Whatcha gunna do about it?

Not a thing.

Check out this video interview with the Director of Marketing for Lee Jeans, Liz Cahill.

http://adage.com/brightcove/single.php?title=1548122816

Social Marketing Insight from Liz: You must have a conversation with your target consumers verses pitching them stories and ideas. Open the forum to a two-way communication.

So I was reading an article on ad age,

http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=126847

about TV networks offering contests and prizes for consumers to win by watching the show on air, and two things came to mind. First, I can’t believe it has taken this long for a TV network to offer something like this. Reality TV shows that depend on viewers voting (American Idol, Dancing with the Stars) have been super successful, and people have been watching shows online for a long time now (hence the writers strike). One would think that networks would have exhausted this option a few years ago. What do people think about this? Is this going to be the fix for Networks to regain viewership or will it bomb?

My second thought was: how much longer is it going to be before a “TV Show” is created and produced to only be viewed online? Any thoughts??

There is a lot of activity and buzz around Twitter right now.

www.twitter.com

Here are some examples of companies doing some smart things on Twitter.

http://summize.com/

- you can track mentions of brands, keywords, etc. and set up RSS feeds

- you can find interesting people to follow on Twitter

Companies listening to the complaints and conversations surrounding their brands and responding

http://twitter.com/JetBlue

http://twitter.com/zappos

http://twitter.com/comcastcares

Interesting people to follow on Twitter

http://twitter.com/davemc500hats

http://twitter.com/jowyang

http://twitter.com/TechCrunch

http://twitter.com/jaffejuice

http://twitter.com/WCCOBreaking

According to groundswell “Social networks will get the largest number of increases, over 40% of those using it, along with user-generated content, blogs, and that old standby, email marketing.”

Facebook, as we all know, was created by a college student so his classmates could keep each other informed of all their activities.
(no matter how inconsequential or potentially embarrassing).

Now, however, research shows that high school and college students make up only 32% of the Facebook population. Obviously people one and two years out of college are keeping track of each other through Facebook. But apparently more people in their 30s and 40s are also finding that it’s fun to tell the world who they are, what they look like and what they’ve been doing.

As pop culture exploded on the 1960’s, Andy Warhol predicted that everyone would be famous for 15 minutes. As usual, the prediction was wrong.
Now thanks to Facebook, everyone can be famous for as long as they want.

But not all of us want 3,000 of our closest friends to know everything about us.
I don’t have a Facebook page. My friends from high school and college don’t have Facebook pages. Furthermore, we have no desire to have Facebook pages. And I think I’ve figured out why.

It goes back to the movies we saw when we were kids. The movies that,
without exaggeration, helped shape our lives. For Baby Boomer males (my friends and I were born in 1945 ) these movies were westerns…two in particular: “Shane” and “The Searchers.”

The first starred Alan Ladd; the second John Wayne. Both of these heroes had the same thing in common: their pasts were a mystery.

Shane is a gunfighter who befriends a small ranching family being pressured to move out by the local cattle baron. The family doesn’t know where Shane has been or what he’s done…and they don’t ask.

At the end of the film, when Shane has done the violent work that the peaceful ranchers can’t do, he says goodbye to the family’s little boy and rides out of the valley. Where’s he going? We don’t know. We don’t need to know. He’s solved a problem…and he’s moving on.

“The Searchers” is a darker and more haunting film than “Shane.” John Wayne’s character, Ethan Edwards, returns to his brother’s ranch three years after the civil war has ended. Where has he been for those three years? Nobody knows.
Nobody asks. There are hints that he’s robbed banks in Mexico. There are hints that his brother’s youngest daughter (whose kidnapping sets the movie in motion) may actually be Ethan’s daughter. My point here? What we DON’T KNOW about Ethan Edwards makes him far more intriguing than what we do know!

The heritage of the Western hero without a past was taken even further by Clint Eastwood in: “A Fistful of Dollars,” the first of the wildly successful trilogy directed by Sergio Leone. In these movies, Eastwood’s character not only lacks a past, he doesn’t even have a NAME!

So there you have it, pardners. For a certain group of us, there will be no Facebook pages. Talking about ourselves is not part of our cultural heritage. We believe our personal lives should stay…well, personal.

Will we ever change our minds? To quote Ethan Edwards: “That’ll be the day!”

Whats being searched for? This is.

1. Danica Patrick - First female to win an IndyCar race

2. New York Times - May be bought by NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg?

3. Macy’s - Goes green with reusable tote bags

4. Good Morning America - Robin Roberts will no longer wear a wig on air

5. Earth Day - Save the planet

6. Miley Cirus - Racy photos exposed on internet?

7. Hazel Court - Screaming horror-film star dies at age 82

8. John Marzano - Former major league player found dead at age 45

9. Boston Marathon - Kenyan Robert Cheruiyot wins the marathon

10. Katie Holmes - Dismisses rumors about couples separation

All words compiled from AOL Hot Searches.

What makes a good ad?

Think of a candy store window. OK, I know that candy shops are a rare thing these days, but use your imagination. Shelf after shelf of tantalizing goodies all demand your attention in the five seconds it takes you to pass by. You’re on your way to somewhere else and you don’t necessarily want candy at that moment but still you hesitate and consider a purchase. Why?

Now consider ads as the candy in that window. For the most part, we don’t really need what they sell. We already have a perfectly functional TV so why are we looking at the new 42” plasma job? In many cases, the products they market are very bad for us – and we know it. So why do we act contrary to our own best interests? Are ads beyond our control to resist? Of course not. Are we worn down by repetition? Maybe. So what is it that makes us go out and buy a 2000-calorie fast food meal? Or choose a Nike shirt over a more or less equal Target brand T-shirt at a lower price?

Is it the script or sterling copy? (As a copywriter, I’d love to say yes.) Maybe the eye-catching photography? Is it humor? Or a believable spokesperson? Yes and no.

I believe the success of a good ad relies on making us believe a promise (spoken or implied) that their product will somehow help us to become more than what we are now.

Shalom Auslander, author, one time copywriter and regular contributor to National Public Radio’s This American Life http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=322 and the New Yorker recalls how he was once asked to write an ad for a popular soft drink. The chosen creative direction was “Magic Liquid”; i.e., using supporting imagery and text to create an ad that promises to make you happy if you’re not. Popular is you’re unpopular and so on. Whatever you want to be, this soft drink will do it for less than a buck.

The question then becomes, how do advertisers know what we want?

Your life is an open book.
Make no mistake. Advertising has become a science of understanding the motivation behind our habits of consumption. That means seeing the lives of consumers as a series of fundamental problems that need to be solved. To do this, good advertisers delve into our collective psyche at the basest levels. What are our aspirations? Our regrets? What are our deepest fears? When were we most happy? What do we long for in our lives? What are our frustrations? Why are we so bloody bored?

Once the problem has been defined, it becomes a matter of convincing us that Product X is the panacea that will make us beautiful, happy, successful and fulfilled.

Therein lies the art of advertising.
Henry David Thoreau wrote “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” Advertising’s job is to make us believe that we can sing our songs by using their products. That our lives have meaning through what we consume – no matter how mundane or menial the product may be. That fulfillment can be achieved by being more satisfied with our food. Or having a shinier floor. Or a bigger TV. That we really can be more healthy even as we lie on the couch. More highly regarded. More happy. More vital.

More alive.

Conditioned to be skeptics.
OK, it’s not really as bad as it seems. We’re not rats mindlessly compelled to follow the piper’s tune. Think if you could read other people’s minds. Imagine all the noise from thousands of thoughts swimming around in your head. You’d have to find a way to tune it all out or go insane. Advertising, while not that dramatic, is omnipresent. In order to remain somewhat resistant to the hundreds of promises we see and hear everyday, we’ve become a nation of skeptics.

But, and here’s the important part that advertisers depend on; we’re skeptics that want to believe.

It’s not just what, it’s where and when.
Part of the means of breaking through our skepticism involves knowing when we’re most vulnerable. When do the commercials for food come on? Right before mealtime and then again about three hours later when we’re conditioned to be hungry again. When do career change ads come on? Late at night when those without a job are up and watching TV. Luxury items sell during upscale TV; that is, when the beautiful people are on. We see their lives. We want their lives. Or at least, little pieces of them. A whiter smile. Shinier hair. You may never own the Mercedes or the yacht, but advertising tells you that you can still be happy and feel successful with small luxuries enjoyed on a regular basis. And by golly, you deserve it.

You always have the power to say no.
In the end, even the best advertising can’t make you buy a bad product or something you don’t want. It’s not some sort of mass hypnosis. Done well, advertising can inform you, cajole and tease you, promise you, even berate you. But in the end, we make the decisions for ourselves. And increasingly, with the advent of social networking and instant online product reviews from our peers, these decisions are made with a good deal of practical end-user information up front.

Still, the seeds of desire do get planted. Whether they grow into a purchase is dependent on you, and what you need (or at least, what you think you need.)

…That also promotes Yahoo!  by stating search for Honda or Special K on Yahoo!?  This is part of the video search results launch.  They are promoting it through a traditional media to entice people to search on Yahoo! to see these video (partner) results.  Any thoughts on this?   Is a more traditional media a good place to get the word out about this new feature?  Does it also function as advertising for Yahoo!?  I would love to here some opinions on this topic.

Is on Fire as they beat up on their first quarter predictions.

But really, who was ever worried at this point? Although the stock has dropped significantly this year…I’d say it is on the comeback. With DoubleClick now in the loop as well, look out.