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American eagles and flags coming soon to an ad near you

By on May 2, 2011 in advertising, commercialization, ethics, message responsible, socially responsible

Osama Bin Laden was a bad man and the world’s a better place without him. And I’m just as patriotic as the next guy.  But mark my words, soon you’ll see ads with American eagles and the American flag popping up, just like after 9/11 as advertisers aimed to capitalize on American emotions. With thousands of [...]

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B2C or B2B, spam is spam

By on April 17, 2010 in digital marketing, message responsible, videos

View on YouTube A surprising perspective regarding B2B email marketing was published recently in the Harvard Business Review blog that got one of our client’s hackles up, and I think it will yours too. In B2B’s: Your Email Marketing Policy Could Hurt You, the author essentially argues that spam is okay as long as you [...]

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Responsible or not? Nike resurrects Earl Woods

By on April 8, 2010 in advertising, authenticity, ethics, message responsible, responsible or not?, videos

Just in time for Tiger Woods’ return to golf at The Masters, Nike has released the following ad featuring the voice of Tiger’s deceased father, Earl: Here’s what Earl is saying: Tiger, I am more prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion. I want to find out what your thinking was. I want to find [...]

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Apple puts social responsibility up front

By on March 17, 2010 in corporate responsibility, message responsible, socially responsible

Anyone interested in the Apple iPad has no doubt been to the Apple homepage lately and discovered this nice surprise bottom-center: That’s right. At a time when Apple could be cross-selling any number of their new offerings, they are using one of the four sandboxes on their homepage to share their supplier responsibility practices. You [...]

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Marketing puffery never pays

By on January 14, 2010 in authenticity, deceptive marketing, ethics, message responsible, no trust, positioning, videos

Seems we’ve been up to our eyeballs in positioning and message strategy work at Outsource Marketing lately. Of course, positioning should be the cornerstone of all your marketing communications—without meaningful differentiation, you’ve got nothin’, after all. But your positioning has to be more than simply unique and matter to your prospects. It has to be [...]

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Should excessively noisy ads be banned?

By on December 16, 2009 in advertising, message responsible

One of the Seven Keys to Responsible Marketing is being message responsible. That means marketers should respect all their audiences by seeking permission, telling the truth, honoring privacy and avoiding clutter. Yelling at consumers isn’t very respectful, and the U.S. House of Representatives has recently approved a bill which aims to limit the volume of [...]

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The 7 Keys to Responsible Marketing in 2 Minutes

By on October 21, 2009 in casting responsible, environmentally responsible, execution responsible, fun, message responsible, movies, roi responsible, socially responsible, strategically responsible, videos

Want to know what Responsible Marketing is about but don’t have the time to read our white paper on the topic? Well, here’s “The 7 Keys to Responsible Marketing in 2 Minutes,” featuring the characters you’ve grown to love (or hate) in our Responsible Marketing web shorts. View on YouTube There ya go—with a video [...]

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Responsible or not? Audi’s “Do Your Part”

By on October 6, 2009 in advertising, environmentally responsible, greenwashing, message responsible, responsible or not?, videos

It ain’t so easy being green. Unless, of course, you buy a clean diesel from Audi. That’s the message of this Audi A3 “Do Your Part” advert: View on YouTube I get the idea: Show you can be environmentally responsible without having to put yourself out. You can have it all. Here’s one point of [...]

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Sex Sells: Just Ask Him.

By on September 23, 2009 in advertising, fun, message responsible, movies, sex sells, videos

In advertising, it’s the gospel truth: Sex sells. You’ve heard it a million times. So many times it’s gotta be true, right? Hell, even the Devil himself says it’s true in our second of seven Responsible Marketing web shorts, here: View on YouTube in HD Why not believe it? You just heard it from the [...]

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Are we giving PSA’s a pass?

By on August 31, 2009 in message responsible, socially responsible, videos, viral marketing, word of mouth

By now, you’ve probably seen or heard about the following PSA warning of the dangers of texting while driving produced by the Gwent Police Department in the UK. View video on YouTube The nearly unbearable gritty realism of a head-on collision features heads snapping back and forth on impact, gushing blood, a child crying for [...]

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Chocolate covered grasshoppers get people talking

By on May 14, 2009 in execution responsible, launch, message responsible, social media, social networking, strategically responsible, videos, viral marketing, word of mouth

Yesterday, I received a lumpy mailer from a company I’d never heard of. Normally I give unsolicited mail about the same amount of consideration you probably do—a few seconds. But since it was, well, lumpy, and delivered via FedEx I opened it. Here’s what I found: On one side, it says “Yes, these are real [...]

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Is Burger King’s “Square Butts” ad responsible?

By on April 10, 2009 in creativity, message responsible, responsible or not?, sex sells, videos, word of mouth

Last night, a friend from high school sent me this question via Facebook: Can you explain why ANYONE (let alone Burger King) would think it a good idea to adapt “I like Big Butts” to market a children’s meal? Here’s the ad in question: Extended version This is one of the classic Responsible Marketing questions [...]

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How tolerant is your marketing?

By on March 18, 2009 in advertising, message responsible, socially responsible, videos

Do you respect all your audiences? Really? Are you sure? Watch the following ad, then answer the question again: Watch this video on YouTube So, now do you believe you respecting all of your audiences? This spot from Banco Provincia of Argentina was a real eye-opener for me. Respectful ads targeted to the gay and [...]

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Is Belkin’s apology for astroturfing enough?

By on January 20, 2009 in authenticity, corporate responsibility, deceptive marketing, ethics, message responsible, social media, socially responsible, word of mouth

First, what’s “astroturfing?” Roughly, it’s when formal political, advertising, or public relations campaigns seek to create the impression of spontaneous “grassroots” behavior, hence the reference to the artificial grass, AstroTurf.* On Friday, The Daily Background Blog revealed that a Belkin employee was doing just that: Paying 65 cents for perfect reviews on Buy.com, NewEgg.com and [...]

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Responsible or not? Using the dead to sell

By on December 30, 2008 in advertising, casting responsible, cause marketing, creativity, execution responsible, message responsible, morality, responsible or not?, socially responsible, videos

On Christmas Day, John Lennon returned from the dead. Well, his image and voice were resurrected to help the One Laptop Per Child Foundation “OLPCF” and it’s raised a few eyebrows (and hackles). If you haven’t heard about the OLPCF, here’s a summary: It’s an education project, not a laptop project. Inexpensive, durable, networked laptops [...]

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Comparitive advertising: Love it or hate it?

By on December 18, 2008 in competition, love it or hate it?, message responsible, videos

You’ve probably noticed there’s a lot more comparative advertising being done lately. Miller Lite v. Bud Light, Whopper v. Big Mac, Campbells v. Progresso and Dunkin’ Donuts (or McDonalds) v. Starbucks all immediately come to mind. Of course, the poster child for comparative advertising is Mac v. PC: View Mac v. PC on YouTube Is [...]

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The JCPenney Doghouse: Love it or hate it?

By on December 11, 2008 in creativity, love it or hate it?, message responsible, socially responsible, videos, viral marketing

When I was a boy, a trip to JCPenney for school clothes was like a trip to hell. Their clothing was so—Penneys, and though I was able to persuade my parents to let me shop where the cool kids shopped when I got older, I still avoid the store today. I can’t tell you what [...]

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Safeway has nuts

By on December 3, 2008 in creativity, message responsible

Does Safeway play it safe with their marketing? Usually. But here’s a can of almonds from the venerable grocer: “Have nuts? Have a party!” Safeway likes the phrase so much they’ve trademarked it. You know someone, somewhere at Safeway said “We can’t say that! What will our customers think?” Still, somehow this packaging was approved [...]

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Is Whistler-Blackcomb email marketing responsible?

By on November 26, 2008 in branding, execution responsible, message responsible, responsible or not?

On Monday, I received a message from Whistler Blackcomb to inform me of the open dates for each of the mountains. I don’t recall signing up to receive these notifications, but I was there last season and might have provided my email address somewhere to someone. No matter. I didn’t mind receiving the message, and [...]

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Motrin feels the pain of a social media mommy mob

By on November 18, 2008 in authenticity, boycott, message responsible, social media, social networking, videos, viral marketing, word of mouth

You might have heard about the recent uproar over a new Motrin ad targeting mothers. If you have already formed an opinion on the topic, skip the video below. Otherwise, take a look, and try to be as objective as possible. View this video on YouTube The response Paul Banas estimated that in 48 hours [...]

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