Forrester released a new report: ‘2013 Mobile Trends for Marketers’ - a worthy read for anyone concerned with Small Business Marketing

05/23/2013

0 Comments

 
Granted its 20 pages long but you'll no doubt pull some valuable info from these pages that will prove profitable for any small business marketer. Look for some commentary in coming posts... Rich Sadler
Add Comment
 

K-Mart’s “Ship My Pants” – in poor taste or effective ad?

05/18/2013

0 Comments

 
OK, I’ll admit it, it makes me laugh. I’ve played it for a few friends and even shared it on the net (like
here now). In fact I’ve watched it several times. And giggled again.  But is this ad in poor taste of by its very nature is it effective?  And of course the more important question: is it right ad for the advertiser?

Is it a Good Ad or just distasteful?

The test of a good ad that can be often be summed up by using the ABC’S which is Attention, Branding
Communication and Stickiness. 
Attention: A+  This ad definitely grabs the attention with a high degree of humor.  It’s certainly just as funny as a Seinfeld or Friends episode. And for many, like me, it has sharing power that is perfectly for social media.

Branding:  C+  Its does not seem to do a good job with the brand.  Yes, K-Mart is definitely
  at the uncertain stage of the Brand Love Curve, so what it really needs is to help separate the brand from the pack.  Other than scoring for “this brandis funny”, this doesn’t really separate K-Mart out from the pack?   I’d likely give this a higher score if the brand was targeted to a younger audience or if it was in an edgier category, the joke would have been a perfect fit for (e.g.  EB Games or West 49)
Communication: B+   If K-Mart’s only objective is to establish that it does shipping, then it would be A+, but because of the vast needs for the brand, I’m a bit surprised they can turn K-Mart around by offering free shipping.  This does nothing to separate the brand:  LL Bean can ship pants, but LL Bean has pants I want shipped.   The other weird part of the communication is that 90% of the visuals are IN the store yet the real big win is there’s an on-line play.  If it’s IN the store, most items in a mass merchandiser store are so small that you don’t need them shipped.   So I’m saying mixed.

Stickiness: A  It certainly sticks and the amount of sharing and talk value it has generate helps.
It may be polarizing to certain segments of the mass audience–some may be offended–so it may stick for the wrong reason with the wrong circumstances.

So overall, I’d rate the ad a solid B+ to A=.  Very funny Ad. 
  
But, is it the right Ad for K-Mart? We’ll cover that topic in our next Blog Post.  Stay tuned…
Add Comment