A dumb PR stunt in Boston

The Problem Most marketing campaigns are not mistaken for terrorist attacks. But this one, like many of the campaigns run by Sam Ewen's New York City -- based firm, Interference, was different.

In January 2007, Interference launched a campaign for Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a Cartoon Network show starring fast-food characters with names such as Frylock and Meatwad. The campaign featured metal sheets covered with colored LEDs in the shape of characters from the show. The figures were hung in 10 U.S. cities, with at least 20 scattered around Boston. About two weeks into the campaign, a Boston subway worker noticed one of the figures, with wires sticking out of it, on a highway on-ramp. The police were called in, and a bomb squad detonated the prop. Highways, bridges, and transit stations were shut down, and the media pounced on Interference's New York City offices. By the end of the week, Ewen had issued an apology and agreed to pay an undisclosed portion of the $2 million settlement negotiated between Turner Broadcasting (the Cartoon Network's parent company) and the city of Boston. The immediate crisis was over, but Ewen wondered if it was time to scale back his firm's edgy ambitions.

What The Experts Said Michael Sitrick, founder and chairman of Sitrick and Co. in Los Angeles, advised Ewen to do media interviews outlining how Interference would ensure this would never happen again. Katie Paine, CEO of Berlin, New Hampshire -- based KDPaine & Partners, said mainstream companies might now be leery of hiring the firm. But Donna Sokolsky, co-founder of Spark PR in San Francisco, disagreed, saying, "It was a really innovative campaign. That's what people will remember."

What's Happened Since Interference didn't lose any customers. Today, Ewen and his 14 employees are extremely careful and try to imagine every possible scenario when designing a public campaign. They also make sure to contact city governments to get their blessing and address any concerns. The company is on track to finish 30 to 40 projects this year.
What's Next Ewen plans to target retail chains and automakers. And he hardly seems afraid to be creative. In a recent campaign to promote BBC America's Robin Hood, for example, Interference sent out people dressed in cloaks to do good deeds such as opening doors, paying for breakfasts, and carrying groceries throughout Philadelphia. To the best of his knowledge, no one called the cops to complain about the merry men.

John McCain- Baby Alex

This is from my Marketing class:

This is an ad from moveon.org that attacks John McCain's "100 years" statement about the war in Iraq. It's not really factual but it's effective on playing towards people's emotions.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq30lapbC9c

Nike Ad

According to my summer 08 Marketing class, they did not think that this advertisement is effective because it doesn't really have anything to do with the brand Nike. Some people may even feel insulted by the nature of the Ad.

Watch your online profile

Will Your Online Profile Get You Hired or Fired?
By Selena Dehne, JIST Publishing

"Having an online identity is becoming increasingly important as a way to establish your credibility and personal brand, find a job and develop key contacts and to attract career or business opportunities," say Ellen Sautter and Diane Crompton, co-authors of "Seven Days to Online Networking." To ensure that people create a profile savvy enough to help them land a job, they offer the following tips.

1. HOW TO GET HIRED:

Be consistent from site to site. Too often recruiters and hiring managers get mixed messages about job candidates based on their online profiles. For example, you might have a LinkedIn profile that portrays you as a driven go-getter with an excellent sales background, but your MySpace profile portrays you as someone who lives the life of an '80s rock star. Make sure that every profile you create portrays the same person -- someone who's respectable, professional and high-achieving.

Master a brief sound bite. When looking at your profile, hiring managers and recruiters want to learn more about you. The "About You" section of your profile offers the perfect opportunity to briefly describe your work history, strengths and notable achievements. This paragraph should be similar to a thirty-second elevator speech you may have already prepared about yourself.

Develop a network. Some people prefer massive networks that consist of hundreds of strangers from around the globe. Others prefer a small network that includes only people they've befriended, are related to or have worked with. Crompton and Sautter suggest developing a network of 50 to 150 contacts through each site.

Showcase your skills through links. You should include links to your blog, webfolio or Web site, if they are relevant to your career. If you don't have any of these things, consider including links to any projects or work you might have been involved in that can be viewed online.
Strategically use keywords in the "Tags" section. Similar to using keywords in a résumé, this strategy allows you to list words that help other people in your network or search engines find you. These words can include your area of expertise, job titles, industries, hobbies and anything else that defines you as a professional.

However, the following five mistakes are some of the most common social networking missteps.

2. HOW TO GET FIRED:


Post a scandalous photo. You know what I'm talking about: It's the photo of you showing off your hot, bronze body in a barely there bikini. It's the portrait of you -- in all your glory -- bonging a beer while sporting a Bears jersey at last week's tailgate. Profile pictures like this may be amusing and help you score a ton of friend requests, but they certainly won't impress your employer.

View or update your profile on company time. You can't help it. You have to accept a friend request as soon as you receive it. You have to know who has added pictures to their profile in the past hour. And as soon as you realize wakeboarding tops your list of interests, you have to immediately change your profile to reflect this. You jokingly refer to it as your Facebook addiction, but it's no laughing matter to your employer. Instead, it's considered a waste of company time if you're scoping out these Web sites while at work.

Post information that conflicts with your employer's values. Remember that anything you wouldn't want to share with your supervisor or co-workers is better left off your profile. This information may include how you spend your leisure time, how you feel about sensitive issues or any personal experiences you may have had. Also, be cautious about things your friends post on your profile that may portray you negatively.

Reveal why you're a lousy employee. Ever taken a sick day to hit the beach, rather than nurse a cold? Or maybe you were supposed to work from home one afternoon, but your profile suggests you slept in and spent the afternoon catching up on your soaps. Believe it or not, some people actually make this information public on their profile! Whether you reveal this kind of information in your profile status or a friend has left a comment ratting you out, be aware that if others can see it so can an employer.

Vent about your employer, boss or job. Many social networking sites allow people to include their work history. Posting unnecessary, negative information about a particular aspect of the job, such as "Job sucks, but it pays the bills," gives an employer all the reasons he needs to slap you with a pink slip.

Marketing Words

Words are at the heart of almost every form of marketing.. Choose words carefully, and sales will follow. Make the wrong choices, and customers will tune you out.

Check this list of the most overused words eroding the quality of today's marketing.

1. Care: "We care," "caring for you" and "from people who care" are all versions of the same weak promise. Typically, you'll find these phrases in health-care, insurance and financial marketing. They prompt prospects to wonder how the promise will benefit them and in what ways this caring attitude is manifested. But because the word itself is so overused, prospects may not pay attention long enough to learn the answer.

2. Solutions: The great love of technology marketers, this word has been beaten to death. So many companies promise to have the solution that the word is no longer credible. Since most customers or clients believe their challenges are unique, it's hard for them to specifically imagine how these solutions will be delivered without lots of additional information from the advertiser.

3. Results: Though not truly a naughty word, results has been overused and represents a highly general, fairly toothless promise. When confronted with the promise of results, most prospects will want proof. So if you choose to use this word, be prepared with testimonials and other support.

4. Amazing: How many "amazing" breakthroughs have you seen advertised today? Are most of them really amazing? Probably not. This superlative makes something sound too good to be true. Use it with caution and be ready to back it up with plenty of details.

5. Needs: It seems like every advertiser these days promises to meet our needs. But most are short on specifics. This tired promise elicits a ho-hum response because we already expect the things we buy to meet our needs. Why else would we buy them? Strengthen your selling proposition by detailing how your product or service will do a better job of meeting needs than what your competitors offer.

6. Quality: Just as we expect products and services to meet our needs, we also expect high-quality merchandise. Consumers believe quality should be a given. What makes your product of higher quality than others? Tell consumers the ways you ensure quality, and you'll put some teeth into this bland promise.

7. Turnkey: Marketing that promises a "turnkey solution" is likely to be met with skepticism mixed with a touch of fear over the prospective loss of control it suggests. Prospects must trust that your company will provide stellar performance every step of the way. That makes it essential to use specifics and take sufficient space or time to tell a complete story.

8. #1: It seems everyone is claiming to be No. 1 at something. Whether it's price, delivery, convenience or savings, marketers are claiming number-one status with very little proof. And that has damaged the effectiveness of this claim. Plus, being No. 1 is all about you and not about the advantages you provide to the customer. Use words that specifically detail how your number-one status translates into a higher value for the customer, and everyone wins.

(Source: Entrepreneur, July 2008)