B(abble)log - Archives
Three words:
Oh.
My.
GAWD.
Stumble It! |
Save to del.icio.us | 
After ranting and raving about the new(ish) Volkswagen ads, I headed over to the official Web site to check out the deal over there. Snore. Very grey/light blue/drab. A little bit of Flash animation to show key areas of the car... Hey, if you are going to use Flash, use it a little more dynamically than pointing out where the sunroof is located!
But the thing that really caught me as odd is the two microsite campaigns showcased on the vw.com site - the V-dub Rocks and the Eos Tarot campaigns. My mathematical abilities have never been outstanding, but I would venture out on a limb to say that approximately 80% of the VW homepage leads the visitor to other VW microsites, primarily the V-dubs Rock campaign. Wow.
So, here's the lowdown: VW is giving away a "GarageMaster" guitar made by FirstAct with every new Rabbit, Jetta, VW Beetle and GTI sold on or before December 31, 2006. (U.S. only) But the kicker of the whole thing is that they plug into VW's auxiliary audio input; yes, from the people that brought you television commercials featuring realistic car crashes comes vehicles with guitars meant to be plugged into the dash.
Some rock celebs have even signed on - Slash, John Mayer, Dweezil Zappa and Christopher Guest as Spinal Tap's Nigel Tufnel.
Perhaps it's me, and I'm not seeing the big picture...but I don't get it. If the target market were 13 to 24 year-old boys, perhaps. (But do you think they know who Nigel Tufnel is?)
The other campaign is the Eos Tarot site. I must admit I had a lot of fun there. Asked some questions, and got a "reading" from the tarot card reader who sounds like she's in a busy restaurant or bar. It's fun. It's groovy. I might even pass it along to some friends. And yes, there is a link to information about the new Eos car...but let's face it, is it on-message and on-brand? No.
Regardless of the success or failure of these two campaigns, it's VW's decision to devote approximately 80% of their homepage real estate to redirecting visitors elsewhere that boggles my mind... Crikey!!
Verdict: VW Web Site Grade: D-
 Volkswagen ads, I headed over to the official Web site to check out…&topic=Advertising){kind=small}
It's 6:00ish. I've called it a day. For a little diversion I turn on the television to catch some news and once again see the Passat ad that shows two women talking when suddenly they are sideswiped by another vehicle. And it made me realize why Crispin Porter + Bogusky is one of the most amazingly talented agencies today.
Volkswagen started running the "crash ads" last spring for Jetta, so I'm sure you've seen one of the many variations of the same theme. The ads, with the tagline "Safe happens." were designed to promote Jetta's top scores in federal crash tests. And, for anyone who has ever been in an accident (and even those of us who haven't) it is a stunning reminder of how sudden and jolting car crashes can be. When the ads first came out there was a lot of hubub about whether or not traumatizing your target market was a good idea... as well as debates about whether or not you remember the crash but not the brand.
It was a really fresh approach to branding Jetta's safety message in such a compelling way that it got its younger market sitting up and paying attention. Crispin Porter + Bogusky have done such a great job that the old Jetta ads have been completely forgotten. If you are one of the few who can remember "Drivers wanted", it now seems a little staid and traditional: a catchy musical riff, high-speed cars roaring around the desert.
And it's the impact (literally and figuratively) that causes me jump every single time. Tonight was no different. But what makes the ads so clever-clever is how bold they are. The two women in the Passat are talking about the Jetta commercial when the accident happens. Can you imagine a Toyota Corolla ad where the actors talk about the Toyota Echo?? Not bloody likely.
And it just seems to make sense. The conversation is real and not out of place.
Brilliant. Perfectly brilliant.
Not that I follow what's happening on the air guitar scene...(And, honestly, I'm just thrilled to be able to string those three words together!) but about a year ago some Finnish scientists developed some computer vision software that could interpret frenetic air strumming. I would imagine from a marketing side of things, because the air guitarists had to don bright yellow gloves, it was a hard sell. I believe Iron Maiden bandanas and studded belts clash with yellow hi-tech washing-up gloves.
Yet, technology marches on and today another air guitar article caught my eye. Reuters is reporting that there is now a t-shirt that can interpret the passion of the air guitar and uses guitar audio samples to relay the air guitarist's gestures.
One of the lead engineers, Richard Helmer, is quoted as saying: "The technology, which is adaptable to almost any kind of apparel, takes clothing beyond its traditional role of protection and fashion into the realms of entertainment"
(On a side note, Richard needs to brush up on the apparel industry - fashion is already in the realm of entertainment. And "traditional role of protection"?? Whaaa? But I digress...)
Well, doesn't that just go and take the fun out of things. What is air guitar's greatest power? Why the Power of Imagination, of course! When that's gone, really what's the purpose of "whalin' to Halen"? To hear synthetic audio samples? I think not.
Air guitar is for every guy --and gal-- that has ever had a dream. And this t-shirt is a dream-crusher.
It's also an example of Marketing Commandment #1: Know Thy Market. In the air guitar sector, art and imagination merge to live out the rock 'n' roll dream.
If it doesn't resonate with the authentic audience, it ain't gonna sell.
I came across this bit of sage advice on one of the many SEO forum boards.
Splash Page Optimization 101
Step 1: Get rid of the splash page.
Step 2: See Step 1.
Hats off to Smith Roberts Creative Communications for a clever new campaign for The United Church that is guaranteed to grab a few eyeballs! The campaign comprises a mostly-fabulous Web site (more about that later) and some wonderfully provocative print ads designed to get tongues wagging. Great work!
The Web site -- Wondercafe.ca -- features the EZ Answer Squirrel, a squirrel that answers a series of theological questions like ''Does God hate me because I'm gay?'' by nibbling on an acorn that lights up a ''Yes'' or ''No'' light bulb.
There's a lot to love about the site. It's highly appealing to the 30 to 45 demographic that the church is trying to lure back to the flock. There are polls, guest speakers, invitations to join topical and theological discussions, and a showcase of the controversial ads. However, it's missing the mandatory "email-a-friend" tool on the ads...and something far, far worse...the site is in frames.
Blasphemy!!
Dear God -- or EZ Answer Squirrel, I'm not picky -- why would they do that?
The About Us section of Wondercafe.ca says:
Why did we open WonderCafe? Because at The United Church of Canada, we love open-minded discussion on issues that matter to you. And because we believe that it’s important to have a place at which you can explore your spirituality and life’s big questions on your own terms.
Well, that's just grand. But if having a place to discuss issues is so important to them, don't you think they would afford me the courtesy of being able to bookmark these forums in which I can explore life's big questions?
If these discourses on religion, spirituality and life might provide insight and answers to others, wouldn't it be lovely if the search engines could crawl the site and index these records for future seekers?
Of course the site looks nice. There's no dispute there. But it should be more than a pretty cover. Every site should be attractive, usable and search engine friendly. Is that too much to ask?
Are you there, EZ Answer Squirrel? It's me, Charlotte.
We've all done it: sent something out with a typo. Fingers flying, we write "you" instead of "your" (my Achilles' heel!) or use "that" when we actually mean "which." It happens to the best of us.
Here are a few tips for catching typos!
Don't trust your spell checker! There are hundreds --thousands!-- of words that it can miss. Spell checkers as well as grammar checkers, are handy tools but they do not understand context. If you don't believe me, cut and paste this handy poem into a Word document:
I halve a spelling checker,
It came with my pea see.
It plainly marks four my revue
Mistakes I dew knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait aweigh.
As soon as a mist aches is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the era rite
It's rarely ever wrong.
I've scent this massage threw it,
And I'm shore you're pleased too no
Its letter prefect in every weigh;
My checker tolled me sew.
Read every word out loud. This forces you to concentrate on a word-by-word basis, as the human eye all too often compensates for missing words and punctuation. It also allows you to hear your writing. This is the ultimate test of good writing - how it sounds when spoken!
Start from the last sentence and work backwards. If you need something to go out error-free, start with the last sentence and work backwords sentence-by-sentence. This will allow you to look at the individual syntax of each sentence outside of the context of content.
In an effort to tap into an estimated $1 billion food & beverage industry, Yahoo launched "Yahoo! Food", a new online food network yesterday. The new site combines content from celebrity chefs, a searchable recipe database and personalization features, as well as a built-in user community around the topic of food.
The official press release states, "Yahoo! Food gives advertisers and marketers, such as Masterfoods USA and LendingTree.com, the opportunity to reach its key consumers in a vibrant and active online community."
So, while I'm not a huge advocate of sponsored links, it is a great opportunity for food-related business owners.
Yahoo is working hard to pick up the bottomline, and this may help.
SEO Resources
B(abble)log
Art & Life
Search!
Stuff
Categories
Advertising
Art
Blogging
Branding
Copywriting
Creativity
Email
Five Questions
Fun Stuff
Make the Frames Stop
Marketing
Online Content
Personal
Photography
Random Thoughts
Search
Selling
SEO
Tips
Usability
Visual Things
Web 2.0
Words
Archives
August 2010
July 2010
March 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
September 2009
August 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
Meta
Web Site Design | Search Engine Optimization | Portfolio | Etc.| Contact