Walk a mile in my underpants

http://www.stoptheadness.org

Today, while searching on the Internet, I found a magic iPhone transmitter thingy that claims that it will play my iPhone music on the car stereo, using tiny invisible radio waves.

This is a device that I need.

I searched some more and discovered the lowest price for the magic transmitter on BestBuy.com. Best Buy was offering the device on sale for $59.99.

This was $2.39 cheaper than Amazon.com.

“Perfect,” I thought. “After work, I’ll make a special trip to my local Best Buy store to buy the magic iPhone transmitter.”

And so, I did.

I was in luck. My local Best Buy store had the $59.99 magic iPhone transmitter in stock. Only, there was something different about this transmitter. Namely, the price tag:

$99.99, plus tax.

“That’s odd.” I thought.

So I pulled out my trusty iPhone, activated the web browser and, again, located the device on the Best Buy website. Sure enough, $59.99.

“Maybe it’s a mistake?” I removed the transmitter from the rack, and brought it across the store to the Customer Service Desk.

“May I help you?” said the Customer Service Desk Lady.

“Yes.”

And then, I asked one of the stranger questions I’ve ever had to ask in a store.

“On the website, this transmitter is $40 cheaper. Would Best Buy be willing to match Best Buy’s price on this magic iPhone transmitter device?”

It seems that, with Circuit City out of the picture, Best Buy is now engaging in a heated price war with itself.

The Customer Service Desk Lady took the transmitter device, typed the name into BestBuy.com to verify the sale, and pulled up the listing.

$59.99.

Then, she turned to me and frowned.

“I’m sorry.” She said. “This is an Online Only Sale.” She pointed to the screen, where, sure enough, there in the corner, it said “On Sale” and then, below it, “On Sale - Online Only.”

“So let me get this straight.” I said. “Best Buy is selling this product for $59.99.”

“Yes.”

“I want to buy this product from Best Buy right now. In person. Cash.”

“Yes.”

“But Best Buy is not willing to match prices…with Best Buy.”

“I’m sorry. It’s Online Only.”

And so, for the hassle of driving to Best Buy, paying $1.00 to park on the street, searching the aisles for the device, and standing in line at customer service only to leave the store empty-handed, I went home and immediately bought the magic iPhone transmitter device from Amazon.com for $62.38 with Free Super Saver Shipping and no tax.

You’re welcome, Amazon.com. But don’t thank me. Thank Best Buy.

Old Bay Seasoning just posted this question on their facebook page:

I’m guessing they were hoping to get some inspiring stories of sustainability and green living.

Instead, they got this:

I saw this banner ad for Microsoft’s Bing on Chow.com.

It asked for my zodiac sign. So I entered “Cancer” and hit the little magnifying glass.

It popped up a window with the search results in Bing.

But it gave me cancer cancer. Not horoscope cancer.

Google 1, Bing 0.

These are amazing.

As the ad market’s getting tougher, the world’s best agencies are knocking
down the walls and redefining the business. Advertising is quickly becoming
less and less about advertising and more and more about business, ideas,
experiences and entertainment.

Here’s an article on the trend from last week’s NYT

Agencies are finding new ways to build business by developing innovative
self-promotions, products, brands, media outlets and content.

Today, Wieden + Kennedy/Portland launched a new radio station. W+K Radio
gives listeners a mix of music (an employee playlist), talk shows and a look
inside one of history’s greatest advertising agencies.

In November, Red Tettemer launched a brand of Agency-made Gin.

Brooklyn Brothers are making a brand of chocolate

Anomaly created a food television show with chef Eric Ripert.

Crispin Porter + Bogusky published a diet book.

And created a website where agency folks give you guitar lessons (They sent
out 900 guitars for the holidays with a link to the site).

By embracing new ventures and proving successful in them, these agencies are
padding their capabilities and expanding the kinds of work they can get from
clients. Here are just a few examples of the new kinds of work that top agencies are bringing in:

Modernista got into the magazine business by redesigning Businessweek.

Crispin Porter and Bogusky created and sold video games and meat-scented
cologne for Burger King:

And BBDO created a short film for HBO, the “Voyeur” viral program, which went
on to win the grand prize at just about every award show in the world:

It’s easy to dismiss this as creatives gone wild.

But the fact is, good creative sells products.

Take Burger King.

Whether or not you liked Subservient Chicken, The King, the Whopper Freakout
and the and the other image-based campaigns that Crispin has rolled out
since they took over the account in 2003, you can’t argue with the numbers.

Since Crispin won the business, BK’s total revenue has grown 109%.

And the agency won an EFFIE for them in 2005.

Kudos to friend-of-a-friend, Lea Ladera of Goodby Silverstein Partners, for her beautiful new HP spot, “In the Air.”  I am green with printer ink envy.

I’ve just returned from a trip the London International Advertising Awards.  Our radio campaign for the Maryland Science Center won a Silver medal at the show. Here are a few photos from the ceremony. You can listen to the winning campaign below. Enjoy!

photo courtesy of HuffingtonPost.com

Sarah Palin’s brand is in trouble.

The news of her $150,000 wardrobe shopping spree is a marketer’s worst
nightmare.

The trouble is, Sarah Palin has built her entire campaign around her
persona. Her brand IS her approach to the issues. Ask how she is going
to address the problems of our nation and Palin will tell you that
she’s going to be a Washington outsider and she’s going to stand up
for Wasilla Main Street.

And so far, that’s been a successful positioning. Since she was
introduced in August, Palin’s brand has been selling remarkably well.
Through consistent messaging and repetition, tone and manner, catch
phrases and taglines, we can all rattle off the attributes of Palin’s
product. She’s Joe Six-pack. The little guy. The hockey mom. The hard
working everyman.

That’s where the trouble with the wardrobe comes in.

As any marketer will tell you, the packaging can be as much a part of
the brand as the product itself. So this $150,000 wardrobe is a crisis
for Sarah Palin, because it contradicts her positioning and
undermines her brand’s credibility.

You can’t stand in front of a crowd of factory workers while cloaked
in fabrics that cost more than college tuition and say, “I’m one of
you.”

You can’t be Joe Six-pack, struggling to pay the bills and make ends
meet when your outfit costs more than a year’s worth of healthcare
coverage.

You can’t browbeat the Democrats for “reckless spending” during times
of economic crisis when your wardrobe costs as much as the average
small town American house.

It’s like addressing a PETA rally wearing a mink coat and alligator
wing tips. Seventy five thousand dollars at Neiman Marcus spits square
in the eye of Main Street.

You can’t say you’re blue collar in a Valentino jacket.

With this wardrobe issue, Palin has created a degree of cognitive
dissonance that few brands are able to overcome. The information has
to give even Joe the Plumber pause. Barack Obama was supposed to be
the elitist. Sarah Palin was supposed to be the one who “got us.”

As with any case of cognitive dissonance, Some Palin supporters will
dismiss the information as unimportant or trivial, or try to
rationalize it as being sexist that her appearance is even under
scrutiny.

But for the Palin brand, the bigger problem is with those who have no
stake in her campaign. The critical undecideds whose self concepts are
unaffected by the cognitive dissonance that Pain has created.

Chances are, they’ll react the way people tend to do when a brand
loses its credibility.

They’ll simply stop buying it.