Mindful Marketing
  • Home
  • About
    • Mission
    • Mindful Meter & Matrix
    • Leadership
  • Mindful Matters Blog
  • Engage Your Mind
    • Mindful Ads? Vote Your Mind!
  • Expand Your Mind
  • Contact

Caddy-Sacked

2/28/2015

 
Picture
What if a business put an advertisement in your front yard, without your permission and without paying you?  You wouldn’t like it.  What if the same business made you wear an ad without compensation or consent?  Now you’re thinking “That’s ridiculous; it would never happen.”  You’re right, unless you’re a PGA caddy.

The Professional Golfers' Association has been requiring caddies to wear advertisements, or bibs, containing the logos of the PGA’s corporate sponsors.  At first glance it’s nothing new; many organizations require their employees to wear apparel that promotes the organization itself or one or more of its sponsors.  The promotion is part of the employee's job.

There’s one big difference, however, in the caddies’ case—they’re not PGA employees.  The Professional Golfers' Association pays them nothing; rather, their compensation comes from the individual golfer each serves.  According to Michael Collins, ESPN Senior Golf Writer, caddies negotiate their pay often on a weekly basis, earning between $1,000 and $3,000.  They also may receive a percentage of their golfer’s tournament earnings: 10% for a win, 7% for a top-ten finish, and 5% for anything else. 

A share of tournament earnings sounds exciting, but think of the number of golfers who compete versus the number who actually win or place.  It’s also worth noting that caddies must pay their own expenses (e.g., food, hotel, airfare, car rental).  Likewise, they must provide for their own healthcare coverage and retirement savings.

Meanwhile, caddies trek across the fairways, carrying other peoples’ bags and wearing other organizations’ advertising—often that of the world’s biggest and most successful companies.  At least caddies are compensated for carrying the golf bags.  It’s not surprising, therefore, that caddies have filed a lawsuit against the PGA, asking for $50 million.

The caddies have a strong case, mainly because the bib requirement represents an injustice:  It’s not fair to force someone to make a sacrifice without proportional recompense.  The principle of quid pro quo demands something for something.  If you give up something, such as your body as a billboard for advertising, you should receive some appropriate payment in return.

Given the big money the prominent companies such as Barclays, John-Deere, and BMW pay to sponsor golf tournaments, bib advertising appears to be effective marketing for the PGA.  However, because the very people who carry the ads are excluded from the benefits, advertising on caddy bibs propagates a social injustice and should be considered “Single-Minded Marketing.”

Picture
Picture
Subscribe to Mindful Matters blog.
Learn more about the Mindful Matrix and Mindful Meter.
Check out Mindful Marketing Ads and Vote your Mind!

I'd Like to Buy the World a Milk

2/21/2015

 
Picture
It’s been almost 45 years since Coca-Cola’s iconic television commercial wished to “Buy the World a Coke.”  Since then the global soft drink supplier has done well, growing its brands to over 500, its revenues to $46 billion, and its market presence to over 200 countries.

Times have changed, though.  People are increasingly concerned about consuming high-calorie, sugary drinks.  Similarly, soft drinks face stiff competition from many other beverage categories, including functional water: nutrient-infused H2O.  As a result, fewer and fewer people are having “a Coke and a Smile.”

What’s a multi-billion-dollar soda seller to do?  For any firm facing such formidable market-share erosion, innovation is usually key.  Already boasting many brands in juice and bottled water categories, the Coca-Cola Company has responded with a very different new product development that’s as old as cows--milk.

From even a casual observers’ perspective, the milk market seems well-saturated.  Local dairies hold a firm grip on the garden-variety leche.  Likewise, there’s ample supply of other types of milk, e.g., almond and soy.  So, how can even a big player like Coca-Cola gain entry into this crowded space?

Coca-Cola appears to have learned from the functional water trend that people are willing to pay a premium for beverages that bundle extra good ingredients.  So Coca-Cola’s milk, which it’s branded “Fairlife,”contains “50 percent more ‘natural’ protein and calcium than regular milk and 30 percent less sugar thanks to a special filtration process.”

Making a milk that gives people more of what they want (calcium and protein), and less of what they don’t (fat), seems like a social good—one that supports healthier lifestyles; although, not everyone agrees.  Of course, people also can be very particular when it comes to taste. While many of us want to eat more healthily, we won’t do so unless the food tastes good, i.e., we want the best of both.

I terms of taste, the reviews of Fairlife are mixed.  The brand comes in several varieties, including 2%, fat-free, and chocolate, the latter being the most popular.  While some love the flavor, others find the thicker consistency and milkier taste overpowering. The super milk also commands a super price, costing about twice as much as regular milk.

What should we make of Coca-Cola’s milk?  The mixed reviews of Fairlife’s taste certainly are cause for pause.  However, if enough of the targeted consumers find the flavor agreeable, Fairlife has potential to meet a market need for a high-end, high- quality milk.  The large number of prominent retailers that have agreed to carry the brand, e.g., Target, Kroger, Wal-Mart, Safeway, seems to support this speculation.  It’s doubtful that Fairlife will become a staple beverage for a wide range of people; still, a potentially effective product that upholds societal values makes Fairlife a likely case of “Mindful Marketing.”

Picture
Picture
Subscribe to Mindful Matters blog.
Learn more about the Mindful Matrix and Mindful Meter.
Check out Mindful Marketing Ads and Vote your Mind!

Like a Girl?

2/14/2015

 
Picture
One of the most popular commercials of Super Bowl XLIX was Always’ “Like a Girl,” which noted the negative impact that gender stereotypes have on our society.  The ad adeptly identified specific misconceptions about women, particularly ones involving athletic ability.

Two weeks later, another popular promotional piece has hit newsstands: Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit issue.  As it does each February, the curator of all-things-athletic has taken leave of sports in order to feature women in bikinis, on beaches.

So, why doesn’t SI have a similar bathing suit issue featuring men?  Maybe males are less skilled at modeling, i.e., they model “like a boy”?

Of course, the reason is that the magazine’s readership is about 77% male and many of those men aren’t interested in bathing suits for themselves; rather they like to leer at women wearing bathing suits, especially women in very small suits and in very suggestive poses.  SI is simply meeting its target market’s wants and needs.

Unfortunately this need satisfaction flies in the face of everything Always is trying to accomplish with its “Like a Girl” ad.  How much impact can the message that “women are athletically adept” have when one of the loudest voices in sports sends a strong countervailing message—that women are just a collection of provocative body parts whose purpose is others’ sensual satisfaction?

One can’t help but think of the young women in the Always ad and wonder how their lives and those of all women might be different without the hypersexualization promoted in much of our media.

The fact that SI continues to publish its annual swimsuit issue means that the publication attracts advertisers and sells magazines, i.e., it’s effective marketing that creates stakeholder value.  The societal impact of this product choice, however, is likely harmful, which makes SI’s bikinis on beaches a case of “Single-Minded Marketing.”


Picture
Picture
Subscribe to Mindful Matters blog.
Learn more about the Mindful Matrix and Mindful Meter.
Check out Mindful Marketing Ads and Vote your Mind!

Sex in Advertising: Touchdown or Fumble?

2/7/2015

 
Picture

By Keith Quesenberry, Marketing Professor, Johns Hopkins University

You’ve heard the saying, “sex sells.”  Many advertising professionals firmly believe it, but is it really a universal truth of marketing?

A recent study from the University of Georgia looked at sexual ads appearing in magazines over 30 years and found that the numbers of ads using sex to sell have increased.  Yet, the question remains: Does sex really sell?

Researcher Tom Reichert has studied sex in advertising extensively and found that sexual content in advertising does get noticed.  Of course, being noticed is an essential first step if a product is going to be purchased.

Other research, however, paints more of the sex-in-advertising picture. A study from the University of Wisconsin suggests that audiences view ads 10% less favorably if the ads use sex to sell un-sexy products.  So, people might not appreciate the gratuitous use of sex in ads, but perhaps sex works for selling sexy products.

Looking beyond the ad/product to the media environment, other research has considered whether putting an ad in a violent, neutral, or sexual TV program improves or impairs memory for the ad.  A UK study found that participants who watched a neutral program remembered most.  No matter whether the viewers were male or female, young or old, both violent and sexual programs impaired memory for the advertised products.

Last week over 114 million Americans watched Super Bowl XLIX, while advertisers paid a record $4.5 million for a 30-second TV spot.  Much was riding on these commercials to be successful. We know that at least half the people watch the Super Bowl for the ads and that brands need their ads to be liked enough that they are viewed and shared in social media.  The extra online buzz makes the $4.5 million investment worth it.

So, what is the secret to a likable Super Bowl ad?  A colleague and I conducted a two-year analysis of 108 Super Bowl commercials to find this answer.  Was it humor or emotion? Did sex-appeal work?

We coded the Super Bowl ads for “story” in terms of five-act development, based on Freytag’s Pyramid, then compared that number with the rating each commercial received in ad rating polls.  We found that the more acts there were in a commercial, or the more complete the ad’s story, the higher the ad’s rating and likability.

But what about humor, emotion, animals or sex appeal?  They didn’t matter.  Those variables appeared at both the top and bottom of the polls with no discernible pattern.

A quick look at this year’s USA Today Ad Meter results confirm our findings and seem to further diminish the notion that sex sells, or makes an ad more likable.  The top 10 ads from Super Bowl LXIX contained little or no sex-appeal: Budweiser’s “Lost Dog,” Always “Like a Girl,” Microsoft’s “Braylon,” Doritos “Middle Seat,” Dodge “Wisdom,” Toyota, “My Bold Dad,” Coca-Cola “Make It Happy,” Nissan “With Dad,” and McDonald’s “Pay with Lovin’.” One ad, Fiat’s “Blue Pill,” did have a sexual subject, but the spot did not rely on sexual imagery.

Of the bottom, or least liked ads in the Super Bowl Ad Poll, three tried  to use sexual imagery to sell: T-Mobile “Save the Data,” Machine Zone “Game of War,” and Victoria’s Secret, “Let the Real Games Begin.”

In sum, there’s little evidence to support that “sex sells.”  Meanwhile, there’s broad concern that over-sexualized ads may be detrimental to societal values.  So, the real question that remains is why some advertisers continue to use this type of “Mindless Marketing.”
Picture
Picture
Subscribe to Mindful Matters blog.
Learn more about the Mindful Matrix and Mindful Meter.
Check out Mindful Marketing Ads and Vote your Mind!
    Subscribe to receive this blog by email

    Editor

    David Hagenbuch,
    founder of
    Mindful Marketing    & author of Honorable Influence

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

    Categories

    All
    + Decency
    + Fairness
    Honesty7883a9b09e
    * Mindful
    Mindless33703c5669
    > Place
    Price5d70aa2269
    > Product
    Promotion37eb4ea826
    Respect170bbeec51
    Simple Minded
    Single Minded2c3169a786
    + Stewardship

    RSS Feed

    Share this blog:

    Subscribe to
    Mindful Matters
    blog by email


    Illuminating
    ​Marketing Ethics ​

    Encouraging
    ​Ethical Marketing  ​


    Copyright 2020
    David Hagenbuch

Proudly powered by Weebly