Super Bowl Ads not super with women

The Doritos commercials prove that advertising belongs in the hands of the professionals…No, wait, I take that back, because most of the “professionals” didn’t realize that 40 million of the people most responsible (over 80%) for buying all products and services thought flowers in a box telling a women that she’s a loser, would be a good way to go.

So, our ad agency decided to measure the ads that were persuasive with women. You can find the results on our web www.kscopegroup.com/

Believe it or not, for some crazy reason, we still think advertising should sell something.

Women and the green movement

Some time ago we launched a discreet division dedicated to the green effort. Here’s a blog I posted on their site. Here’s a blog I posted on their site.

Celebrity Apprentices…missing the mark with women.

On the last episode of Celebrity Apprentice, two teams were asked to create viral videos for All detergent.

In one, Clint Black created a video that featured himself and a beautiful woman, playing off the theme of “doing some dirty laundry,” a reference (I guess) to sex.

In the other video,three little people (referred to in the video as “midgets:) arrive with scrub brushes to clean a dirty guy in a laundromat.

Both have the kind of “frat boy” humor that you see on the internet. But there’s a big problem: Who buys most of the laundry detergent? That’s right, women…mostly moms. So what’s the point of entertaining young men when the purpose is to help persuade women to buy your product?

This is just one more recent example of how soooo much of today’s messaging is missing the mark with women.

In my new book, “Re-render the gender” I refer to proprietary research we conducted over the past four years that demonstrates what messages work, or don’t work, with a female audience…and why.

At least Clint Black can be forgiven…this isn’t his day job. For the advertising industry, there is no excuse.

Muses on Music

Is there any style of music that has universal appeal? Is there any genre at all that will have everyone in the car singing along or begging you to turn it up louder?

If you’re a fan of rap, you might like hip-hop. But if you’re a fan of hip-hop you might not like rap. If you like rap or hip-hop it’s a safe bet you don’t like pop or country. From Ska to Hanna Montana, Reggae to the Jonas Brothers, every concert, every performance, of nearly every musical style, has a loyal following.

So is there any music out there that won’t have someone in the back seat yelling, “That Sucks! Change the channel!”

Music preferences are personal…and can be polarizing. A good chunk of America swells with pride when hearing, “Proud to be an American.” Another chunk thinks it’s jingoistic or corny.

So, knowing how powerful and persuasive music can be in advertising, how can you select what will motivate your audience?

If your audience happens to be the female head-of-household, I suggest you err on the side of “hopeful”. Looking at the movies that attract the strongest female audiences, the music is usually upbeat and lively (Flashdance) or inspirational (Up where we belong….Wind beneath my wings).

For guys, I’d choose the Blues. There’s a little something for everyone. The hot guitar of B.B. King that the hard-core, hard-metal fan has to appreciate. The sad, sad story of “waking up one morning” and the rest of the day goes to hell… that brings in the country aspect. Plus, there’s a timeless factor– something written today sound almost exactly as a 1950 original from the Mississippi delta. Or, consider “Jock-Rock.” Guys looove sports and it get them rocking.

Now, if you have the funds to select a wide variety of audiences you could tailor your music to a wider group by producing individual productions with more “flavor” for the varied groups. Understand that, still, not everyone will like it. But not everyone likes Rocky Road ice cream. Does the alternative always have to be Vanilla?????

So, if you’re driving now with a group of men and John Lee Hooker is wailing, some salsa fan in the back seat will still yell out, “That Sucks! Change the channel!”

I guess that’s why God invented iPods.

Super Bowl Wrapup

There has been a lot of discussion concerning which Super Bowl commercials were liked, or disliked by men and women. Much of the discussion of what was liked by women comes from recent authors on the subject of marketing to women. And I think their insight is valuable. But why is it that some of those commercials don’t connect with women as much as men?

Within weeks my book will be released. It’s called, Re-render the Gender.

It’s the result of four years of independent research of how women respond to advertising and what they like, or dislike, in a commercial or ad.

One of the key differences is humor. Men like The Three Stooges. Women don’t think eye poking and face slapping is really that funny. For the most part, women don’t want anyone to be a victim.

So look at a couple of the Super Bowl commercials and see how that might apply:

In the Doritos commercial the punch line is the boss getting hit in the groin with a snow globe. Would the commercial have been every bit as effective if the throw was a near miss and the boss just glared at the employee? Same result…no promotion….but no victim.

In the other Doritos commercial we see a young man has the ability to change things with just the powerful crunch of a chip. One crunch and a woman’s clothes fly off. Why demean women? Why not one crunch and the parking meter that was expired instantly changes to full? And at the end he gets hit by a bus. Not that funny to women.

The Teleflora spot missed on every level, starting with a concept that was really, ”Huh?” And why insult that poor woman like that? Talk about a victim! Someone loves her and sent her flowers. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, now, you’ve cast doubt in every male mind that sending flowers, at all, might be unacceptable. Nice going!

The Super Bowl is still the best place to reach so many of the people who control the majority of purchase decisions…women. And the temptation for so many advertisers to show off with frat-boy humor must be just too hard to resist.

What a waste of money.

First Post

I’m a guy. And I’ve been a creative guy at various advertising agencies for many years. Some really big. Some really small. For the past twenty years I’ve been the top creative guy at a midsized agency with offices in Chicago and Milwaukee.

Over the years I’ve learned that too many “guys” have been responsible for crafting messages that don’t resonate with the people that control over 80 percent of all purchase decisions…that would be women.

So, myself, and a number of men and women at my agency formed a new group to find out what was wrong and how we can fix it. The result of our research helped generate a lot of the data that I needed to write my book, Re-Render the Gender.

Over the course of time, I plan to share my observations that were a result of our studies…studies that are on-going and continuing.

Thank you.