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Category — Brand Destruction

Microsoft Advertising Fails to Help Brand Issues

I have just been having yet another debate about Mac versus PC. These debates get tiring and I have been on both sides of the argument. After all, I am a Mac fan but have never hated Microsoft. Heck, in the early part of my career made a living out of supporting Microsoft technologies. Even now I write about Microsoft Excel software tools for one of my clients.

The problem is sometimes it has hard to defend Microsoft when some of their advertising decisions make them look even lamer rather than support their brand.

Take their attack ads aimed at Apple. Turns out they used deceptive advertising. First they used actors to be their “real people”, as you can see in the screen grab below where the “store visit” tool less than a second, including researching all the product in store (the bald man is still walking by as she enters, shops and leaves … fastest shopper ever). Then they had to edit the part where they imply the competing Apple products are more expensive than they really are.

Fastest Shopping Trip Ever

Fastest Shopping Trip Ever

Way to help your argument Microsoft!

December 23, 2009   1 Comment

New CCTV Posters In UK Train Stations – Posters Better Than CCTV Itself?

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The new strangely creepy CCTV poster found in a Brighton, England train-station

The UK is the most watched country on Earth, and still the citizens seem to be increasingly preoccupied with crime. As of 2004, England had one surveillance camera for every fourteen citizens, and it’s gone up since then, all in the name of security.

But do CCTV cameras actually reduce crime? The statistics aren’t all that spectacular for the studies that show a positive result, and most studies suggest that camera density has no overall impact on the levels of crime at all, especially in residential areas. A better idea might be along the lines of the West Midlands Police’s ‘Operation Momentum’ – using posters and an understanding of psychology, instead of cameras, to try to limit crime. Read on:
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December 17, 2008   Comments Off

Classmates.com Sued Over False Advertisement

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A former customer of Classmates.com has filed a class-action lawsuit against the company, saying their claims are fraudulent and they tricked him into upgrading to a gold account. Sound like a simple false advertising case, but if the case progresses, it could force Classmates.com, and other websites like it, to change they way they advertise.

Anthony Michaels signed up for a free member of Classmates.com last year. However, with only a free membership, Michaels couldn’t interact with other members or do anything interesting at all. He said that he began receiving emails from Classmates.com claiming that old classmates of his had been looking at his profile and trying to get in touch with him through the site. The thing is, he had to sign up for a paid membership to gain access to any messages his old classmates were trying to send him.
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November 14, 2008   15 Comments

Esquire’s Battery-Powered Cover The Last Gasp Of Printed Media?

My vote for the most deluded advertiser of the month goes to Michael Maguire, the CEO of Structural Graphics for his ideas on the future of print magazines.

If you haven’t already seen it or heard about it, the October issue of Esquire is “battery-powered”. Yeah, it’s just as tacky as it sounds. It cost Esquire $250,000 dollars just to get the technology to do it and it falls completely flat. I think it may just signify the jumping of the shark for print media as a whole, or maybe not, who knows.

Michael Maguire had some pretty lofty things to say about it though, like the cover was “heralding a new era in the use of technology in magazine advertising”, and he played the futurist, saying that “there are a number of steps that we’re going to see unfolding in the years to come… like animated color video in printed media, etc”. I’m not so sure. People may cling to magazines the way we’ve clung to books, but I think it’s just as likely that some sort of product like the Amazon Kindle could become mainstream and people could buy magazines for their Kindle and download them directly. Who needs paper, anyway?

What do you think AdSavvyites? Esquire’s electro-cover, lame or not?

October 28, 2008   3 Comments

CVS Will Soon Have A Public Relations Nightmare On Their Hands

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I just read this story over at The Consumerist, and I’m floored. Apparently a man picking up HIV medication at a Philadelphia CVS was called a “Fucking AIDS freak” by a CVS employee. I’ve had my own experience with bad mannered customer service, but this is really astonishing.

Although, I am from Philadelphia and can attest that my city is, generally, a city with a bad attitude, especially in the areas surrounding downtown. My advice to J, the person who wrote to The Consumerist, is to escalate the complaint. Companies rely on their customers. Customer service is paramount to all businesses, and if something like this got public, CVS would be badly damaged. So I say continue, don’t let it drop, write letters and emails to the CEO, and more importantly, to news organizations. The more light that is shed on this situation, the more likely it is to never happen again.

You can find the entire post after the jump:
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September 11, 2008   6 Comments

Top 5 Least Well-Thought Out Children’s Toys

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Sometimes bad marketing slips past the boardroom and enters the sphere of public consumption. We love that. Bad marketing is usually hilarious. Combine that with unintentionaly sexy kid’s toys, and that’s double hilarity.

So here are the Top 5 Least Well-Thought Out Children’s Toys.
Enjoy:
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September 7, 2008   3 Comments