I love how this spot plays off the emotional bond that we tend to form to our cars. It's interesting how we often tie years worth of memories with the vehicles that were a part of our lives at that time.
I also enjoyed the personification of the car by relating it back to this guy's "first (human) love":
Friday, May 27, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Step One: A Valid Product
What is the fastest way to put a company with a bad product out of business? This is not a trick question, but one that we often ask at the beginning of a strategy session with our clients. The answers elicited are interesting, all over the board and usually wrong. The fastest way to put a company with a bad product out of business is with a GREAT advertising program.
Think about it… especially in this time of horizontal communication - peer-to-peer. You dump a bad movie on the market and it is DOA (think Gigli - the movie - opened to a huge box office on Thursday night and was dead by Sunday). That is the power of peer-to-peer communication.
So, “What is a valid product?” While that may seem like a silly question, it is the most important question and should be asked at the beginning of your marketing process. When you think about it, there have been thousands of products launched that failed and billions of dollars lost because of the fit and timeliness of their product in relationship to the marketplace.
I want to demonstrate what I think is one of the best examples of a product that was not valid - at least when it was originally introduced. It may be valid today, but was, I think, launched way before its time; hence, my contention is that it was not a valid product. Now this is personal story that I also think is very funny.
For those of you old enough to remember this… enjoy. For those who aren't old enough to remember this time of explosive consumerism, well, imagine the story as it relates to your life and time.
It was Christmas 1975 and I'd been married to my beautiful wife (now of 35 years) since June. Our little apartment was adorned with all form of "eclectic" Christmas decorations. We had a nice big live Blue Spruce Christmas tree that practically filled our entire living room. I was quite certain that this was going to be the best Christmas since I got my big 20-inch Schwinn Deluxe bicycle when I was eight. Laden with the naïveté of a 23-year old newlywed and empowered by a MasterCard with a $500 credit limit, I set about to select the "perfect gift" for my beautiful future mother of my children.
We were so inexperienced. Looking back, neither of us had ever really lived on our own. We both had moved from our parent’s homes to college dorms. And maybe a parent-subsidized apartment after that. Not a lot of life experience there. It is that youthful inexperience that makes this story relevant as it relates to the relationship between marketing, advertising and a valid product. At least it does for me.
So join me on my first Christmas shopping excursion as a married man, and as I walk through the big double doors of this huge new store in our neighborhood called Target. On I-10 at Bunker Hill, this store was unlike anything that we’d ever really seen. It wasn’t really a department store - it was different from any store that we’d ever seen before. Using display tactics co-opted from grocery stores, the smart people at Target used the area right inside the front door to display a huge stack of this years “must have” gift. Yes, it was, As Seen On TV, and I like millions of other men, young and old, fell victim to the allure.
All in the name of making my wife a happy woman, not being able to afford diamonds or jewelry at this point in my life of 6 months as a married man, I was persuaded (by advertising) to make the near fatal mistake of buying a very personal gift for my wife with an electrical cord attached to it. Dumb! Dumb! Dumb!
Enthralled with my luck that I found this must-have heavily advertised product, I quickly snatched up the first one I could get my hands on and put it in my shopping cart (see I told you this store was different – stores that sold clothes, small appliances, auto parts, sporting goods, toys and other such things did not use shopping carts!). As I began to look around, virtually every man in Target had this year’s version of the “Pet Rock” in his possession. I was proud and the validity of my purchase was reinforced by other dumb men.
After checking out, I quickly hid the gift in my trunk. No way I was going to let her find out what she was getting. Boy was she going to be surprised. I would later wrap it at my office, which was followed by a strutting production of bringing “The Gift” home and placing it under the tree. This ritual might have been akin to the mating dance of a male peacock… quite dramatic. Has anyone ever heard the old saying that “Pride goeth before a fall”? It was during this time that I learned about the false and fleeting “joy of giving”. All of my joy and glee would soon be dashed by the sheer horror that was about to befall my newly established household.
Fast-forward to Christmas morning, our first together as husband and wife. All the gifts have been loaded into the trunk of the car and we made the trek to her father’s house where my then “skeptical of me” brother-in-law, wife’s sister, father and and variety of other family, friends and people whom I barely knew had gathered. The celebration began. There were lots of presents, but each person got that special present. When it came time to present my bride with her special present, I proudly presented it to her and anxiously waited as she opened it. Out of the box, all of the men nodded their approval of my fine selection. The women actually seemed impressed that I was able to snag the “gift of the year”, and my wife, although not impressed that there was an electrical cord attached, seemed to like it, (seemed – actually, I now believe that she was very polite). Whew!
It wasn’t until we returned home that I discovered the horror of giving my young bride a high speed electrical motor with a high-tinsel stainless steel coiled spring attached that turned at approximately 20,000 rpms. Yes, that’s right, I gave her an Epilady. That unique little, high tech little “hand-tool” designed to replace shaving by RIPPING YOUR HAIR OUT! Quietly, (that was later punctured by the sound of a man screaming), one Saturday morning I learned why my wife not only hated the gift I had given her, but wanted to share the joy of Epilady with me…just so I would have a full appreciation of her idea of a bad gift. It’s true; I woke up to the joy of a fully functioning Epilady “Eping” the hair right out of my leg.
That afternoon, I gingerly walked back in to our new Target, where apparently along with millions of other men, I returned my wife’s gift for a full refund, a gift certificate and a bouquet of “forgive-me” flowers.
I think it was March that I read that the company that manufactured Epilady was going out of business.
So how do you go from the “next big thing” to out of business inside of a year? With a poorly researched and positioned product and a GREAT advertising program.
You see, Epilady was never marketed to women. It was marketed to men. And it worked. The ads featured racy, beautiful women cooing about how smooth and perfect their legs were. How “Epi-hair removal” needed much less maintenance than shaving or that nasty chemical called Nair. I mean after all, what man didn’t want to never again feel the prickly stubble of our wives “covered in stockings” legs. Yes, those stockings did cover several days’ growth with beautiful nylon.
So, back to the marketing part of this. How important is a valid product? Very important. The failure to properly test the acceptance of this product against its target consumer was a huge mistake. The success of an advertising program targeted to the Neanderthal instincts of men, promising all the joys and benefits that we dream of when we give our lovely mates that “perfect gift” was amazing. The backlash, product return rate and eventual bankruptcy of the company are evidence that a valid product does in fact matter. I believe that the Epilady fulfilled its promise of effective hair removal. I also believe that it was a product well before it’s time. As I recall, there were no businesses providing, or real demand for, the services of waxing, laser hair removal or any other such self-indulgent procedures.
Marketing touches every phase of your company. From the way you answer your phone to how you manage your product in the market. If your goal is to be in business for the long haul, you will be well served to make certain that your product is conceived and created to satisfy the needs and ideals of your target... oh, and you better know who your real target is, (or is that overstating the obvious?).
If your goal is to be a hit-and-run company, (and there are many out there today), then employ the Epilady model. Just remember to close your doors, go out of business and change your name before you are exposed. On the other hand, if you hope to be around and prosperous five years from now, please refer to Step 1.
Step 1. Make certain that you have a VALID PRODUCT – from your customers’ point of view.
Next month, Step 2. Exactly who is my target (correct) consumer?
Think about it… especially in this time of horizontal communication - peer-to-peer. You dump a bad movie on the market and it is DOA (think Gigli - the movie - opened to a huge box office on Thursday night and was dead by Sunday). That is the power of peer-to-peer communication.
So, “What is a valid product?” While that may seem like a silly question, it is the most important question and should be asked at the beginning of your marketing process. When you think about it, there have been thousands of products launched that failed and billions of dollars lost because of the fit and timeliness of their product in relationship to the marketplace.
I want to demonstrate what I think is one of the best examples of a product that was not valid - at least when it was originally introduced. It may be valid today, but was, I think, launched way before its time; hence, my contention is that it was not a valid product. Now this is personal story that I also think is very funny.
For those of you old enough to remember this… enjoy. For those who aren't old enough to remember this time of explosive consumerism, well, imagine the story as it relates to your life and time.
It was Christmas 1975 and I'd been married to my beautiful wife (now of 35 years) since June. Our little apartment was adorned with all form of "eclectic" Christmas decorations. We had a nice big live Blue Spruce Christmas tree that practically filled our entire living room. I was quite certain that this was going to be the best Christmas since I got my big 20-inch Schwinn Deluxe bicycle when I was eight. Laden with the naïveté of a 23-year old newlywed and empowered by a MasterCard with a $500 credit limit, I set about to select the "perfect gift" for my beautiful future mother of my children.
We were so inexperienced. Looking back, neither of us had ever really lived on our own. We both had moved from our parent’s homes to college dorms. And maybe a parent-subsidized apartment after that. Not a lot of life experience there. It is that youthful inexperience that makes this story relevant as it relates to the relationship between marketing, advertising and a valid product. At least it does for me.
So join me on my first Christmas shopping excursion as a married man, and as I walk through the big double doors of this huge new store in our neighborhood called Target. On I-10 at Bunker Hill, this store was unlike anything that we’d ever really seen. It wasn’t really a department store - it was different from any store that we’d ever seen before. Using display tactics co-opted from grocery stores, the smart people at Target used the area right inside the front door to display a huge stack of this years “must have” gift. Yes, it was, As Seen On TV, and I like millions of other men, young and old, fell victim to the allure.
All in the name of making my wife a happy woman, not being able to afford diamonds or jewelry at this point in my life of 6 months as a married man, I was persuaded (by advertising) to make the near fatal mistake of buying a very personal gift for my wife with an electrical cord attached to it. Dumb! Dumb! Dumb!
Enthralled with my luck that I found this must-have heavily advertised product, I quickly snatched up the first one I could get my hands on and put it in my shopping cart (see I told you this store was different – stores that sold clothes, small appliances, auto parts, sporting goods, toys and other such things did not use shopping carts!). As I began to look around, virtually every man in Target had this year’s version of the “Pet Rock” in his possession. I was proud and the validity of my purchase was reinforced by other dumb men.
After checking out, I quickly hid the gift in my trunk. No way I was going to let her find out what she was getting. Boy was she going to be surprised. I would later wrap it at my office, which was followed by a strutting production of bringing “The Gift” home and placing it under the tree. This ritual might have been akin to the mating dance of a male peacock… quite dramatic. Has anyone ever heard the old saying that “Pride goeth before a fall”? It was during this time that I learned about the false and fleeting “joy of giving”. All of my joy and glee would soon be dashed by the sheer horror that was about to befall my newly established household.
Fast-forward to Christmas morning, our first together as husband and wife. All the gifts have been loaded into the trunk of the car and we made the trek to her father’s house where my then “skeptical of me” brother-in-law, wife’s sister, father and and variety of other family, friends and people whom I barely knew had gathered. The celebration began. There were lots of presents, but each person got that special present. When it came time to present my bride with her special present, I proudly presented it to her and anxiously waited as she opened it. Out of the box, all of the men nodded their approval of my fine selection. The women actually seemed impressed that I was able to snag the “gift of the year”, and my wife, although not impressed that there was an electrical cord attached, seemed to like it, (seemed – actually, I now believe that she was very polite). Whew!
It wasn’t until we returned home that I discovered the horror of giving my young bride a high speed electrical motor with a high-tinsel stainless steel coiled spring attached that turned at approximately 20,000 rpms. Yes, that’s right, I gave her an Epilady. That unique little, high tech little “hand-tool” designed to replace shaving by RIPPING YOUR HAIR OUT! Quietly, (that was later punctured by the sound of a man screaming), one Saturday morning I learned why my wife not only hated the gift I had given her, but wanted to share the joy of Epilady with me…just so I would have a full appreciation of her idea of a bad gift. It’s true; I woke up to the joy of a fully functioning Epilady “Eping” the hair right out of my leg.
That afternoon, I gingerly walked back in to our new Target, where apparently along with millions of other men, I returned my wife’s gift for a full refund, a gift certificate and a bouquet of “forgive-me” flowers.
I think it was March that I read that the company that manufactured Epilady was going out of business.
So how do you go from the “next big thing” to out of business inside of a year? With a poorly researched and positioned product and a GREAT advertising program.
You see, Epilady was never marketed to women. It was marketed to men. And it worked. The ads featured racy, beautiful women cooing about how smooth and perfect their legs were. How “Epi-hair removal” needed much less maintenance than shaving or that nasty chemical called Nair. I mean after all, what man didn’t want to never again feel the prickly stubble of our wives “covered in stockings” legs. Yes, those stockings did cover several days’ growth with beautiful nylon.
So, back to the marketing part of this. How important is a valid product? Very important. The failure to properly test the acceptance of this product against its target consumer was a huge mistake. The success of an advertising program targeted to the Neanderthal instincts of men, promising all the joys and benefits that we dream of when we give our lovely mates that “perfect gift” was amazing. The backlash, product return rate and eventual bankruptcy of the company are evidence that a valid product does in fact matter. I believe that the Epilady fulfilled its promise of effective hair removal. I also believe that it was a product well before it’s time. As I recall, there were no businesses providing, or real demand for, the services of waxing, laser hair removal or any other such self-indulgent procedures.
Marketing touches every phase of your company. From the way you answer your phone to how you manage your product in the market. If your goal is to be in business for the long haul, you will be well served to make certain that your product is conceived and created to satisfy the needs and ideals of your target... oh, and you better know who your real target is, (or is that overstating the obvious?).
If your goal is to be a hit-and-run company, (and there are many out there today), then employ the Epilady model. Just remember to close your doors, go out of business and change your name before you are exposed. On the other hand, if you hope to be around and prosperous five years from now, please refer to Step 1.
Step 1. Make certain that you have a VALID PRODUCT – from your customers’ point of view.
Next month, Step 2. Exactly who is my target (correct) consumer?
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