Marketing Today

Ad Typo Starts NORAD Tracking Santa for Over 50 Years

In 1955, Sears Roebuck & Co. ran a newspaper ad letting kids know how to call Santa directly.  Unfortunately, the telephone number was misprinted and instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief's operations "hotline."

CONAD was the predessor to NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command), a joint organization of Canada and the United States that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and defense for the two countries. 

The Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given updates on his location, and a tradition was born.

Ever since then, NORAD employees have volunteered their time to respond to Christmas Eve phone calls and emails from children. And today, NORAD tracks Santa using the Internet. If you are interested in knowing what Santa and the elves are up to right up until Christmas day, take a look.  NORAD has also created a Facebook group, a Twitter account, and a Picasa site as well.

Make the Robocalls Stop Already!

I sure hope that you're not getting all of the political robocalls that I've been getting for the last week.  Here in Boston, we're heading into a competitive election for mayor as our current mayor runs for his fifth term.  With highly competitive races in New Jersey, Virginia, and other states across the U.S., I'm sure there are many others out there who feel my pain.

How Do Politicians Get Away With This?

Robocalls are made by all political parties in the United States, because they are exempt from the United States National Do Not Call Registry.  Political groups are excluded from the FTC definition of telemarketer, so robocalls from or on behalf of political organizations are still permitted on the federal level.

Robocalls Can't Be Effective, Can They?

Telemarketing on the whole is often looked at as unethical because of the high-pressure sales techniques during unsolicited calls.  More importantly, robocalls are considered annoying, especially when they occur during the dinner hour, early in the morning, or late in the evening.

I'll bet that in the case of the calls that I've been getting, no one even takes the time to check whether the calls are effective or not.  Because all of the candidates are employing telemarketing tactics, the campaigns probably just feel that it's a competitive necessity to make sure that every candidate is doing the same thing and being equally annoying.

By the time the votes are counted on election day, we'll know who the winner of each election is.  With all campaigns disbanding immediately after the winner/loser parties on election night, I doubt there's a team of marketers around performing any analysis on which marketing tactics worked best for each candidate after the election.

Try Stopping the Insanity!

Before we all just breathe a sign of relief the day after the elections, let's work to stop these calls from politicians for the next election.  Former John Kerry campaigner, Shaun Dakin has started the National Political Do Not Contact Registry a non-partisan grass-roots movement to take control back by asking our elected representatives to stop calling us at home.  This is more of an Internet petition with no guarantee that any robocallers are actually paying attention, but you might feel better for trying.

Landing Pages I Like: Dragon NaturallySpeaking

I found a great example of some non-traditional marketing - an ad for a software product on the top of a taxi cab - that led me to a really effective landing page which sells the product being advertised in three easy steps.

The www.getdragon.com/taxi URL is part of a marketing campaign testing which forms of marketing are generating traffic to a landing page (see below) which gives a simple explanation of what Dragon NaturallySpeakingvoice recognition software is and what it can do for you.  There is a special price offer with a money back guarantee right up front.  There are three options for purchasing the software right now.  And, if you want additional information about the product, there are several links to good supporting information at the bottom of the page.  The only thing that they could have left off this page is the video that seems to automatically start up every time you hit the page. 

I give this two thumbs up for effectiveness and I'm impressed the folks at Nuance for trying some unconventional types of marketing to generate leads and sell product.  Earlier this year, I wrote "Is That Dragon NaturallySpeaking on the Radio?" congratulating the team marketing the product that I used to market on trying new things like local market radio and TV.  It's great to see my old product being promoted in new ways as the new team tests what works best for sales.

Why Isn't Everyone Just Advertising Online?

This week I had the good fortune to be a a two-day conference at Google for non-profits as a result of volunteer work that I do as a board member of The Art Connection.  I learned an amazing amount of information that I'm still digesting and probably will be for some time.  We've got lots to do on our site and can't wait to start fine-tuning things!

At the start of the conference, we reviewed some stats:

• Google has an 84% reach to Internet users
• Users spend on average 14 hours/week online
• Every minute, over 12 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube

Think about it.  How much time do you spend listening to the radio?  How much time do you spend reading newspapers or magazines?  How much time do you spend watching TV?  How much time do you spend online?  How do you get your information?

Now think about your audience.  How do they receive their information?  Ultimately, this will determine where you direct your advertising for the greatest effectiveness.  If you don't know how your audience is getting their information, then it's time to do a little research to find out.  Send out an e-mail survey or a postcard or just ask them in person at your next event.

I read somewhere this past week that the late J.C. Penney said "I know that half of my adverstising isn't working.  I just don't know which half."  One of the many benefits of online advertising - especially through Google adwords - is that you get to see analytics immediately that help you to know what's working and what's not.  Fine tuning can be done immediately to improve results.  But, if half of your audience still expects a printed direct mail piece sent to their house and then wants to mail you a check after reading it, then it would be foolish to put all efforts into the online basket. 

Remember you aren't advertising to yourself.  You delivering your message in the way that your audience wants to receive information and take action upon it.

The Google Grants Program Helps Not-for-Profits With Web Traffic

With a rainy week in Boston and a little time off, this has turned out to be a great week to do some work for The Art Connection, a not-for-profit I'm involved with.  Yesterday, I headed up to the North Shore Community College to watch a volunteer committee select orginal artwork donated by Boston artists for some of the walls at the college.  Today, I'm spending time selecting Google AdWords to drive traffic to The Art Connection website through a special program provided at no charge to us from Google.

The Google Grants Program

The Google Grants program is helping over 4,000 organizations achieve their missions by promoting their websites on Google. The program leverages Google's advertising program which pops up various ads when users search for certain terms on Google.  Depending on their size, organizations are awarded an in-kind online advertising account which can be used it in a variety of ways including general outreach, fundraising activities, and recruitment of volunteers.

Google's Advertising Program

Google Grants provides organizations like ours with an advertising grant for the Google AdWords™ program. This is an online, self-managed advertising program where you manage your ad campaign by creating and monitoring text ads that run on Google through natural search terms.  While a typical Google Grantee receives just over $300/month of advertising, the overall value of the advertising really depends on the performance of your ads. So, it's in your best interest to follow which of your keywords are driving traffic to your site and hone in on what's working to maximize future success.

Interested in Learning More?

The best place to go to learn more is on Google.  If your organization qualifies for the program, you'll be sent an e-mail letting you know that you're in the program; what your ad allowance per month will be; and given a 30-day deadline to sign-up for the program.  You'll also get a 35-page document teaching you how to select keywords for natural search and how to write an online ad.  For more information, there's a Google Grants blog, webinars, and a workshop coming up in August.

Thanks, Google!

On behalf of The Art Connection, thank you, Google, for this program.  It will be my job over the next few months to see how I did selecting natural search terms and writing ad copy.  This should be fun!

Ads I love: "Putting the "NO" in Innovation"

Every once in a while, an ad just hits you that is "spot on".  I have to say that I stop every time that the Post Shredded Wheat commercial runs on TV.  It just cracks me up.  This one specifically asks the question "Where has progress taken us?" Featuring an executive who points out that progress didn't get the Romans or the Egyptians any where, he's proud that his product has remained the exact same for since 1892.  Well, they did make it spoon sized in the 60's...and perhaps that was going too far.

Created by the Ogilvy Group, this ad pokes fun at a well established product while using all of today's media tools to promote the product.  A website called "Palace of Light" is a landing page of all of the ads featuring Frank Druffel, Midwest executive for Shredded Wheat, who sees progress as a well, a menace.  It's guaranteed to make you laugh.  Making fun of a product that doesn't change in over 100 years is what makes this ad a success.  Not too many products would have chosen this strategy.  Too bad for them.  The site - while tongue in cheek - also includes all of the "share this with your friends" social networking hooks even while appearing old fashioned in it's creative treatment.

Ultimately, while ads can win creative awards, it's the ability for an ad to drive sales that really makes it a success.  While I'm not privy to Post Cereals sales numbers, I have to think that this ad wouldn't be run as frequently as it is since last April (at least on the shows that I watch), if it wasn't a success.  Here's to putting the "NO" in innovation.