News Cut Category Archive: Marketing and advertising

Baseball's postseason scam

Posted at 9:14 AM on October 17, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Sports

If you've ever ordered Major League Baseball tickets online, perhaps you've encountered the nickel-and-diming of the baseball fan. You can print your tickets on your computer, using your ink and your paper and pay the team -- the Twins, for example -- an extra fee for the privilege of doing so.

Want the real ticket? There's a scam for that, too.

The Twins and Major League Baseball, a lot of revenue in the early rounds goes to the league) made out like bandits -- because they were -- in confiscating money from fans for a postseason game that never was played.

Here's the details from my colleague, Linda Fantin.

The night the Twins beat the Tigers to advance in the playoffs, we went online and bought 4 tickets to Games 3 and 4 at $30 each. The Twins also charged us $6 a ticket in "handling" fees and $4 in "shipping" fees, even though we picked the tickets up at will call. But when the Twins failed to advance, the team only refunded the $120 for the tickets but kept the handling and shipping fees. When I called to complain, the Twins ticket office clerk defended the policy and declined to refund the fees.

Here's the rub: To get tickets to Game 3 you HAD to buy tickets to Game 4. Well, the Twins drew more than 54,000 to Game 3, so that means they scammed at least $324,000 from fans, not including the bogus shipping charges. For that kind of money, you'd think we could get a decent middle reliever.

Unfortunately, $324,000 will only buy you the kind of middle reliever the Twins already have.

Perhaps if the Twins called these charges the "upgrade from Nick Punto" tax, fans would be a little less upset.

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In the pink

Posted at 1:58 PM on October 6, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Marketing and advertising

How much pink is too much pink?

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and each year more and more consumer products "go pink." Is it about a good cause, selling products, or a little of both?

"If the AIDS organizations had backed off for one minute on red ribbons, think of where we'd be today," Nancy Brinker of Susan G. Komen for the Cure told MSNBC.

"Does it trivialize it?" countered Barbara Lippert, a writer. "I think it's done more good than harm but anything that becomes a big business has a danger of exploitation.

"My daughter-in-law died of breast cancer," Helga Russell told GoErie.com. "At the end, she told us she was tired of pink. We held a benefit and we wanted to wear pink T-shirts, and she said, 'No.' She said, 'Who knows whether the money is actually given to research?'"

The accompanying story points out, for example, that Diet Coke is festooned in pink, but nowhere on the packaging does it indicate any money is going to breast cancer research.

"I think that the pink ribbon, as a symbol, tends to pretty up what is a pretty crappy disease," a breast cancer survivor told the Boston Globe. "But a pink ribbon is easier to look at than the disease itself."

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Action figures then and now

Posted at 2:52 PM on September 25, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Politics

Today's first look at the Michele Bachmann action figure...

... has me wistful for the time when the idea of action figures in politics was fresh and new:

It was also a time when the action figure even looked something like the person it was supposed to portray. Rep. Bachmann's action figure looks more like Gladys Knight.

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The worst billboards

Posted at 10:38 AM on September 25, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

The St. Paul Issues Forum says District Councils will soon be asked which billboards in the city should be removed. "All of them" probably isn't going to be an answer that will get you anywhere.

The Scenic St. Paul blog provides a citywide tour of the possibilities.

Clear Channel alone has almost 400 billboards in the city.

So which ones would you consider the worst of them?

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Submitted without comment

Posted at 2:21 PM on July 16, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Sports

Leave it to the Saint Paul Saints. They're giving away souvenir cups.

"We wanted to do a memorable giveaway that would help people in these tough times," said Saints President Mike Veeck in a press release. "We thought about a batting helmet, but clearly people haven't been using their heads for a while, so we figured this was the next best thing to help people defend their futures. We're going to find out if people see the world with a cup half full, or a cup half empty."

It's not quite as good as the "bobblehead" the Saints gave away after the arrest of Sen. Larry Craig at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport. But it's close.

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Fly me

Posted at 9:13 AM on May 17, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

In the old days, airlines once stressed the sex appeal of its employees to try to get you to fly their airlines.

They don't do that anymore.

From the Department of Juxtaposition: The life of a regional airline pilot.

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Mom tested, General Mills approved

Posted at 3:09 PM on April 29, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (3 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Adweek says Golden Valley-based General Mills has rounded up an impressive network of more than 900 bloggers — with 4 out of 5 of them being mothers — to, well, blog about the company's products.

The MyBlogSpark network (©2009 General Mills, by the way) says its members will get coupons, product samples and other incentives.

General Mills plans to use the network to promote its wide portfolio of products in the food and beverage, beauty, home, electronics, health and automotive categories.

So, what's the catch?

General Mills can be confident the program will fill blogs with positive reviews. One of the requirements for participation reads: "If you feel you cannot write a positive post regarding the product or service, please contact the MyBlogSpark team before posting any content."

Alrighty, then...

To be fair, the responsible PR folks say that does not constitute a requirement to write good things, just that they notify the company for feedback purposes.

Say what you want about the thin grey line between blogging and journalism, but having to contact the company before writing anything negative constitutes a chilling effect in my book.

Granted, bloggers are free to purchase and review the products on their own dime and General Mills is free to help manage its message as it sees fit, but this is certainly something to ponder as huge corporations work to extend their influence.

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Ely announces bid for 2016 Olympics

Posted at 8:58 AM on April 1, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (7 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

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Should music reflect the national mood or entertain us?

Posted at 8:11 AM on February 3, 2009 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

I'm not much of a music guy, but I like Bruce Springsteen. "He's kind of sold out," my wife -- the former '70s disc jockey -- said to me the other day as I hoped the Cardinals and Steelers would use more running plays... the better to speed the clock along to Springsteen's half-time show. Sell-out or not, I liked the show better than the first half of football.

Slate magazine, however, reminds me that I'm alone, so very alone. In "Bruce Springsteen misreads the national mood," Stephen Metcalf paints an interesting proposition -- that entertainment --at least in the person of Springsteen -- isn't mean to distract us from the ills of the day, it's meant to reflect them.

The national mood is sober bordering on a galloping panic. Lively as he was, I wouldn't say the Boss did much to either banish or capture it.

The Springsteen persona was originally intended as a stand-in for a blue-collar working class living in an insular white ethnic neighborhood and working a job on more or less permanent offer from an industrial economy. He was the poet of their decline, but he's moved away from that specific community of origin as his persona has evolved into a bit of general-purpose kitsch Americana. Not coincidentally, Springsteen has flogged more and more a highly abstract idea of "community," one centered around Bruce Springsteen. "It's not just my creation at this point," he recently told the New York Times, referring to the Springsteen iconography's debt to its fans. "I wanted it to be our creation. Once you set that in motion, it's a large community of people gathered around a core set of values."

What?

It's just a show, isn't it? What is the role of entertainment when the national mood is depressed?

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The auto bailout

Posted at 1:17 PM on December 22, 2008 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

As I posted earlier today, the Associated Press is running a series on the big bank bailout and so far has found that CEOs and execs of failing banks were rewarded with large bonuses last year and also that it's impossible for the average taxpayer to track what the banks are doing with their taxpayer.

Last week, Chrysler got a piece of the $17.5 bailout to the auto industry. A casual reading of today's Wall St. Journal reveals where at least $160,287.55 of it went.

On his blog, Mark Cuban writes:

Lets see, is there anything more idiotic than spending more than 100k dollars on a full page ad "thanks for letting me waste your money" ad? Does it make it worse that its a business publication where the readers might just recognize the stupidity of wasting money on ad dollars that doesn't even try to sell the product? How does it make the next unemployed Chrysler worker feel that their entire year's salary just went for a single, ridiculous ad?

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The slow news week

Posted at 7:56 AM on December 22, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Investigators are in Colorado today, trying to figure out what caused that Continental jet to skid and crash on takeoff over the weekend. Fortunately (I think we use the miraculously word too much), nobody was seriously hurt.

Whatever the reason for the incident, I'm pretty sure it wasn't this: Drag-racing jets.

As you probably have guessed, this is the slowest news week of the year. It's a three-day week. Stories that usually can't see the light of day, find a place on the news agenda this week. I can't wait to find out what they are.

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The limits of advertising

Posted at 2:55 PM on December 14, 2008 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Is this an idea that could catch on?

A teacher near San Diego is selling advertising on tests.

The ads pay for the cost of printing the tests. $10 for a quiz, $20 for a test, $30 for a final exam.

Let's think about this for a second. What other things can we sell advertising on to help generate some cash? How about the far left passing lane? Surely some Internet service provider would want to sponsor a 10-mile stretch here or there. How about the escalators in government buildings? Charles Schwab might buy the "up" side. I'm not sure how to market the "down" side.

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Post-election etiquette

Posted at 9:18 AM on November 6, 2008 by Bob Collins (16 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Politics

After the 2004 election, I heard a lot of criticism from DFLers about these:

"The election is over," they'd say, suggesting that Republicans kept the bumper stickers on their cars to rub the Democrats' noses in it.

So this picture on MPR's Midday Web page today....

... leads to the obvious question: How long do Democrats intend to keep their bumper stickers on their cars?

The Web site MaverickLabel.com characterizes people and their bumper stickers:

The Gloating Winner - For them, politics is a contact sport and their candidate just brought home a Super Bowl trophy stuffed inside of the Stanley Cup.

The Bitter Loser - a close cousin to the Gloating Winner, except, you know, without the winning part.

The Terminally Lazy - Come November, when the leaves have started to fall, this person can't seem to find the energy to scrape the sticker off. Often, they couldn't find the energy to vote either.

The Angry Loser - Unlike the Bitter Loser, this one wants to distance themselves from their former-candidate.

The Neat Freak - As the name suggests, this person does not like having untidy things, like bumper stickers or even parking passes, on their car. However, because they are a good patriot and they needed to protect democracy, they did display a bumper sticker for at least Election Day

The Hipster - This person doesn't so much take their political stickers off, as covers them up. Now that the election season is over, it's time to add a new layer of stickers to the back of the old Jetta comprised entirely of bands with three word names or weird animal-adjective combinations.

As for lawn signs, that question is easier. State law requires them to be removed 10 days after the election, even if there's a recount underway.

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Making hay with murder

Posted at 11:16 AM on October 29, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

A Minnesota businessman says he didn't mean to take advantage of the deaths of the family of Jennifer Hudson to push his product. But it obviously has turned out that way. He sent out a news release the other day asking if his product could've saved Hudson's family.

John Peters, of Browerville, Minn., population 734, said he got the idea while talking with some co-workers about the Hudson tragedy, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The end of the ad says the product is not intended for homes with children, which answers the odd question Peters asked in his news release. There was a 7-year-old in the home. So which is it?

(h/t: Tom Weber)

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State flags

Posted at 12:26 PM on October 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Does a state flag tell the world what a state is or what a state was?

In Oregon, the king newspaper -- the Oregonian -- is calling for a new state flag, according to the blog Visual Editors. From our listening post in Minnesota, it doesn't seem like a bad idea.

Editor Michael Milstein said:

The front carries the state seal, which looks crisp on stationery, but not on a flag. It's almost impossible to interpret from afar and tough to tell apart from Wisconsin's, Vermont's or a bunch of others that also have a state seal stamped on a blue background.

Like, ummmmm, you know...

The Great Seal of Minnesota features a bare-footed farmer plowing a field. The farmer's axe, gun and powder horn are on a stump. An Indian rides nearby. A nearby field borders a river and waterfall. Ladyslippers are also on the seal because they're the state flower, although the official state muffin (blueberry), mushroom (morel), fruit (Honeycrisp apple), butterly (Monarch) or bird (loon) get no love at all.

A citizen's commission came up with a new design in the '80s. The Pioneer Press also did what the Oregonian is now doing. Bill were filed in the Legislature as late as 2007 and the air seems to go out of the effort every time an alternative is unveiled.

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Ad wars: Apple edition

Posted at 9:21 AM on October 20, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Apple unveiled a new set of ads today in its long-running battle with Microsoft. At one time, we referred to this battle as Apple vs. the PC, or -- more accurately -- Apple vs. the IBM PC. Now it's a battle between hardware (Apple) and software (Microsoft).

Let's recap how this ad war has gone. Apple used the John Hodgman character to make PC a bad word. Microsoft responded with an ad campaign last month that makes PC not only a "good" word, but a symbol of diversity. Today's ad is Apple poking Microsoft for poking at Apple for poking at Microsoft.

It's a much more fun war to watch than Republicans vs. Democrats.

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Sign of the day

Posted at 8:56 AM on October 15, 2008 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Bored by the same-old-same-old political signs? Then you have to give some credit to Rep. Sonda Erickson, whose billboard was captured on the little screen by MPR's Tom Weber yesterday.

Just for the heck of it, I looked at a satellite image of Erickson's neighborhood. I'm thinking there might be some environmental reasons for not drilling there.

If you see a really creative approach to political advertising, send it to me.

Related: Justin Heideman at the Walker Art Center sent along a reminder of the Walker's project for people to make their own yard signs.

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What doesn't Microsoft get?

Posted at 11:20 AM on September 18, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

What's the difference between newspaper Web sites and the dead-trees version? The New York Times would never allow this on their dead trees version.

It's a pretty funny bit, though, as most of the John Hodgman-Justin Long Mac ads are.

And the ads must be working because Microsoft has announced today that the Jerry Seinfeld - Bill Gates ads are being dropped in favor of a new campaign, featuring a John Hodgman look-alike.

I wonder what would happen if they turned the whole account over to the people who do political ads? Take a stab at it, post your version on Gather.com and I'll dig out a swell News Cut prize.

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Minnesota is not making book

Posted at 11:18 AM on September 17, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

If you didn't know any better -- and, of course, I didn't -- you might have thought the state of Minnesota had gotten itself into the sports bookmaking business.

An ad in the Star Tribune this morning (left) announced the Minnesota State Lottery's Fantasy Football Print-N-Play game.

Here's how I saw it: You watch this Sunday's game and (using the example in the picture as an example), hope that the Miami quarterback scores one or more touchdowns, that New England's running back scores one or more touchdowns, Oakland's kicker hits a bunch of field goals and the Eagles' starting tackle sacks the opposition quarterback. Then you add up all the points that go with each event and hope it adds up to more points than your opponent's team (in this case, the number of points registered by Dallas' quarterback, Denver's runningback, Houston's wide receiver, and the Colts' tight end).

That game, actually, would be a lot of fun. It also would be illegal.

Here's how it really works: According to Lottery Director Clint Harris, the results are predetermined and the scoring is not connecting to any real NFL game. The lottery player just goes down both sides of the ticket and fills in the number of points for the results already indicated. In the example, I end up with 16 points. So does the opposition. I lose. Some fun, eh?

Harris told me there actually is one state where the lottery is allowed to make book on sports in the manner I described earlier. Montana, one of three states that was grandfathered when state lotteries were legalized, allows fantasy football wagering in its lottery.

According to its Web site...

Play slip wagers will be allowed until 30 minutes prior to the first scheduled game of the week (either Thursday, Saturday or Sunday depending on the week's schedule). From 30 minutes before the first scheduled game until 30 minutes before the start of the last scheduled game of the week, only quick pick wagering will be allowed. The last scheduled game of the week is Monday night, except for the last week of the regular season when the last game is scheduled for Sunday. Quick pick wagers will be randomly selected players from the eligible player roster finalized prior to the start of the season.

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Bald is bountiful

Posted at 4:06 PM on September 9, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

There is hope for the bald.

Reuters reports that New Zealand's national airline is planning on advertising a service to speed-up check-ins by tattooing the ad on bald heads. Each baldy will get $666 for two weeks worth of work.

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Sun Country's concert in the sky

Posted at 12:10 PM on August 11, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

There are days when Sun Country Airlines seems like the Saint Paul Saints to Northwest's Minnesota Twins. Trying harder and putting up a different vibe. A news release from the company suggests this is one of those days.

Sun Country is promoting its Minnesota Music Campaign, which features Minnesota artists on its in-flight entertainment. So tomorrow, it's holding what it bills as the first "concert in the sky."

Lorie Line will open the concert with a performance at the Humphrey Terminal, and Dan Wilson of Semisonic, Tim Mahoney, and George Faber will perform onboard the flight. Upon landing, an additional Minnesota band will be performing in the Humphrey Terminal. The Airline will host the 'Concert in the Sky' on a specially-scheduled Sun Country flight. Following the concert, there will be an after-party at Fletcher's Wharf at the Humphrey Terminal featuring the Maeflies.

But where will the flight be going? "The flight will tour around Minnesota for a total of approximately 2 hours - take off and landing will be at MSP only," Heidi Bausch, the airline's marketing coordinator said in a follow-up e-mail. Presumably, the flight will be packed with media.

For the record, I flew up to Madeline Island yesterday and my wife sang to me at points along the way -- not well, but she sang. I'm pretty sure that constituted a "concert in the sky." She was born in Vermont, however, so that may negate the historical aspect we were hoping for.
.

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Stale beer

Posted at 12:18 PM on August 5, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Every time you turn around, it seems, there's another story about how easy it is to "play" the media.

Here's one circulating today: The return of Schlitz beer. MSNBC, featuring an AP story, bit on the obvious press release-fertilized story this week.

Schlitz' owner, Pabst Brewing Co., is recreating the old formula, using notes and interviews with old brew masters to concoct the pilsner again. The maker of another nostalgic favorite, Pabst Blue Ribbon, it hopes baby boomers will reach for the drink of their youth, otherwise known as "The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous." They also want to create a following among younger drinkers who want to know what grandma and grandpa drank.

Swell story. Bad beer.

It's also stale as the ad industry newsletter Advertising Age points out. The Schlitz folks tried the same thing in 2006.

It didn't work.

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'Celebrating' the Timberwolves?

Posted at 4:21 PM on June 26, 2008 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Sports

As the NBA draft nears, there is an overwhelming sense of doom among fans of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Judging draft talent is not the team's forte, as Patrick Reusse artfully pointed out yesterday.

Update 6:45 p.m. Minnesota's on the clock. Prayer beads getting a workout.

6:46 p.m. - Presuming the choice will be O.J. Mayo. I fear gleeful anchors announcing, "it was the Mayo Clinic at Target Center tonight," thinking it was the best lede ever written. MinnPost's David Brauer says if they take him and then don't trade him, we'll wake up to "Timberwolves hold the Mayo." It's a no-win situation here.

6:48 p.m. - Timberwolves select O.J. Mayo. Experts say he's the most NBA-ready player. He better be. "I'm going to bring some leadership, and determination," he tells ESPN. Plans to play point guard. Move over Randy Foye.

Update Friday 7:04 a.m. - Ugh. The Timberwolves did it again. They've traded Mayo to Memphis along with Marko Jaric and Antoine Walker and received Kevin Love (whom they considered drafting) in return. It appears to be another trade to get rid of high-priced players.)

With any luck at all, the team's new logo and uniforms won't be the highlight Timberwolves story of the day, but you never know.

The Minneapolis Business Journal analyzes the fashion:

The team's primary logo received a relatively modest facelift, including a splash of white on the wolf's face and sleeker trees. The word Timberwolves also gets a different font and converts from blue to white.

The Wolves first introduced that logo for the 1996-97 season.

The Timberwolves also unveiled a completely redesigned secondary logo that celebrates the team's 20th anniversary. The new logo features a wolf howling at the moon. The moon, however, is depicted as a basketball, paying homage to the team's original logo that featured a wolf's head in front of a ball.

"The secondary logo really throws us back to the logo we used initially and celebrates the history of the Timberwolves in this market," (TWolves marketing boss Chris ) Wright said.

The team is still selling merchandise with the old logo on its Web site. It's gear that screams Ndudi Ebi

(H/T: doodledee)

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The story behind 'the catch.'

Posted at 4:04 PM on June 23, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

There have been a fair number of spectacular photographs and videos of late that have been found to be fake, and some of those who huddled in the News Cut cubicle cried "foul" when they watched this one 8 or 9 times today. (Chris Dall of the Bleacher Bums called it first.)

The video is -- as they say -- sweeping the Internet today.

Alas, it's fake. It's an ad for Gatorade.

But there is no mention of it anywhere. How does Gatorade benefit from the ad? Watch again.

Says shootonline.com

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The power of positive images

Posted at 9:49 AM on June 6, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Some people learn by seeing, some people learn by listening. Which one are you? The prescription drug companies are betting you're the former.

The way the companies portray the warnings of side effects in their ads has been under scrutiny over the last few months. An editorial this week on AMEDNews.com -- a physicians' resource -- says:

AMA President-elect Nancy H. Nielsen, MD, PhD, recently described direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising as akin to looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. It's an apt observation. Now-ubiquitous television drug spots leave a stronger impression of medications' benefits than their risks.

Now, how would they do that? By appealing to your vision more than your hearing. This week, I've kept track of the images on the TV screen and compared it to the audio from the speakers.

"If you have any sudden decrease or loss of vision or hearing, stop taking Levitra."

This was one of the only drug ads I saw during the week that didn't appear to mask the side effects warnings. Instead, it had a doctor explaining them. "When taking Plavix alone, or with other medicines such as aspirin, the risk of bleeding may increase."

"Sleep aids may cause severe allergic reaction such as swelling of your tongue or throat or shortness of breath." (Ambien)

"Evista increases the risk of blood clots and should not be used by women who have or have had blood clots in the legs, lungs, or eyes. Evista may increase the risk of dying from stroke."

"Don't drink alcohol in excess with Cialis. Side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache (?), or muscle ache."

And, of course, the ever popular...

"Seek immediate medical help if you experience an erection lasting more than four hours."

These two, apparently, are looking for the nearest clinic.

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