Most Inane Commercial of The Year Award

Category: Targeting Baby Boomers

Thanks to Brent Green for nominating this one.

Actually, it was cloned.

Too bad, too. Because this is a hot topic. With proper positioning and a campaign not so lame, so demeaning ...

The product will sell (it's in the right place at the right time), but imbued with an honest generational aesthetic instead of insulting, smarmy clichés, sales might have been phenomenal.

Let the cringing begin.

And I bet it'll also make a lot of people from other generations cringe. (Or thrilled that we're being portrayed as such nincompoops.)
____
Update May 26, 2008: As usual, NostraChuckus predicts the future.

OK .. so it was posted two days before mine. I didn't see it until today. Cut this ol' Soothsayer some slack.

Make sure you read the first dozen or so comments attached to the post.

And as you read, keep this quote in the back of your mind:

Recently I have been embarrassed to be part of this generation. The reason? Madison Avenue. Madison Avenue is never wrong. They’re the neighbor across the street that sees you in the way you don’t see yourself. They’re young, they’re cocky, and what they say about the older generation becomes the truth. People still think there was a real Mr.Whipple, so I know whatever Madison Avenue says about us is what everyone’s going to believe anyway. —Albert Brooks

Diarrhea of the Word-of-Mouth

I seem to be suffering from diarrhea of the word-of-mouth lately:

A recent post: Smart or Sneaky?

Apparently, it's something I caught years ago: a Brand Autopsy thread from 2005.

And now Millward-Brown's Nigel Hollis, someone I've been blogging about way too much lately (What's The Word? and A Deep, Download-Worthy Report), posts this on his blog - and it started me slobbering again:

I'm Mulan. What advice can I offer you?
… Word of mouth was probably a much stronger influence when the people involved knew each other from the "real" world, not just from a Web page. When they knew, or at least could see, the friend, colleague or salesperson they were talking to, they did not have to guess at the veracity of the advice being offered ….

What if the ubiquitous nature of online search means that we are losing the inclination to ask other people for advice? After all, we can just look it up, right? Rather than gaining power, maybe WOM is actually losing it in the Internet era …

I approached it from another angle in my book, used different variables - but my (slightly tongue-in-cheek) assessment parallels what Mr. Hollis is suggesting:

When it all comes out in the wash, WOMM will be the best thing to happen to (silly retronym ahead) traditional advertising. Pretty soon, consumers won't believe anybody - even their best friends. They'll realize that they receive the most honest and straightforward information about a product or service from a TV commercial, radio spot, print ad, direct marketing collateral, or product web site. At least we don't lie about who we are and why we're saying what we're saying.

Remember this: Advertising didn't die with the invention of the telephone.

I'm getting sick of talking about this subject. I need to chug down a few heaping tablespoons of Word-of-Mouth Imodium.

Boomerfile TV

There's this fellow in Canada, Lorne Frohman. He's a television guy, writes and produces comedy, teaches graduate courses at Humber College.

And now he's podcasting via Boomerfile.tv.

I do stuff like this on another blog - although my broadcasting so far has been audio only. Actually, I've been tossing up bits and pieces of a radio show I did a handful of years ago. Click the arrow below:






The Slobberer

I chuckled at Lorne's take on social networking for Baby Boomers. Not much different than mine.



Like he wishes getback great success - I wish Lorne the same.

AARP's Chicken Coop Coup?

I've picked on AARP's advertising and marketing through the years. I think they can handle it. They're big boys and girls.

It actually started when I wrote my book. It had a beefy chapter about a B2B campaign targeting media planners/buyers:

… The advertising campaign has one ad with ashen-faced Baby Boomers in body bags ("These days, doctors don't pronounce you dead. Marketers do."). Another shows Baby Boomers acting like testosteroned teenagers ("Outta the way, punks: older racers are the hot-rod kings!").Yet another has one of a middle-aged lady dead in a powder room (probably from overdoing it on the dance floor) with police chalk outlining her body. I don't know what the copy is because I haven't seen it. It's probably something like, "Give me wrinkle cream, or give me death!"
© 2005 by Paramount Market Publishing

Last year I tossed up a post about AARP's consumer campaigns.

Here's a recent post about a survey they did three years ago.

And about a year ago I mixed it up with their Chief Brand Officer on NPR.

I won't point you to all my posts that mention AARP and the way they're positioning themselves, doing everything they can think of to seduce Baby Boomers. And I don't always say negative things - but usually do.

I've yet to talk about this cornball catchphrase: Divided We Fail. I may never talk about it - probably because even though I don't have a problem with their objectives, the campaign makes me so ill I'm unable to put blood-drained fingers to keyboard.

So the other day I'm leafing through the new National Geographic and I see this (click here or click the thumbnail on the right). I get sucked in. Great story. It's something real - not a lot of aspirational vapor.

Call me callous, superficial, jaded, deeply character-flawed, whatever - but my initial reaction was: "Great Branding!"

It's how AARP should be positioning themselves - as a proactive, one-on-one, socially conscious organization - not one with dancing gorillas and empty-headed pod people brandishing vapid placards.

Sure, I could be a snot and nitpick - about the copy, the layout, the lede, probably more. But that would be me as a consultant/creative. The essence of this advertisement is spot on. It's a story. A real story.

I hope they develop this ad into a high-profile campaign with more stories and history.

If they do, a huge chunk of Baby Boomers might decide to join for reasons other than simply that 15% Discount Card.

---

Update May 19, 2008: The National Geographic for June showed up in my mailbox. On the back cover is the "Chicken Coop" ad.

Was there a Chicken Coop Coup? Did NostraChuckus predict the future again? Maybe, maybe not. Heretics point out that his prognostication was posted long after said media planning decision was made, while followers counter that he had no prior knowledge of this, and was the only soothsayer able to divine it ...

You decide.

I'll stay out of the NostraChuckus controversy, and limit my remarks to AARP. I simply say, "Good for them." Finally, smart moves happening over at their advertising/marketing department. (And since it's almost summer, I'm sure they'll be happy to know that they can all shed their gorilla suits now).

Smart or Sneaky?

I gave half-a-webinar a few weeks ago, sharing the virtual stage with my good friend John Migliaccio, Director of Research for The MetLife Mature Market Institute. The webinar was produced by IMMN.

It went very well. For a rundown and opinions, Carol Orsborn of FH BOOM blogged it in two installments:

Vintage Word-of-Mouth

Future Firestorm

I've blabbed about WOMM many times. So have a ton of others. But I have to say - the best thing I've ever read on the subject wasn't by an expert or pundit (or Yours Truly). It was an article in last month's Homemakers Magazine. A real life story - both funny and revealing:

Word-of-mouth marketing -- Smart or sneaky?

Getting free products is easy when you're a buzz marketer but can word-of-mouth marketing damage relationships? You decide.
By Bonnie Staring

People have always talked about the things they use, recommending (or dissing) products and services. It's called word of mouth, and advertisers have always known that it's the best kind of marketing their product could have, but they've never tried to control it. Until now.

I'll repeat something I said in my webinar, in my book, on this blog:

When it all comes out in the wash, WOMM will be the best thing to happen to (silly retronym ahead) traditional advertising. Pretty soon, consumers won't believe anybody - even their best friends. They'll realize that they receive the most honest and straightforward information about a product or service from a TV commercial, radio spot, print ad, direct marketing collateral, or product web site. At least we don't lie about who we are and why we're saying what we're saying.

Remember this: Advertising didn't die with the invention of the telephone.