It's never to early to start.

Start shilling that is.

Snack food manufacturers in England are in the throes of what is termed "stealth marketing" to children. The premise is that the kids become brand ambassadors and perform specific tasks, from postering to commenting on social media to direct endorsements during recess. In return the kids get 25 quid, free food, prizes, social prestige, and the fun-filled sensation of childhood obesity. It's a win / win all around.

The idea of empowering the actual consumer of the products is nothing new, but when the consumer is easily influenced, and doesn't have the requisite skills to make an informed decision, is it more like exploitation? Sure, teens will shovel fast food and sugar into themselves, but when you're going after 8 and 9 year olds in a medium where there is no advertising standards watchdog, don't you think its gone too far?

Funnily enough, the British government doesn't think so. They've embraced the idea and are using it to promote healthy eating. Yes, that sound was two truckloads of irony colliding head-on.

It was awful, it was offensive, it worked.

EA has been promoting their new videogame, Dante's Inferno. But instead of giving out demo copies, or contra merch or even paying bloggers to shill for them, they've decided to take the left-hand path.

At a recent industry trade show anti-EA protesters were out in full force, carrying placards that included such wonderful missives as "EA = electronic Antichrist". Makes you think that Christian groups are against the game right? Not so fast there. Turns out that EA hired the protesters to generate some publicity. They got caught, and made a lot of Christians angry. Whoops.

Then, because too much controversy is never enough, EA promoted the new game at Comic-Con. They invited people to "commit acts of lust" by taking photos of themselves with the EA booth-babes. Winner gets a date with two models, a limo for the night and hopefully a poke in the eye with a very sharp stick. In a biblical demonstration of irony, the supposed randomly chosen winner turned out to be a writer from GayGamer.

And on it goes. Really. They're doing more. Because if there's one thing boneheaded publicity does well, it's generate press. Ever wonder what it's like to screw up so badly that you actually go in a complete circle around to success?

There's a saying about that...

Health care advertising can be rather dry and staid sometimes. Promotional items are usually pens, pads, boring stuff. Then there's this calendar for health provider AOK.

It's refillable, and brilliant.

I wonder if I can do the same kind of thing for Frito-Lay?

Play like a big league groundskeeper

Major League Baseball has a very devoted core fan base. They buy the merch, watch the games in person or on TV, they visit stadiums just to say they've been there. And now they can feel the same grass underfoot when they hang out in their own backyard.

Scotts Miracle Gro is partnering with MLB to provide the same grass seed used at Fenway, Wrigley Field and more. It will be the same blend of seeds and fertilizers and will feature branding from the respective club and will be certified by the head groundkeeper from the that club's field.

Kinda brilliant. Shame the Jays use artificial turf. Mind you, I'm sure you could brand that stuff and sell it as mousepads or car mats or some such thing.

* Please note that this post was written without the express written consent of Major League Baseball and may be subject to blackouts in certain markets. Contact your local authorities for details. Oakes & Mowat are not responsible for facepalms or groans from the overuse of the phrase "Field of Dreams" and the like.

KFC sues self over advertising, creates black hole in space time continuum

Crispy or grilled? That is the question.

One part of KFC, the KFC National Council and Advertising Cooperative is suing another part of KFC, the YUM! Brands Kentucky Fried Chicken unit over the promotion of grilled over crispy chicken. Franchisees see the advertising as biased towards grilled chicken and are fearful over slumping sales due to consumer perception of crispy chicken being unhealthy.

The National Council and Advertising Cooperative who designs the marketing programs for the most popular chicken restaurant on the planet contends that Roger Eaton the president and chief concept officer for KFC is promoting grilled chicken over the more well known crispy offering.

So, the whole things comes down to who gets to call the marketing shots, but in the end, it's all about the chicken. Delicious crispy grilled deep fried breaded broiled flame kissed sauteed seared roasted barbequed chicken. Of course that's assuming that KFC is still in the chicken biz and isn't going to evolve into a never-ending loop of litigation.

Mind you KFC has had some pretty weird things associated with it in the past so them playing chicken about the chicken isn't that far fetched.

It ain't Reefer Madness

But it's a film about drugs all right.

Glaxo has a new drug, possibly developed in answer to Huey Lewis' demand for one. However, this is probably not the drug that was hoped for. It's called Alli, it's an over the counter weight-loss pill that counts amongst its myriad side effects "an urgent need to defecate". Remember those snack foods with Olestra in them and the fun trips to the bathroom those necessitated? Now you can do that all day, every day.

To help promote this wonder drug, Glaxo is funding a film. A film about obesity. Alec Baldwin and Susan Sarandon are amongst the people backing this potential magnum opus. In the words of those involved “This won’t be a marketing tool at all,” said Robin Bronk, the Creative Coalition’s executive director, adding that working with Glaxo on the project is “a natural progression of our mission to develop educational projects.”

So, there you have it. The drug is good for you and you don't need to exercise; Glaxo has your best interests at heart; and anyone funding a film that obliquely promotes their product is not engaging in marketing, but in education. Just wait till the armed forces starts sponsoring war movies and Virgin Mobile starts a sitcom that revolves around texting.

Now, who am I going to get to star in my debut, funded by the makers of Slap Chop and Shamwow?

Oh Ogilvy...

I thought you knew how to party.

The article below is from the blog of Peter Rojas. He's the guy who founded Engadget and Gizmodo and co-founded Gdgt. So he knows a bit about social media and marketing. A wee bit.

Here's the article in all its glory.

Ogilvy engages in tone deaf social media marketing for the AmEx Zync card

Yesterday I got an email from a social media marketer at Ogilvy about a new card that American Express is introducing and how they’d like to strike up an “exclusive relationship” with me. I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant by that, but I’d done some work for AmEx in the past — I spoke to some of their executives about the future of mobile a few years ago — and so I figured I’d at least see what was up. I wrote back (and this is all I wrote back), “Could you give me an overview of what you’re describing?”

The email below is what I received in return. If you can get past all the buzzwords (“for 20somethings by 20somethings”, seriously?), basically the deal is that in exchange for the “privilege” of signing up for the Zync card I get to give AmEx free consulting (because paying me would make me lie to them, apparently) and then host a party where I can market the Zync card to my “network”.

So let me get this straight: I get to sign up for a product where they make money (in terms of card fees), where I give them advice and insight that AmEx used to think was worth paying for (but now is not because that would make me dishonest), and then to wrap it all up I get to pimp out all my closest friends? I can’t believe AmEx would be stupid enough to give Ogilvy money for this program, I hope they convinced them to accept payment in Zync card accounts and tweet-ups.

UPDATE: I should make it clear that it’s not about getting paid or not getting paid — I’m happy to contribute to all sorts of things for free, even things for big companies like AmEx — this is about it being a very one-sided arrangement where one side seems be asking for a lot and not delivering any discernible value in return. Value can come in lots of different forms. I’ve beta tested products before and given my honest, unpaid feedback to those companies, but I did so because I felt like I got some value out of being able to use the product and learn more about it. There isn’t much offered here — I already have an AmEx card, so it’s not like I need to gain some experience using. The value only moves one way, from me to them. They’re asking to leverage my usage, my knowledge, and my network.

Hey Peter,

Not a problem! So, here is the deal: If you don’t know Zync…

Zync is the new American Express Charge card for 20somethings. This card is created for 20somethings by 20somethings that is all about customization: consumers can choose packs of benefits. So if you like buying say tech products, you can specifically choose the tech pack tailored to your needs to give you extra membership rewards. It’s all about you and what you want.

Another important thing to know is that the card is currently in beta testing – that is where you come in. As a person who is in the tech world and is out and about in the New York City scene we felt that you would be an awesome person to test out the card and be part of the ongoing discussion with product development team. Since this card is in beta, this truly is a card that is for you by you: you get to choose during beta what works and what doesn’t.

Lastly, since we want this to be genuine, we won’t be paying you for your time to participate because we want the feedback you give to be honest. The benefit is that you have an access to an exclusive relationship with the Zync team, cool events, special committee standing in our Zync Tank and the opportunity to host your own tweet-up, completely paid for by the Zync team. All that is detailed below-

o Zync Immersion Event:

§ To start the relationship, we want to get you to know Zync

§ While we enjoy our PPT presentations, that is not how we want you to get to know Zync

§ For this day, we will be doing fun activities all around New York City so you can really interact with the Zync team

§ This will be a one-and-a-half day experience full of exciting and exclusive events that tie into the Lego Packs (eco, tech, social and green)

§ This will take place sometime in early February

o Zync Tweet Up:

§ While we are looking for feedback we are also celebrating the development of the new card

§ For this, we want to co-host Zync tweet ups for you and your network

§ Will be held in top metro areas (e.g. New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco) themed around one or more Lego Packs

§ Events will be for 25 – 50 people at fun locations related to packs such as Brooklyn Boulders

§ This will take place sometime in February/March

o Zync Tank:

§ Since you will be a Cardmember, we want you to get the full experience of the beta testing of the card

§ For this, we have something called Zync Tank. Zync tank is our online community/listening tool that we use to get sentiment of Zync from Cardmembers participating in the beta program

§ With this relationship, you would be able to be part of the “Special Committee” in which you really get to provide feedback to the product development team on ideas for iPhone applications, the next packs and much more

There is a lot that we want to accomplish. With you, we are not asking you to write anything on our behalf or provide us a post. Merely, as a person we value, we want to experience the card with you while we develop it so it’s not just American Express but from a person who really can put a lot of value into the card and perhaps vice versa.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I’ll touch base with you tomorrow to see if you are still interested or have any questions!

Best,
Priya

An elegant solution, a great promotion.

How do you combine patriotism, public service, convenience with a monopoly while generating positive press and giving yourself a very visible location?

If you're Subway, you build a restaurant into a shipping container and bring the restaurant to the workers building the Freedom Tower in New York City. As the building rises, so does the restaurant.

It's a brilliant promotion that will certainly generate a positive emotional response for the brand. I just hope the food tastes as good as the goodwill.

Gaming the system

Problem: you want frequent flier miles but don't want to purchase any of the various items that offer them.

Solution: wait until the U.S. Mint has a promotion that essentially gives you free miles.

From the Wall Street Journal:

"At least several hundred mile-junkies discovered that a free shipping offer on presidential and Native American $1 coins, sold at face value by the U.S. Mint, amounted to printing free frequent-flier miles. Mileage lovers ordered more than $1 million in coins until the Mint started identifying them and cutting them off.

Coin buyers charged the purchases, sold in boxes of 250 coins, to a credit card that offers frequent-flier mile awards, then took the shipments straight to the bank. They then used the coins they deposited to pay their credit-card bills. Their only cost: the car trip to make the deposit."

Just goes to show that ingenuity knows no bounds. And that it pays to monitor your promotions and offers from the outset to identify and prevent people from gaming the system. It works for Vegas, and it works for everything else too...

The point is...?

From the Pharmatimes.com

US consumer ads “led to higher drug prices”

A new study suggesting that US direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) for a top-selling drug had no effect on prescribing rates but led to a major rise in the drug’s price needs to be followed up, say the authors.

Use of Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi-Aventis’ blood-thinner Plavix (clopidogrel), which first appeared on the market in 1998, did not increase as a result of the consumer advertising campaign for it which began in 2001. However, a “sudden and sustained increase” in the drug’s price after the ads commenced cost 27 state Medicaid programmes an additional $207 million in pharmacy expenditures during 2001-2005, say researchers led by Dr Michael Law of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, reporting their findings in the Archives of Internal Medicine this week.

The price of Plavix increased 12% immediately after the DTCA began in 2001, say the authors, who note that in order to recoup the “substantial” costs of DTCA – which totaled more than $350 million for Plavix during 2001-5 - drugmakers need to generate higher revenues through increased sales, higher prices or both.

“If drug price increases after DTCA initiation are common, there are important implications for payers and for policy makers in the United States and elsewhere. Future longitudinal studies should examine other drugs and settings because many other countries are currently considering whether to permit DTCA," the authors conclude. Currently, DTCA is permitted only in the USA and New Zealand.

In comments to Reuters, Dr Law added: “the public should rightly wonder why they’re paying millions in extra drug costs to pay for advertising campaigns that don’t work.”

US drugmakers’ spending for DTCA has increased more than 330% in the last 10 years, and in 2006 the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that every $1 spent on DTCA generates an average $2 in sales. However, in September 2008, the first-ever controlled study into DTCA – whose authors included Dr Law - reported in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) that money spent on such advertising has no effect whatsoever.

Nevertheless, the control or abolition of DTCA has long been a popular target for Congress, and current proposals include House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Henry Waxman’s call for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to have powers to ban such advertising for new drugs for up to three years after approval, and New York Representative Jerrold Nalder’s reintroduced Say No to Drug Ads Act, which would abolish tax exemptions for DTCA.

It is in the first few years of a new drug's life that manufacturers "often aggressively market their products and engage in DTCA," and this "increases the number of consumers exposed to safety risks of new products long before they are truly understood," Rep Waxman has said.

Around 30 million people, or about 16% of the US population, are enrolled in the 27 state Medicaid programmes – the federal health insurance programme for those on low incomes – used in the study.

By Lynne Taylor

I've kinda gotta just do the old facepalm/headshake combo after reading this...and then be really thankful I live in Canada.

You're not as popular as you think

So you've gone and set up a Facebook page for your client. Good for you. Everyone else is, so you should get on that right away. But at the end of the day. How many people have you brought over to the brand? How many of them are going to be influenced by it?

Well, if you're part of the 77%, less than a thousand.

Sure you've got fans but how many and how often do they see you?

Celebrity endorsements for new-fangled technology

Here's what you need to know:

King Kong Bundy, Alan Alda and John Cleese.

They're all trying to sell you a computer.

See for yourself.

This is how the future looks

At least for outdoor, interactive digital advertising.

Waterloo Station in London is the site of a very cutting edge piece of outdoor media. When the landscape is saturated with media, only the best media will stand out. This is one of them.

Let's hope they don't do viral marketing

They might wind up wiping out entire countries. Black Death, brought to you by Absolut Vodka...

A company at a German trade show has attached incredibly tiny banner ads to house flies and set them loose on unsuspecting tradeshow visitors in a truly bizarre and possibly effective marketing stunt.

The banners, measuring just a few centimetres across, seem to cause the hapless and unwilling flies a spot of trouble. The weight keeps the flies at a lower altitude and forces them to rest more often, which means the flies end up at eye level, and whenever a fly is forced to land and refuel, the banner is clearly visible. And of course, the zigzag pattern of flight naturally attracts attention when the fly is...well, flying.

So, which company do you think will be the first to use Cockroaches to promote themselves? I'm going to put my money on payday loan companies...

Where the world buys giveaway merch.

62,000 stalls
320,000 different commodities on sale
More than 1,500 categories
Within 34 industries

Artificial flowers, cuddly toys, fashion jewellery, hair accessories, jewellery fittings, arts and crafts items, photograph frames, crystal, and buckets and spades in lurid reds and yellows, bags, wallets, hardware, kitchenware, bikes, watches clocks, locks, scooters and home appliances, zips, buttons, packaging materials, crazy-eyed leprechauns, Tom and Jerry, the Pink Panther and Yosemite Sam, funny big hands, comical Viking hats, whistles, rattles, giant bananas, World Cup South Africa 2010 mascots, plastic fruit, hair ornaments.

The list is endless. And so is the mall that sells it. Great article about the mall that sells everything.

Interesting infomercials in India

Inhabitants in India, initially interested in identical items inhabit interstitial innerspace.

Or, to put it simply, many people living in India don't have televisions. And if they don't have televisions, they can't watch infomercials. So, someone came up with the novel idea of doing it live in front of an audience.

The Wall Street Journal profiles one such person, who works for a division of a division of Lowe Worldwide.

Small world innit?

If you don't have anything nice to say...

put it on a billboard.

The recession is hitting everyone hard, and in the U.S. certain states have decided that it's a free for all. Nevada and California for instance have taken to erecting billboards that tell everyone how awful the other is.

Business is business and tax dollars are wonderful things, and when times are tough, the rules go out the window.

I have an idea

I was thinking. And I had an idea. But I needed someplace to jot it down. Thankfully the School of Visual Arts had my back.

And you live where exactly?

Does your neighbour jerk your chicken? In Toronto they just might.

Come to Denmark for the culture, the sights, the one night stands.

Viral promotion is all the rage, and the fine folks over at the tourism office in Denmark decided to jump on the wagon with their own contribution. It's a fun little video that is all about one woman's quest to find the father of her baby, the offspring of a one night stand in Copenhagen. Ah Copenhagen...where all those lovely Danish women approach lonely tourist men, get them drunk and have their babies.

Of course, the entire thing has ignited all kinds of controversy and has generated multiple apologies and mea culpa's. Sounds like it worked.

See it here before it's too late.