advergirl

2008 Holiday Gift Cards

First, the gift card version of the 'How Many Jelly Beans' jar:

How many different gift cards does Giant Eagle currently carry?

(Answer at the end of the post)

Even those of us not in the Big-Bird-Gift-Cards-for-Gas program have likely noticed the gift card gauntlet retailers are up against this year. The challenge: Personalize the ultimate impersonal gift. And, get the card-buying masses to wrap up yours.

Category leaders like Starbucks have enabled full personalization and design of their cards online - to the delight of caffeine-addled art directors the world over.

Borders, Circuit City and others are offering a simplified approach to personal design with a single photo upload. Home Depot's cards double as a CD of How-to tips for the DIYer on your list. And, the Big Boxes are going after the little box with entire catalogs of just-right-for-you card decor, from Barbie to the nearly-old-fashioned spotted dog.

If the personalization isn't enough to woo you, there's always old-fashioned bribery. LL Bean will give you a free tote for giving a card, Circuit City will reward buyers with an instant-win card to try your luck at a big holiday surprise for yourself, and most of the restaurants are trading 'cash back' cards for gift card sales.

But, all that said, there are two programs that I think are stand-outs this year.

First up, the Sears card. I was already doting over the nostalgia of the Wish Book when I saw these two winning cards: A water-paint gift card that lets the giver or getter paint the scene (just don't drop it in the snow) and a sticker-book kit that lets buyers deck out their cards. Great extensions of the childlike fun of the season and the nostalgia of family holidays.

Second, the Bob Evans gift card tin. Your choice of several snowy Bob Evans cards fit neatly in this cute brand tin. Considering that 88% of us (according to NRF) will buy at least two gift cards this year, the tin seems like a great add-on for the gift-giver - a place to store all their plastic cash without stretching out their wallets or pockets with the temporary cards.

Answer: Giant Eagle carries 275 different gift cards.

easyTXTR.com: Converse in the streets

Remember last year's 'Share your Secret' promotion in Times Square? P&G's Deodorant PR mavens took to the sidewalks, encouraging passersby to share their secrets on the giant NASDAQ and Reuters billboards nearby. A few thousand brave souls told their previously-closely-guarded tales via text messages, kiosks and the ShareYourSecret.com Web site (now defunct). The secrets ranged from "I’m afraid he’s falling out of love with me” to “I ate the last pudding!”  and effectively opened the brand to consumers & created a solid bit of buzz.

Fast forward to last weekend.

easyTXTR brought the same level of pop-up interactivity to Columbus' Short North with a projected display that enabled gallery hoppers to tell all - or nothing at all - on a real time outdoor conversation wall. On its first unveil, ~800 people sent funny moments, sports updates, and even a proposal.

I see this technology as a great opportunity to create real dialog around a brand without the usual fears associated with a long-term conversation online - complete with righteous admin tool and devastating stomach ulcers. This pop up tech lives in a real community (there's much less anonymity than online) and is point-in-time specific (meaning less opportunity to plot against the tech).

I'm seeing this on malls the day after Thanksgiving, at Festivals (captured on cell phones), at grand openings, etc ... anywhere a conversation builds the community & customer experience.

Experience it virtually here.

See video, pics, etc. here.

Kudos for Farmers Insurance approach

Tornados, fires, flying leisure boats ... yeah, you know - it's a prime time insurance ad. If there's no lizard in sight, they're selling one thing: the category. Insurance = peace of mind and there's some pretty scary stuff out there, buddy. Get thee to our web site before it's too late.

So, a quick nod to Campbell-Ewald and Farmers for a nice innovation -

The spots are stopping and fun, but the tagline really steps up the creative from selling the category to placing their brand in opposition of the category:

Sanity makes a come back

Post-Katrina, we all get it: It's one thing to have insurance; it's another thing to not have to fight about whether water damage is actually an insurable weather claim...

As much as I love the campaign, I've got to wonder if the writer has been given a bit toooo much rope. As the campaign goes on, it's starting to morph from stopping and fun to ... well, almost scary.

Branded back-to-school bet

Take a look at Saatchi's new niche marketing site for JCP - all about back-to-school.

According to their release, it's part of a huge investment in the high school demo. The site itself has a reality program featuring designers Chip and Pepper Foster, a contest to present at the Teen Choice Awards, and a couple of great style guide tools including this very fun mix-and-match your stereotype approach:

Offline, there's a seeding strategy for the site (mostly push through movie theater ads), a couple of well-done TV spots and - de rigeur with this audience - a mobile strategy.

All-and-all, a pretty tight campaign. But, I'm left with one objection: The content and the voice don't seem to match. The brand is in your face, but the content is really playful. There's a credibility gap - will a cynical teen audience really engage with this site and tools when there's so little that's organic in the strategy (from the seeding all the way through to the site content).

I think I'm looking for a consumer voice on the site ... something that opens up the brand. The difference between shaveeverywhere.com and Brawny Academy.

Thoughts on the campaign?

Taking on Griner: Why I like Boy Wendy in the Woods

Ok, David, now that you’ve convinced me to return to blogging, I’m going to have to make a pest of myself.

First up: The issue of Saatchi & Saatchi’s pig-tailed play in the woods.

To catch everyone else up:

AdFreak’s David Griner – and, in fairness, other industry notables – have panned the new Wendys spot as too long, derivative and flatly executed. Here’s why I think the spot was smart, strategic and an overall win:

Real estate: Chain-wide, Wendys has 6600 stores. Compare that to category leaders: McDonalds at 31,045 and BK at 11,184. They don’t have the built-in marketing hammer of being top-of-mind via ubiquitous presence. When lunch time rolls around, Wendys needs you to be so wanting their square burger that you actively seek it out. In :60 seconds they pounded that brand and the idea of a hot and juicy burger into memory.

Client culture: I wonder what decades of casting cuddly founder Dave Thomas as the primary brand spokesperson have done to the marketing culture at Wendys. I would guess it’s fairly conservative. This is a huge and bold departure – one they should really be proud of in terms of contemporizing the brand and niche-ing their approach to the market.

Noise: You watched it, right? The visual is ridiculous; the audio is unexpected.  It broke out of its 3-minute Idol pod and got watched. That’s successful.

After-School Special Effect: I’m not convinced Saatchi was following Crispin. The spot actually seems a little snarky – almost making fun of the category. It’s got that feel of intentionally-off on authenticity … think: after school specials. And, I’m guessing Wendys customer is a little older than BKs – so, that might be just the right tone and fit.

Anybody out there from Saatchi? Come on, tell me I’m close…

David: Here’s one as annoying as those BK ads, linked just for you

Garmin: Great holiday sell

Home Depot's rolled out a bland round of Santa and Mrs. Claus spots. Wal-Mart managed to find trouble even with something as simple as a Christmas promotion. I don't even want to talk about Best Buy's latest gift-giving pitch...

So, I guess it's up to the gifts to sell themselves this year.

Enter Garmin, manufacturer of various GPS and navigation toys. And, these two really entertaining and still-entirely-in-the-holiday-spirit spots ...

Enjoy!