Kibbe on Marketing: Jingles All the Way

As we are all painfully aware, holiday promotions begin even before the kids get their Halloween costumes on. Of course, those of us in the Northeast, our Halloween this year looked far more like Christmas that jack-o’-lantern time.

Here are some I found notable:

Funniest: Target’s Uber-Shopper – This woman is just hilarious! The character premiered last year I believe, so we saw her again on the weeks prior to Black Friday. The training Rambo-style for shopping, complete with the ‘80s sound track is destined to be a classic. The “Minute after Thanksgiving” and “Sabrina Soto in the Closet” spots are also laugh-out-loud funny.

Nastiest: Best Buy Shoppers Take on Santa – Best Buy shoppers out do Santa by purchasing their family’s “it” gift before he can deliver it. Then they stand there so smug on Christmas Eve. Santa’s a good sport for not turning them into a pile of snow. I must say, though the spots are definitely effective as they let potential shoppers know Best Buy has all the gifts under one roof, I feel sorry for Santa, not happy for the shoppers.

Most Effective: Lexus December to Remember Campaign – The folks at the luxury car company have made a perfect use out of their jingle (no pun intended), turning the simple melody into a cell ringtone, a music box, and a Guitar Hero song. Lexus elevated the importance the jingle, putting it front and center, bringing the branding into a cohesive whole. Alas, I’d be happy just to afford one of those ginormous car bows.

Honorable Mentions: I also love Chevy’s commercials with Santa  (Or are they really sad that the economy’s so bad “Nick” had to take a second gig looking for spiffs on selling cars?); Justin Bieber’s Black Friday Macy’s commercial with all the men screaming like Tweeners; and Ancestry.com’s Santa commercials – these are so funny, I’m not sure they’re real.

I’d love to hear which ones are your favorites, or favorite to hate!

We’ll be tucking in for a long winter’s nap, so Kibbe on Marketing will be back for the new year starting Jan. 9, 2012. Until then, have a Merry and Blessed Christmas, Love and Light on Hanukkah, and all the Peace of the Season and a Happy New Year!



Cindy Kibbe, an editor for a New England business publication for nearly a decade, can be reached at cindykibbe@comcast.net.

Kibbe on Marketing: Don’t Remind Me

I’ve noticed a very interesting commercial that’s been running lately. The Gulf States have put on some good old-fashioned co-branding touting the region as a wonderful destination to visit during winter vacation. The spot features feel-good shots of the legendary Southern hospitality, even more legendary food and lovely beaches all pitched to viewers by ebullient local business owners. The theme is “Best Season,” a mild play-on-words referring to the Gulf states have their best tourism season in years and the region being an ideal place for the holiday/winter season.

The Gulf region has some of the busiest working ports in the country as well as ecosystems so unique, they are found nowhere else in the world – so say nothing about the shrimp! My husband was lucky enough to visit Pensacola shortly after the spill and found its beaches pristine and the people delightful. His photos have me desperate for a trip there together soon.

I couldn’t be more thrilled that the Gulf Coast is making huge strides coming back from the British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster that took place in April 2010, during which 11 people lost their lives and the environment endured destruction that I seriously doubt parts of which will ever be able to fully recover. As part of BP’s multibillion-dollar Gulf clean-up response, it seeks to repair the damaged tourist economy.

The sad thing is the commercial spot isn’t put on by the states’ own economic and tourism development organizations – it is a BP ad, plain and simple. In fact, the last few seconds of the commercial features BP’s logo and the warm and fuzzy caption “Brought to you by BP” just to make sure viewers know this message wasn’t brought to you by the Gulf itself. Why didn’t BP just leave well enough alone and let the state’s use the money to sell themselves?

The commercial (actually, it’s one of several featuring the same spokespeople) isn’t so much working to repair a region and all it contains but a glitz piece to meant to repair BP’s social (and probably financial) capital. Furthermore, placing the BP logo at the end of the commercial only serves to bring us all right back to the disaster in the spring of 2010. If nothing else, leaving the BP logo off would have made the specter of the disaster much, much more subtle and the message of a vibrant regional economy that much clearer, playing to BP’s needs even better. Throwing “BP” in our faces only serves to remind us all of the disaster, not the incredible work the people of the Gulf have done to save the region.

If the ends justify the means, then I truly hope these ads will attract crowds to this beautiful and gracious part of our country.
Cindy Kibbe, an editor for a New England business publication for nearly a decade, can be reached at cindykibbe@comcast.net.

Kibbe on Marketing: The New Old New Coke

It was supposed to be the “Paws that Refreshes,” (my words as far as I know, not theirs) but instead it turned out to be another blunder that will go down in the annals of PR history.

In an admirable program to raise awareness for the plight of polar bears and their shrinking habitat (the ginormous white ursine beasts are also Coca-Cola’s holiday icons), Coca-Cola issued a limited-run Coke can, all frosty white with silver bears. The “Arctic Home” can campaign was supposed to run from October through February, and was expected to raise some $3 million for polar bear conservation. Sounds wonderful.

One small problem – Coca-Cola's top-selling beverage, Diet Coke, also has a can all frosty white and silver. Apparently consumers couldn’t tell the difference and grabbed the wrong flavor. Some cola drinkers even went so far as to say the Arctic Home Coke tasted different. I think that probably had more to do with psychology than gastronomy, but you never know.

Coca-Cola's marketing/design team really had a misstep here and completely failed to recognize their own product. I even have to admit the fault really isn’t so much that consumers can’t read the label, although some blame lands there, too. For years, companies have issued special packaging for the holidays, including Coke. I happen to enjoy the snowflakes myself. Therefore, it’s quite understandable some Diet Coke drinkers might have grabbed the white/silver can of full-sugar Arctic Coke and Regular Coke fans reached for traditional packaging, bypassing the bears altogether thinking they were holiday designs for Diet Coke.

One of the first and most basic steps in branding is to take a look at everything you have so far and study existing designs. New designs have to be evocative of existing ones or risk the alienation of customers and the loss of brand awareness. Oops!

Consumers really have to dig to find information about the new, new can, which is – lo and behold! – a red background with silvery bears like it should have been all along. Calling it "Phase II," Coca-Cola said, “People have told us they love the limited-edition white ‘Arctic Home’ Coca-Cola cans, and we know they love our iconic red cans, especially during the holidays.  So we're introducing the next limited-edition ‘Arctic Home’ can, which will still feature the same polar bears, but with our iconic red Coca-Cola background. “

The sad thing is, Coca-Cola was (and still is, I should add) doing a great thing. Coca-Cola is a multi billion-dollar company that can probably absorb the snafu. It’s a shame the funds they would have raised for polar bear conservation probably will not be able to shrug off the mistake as easily.

Read Coca-Cola’s statement on its “Arctic Home” campaign:
http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/dynamic/press_center/2011/12/coca-cola-continues-arctic-home-campaign-with-introduction-of-limited-edition-red-cans.html


Cindy Kibbe, an editor for a New England business publication for nearly a decade, can be reached at cindykibbe@comcast.net.