November 6, 2009

7-ELEVEN TO LAUNCH IN-HOUSE BRAND OF WINE

Tags: big gulp, burritos, buzz, cheap wine, half the fun, house brand, joke, Marketing, microwave, munchies, pun, revenue stream, stock, thunderbird, yosemite

MB Crash TEst

Excellent!
Insert Thunderbird joke here _____________.
Insert Mad Dog 20/20 joke here _____________.

All right. Now that that's out of the way, let me just say, it's about time! What a brilliant revenue stream. You buy cheap wine from 7-Eleven, and when you get the munchies, go back and stock up on microwave burritos.

Although I think they messed up one part - the name. The wine is called Yosemite Road. To me, Yosemite Road sounds like every other winery out there.

To me, half the fun would be arriving at a party with a bottle of Slurrrper(R) or The Really Big Gulp(R), or some other franchised name. People would ask, "Where did you get that? 7-Eleven?" And that's how the marketing buzz begins.

Pun intended.

Read more here

- Marisa LaVallee
Strategic Coordinator

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October 20, 2009

_DESPERATION MARKETING - OUR CARS WON'T KILL YOU

Tags: brand message, brand messages, consumers, desperation, luxury car sales, luxury cars, mcdonald, Mercedes, quot, tagline, volvo

MB Crash TEst

In efforts to combat flagging luxury car sales, Mercedes has decided to flag a different aspect of their brand: Safety.

Huh??!!

What's next, Volvo's going to counter their slipping sales with a new campaign featuring their performance?

I suppose their reasoning is that people already know M-B makes great luxury cars, so they wanted to tout something else.

Let me tell you something. The reason everyone knows M-B makes the best luxury cars is because their advertising has reinforced it all these years. Keep this up, and people won't even know what M-B stands for. Luxury? Safety? Low monthly payments?

Remember, once you have your brand message, don't depart from it! Even though you've spend years hammering it out, and you're sick of it, the consumer is not. And when you change brand messages, trust me, consumers won't remember your old one, and your original investment is lost. Does anyone remember McDonald's tagline before "I'm lovin' it?" Thank you.

Watch the TV commercial.

- Robert West
Commander in Chief

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October 7, 2009

_AMERICA ISN'T EVIL - THEY JUST NEED A GOOD PR FIRM.

We need to remind the world about our standard of living. Our poorest people live better than most middle-class people in other countries. Put it this way - as a whole, our poor people have plenty to eat, have cable TV, own cars, and drive them on well-maintained roads. Their poor people work hard labor 18 hours a day, are hungry, sleep on the ground, poop in an outhouse (if they're lucky) and have a life expectancy 25 years less than ours.

map

I suppose we get a bad rap when it comes to wars. Sure, America has interests. When we fight to protect them, we're condemned. However, other countries are not. (China and Russia, we're talking to you). America has the kindest, politest foreign policy of any great power in history. Really. America saved the world from the horrific and murderous Italian Fascist, Soviet Nazi, and Soviet totalitarianism regimes. When we do win a war, unlike any other country, we do not annex their territory - we help rebuild it. For example, we destroyed Germany and Japan in World War II, yet spent billions to help rebuild them. North Vietnam's biggest mistake was winning a war against us, for today, they are a poor impoverished nation. Had we won, we would have helped rebuild and modernize them, and maybe, put in a government friendly to us. Oooh - bad America!!

How about this for a PR campaign - imagine the world without the United States - like the scene in Back to the Future when the nutty professor gets out of a Canadian car. Or we could show the whole world speaking German, living under a socialist regime.

Then again, it might be difficult - I'm doubt if TVs, radios, and the Internet could have been invented under a socialist regime.

- Francis George
Commander / Creative Ops

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September 29, 2009

_TOO MUCH DRINKING IN STARBUCK'S BRANDING DEPARTMENT

Tags: 50 cent, ad agency, cheap coffee, coffee breath, cup of coffee, decisions, executions, funny ads, instant coffee, Marketing, mbas, nbsp, new friends, screw, starbuck, starbucks, stockholders

When you've made your stockholders rich by selling $4 cups of coffee, surely your next move would be of a similar strategy?

Wrong-O, coffee breath.Starbucks is introducing INSTANT Coffee. So, Starbucks is now saying, "Hey! Instead of stopping here in the morning for a $4 cup of coffee, get up 5 minutes earlier and make a 50 cent cup of coffee at home.

"I'll let that sink in while I talk about the ad executions. In my opinion, well-executed and memorable. I can see the conversation between Starbucks and their ad agency - "Hey! We'd like to shoot ourselves in the foot - we need your help aiming!"

In my opinion, I think these funny ads are going to cause people to flock towards the cheap coffee, while store sales drop. I can't believe marketing MBAs with $120,000 degrees are making these decisions.

When your brand is associated as being expensive, yet you have a loyal following, don't screw it up. Introduce a new brand. Make new friends without offending the old ones. Because once you've lost your good name, that's it.

- Dwayne Fry
Commander / Creative Ops

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September 16, 2009

_WALT DISNEY RE-INVENTED THE MOUSE. THE EGG SEEMED LIKE A LOGICAL NEXT STEP._

Tags: Al Ries, branding, Disney, The Republik

For the last 40 years, Famous brander Al Ries has been pounding the idea that line extensions are a bad idea. Tell him you use Arm & Hammer toothpaste, and he'll give you a dirty look hot enough to ignite your Ralph Lauren Polo curtains.

And we believe him. We've seen lots of crashes from poorly-executed line extensions. (And please don't take away the cases and cases of Pepsi Max we got on sale at Costco). But Disney making eggs? Poor old Walt is probably turning in his liquid-nitrogen-filled cryonic chamber.

Then again, we kind of like the mouse-shaped eggs sunny-side up. It'll go great with our Acura orange juice.

video

Watch the TV commercial. Yum!

- Mike Randall
Captain: Strategic Ops

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August 28, 2009

_CAFFIENATED TPS REPORTS

Tags: coffee, Design, Green, ink, no ink, printer, republik, Technology

Fox news has discovered a green product, and its not cash. (heyo!) Seriously though, a korean man has developed a printer that prints with used coffee grounds or tea instead of ink. It is, however, completely manual, so you may want to forgo printing out that Deer Hunter Script and stick with a plane ticket or something.

Either way, it doesn't require electricity which may prove useful when 2012 comes and we need to print out our own death certificates for the coming apocalypse.

"But will it run on human blood?"
- David Avis, Creative Ops.

Read more here

Comments?

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August 6, 2009

_ON THE EIGHTH DAY…

Tags: energy, energy production, Innovation, saint, solar, statue

Italy plans on building a 200ft tall tatue of Padre Pio, a religious heavyweight canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002. This isn't that spectacular in itself, but what makes this statue a little more green than most in the vast papal realm, is the fact that it will have magical, god-like energy producing powers.

"The statue will be coated in a special photovoltaic paint which will enable it to trap the sun's heat and produce solar energy, making it an "ecological" religious icon."

I'm sure he could have done more, I say. {insert sarcasm here}

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August 4, 2009

_WHERE THERE'S A WILL…

Tags: Amit Goffer, Argo, Innovation, paralyzed, parapalegic, robotics

Israeli invention allows paraplegics to walk

Argo Medical Technologies in Haifa, Israel has developed a robotic exoskeleton that may give the gift of upright mobility to paraplegics. The brains behind the futuristic mechanical suit Amit Goffer, founder of Argo, was paralyzed himself in a traffic accident. The suit is strapped onto the legs and operated by a control box housed in a backpack worn by the user. At the push of a button, the user can stand up, begin walking while another button allows the user to sit down. Further experiments are planned in Europe and the United States.

Read more here.

Now if they could get Obama's cabinet nominees to pay their taxes, they'd be onto something.
-David Avis, Creative Ops.

Thoughts?

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June 23, 2009

_DARWINISM OF THE TONGUE

Tags: darwin, english, evolution, language, universtity of edinburgh

The Evolution of Speech

Some good people at the University of Edinburgh have made an understandably logical correlation between physical evolution and the theoretical evolution of linguistics. I decided to throw a couple of long college words in there to prove that this is indeed going on. Heck, twenty-five years ago, I was unable to use “theoretical” and “correlation” in the same sentence. I think there is merit to their studies. The interesting thing is that over time, these Shakespearian scientists should be able to predict how languages will evolve noting the patterns of its verbose past. Darwin would be proud, but then again, no one could tell him as we would be speaking English 4.5 by that time.

Read more here

Now does this mean writing will evolve? Explain:

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May 28, 2009

_CROWD SOURCING

Tags: crowd sourcing, energy, ideas, InnoCentive, issues, nerds

Finally, a Contest that Means Something

InnoCentive, a company that taps the world’s population for answers to specific problems, has thrived on what is being known as “crowd sourcing.” Crowd sourcing is asking a crowd (in this case the world) as question, and then reaping the benefits from the best answers. Averaging about one problem per business day, the results have solved issues from a solar approach to mosquito management to transportation efficiency. There are financial benefits to being the best nerd in the room too, proving that all good ideas are not free.

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November 6, 2009

7-ELEVEN TO LAUNCH IN-HOUSE BRAND OF WINE

_BOOKMARK THIS

October 20, 2009

_DESPERATION MARKETING - OUR CARS WON'T KILL YOU

_BOOKMARK THIS

October 7, 2009

_AMERICA ISN'T EVIL - THEY JUST NEED A GOOD PR FIRM.

_BOOKMARK THIS

September 29, 2009

_TOO MUCH DRINKING IN STARBUCK'S BRANDING DEPARTMENT

_BOOKMARK THIS

September 16, 2009

_WALT DISNEY RE-INVENTED THE MOUSE. THE EGG SEEMED LIKE A LOGICAL NEXT STEP._

_BOOKMARK THIS

August 28, 2009

_CAFFIENATED TPS REPORTS

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August 6, 2009

_ON THE EIGHTH DAY…

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August 4, 2009

_WHERE THERE'S A WILL…

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June 23, 2009

_DARWINISM OF THE TONGUE

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May 28, 2009

_CROWD SOURCING

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