macworld event - applenatics and stevenatics restless and protesting

it's brewing. there is a strong undertow but pretty soon, the closer we get to the macworld event, applenatics, apple product fanatics and stevenatics, steve jobs fanatics will bring it all on the surface. it's an event to watch out for, for very different reasons.

Steve Jobs
The ailing creator of the iPod and iPhone is next to irreplaceable.

For two years I wrote a satirical blog under the persona of Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs, and one of the recurring themes was that Jobs is not actually human but in fact is a demigod, the offspring of Zeus and a mortal woman, an immortal figure who uses his extraordinary powers to restore a sense of childlike wonder to the world by creating magical consumer-electronics products like the iPod and iPhone. This is, after all, a CEO who inspires a frightening level of adoration from Apple fanatics. These people think nothing of camping out overnight in freezing cold weather just to attend one of his speeches. No other chief executive is so inextricably linked to his company's brand and products. As one Wall Street analyst put it this year, "Apple is Steve Jobs, and Steve Jobs is Apple."

Alas, however, Jobs is all too human, as became evident in June when he appeared at an Apple conference looking frail and gaunt, causing Apple watchers to worry that perhaps Jobs had suffered a recurrence of the pancreatic cancer for which he underwent surgery four years ago. Later, word leaked that Jobs had undergone surgery in the spring. Fears flamed up again in December when Apple announced that he would not give his annual keynote address at the Macworld conference in January. Asked about Jobs's health, an Apple spokesman says that if at some point Jobs were unable to perform his duties as CEO, Apple would make this known.

Jobs cofounded Apple in 1976, got tossed out in 1985 and returned in 1997, when the company was as close to death as a company can get. Since then he has orchestrated one of the greatest turnarounds in corporate history, making Apple into the hottest brand in consumer electronics. At the end of 1997 Apple stock was trading for about three bucks a share. Today those shares trade for $96, after shooting as high as $202 earlier this year. The weak economy might take some wind out of Apple's sails, especially since the company sells mostly to consumers rather than to corporate customers, and because Apple's products are hardly cheap. On the other hand, Apple's customers are fiercely loyal and aren't penny-pinching bargain hunters. They're not likely to start buying Dell computers or Motorola cell phones just to save a few bucks. If anything, they'll just wait a bit longer before upgrading their Apple gear.

Jobs began Apple's turnaround with the 2001 introduction of the iPod, which defined and then dominated the portable-music-player market—and which became central to the resuscitation of Apple's computer line. The Mac, once derided as a toy, today is the best personal computer on the planet, period. And the iPhone is the best smart phone. Nothing else comes close. As of the third quarter of 2008, Apple's iPhone was outselling the Research in MotionBlackBerry, even though the iPhone had been in the market for only 15 months. When measured by revenues, Apple has become the world's third-largest mobile-phone maker, behind Nokia and Samsung. All this is happening just as mobile devices are poised to become the most important omputing platform.

For all this and more, thank Steve Jobs. He's not an engineer. He can't write a line of software code. He is, by most accounts, a terrible manager, prone to tantrums and abusive tirades, almost unbearable to work for. But he is also a genius —a relentless perfectionist with a keen eye for design and a Zen master's sense of which features to leave out. His products are simple, spare and elegant, with the best user interfaces in the world.

Moreover, Apple is not Jobs's only home run. In 1986 he spent $10 million to buy a sad little company that was trying (and mostly failing) to sell specialized, high-end graphics computers. Twenty years later, having renamed the outfit Pixar and turned it into an animation house, he sold it to Disney for $7.4 billion

http://www.newsweek.com/id/176318

life without meaning or steve jobs not on stage at the macworld conference

i both understand and do not understand what the fuzz is about apple's announcement that steve jobs not delivering the keynote address in the coming macworld event.

here's why i understand it. steve jobs in my mind is his generation's most brilliant marketer in the world, bar none. no one man has done what steve jobs has done - he was kicked out the company he has built after he introduced apple computers. he came back to it, but did other things - macbook, ipod, itunes, iphone and back to the mac. all those things have changed not only our digital life but also our real lifestyle. they are not just brilliantly marketed products, they were superior products that not only led the industry the products competed in, it changed it, if it did not create a whole new industry by itself.

that is a very eloquent statement on why many are disappointed that steve jobs will not be at the macworld event. apple is steve jobs and steve jobs is apple. its just not the same if it does not come from the horse's mouth itself. well steve job's mouth.

all those marvelous and life changing products are largely credited to steve jobs.

and that's the part that i don't understand. are we sure that's all of steve job's doing? how sure are we on that? steve jobs must be a superman or some alien working out of cupertino.

when apple announced jobs will not be the keynote speaker, apple stock prices dropped by at least 7%. i don't get that - investors who bought apple stocks are buying into steve jobs and not apple products? that is what they seem to be saying.

it's as if without steve jobs around, all the macs, iphone and ipod will stop working or consumers will stop buying them. it's like telling us what most people bought were not ipods and iphones but a piece of steve jobs. that sounds really sexy and poetic, but come on now!

don't get me wrong. i have long been a fan of steve jobs. on my very first trip to the US many years ago, i had asked my hosts to drive me to their cupertino headquarters and had a picture of myself taken in front of their office. and i have read everything written about steve jobs since then.

but i'm not one who thinks owning an ipod means owning a piece of steve jobs and his absence will remove all meaning on life and apple products. i would love to have steve jobs to live forever and to be at every apple event but the world will not crumble without him.

apple's product, r&d and marketing strategies are so crystal clear that i'll be surprised if they are not written in stone in some sacred mountain. having these strategies and thinking clear and solid ensures apple will thrive as a company for more years to come with or without steve jobs. unless, of course those who will replace jobs don't know how to read and can't think.

macworld will continue to be an event to watch. but it will be for a different reason. this time, it will not be for what jobs will say but it will be for what he will not say and who will say it.

after that event, i'll come back here and talk about what i understand and what i don't understand.

shoe throwing - new icon for protest

we're just wondering if the world has found a new icon to express disgust and protest against a political leader. spraying red paint on coats made of animal fur has become the universal expression of protest of use of animal skin as fur. will shoe-throwing do it for disagreeing with policies of the political power?

david letterman's take on the issue:

senator putang ina - mar roxas' new brand image?

mar roxas, a presidentiable recently uttered words we don't hear on national tv and certainly not from a senator. but he did say it - "putang ina". it has become mar roxas' defining moment. will it stick till election time? and what should the senator do?

this is actually about branding and can fit into WAWAM! but we posted it at the 2010 presidentiables blog, the spin-off blog where we have placed everything about politics and the philippine election.

these words of mar roxas puts miriam defensor to shame. she sounds like a saint now compared to roxas. president bush had his own defining moment. but he came out well of it. mar roxas did not. what should mar roxas do?

read about it here: http://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/

december 14, 2004 - philippine daily inquirer prints 2 versions of their front page on fernando poe jr.'s death

on december 14, 2004, exactly 4 years ago to the day, philippine daily inquirer (PDI) printed their newspaper and released it like all other days. or so they thought.

the top news during those days were the health of fernando poe jr, FPJ or "Da King", the hugely popular actor who ran against president gloria macapagal arroyo. FPJ says he won the presidential election, arroyo said he did not. because FPJ was a huge matinee idol with nearly a masa following as strong as that of his best friend ex-president erap estrada, most people thought he won that election, too. to prove his point, FPJ filed an election protest in the courts questioning arroyo's win.

but FPJ or Da King suffered a massive stroke just a few days before and everyone, specially the media was on a hospital watch.

PDI had written on it's front page the headline "FPJ condition turns for the worst", with the subhead, "Wife Susan "remains strong"". the article went on talk about how FPJ is struggling to stay alive and his family and friends were trying their best to cope with the situation.

then, something unexpected happened - FPJ died at 12:15 am, december 14, 2004.

as all other newspapers do, PDI starts to print it's newspapers starting around 11:00 pm of the previous day for the next day's edition. PDI must have printed and distributed some already when they got the news about FPJ's death.
PDI was forced to print a 2nd copy of the december 14, 2004 edition but with a different and more accurate headline : "Da King is dead", with the subhead "Fernando Poe Jr. united nation in prayer during two-day vigil for his recovery"

all other articles and pictures in that front page were the same except for the headline and lead story. they had no choice, it would have been foolish and stupid to just let the "first edition" to be distributed to readers with the "erroneous" headline. it would have most likely caused a riot at most and irreparable damage to the reputation of PDI.

i don't know how many subscribers got both editions, but four years ago, i was very surprised to find in my garage door 2 copies of PDI. i kept those two copies and thought it would make for an interesting talk piece in advertising and media.

newspapers are in the business of transmitting news to its readers. that means accurate news. life and reality will not wait for newspapers, they will just happen. and just like in this case, PDI needed to adjust and do the right thing.

you can just imagine the kind of rush and panic the whole newspapers had to go through to get the 2nd edition in a lightning speed pace. they needed editors, writers, layout artists and the whole printing press on hand between 12:15 am to 5:00 am. the whole printing press and its workers were on stand-by as the editors, writers and layout artists wrote a fresh headline news and story. the distribution people needed to be on stand-by as well as they needed to do a 2nd run.

fernando poe jr. was not just a presidentiable. he was also a considered to be the King Of Filipino movies. his movies during his prime was a sure hit. almost all his roles were about a man with modest means fighting the big guys, the wealthy and the powerful and winning in the end, justice is done. on this day of Da King's death, we publish this blog exactly 4 years to the date, december 14, 2008 at 12:15am.

guitar hero tv spot - enjoying heidi klum's inner rockstar, inside or out, more or less

we had a guitar hero ad featured here in WAWAM! early this year during the finals of American Idol. that ad had david cook, one of the finalists appearing in the ad which was aired during the AI finals. david cook's ad was a hit and made a buzz specially among women. (read it here: http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/guitar%20hero)

heidi klum has a similar ad for guitar hero. it's just that as far as i am concerned, this heidi klum is much better to watch. it's great to see expose her inner rockstar in a tv ad, the one inside or out, more or less. well, here it's less. we would have wanted it lesser but if they did that, we won't be able to see the ad on tv. it will be banned.

this heidi ad is essentially the same david cook ad. watch this heidi ad and it is obvious why that cook guitar hero was a hit among women as i am sure this heidi ad is a hit among men.

it is true what my ad agency told me before - having less is much better.

magic sing's "tribute" ad to manny pacquiao - magic sing thought manny will lose the fight!

day after manny pacquaio's amazing win over de la hoya, philippine newspapers were full of ads congratulating manny on his win. i had expected that and i was eagerly reviewing the ads to see how the brands did it.

most of the brands did it very well, except for one.

magic sing is an in-home electornic karaoke machine where songs are saved in computer chips and you control the songs to be played on the tv to sing along to by using the microphone as the control device. its a very convenient machine for karoake afficianados.

but magic sing overdid the convenience part in their tribute ad to pacquaio. in fact it wasn't even convenience, they were downright lazy and it's a real shame the way they honored the country's new hero if that was the intent of this ad.

the good news is it's not a full page ad. most of the tribute ads to pacquaio were large in size with a few full page ads or at least a 3/4 page ad. magic sing took pity on us and just had a 1/4 size for this one. we thank them for that.

first of all, this magic sing ad is a very tacky ad - they had pacquiao hold the magic sing mic in a fighting stance pose!  of all the tribute ads printed on that day, this is the only ad that showed manny holding a product in his hands. all the ads printed on that day only had manny's picture dominating the page and the brand names or pictures of the product discretely placed at the bottom of the ad and in small sizes.

the most disgusting part about this ad is the headline and the subhead. the headline read - "Mabuhay Ka Manny!" (Long live Manny!); and the subhead read "Sa puso namin, lagi kang panalo" (In our hearts, you always win in our hearts).

What the.......???

that subhead threw me off! what exactly did they mean when they said "sa puso namin, lagi kang panalo"? manny actually won the fight. shouldn't they have said something like - "congratulations for winning the fight" or something like "we are proud you won the fight"? all the other tribute ads that appeared on that day had headlines that were triumphant, victorious, proud, happy and celebratory. but in this one, the best that magic sing can do was tell manny he wins in their hearts all the time!

that kind of line you say if manny did not win the fight and you wanted him to still feel good by telling him even though you did not win the fight, in our hearts you are always a winner.

it seems to me magic sing actually THOUGHT MANNY PACQUIAO WILL LOSE THE FIGHT! that is the only plausible explanation for that kind of copy in the subhead.

magic sing must have asked its ad agency to produce a print ad and perhaps to save on production costs, they asked the ad agency to prepare only 1 ad instead of 2 ads.

of course nobody knew if manny will win or lose the fight. and for companies who intended to come up with ads after the fight, the prudent thing to do was to have a camera ready artworks for 2 ads for 2 eventualities - 1 ad that assumes manny will win the fight and a 2nd ad that assumes manny will lose the fight. that way, you have an ad ready for  publication no matter what the outcome of the fight is.

it appears to me magic sing wanted to save on production costs and produced only 1 ad. that ad they had produced must have been based on what the clients in magic sing thought will be the outcome of the fight - manny will lose to de la hoya. practically all boxing experts had predicted the same thing, so i guess the clients in magic sing bought the prediction.

they produced only 1 ad. and too bad for them, manny pacquaio had upset the favored de la hoya. not wanting to miss out on the manny frenzy one day after he won the fight, the clients gave the go signal to print the only ad they had - the one that assumed manny will lose the fight!

maybe they thought it's okay to do that as nobody will notice?!

there is really nothing wrong in thinking pacquaio will lose the fight. some thought of the same thing. what makes this whole thing terribly wrong was publishing  a half ass ad on a day of glory that was intended to pay tribute to a hero. advertising is expensive. we know that. but saving costs in this way is a disaster waitng to happen.

this ad is  a WAWAM! twice over.

-----------

here is the front page of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, day after he won. that is very similar to the tribute ads that were released by many brands on that day - large, dominant picture of manny and triumphant, glorious haedlines. this says "It's Christmas Day". that is the way to pay tribute to the country's hero.

more than half of american adults play video games - a brave new world for advertising?

we have read often in business magazines how video game companies are doing well and that they are growth stocks. now we know for sure why - more than half of american adults play video games. not that we didn't know this - 97% of teens, nearly all teens are video game players.

we know that some of the video games teens play are very violent and in some sexually explicit and now we get a clue why the video game developers desigend them that way. aside from the fact that teens have an over supply of testosterone, they are probably thinking of the adult market.

the teens also grow up to become adults and that is what the article is saying too - the adults are still playing the games they grew up with. the habit has stayed with them over the years.

this is an interesting development not just from a stock market point of view but also for video game developers and even to advertising. there have been attempts already, but soon perhaps advertising will find a new medium to invade.

Survey finds over half of adults play video games

By BARBARA ORTUTAY – 2 hours ago

NEW YORK (AP) — After a day of dirty diapers and "Dora the Explorer," of laundry and homework time, when her four kids are finally asleep, Sarah Ninesling begins roaming the ruins of a post-apocalyptic Washington, D.C., fighting mutants to help save the survivors of a nuclear war.

The 30-year-old stay-at-home mom from New York's Long Island plays "Fallout 3" and other games like "World of Warcraft" and "The Lord of the Rings Online." She plays every day, sometimes past midnight, to escape and relax and feel a sense of accomplishment.

"You are never going to play a schlep," she said. "You are always going to be a hero."

Ninesling is not alone. More than half of American adults play video games and one in five play just about every day, according to a survey released Sunday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The survey of 2,054 U.S. adults was conducted late last year, with a margin of error of about 2 percent.

People from all walks of life play, though younger adults are far more likely to play than seniors, proof that video games are mainstream entertainment for the generations that grew up with them. In all, 81 percent of respondents between 18 and 29 said they play games, compared with 23 percent of people 65 and older.

Another Pew survey this fall found that nearly every teenager — 97 percent — is a gamer.

"As various people become more accustomed to spending their entertainment time playing games, we will continue to see this spread throughout society," said Amanda Lenhart, senior research specialist at Pew. "There are people who talk about games as a new genre, a new art form."

The gender gap between gamers was not what would be predicted by old stereotypes painting video game fans as young men who need to get outside more. Fifty percent of women and 55 percent of men play video games.

Video game companies are increasingly trying to cater to women and families. In recent years, they have pushed to expand their audience through "casual" games, ones that are easy to pick up and take less time to master. Nintendo Co. has enjoyed perhaps the greatest success — its Wii gaming console, launched in 2006, is still in such high demand it was recently sold out on Best Buy's Web site.

A surprising finding in Pew's report was the discrepancy between the education levels of gamers and non-gamers. While video games may not make you smarter, a college education means you're more likely to play them. Some 57 percent of respondents who went to at least some college said they play games, compared with 51 percent of high school graduates and just 40 percent of people who have less than a high school education. Lenhart said there is no obvious reason for the difference.

The survey also found that parents with young children and teenagers are big gamers, though a love of video games is not necessarily a result of parenting. Rather, these parents tend to be younger than parents with adult children, and are thus more likely to play.

In all, 66 percent of parents or guardians of children under 17 play video games, far more than the 47 percent of adults without kids that age. But it's not the offspring who are dragging Mom and Dad in front of the PlayStation: Only 31 percent of parents with teenagers play video games with their kids.

Ninesling, whose kids are 2, 4, 5 and 9, may play a lot of computer games, but she's strict about how much time the children spend in front of the screen: They have up to an hour each day to play the Wii, and they get at most half an hour on the computer, and not even every day.

"It's hypocritical, I guess," she said with a laugh.

Part of the lure of video games is the opportunity to interact with a story, to change the narrative if you want. The ending of "Fallout 3" depends on the choices the player makes throughout the game. Ninesling finds that interactivity more appealing than sitting in front of a television.

"Real life can suck, and games are designed not to," she said. "That's why it's important for most people."

source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iNOTN9TERbb5WaKtu0MBB1S_L7HwD94U44H85

calvin & hobbes : setting up an idea

nike tv ad banned in china for being offensive

this happened in 2004, but it is one more incident of nike releasing an ad that offended people, this time the chinese. the lebron james ad shows lebron conquering "enemies" but some of these are chinese and the dragon. the dragon is a very important symbol for the chinese.

the ad shows lebron battling with "enemies", a combination of real people, real characters and animation characters. the ad is very obviously over the top and an exaggeration, an ad that should not be taken literally.

being out in the west, we are used to seeing images like these - in movies, comics and cartoons on tv and none of it strike us as offensive and we don't really take these seriously. we are fully aware these images are just make believe and purely for entertainment value.

but we are not chinese and not chinese who live in china. it becomes a very different story all together for them. we can see these images here as just pure entertainment but in the eyes of the chinese who live in china, it is a violation of who they are and what they believe in. lebron has won over chinese people, even though they are the china of many centuries ago and the dragon, a symbol that is not really religion, religion is banned in china, but it does have the same kind of emotions and meanings as we have on religious symbols like the cross for christians. and those are what the chinese offensive.

different people react differently to stimulus. but a company like nike need to understand that and that sensibilities do exist and is a reality. advertising is a very public form of communication and it is a powerful one. knowing your limits is something advertisers should know very well.

"Offensive" Nike TV commerical banned
Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn, December 6, 2004 6:38 PM


Last week Friday, the South China Morning Post and ChinaPR.com.cn both reported that Nike's new TV commercial was the subject of heated online discussions amongst Chinese people who found it offensive. The commercial, called 'Chamber of Fear' was produced by Nike's global advertising agent Wieden + Kennedy for global use.

The SCMP reported that Nike planned to continue using the commercial, despite the fuss. However, today the Beijing Youth Daily reports that the commercial has been banned by SARFT (State Administration of Radio, TV and Film), for insulting Chinese culture.

The commercial portrays NBA star LeBron James fighting his way through a pagoda of dangers and temptations. LeBron "keeps his mind on his game and his game on his mind" and conquers all. The problem is that all the dangers and temptations are Chinese people and symbols of China like dragons. So despite the fact that the commercial is quite clearly a pastiche of Bruce Lee movie scenes and video game cliches, it has been branded as insulting.

http://www.danwei.org/advertising_and_marketing/offensive_nike_tv_commercial_b.php

offensive manny pacquiao "Christ crucifixion" ad - given a "Cease & Desist Order" by the Ad Standards Council?

http://nike.com.ph/giveusthisday/



Show your support.
Post a shoutout for Manny.

another blog posted that nike's manny pacquiao ad was given a "Cease & Desist Order"(CDO) by the Ad Standards Council. if that is true, that means nike need to pull out this ad from media. but we still see the ad in the internet, so we don't know if it is true that a CDO was issued.

the Ad Standard Council is a self-regulatory body by the ad industry. its members are from all member organizations that are involved in the creation, publication/airing, research and production of ads. the ASC has specific rules or guidelines, developed by the ad industry, as to what ads can contain and not contain. all ads aired or printed need to pass through a screening committee and give each one a approval to air or print before we see it on media.

once aired or printed, other parties, everyone who is interested my file a complaint with the ASC if they see the ad is violating any of the guidelines set by the ASC. a hearing is conducted and if the hearing committee determines a particular ad has indeed violated a guideline, then that ad is given a "Cease & Desist Order" (CDO) that orders the ad agency who developed the ad to pull it off the air or print media. there is an appeals process, but that's basically how it goes.

this blog (http://mannypacquiaonews.blogspot.com/search/label/ad%20standards%20council) says this nike ad was given a CDO on the basis of violating this guideline:

The CDO was issued for violation of Art. I, sec. 3 of the ASC Code and is effective immediately. The section provides that:

"Advertisements must respect religious beliefs, and be sensitive to the diverse religions, mores, culture, traditions, characteristics, historical background and identity of the various Filipino communities and uphold traditional Filipino family and social values."

if this nike ad of pacman was indeed given a CDO, we wonder why we still see it in the internet?

manny pacquaio's nike ad - "ang mamatay ng dahil sa yo", this time on the philippine anthem

a nike tv ad has been featured in WAWAM! previously and was praised for showing a lot of class compared to all other pacquaio ads we see on tv. (click here to read : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/2008/06/nikes-manny-pacquaio-tv-spot.html).


from WAWAM!'s post:

it feels like manny pacquiao has at least a dozen tv commercials on air for different brands. but of all the pacquiao tv ads, this nike tv spot is the best and the one that has the most class of the bunch.everything works very well - the consumer insight is deep and hits home, the visuals and production values are excellent, copy is very sparse and the choice of the song and lyrics is brilliant.

nike philippines seem to like to use ad concepts that are deep and of national consequence. this tv spot uses lines and music from the national anthem and then now, using religion and the crucifixion of Christ. i guess, no guts, no glory. given pacquaio's stature, it seems highly appropriate, except that in the last one, they went overboard and became offensive.






read all posts on manny pacquiao here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/manny%20pacquiao

nike - used the offensive athlete on a cross image before

nike's abuse of creative license in using the image of chirst and the crucifixion is apparently nothing new. it's a different country, in england, but the same kind of offense was made - the use the cross and the same arms of the athlete stretched out to mimic how Chirst was when he was nailed to the cross.

while this ad is more offensive, because of the use of red paint which can be seen as blood, the pacquaio ad is as offensive just the same. the outstretched arms of pacquiao is NOT a pose for prayer and there is no hiding from that. the clear intent is to have a double meaning from the image - that of prayer largely due to manny kneeling down and the more offensive idea of Christ on the cross.

Nike attacked over Rooney 'warrior' picture

Drenched in blood-red paint and screaming a war-cry, this chilling image of Wayne Rooney was last night condemned as 'offensive', 'exploitative' and 'tacky' by MPs and church groups.
He may yet turn out to be the saviour of England's World Cup campaign, but the Christ-like pose of the striker in a new Nike campaign yesterday provoked fierce condemnation.

Five people complained to the Advertising Standards Authority watchdog on
religious grounds within hours of the advert being posted.

Its other interpretation as a battle cry from the dark ages or throwback to the Crusades was equally unfortunate as the poster's launch coincided with the first outbreak of serious violence involving England's army of fans in Germany on Monday night.

Labour MP Stephen Pound said the advert was 'truly horrible.'

'This is such a horrible image and is so horribly war-like that it can only be described as Nike being crass, offensive and insensitive as they try to hitch poor old Rooney to their commercial band-wagon.'

The MP for Ealing North added: 'He should go out and wear Adidas instead. It's offensive on so many different levels and extremely nasty.

'Wayne's a good Catholic boy and I think the obvious crucifixion nuance is one part of it, but the aggressive nature of the pose is something we could do without.

'If we have learned anything about football in the last few years, it should be that it doesn't need big business trying to inject even more aggression into the mix.'

Nike, who have a £5m contract with the 20-year-old striker, pleaded that they were merely showing him in his trademark goal-scoring 'celebration' gesture and denied they had sought to make any comparison with Christ on the cross.

Rev Rod Thomas of Church of England evangelical group Reform was not convinced. It's quite a disturbing image and because the paint is wet, it really looks like blood,' he said. 'It's offensive on several different levels'

'It therefore brings to mind the crucifixion to many people, and why Nike would want to do that, I haven't a clue, unless it is simply as a publicity stunt.

'The trivialisation of Christ's suffering is highly offensive to Christians and to God. This will cause real hurt to people.

'The other aspect of it is the aggression contained in it, bound up with the flag of St George, which you might see as a throwback to the Crusades, which is hardly going to go down well with Muslim countries. It's offensive on several different levels.'

A spokesman for the ASA said the complainants who had see the advert either in a huge 60ft wide roadside hoarding in West London or in some national newspapers, all thought the picture was a reference to the crucifixion.

Some added they found the image 'alarming'.

The picture was the product of a three-hour photoshoot by an unnamed hotographer and was the brainchild jointly of Nike executives and their advertising agency Wieden and Kennedy, which also has accounts with Honda, Pizza Hut and Yakult yoghurt.

Although the poster was prepared a few weeks ago, during Rooney's enforced absence from the pitch due to a broken metatarsal bone, Nike decided to publish it. along with their logo 'Just Do It', once his return to the England starting line-up looked likely.

The limited campaign is known in the trade by the unfortunate phrase of a 'tactical execution', according to Wieden and Kennedy's website.

The agency refused to discuss the advert, but a Nike spokeswoman said it would not be shown nationwide or in other countries.

'It was intended solely as a celebration of Rooney's return to the team and is based on his own trademark goal-scoring celebration, nothing to do with the crucifuxion at all, ' she added.

'If we have offended anyone on those grounds, we would stress it was unintentional and we apologise. It is not meant to be an aggressive picture, either. It was a case of catching the mood of the nation as everyone urges Rooney on to great things, and of course our slogan puts it perfectly.

'The red paint is not meant to be blood, it's just echoing the body paint which fans cover themselves in and the rest of Wayne's body is painted white. It's the flag of St George, and nothing else.

'We have had nothing but positive reaction to the poster and a lot of people have been asking if they can buy it. We have no plans to produce it as a poster.'

Rooney was wearing a pair of Nike's new Total 90 Supremacy boots when he injured his foot in a game against Chelsea in April.

The firm rejected claims by Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson that the design of the boot had put extra pressure on his metatarsal, causing the fracture. Rooney's girlfriend Coleen McLoughlin also has a £1.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-391684/Nike-attacked-Rooney-warrior-picture.html

nike's manny pacquiao ad - we applaud the artistry, but deplore the offense to the catholic faith

we understand what manny pacquiao means to the filipino people. he is a hero of national proportions. it is a country hungry for an authentic hero and this man from general santos city fits that to a T. he is brave, he is determined, he is fearless, he wins and is a champion boxer who is truly world class in skills and abilities.

this fight with oscar de la hoya will probably become either his greatest fight or his worst as de la hoya seem to be a formidable opponent. winning in this fight is a must for this filipino icon. and as the country is mostly catholics, this is where the nike ad fits into.

it is a brilliant ad. the concept of manny in prayer in the corner of the ring and the copy that goes with it, "give us this day" is an excellent fit specially to the audience and to the fight.

the artwork is also brilliantly done. very high concept as well. manny in his knees, praying at the corner of the ring with the ropes and the corner post forming an obvious cross.

but that is what we find offensive.

manny's outward stretched hands, resting on the ropes, with the obvious image of the cross in front of him show manny in a position where it appears he is mimicking the position of Christ on the cross. that to me is the obvious double meaning intended to be communicated by the art director.

outstretched hands the way it is done in the ad is not the position for prayer. it is holding the hands together, even with the boxing gloves on, is the position for prayer. we see many boxers do that in the ring and most of them do the sign of the cross even with their gloves on.

the art director choosing to show manny with his hands stretched apart is not really to show manny in prayer, but it mimicks the position of Christ on the cross. manny's hands stretched out that way in front of a cross is what i find offensive. it violates one of the most revered images in the catholic faith - Christ's sacrifice of his life during the crucifiction. the nike ad wants us to think that manny is nailed to the cross, as Christ was. that is very offensive.

the viewers of the ad are also being asked to contribute or post their prayers or wishes for manny. and one particular shoutout seem to be the favorite of the ad:

BECAUSE OF THE FILIPINO FAITH... GOD WILL INDEED GIVE US THIS DAY! GOD BLESS YOU MANNY! - gabby, nueva ecija

with that kind of message - what if manny does not win? should filipinos feel guilty that we do not have enough faith and that is why manny lost? and should we see God in that way? is that the proper way to look at faith and religion?

we like creative work. we like brilliant work even more. but this creativity and brilliance need to be sensitive and respectful of religion and the beliefs of people.

on the whole, this ad offends us.



click here to view in full : http://nike.com.ph/giveusthisday/



Show your support.
Post a shoutout for Manny.

maggi magic sarap and judy ann santos in a dream ad - only seen in dreams

have you seen your dream on tv?


this maggi magic sarap tv commercial featuring popular judy ann santos or juday as endorser is a dream seen on tv. to have juday in ad is a dream not only considering the amount of talent fee that needs to be paid but also because of the fact that juday is still at her peak. she is one of the most popular actresses around with a huge and in many cases rabid following.

pair to the dream of having juday in the ad is the the looks of the ad which is really very good. the production and art designs are excellent with every little meticulously set and every item you see in the ad art directed to perfection.


juday is also in dream looks - every piece of her hair in place, make-up just right making her look clean, nice and beautiful. this is one of the few ads of juday where her real personality comes out - wholesome, happy and beautiful. she does this understated beauty queen walk through stalls in a palengke (a wet public market), with an over-sized bag.


wait a minute..... palengke? what palengke? juday is in a palengke? to do what?


that is where this dream ad bursts.


why in the world will a showbiz superstar, specially someone like judy ann santos go to a palengke? it will not be surprising to know that the time they shot this ad in that palengke is the first time judy ann santos has ever set foot in a palengke in all her life.


on that alone, this ad already suffers from a catastrophic believability problem. judy ann santos must have at least 4 househelp under her employ. and even these househelp most likely do their shopping for food in a supermarket, not in a palengke.


as a superstar, juday may be used to wear clothes like what she is wearing on a daily basis, but very, very few ordinary folks wear the same type of clothes in a palengke. you wouldn't want nice clothes like that smeared with fish or meat blood, not to mention get all the smells of produce, slaughtered chicken and fish to attach themselves on your clothes. these types of clothes is also a magnet for holduppers and crime.


and did you notice the palengke? there is NO palengke in the philippines, not a single one that look like that. the stalls are neatly arranged, everything is clean and it smells real good (ok, that one we imagined). you also see produce hanging from stalls to give the place a nice look. this whole palengke look is just too art directed. the production design staff was just too much, every inch of that ad was drawn and executed to perfection. this palengke is so perfect that a palengke looking like that can only exist in our nightmares.

nestle is obsessive compulsive about branding, seeing the brand names of their products in every frame in their ads, but in this one they relented and now we just see the maggi magic sarap color of yellow. that's the reason why the whole commercial has been given an over-all look of the color yellow.

but this nestle ad is a huge improvement compared to their previous ads of years ago. nestle used to have tv ads where not only did the colors of the brand being advertised is in every shot, the brand name is also displayed prominently. i remember milo commercials where kids who play basketball where uniforms with the milo logo, the board of the basketball ring has the milo logo and the banners around the basketball court has milo logos on them. at least in this ad, they no longer have the brand's logo everywhere, just the brand colors.

this tv ad may look good visually, but it's one that exist only on a production designer's sketch pad and not even in our dreams. it is the farthest from reality. add to the incredible visual look what juday does in this ad makes one really go crazy, judy ann santos will NOT set foot in a palengke to buy food stuff and she will NOT cook a meal for guests. it's just too difficult to believe.

one of the most important principles of celebrity endorsement advertising is credibility and believability. this tv ad ignores that completely. this is one of the worst kind of celebrity endorsement ad where the over-riding principle appear to be - have the face of the endorser in the ad and it will sell.

we often hear actresses who appear naked in movies explain away their behavior as "for art's sake". of course we don't believe them. we know that art has nothing to do with their going naked in movies, it's all about the talent fee they were paid and the hope appearing naked in movies will make them famous.

well, this tv ad is very similar to that situation. they have the looks, the feel and juday doing what she is doing in this ad as "for art's sake", throwing away all attempts to be believable and credible.

and did i mention juday's palengke basket? look at it, it's this huge palengke basket with a red scarf tied around it for effect. duh! nobody carries that basket anymore. they use plastic bayong these days or just any ordinary plastic bag. and please, a red scarf tied around it???!!!

a WAWAM!




view the ad here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D082Lxm7k5Q

new balckberry storm - storming its own brand equity into bits

i don't own a blackberry, but i thought this review at the new york times has an excellent insight on brand equity.

No Keyboard? And You Call This a BlackBerry?
by: David Pogue
The New York Times

Research in Motion (R.I.M.), the company that brought us the BlackBerry, has been on a roll lately. For a couple of years now, it’s delivered a series of gorgeous, functional, supremely reliable smartphones that, to this day, outsell even the much-adored iPhone.

Here’s a great example of the intelligence that drives R.I.M.: The phones all have simple, memorable, logical names instead of incomprehensible model numbers. There’s the BlackBerry Pearl (with a translucent trackball). The BlackBerry Flip (with a folding design). The BlackBerry Bold (with a stunning design and faux-leather back).

Well, there’s a new one, just out ($200 after rebate, with two-year Verizon contract), officially called the BlackBerry Storm.

But I’ve got a better name for it: the BlackBerry Dud.

The first sign of trouble was the concept: a touch-screen BlackBerry. That’s right — in its zeal to cash in on some of that iPhone touch-screen mania, R.I.M. has created a BlackBerry without a physical keyboard.

Hello? Isn’t the thumb keyboard the defining feature of a BlackBerry? A BlackBerry without a keyboard is like an iPod without a scroll wheel. A Prius with terrible mileage. Cracker Jack without a prize inside.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/27/technology/personaltech/27pogue.html?_r=1&bl&ex=1227848400&en=5a50becfbe5bac73&ei=5087%0A

the question the author asked - "what? a blackberry without a keyboard?" is excellent in terms of the most fundamental and strategic question on brand equity. the last paragraph says it all - "isn't the thumb keyboard the defining feature of the blackberry". yes, the thumb keyboard is the very core of what the blackberry is all about.



the blackberry storm, with it's touch screen is obviously an attempt to match and answer apple's iphone. since the launch of the iphone, the market has been looking for the iphone killer.


the intent is fine. but what is not right and in fact most likely will cause an implosion to blackberry is that they are attempting to kill the successful iphone by removing the brand's strategic core of the thumb keyboard by being a copy cat to iphone's touch screen. the thumb keyboard and the touch screen are two extremely different consumer experience of the products. they are worlds apart.


the history of marketing has been brutal to copycat brands. being unique is one of marketing's most revered commandments. it is one of the top holy grail of marketing while being a copycat is poison, a sure path to failure.


that reminds me of burger king when it first launched in the philippines. burger king in the philippines essentially had the same sort of offerings as in the US, one of which was the bottomless refill of sodas (coca cola products). it was a first in the philippines for any fast food restaurant and was a hit among consumers.


a top official from burger king headquarters in the US visited manila to look at the operations here. one of the big discussions with the marketing team of burger manila was the bottomless refill of sodas. the BK official had asked that the offering be stopped, obviously to improve margins. the local marketing people objected arguing that it being a first in the country, it was a top draw among consumers. BK was head to head with the leaders jollibee and mcdonald's and any advantage it can have was one of the things the local marketing team was defending.


the BK official stood pat on the direction and i agree with it. he said BK is all about its charbroiled hamburgers, not sodas. it is their key brand equity.


cellphones are very much the physical design as its features and software. cellphone brands have their own unique physical designs that not only do we remember them, we buy them for that reason. that is true with Motorola's slim flip phones which became an immediate huge hit as during the time of it's launch most cellphones were thick. and the most recent success of course is the iphone with its touch screen.


the blackberry was weathered all these new physical design innovations from their competitors. the blackberry continued to have very good market share and a large and even growing number of loyal users. and all that because blackberry's thumb keyboard was able to fight off these competitive design onslaught.


until now, when they removed the thumb keyboard in the blackberry storm.


it would be interesting to see if consumers agree and confirm this marketing law of "though shall not remove thy brand equity".

san miguel beer christmas ad warms the heart and its not the beer

the APO is one of the country's most enduring singing talent group and one of the most well-loved. they have the good boys image and a true model for the young. it's great to see them in this san miguel beer christmas ad.

REACTIONS, new feature of blogger : you agree/disagree? your ratings!

there is a new feature in this blog - (a)you can cast your "vote" or reaction to the posts : "i agree!", "in the middle" and "i disagree"; and (b) ratings, from 1 star to 5 stars. they are located at the end of every post. just click on them and it will save automatically.

this is a great feature as it will tell us in two very simple ways what you think of the posts in this blog. reader feedback is very important to us your views will help us understand what works andn does not work in this blog.

use it now!

Brain Food # 5 : The Complete Calvin & Hobbes (box set, hard cover)

this is the ultimate calvin & hobbes ---- the complete set, as in all the work in hardcover, full color and in actual size as drawn by the author. this is also available at top bookstores in manila.

New York Times best-seller!

"Watterson's imaginative approach to his material and his inventive graphics have made Calvin and Hobbes one of the few universally admired by other cartoonists." —Charles Solomon, Los Angeles Times Book Review

Calvin and Hobbes is unquestionably one of the most popular comic strips of all time. The imaginative world of a boy and his real-only-to-him tiger was first syndicated in 1985 and appeared in more than 2,400 newspapers when Bill Watterson retired on January 1, 1996.

The entire body of Calvin and Hobbes cartoons published in a truly noteworthy tribute to this singular cartoon in The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. Composed of three hardcover, four-color volumes in a sturdy slipcase, this edition includes all Calvin and Hobbes cartoons that ever appeared in syndication. This is the treasure that all Calvin and Hobbes fans seek.

source: http://www.andrewsmcmeel.com/products/?isbn=0740748475

2010 Presidentiables blog now open!

WAWAM! has opened a new blog - 2010 Presidentiable  where topics will be exclusive to the philippine presidential election scheduled in 2010 from a marketing and advertising standpoint.

presidentiables is slang for election candidates runnung for the position of president. the above four are the declared and almost-declared presidentiables.

view it here : http://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/

seeing things not there - ameriquest's funny tv spot

mortgage at this time in the US is not a happy topic but here's an ad that will put a smile on anyone.

it's a pool-out ad from the same stragtegy that we featured in WAWAM! awhile ago (view it here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/ameriquest). this is one is more acceptable than the first one we had here.

it's a racy brand character but this is much better than the first. unlike the first one, nothing is polarizing in this ad.

cheers beer - celebrating the little pleasures in life

we have seen many beer ads that celebrate happy occasions but the kind of celebration this cheers beer from thailand is the best kind - the little pleasures in life. we have been told so many times to enjoy the little victories we encounter in our daily lives and these ads showcase that very well. the way they do it in these ads i think is the best way to do it.

the brand character that these ads show is unmistakable and something we can all appreciate. we know the whole thing is tongue in cheek but we appreciate it very much and endears the brand to us.

cheers!

janina san miguel quits - Brand Phlippines saved from potentially being tarnished!

we are both saddened and glad that janina san miguel decided to quit the Miss World 2008 beauty pageant.

we are sad because of the troubles that janina apparently has gone through that has caused her to quit the beauty pageant. based on this news article, a few personal matters have occured that has prevented her from fulfilling her duties as the winning beauty to represent the philippines in the Miss World competition.

we are glad as her competing in that beauty pageant, just the thought of it, has been giving us episodes of a near heart attack based on how she performed in the contest in manila. we were afraid she might perform the same way she did here and that could once again tarnish Brand Philippines.

during the local competition, she was unable to properly answer the question asked of her during the Q&A portion of the contest. not only was her answer way off, she spoke bad english both in pronounciation and grammar. our view is that instead of english, she should have spoken in Filipino if she was more comfortable in that language. that would have been absolutely fine.

the article quoted below is actually much kinder than what they said on tv about her quitting the pageant. the news telecast said she was unable to handle the training she was going through for the Miss World competition. the pageant organizers were greatly alarmed when she won and announced right after that winning beauty contestants will go through extensive preparation and training before they leave for abroad to compete.

view discussion and youtube here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/2008/03/janina-san-miguel-as-brand-philippines.html

RP's bet to Ms. World 2008 Janina San Miguel quits

The Philippines' controversial representative to the 2008 Miss World beauty pageant, Janina San Miguel, has resigned, Binibining Pilipinas Charities, Inc. (BCPI) said late Monday.


San Miguel won the Binibining Pilipinas Ms. World despite having difficulty answering a judge's question in English.

"Binibining Pilipinas Charities, Inc. (BPCI) regrets to announce that Ms. Janina San Miguel has resigned as official representative to the 2008 Miss World beauty pageant," the firm said in a brief statement released by Belle Baldoza, public relations officer of the Araneta Group.

"The untimely demise of her grandfather, among other personal reasons, has caused her undue stress, thus hindering her from fulfilling her duties for the said title," the BPCI said.

During the contest, San Miguel said on national television: "Well, my family’s role for me is so important b’coz there was the wa- they’re, they was the one who’s… very… Hahahaha… Oh I’m so sorry, Ahhmm… My pamily… My family… Oh my god… I’m… Ok, I’m so sorry… I… I told you that I’m so confident… Eto, Ahhmm, Wait… Hahahaha, Ahmmm, Sorry guys because this was really my first pageant ever b’coz I’m only 17 years old and ahahaha I, I did not expect that I came from, I came from one of the tough 10. Hmmm, so… but I said dot my family is the most important persons in my life. Thank you."

San Miguel's answer was immediately uploaded on YouTube and she became an instant celebrity.

It led to a national debate on whether only Filipinos who can speak English well deserve to win beauty contests.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/entertainment/09/29/08/rps-bet-ms-world-2008-janina-san-miguel-quits

srah palin voted for barack obama

that surpised me, too. in fact i was shocked when i read what sarah palin said. she apparently voted for barack obama!



this is what sarah palin said when she arrived at her alaska office:

"I think the Republican ticket represented too much of the status quo, too much of what had gone on in these last eight years, that Americans were kind of shaking their heads like going, wait a minute, how did we run up a $10 trillion debt in a Republican administration? How have there been blunders with war strategy under a Republican administration? If we're talking change, we want to get far away from what it was that the present administration represented and that is to a great degree what the Republican Party at the time had been representing,"

source : http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h21ZbzgPbTVRftcJPT5vkHkonY5QD94CMR0G0



read WAWAM! discussion here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/2008/10/president-barack-obama-winning.html

Palin said in a story published Sunday.what palin said is EXACTLY what barack obama has been saying during the campaign, in fact way back starting from the primaries until the end of the election campaign. "change" is obama's number 1 winning marketing strategy and palin gave a very good summary of the core marketing positioning of obama. part of the short list of obama's winning marketing strategies.

i wonder if palin was aware of what she said and it's significance. from that statement, it looked like palin voted for obama. you hear essentially the same words when ordinary voters are interviewed on tv. they give essentially the same answer when asked why they voted for obama.
with palin as a running mate and with that kind of thinking, it's no surprise obama won the electoral college votes by a landslide. palin is lucky that she said those words after the election. what she said would have been great material for obama ads.

help me out here -- is palin smart for realizing those things, for realizing that's what american voters want or is palin really dumb for not realizing that's exactly the marketing positioning of obama? from a mccain presidential bid campaing standpoint, sarah palin is a definite WAWAM!

apple exploits a product failure and bad consumer experience on microsoft vista

good ads are those that use the most simple of words and delivers the most simple of thoughts. combine those to a powerful message and it can be magic.

this apple ad will most likely not win awards, but the ad uses simple words, simple thoughts and a very competitive message and that combination means it can be very effective. add to that list - relevance and meaningfullness as the consumer experience on vista's product failures that are being told in the ad are actual consumer experiences.

classic marketing dilemma : funds for advertising or product improvements, apple's bite on vista

the apple brand management and advertising people are simply having the best time of their lives with these "i am a mac, i am a pc" tv ad campaign. they're simply out there to exploit any, small or big, weakness that microsoft gives them.

this is one is really tiny, with really little to do with brand building, but its damn irritating to watch if you are from microsoft. well, okay, it has some redeeming advertising value - it casts doubt on vista's performance. it makes would be consumers think twice on whether vista's product failures have been fixed or not.

we concede that that alone may be a big factor. well, it is possible, we just don't know how probable it is. macs have been receiving great reviews and strong interests lately with increased market share and vista has been humbled to product failure jail - add to that a consumer doubt and those who are about to plunk down $1,000+ for a new computer just might decide in favor of macs on the basis of doubt.

it's really just casting doubt - microsioft has the largest R&D budget in the world, so it is not true that microsoft is not spending enough in product improvements. and it's hard to believe microsoft has stopped fixing the problems on vista. perhaps microsoft may not be moving fast enough to fix all problems but just the same apple is exploiting every centimeter of opening it can see.

this apple ad is a marketing classic - will the brand spend its money on product improvement or on advertising to convince it's users the product is a good one?

microsoft's ads is trying the latter. that's really great -- $350M worth of ads. the first one was a failure, the latest one might do it. but with so much talk about windows 7, that i think leaves further doubt on vista and this time courtesy of microsoft itself.

this loud talk about windows 7 seem to confirm vista is a dead brand. they even announced when windows 7 will be made available. what the hell will pc owners with vista do till then? and from now till last quarter 2009 when they launch vista, why will i buy a pc with vista?

apple must be just so happy to have microsoft as a competitor! tsk tsk

Tide Detergent's christmas tree ad bubbles with joy - two steps away from brilliance

with English back translation

how does a detergent product say "merry christmas"? you can have dancing housewives. or dancing detergent boxes. to many that can bereal easy. but the real easy can be real boring.

tide detergent decided it will not take the easy path. and here is what we have, an unexpected and very creative way to say "merry christmas".

not only is it unexpected and very creative, it's also on strategy to the brand and contributes to it's story of efficacy. tide has moved away from it's long standing heritage of powerful suds as a core signal for efficacy in its advertising, but every woman who does hand washing continue to understand what it means and in fact for many of them expect it from their detergent product. strong and abundant suds mean effective detergency in this market.
this chirstmas ad delivers that very well.

it's an almost perfect ad except for two things --- (a) the woman is too pretty, too young and too nice to be the typical labandera (woman who washes clothes). they could have used an on-camera talent who has the looks of a more typical labandera. she looks too classy and too rich and someone who can afford to buy a washing machine. her type is the one who has not done any hand washing at all. and the (b) they could have chosen a more appropriate dialogue for the radio drama that the woman is listening to on her radio. it's a christmas ad, the radio dialogue should have been about christmas, not ordinary time situations. having it as a topic on christmas could have been more emtional and make the ad work harder.

getting an on-cam talent more like real labanderas would have improved the ad's empathy. it hits home harder when the people we see in the ads look like us.

the point of the ad is to deliver a christmas message. this ad could have done that in a much more effective way had they chosen a radio drama dialogue where the setting is christmas. doing that would have allowed them to more actively and directly deliver a christmas message. the way it is now, we sort of assume that is the point of the ad and that happens only at the very end of the ad when we see the suds have formed a christmas tree shape.

what a pity they missed out on those things. it's a great ad, but two things shy of being a brilliant ad.

PDI headline : black in white house

what a headline!

brilliant move on election day : starbucks, ben & jerry's and krispy kreme

free product sampling on election day - brilliant marketing.

this election will bring in record numbers of voters. it is also one of the most talked about and most watched election in the history of the US. the interest in this election is unprecedented.

giving product samples during election day is just a brilliant idea. the brands will get optimum brand awareness and build very strong affinity with the voters.

Starbucks, Ben & Jerry's, Krispy Kreme offer voters goodies


Coffee, doughnuts and ice cream are being offered up in election day giveaways by Starbucks Coffee Inc., Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. and Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings Inc.

But Starbucks' giveaway may violate state and federal laws because it specifically targets voters, according to the attorney general of Washington state.

Seattle-based Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) said it is giving away a free "tall" 12-ounce cup of coffee to anyone who votes.

North Carolina-based Krispy Kreme (NYSE:KKD) is giving away star-shaped doughnuts and Vermont-based Ben & Jerry's is offering free scoops of its ice cream Tuesday. But those companies aren't requiring people to say they voted to get their treats.

Despite the alleged election law problem, a spokesman for the Washington state AG said the office didn't plan to press charges, according to a report from the Associated Press.

Ben & Jerry's said in a statement that it had considered a promotion similar to Starbucks' but changed plans when it learned of the possible legal complications. Instead, all customers at its shops between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Tuesday will be given free scoops.

Krispy Kreme is only requiring that customers at its 85 company-owned stores mention its promotion to get their free doughnut. Some of its 145 franchisees will also participate.


http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2008/11/03/daily23.html

the maccain losing marketing strategies, strategy # 2 : sarah palin

WAWAM! will be looking at exactly the same things that a political analyst or strategist will be looking at in analyzing the campaigns. but WAWAM! will look it at from the eyes of a marketing and advertising man. these strategies and analysis can be written into marketing plans of brands and it will make sense and most likely work.

This is part 2 of a series on the Mccain campaign, we added strategy #2,.

read about the Obama Winning Marketing Strategies here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/Obama%20Winning%20Marketing%20Strategy

read about the US presidential elections here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/US%20presidential%20elections

read about sarah palin as vp choice, brilliant marketing or biggest marketing blunder here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/palin



------

1. Core strategy of 'Personality', pursued from the start appearing in different forms across the campaign period. The Mccain campaign was loudest on making personality as a key campaign issue be that of their opponent, Mccain himself and even in his VP choice. At some point towards the latter part of the campaign, they were so stuck on it that they missed an important opportunity that they allowed the Obama campaign to preempt them on it.

2. Sarah Palin as VP choice is a marketing blunder. We wondered if Palin as VP is brilliant marketing or a marketing blunder. We think the choice of Palin as VP running mate was intended to be a strategic choice but turned out to be a poor tactical move. It was strategic in the sense that it was consistent with the campaign's core strategy of "personality", but it did not produce strategic benefits, only very tactical ones. Palin was to compliment Mccain, as a counter weight but turned out to be just a pretty decor on the wall. They wanted to exploit the void that they thought was created when Obama did not choose Clinton as his running mate. They were hoping that choosing a young female as VP will be able to capture the Clinton's supporters who were clearly disappointed by the Obama move. The key problem with that choice is that they didn't seem to consider that Palin may not be equal to Hillary. They are similar only in one aspect - being a female and on all other things, Palin suffers in comparison to Clinton. None of the above was delivered by Palin.

Not being able to deliver the strategic benefits of choosing Palin as VP, it instead I think distracted the Mccain campaign from the strategic imperatives it needed to deliver for a win. The choice of Palin gave the Mccain campaign a boost specially at the first few days of the announcement. It was so left field that nobody really understood the choice nor did anyone know who Palin was. This rush to know Palin more gave the Mccain campaign the boost but it eventually waned and the weakness of the choice showed it's ugly head after the honeymoon period. That rush could have given the Mccain the wrong impression the campaign was doing well.

America so it seems is not in the mood for tactical things during this campaign. The issues of the Iraq war and the economy are just too real for tactical efforts.

Now, polls are saying that some voters are questioning the choice of Palin and has made that as a reason for voting for Obama. We know that even Colin Powell himself has mentioned that is one of the reason he is supporting Obama.

The learning here is almost a carbon copy to the lesson in marketing consumer brands --- it is a marketing blunder to think that tactical moves will result to strategic benefits.