Captain Digital

Random musings on politics, society, and pop culture from the Internet's marketing curmudgeon.

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Advertising

Yelling “Movie!” in a crowed firehouse.

How Weird, Stern.In January 2006, The “King of All Media” (a.k.a. Howard Stern) moves his blue humor act from terrestrial radio to Sirius satellite radio.

Yawn.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to hold my breath that Sirius is going to see some huge uptick in sales, as Stern-iacs sign up for satelite radio to get their daily fix. (A) I don’t care, and (B) I know something Sirius doesn’t.

Consider parents with a youngster who suddenly discovers that he can get a rise out of his parents when he uses a “bad” word. What happens? Well, in my family, the child is told “we don’t approve of that kind of language.” If the language persists, the punishment begins. Eventually (even in families that equate a lack of discipline with “loving” the child) the novelty of the bad word wears off. Eventually, the child must either give up, or look for an even more shocking word. Eventually, even that falls flat, and the child has nothing left to do for an encore.

Pause with me for a nanosecond.

[Read more…] about Yelling “Movie!” in a crowed firehouse.

Confessions of a Car Dealer Advertiser.

Okay. I admit it. For a year and a half, I created ads for car dealerships.

It’s funny. When I began writing and directing car ads, I quickly discovered that there are reasons that most car dealers have ads that…how can I put this delicately…um…bite.

First of all, the budget for car ads is about $300. That covers talent, videography, post-production, and everything from script to screen. That’s not much money, and it doesn’t allow for much in the way of wiggle room for talent, props, sets, or anything else.

Next, let’s add to this mix the fact that most car dealers want to use their sales staff in the commercials. It’s been my experience that most sales reps aren’t really comfortable in front of the camera. And it shows. Lastly, lets examine the “we’ve always done it this way” phenonmenon as it applies to car ads. The industry mantra is that the manufacturer sells the car, the dealer association sells the promotion, and the dealer sells the deal. That’s why you see dealers running ads that show one or more vehicles with payments or “off-MSRP” pricing, instead of ads that try to convince you why you should deal with a specific dealer. [Read more…] about Confessions of a Car Dealer Advertiser.

Impression-ism.

Apple's 1984 ad.I love advertising. There. I admit it. I love the idea of telling a story that results in somebody buying something. I love being able to create ads that move people. But there’s another part to advertising that frequently gets overlooked by creative types (like me) and customers. The two sides of that particular coin are frequency and impressions.

Let’s say your ad agency writes the mother of all ads – an ode to your product that makes grown men cry, women salute, and people flock to your product. Let’s say you decide to launch this ad out into the public – doesn’t matter if it’s in print or broadcast. Now you have a decision…how many times to run the ad.

Pause with me for a nanosecond. [Read more…] about Impression-ism.

Do Not Adjust Your Set.

Popeye!For a media guy, I don’t really watch a lot of TV. When I was a kid, I did. LOTS of TV. In fact, my folks told me that my first word wasn’t “Mama” or “Dada,” but “Popeye.” They also told me that I used to run out of the room when the programs were on, and run back in to watch the commercials. Frankly, they thought I was nuts. As an adult, I’ve learned that the average network 30 second spot has the same budget as a 30 MINUTE television sit-com. Think about that. second for second, the commercial has better acting, much better special effects, better writing, frequently better story lines, and better directing. I’m afraid, though, that television is changing, and the way advertising works (or doesn’t work) is changing, too. Let me explain… [Read more…] about Do Not Adjust Your Set.

Talking Tech (Books).

Books.
I’ll admit it. I’m a writer. While I haven’t yet written (or even started writing) the Great American Novel, I have penned two tech books. Of course, my timing being what it is, they were published just as the Dot-Coms were all becoming Dot-Bombs, and the bottom fell out of the tech book market. It’s just now coming back. Lest you think this is sour grapes on my part, I offer up this factoid: In 2001, technical books was the number two category in sales at Barnes & Nobel, nationwide. Just one year later, it was 6th. That’s a huge drop, but it reflects economic conditions more than anything. When you get laid off, the last thing you think about is buying more tech books. [Read more…] about Talking Tech (Books).

Spin.

What is spin, exactly?

At one level, “spin” is nothing more than perspective – it’s the writer’s take on the subject. So why is spin so controversial? Simple. Because the real difference between spin and perspective is that spinning is an attempt to cloak the writer’s bias (or perspective) with a veneer of impartiality.

We presume that certain kinds of communication are supposed to be devoid of spin. In a newspaper, the editorial (and op-ed) pages are reserved for opinion. The rest of the paper is supposed to offer news that is straight reporting – and devoid of spin. While that is virtually an impossible standard, few media outlets seem interested in doing anything more than to pretend to be without bias. [Read more…] about Spin.

MarketingSpeak.

Tag Body SprayDo you ever analyze an ad, and think through why an advertiser presents their message in the way they do?

I think about this a lot.

Partly, I do this because it’s my job. Partly because it’s the way I was raised – to be analytical about marketing. (Thanks, Dad!) Partly, because I find marketing techniques to be a fascinating microcosm of how to successfully motivate people.

[Read more…] about MarketingSpeak.

WHAT was Jeep thinking?

Jeep® Commander

Full disclaimer: I’m a Jeep guy. I drive a Wrangler. Don’t want to drive anything else. Between my wife and I, we’ve owned four Jeeps. I also used to work for an in-house ad agency that had several DCX dealerships – two of them sold Jeeps. I love ’em. So it is with a degree of puzzlement, chagrin, and concern that I ask, what were they thinking with this latest TV ad? [Read more…] about WHAT was Jeep thinking?

Who is Captain Digital?

What is this all about? Simple. I’m a marketing guy/graphic designer/copywriter/animator/whatever. As you might expect with all those “/” in my vocations, I have a lot of opinions on a lot of things. Mostly marketing and advertising, but we may wander ocasionally. Check back here for random thoughts on the state of marketing, advertising, politics, pop culture, and (un)common sense.