Atomic Ideas - Helping You Sell More Stuff!

Monday Musings -- Remember when Little Caesar's Commercials were...funny??

I know it's going back a ways. But Little Caesar's TV commercials used to be really funny, entertaining and engaging. Remember?...

 

Today, the commercials TRY to be entertaining and engaging, but quickly become annoying. Take a look at what is arguably one of the better ones to air recently...which isn't saying much.

 

What happened?? Well, in a bid to save money, Little Caesar's decided not to have an agency of record. Instead, their marketing director has agencies present creative (on spec) for each individual TV spot. An agency has to invest development time, money on story boards, meetings, etc with no guarantee of ending up with a spot at the end of the process. And the budgets are so low, that an agency doesn't stand to recoupe much or anything on the project. (Even worse, if Little Caesars does buy their spot, they are back to square one on the next project). So, as a consequence, only desperate agencies and one-man shows seem to gamble on the projects. And sometimes even they are a no-show  -- so rumor has it that on occasion the marketing director writes them himself. 

Then to save even more money, they cast non-union talent whose acting ability is mildly better than cardboard. Go ahead, ask someone today to name a Little Caesar's TV commercial and you'll get a blank stare, or a replay of one of the good spots back when they had an agency.

But you say, Little Caesar's is doing so well now! Yes they are, thanks only to the $5 Hot-N-Ready pizza. Before that, they were closing stores and were on a huge downslide. If the price is low enough, you can put a bucket in front of the camera with a sign and still get sales. But if the price ever goes away, so will sales. The brand and especially the advertising will NOT be top of mind -- because it is not memorable.

Go ahead, ask anybody what Little Caesars stand for and they'll say $5 pizza. Once the low, low price goes away, so will their place in people's minds. Unless, they hire an agency to help them develop a sound strategy and develop advertising that is memorable and will resonate with their best potential customers. 

What do you think? Click on the comment button below and give us a slice of your mind!

 

 

 

 

 

Pure Help

 

This has been on my mind for a awhile, I was driving the other day and heard another Pure Michigan spot on the radio. It reminded me - it really is good stuff. It’s a simple idea with great execution, radio and tv. And it has proven to be very extendable as an on-going campaign. I don’t want to talk about why it’s good stuff, it just is. I’m not saying these things because I had anything to do with this campaign; I’m saying these things because this campaign simply helps all of us in Michigan. Michigan needs a lot of help and here’s a big part of the solution.

So, I don’t get it. Why can’t the state of Michigan help fund the Pure Michigan campaign? It is such a good tool for helping our struggling economy. Not only is it good for our tourism, it’s also good for helping out-of-state companies to consider Michigan as a place to operate. We really need that. I know there’s a lot of state legislators who want to see the Pure Michigan campaign continue, but finding enough support is hard. I guess it shows just how bad our economy is these days.

Meanwhile, here’s some Pure Michigan spots you can view and send to out-of-staters to help keep the campaign afloat. Of course you can also go to you tube and vew all you want.

 

 

 

 

Why advertise?

Simple. To differentiate your product!

It's hard to take yourself seriously in this business.

Happy Friday from your friends at Atomic Ideas!

AT&T Stinks! er...has a a lot to learn about Customer Experience Optimization (CEO)

I have had AT&T for just one day (switched for the new iphone 4, thank you very much) and I'm FURIOUS! But not for the reason you think. Here in Southeast Michigan we actually have a decent AT&T coverage area. 

No, the reason I'm losing sleep over my AT&T service is because they're causing me to lose sleep! See once I got my new phone, every couple of hours AT&T would send a "helpful" message about how to register, set up lists, etc. The problem was they would send each message THREE (3) times!!!! Annoying at 3 in the afternoon -- downright exasperating when they start doing it at close to midnight and I'm trying to sleep! (That's right, it started about 11:30 and the last redundant message came in a couple minutes shy of midnight.)

Like a lot of people, I use my cell as a primary phone and leave it on at night for possible emergency calls. And, I'm sorry, a message about my "top 10" call buddy list is NOT an emergency. This kind of disregard for my sleeping habits makes me believe that AT&T either doesn't know or doesn't care what they are doing to their customers. 

Also, the fact that they have to resend messages so many times leads me to believe one of three things:

1. They have so little confidence in their service that they send the message several time to make sure it     gets through.

2. And/Or They have so little faith in me as a customer (read "idiot') that they feel they have to send a        message several times to make sure I notice it and take action.

3. And/Or They don't like when I don't accomplish their little tasks right away and are trying to blast me into submission. Well, I don't take kindly to "hard sell" and "intimidation" tactics.

You would think that with the problems they seem unable to change (service areas), AT&T would go out of their way to optimize the things that they easily have control over -- like when to send out text messages.

At Atomic Ideas, we not only craft advertising and marketing messages that get noticed and help clients sell more stuff, we also work with clients to make sure they can deliver the type of customer experience we promised in their advertising.  If they can't deliver, it's a simple matter of crafting messages so that they don't over promise and risk alienating any of their best potential customers. 

In Praise of Radio (Advertising)

 It's been said that a car is basically a radio on wheels. For the vast majority of us, that's true. And with the average commute totaling nearly an hour each day (vastly more in some regions), radio advertising (done right) remains a powerful medium to reach your best potential customers.  The key phrase here is, done right.

 Radio advertising, to an even greater extent than TV, has to engage the audience with humor, drama, or truly impactful information. Otherwise, the listener can (and will) switch to the next preset on their dial.  Following is an example of a humorous radio spot that I wrote a few years ago that really moved the needle for BP's Ice Guard brand. By making the spot entertaining, people not only didn't mind the message, they looked forward to it. Every time a flight ran, BP saw a dramatic blip in sales for it's more costly medium grade and premium grade fuels that contained Ice Guard.   

Following that is a dramatic spot for a next generation vehicle for the Armed Forces to replace the Hummer. You can tell it's done right because even though the spot was inteded for a very small group of people who would evaluate the vehicle for the Department of Defense, anyone tuning in could relate to it as well. 

The bottom line? Don't fear the radio. 06 BP Ice Guard - _Coming To Tow Me Away_

01 General Dynamics - _Bring Them Home_