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An opportunity missed, and at what cost?

By on April 18, 2012 in customer delight, word of mouth

I just contacted a company because a coupon code they emailed me didn’t work. As it turns out, it expired in their time zone, not mine, so I missed a discount of about $10 by about 10 minutes. Sure, I could have been an ass about the fact they didn’t state the timezone on their [...]

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Dollar Shave Club viral video

Do we hate Dollar Shave Club’s viral video?

By on March 7, 2012 in advertainment, advertising, creativity, responsible or not?, word of mouth

This being the Responsible Marketing Blog, you might think a video with an F-Bomb in it might attract our ire, right? Wrong. Watch this: There are plenty of things we don’t like: Racism. Bigotry. Violence. Corporate greed run amok. Comic sans. But boring marketing is irresponsible, and boring Dollar Shave Club is not. This is f**king brilliant. [...]

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So tasty: Schweddy Balls Ice Cream

By on September 7, 2011 in corporate responsibility, love it or hate it?, responsible or not?, word of mouth

Ben and Jerry’s has announced a new limited edition batch of ice cream, “Schweddy Balls.” For the uninitiated, here’s the SNL skit it’s based upon: It’s funny. Really, really funny. Surely some people will be offended, right? Of course. Some people will are offended when you say “darn,” too. I’d argue “Schweddy Balls” is responsible. [...]

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Publishing is dead. Long live publishing.

By on March 24, 2010 in creativity, social media, videos, word of mouth

Here’s a nifty little video regarding the state of the publishing industry. Hang tight—there’s a twist about half way through. View on YouTube I know. This execution has been done before, but it’s still pretty clever and the message is the right one. There’s been plenty of talk about the eminent death of the publishing [...]

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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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Evian’s hip-hop roller babies: Responsible or not?

By on July 9, 2009 in advertising, creativity, environmentally responsible, responsible or not?, videos, viral marketing, word of mouth

By now, you’ve probably heard about Evian‘s new “live young” campaign featuring the roller babies. You haven’t? Well, now you are in the know: There’s a lot to like here: It’s fun, unique, the CGI was done well and who doesn’t love Rapper’s Delight? It’s the type of video you can hardly resist hitting the [...]

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How Ford made me reconsider my auto buying habits

By on May 27, 2009 in authenticity, branding, digital marketing, launch, social media, social networking, strategically responsible, videos, word of mouth

I’ve owned dozens of cars, and like a lot of people, most have been Japanese or German. So when I turned in my leased Honda and started the hunt for a new hybrid, I drove the Toyota Prius, Camry and Highlander Hybrids, the new Honda Insight and a Lexus RX 400h. The Prius felt underpowered [...]

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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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El Pollo Loco adds heat to KFC challenge

By on May 11, 2009 in advertising, competition, execution responsible, love it or hate it?, social media, videos, word of mouth

One way or the other, you probably heard about KFC last week. If you didn’t see one of their ads for their new Kentucky Grilled Chicken (the largest ad blitz in KFC history) you probably heard about the Oprah catastrophy. KFC was caught off guard when a promotion for a free two-piece meal featuring its [...]

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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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Finally, a real iPhone killer…or is it?

By on April 1, 2009 in creativity, viral marketing, word of mouth

Forget the Google G1 phone—the amazing Pomegranate phone is the first phone that, on the surface, looks like a real iPhone killer. If you think the features are over the top, you’ll be shocked when you click on the “release date” button in the upper right hand corner. So, what do you think? Subscribe to [...]

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Make it fun, get people talking—and sell more

By on March 31, 2009 in creativity, economy, fun, word of mouth

Not every business is struggling amid the economic downturn. Discounters, companies that help people save money, banko attorneys and the repo man aren’t the only businesses thriving. Cheerful products that provide a respite from the real world are selling. Products like the Oh Snap! Cheese Board and Cutter and The Bubble Calendar are selling well, [...]

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A Lost Generation of creatives? I think not.

By on March 26, 2009 in creativity, simplicity, socially responsible, videos, viral marketing, word of mouth

My colleague Martin always says, “when you have a great concept, the design doesn’t have to work so hard.” Keep that in mind when you view The Lost Generation, a video that has now been viewed nearly 5 million times on YouTube. The design is minimal—the concept and clever copy carry the day. The first [...]

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Word of mouth math: $2 bill + 1 sticker = awesome

By on March 25, 2009 in fun, word of mouth

On Monday, one of my colleagues handed me this: This particular colleague had lost a friendly bet the week before, so at first I thought I was receiving partial payment for said bet. Then I remembered that I’m still in negative territory—I owe her $88 (I bet $100 I’d have my book done by Halloween [...]

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Skittles Twitter homepage: Responsible or not?

By on March 3, 2009 in authenticity, branding, responsible or not?, social media, social networking, word of mouth

Skittles, the chewy, fruit-flavored candy from Mars, Inc. has jumped into social media in an innovative new way: They have coded their website so their navigation now floats over three of the most popular social media websites. Skittles.com is now nothing more than a navigation box floating over the Twitter search results for the term [...]

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Is your company ready for “Facebook Friday?”

By on February 27, 2009 in privacy, social media, social networking, word of mouth

Over the last year, I’ve fallen into the habit of talking with companies about their use of social media, and one of the most polarizing discussion topics is how open a company should be in allowing employees to use social media sites. While some companies lock down all social sites, others encourage their use. So [...]

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Hyperconnected teens: The staggering statistics

By on February 26, 2009 in digital marketing, mobile marketing, social media, social networking, word of mouth

Much has been said about how connected Gen Y is. But I was shocked when I learned that teens with a cell phone average 2,272 text messages per month. That’s works out to over 73 messages per day, or 4.5 per hour assuming eight hours of sleep. This is compared to an average of 203 [...]

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United’s feedback phone number to be grounded

By on February 23, 2009 in customer delight, word of mouth

In an era where companies are beginning to adopt and embrace social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and blogs to listen to and interact with their customers, United Airlines has decided to eliminate its customer complaint and complement phone lines this April. Claiming research concluded that “people who e-mail or write us are more satisfied [...]

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Rude, crude and funny ads: Love ‘em or hate ‘em?

By on February 13, 2009 in advertising, love it or hate it?, videos, word of mouth

We all love to laugh, and when we find something genuinely funny, we love to share it. But humor is subjective and what’s funny to some is offensive to others. Case in point: One of the following ads was banned, the other wasn’t. View this video on YouTube View this video on YouTube I’ll admit, [...]

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On creativity, sidecar moments and marketing

By on February 12, 2009 in creativity, word of mouth

I saw something I’ve never seen before on the way to work yesterday: A thin, jumpsuit-clad man with white hair and beard riding a 70′s-era motorcycle with a sidecar. Just the sight of him sent my imagination racing: Who was he? How old was he? What did he do? What was he like? Did he [...]

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