Advertising

Lee Kaufman, Who Cleaned Her Way to Late-Life Stardom, Dies at 99 – The New York Times

by dldamore

Lee Kaufman, Who Cleaned Her Way to Late-Life Stardom, Dies at 99 – The New York Times:

They were the pioneers in an advertising strategy for Swiffer built on ordinary people, rather than actors, and the public responded with adoration and a click count that soared into the millions.

A three-minute spot intended for the internet was produced and got such a response that it was carved up into shorter segments for social media and television commercials; a string of other Swiffer ads using ordinary people followed. The Kaufmans’ eureka moments in the bits were genuine enough — the couple said later that they’d been unaware of Swiffer products before the filming.

“The bottom line is, don’t die young,” she said. “There are too many things that can happen.”

On Ads – Online …

by dldamore

September 1, 2012  ~ 1:15:49 AM

Ads.

Why are there so many of them? Is the amount overwhelming the people that see them? Is there something called ad blindness? 

Maybe websites should make ads more scarce… the ads that matter are the ones that are aligned with the viewer and the seller on the same page.

 

Perhaps firms could create a less intrusive ad experience is the consumer will provide some demographic data …

Advertiser: We really do only want to show ads that matter to you.

Viewer: Less ads? And the ones you show me will be relevant? And awesome too?

Advertiser: Yes, less ads. More relevant because if you are not in a typical buyer profile you will be excluded from seeing the ad. Regarding you comments on awesome, we can’t make any promises. If we have ads for products and services that are relevant to you, that would be a nice departure from current adverting practice, would it not?

Viewer: Indeed.

 

Notes: Thinking of this from a digital website ad perspective. Perhaps there would be a standard online identity service that you would load up with personal information and sites that promise privacy, less ads and get to use this to ensure a better user experience. This could be applied to newspaper and magazines in print, maybe.

Attention Grabbing Ad

by dldamore

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Talk about an interruption ad. This one interrupts before you even have a chance to start reading the paper.

  • It got noticed
  • First reaction, this looks dumb, who would put an ad right on the product?
    • It was super simple to remove. +1
  • Whoever made the actual peal sticker marketing product seems to have done a good job.
    • Fast and easy removal is critical to not make the customer angry

Crap Ads Seen on The Wall Street Journal Online

by dldamore

When people tell friends about products and services that turn out to be crappy, the relationship suffers, trust is eroded away. That same erosion of trust happens to companies that associate with or promote low quality products and services (ads).

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Ads like those pictured above are not doing readers any favors. One might even say, ads like these damage the brand of The Wall Street Journal.

*The screenshot of ads above were from the right sidebar of the Wall Street Journal website on 2/28/2011 at 12:15 P.M. EST.

Groupon vs. Living Social

by dldamore

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The screenshot above indicates that both Groupon and Living Social are targeting the Detroit market where I live. Looks like Groupon prefers the terms “Detroit Coupons” and that Living Social prefers “Detroit Deals.” It is unclear what keywords Groupon is using. Perhaps their AdWords budget for the day was expended and not reset for the new day. Seems odd that they did not come up in any of the searches. Living Social came up as the top ad or the only ad on four variations of those search terms.

Example Google searches for those terms

Detroit Coupons

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“Detroit Coupons”

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Detroit Deals

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“Detroit Deals”

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Gmail–Job Ad–No Jobs Listed

by dldamore

While checking email this evening I noticed a job ad at the top of the Gmail inbox. See image nearby. So, I think maybe I’ll know someone that might be a fit, I click on the ad and end up at the page below, there are no jobs listed.

Ad in Gmail

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Ad link destination

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Perhaps the job listings were down for the moment. You might try the link above the screenshot later to see if the jobs are correctly displayed.

If the jobs are not showing because there are no job opening, there is money being wasted on advertising. Perhaps this is a ruse where hungry job seekers seek a job, none are listed and highly interested people take action. Some things they might consider are as follows.

  • Email the firm inquiring about jobs
  • Check their LinkedIn account for connections to the firm
    • Take action based on findings
  • Calling the firm cold and having a story that is interesting and compelling to the gatekeeper who answers.

Sometimes firms place barriers in the way to filter out candidates. If small barriers prevent further action, that candidate is probably not suitable for the job.