Subject: Chief Marketing: Database Buffoonery and Branding Blunders

From: Chief Marketer <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 08:20:08 -0600

December 14, 2004 | A PRIMEDIA Property |

Table of Contents
Tales of Database Buffoonery
The Year's Biggest Branding Blunders...
...And Promotions That Did the Job
A Promo in the Hand...
Web Shopping a Hit in Rural America

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This Week's Stories
Tales of Database Buffoonery
By Ray Schultz
DIRECT NEWSLINE
How many data miners does it take to build a model? More than you would think, judging by the stories told by Sam Koslowsky.

Koslowsky, the vice president of modeling solutions for Harte-Hanks CRM Analytics, recounted several career-destroying database blunders at last week's National Center for Database Marketing conference in Orlando, FL. "Of course, I was never involved in any of these errors," he noted.

First there was the credit-card company that planned to offer air flight insurance to travelers. It created a model, predicting who was most likely to respond. And it worked. The person who built the model should have gotten "a pat on the back and maybe a raise," Koslowsky said.

But there was one small problem: that there would be no insurance sales unless customers actually flew. "A lot of people responded but didn't fly," Koslowsky said. "They did a good job of predicting response and a not-so-great job predicting spending. They didn't think it through."

To read of more blunders, visit DIRECT.

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The Year's Biggest Branding Blunders...
CATALOG AGE
It's the time of year for top-10 lists, and Kelly O'Keefe, chairman/CEO of Atlanta-based brand strategy firm Emergence, has put together his list of the 10 biggest branding blunders of 2004.

Among his choices: Mattel's mishandling of Barbie ("What parent wants their little girl playing with 'Trashy Barbie' or 'Sleazy Easy Barbie?'" O'Keefe asked), Dell's lack of support for the Dell DJ (if you aren't aware of this ostensible rival to the Apple iPod, you aren't the only one), and the Vioxx debacle.

To find out if your competitors--or your company--are on the list, visit CATALOG AGE.

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...And Promotions That Did the Job
By Katie Muldoon
DIRECT
Looking for inspiration for your next promotion or marketing campaign? Consider some of these winners: Krispy Kreme Doughnuts ran a back-to-school promotion last fall that schools hated (because there are too many overweight kids already) and students -- and probably their parents -- loved. It worked like this: Get an A and earn a free Krispy Kreme (up to 6). Impress your peers...get several A's and take them for a treat. Didn't make the A student seem like such a dork, either. Rewarding the younger generation for achievement, and getting them to associate reward with your product, is a marketing coup.

Heinz has a "talking label" contest for its ketchup. Not happy with ordinary product labels, customers can have their sayings on these. A note on Heinz's Website says, "We received a huge response from our first talking label contest and now our ketchup is begging for more of your ideas." The reward? Your words are talking to consumers all over America...oh, plus a free T-shirt and a year's supply of ketchup.

Neet Feet found a way to get its name out there without a penny of advertising expense -- they embossed it on the soles of their shoes. Step on sand, step away, and there's Neet Feet's imprint. Another reminder to put your logo on every single item you possibly can.

Want more examples of promotions that work--and how to create your own? Visit DIRECT.

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A Promo in the Hand...
PROMO P&I
If you're a brand marketer trying to get your product's name out to the public, then you want to get a branded promotional product into people's hands.

According to a recent intercept poll at a major airport conducted by L.J. Market Research for Promotional Products Association International, 76% of respondents who received a promotional product in the past 12 months could remember the name of the advertiser who gave them the product. But less than 54% who said they had read a newspaper in the past week could remember the name of a newspaper advertiser. Most of the respondents were business travelers.

When asked if they had a promotional product with them, 34% said they did, and of that group, 86% could recall the name of the advertiser. As far as individual items, pens were most frequently mentioned as the item in their possession.

To read more, visit PROMO.

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Web Shopping a Hit in Rural America
By Jeff Morris
OPERATIONS & FULFILLMENT
The old image of Mayberry will have to be updated. Nowadays, it seems Aunt Bea is plunked down in front of a PC, buying her plus-size dresses on the Internet, and Opie is ordering his fishing poles from sporting goods Websites. According to New York-based online competitive intelligence service Hitwise, during the four weeks ended Dec. 4, online Americans in rural districts were 16% more likely than all other social segments to visit a shopping Website.

The third installment of the Hitwise 2004 Holiday Shopping Series showed that overall, the week's U.S. online shopping visits were up 24% from last year. But most intriguing is that the Hitwise Lifestyle database, produced in partnership with Claritas/PRIZM segmentation, reports that while rural Americans accounted for 38% of total Internet visits in the latest data period, they accounted for 44% of all visits to shopping sites.

Of the top 100 shopping sites for the week ending Dec. 4, those with the highest percentage of visitors from rural areas were www.cabelas.com (62%); www.abcdistributing.com (60%); and www.dickssportinggoods.com (56%).

To read more, visit OPERATIONS & FULFILLMENT.

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