Focus Groups

Yesterday I took part in a focus group regarding some ideas for an improved product. It amazes me that with all the money, all the time, and all the research that’s put into developing ideas and following up with advertising that the ads are so incredibly poor. And the ideas sound all the same as other ideas I’ve heard before.

There are popular catch words these days – green – everything’s green... “Helping to build a better world...” “Caring about the world...” “Keeping the world green,” etc. etc. etc. Everybody wants to be green these days. Everybody wants to be perceived as caring about the environment.

Or products are “Natural” – “Whole Wheat” – maybe even “Whole Grain.” Or it’s healthy... “Probiotic” or filled with “Antioxidents” or “lowers cholesterol.” And there’s always some sort of study to back it up. They’ll even make up names for the junk they are trying to highlight – Bifidus Regularis – What the heck is THAT – regularis? (And, no, the focus group wasn’t about yogurt – I’m sworn to secrecy on the subject.)

Can’t something healthy and (ugh) green also be fun and interesting???? Can’t we find something different in the ads. They’re either formulaic or filled with these catch words. And the new, improved ideas are not new or even improved – they’re all just new takes on the same old stuff.

“How do you feel about the product now that you know they care about the world? Are you much more interested in purchasing? Somewhat more interested in purchasing? Neither more nor less interested in purchasing? Somewhat less interested in purchasing? Or much less interested in purchasing? Press the corresponding number on your handset.” First off, I don’t believe they really care about the world – ad campaigns, greedy CEOs and a long life have made me very skeptical of advertising claims. Secondly, even if they DO care about the world, that doesn’t make for an exciting ad (or even an ad that would make me buy the product).

These days ads have to be snappy right off the bat in order to keep people from fast forwarding the commercial. They have to give the important information up front too or say something that makes you want to hang around to hear the info. Yes, the info is what sells the product - that’s what lets us know why we should buy it instead of go without or take another brand, but you gotta get people to HEAR it first. If we’re just hearing the same old stuff, we’ll tune it out.

There ARE products with interesting stuff to explain - things that MAY be a little different. In our short-attention-span-world, we need it explained quickly, excitingly and clearly. These expensive focus groups don’t seem to be helping the advertising world understand that.

Even the focus group was boring. We just answered questions and pressed our little keypads in a small stuffy classroom filled with over sixty people. I earned my focus group $$!!!

Not-so-smart Phone Name, UH YEAH - EMILY LITELLA

TODAY IS AUGUST 12, 2010. I WROTE THE BELOW ON AUGUST 11, 2010. I THOUGHT THE NEW DROID PHONE WAS NAMED THE DISCONNECT BECAUSE THE HEADLINE ON A YAHOO NEWS ARTICLE READ -- "NEW DROID DISCONNECT."

GUESS WHAT.... THAT WAS THE HEADLINE, NOT THE NAME.... YOU MAY NOW OFFICIALLY CALL ME EMILY LITELLA -- "What's all this about the Droid DISCONNECT?" Man, do I feel stupid. I left the blogpost up here because I am just soooooo stupid that it seemed kind of funny. Here I am channeling Gilda Radner.
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Ummm... I don't understand why you would name your cool new phone a "Droid Disconnect." Especially when it's attached to Verizon which is known for not losing the signal (unlike AT&T which would make more sense if it named THEIR phones Disconnect or Dropper or even Mr. Fade-Out.

You spend so much time, money, research to make a great smart phone then name it Disconnect???? Who was the brilliant highly-paid executive who made THAT decision???

On the other hand, how smart are smartphone names, anyway? The iPhone??? I realize that was to match up with iPods but shouldn't all of these linked back to Apple instead of "i" ???

The Blackberry??? Where did that come from? What has anything it even does have to do with fruit.

But I guess, in the long run, phone names are sort of getting like car names -- they are just trying to come up with something that sounds cool. Nevertheless - isn't name the Droid Disconnect sort of like naming the next Toyota, the Toyota Crash?

For your fun and enjoyment, following is first, a full list of names leaked back in December of 2009 for a HTC smartphone that was being worked on for T-Mobile. Following that is a HUGE list of names I found of Samsung smartphones.

Leaked HTC names;

Bahamas, Bravo, DesireC, Dragon, Dream, Espresso, Halo, HeroCT, HeroC, Hero, Huangshan, Incredible, Legend, Liberty, Memphis, Paradise, PassionC, Passion, Sapphire and Supersonic. (They ended up going with "Dream" -- beats "Disconnect.")

Samsung names:
Samsung Eternity
Samsung Behold
Samsung Instinct
Samsung Saga
Samsung Omnia
Samsung Jet
Samsung Charcoal
Samsung Gravity
Samsung Comeback
Samsung Highlight
Samsung Memoir
Samsung Epix
Samsung Ace
Samsung Galaxy
Samsung Magnet

Snickers (yum) Commercials as good as the bar

The Mars company has made a brilliant choice in the ad agency it has used through the years to promote Snickers. If you take a gander through YouTube at past Snickers commercials, you’ll see an array of fun that will keep you entertained for quite some time. Their most recent campaign is no different.

First we had the terrific sports ads with Betty White and Abe Vigoda being tumbled around in the mud. Those were unique and well chuckled about at water coolers all over the U.S.A. Now we have the most recent diva commercials with Aretha Franklin and Liza Minnelli. I love how these guys can STILL surprise you even though they’ve delivered the same punchline so many times before!

I just don’t get sick of these commercials. One reason is because they don’t overplay them. That is a very big key to their success. I almost look forward to seeing them because they’re not on every night or on every show I watch.

Another reason they stay fresh is because they have several different commercials in rotation so you don’t keep seeing the same ones over and over again. And they are absolutely not formulaic – no stupid guy/superwoman to tell us how healthy the food is, no little kids looking cute with a wise mom in the background, no sexy models making love to the candy bar, the camera, or you. These commercials are amusing and creative!

And it doesn’t hurt that Snickers is actually a pretty darn good candy bar. If you’re going to use up a bunch of discretionary calories, that’s not a bad choice to use them on.

Old Spice vs. Mr. Mac

There is a sudden popularity to this ad campaign that I just don't understand! Sure it was funny the first few times I saw it, but even with the variations it got boring after a short time. I admit it was clever but it was repetitive. Or maybe it's just that I didn't find him all that "hot."

Now, being a 57 year old woman, I don't have the same hormones as my 20-30 year old counterparts, it takes a little more to get past my lack of surface hormones, but Isaiah just didn't do it for me. I got a few chuckles out of the first couple of commercials, but I never considered him the epitome of men, so the joke got old pretty quickly.

On the other hand, now... I found Mr. Mac to be incredibly cute and never seemed to tire of the Mac vs. PC commercials. Justin Long was absolutely adorable as the Mac (yes, young enough to practically be my grandson, but whatever). I guess I like the more cerebral types. No matter the case... I just enjoyed this whole series of commercials much more and seemed to tolerate them for a longer time than most ad campaigns. I have a feeling a lot of that was due to the appeal of Justin Long (who I enjoyed a little less in some of his film roles but still enjoyed nevertheless). This series of commercials was fun and, unfortunately, way too true! Still, I type away on my PC (sorry Mac). One tends to stick with what they know.

Insurance

Oh my!!! Heaven knows I NEED insurance, but from whom shall I purchase???? I love little lizards but I just can't stand those stupid Geiko commercials anymore. At first (for about two or three weeks) I thought they were cute. Now I've really had it. It's not so much the gecko that annoys me, it's the humans... and the scripts for the stupid commercials. If it was just the lizard I think I could take seeing these things over and over again, but as they stand, I can't hit fast forward fast enough. Actually, I have a button that jumps past them all together and I use that one anytime the gecko appears.

Worse even than the gecko is the "watching you" ad campaign more recently
engaged by this company that wastes far too much money on advertising. Long ago I thought that was a pretty good song, now I feel my irritation level rise whenever I hear it -- Sold out silver (not even gold)... and sold out for this absurd, chalk on a blackboard, worthy of ridicule (yes, ridiculous) -- or, actually -- ignorant (worthy of being ignored) advertisement. Do you get the feeling I don't like it?

All is not lost, however. I am almost embarrassed to admit my soft spot for the caveman. Except when enormously over-played, I can't help but slow down the DVR and watch the caveman commercials. I can see these a half-dozen times before I finally get sick of them and maybe will even watch them again if I haven't seen them for awhile. There's something about that one particular guy (the one pictured left) that just gets me.

Yeah, I know he had his own show. I don't think I ever even saw it. And I know his show was supposed to be really bad. But the commercials are great. It's silly because you know what's coming, but somehow it never ceases to give me a chuckle. I especially like the one where he takes the gorgeous blond out to the beach and they're having a great time then the plane flies over with the, "so easy a caveman can do it," banner and he says, "I'll be waiting in the car." I love that one!

Okay Geico... one out of three is not a good score!!
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Then we have Allstate... No fair... you're using the President to sell your insurance!! Who wouldn't believe President Palmer (from 24, for those of you who think I'm out of my mind) when he suggests that we're in good hands! This is the man that paved the way for Barack Obama, people!!! The only problem with these commercials is that they're pretty dull. After the first few, when we kept joking with each other that it was President Palmer, there was no hesitation about hitting the fast forward button. When watching "live" however, I did pause for a moment when he discussed getting back part of your premium if you didn't have an accident, until I realized that probably just meant they charged more up front. President Palmer is a pretty convincing guy. I wonder, though, if they're going to hire Cherry Jones as their next spokesperson... probably not... President Taylor did not turn out to be a strong role model like President Palmer (24 again). She's not setting up Hilary too well, but maybe a little bit.
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Now here's a spokesperson that would annoy any sane person, right? The enthusiastic and perky Flo from Progressive. Somehow, though, I just love this girl... and it's not only me... I went to Florida to visit my mom and when we were watching TV, my mom tells me she loves Flo too!! Pretty soon I see Flo in a movie with Ben Stiller... The Heartbreak Kid... So I IMDB'd her. Turns out the woman is 40 years old!!! I would have never believed she was a day over 32! Anyway, there is something very engaging about her... not so engaging that I'll slow down the DVR, but so engaging that I don't resent having to watch her live. What is it about dear Flo?? Well... she seems so sincere. She loves her job. She loves Progressive. She seems like a real person who goes home and feeds her cat at night and invites her girlfriends over to watch TV and eat popcorn and who would be really fun to go to an amusement park with. She doesn't seem particularly smart, but she seems very warm-hearted. It's crazy... you watch these commercials and you get this whole sense of her being a REAL person and that makes Progressive seem "real." Like there is really a Progressive store where you could go and find Flo and actually pick your insurance off the shelves if you only lived in the right city. And I guess that's what they were after AND IT WORKS... I almost considered calling - until I realized that it was the advertisers working their magic again. I am soooo susceptible!!
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And, finally, it's not insurance but, by golly, you gotta have it because what if, God forbid, you should suddenly have a seizure and your four year old boy is sitting in the back seat. Or what if you're lost in some very bad neighborhood or your car gives out on you on the same highway that houses the Texas chainsaw guy... What if your car rolls and you can't reach your cellphone... crap, I can think of a million reasons you NEED this service!!!! It's ONSTAR and the people at the OnStar command center (pictured - and that's REALLY it -- I know, because I got the picture from the Internet!) are waiting 24-7 to come to your aid just when you need it the most! I don't know which are scarier, their TV commercials or their radio ads. I think maybe their radio ads are the scariest because you can't even see them! You just hear the poor schmuck who's in trouble and who would be SOL if he/she didn't have OnStar to turn to and because YOU don't have OnStar you know what's going to happen to you when you are in the same dire circumstances. Or, worse, what's going to happen to your poor child as he struggles to deal with the situation while you are unconscious. Oh, and by the way, OnStar comes free for one-year when you buy a General Motors car. Guess what kind of car I'm thinking about buying in the near future?

Movie Trailers

I'll often stop fast-forwarding the DVR to watch an interesting movie trailer (which includes almost every trailer since I love movies even more than I love TV). The problem with movie trailers comes when they play the same ones over and over and over again. No matter how wonderful, exciting and creative the trailer is, once you've seen it a dozen times, you're sick of it.

Inception looked like a really interesting movie the first time I saw the trailer. "Wow! What was that?" I made my husband rewind to watch the buildings falling down and the spectacular special effects. "And, look, Ellen Page is in it too!" (She's been one of our favorites ever since Hard Candy - waaaay before Juno.) "We've gotta see THIS movie!" And we made a date.

Weeks later, however, after we had seen this same trailer about twenty times -- even in fast forward, we had had ENOUGH of Inception -- so much that we weren't quite so eager to see the movie after all. It had become old news now. We had seen the buildings collapse a bunch of times. Yeah, Leonardo - cool. Yeah, Ellen Page - cool. Big deal.

"Wanna go see Inception tonight? It's playing on IMAX?"

"Sure, that sounds pretty good."

"Okay."

"I'm gonna take a nap first."

"Okay."

Needless to say... we never got to Inception. After you've seen a trailer THAT many times, it's just not compelling any more.

Arrg... that annoying "ACK" Donalds Ad Campaign

Ugh... is anybody besides me completely annoyed by the - drop the M - ad campaign that McDonalds has running right now?! I'm so sure. It makes me want to get out a gun and shoot the TV and not too many commercials really annoy me THAT badly. Every time one of those come on, I renew my vow to NEVER eat at McDonalds. Already, thanks to Morgan Spurlock, I steer pretty clear of Mickey D's. But, now and then I might slip in for an ice cream. Plus they seem to be struggling to put some healthy stuff on the menu lately.

But then they come up with the most irritating ad campaign in the last decade making me think I'd rather do without my vanilla soft serve than encourage this brand of commercial!!!

Ronald - you need to FIRE your ad agency... take whoever thought that one up and hang 'em out by their fingernails. Each new commercial - be it on TV or radio - seems to be more annoying than the next (except for the weather girl one which outdoes all of them for annoyance).

Those have GOT to go!

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Found a great link that oddly discusses this whole thing -- a group of people just as annoyed as I am with this whole thing: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12731986

AT&T iPhone Commercial

There are some new commercials out for the iPhone4 - several new ones I've seen so far. One of them shows a young African American man introducing his new baby daughter to the baby's grandfather. It highlights the beauty of the iPhone4's phone to phone camera capability called "Face to Face." You can see the light in the grandpa's eyes as well as see the small picture of the baby. The commercial is so touching it almost makes you forget that both people need the iPhone4 in order to make this situation work and just how many grandpas really have an iPhone4 or even want one.

There's also a commercial where a dad is trying to get his adorable teenage daughter to smile. Turns out she's just gotten braces. It's another winner. (Must be a family from an affluent neighborhood - they both have iPhone4s AND she has a full mouth of metal.)

There's one about a haircut, but I think I've only seen that once and it didn't stick with me.

The one that REALLY gets me though is the one where a young wife is calling her husband to tell him, "that thing we've been working on..." has worked. (She's pregnant.) The young actress in this part is so beautiful, so convincing, so radiant... she steals the show. Again, you forget that AT&T is the all-time champion of dropped calls, dead air, and terrible connections... all you think about is the terrific benefits of the face to face connection.

So, the commercials are pretty heart-warming but the AT&T and the iPhone4 are not exactly the top of the line service. Rumor has it that the iPhone4 has been built with the antenna improperly installed into the casing so that, as the customer holds it, the connection drops. (A special case has been built to resolve that problem apparently.) And if you go into twitter or into the bulletin boards at almost any time, you can find numerous AT&T complaints.

Nevertheless... guess who just ordered an iPhone4 3 days ago...

oh well... commercials work :-)

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If you'd like to read more about the iPhone issue with the antenna: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20010305-71.html

If you'd like to see these little works of art called commercials: http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/11/apple-facetime-iphone-4-commercials/ That link also has some great commentary!