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Palm Pre: hanging on for dear life

It would be tough for Palm CEO Jon Rubenstein to have nightmares scarier than his everyday reality. Under-budgeted and under-technologied, he must do battle with iPhone, BlackBerry and the League of Android.

Yet the show must go on. So the ad agency is tasked with somehow stirring up interest for the Palm Pre Plus, making enough noise to give this little fella a fighting chance. What would you do? Rhetorical question. But I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be the above.

This ad, creatively entitled Features, is exactly that: a fairly dry list of features. This wisp of an idea is actually more of prayer: maybe, possibly, if we list enough distinguishing features, people will start lining up to buy this thing.

Sorry Palm, it doesn’t work that way. First, if these really are your best features, you might as well hang it up right now. Signature styling? Smart notifications? Integrated calendar view? An app that turns your phone into a mobile hot spot? Oh. Well that last one’s actually pretty cool. But a single shiny thing is hardly going to steal your quarry from the clutches of iPhone or Android. Second, creativity is your friend. At least it should be. You just made a movie with an email-sized idea.

This spot is further proof of something that hardly needs more proving: most companies do not take risks at times of crisis — even if that might be their best chance for recovery. They operate on logic. They play it safe when, more than anything, they need to capture people’s imaginations. There is no imagination-capturing going on here. Spots like this are born of rooms filled with nervous people.

Only a creative idea can command attention and change perceptions. Or, I should say, a creative idea with a budget that lets you play with the big boys. The more Palm churns out harmless ads like this, the farther into the hole they sink.

Advertising / Creative / Strategy — 20 Comments
8
Mar 10

iPad commercial ships early

iPad may not be shipping for another three weeks, but the commercial made a sooner-than-expected debut on the Oscars last night. After the mixed reactions to the product itself, it was interesting to see how Apple plans to present iPad to the masses.

First reaction here: not exactly shocked.

A little background first. Most who don’t see the big deal in iPad criticize it for being “just a bigger iPhone.” My personal opinion is that iPad is going to be a very big deal — because it’s “just a bigger iPhone.” The iPhone OS, multitouch and the App Store are the key ingredients for revolution. iPad delivers what was missing: a bigger screen and better processor. By doing this, it will liberate developers, revitalize the publishing industry and, for a great many people, make everyday uses of a computer happier.

So back to the commercial. I find it interesting that iPad’s commercial is, well … a bigger version of an iPhone commercial.

It’s basically the same shtick, amped up. We get more screens, more content, more uses, more fingers, all set to the same kind of soundtrack. Instead of being cradled by Mr. Hand, iPad is nestled in Mr. Lap.

It happens fast, so you need to watch it a few times to get the full range of what iPad can do. The truly curious may do this, but for most the message is simple: iPad can do a whole lot of cool stuff. That may well be enough, since the buzz is what’s going to sell this thing in big numbers — as soon as the influencers start getting it in their hands.

As a believer, though, this spot leaves me with the same lament I had after the iPad launch. I love the product, but Apple’s telling of the tale doesn’t feel big enough yet. I was hoping this commercial would breathe some fire into it. Maybe that’s in the next one.

Don’t get me wrong, I still believe iPad is another revolutionary device, on the same level with iPod and iPhone. I still believe the critics will end up feeling a bit foolish. For the moment, though, this revolution remains fairly well disguised.

Advertising / Creative — 5 Comments
8
Feb 10

Ad Bowl 2010: lowering the bar

Man, being an optimist is getting depressing. Every year, I’m filled with hope that creativity is about to make its big Super Bowl comeback. And every year, I go away feeling thoroughly unfulfilled. Not that there weren’t a couple of highlights. Here are my reactions, and I’ll be curious to hear yours.

Best spot: Google. Some have seen these Search On things before, but this is the first mass exposure. I’ll tell you, it’s a thing of beauty when a spot you could produce in your bedroom outperforms the biggest Super Bowl productions. The spot is charmingly human without showing a single face, outlining a love story through multiple Google searches. How many advertisers can keep their logo on the screen for 90% of a spot without annoying the hell out of us?

Biggest fall from grace: Intel. Well, I gushed profusely when Intel finally did something great a few months ago. And what do I get in return? A two-course serving of disappointment. First, an unfunny commercial featuring cheesy acting and a silly forlorn robot. Then a horribly conceived online contest: What Is Your Core Moment? Here, we’re invited to share a “pivotal Core Moment” in our life to celebrate the “life-changing speed and smart performance” of the 2010 Intel Core Processor family. Gag me. “Smart computing is here,” the site proclaims, in the total absence of a smart message. I should have known Intel’s marketing DNA would drag them down in the end.

Most appealing to the beer crowd: Bud Light. Varying degrees of success for these guys, though that’s to be expected when you buy up half the ad slots. Holy cow, there were a lot of these things. I’m just thankful that someone out there is teaching our children that valuable life lesson: beer = wildly fun times.

Least differentiated beer: Budweiser. Their Human Bridge spot was actually very entertaining. I’m a sucker for a well-done “cast of thousands” spot, like the Cliq ad I cited a while back. But I do have to ask: ad-wise, what’s the difference between Bud and Bud Light again? If they stuck a Bud Light logo at the end of this spot, it would have worked just as well.

Most Pant-less People: Career Builder & Dockers. It’s a tie. I didn’t have the patience to count. Not only did Casual Friday and Wear No Pants have a similar visual joke (a lowbrow joke, I should add), they ran in succession. Does CBS give refunds?

Best celebrity: Coca-Cola. Using a celebrity is always an iffy thing. Homer & friends have a different kind of celebrity. The Simpsons spot was a great way to suck us in without turning us off. Coke’s mission was to come across as a really fun brand, and they did. Another Coke spot, Sleepwalker, was interesting as well. Nice music, cool idea.

Most unexpected: Cars.com. What better way to empathize with us ordinary folk who can’t quite figure out the whole “car buying” thing than to tell the tale of Timothy Richmond. This is a great example of an intelligently crafted ad that captures a human truth. And for cars.com? Didn’t see that one coming.

Biggest embarrassment: GoDaddy. Aren’t we a little past the pre-pubescent humor yet? If you did as you were told and went to the website to see the “too hot for TV” version (I went for research purposes only), you were treated to an even more deeply embarrassing video. Lame, lame, lame.

Biggest dinosaur: Homeaway.com. The problem with bringing back people who were really big 20 years ago is that they’re 20 years older now. He may have been cheap, but Chevy Chase doesn’t exactly have his edge anymore. I’m pretty sure you could get him really cheap after this one.

Most done to death: E-Trade. The talking babies were back. If one baby is funny, four or five have to be even funnier, right? Personally, I’m sick to death of talking babies. After all the TV commercials that have used this trick (for different companies, no less), a couple of movies and a failed TV series, it’s time for these babies to retire. Please? At least do a better job with the effects and syncing.

Worst non-ad moment: The Who. Roger, Pete… I love you and all, but it might be time to consider, uh, you know… Note to Super Bowl producers: it’s cool that some big names will happily perform for free to get the exposure, but you’d probably do better if you actually paid someone. Don’t tell me you don’t have the cash.

The drama of the Super Bowl is that there can only be one winner. The Ad Bowl has room for infinite winners. But year after year, we prove that creativity is something money can’t buy.

Advertising / Creative / Strategy — 3 Comments
14
Jan 10

Seeing things that aren’t there

Let’s take a break from all this technology nonsense, shall we? This commercial from Canada is two years old. But I know of no spot that better makes the point: there’s always an idea hiding in there somewhere.

Every day, a thousand creative people turn to their partners and say, “let’s turn that idea on its head.” In this case, they only had to go 45 degrees. Suddenly Shreddies were cool, sales were going up and the creative team got to bask in a little glory. At least I hope they did.

What I love most about this campaign is that it took guts. The client actually had to get the company behind the idea of changing their packaging — in essence, to serve as the punchline for the joke. How many clients would be willing to stick out their necks like that?

Google around and you’ll find other bits of this campaign, like this one — which introduces the equally amusing combo pack.

Advertising / Creative / Strategy — 17 Comments
4
Jan 10

When good jokes go bad

3mic

Anyone can have a joke fall flat at a party. It takes some real effort to flop on a global scale.

Yet for every campaign that has just the right kind of humor to succeed (like Apple’s Mac vs. PC), there seem to be a dozen dismal flops (like Microsoft’s Bill & Jerry).

You can analyze that to death — and some clients do — but what it boils down to is this: humor is just so damn subjective. Your brilliant bit of comedy may not seem quite so brilliant to the client, the focus group or even the director you fought so valiantly to sign. There’s also a far more horrifying possibility: your idea may not be as brilliant as you think. Hey, it happens. It’s not like the greatest creatives in our business haven’t made some colossal misjudgments.

Whatever. I was only thinking about this because I was struck by a series of videos that came my way before the holiday break. They make an interesting point about scoring with humor — regardless of the size of the budget. Some PC fanboy created his own satire of the Mac vs. PC spots, making PC the hero. Here’s an example:

Yes, it’s a total rip-off of the Apple spots. But you know what? This actually makes a better anti-Apple case than anything I’ve seen Microsoft do in the last year. With humor, it points out the fallacy of Apple’s argument (at least the fallacy from PC’s point of view). It amplifies some things people are already willing to believe about Apple. And, as Apple demonstrates daily, the intelligent use of humor makes it possible to deliver a brutally competitive message while remaining perfectly lovable.

I don’t suggest that Microsoft just rip off their competitor’s campaign. (Although they already directly acknowledge Apple’s campaign in their marketing, with little elegance.) My point is that humor, based on insight and intelligence, is an incredibly effective tool. It’s just that humor, insight and intelligence don’t often travel together.

(If you’re interested you can see a couple more of these PC-centric YouTube satires here and here.)

Advertising / Strategy — 2 Comments
21
Dec 09

Yahoo who?

yahoo_ship Vultures on standby. A new report shows that Yahoo, once the darling of Internet search, has hit a record-low market share of 17.5%. Google, of course, keeps piling it on.

But wait, you say. Help is on its way. The new Microsoft/Yahoo partnership will activate in 2010. True, but this hole is getting deeper with every passing week. The purpose of the new deal was to boost the companies’ combined market share to over 30% from their current 28%. These new numbers are going down, not up.

The only bit of bright news is for Microsoft, not Yahoo. Bing’s market share is now up over 10%, picking up some of Yahoo’s losses. Yahoo’s swan dive into the darkness continued with a 10th consecutive month of losing market share.

It’s hard not to get a nervous feeling around Yahoo. Granted, I run with a dubious crowd — but I see about as much enthusiasm in this world for Yahoo as I do for Zune. It’s not likely that a new marketing campaign will turn things around (especially the one they’re running). These days, when we think of search and innovation, we simply think of Google. In the absence of any world-changing ideas, Yahoo feels like yesterday’s news.

It’s a bit early to file Yahoo away with WordPerfect, Earthlink, Compaq and those other technology stars that once burnt brightly. But, if you’re the type who gets emotional over such things… you might want to get a head start dealing with the trauma.

Advertising / Strategy — 6 Comments
17
Dec 09

Intel employees nearly go splat

Hey, give Intel credit for being innovative. I don’t recall Apple ever firing their employees out of cannons just to deliver another brand impression. Though I did once see Phil Schiller leap 20 feet into a pile of pillows while demoing Apple’s first wireless laptop.

This is the bold, hell-with-the-lawyers kind of action I like to see from a technology company.

(And no, I don’t think it’s real!)

Advertising / Strategy — 5 Comments
14
Dec 09

Apple: not playing by the rules

Not likely to be found in the Apple reading room

I read an interesting blog post the other day about how Apple succeeds despite its failure to do the things considered necessary in this age of social media. I quote:

Apple doesn’t blog; it doesn’t Tweet; it does little on Facebook; it doesn’t engage with its customer base. It doesn’t ask the “community” for feedback or rapidly iterate based on any such feedback or even respond to criticism.

Curse that Apple. Why can’t it just follow the rules? Well, two reasons, really.

First, it doesn’t have to. A few million Apple followers are doing a fine job with the tweeting and blogging, thank you — sharing, analyzing and generally fanning the flames night and day. Social media is abuzz over what Apple is doing or might do, generating countless dollars’ worth of free PR. Without lifting a finger, Apple is crushingly more effective in social media than companies who pay teams of digital experts to ignite the chatter.

Second, as most creative thinkers will tell you with little provocation, screw the damn rules. Intelligence and common sense are far more valuable than the ability to leap from one trend to another.

As clients and agencies try to dream up new ways to match Apple’s success, they often forget one thing: this stuff doesn’t happen overnight. Apple’s success isn’t the result of tricky marketing schemes. It’s what happens when you dazzle the world for more than ten years running, with one amazing product after another — and rarely crack open your book of rules.

Advertising / Creative / Strategy — 5 Comments
9
Dec 09

AT&T takes Verizon head-on

Droid vs. iPhone. Verizon vs. AT&T. To the spectators’ delight, we have a war on two fronts. And now we have AT&T lobbing a new grenade over the fence.

But first, a recap:

Apple planted the seed for this fight when they chose AT&T as iPhone’s exclusive carrier in the US. That put the nation’s most loved phone on the nation’s least loved network. It also gave Verizon an opening, assuming they might one day find another hot phone to hawk — which they did in Droid.

Then the fun started. Verizon slapped AT&T with its “there’s a map for that” stuff. They got silly with misfit toys. AT&T threw half a punch back with some lame Luke Wilson spots. Apple tried to speak rationally about the differences between networks while Droid burst in chainsawing bananas.

After whining to the courts and getting nowhere (Judge Droid?), AT&T is back at it with this new Luke Wilson spot. Creatively, it’s fairly harmless. But it’s all part of the chess game, and that’s what makes it fun to watch. (War, boxing, chess — have I exceeded the metaphor limit yet?)

To their credit, AT&T is presenting a simple argument: we’ve got a faster network. (It’s actually more clear than Apple’s attempted Verizon-bashing.) Verizon has their simple argument: we’ve got a bigger network. That would be a tough choice for most people.

So who wins the big fight? Nobody. And who wins the customer? AT&T. Because when the heavyweight match ends in a draw, all you can do is go with the best phone. And you know what that is.

Advertising / Creative / Strategy — 11 Comments
7
Dec 09

Droid plays the testosterone card

Enough of the teasers. The first real ad in the Droid assault is now among us. And assault turns out to be a pretty good descriptor — because everything about this spot is amped to extremes, from strategy and script to images and editing.

What this effort probably needed most, however, was some adult supervision.

Every agency wants to start with the most unexpected, out-there ideas. Nothing’s taboo. The theory is that you can always pull creative back, but you can’t amplify something that isn’t there. But then you start developing. And when you’re about to enter the world’s hottest category, battling the much-loved iPhone, risking market share and millions of dollars, you’d think that some responsible person might have politely raised a hand and said: “are you nuts?”

It’s as if the agency, followed by Verizon, Google and Motorola, developed this ad in an alternate reality — where design doesn’t matter, women want to be men and writers are paid by the adjective. What we get is a whole fleet of runaway trains.

It’s a male-only strategy in a category that’s 50% female. It’s a spot that attacks iPhone for the very reason it’s succeeded — great design. It’s a script that is so desperately cool, it’s juvenile. Worst of all, it’s a launch that presents a smartphone without any smart — offering no benefit other than speed. In that sense, it’s actually less of an ad than the teaser was.

I’m all for chipping away at iPhone’s armor. But allowing your inner pubescent to attack iPhone as “a tiara-wearing, digitally clueless beauty queen” or “a precious porcelain figurine of a phone” reveals a disturbing cluelessness.

It’s hard to imagine any woman outside of the WWE who’d appreciate this ultra-male tone. At the DroidDoes.com website, the slide continues: we get mechanical design presented by a flesh-and-blood android so smarmy, you want to slap him. (Extra points for integration!)

The good news for Droid is, misguided marketing isn’t always fatal. Maybe the device will sell well by its own merits and the superiority of the Verizon network. Who knows, maybe Droid will ultimately cut through iPhone’s lead “like a circular saw through a ripe banana.”

Advertising

Palm Pre: hanging on for dear life

iPad commercial ships early

Ad Bowl 2010: lowering the bar

Seeing things that aren’t there

When good jokes go bad

Yahoo who?

Intel employees nearly go splat

Apple: not playing by the rules

AT&T takes Verizon head-on

Droid plays the testosterone card

Hello from Ken

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