Staying ahead of Google by searching differently

In the spirit of fighting for the little guy and building movements, I’d like to champion the following sites in their quest for a piece of the search engine action:

mahalo.com: A human-powered search engine that creates very smart search results pages, above and beyond just a page of results. “Mahalo” to our fearless leader Mark Goren for pointing me to this one.

chacha.com: My favorite of all these mentioned. Can’t find the results you want? Just click on “ask a guide” and an actual real person will search for you. Of course, when I first checked out this site, you didn’t have to register, but now you do—still, it’s a great service.

ask.com: Oh sure, I know, I know, askjeeves.com has been around forever. And at first I wrote off their recent makeover. But their new movement-generating advertising (the UK campaign, that is) and enhanced site and search functionality has gotten me, a Google addict, to switch on more than one searching occasion.

Remember the good old days of the internet? When you turned someone onto this bare-bones search engine, Google, that only the “in-the-know” were using? In those days, Google was a breath of fresh air compared to the noise on the other big search engines like Yahoo, Excite and Lycos . (Nostalgic “how they looked then” links graciously provided by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.)

These new contenders really capture the spirit of what Google once was. Simple results, easy to use and definitely not evil. Well, not yet, anyways. And I think they are all hard at work at attacking what Google has become. These are just a handful of the new crop of search engines that represent the move from combing endless pages of search results to a new way of search that is a reflection of the state of online content today.

So while Google now searches the universe itself, let’s all stay here at our computer screens and dare to search differently. The movement against the great search goliath has begun!

"High School Musical 2" Ratings Phenomenon

"High School Musical 2" aired on Friday, August 17th on the Disney Channel, but then again who didn’t know that?! You would have to be living under a rock not to know about it especially with all the promotional elements surrounding it.

It did far better than anyone could have predicted based on these stats:
• 17.24 million viewers
• Most-watched basic cable telecast of all time
• Ranked highest with kids 6-11 but also high for the 9-14 year olds
• Most-watched Friday telecast in more than 5 years
• Attracted as many viewers as the four networks combined

Keep in mind these stats didn’t even take into account all the viewing parties surrounding this event. We watched it with a roomful of 20 ranging in age from 8 to 75!

Even though there were mixed reviews with some good and some less favorable – I know it will still air on a weekly basis in our household, and the songs will be belted out in the basement while playing a guitar or pounding on a drum set. It is great to see such a smash hit during the summer when ratings are typically lower and reruns dominant the stations. It is also refreshing to enjoy a family-based movie all together at home.

-- Karen Hudock

The Demographic Me vs. The Real Me

Something funny happened to me this year.

My mom signed me up for AARP. And I bought a GTI.

I owned a GTI about 20 years ago. Good car, needed better speakers. I blew out 2 sets in the 2 years I owned the car. And, this year, I was looking for something with good gas mileage and fun to drive. The GTI fit both criteria beautifully. I have to admit, I hated the tv spots. I hated that Crispin failed to understand that the appeal of the car was more than demographic. I hated that they marketed it as a boy toy. I hated that girls weren’t supposed to “get it.” I hated that they promoted to the youth market exclusively. And most of all I hated that “fast” character.

Did I mention I turned 50 this year? (And, yes, I’m still actually employed in advertising.) My mom, ever anxious to push me into the doldrums, signed me up for a trial membership in AARP. Nice gift, eh? Not that they hadn’t been courting me in the months preceding the “big day.” In any case, I had the impression that they were a force for good. A strong lobby sticking up for those poor seniors who were being victimized by all sorts of bad things and people. The kind of group, that while I didn’t feel like I belonged to yet, I could support. And who knows, someday I might be ready to be ready for them, too.

Then I started getting these mailings. Newsletters and magazines filled with articles about failing health, failing driving skills, failing incomes, failing eyesight, failing sex drives. And direct mail solicitations. "Did you know the average funeral costs $6000? Better get additional life insurance." And more mailings. "Are you paying too much for car insurance?" Every week, more. "Don’t be a burden to your loved ones."

And then one day, there was a box. From an address I didn’t recognize. And inside, nestled in black and red plaid was a… “fast.” And I smiled the rest of the night. And the next morning, too. As a matter of fact, he’s sitting on my desk right now.

So what happened? How did the brand I thought I could admire, if not join, turn into a total bummer? And how could a product, for which I despised the advertising, turn into the brand that delighted me to the core?

It all comes down to crafting a brand experience that connects.

While the GTI advertising made the mistake of playing to the demographic rather than the psychographic qualities of its audience. The product delivered the ultimate brand experience in its responsiveness, attention to detail, and economy. (It’s a freaking blast to drive.) And that brand experience brought me full circle to “making friends with my fast.”

AARP made the mistake of playing to a demographic rather than a psychographic, too. Only their “product,” unlike VW, didn’t deliver anything meaningful to its younger recruits like me. I’m not afraid of falling and not being able to get up. Yet. Or interested in the article, Scientists want to bioengineer bladders. Yet.

And the twice-weekly appeals to sell me a long-term membership, and life insurance, and car insurance, made me feel that they weren’t interested in anything but my money. I actually began to wonder if they were really supporting seniors in a meaningful way or just using scare tactics to sell them things they might not actually need.

Maybe in 15 or 20 years I’ll feel differently. But my guess is that even then you’ll find me driving fast. It just may be that fast is going 45 in a school zone. With a bioengineered bladder.

--Jody Dana

Losing Control of the Message.

As I sat and watched AMC’s new series “Mad Men” I was instantly struck at how much the ad biz has changed in 47 years.

And I’m not just talking about the three-martini lunches and smoke-filled offices.

Back in 1960, we ad guys controlled every aspect of the brand message. And the consumers, well, consumed it.

Today, with the explosion of technology, those roles are becoming blurred as our “audience” is taking it upon themselves to provide the brand messages we all see and hear.

The infiltration of the consumer-controlled branding takes many forms, from blogs to podcasts to video product reviews.

And let’s not forget YouTube.

Consumers are using this forum to affect brands in so many different ways. Here you’ll see everything from classic ads to very-well-done fake ones. Both of which I see as potential challenges to those in charge of the “real” branding.

Back in the day, a company could transition from one brand campaign to another rather cleanly: They pull one series of spots and replace them with another. But today, most of those old spots still exist thanks to consumer web postings. Miller Lite is a good example of how hard the transition can be. How can they possibly create a new brand message when all the old brand messages from “Tastes Great Less Filling” to the ineffective “Man Laws” are still out there for everyone to see?

And then there are the fake ads.

Consumers, it seems, all have a hidden desire to be the next Joe Pytka. Just search “Fake Ads” on YouTube, and you’ll see pages upon pages of spec spots. And even though these ads are not real, they are having a real impact on how we all perceive a brand as a whole.

Take the VW “Suicide Bomber” spot for example. At first, it appears to be a real ad. It’s shot well. The production values aren’t bad. But the ending is anything that the “Love Bug” company would want on the air. Yet, there are 19 postings of the spot on YouTube, with close to 250,000 total viewings. That’s a quarter of a million people who’ve seen it and talked about it with their friends. Some of VW’s paid spots probably don’t get that much exposure.

And what about the ever-popular Barack Obama love song video, which was created by an adoring fan? Sure, it’s pro-Obama. But for a man trying to convey a presidential image and important ideas, does he really want a message that trivializes his candidacy?

I’m not sure.

There are those who will argue that any publicity is good publicity. And to some extent that’s true. But if our customers are going to take over a chunk of the branding duties, we must, now more than ever, do everything we can to make sure they are true advocates for our brand. That means moving them from “I’ll simply buy your product” to “Your product defines me.” And it means finding new ways to engage them emotionally. This change of branding duties also means that the messages we do have control of must be true to the products we sell. Because if they’re not, we’re just setting ourselves up for ridicule.

Avoid sins. Grow brands.

I recently came across an article in Ad Age that highlighted the seven deadly sins of marketing. While I was shocked to learn that there were only seven sins that we're committing, I was especially intrigued by sins #1, #4 and #7.

Sin #1: Living by old assumptions; specifically, focusing on brand definitions instead of letting the consumers define brands their own way.

Consumers today are informed. And, they want to feel that they are personally connected with the brand. So as marketers, we need to find new ways to ensure clarity of purpose and really understand audience drivers so that our communications allow customers to relate with the brand. Letting consumers define our brands a bit scary? Maybe, but what a way to create loyalty.

Sin # 4 Thinking brand communication is what matters, when it’s a company’s actions and cultural/social point of view that counts.

I love this. The age-old saying of “actions speak louder than words” applies so well here. Especially as it relates to green initiatives. Many companies are claiming to be “green” but what does that really mean? And, are companies really taking the true meaning of green to heart or are they jumping on the bandwagon without substance? Communication is important but a company needs to live the message.

Sin #7 Operating by a “learn then do” process instead of “try, learn, then try again”.

Today is the day of “the metric”. CMOs are being fired for not having strong results instantly. But there needs to be balance because sometimes it is the biggest risk that can bring the biggest reward.

What do all these sins to avoid tell us? We need to go beyond traditional and make ourselves and our clients a bit uncomfortable to keep brands relevant and growing.

--Michelle Mulchin

Remodeling is the new “new construction”: News to Use #7

In this installment of News to Use, we’ve compiled a collection of articles from the trade pubs, newspapers and Internet to address the issues remodelers face today. Read on, and you’ll find a wealth of insights to help you capitalize upon emerging market trends in outdoor living spaces, kitchens and baths. And the rising influence of women and Generation X in the remodeling industry. But ultimately, we hope you’ll find this information valuable to your efforts in building deeper connections with remodelers and their customers.

Continue to News to Use, Issue #7

In this issue:

• A new kind of remodeler
• How to team up with a remodeler so you both sell more
• Gen Xers aren’t the next driving force, they’re gaining speed now
• Survey says partner up with the pros to get in on the action
• Outdoor living means more projects for remodelers
• Emerging home trends
• Get in consumers’ minds to get into their kitchens and baths
• The growing influence of women in remodeling
• Remodeling advertisers turning to the web
• Window trends