tHe idiOts proMo: LRT'S "Bike-On Bike-Off (Bike O2)” - not good even on paper

this one landed on page 1 of PDI with a huge picture - LRT's "Bike-On-Bike-Off (Bike 02)" service. the LRT will now allow people with bicycles to ride the trains. we are so confused with this new service - we do totally understand what it is for, we do not see any advantage and we don't see the point.

first of all, commuters on the train with bikes will only be allowed to ride the train IF their bikes are the foldable types. commuters with regular bikes will still not be allowed to ride the train.

how many filipinos own foldable bikes? not very many. in fact we think extremely few filipinos own foldable bikes. there is a simple reason for it - foldable bikes are much more expensive than regular bikes. also, the appeal of foldable bikes is that owners can stow them inside the trunk of your car. that means the target commuters of Bike 02 are people who own cars. why would foldable bike owners park their cars someplace, remove the bike from the trunk of their cars and carry the foldable bike up to the LRT when they can just drive to their destination in the comfort of their cars?

right off, this idea says it is a totally useless service - it will cater to an extremely few number filipinos, probably less than 0.00001% of the metro manila population who own foldable bikes. and of those 0.00001% who own foldable bikes they will never use the service as it gives them no benefit and no advantage. in fact it inconveniences them as they need to carry the foldable bikes up the unforgiving stairs of the LRT from the ground to the trains.

allowing commuters who use regular bikes to ride the train may give some benefit to many of the poor who use bikes to go to their work and who use them in their work like messengers. many messengers can't afford motorcycles and use regular bikes. being able to ride the LRT with their bikes rather than bike along the treacherous Taft Avenue will be of great benefit to them as it will not only save them time, it will also keep them safe from being run-over in the streets. none of them can afford to buy foldable bikes as its cost will probably be equivalent to their salary for 3 to 5 years.

it leads you to ask a very important question --- who are the intended beneficiaries of this new service at the LRT? who are the target users?

it cannot be ordinary folks as they own only regular bikes. since they allow commuters with foldable bikes, the target seem to be the rich folks as they are the only ones who can afford to buy these types of bikes. but rich folks don't take the LRT, they have their own cars. in fact these rich folks buy foldable bikes because they want to be able to stow their bikes inside the trunk of their cars. if you own a car, you don't usually take the train, you use your car. we do not think you will find a rich folk who will buy a foldable bike just so he can take the LRT.

we are stumped! we can't figure out who the target market or target beneficiaries of this new service at the LRT. brands and companies launch new services to answer a need or to serve a target market. this one does not do any of that.

30 bike enthusiasts were on hand when this new service was launched by the LRT. the commuters, rich folks for sure, led by no less than Senator Pia Cayetano, took the train at the Araneta Center in Cubao then got off at the Legarda station in Manila. the article said the train ride took only 15 minutes versus riding the bike that will normally take them 30 minutes.

so what is the big deal with a 15 minutes of saving riding time? these 30 people are leisure bikers and health enthusiasts - saving 15 minutes of biking is not what they want to do. the point of being a leisure and health biker is to use the bike as long as you can, as often as you can. cutting biking time for these types of people is not the point for them!

the conclusion is that the LRT launched a new service, got page 1 coverage, that does not serve anyone and does not give anyone any benefit. it is a classic for tHe idiOts proMo.

you may be having a headache now at this point. this new service is probably driving you crazy. well, we have one more to drive you completely nuts. take a deep breathe -

the name of the new service is "Bike-On Bike-Off ” which is of course a play on the now famous RO-RO (Ride-On Ride-Off) service that allows people to use their cars to go from one island to the next. commuters ride their cars to barges and rides it off them on the next island.

here is what will drive you crazy. "Bike-On Bike-Off ”, the acronym for this service is actually BO-BO! hahahaha. a perfect name for a perfectly bobo service.

congrats to the LRT and the brilliant communication person who thought of this new service.

it is not trivia we want from rizal, it is meaning and significance - rizal's house painted green

picture above is a scan from a photo published at the PDI. it is the house of jose rizal, the national hero of the philippines. it is a good example of how bad taste, in this one the choice of the color green can insult the memory of the country's national hero and how it can be insulting to a whole country of filipinos.

if this was marketing, it is a good example on how poor taste in color can screw up the brand image if a national hero and insult and embarrass a whole nation.

National Historical Institute chair Ambeth Ocampo rationalizes the choice of color this way:

In his column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on June 3, NHI Chair Ambeth Ocampo explained that the reason for painting Rizal’s house green was to “highlight, and inform visitors of, the meaning of his surname.”

The surname Rizal is rooted in the Spanish word “ricial,” which means a green field ready for harvest, Ocampo said.

well, it is an intent or in marketing it is a brand intent but just because it is there does not mean it is usable and should be used. there are products for example that cause diarrhea if eaten too much, but these brands do not choose to highlight that in their marketing strategy.

we are all familiar with Tide Detergent brand. we all know what "tide" means but we do not see depicted in it's packaging design nor do we see sea water included inside a pack of Tide Detergent Powder.

there are many other more important considerations as to why one should act or not act in meanings of names.

for example, i would like to remember rizal for his writings, his genius, his hard work and his actions and sacrifices that helped the country become independent from spain. in fact, i will be interested to know what he ate for breakfast or what were his study habits that made him such a genius. it can also be interesting to know that the meaning of his surname rizal. but it does not necessarily mean i like to see his house painted green. i'll be happy to see it written down somewhere in a brochure. i do not need to see the color on his house.

the idea behind preserving rizal's house is to give homage and pay tribute to our national hero. we like to preserve the house where he was born and where he grew up so that we can get a first hand view, to somewhat experience his life in that house. we do that out of awe, respect and even love for rizal who has done so much, his life included for our country and the generations and generations of filipinos who have benefited from his sacrifice and heroism.

painting rizal's house green, just because it is some trivia about his name is not a good reason enough to actually take action on. i actually do not care about the meaning of his surname. that did not even play any role in his heroism or his life and i doubt in his own writing.

what mr. ocampo has done is give us trivia. everyone knows we enjoy trivial pursuits for fun or to make fun of. but that does not at all apply to a national hero and most specially to apply that to his house to make it look horrific and trivial.

it is not trivia we want from rizal, it is meaning and significance that we want. when we find meaning and significance in rizal, then we become a better nation. something i am sure rizal would have wanted.

for a historian, i am shocked that mr. ocampo did not know that.

read more about this here: http://wawam.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/rizals-house-painted-green-an-insult-to-jose-rizal-and-all-filipinos/

No To Con-Ass Power – across the board, in lightning speed : Marketing & Advertising 101

the efforts executed by No To Con Ass supporters is an excellent case study for Marketing & Advertising 101.these are the key points:

• the most impressive was the lightning speed by which the various efforts were launched all within 24 to 48 hours of congress approving HR 1109. within that time frame - blogs, websites and facebook accounts were launched; a logo was created and distributed, small groups organized who did pockets of small protests around the city.
• a major rally was announced, organized and executed on june 10, less than a week after congress approved HR 1109 and the rally in makati was very well attended.
• a no to con ass, tv ad, "Hindi Ako Papayag" was written, produced and aired within 3 to 4 days of the congress approving con-ass. this ad had an excellent concept with a strong and memorable strategy visual. copy was sparse and very sharp. there was no mistaking what the message was and delivered in a very compelling way, the visuals as the main driver. we also noticed the production values of the ad, it was well made and well directed.
• within the same very short time frame various groups who attended the rally executed their own concepts of protest with many of them very creative, persuasive and to the point. it's amazing to see all sorts of unique groups expressing their protest on the issue in their own way.

from a marketing and advertising perspective, these are what happened:

• on the over-all excellent marketing strategy that covers all components of persuasion
• communication strategy was brilliant - sharp, insightful and highly creative
• succeeded in connecting with a very wide target audience through a long list of efforts that appeal to each audience segment
• succeeded in capturing participants from a very wide demographics and psychographics profile from the rich to the poor
• excellent use of various media (traditional and non-traditional) and events all executed within the same short time frame for optimum impact and visibility
• lightning speed and flawless execution

in this marketing and advertising effort the line between marketer/advertiser and target audience is almost invisible with both groups crossing the line in various degrees and efforts. but as in any mass media exposed marketing and advertising activity, the true audience will always be those at home or at the office watching the event unfold who are always large in number.

it is the marketer and adman's dream. it's secret in it's success? those who executed the marketing and advertising activities were highly committed to their cause and believed in it with a passion.

that by itself is another marketing and advertising lesson in Marketing & Advertising 101.

read more here: http://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/no-to-con-ass-power-across-the-board-in-lightning-speed/

vitwater revised pacquiao tv ad

vitwater did revise the pacquiao ad. they edited out the visual showing manny pacquiao laughing at himself that is has no audio-video lock as the voice over of manny was seriously talking about vitwater, saying vitwater is better than water, a key selling point for the brand.

they also took out two other shots of pacquaio talking to camera, in effect also reducing the number of times he said that dreaded phrase, "you know...." which makes pacquiao look like a joke and a caricature of what is wrong in pinoys talking in english. they replaced these visuals with pacquiao doing some boxing moves. they're lucky they have these shots in the can.

the "you know..." line seem to be a copy point for vitwater as the same line is in their billboard (scroll down, view pic of billboard). it does not make sense why they use it as a copy line when it makes pacquiao look bad.

those are really slight improvements, the same comments we gave are still there (scroll down, read post) and does not change this ad being a WAWAM! and has ADS Sindrome and all the other acronyms we are yet to invent in this blog.

we still can't get over the fact that this celebrity endorser ad made out its celebrity endorser intentionally look bad and a joke. it's directly the exact opposite of what companies want their celebrity to look - their best and most admirable persona. in this ad, they presented pacquiao, a world class champion fighter, admired by the world, a fighter with a place in all of boxing history and the hero of every pinoy as a trying hard fool of a pinoy who has the english speaking skills of a 5 year old just learning to speak in english.

----

published: may 16, 2009

the manny pacquiao vitwater tv ad is a 15-second edit down version of the original 30 second tv ad, it's not a revision. comments on the 15-second ad posted here stands.

we think this  pacquiao vitwater ad continue to make pacquaio look bad, although in degrees, it is not as bad as the 30 second version. the ad, however, continue to be  too plain to the point of being boring. the key weakness of the ad is it is too simplistic and starkly one-dimensional and failed to leverage  any of the very rich characteristics and points of admiration of the celebrity they use in this ad. this weakness is much even more obvious in this edit down version.

you know, manny pacquiao is a loser!

i don't get this tv ad of manny pacquiao. i just didn't shake my head when i first saw this ad, i shook it many times and every time i see the ad on tv. i also end up talking to myself, why the hell did they make this ad this way. and at the end of the 30s ad, i get my cellphone out and my ipod touch and key in a to-do note for myself : "DO NOT BUY VITWATER!". i don't use caps even in my cellphone, i use caps on this one. ooops, i had entered that already the last time i saw the ad. geez, i must have tried to key that in to my gadgets a hundred times already, the same number of times i had seen this ad.

yes! this ad is being aired at very heavy weight! the pacquiao - hutton fight is a few days from now, they are making the most of torturing me! this vitwater ad is one more strong reason why i don't watch local shows on tv!

i usually say this at the end of the discussion. but for this one i like to say it on the 3rd paragraph - this manny pacquiao ad of vitwater is a WAWAM! and has ADS Sindrome! and all other acronyms i am yet to invent in this blog!





whew! we will take this slow now...

water with vitamins which is what vitwater is a product for the AB upper C target market. the mass market, broad C and the DE will not bother with this product. the price will keep the mass market away from this product. to expect the mass market even as an intentional occasional user is water under the bridge of marketing possibilities.

the AB and upper C target market know pacquaio, most likely 100% of them. some of them even pay P600.00 for pay per view venues, have cable in their homes and most watches his fights. there is no question that pacquiao has an appeal to the target market.

it is also VERY safe to assume the AB upper C target market is an english speaking target market. here's the part i don't get and the major reason i want to get my cellphone and touch to key in "DO NOT BUY VITWATER" all over again - why in the world did they make pacquiao speak in english?!!!

what the f_ck is that?

pacquiao is obviously not a an english language speaker. let me say it first, i don't take that against him, i take it against vitwater for making pacquaio speak in english! the accent drives me crazy. this ad does not make pacquiao endearing to its target market. it makes pacquiao a joke, a caricature to make fun of. in this ad, vitwater rapes pacquiao of his hero status among filipinos.

what gets me here is that vitwater and the ad agency knew what they were making pacquiao do and what they were turning him in to. everybody knows pacquiao sounds funny when he talks in english. he sounds a little funny when he talks in filipino as he has a mindanao accent but that is not a turn off. in fact his mindanao accent makes it endearing. he is a man from mindanao from humble beginnings doing well for himself and his country, having this mindanao accent to his pilipino is a good thing. but having an accent when he speaks in english in a tv ad makes him a joke. all of that vitwater and the ad agency must have known.

the AB upper C target market do understand pilipino well. there is no reason for vitwater not to make him speak in pilipino. it could have been as understandable as english but with the added benefit of making manny look real and yes endearing.

the copy or script of this ad to me is a mystery. who wrote the script? the copy is so sparse, lacks a sale and sounds very amateurish. how could an ad agency write copy like this and how can they have presented copy like that to the client?

the other half of the mystery - was this a scriptless tv ad? like they just asked manny to say whatever he wanted and they just rolled the camera? manny is a champion fighter, not a copywriter, surely they cannot expect manny to come up with gems in copy?

the copy is just too one-dimensional and too shallow. this vitamins in water product is pioneering. it's a new product concept that has a lot of potential for a compelling story that can be matched with a hero who also has a multi-dimensional persona around him. a new product and pioneering product concept plus pacquiao could have been a match made in heaven, but vitwater did not cease the day. the ad does not at all feel like its introducing a pioneering product.

and we have not yet mentioned the fact that it is really bad english. the english used in this ad, and we assume this was written by the ad agency is english of a 5 year old who is just learning to speak it - stocatto, few words, few thoughts, few vocabulary and bad construction.

there are many other things that went wrong in this ad. but the biggest among the small things is a directorial and editorial snafu. at frame 0:06 as pacquaio on voice over was saying "...but for me, there is something better, you know", the commercial cuts to pacquiao looking at someone off camera then goes into a laugh. the scene before and after the pacquiao on a laugh scene showed pacquiao in a serious mood, not to mention the background music had the same serious atmosphere and tone.

in audio, manny was delivering a key selling point for the product - vitwater is better than just water, a serious thing and yet the visual showed manny laughing like he was laughing at the line, losing all credibility and believability.

that is just the tip of the failure of this ad. the biggest error of this ad is the use of english for manny's speaking lines and the one-dimensional, shallow and zero sale in the copy. the bigger error is that this ad has completely mis-read its target market, the AB upper C. we love manny, but we learned to hate vitwater. (note to self: key in entry into cellphone and touch "DO NOT BUY VITWATER").

i feel bad for pacquiao. i don't think any of this is pacquiao's fault. the ad agency and vitwater made pacquiao, our hero, look really bad.

okay, okay, before we end - i know that you know and that you want to know what i know. i know you have been waiting for me to mention it --- manny said "you know..." a total of 4 times in the 30 second ad. that means there were 4 irritants in that ad, you know?

this is a WAWAM!, has ADS Sindrome and all the other acronyms i am yet to think of in the future.

view the vitwater tv spot here: http://tinyurl.com/c7tzcp or scroll down.

Wellmade Inc.'s Speed Babad piolo pascual "musical" tv spot is, well, not well made

we see this tv spot of speed babad (soak) often on tv. they got the media money, but how we wish they took some of it to make a good TVC ad?

this is one more of those no-brains celebrity endorser tv ad where they think all it takes to make a good ad is to simply shove a celebrity's face into the ad and it will generate business for the brand. with so many of these types of celebrity endorser ads in philippine advertising, the conclusion is that the whole industry has lost it's sense of purpose and has forgotten what makes celebrity endorser ads work versus other types of ad formats.

this one has piolo pascual, the country's celebrity matinee idol. yes, that is the first question you ask yourself - what has piolo pascual, a male, got to do with washing clothes. we are not even talking about the washing machine type, we are talking of hand-washing. probably anywhere from 99.0% to 99.99% of clothes washing in this country are done by females.

obviously, this ad has just violated one of the most important principles of celebrity endorser ads by putting a celebrity endorser who do not hold any sort of authority and even experience on the product the ad is selling. the reason they put piolo in that ad has nothing to do with enhancing the brand image or product efficacy, but rather he is in that commercial because he is famous among women. it's using a celebrity endorser for the sake of using one.

this ad fails a second time, please view the ad.

the location of the ad is on a river by the mountains. what???

we see piolo on a raft going to where the women where and throughout the commercial we see mountains and trees on the background. this is not comedy, but the location of the ad made me laugh.

are we to believe piolo travelled miles upon miles on that river on a raft to reach the women? and are women who wash clothes on the river really look like that and dress that way? not only that, they had swimming pool lounge chairs and orange juice with ice up in the river of a mountainous area.

it makes sense that they situate the brand in clothes washing by the river. based on research, a certain percentage of clothes washed in the rural areas are actually done by the river using the water from the river. so from a marketing stand point, that can make sense.

but that legitimate marketing thinking is all thrown out down the river by using piolo pascual and those women looking like that in this commercial. the women all looked liked commercial models or celebrities themselves, something like maybe less than 0.5% of actual women who do hand washing by the river look like.

they also can't expect us to believe that women who look like that, dress like that and most likely belong to the AB socio-eco class actually do hand washing of their clothes (they have washing machines); and that they do it themselves (they have maids to do the machine washing of clothes), and that they do it by the river in the mountains (they rarely go there, to pass through it on their way to their vacation house in baguio)???

this ad has lost all semblance of believability and credibility.

that has been totally lost that i did not want to bother to listen to the copy in the ad. but i had to.

it positions speed babad as the better alternative to hand-washing, to do soaking instead to allow the women to relax and get out of the losyang (frump). they use a common term, "power whitener" as reason why. we are sure that has been used by other detergents in the past, perhaps in the 60s and 70s. (hahaha)

they also use a very common product freight - a magnifying glass showing "dirt" being removed from the microscopic meshes of the cloth. again a device that has been most likely used in the 60s and 70s.

what do we have here? let me count the ways on why we think this is a WAWAM!

• the use of a celebrity endorser who does not contribute to the sale
• the use of women talents who do not at all look like the actual target users, who most unlikely do not hand wash clothes and certainly not do so by the river in the mountains
• the use of a non-original reason why, circa 60s and 70s
• the use of a non-original product demo, circa 60s and 70s

we don't know how and where this ad connects with its target consumers. what a waste of advertising money!

red mobile takes the long road to something

a new mobile service was launched last year, red mobile. we're not sure if the philippine market can take one more. the top 3, smart, globe and sun cellular is just about to reach saturation levels. smart is the dominant leader followed by globe and a far third is sun cellular.

red mobile is going after sun cellular. what? why go after sun, the smallest of the three? we will answer that question later.

sun's core strategy is excellent value. they launched on the basis of unlimited calls and unlimited texting. that has caught on as there is a growing segment of the market, most specially among teen-agers and young adults who have switched to sun and an even larger segment who have added a second cell phone to their globe or smart cellphone service.

the mobile phone market is quite mature in the country and many have actually more than one handset. users tend to replace their handsets often and buying a second hand or used handset is quite easy and cheap. so, adding a second mobile service is quite easy. the habit is to use the sun cellular handset when you want to indulge yourself with numerous text sending or make long calls.

sun cellular, however, has not grown its market share to anywhere close to being a real threat to smart or globe for a simple and really idiotic reason - not enough cell sites. everyone knows texting and calling a sun cellphone is a very painful process. the network is always busy or over loaded that you can't get a line or the person you are calling is often out of coverage. texting is equally painful - success at sending texts takes a long time and receiving one takes longer.

and now to the question - red mobile is going after sun as most likely red mobile was launcheed as a flunker brand, a brand owned by smart or globe meant to blunt further growth of sun. our guess is it is owned by smart.

will red mobile succeed? we don't know yet. it might, but we need to wait for sometime.

red mobile's lowest costs are only applicable for texts and calls to other red mobile cell phones. and since this is a new mobile service provider, there are very few people who have it. everyone will simply be on a wait and see mode.

the other turn off factor here is that, they are not offering superior or even the same rates as sun cellular. sun is offering unlimited text and unlimited calls, red is not offering unlimited texts/calls, just lower rates versus globe and smart. they are actually selling quality and reliable service - calls will be clear, you can text/call anywhere in the country and you will not experience network problems. those are all sun cellular issues or problems.

now there is a lot of problems with that strategy. here's why - red is going against sun cellular not with superior rates but better quality and reliable service. quality and reliable service is something sun users are used to and obviously something they don't mind suffering from. the fundamental reason why sun users have stayed on is the unlimited text and calls or best price/value point.

we think there is no way red mobile will be able to get sun users to switch on the basis of better quality and reliability. price/value point is THE motivator and poor quality and reliability is just an inconvenince to live with.

that kind of attitude is true for many other services and products the filipino consumer buy - they will not mind a less than superior or less than perfect service or product as long as it gives the best or lowest price point.

red mobile's marketing strategy is a WAWAM!

must-read for any marketing professional who wants to succeed in the technology market

in my view this article is a must-read for any marketing professional who wants to succeed in the tech world. not only for marketing professionals but also for tech manufacturers be it on the software or hardware side.

there in one answer to all the questions the author posted at the start of the article --- consumer insight and consumer preference! the nature of consumer insight/consumer preference to those unfamiliar with marketing would always sound like a mystery or at worst it does not make sense. but when you start to go to the consumer and extract insights, then everything will make sense. not only will it make sense, what was previously thought of to be complicated will now look pretty simple and plain. that is the power of the consumer insight.

the article actually proceeds to give excellent consumer insights that answer most of the questions posted. one wonders if the author is in marketing. it is very clear the author understands very well what consumer insights mean.

Memo to Vendors: Here's How to Build a Winner
Mike Elgan, Computerworld

Why do some people prefer Windows XP and Mac OS X over Windows Vista ? After all, Vista is pretty and sleek and much more advanced than XP, and, in many areas, Mac OS X. Why is there so much love for Xbox, but none for Windows Mobile ?

Why do BlackBerry users love their BlackBerrys, but the public is lukewarm about Palm devices?

Why is the Amazon Kindle, which is an unsophisticated, clunky, poorly designed gadget so popular with owners?

Why do people love plain, ugly Gmail?

The answer to these questions is a mystery to most of the companies that make PCs, gadgets, consumer electronics devices and to software makers. The industry spends billions on usability testing and user interface design. Unfortunately, that money is mostly wasted.

The problem is that there are too many technologists in technology. The technology is only half the equation. The other half is the human, that irrational, impulsive, impatient, power-hungry gratification machine.

When you ask someone what they really want, they won't tell you the truth because they're not aware of the truth.

Both users and product designers alike talk about user interface (UI) consistency, usability and simplicity, and system attributes like performance and stability. What's missing is that these attributes are means to an end. The real issue is always the user's physiological feeling of being in control. And control comes in many ways:

Consistency: Designers focus on UI "consistency," but why? Consistency gives predictability, which gives users a feeling that they know what will happen when they do something -- even for the first time. It's a feeling of mastery, of control.

Usability: One of the errors software and hardware designers make is to base their UI decisions on the assumption that the user is an idiot who needs to be protected from himself. Give this moron too much rope and he'll hang himself, the reasoning goes. But instead of taking the Microsoft route -- burying and hiding controls and features, which protects newbies from their own mistakes but frustrates the hell out of experienced users -- it's better to offer a bullet-proof "undo." Give the user control, let them make their own mistakes, then undo the damage if they mess something up.

Simplicity: Simplicity is complex. And there are many ways to achieve it. One way is to insist on top-to-bottom, inside-and-outside simplicity. Extreme examples include the original Palm Pilot organizer, Gmail and RSS feeds. And then there's the illusion of simplicity, which is the Microsoft route. In trying to be the operating system vendor for all people and all tasks, Microsoft Windows and Windows Mobile are extraordinarily complex pieces of software engineering. To "simplify," the company hides features, buries controls and groups features into categories to create the appearance of fewer options, without actually reducing options. (From all accounts, it appears that Windows 7 will offer more of the same.) Both extremes result in something you could call "simplicity." But one version thrills users by putting them in control. The other frustrates them by taking away control.

Performance: Everyone hates slow PCs. It's not the waiting. It's the fact that the PC has wrenched control from the user during the time that the hourglass is displayed. That three seconds of staring at the hourglass is three seconds when you feel utterly powerless. Fast computers are good because they keep the user in control.

Stability: Designers focus on system "stability," but it's not because they worry about time wasted, though that's how users tend to talk a lack of stability. Like the performance issue, instability is about the theft of system control from the user. People waste all kinds of time on all kinds of things, and usually don't mind doing it. What enrages people is when somebody else forces wasted time on you. Blue Screens of Death are more akin to running into unexpected traffic jams or having somebody take away the TV remote control. You're forced into putting your objectives on hold, and left feeling powerless.

One reason for the industry-wide pandemic of frustrating products is that the whole culture of usability testing doesn't emphasize user feelings of control. Microsoft does usability tests, for example, but its tests are flawed. Typically, it sits random people in front of a PC in a usability lab. Victims are directed to do various tasks, and asked what they're doing and thinking as they try to complete those tasks. All of this is monitored, and everything is recorded.Microsoft usability testing tends to focus on enabling users to "accomplish goals." Microsoft categorizes these goals according to their educated preconceptions about what people are trying to do based on their jobs or user categorization are you a student, middle manager, designer, for instance. So Microsoft focuses on results.

My view is that how the user feels during the process is more important than anything else.Here's the problem. In these scenarios, users are using somebody else's PC. They expect and assume that the software is in control. There is no psychological feeling of "ownership" over the equipment or the software or the work or anything. So the most important element -- the sense of control people feel when doing their own work on their own PCs in their own homes -- is missing entirely from the tests.

During usability tests, users are asked constantly about the software. And that's the wrong question. When real people are doing real work, they're focused on their own desires and objectives and are frustrated or not frustrated based on the degree to which they're given what they want.

My advice to Microsoft is to add an additional test: a "Who's In Control?" test. After performing a task, ask the user to rank their experience on a scale with "me in control" on one side, and "software in control" on the other. Try all test methods for completing various tasks, and choose the one ranked with the maximum "me in control" score. And they need the home version for ongoing testing in the "real world."

We've all experienced the full range of emotions while using gadgets, PCs, phones and software. At one end of the spectrum is a kind of thrilling joy, where something "just works." At the other end, there is a consuming rage. The amount of time your emotional state spends at one end of the spectrum rather than the other is the one and only thing that determines how much you "love" the product.

All the factors involved in using a PC -- consistency, usability, simplicity, stability, performance and even the successful completion of tasks -- all come down to control.Give me control, and I will love your product. It's as simple as that.

source: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/156305/memo_to_vendors_heres_how_to_build_a_winner.html

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".

president barack obama : the winning marketing strategies. Strategy No. 1 : Change

last october 15, 2008, we posted in WAWAM! our prediction that barack obama will win the US presidential election on the strength of a brilliant marketing effort and a marketing blunder of the mccain campaign.

(read in full here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/2008/10/barack-obama-wins-us-presidential.html)

we also said that the point of no return will most likely occur right after the 3rd debate. our analysis of the 3rd debate was that mccain was unable to rock our world. mccain's task was to not only to do well in that debate but to do so well that he needs to reverse the trend to his favor. while he did well than the first 2 debates, mccain unfortunately did not do well enough to reverse the trend that was not in his favor.

we also posted on WAWAM! a few factors that has the power to reverse the trend of an obama win. since that time, none of the factors listed occurred, thus we concluded, also posted in WAWAM! that obama is on track to win in this election.

(read in full all posts on barack obama here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/barack%20obama)

just about 8 days before the election, we are posting here what we think were the core marketing strategies that both campaigns employed that resulted to obama winning the presidency and mccain losing it.

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.

we will be posting this in a series.

1. Consistent, consumer-meaningful message from start to finish : Change. the obama campaign is on the "time to change" theme from the very beginning, on day 1, as early as the democratic primaries. the core message was, enough of the 8 years of the bush-led republican years of managing the country be that the iraq war across other issues, specially on the US economy. consistency in message across time allows the audience to focus and the candidate to build consensus. marketing tells us a brand needs to stand for something and the obama campaign has done a most admirable job at standing for "change". it is not only consistency that is important ans where the obama campaign has succeeded, it is also in relevance or in WAWAM! marketing term - "consumer-meaningful". being consumer-meaningful and consistency are both required to be there to succeed, they are like twins where having only one in the end will not amount to anything. while both are critical, finding the right message that is consumer-meaningful is a much more difficult task. it is here where most campaigns and brands fail at. you can be consistent but if you do not have the right message, the effort will not amount to anything. consistently delivering the weak message is very much like garbage in-garbage out, repeated many times over.

at the start of the primaries, bush ratings were on all time lows and on a continuous decline. the key issue at the time was the iraq war and most specifically on the solutions that america was supposed to apply to it. more and more americans were increasingly withdrawing their support on the iraq war and they felt the end game solutions were unclear at best to wrong at worst.

then as of late the failing US economy has been the key focus. and that while largely unpredicted by the obama campaign (no one else was able to predict it), it fell quite nicely, very snugly into the "change" theme and core strategy.

we can argue that the obama campaign was very lucky that the US economy failed towards the last months of the presidential campaign and towards the very last part when nothing can be done to reverse the trend given the short period of time.

with american voters disappointed with bush on the iraq war at the beginning of the primaries the US economy failing became a double whammy to mccain. add to that the fact that obama stands to be the first black president in the history of the US, the meaning of "change" takes on a very different, almost cosmic meaning. when obama wins, it will be a real "change" in the US in very many ways, in very many aspects of american life and most specially the american psyche.

apple ads that bite on vista

it's really very hard not to love these apple ads. it's not just that they do a great job at biting vista, they are very amusing but direct to the point, you know exactly what they want you to understand and remember.

it's very amusing at the way they it exposes the weaknesses of vista. being very competitive and combining that with humor is not very easy to do in advertising. but in these ads, it comes very naturally.

the bonus is that it sustains the image of mac as a very cool and hip brand and product. if there is one element in the mac brand equity where it is clearly superior over vista/microsoft, it is in being hip and cool.

it's no surprise that even microsoft admitted that aside from product problems on vista, the apple ads hurt their business.



Give Up On Vista


Leopard Better And Faster Than Vista


Emergency Refresh


PC News Wire

bayantel tv spot that showed it did not move - a brand character that is not moving at all

in the previous topic on the Six Flags tv spot, we talked about how a strong brand character can be powerful that it will move you to prefer a brand. this bayantel (landline telephone service provider) tv spot has a strong brand character but i think it is one that moves you in the wrong direction - one in leaving a bad smell that you would rather not have.

just like the Six Flags tv spot, this bayantel tv spot also uses humor, i think, but it is one which very few, extremely few people will appreciate. it can put a smile among this very few but i don't it will be enduring, one that will most likely go up in smoke. you know how it is with hot air - it disappears very quickly.

ok, enough of the analogies on farts and defecation.

everyone appreciates humor in advertising and also creativity, specially the unexpected. these are the ingredients for a great ad. but that needs to be tempered with the question -- are these kinds of humor and creativity building a desirable brand image? one of the things we want advertising to do is to build desirability and likability - an affinity to the brand. is there a member of the target audience who will appreciate being associated with a brand that reminds them of farts and defecation?

the most simple way to describe what brand character means is this -- "if your brand is a person, what kind of person will it be? describe your brand as if it is a person with personality, attitude, looks, etc."

that is usually how the section on "brand character" (or "brand personality") is stated in many advertising brief and advertising strategy forms used by many ad agencies.

looking at this ad and deconstructing the brand character statement in bayantel's ad strategy, it will probably read something like this : "bayantel is a male who wants to defecate but can only fart and now wants his money back. he is a very practical person."

brand character statements are in fact those that usually end as "this brand is someone you want to be your friend" -- anyone want a friend who likes to fart and defecate?

clearly a WAWAM!

Six Flags tv spot - how the power of brand character can make you dance! move over ellen!

we have come to expect to see certain things from ads of certain brands. we expect to see these communicated either as visuals, part of story plots or copy. it's like when we see these elements, we know what kind of product is being sold. these are mostly the obvious ones - refreshment from drinks, clean from detergents, power and ride from cars or beauty from cosmetics.

in advertising terms, we call that generic benefits. these are benefits that all brands that compete in the same category can offer.

caution: positioning your brand on these "generic benefits" is a double edged sword - it can harm your brand or it can benefit your brand.

it can benefit your brand as your target audience will see things that are familiar to them and will readily sympathize with them. but because your competition have the same benefits, it can harm your brand as you are not offering anything different or unique. one of the things an ad is supposed to do is to set your brand apart from competition. that is one of the core reasons you advertise in the first place and also one of the characteristics of a great ad.

aside from product benefit, the other component that makes an ad a great one is brand character. actually i think having a great brand character is a lost art in many ads specially in the philippine market. it's one component that is largely forgotten and ignored and i would say something many creatives in the philippines do not understand at all.

this Six Flags tv spot is one ad that has practically nothing but brand character in it. and it works brilliantly! you have to love Six Flags after seeing this ad. you very quickly and strongly understand what Six Flags stand for and yes the compelling reason why you should visit it the next time you go to an amusement park.

they could have shown the fantastic rides Six Flags has. it is very popular for their rides, they have one of the most exciting rides in the market. but that's not what they talked about in the ad. instead they dramatized the feeling one gets in going to a Six Flags park. you get it. you smile and you may have even danced to it a little bit.

brilliant advertising!




thanks to charlotte from san francisco, california for sending us the link for this Six Flags tv spot.

san miguel beer's jet li tv spot --- leaving too much to the imagination

we use celebrities in commercials for a specific reason. the most obvious one and that is generic to all of them is that they are very popular. but beyond generic popularity (popularity is synonymous to celebrity, right?), they have this specific calling. they are known for something specific.

time for the name association game. when you mention the name jet li - what's the first word that comes to mind? that word will most likely be something that describes the picture on the right. there are no other words you can think of, other than those that match that picture.

but those words, i failed to see in this san miguel beer tv spot. well, ok parts of it are in the commercial, but it does not impress you as perhaps that picture does. or the movies that we have all seen jet li to have appeared in.

jet li scenes are typically breathtaking and awesome. in many of these movie scenes, often five words come to mind : "how did he do that?".

in this san miguel tv spot, we know he is jet li but after seeing the moves, we entertain doubts if that was really jet li. these are the words that come to mind - it is so lame, it can't be jet li.

this commercial fails to impress us. and i think a lot of it comes from two parts - the story of the ad and a much bigger part from the directorial treatment of the ad. not enough effects, lack of imagination and no pizazz.

if you have jet li as your talent, you need, in fact it's a must that you hire a director who does martial arts movies. plus you need to hire production staff and perhaps even shoot in hongkong where many of them are based. i don't know if san miguel did that for this commercial. if they did, it does not show. if they did not, it's a critical error.

and maybe you will not want to have too much of a simple story to tell. simple stories are good for commercials, but not in this case as it does not allow jet li to show what he can do.

and did i mention manny pacquaio already? the reason i have not mentioned the pacman is because in this ad, he is hardly mentioned, meaning shown.

that's the other part i don't get. why didn't they make an ad where the story revolves around jet li and manny pacquiao? why did they choose to make manny a prop, like an extra in this tv spot? all that many did was smile and nothing more.

think about it -- a world famous boxer and a world famous martial artist. that's a great story right there. pregnant with possibilities. and yes --- wham, bang and atomic!

because this san miguel beer ad underperforms, it is a WAWAM!

Couples For Christ anti-RH 5043 bill ad : half truths turn into full failure

this is a half page print ad that appeared on page 2 of the philippine daily inquirer. this RH Bill 5043 is a hotly contested one in congress with the catholic church on one side and progressive lawmakers on the other.


we do not think a plain black & white ad, empty of any visual is enough to attract anyone, much less convince anyone to CFC's position in the RH Bill issue. doing a press release would have been more effective if this was all that they can do as a print ad.

there is an attempt to some creative writing through the use of the idea "kill the bill before the bill kills the filipino family" which is quite good per se, but used in this ad, it became the weakness of the ad.

this ad stepped into the arena of "scare tactics" and "extreme exaggeration". "scare tactics" seem to be the over-all strategy employed by oppositionists to this RH bill. this strategy is applied across all forms of media, press releases, speeches in congress and even in the pulpit. almost forgot to mention that the whole thing is being led by the catholic church.

we will leave the point of the catholic church for the moment and will focus on the CFC, since it is them who released the print ad.

the "kill the bill if you don't want to kill the filipino family" approach does not work as it lacks specifics. the word "kill" and as used in the ad makes it very powerful but consistent with the "scare tactics" approach, it purposely left out a strong reason why or an explanation as to how passage of the bill will kill the family.

we can't even say the absence of the reason why is to leave things to the imagination of the audience. in the first place, ads to be effective do not leave anything to the imagination of the intended target audience. equally important, it's really impossible for the mind to figure out how passage of the bill will kill the filipino family. it's too much of a stretch and these two ideas, even if one uses wild imagination, do not belong to the same page.

i am reminded of the friars of the spanish colonial rule when they first came to the country some centuries ago, their favorite tactic in converting indigenous filipinos was to employ scare tactics, something like - "not converting to catholicism will bring upon you eternal fire and oozing lava to burn you in hell" kind of lines.

the spanish colonial friars may have had some success during that time -- it was the first time that the filipinos met westerners. some of them knew about islam, but most of them were worshipping their ancestors or animals and nature. most of them, specially at the beginning were unable to read, write or speak spanish. in other words, the scare tactics of the spanish friars mostly worked because the filipinos were mostly naive and clueless in many levels, in many ways of the spanish friars.

that, however, is not the case of the intended target audience of the print ad. this ad appeared in the philippine daily inquirer whose readers belong mostly to the AB and C socio-eco class. they are certainly not as naive and clueless as the filipinos were when the spanish friars arrived in the philippines. scare tactics will not work. not only will scare tactics of this sort not work, they will most likely have a negative impact on the target audience.

the target audience will see through this ad. they will probably feel insulted that such scare tactics are being used at them. the ad shows CFC have no respect on the intelligence of the intended target market. insulting the intelligence of the AB and upper C is probably the biggest mistake anyone can make when it comes to this particular target audience.

we have not touched on the part of the title of this post - half truths.

studying and reading the contents of Bill RH 5043 will clearly tell you that opposite to what this ad saying, it is actually for the filipino family. a significantly high percentage of filipino families belong to the poor with meager resources even for day to day survival of the family. this bill seeks to empower the family, women specially to have full control of their bodies when it comes to reproductive health. empowering family members, specially the women is being supportive of the filipino family.

couples for christ employing scare tactics done by the spanish colonial friars popularized centuries ago on naive and clueless pinoy natives and clearly employing half truths in this ad? that's clearly a WAWAM!

oh, and we forgot to mention that this group, couples for christ is a catholic organization which supposedly also follow the ten commandments.

microsoft - apple advertising war - what's coming up next?

apple started it and they started it very well. so well that together with vista's product problems, windows' brand image took a dive. so much to the level that microsoft felt the need to ante up a $300M ad campaign to save themselves from the hole.

now that microsoft's ads are out, what's next in this advertising war?

probably more of the same from microsoft. new ads that they will find the need to explain what they mean. and ads that they will say this isn't it yet, this is just a start, more to come. well, ok microsoft's 3rd ad is better than the first two, so taking that as a trend, microsoft's new ads will most likely be again, baby steps ads - ads with teeny weeny bit improvements from the previous.

what is most worth watching out for would be the new apple ads.

the "i am a mac, i am a pc" apple ads are just great ads. with microsoft's ads, it gave the apple ads a lot of legitimacy and credibility. in the process, microsoft's ads may have enhanced the power of the apple ads. it's interesting that this brand with a tiny market share has defined the agenda in this advertising war.

apple will need to respond and these new apple ads may be nuclear in strength in the next round. the microsoft ads gave apple a lot of new material to play with. they can now be more competitive and sharper against microsoft.

apple now finds itself in a position of greater strength and clearly in the lead versus microsoft. microsoft's lousy ads told apple they are on the right track and gave them the best motivation and inspiration to be even more competitive. it's the best gift any adman can have - one from your competition.



read more posts on this microsoft and apple ads here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/i%20am%20mac%20i%20am%20pc

KFC philippines' shrimp ad makes us all shrimpy!

oh, this ad should win an award for best comedy if there is an award like that in an ad competition. see this ad a million times, smile or laugh a million times.

it's a simple story - kfc has just launched a shrimp meal in their menu. we all know kfc is all chicken, but a shrimp among the chickens is a big surprise. and that's what this ad wants you to remember -- that now, there is a shrimp meal in kfc.

and it works! you not only do you remember they now have a shrimp meal, you now think the kfc brand is a really cool brand for having this much humor.





man 1 : tingin ko isa sa tin dito may tinatago (the way i see it, one among us here is hiding something.)
man 2 : may suspetsa din ako (i also have my suspicion.)
man 3 : sino kaya? (who do you think is it?)
man 1 : alam ko na. (i know what to do!)
man 4 : ayyyy! (something like a yelp, very feminine)
pregnant pause
man 4 : may, may shrimp na pala sa kfc, pare. (kfc has now shrimp, pare?) ("pare" meaning buddy is what men usually call each other)
announcer : you too will be surprised with the kfc surfers, made from real shrimp, battered and breaded the kfc way. freshly cooked to a golden crisp.
man 3 : dude, we accept you!
men : o, group hug! group hug! group hug!
man 4 : nabigla lang ako! sarap kasi ng shrimp! (i was just surprised. it's because the shrimp is really delicious!)