be a difficult holiday season for retailers."
The brand that brought us "The Most Interesting Man in the World" is now about to unleash "The Most Interesting Show in the World" (MISW). Next month, Heineken USA's Dos Equis beer starts a 14-city tour of the show, featuring Jim Rose as emcee. Rose is the creator/emcee of "The Jim Rose Circus," a modern-day version of a circus sideshow that has become a cult phenomenon since its inception in the early '90s. MISW will feature a menagerie of performers from around the world, including aerial performers, Japanese robotic dancers, acrobats, fire jugglers, Russian dancers and French burlesque singers. Rose's own show has become a platform for books, DVD's, appearances on network TV, and a short-lived 2003 reality series aired on the Discovery Travel Channel. In line with the brand's core target customer--adult men who live, or aspire to live, "interesting" lives--the show is being staged in bars, small theaters and other suitably hip venues in San Diego, Los Angeles, Scottsdale, Ariz., Las Vegas (two appearances), Austin, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Baltimore and Atlantic City. The tour will be supported by print (listings in titles including BlackBook and Paper and ads in local titles such as 944 Magazine), radio (ticket giveaways), online banner ads, in-market promotional events and mobile support through the tour bus. Dos Equis' "Most Interesting Man" campaign, created by Euro RSCG Worldwide and launched in April 2007, ranked right out of the gate in one of the top 5% "most enjoyable" ads in U.S. advertising research history, according to tests conducted by market research consultants Millward Brown. The Most Interesting Man (TMIM), played by actor Jonathan Goldsmith--along with the character's favorite advice, "Stay thirsty, my friends"--became almost immediate pop cultural phenomena. The ongoing campaign, fed by new creative variations (sample TIMIM career advice: "Find out what it is that you don't do well, and then don't do it") has done much to make Dos Equis a leader in the premium beer category. So why isn't Goldsmith, a.k.a. TMIM, part of this tour (or its advertising support)? Elizabeth Costa, events and sponsorship director for Dos Equis, offers a most interesting response. The show "is inspired by The Most Interesting Man in the World, and it brings his allure and intrigue to life," she says. "Unfortunately, he has been detained, counseling tribal mystics in Swaziland, and cannot attend the tour. Rest assured--all the acts have auditioned before The Most Interesting Man and have received his stamp of approval."
At Thursday's Advertising Week seminar on online humor sponsored by the Webby Awards, David-Michel Davies, executive director of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, showed a sampling of viral, humorous videos: Bill O'Reilly going haywire ("Fuck it, we'll do it live, we'll do it live") and the highly popular dance mix of the Bill O'Reilly rant; the oddly compelling cat photos with the grammatically mangled captions ("I can haz ennui"); the blog "Stuff White People Like"; and the disturbing nipple-pierced, bespectacled Australian party boy Cory Worthington. The videos are hilarious, but are they safe for advertising? Panelists said the risks are worth the reach. And they said the space is becoming friendlier to advertisers because the sort of shock video that defined online humor--low-quality, user-generated clips--is being supplanted by much higher-quality, original content, with less shock value. "Shock video isn't as interesting as it was," said Josh Abramson, co-founder of CollegeHumor.com. "Now we are required to tell a story--to do more traditional forms of video content." He said that his site, which started as a pure user-generated content purveyor, now creates its own content and directs advertisers to those. "We sell ads on safe user-generated content, but that is becoming less and less interesting to clients," he said. "We are producing content now specifically for advertisers." He said CollegeHumor did a show for Mountain Dew, involving a minute-long daily interview format. "It was very in line with what their brand messaging was." Sean Mills--president of The Onion, which turned 20 this year and last year started the online Onion News Network--said that while the Onion does not create content with advertisers in mind, "everything is appropriate for advertisers." Abramson said viral distribution is the key to broad audience exposure. "We call successful videos 'candy corn': it will have high rankings on dig.com and people put it on their blogs, which is how our videos become viral. If a video is a hit, we get five million people viewing virally," he said. Lou Wallach, SVP of original programming at Comedy Central, said the channel's Web content has become just as important as TV. "Certain clients know that because of the stuff we are doing, to certain audiences it might seem shocking--but to the core demo, it isn't. They know those eyeballs will go to that space, and the right advertisers want to be part of it. Whether they are energy drinks, Axe body spray, or video games, they want to reach that concentrated audience." Mills said advertisers buy online Onion media "because they like the brand and content; we don't need to show them scripts or video beforehand. People out to reach young males, young audiences, can't take a conservative approach." Abramson said the advertising window for comedy video is short, "really about the first two weeks." Wallach said the litmus test is the integrity of the content. "It has to work for the audience; our audience will turn on a dime if advertising is just shoved in there." The panelists also said the advertisers are generally willing to take a risk on viral distribution, putting their ads in unpredictable places. "With Mountain Dew, they were very big on us sending content everywhere," said Abramson. "In the case where we product-sponsored content and the content finds its way to a third-party site, we don't run ads on it unless the advertiser wants us to." Comedy Central's Wallach said the channel has its own branded online widget-style player, so video is "packaged in a way that's very clearly branded Comedy Central." He said the obvious branding differentiates the video space from whatever page it finds itself in. "The credibility lies in the Comedy Central branding on the player," he said. Said Mills: "Yes, you can control it if an advertiser wants you to, but my experience is they want it to go viral and be a hit."
Top 10 DMAs in which adults say they "prefer cooking with fresh food than canned or frozen." 1 San Francisco/ Oakland/ San Jose 2 Monterey/ Salinas, Calif. 3 Boston 4 Santa Barbara/ Santa Maria/ San Luis Obispo, Calif. 5 Seattle/ Tacoma 6 Washington, D.C. (Hagerstown, Md.) 7 Hartford and New Haven, Conn. 8 Las Vegas 9 San Diego 10 Chicago Source: MRI's Market-by-Market study, www.mediamark.com