I recently became aware of two interesting and potentially offensive products. One was pulled off the market while the other is still being offered (since the company behind it sees nothing wrong with it).

The first product is the “Lil’ Monkey” doll produced exclusively for Costco stores. Brass Key Keepsakes, the doll’s producer, says they did not consider the doll to be racially offensive. As Wake Forest University business professor Derrick Boone notes, this is more a question of insensitivity than racially-charged intent.

I’m sure Brass Key is telling the truth – at least, I can’t imagine they would WANT to step in the PR mess this type of controversy brings with it. Granted, individual perspectives span the spectrum and it would be nearly impossible to foresee every possible reaction to a new product. At the same time, this particular situation makes you wonder what conversation took place and why the question “is this offensive?” did not get asked. Even though Brass Key planned to produce a set of three diverse dolls, the name alone seems questionable. At least the corporate reaction was swift: buyers for Costco immediately removed the product from stores. Brass Key and Costco recognized the problem and decided that was not the message they wanted to send the public.

The second product is the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles Michael Vick jersey for dogs. One of my Facebook friends made me aware of this issue and my initial reaction was, “this must be a (sick) joke!” It seems absolutely ludicrous the NFL shop would offer this type of merchandise. According to the NBC Sports article, the NFL stands behind the product, arguing fans can purchase a customized jersey for every player. They go on to mention how Vick is now working with humane societies and helping increase awareness/education on the issue. There is a list of restricted words and phrases so fans can’t order jerseys with expletives; the NFL recently added, “Bad Newz,” the name of Vick’s operation.

The capitalist in me says the market will determine the success of this product. If the public finds it offensive, they will not buy the product and thus it will not make money. They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity. But is this the type of public scrutiny the NFL wants? Shouldn’t they aim to protect their brand by not endorsing a product that raises so much controversy? Or, because the NFL cleared Vick to play, is this simply a matter of treating everyone equally? What about Michael Vick’s personal brand? Is this a way for him to begin building a good reputation or will there be a backlash creating the opposite effect?

As we say at Strategic Insights, a brand is a promise. You better make sure your brand is making the promise you intend!

By Marie Duncan, Account Executive
Strategic Insights

Remember those funny Bud Light TV spots? No, not those–the old ones. The ones that led everyone’s favorite Super Bowl spot list for the past 20 years or so. Whatever happened to them?

I won’t pretend to guess at the how or why, but I can tell you one thing. People like pointing at the TV and laughing a lot more than they want to hold round table discussions on “drinkability.” Bud Light had a reputation–even a duty–to entertain us, to get us talking around the water cooler. Suddenly, the slapstick was replaced with hard sell. It was like your goofy old fraternity brother going all Amway rep on you.

This teaches us a couple things. First, funny sells. It can be dangerous, because what you find funny might not appeal to everyone (and let’s be honest, we’ll never appeal to everyone–just most of our target audience). Also, failing to be funny and can be worse than not even trying. But when it works, there’s nothing more memorable.

I’ve had the good fortune to work on a number of brands through the years where humor was appropriate (McDonald’s, Heinz, Samsonite, Nintendo, even some restaurants here in Raleigh). Good thing for me, because that’s my default setting. And while it’s not suited to all brands or industries, you’d be surprised how effective it can be when it’s not expected.

When it comes to beer, humor is expected. Beer itself taught us this. It practically invented the genre, going back to the early “tastes great, less filling” spots of the 70s and 80s. Those spots actually delivered a message, made us laugh, and established a personality for the brand. Holy Schlitz, now that was some good advertising. Beer rarely has the advantage of strategic differentiation (something legitimately different about your product), so executional differentiation saves the day. Beer drinkers don’t care about whose beer tastes best, it’s whose beer has the funniest spots or the most inviting personality.

The second lesson here is that after a while, your brand is no longer your own. You lose the right to tamper with it and make seismic changes overnight, at least not without consequences. A brand is a relationship, a promise. Those things are not manipulated lightly. Bud Light forgot that, or worse, ignored it. They made a short-term tweak to a long-term strategy.

What happened? Sales fell.

How did Bud Light respond? By bringing back the funny.

Whenever someone insists that they can use rational persuasion to sell an emotional product, I remind them of the Manilow Challenge, a desperate attempt by RCA to convince music buyers that Barry’s schmaltzy 1985 album was every bit as catchy and relevant as anything on the radio–or your money back!

As they say, funny or die.

Bill Cokas
Creative Director
Strategic Insights

These days everyone is pinching pennies. It would be foolish not to, given the state of the economy. As a service provider, we know clients are scrutinizing their budgets — not just trimming the excess but also wisely cutting back in order to prepare for a possibly lean 2010. Thus, in an effort to maximize clients’ marketing dollars, our team brainstormed ways to make our process more efficient. Since our process relies heavily on input and feedback, following are a few tips for clients on how to engage an agency effectively and efficiently. Some are big picture, some are simple methods or changes, but we hope all will help clients make the most of our services. In no particular order:

• INFORMATION Think of information as the recipe for your project. As the client, you know the most about your end goal as well as the details, parameters, constraints and guidelines to keep in mind in achieving that goal. The more of those accurate details we have up front, the more efficient we can be in helping you achieve your desired end result. If we don’t receive the information from you, we’ll ask questions – possibly many – to be sure we fully understand the objectives. As your creative and technical partner, we want to help you think through the entire process and anticipate future needs/wishes. This step might seem to delay the project, but in fact, inefficiency defined is getting halfway down one path, only to receive additional information and realize you should have taken another path.

• NOTICE Planning is key when it comes to efficiency. Whether it is at a project’s inception or towards the end, the more notice we have, the better our ability to provide service to meet and exceed your expectations. This applies to any level of detail, from a project’s master deadline schedule down to your availability on a certain day. Especially when approvals are required in order to move forward, being able to plan around moving parts, e.g., a decision-maker’s schedule, is crucial to avoiding bottlenecks, etc. Notice from you helps us plan our priority queue so we can work more efficiently.

• RESPONSE Speaking of approvals… Since practically all our work product requires input and approval from at least one client representative, we are accustomed to waiting on responses. If you come to us with a set of goals you’d like to accomplish within a certain deadline, we will do our best to give you a clear timeline for getting it done (or we’ll explain why it isn’t feasible!). But no matter what we do on our end, at various points along the way we will need to hear back from you; thus, you help contribute to a project’s efficiency. Particularly when trying to meet aggressive deadlines, your timely response might significantly affect our ability to succeed.

• INGREDIENTS In addition to feedback and approvals, many projects also depend on client-supplied materials. From specifications, to artwork files, to bullet points, to full copy, we will be able to begin more quickly if you supply us with complete and thorough materials up front (or at necessary points along the way, if more practical).

• TRUST You know your business better than we do (although as your partner we strive to learn as much as possible!), but often our perspective allows us to see solutions you may not have considered. Furthermore, our experience helps us know what works (or, when something didn’t work before, what might make it work better next time!). Constraints, parameters and requirements often bog down creativity; while we know you can’t eliminate all the “do’s” and “don’ts,” if you can give us the essentials and then trust us to run with it, you might appreciate the outcome. “We’ve got ideas,” after all, so who knows, maybe we’ll think of something you haven’t!

Everyone has “clients” — what’s your advice on improving efficiency?

By Marie Duncan, Account Executive
Strategic Insights