They called me on my cell phone today to let me know about their summer sale because I am apparently one of their “preferred customers”.  I am?!  I’d hate to think who their worst customers are if the best ones order expensive products and then don’t buy them.  It’s not that they called me to let me know about the sale, I think the personal touch is great.  It’s only partly the fact that they do a terrible job managing their customer database.  Really, it’s being called a “preferred customer” when I know damn well I am not.  It’s patronizing.

I got the same thing from my Realtor in the mail yesterday.  She is a great agent and person.  I’d recommended her to anybody, but she’s also well established and successful.  So why is it all I have to do to become a preferred customer is buy one home?  In this case, it’s not that I don’t appreciate the effort, but it makes me feel uncomfortable to be referred to as “preferred” when I know my purchase was half that of many clients.

When companies are careless with words like “premium”, “platinum level”, and even “preferred” they loose their meaning.  Consumers are aware of how much we spend at our favorite places and very much like to be appreciated for our business.  But, when we know we come in on the low side, especially with something like jewelry, we would prefer to not have to recall just how much we’ve not spent.  How the actual Preferred Customers feel about this is a whole other blog post!  I suppose they are “Platinum Preferred”.

I sat there grinning like an idiot for the entirety of the video. I couldn’t put my finger on what I had experienced, but I knew it made me feel good. I feel good when I indulge in all sorts of dark humor, but this was different, and not common for jilted o’ll me. It made me feel good about people strangely enough…

I waited for the punch line, perhaps where Matt actually gets punched, or a shameless product plug. Well, there was no sucker punch, and the product plug was not shameless at all. In fact, it was very tasteful; just a little black and white message indicating Stride Gum’s involvement.

Here’s what works about it for me:

Sponsorships are not new (insightful, I know). Coca-Cola, McDonalds’s, Xerox, Kodak, Pepsi, Pizza Hut, etc., sponsor the hell out of everything. Even Harley Davidson sponsors UFC with the tragic tag line, “The only motorcycle worthy of being inside the Octagon!” This is always done with the very clear goal to have their names and products associated with a big event, to reinforce presence of mind.

Stride did something different.  Subtlety.  Yes, some people knew about “Where The Hell is Matt?” already, but compared to a 30 second spot during “Lost”, it was a relative few so it was no sure shot. There was no certainty this video would go viral the way it has. Matt is not dancing with a pack of Stride gum in every shot.  Sure, Stride feature’s Matt on it’s website, but on Matt’s there is only a small logo at the bottom of the page for the brand.

When you watch the video, you’re not slapped in the face with the sponsorship, you’re just politely reminded of Stride’s involvement. And that smile that Matt’s foolish dancing put on your face? It’s left there when you’re thinking about a certain brand of chewing gum.

It brings to mind something David Meerman Scott said recently speaking to the guys from Marketing Over Coffee about smart marketers creating something interesting that doesn’t talk about your product.  Well, I think that’s just what these guys have done.

I had been pleasantly surprised with some of the programming decisions at the CBC
over the last 12-14 months. It started with the afternoon replacement of that terrible mess
of a show, Freestyle with the excellent Q with Jian Ghomeshi. Then, with the introduction
of Search Engine and Spark to add to the already superb The Current, I thought, “Wow, the CBC
is really turning a corner here!” I should have know better. What a difference a few months makes.

In the winter, they truncated Q by half an hour, assuming those of us in Nova Scotia
would opt for another hour of mind-numbing local programming on Mainstreet instead.
It’s a good enough “drive home” show, but dear God, I think it’s at least 12 hours long now,
and checking in with everybody who is going to be on air in the next 15 minutes, or giving a
blow-by-blow account of a strawberry shortcake dinner in Berwick is not going to win new young
listeners.

It is precisely these new younger listeners that the CBC is continuing to alienate while
it simultaneously yearns so desperately for them. Are there two departments working counter
to each other at the CBC? One group comes up with forward-thinking ideas like
Radio 3, Burn, QTube, and making so much content available as podcasts,
while the old guard makes sure the corporation stays solidly irrelevant to the youth of
the country?

Crippling Jesse Brown’s ability to do his new podcast to the high standard
we’ve come to expect from Search Engine is insulting to him and to his listeners. It is laughable
that the [poor] decision makers at the CBC think they are somehow better supporting the show
and the information it provides by spreading its stories across a range of programs. Great, now all
we have to do is listen all day in hopes of hearing the information we want! I am at a loss to think
of how it is an improvement to look for a story on Chinese Internet censorship wedged between a
unicyclist in Cape Breton, and Sheila Rogers’ six millionth trip north! This move is nothing but a sad appeasement, and will only serve to dilute the effect.

I am not a social media expert, so I won’t presume to lecture on “living inside the fishbowl” and
how the converted need to find a way to get the rest of the people who should know better to change
the way they do things. There are people who do this very well, and that brings me to my request of
the CBC. Before you make any more mistakes that will cost you more of your previously captive
audience to three things:

• Start following what Joseph Jaffe has to say. Read his books, read his blog, listen to his
  podcasts, pay for him to visit!
• Read Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail. The market is becoming MORE fragmented toward niche interests, not getting hungry for a one-size fits all program.

• Call fellow Canadian, Mitch Joel at Twist Image. He’s been interviewed by the CBC before
  so you have his number! Mitch is a listener of Search Engine, and I’m sure will miss the
  show as much as the rest of us. He gets it. Hire him.

Naming drinks after performance fuel additives? Why the hell not name it “Shell Super Clean Gasoline Energy Drink”, or “Quaker State All Natural Health Product”?! Or, more to the point, just call it “TEENAGE BOY IDENTITY GENERATOR”!

Perhaps I’m getting old, but this is the stupidest energy drink I’ve seen yet. If the obnoxious 650ml size isn’t obnoxious enough for you, then I’m sure the obnoxious metallic blue and orange colors will satisfy! No? Then how ’bout the shiny “CAUTION: POWERFUL” label with the yellow warning sign that would typically advise of something like “Yield”, but instead has…flames? How tough can a passion fruit beverage really be?

The energy drink market is already packed full with pseudo-aggressively named products that have come after Red Bull like Monster, Burn, Amp, Cocaine, and of course, the generic Red (insert just about any noun you can think of here). Check out energyfiend.com for a list of some.
Coca-Cola already had its very successful Full Throttle, and Rockstar products, but clearly more was needed. The existence of NOS Energy Drink indicates critical mass, I hope. Then again, just because the stuff tastes like ass to a 30 year old doesn’t mean it isn’t doing what it’s supposed to. It is. The drink is hugely popular with young adults and distribution levels were hit so fast in a way only Coca-Cola or Pepsi could do.

MarketingSmartass.com is a brand new blog where I will be expressing my thoughts, frustrations, inspirations, etc. on whatever aspects of marketing I happen to be struck by.  That’s the beauty of blogging:  I can say whatever the hell I want, however I want!  Of course, no one has to visit the site, or read anything at all either, which creates somewhat of a conundrum if all you want to do is rant and rave in a way no one can respect about things no one cares about…

So, that said, I will be using this blog as a soap box of sorts; a bright orange and yellow Tide soap box to be exact!  Ok, perhaps not exactly, but I will be stating my case, both for and against, a range of marketing activities I see in the world.  Sometimes I’ll have, what I hope, will be a fresh and inspired perspective that will facilitate a great discussion.   Other times, in fact most of the time, I will be venting my outrages over how terrible MOST advertising I see is in true smartass fashion!  This is NOT an anti-advertising site.  I dearly love marketing and am I life-long student, which is why I’m doing this in the first place.

Please bear with me because this will be a work in progress.  The technical details of getting the visuals of the site are one thing I’m working on, but more importantly; what I have to say, and crucially, what other people have to say about that, will take time to develop.  The beautiful thing about that?  No one will have any idea this site even exists, let alone feel compelled to read it or indeed comment on it for some time yet!  Thanks, and stay tuned!