May 8, 2009
- Oprah – KFC Didn't Honor The Coupons You Promoted On Your TV Show: A Marketing Lesson
If Oprah was angry when an author lied to her about his credentials, imagine how she'll feel when a major company promises to feed people for FREE and then turns down the coupons it distributed
Do you remember "New Coke" and the marketing fiasco it created.
Welcome to KFC's attempt at retraining our taste buds to like GRILLED Chicken instead of deep fried.
There's a marketing lesson here, so please pay attention!
Lesson 1. The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
Lesson 2. The way to get a man angry is to promise him food, let him smell it, and then tell him it's not for him!
Lesson 3. It's much more difficult to recover AFTER a problem than it is to CAUSE the problem.
KFC Blows It – Simply Put: They Weren't Ready For This
I never saw the Oprah show when KFC offered its coupons for a free GRILLED chicken meal. I did see, however, that you had a short window to download the coupon and then about 10 days to redeem them. (Mothers Day was clearly marked as NOT one of these days.)
But when I went today to a suburban Philadelphia, PA USA KFC (the Friday BEFORE Mothers Day), I waited in line with lots of people. Sure looked like the marketing campaign worked! Lots of people were standing there, printed coupon in hand.
Wow! Very successful, it seemed.
The chatter was hushed (I guess people were hungry by 1:12 PM) though I did hear a bit of grumbling that it always takes so long to be served.
Looking behind the counter I saw why: one person cooking, one person at the service counter, and one person at the drive-through window serving the 11 cars in line.
Oh… and one person sitting out front on the sidewalk (I guess that was for a break, even though the line was long) and another slowly clearing off tables in the restaurant. (Bad enough when people take a break when the crush of the business's traffic arrives, but then don't do it so all of us can SEE that you are present but not waiting on us.)
Why is the sign so small when the news isn't good?
After waiting in line for 27 minutes and finally working my way up close to the counter, I happened to see a note that said something like:
We can't honor your coupons – please turn them in for a rain check.
WHAT?
Read more on Oprah – KFC Didn't Honor The Coupons You Promoted On Your TV Show: A Marketing Lesson…
April 23, 2009
- Marketing Power – Stand Out To Shine and Think Big, Charlie Seymour Jr Says
Marketing Power – A Good Theater Background Helps!
I was six and it was my first theatrical production. OK, so I sat quietly licking a lollipop in one courtroom scene at the local Little Theater, but I must have done something right because they asked me back year after year and I went on to create a musical theater group at Tufts University (Torn Ticket, now with the name Torn Ticket II) and worked professionally in theater after earning my MBA from Wharton Graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
Theater – that team sport of people in the spotlight. And whether directing or acting, it taught me some very important lessons that I use in my marketing today.
Sing Out, Louise
That classic line from the Broadway Musical, Gypsy, is instructive for all of us:
You must stand out for people to notice you!Have you ever taken the Sunday newspaper (well, it's like that here in the USA) and flipped to the real estate section. Squint a little so it goes out of focus and what do you see?
Nothing.
Everything is exactly the same. It's as if no one wants to stand out and get noticed. It's just a blur of black and white with no stars singing out.
If you make a presentation along with other people; if you give your 30-second "Elevator Speech" of introduction at a business meeting; if you make a proposal to earn some local business and you look like everyone else you will get what everyone else gets: normal results.
Normal. The norm. Average.
And who the heck wants THAT?
Timid you say? Then ACT the part of someone who is not.
Hey, I really don't care that Donald Trump jumped all over one of his Apprentice candidates who said something like "fake it" until she was ready to make it.
Read more on Marketing Power – Stand Out To Shine and Think Big, Charlie Seymour Jr Says…
April 20, 2009
- Marketing – Get Them Off The Raft Marketing vs Teaching Frogs How To Drink Beer Marketing
Marketing For Work At Home – Why NOT To Use Institutional Advertising!
OK… so these are MY terms not known to you. But when you listen to this short podcast, you'll see my institutional advertising is ONLY for the rich (or those not very smart).
Get Them Off The Raft Marketing vs Teaching Frogs How To Drink Beer Marketing: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
April 4, 2009
- Advertising Mistakes – Tropicana Retreats To Old Branding
Marketing, Branding, Image Building – What Do They Mean To Entrepreneurs?
I'm not a huge fan of "branding" or doing marketing to "build a brand" for an entrepreneur.
Those who have millions of dollars to throw at building a look, offering television commercials, and hope that when you stand in front of the refrigerated case you will remember what you are to purchase can build a brand, but not you.
We all remember "New Coke" and the near disaster that Coke worked its way through several years ago when it changed its formula to make it sweeter and taste more like Pepsi. Hey, if I want Pepsi, I'll ask for Pepsi. Millions of dollars were lost as they admitted their mistake (hey, it's not failure, it's feedback… and believe me the market gave them plenty of feedback!).
And now there are the marketing and branding changes from which PepsiCo (the owners of Pepsi and Tropicana) have done an about-face for the top-of-the-line orange juice, Tropicana.
Tropicana Sales Nose Dive: Marketing Changes Are To Blame
As reported on AdAge.com, "Tropicana's rebranding debacle did more than create a customer-relations fiasco. It hit the brand in the wallet.
"After its package redesign, sales of the Tropicana Pure Premium line plummeted 20% between Jan. 1 and Feb. 22, costing the brand tens of millions of dollars. On Feb. 23, the company announced
Read more on Advertising Mistakes – Tropicana Retreats To Old Branding…
March 27, 2009
- Grape Nuts: New Advertising Campaign Targets Men
Wall Street Journal chronicles that finally they figure out that men have some say about the food we eat!
The Wall Street Journal article starts with a subheading that says that the new Post Cereal campaign aimed at men marks a departure for cereal advertising campaigns.
(Now let's make it clear: the type advertising being talked about here is what I call "Teaching Frogs How To Drink Beer." I won't go into the whole topic (you can listen to what I said before on my GetThemOffTheRaftMarketing.com site:
[media:http://www.GetThemOffTheRaftMarketing.com/doitnow/GTOTRMvsTFHTDBM.mp3]This is NOT the type marketing I suggest for most entrepreneurs, but it is what car companies and even cereal companies use.)
But we're told that to revive the crunchy Post Foods Grape Nuts, marketing geniuses have come up with cheeky commercials aimed at men.
"That Takes Grape Nuts" is the catch phrase as if the cereal were ubiquitous and we'd all know what that meant. We don't. And I wonder how many people will be lured to a magic website where lots of 2-minute videos will show how many circumstances call for "That Takes Grape Nuts" fortitude.
And to butch up the site to be sure that real men will feel comfortable watching videos about and talking about cereal, they pack the website with tips on restoring vintage cars and other macho topics.
And the print campaign will run in Sports Illustrated featuring men fishing and golfing.
HOWEVER… as silly as it all sounds, learning that this is the first time cereal isn't aimed at Mom and her kids made me wonder:
What the heck have they been waiting for?
The article points out that Grape Nuts is mostly eaten by men, but there has never been an advertising campaign reinforcing that – like all the other cereals, advertising has been aimed at women figuring that they do most of the grocery shopping.
What – I can't make up my own mind about what I want to eat and either write it on the grocery list or ask my wife to shop for it when she goes weekly after church (and visiting my folks for lunch at their retirement community) each Sunday?
And if the reason for my eating it were compelling enough, I'd stop myself to get some.
Read more on Grape Nuts: New Advertising Campaign Targets Men…
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