Recession/Depression? Get Real.

USA TODAY had a e-article about how marketers are using ads to remind customers of their longevity.

A quote in the article from a brand consultant, set me off. The article said, and I quote the expert: ... touting still being in business smacks of desperation. "(The) consumer has been brought up now in a fast-moving age. People are looking for things that are up to date. There's no good way to say, 'We've been doing this for 150 years.' Heritage is fine, but people are not buying Coach because it is old."

On top of that, viewer's comments about the article ranged from flippancy ... "Of course there are always comic books and movies to demo(n)strate your longevity"... to rants..."What ALLSTATE should be saying is that you are in "good hands" AS LONG AS YOU DO NOT HAVE A LEGITIMATE CLAIM."

A Time For Confidence Building

In a time when a rampant lack of confidence permeates our daily living, it can be reassuring to know that there were some companies that did survive the tough times of the Great Depression.

I think Allstate's ads really hit home. Perhaps it is because, having been born in 1941, I experienced first-hand how the Great Depression and World War II forced frugality into the psyche of my parents and grandparents. And then I experienced, as well, the fast climb out inpost-war America.

The survivors of the Great Depression were indelibly affected by those times, opting to sacrifice many things so their children and grandchildren could have more than they did.

As I view today's economic crisis, it is patently clear that we are no where near the suffering experienced during Depression times. Without denigrating the pain many are going through at this time, it is still most telling to see on TV news the picture of a young man in a "soup kitchen" taking a picture of Michelle Obama with his cell phone. How does he afford a cell phone?

Let's get real.

What Will Happen Now?

What will happen now?
I’m mentally exhausted by the election.
The drone of endless commercials, Internet accusations, polling phone calls, media surveys, yard signs, billboards, mailings, the incessant bias of television news and so-called entertainment programs, comedians cum-political analysts, talk radio.
I have, at this time, only two world-view views.
1. It’s time to suck it up and be Americans again. Not partisans. Not Democrat. Not Republican. Americans. Americans who don’t spout venomous hatred like that spewed for eight years because of some perceived hanging chads, but good ol’ Americans who rally ‘round the new president to make sure we remain the finest nation in the world. Loyal until proven incompetent.
2. In this economic crisis, marketers need to get their act together by changing their act. What worked yesterday doesn’t work today. Confidence is now the product and service. Confidence in the day. Confidence in our capitalistic system. Confidence in our ability to rise above the patent greed of the financial system. Confidence that well-intentioned Americans will, once again, rise to the occasion to build a better day.
What will happen now? Only the inimitable American spirit, innovation and ingenuity will tell. Do we still have it?

GLUT BLOCK

I was pointedly forewarned that writing a blog requires a tremendous time commitment and discipline. Admittedly I have the first one and less of the latter. Discipline has never been my strong suit. Perseverance yes. Discipline no.

This bit of introspection notwithstanding, lack of discipline is not totally what has kept me from posting to the blog since June. The real bane of my reticence is that there is so much to write about. I have caught a case of “glut block.”

“Growing Pains” (GP) mostly is about the marketing/advertising world. Something I know a lot about. Trouble is a glut of change is gripping the marketing world. It’s getting difficult to decipher the hype and the mixed messages of a world moving at warp speed so as to deliver a cogent commentary. There’s just too much to talk about.

In my file I have started 18 different blog postings. I counted them. Almost all are observations in one way or another that mark a rudderless marketing ship tossed by the seas of change, the winds of new media fads and technology navigation mistakes. The marketing world has…well…jumped ship.

In not so future postings, I will get back into the swim of things (OK…I’ll stop trying to be puny) with observations that hopefully will spur you to dialogue on (here we go again) the state of the marketing ships of state.’’

Now I've got to get a gut check on my glut block.

I’m outa here …until next time.

On Account Of ...

Ad agency account people are in crisis. And they may not know it. And neither does their management.

On account of...many advertising agencies don’t have any particular philosophy for handling their accounts; a way of doing things. More importantly, helping young, inexperienced account people in the ways of building relationships.

On account of...voice mail and email, the personality and person-ability of the account/client relationships has been lost. Or certainly lessened.

On account of...many advertising agencies allow the client’s needs and demands to set the standards for behavior, performance and respect.

On account of...an account executive’s role on one account lacks similarities and cohesiveness to another account person’s role on another agency account. When did we take the "cross" out of cross training?

On account of...account executives in “creative” shops are mere delivery people and in account planning centric shops, the same…or less.

On account of...client service directors at agencies are “fire extinguishers” putting out potential client firings instead of leading and guiding their account people.

On account of...the business has changed so dramatically over a few short years that one can find a full range of shadings and meanings on what account service is all about.

And so, as agencies are commoditized, the once indispensable account person has become expendable.

Or is he/she needed more now than ever?

Where Have All The "Rock Stars" Gone?

Oh, where have you gone, Bill Bernbach,
Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you…

Had an interesting conversation recently with the president of a large advertising agency. We were talking about the Dallas Advertising League’s AdRoast®, a wonderful event that has contributed more than $200,000 to the DREAM Fund through the Dallas Advertising League Foundation. She offered that there are few advertising “rock stars” left for us to roast.

I suspect so. Like Simon and Garfunkel’s song (modified by me to fit this occasion)…they’ve all left and gone away, hey hey hey!

And why?

Perhaps it has something to do with the commoditization of the advertising agency business. Have the mega agencies and their siblings homogenized the living advertising legends, too? Milking the profits from their units, but also the personalities?

That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of strong, passionate voices out there. Good leaders. Creative marketers. Intrepid spirits. No sir, this business demands those kinds. Maybe it’s because they no longer have their own agency platform from which to speak out? Perhaps when you become an Omnicom, or a IPG or a WPP, you not only lose your independence, but lose your voice, too?

Can’t say. Never been there. But I do wonder.

Green With Envy

I vowed I wouldn’t get political when I started this Blog. For those of you who know me, that is a very difficult task. Growing Pains is meant to be commentary on how to grow a business, about sound business strategies, keen marketing practices, and creative advertising.

King’s “X.” I take back my vow. At least this one time. Because I am turning green at the gills over the ridiculous furor associated with the eco-green “movement.” From both sides. It’s time to get real. To the point. Pointed toward common sense.

Common sense tells you it is good to:
Recycle. Reuse that which can be reused.
Breath clean air.
Drink clean water.

But at what price?

I’m green with envy over those “experts” on both sides of the issue who can be so cock-sure of their positions that they don’t and won’t listen to the way they talk about the issue, much less listen to opposing opinions. Claiming the high ground when it comes to Planet Earth (and that goes for the hypocritical Gores with their electricity-eating house and the scoffing-Limbaughs who think they have all the answers) makes them high "claim drifters" because they miss the golden point.

We can’t throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water. Any one with common sense knows it is good to guard our natural resources. That same common sense also says we can’t stop economic progress dead in its tracks.

We can’t dead stop driving cars. Quit heating our homes. Or even completely eliminate dumping into the water supply. Yet it doesn’t give us carte blanche permission to keep doing it without thinking of ways to improve our actions so that we improve our environment.

Listening is a skill that both sides could use.

There is a common sense common ground. Let’s meet there. It will be good for business.

Beware of false prophets (profits?)

I finally got around to responding to Larry's comments and I DO believe they need a response. (See Larry's comments in the previous posting about Wal-Mart.) So much so that I felt that it needed to be in a new posting format instead of a comment.

In particular, Larry, I wanted to reply to your comments about GSDM's opportunties to reshape marketing at Wal-Mart. That assumes it needed reshaping in the first place. Personally, I doubt it. Wal-Mart is what it is and it has been the best at what it is: A get-whatever-you-need at a low, low price store for lower to middle incomed people.

And I believe that much of the proof in that pudding is, for example, their ill-fated venture with Metro 7 clothing, aimed at upscale shoppers. Followed by that teen social networking thing called "The Hub," which absolutely bombed. Come on, just how cool is it for teens to gather at a My Space knock-off that's trying to sell Wal Mart stuff to them?

Which all goes to say that GSDM, in my opinion, held faithful to the brand's position, while Wal Mart management went off the deep end trying to be something they are not.

It may be unfair and seem like "piling on," but I can't but help wonder if those obtuse changes in the Wal Mart vision were products of the now-fired Julie Roehm and her assistant and alleged lover. I don't know that for sure... but the changes did seem to come about that time.

In marketing, resist false prophets (profits?).