MOTHERBRAIN

Eat Fresh (tm)

Advergaming Works.

Water Cooler Games points us towards a study done by the Missouri School of Journalism that shows advergaming to have a positive affect on brand opinions. This makes a lot of sense if you subscribe to Raph's theory that games are essentially teaching mechanisms.  I think that work like this shows that there is incredible value in understanding why we game ... Here's hoping we see a continued emphasis on research like this. 

 From their incredibly academic mouths:

Our results provide further evidence that the transfer of positive affect elicited by entertaining media content to the sponsoring brand likely involves a mental process that could improve brand attitudes. According to an associated network view of human memory, advergame features that increase the mental connection between game content and the sponsoring brand also should increase the ease of positive affect transfer, leading to a stronger relationship between attitudes toward the game and brand attitudes. Our finding that increasing the thematic connection between an advergame and the sponsoring brand makes attitude toward the game a stronger predictor of attitude toward the brand is consistent with a theoretical explanation of this phenomenon based on affect transfer.

The immersive and interactive nature of the advergame might distinguish it from other advertising platforms such as product placement, which in turn could facilitate stronger affect transfer in advergames than in product placements. However, it remains unclear how the relevant/irrelevant distinction might differ between these two context. Researchers also have suggested that these features may weaken memory for in-game advertising by increasing demand for cognitive resources (Yang et al. 2006). These distinguishing features of an advergame provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study nuances in the relationship between ad attitudes and brand attitudes, as well as memory for advertising messages.

Vote with your Dollars—How Companies Have Donated Politically

I've been meaning to post about GoodGuide for a few months now, ever since someone at work first emailed out the link. The basic gist of the website is that it helps you make more better purchasing decisions based on "what is important to you." It rates products on health, environment and social performance. Anyways, I just went there for the first time in a while and noticed that they've created an embeddable app that maps out political leanings (Rep. or Dem.) of companies based on their donations. I've had to temporarily increase the size of my middle column ... which is annoying, but I couldn't get it to fit otherwise. See below:

Democratic

Republican

GoodGuide.com political contribution data for over 100 companies
View data for other companies at GoodGuide.com

Brand Fossils

Remember the 7-11 Simpson's movie promotion? Well, the donuts are still there.

Still doing their job of promoting the movie long after the end of that campaign.  Like a sugary Wall-E, sticking behind and continuing their mission long after their partners in communicating have gone.  Or like a Japanese World War II soldier who is still hiding in the hills of some remote island in the Pacific, awaiting orders from High Command to attack ... or any number of other bad metaphors, really.  It would be interesting if they stuck around long enough to actually make more money than the movie did, with their unsettlingly surreal pink icing menacing me everytime I walk in and out of a 7-11 for the rest of my life (which is probably how long it would take to out earn the movie.)

The Most Curmudgeonly McDonalds Of All

"You don't eat food here, you consume it.  And then you get out...and we'll know if you don't, because we're watching you."

"Refills are extra, your large bills are no good here, and if you want more than the one sauce we give you with your McNuggets, it's going to cost you the price of the sauce + tax (specified in our sauce-tax grid here)."

"And if we don't like you, you ain't eating..."

"Now, what can we do you for?"

VW Annoints Chrysler As German Engineering

Watching college football last Saturday, I was bombarded by VW's campaign for their new minivan, the Routan.  Which first made me wonder if Ikea has been consulting with VW on model names, but then made me remember hearing that VW was planning on rebadging a Chrysler minivan to sell as their own.  And here it is, brazenly referred to by Brook Shields in the ad as German engineering. 

My dad likes to joke that in World War II, our Germans beat their Germans.  However, I think this is a bit of a different story.  I've not heard of any German immigration boom to Detroit in the past few decades.  I'm not sure how they got any legal department to approve it being referred to as German Engineering.  I've seen what legal departments are like at automotive companies, and I can tell you that I've seen the Face of Evil.  But whatever. If the laderhosen fits, bite the strudel. 

It's amazing how much badge engineering is done in the car industry...but I'm sort of surprised that VW, who's entire brand depends on being a bit quirky and has always stood for affordable German engineering, decided that what the people want is a Chrysler with a VW logo on it, especially given their heritage of distinct van offerings:

 

Speaking of which, whatever happened to the New Bus concept? 

It's not beautiful, but it's a concept that could be made more market friendly...at least I would think so...and it's a bit hipper and truer to the VW brand than just rebadging a Chrysler.  Why do they just want to get in line with the sea of other look-a-like minivans?  This is VW we're talking about.  They build iconic cars, or at least they used to. 

Jerry and Bill

 

(via Penny-Arcade)

Best Practices in Social Media - Get Over Yourself, Embrace Others

So Gareth was nice enough to tag me on a social media meme that’s been going around despite my leaving him stranded in PowerPoint Hell for the past couple of weeks.  Here goes...

Last spring I worked with my good friend and super-engagement strategist Ellis Reavey to better understand what social media is and how best to be a social brand, mostly because we wanted to be ready for when clients started asking to stick a TV spot on Facebook to check-off the Social Media box on their new media checklists. 

I think one of the best practices that came out of that exercise that hasn't been mentioned yet in the meme is to not start a social media group centered around your brand.  Most marketing folk don't work on brands that a lot of people want to be friends with on the internet.  Let's face it.  I drink a lot of Diet Coke, but I have no desire to write on Diet Coke's Wall.  Maybe some people would, but they are probably into boy bands and Notre Dame football and I probably wouldn't get along with them. 

I think a better way to go about this is to find communities that already exist and figure out a way to help them do what they do. If there's not a group specifically for your brand, find a tangent.  If you're a couch company, find a social network of people who want to sit down.  If you're a toothpaste, find a social network of people with one remaining tooth.  If you're a country artist, find a social network of people who hate music. 

I've worked on brands in the past that have had HUGE enthusiast communities that they completely spurned in favor of creating their own social media type thing, and lets just say that it didn't quite pay off in the end. 

So maybe a pithy awkwardly worded shorter way to say it is this:  Help relevant communities exist better on their terms and on their turf.  

I'ma tag Seth, Clay, Eric, Johanna and I'm going to go way out on a limb here and try my best to tag Raph even though he doesn't know who I am.  We'll see if it works.

The Dicey Business Of Video Game Journalism

Slashdot is reporting that Atari has begun suing video game publications that have started publishing reviews for their upcoming release, Alone in the Dark.  They are claiming that anyone who has reviewed the game has pirated copies of it since it has not yet been made available to the media for review. Not only has Atari filed suit, but they have pulled all advertising from the sites as well. 

The situation gets a little more interesting though when looking at the reviews themselves.  They aren’t good, and gamers have noticed that there might be a correlation. 

This isn’t the first time that bad reviews have sparked controversy in gaming journalism.  Just last year, it was rumored that Jeff Gerstmann, an editor at Gamespot, was fired after penning a bad review of Kane and Lynch.  An anonymous insider suggested that the firing was motivated by pressure from the game’s publisher, and Gamespot advertiser, Eidos.

I think this is troubling as it proves the line between editorial independence and advertorial bias is under assault, if its not dotted already.  Who knows how prevalent this is in other specialty mediums.  But I think it also shows that in the high-stakes world of gaming, companies have become so tied up in creating blockbusters that they will stop at nothing to make sure they succeed.  They have too.  Very often, all their eggs are placed into the same basket.  But the problem is that instead of making sure the basket is allowed time to be lovingly crafted, they are very quickly machined, with little regard for craftsmanship or quality control (from the business folk, not the actual production team ... so I’ve been led to believe). 

The videogame industry is at the forefront of the future of marketing.  If the positive reviews aren’t there, you’re not going to change (many) people’s minds with a slick campaign. Marketing can only help reinforce the decision to purchase.  The power is firmly in the court of the reviewer. 

The problem with this ‘future of marketing’ as it relates to videogame sites is that they are heavily dependent on advertising revenue from game publishers, seemingly making them more susceptible to being strong-armed into favorable reviews by game publishers with everything riding on their next game. 

Priorities have a funny way of changing when one’s livelihood is threatened. 

...this one goes to 11

I've always loved how ridiculous the marketing of guitar paraphernalia can be.  There's probably never been a cool guitar company poster or ad EVER, despite how hard they try or the celebrity they have access to.  One thing that some companies have mastered though, is standing out from the cornucopia of gear for sale with incredible product designs and names. 

One of the guys that plays guitar in my band had seen an amplifier featuring a setting called "Ninja Boost". Which is hilarious, until it almost becomes your band name.  He actually found one for sale, and sent pictures as proof that he was thinking about buying an amp for its ability to boost a guitar's ninja:

Luckily he didn't buy it, and I'm not in a band called Ninja Boost.  But it reminded me that I haven't actually looked through the guitar section at a music store in a long time, so I thought I'd see what kinds of strange and absurd things companies are trying to sell to the real life guitar heros. 

Here goes...

 

First up is the SNARLING DOGS.  While I think it would've been more effective if they had used a Z to pluralize DOGS, I do love the "Attack Control" on this one.  Do you want all SNARL and no BITE, or are you going to shove your boot down the audience's throat by going all BITE and no SNARL?  Well, luckily for guitarists everywhere, you don't have to choose anymore.   There is a knob for both.

And who can forget the Big Muff.  No clever named knobs here, just a really great/absurd name. 

It turns out there are a number of Muffs out there...including the METAL MUFF.

Its often hard to get the correct amount of Inject, Bleed, or Filth from the typical, less ostentatious effects pedal.  Luckily there is the Blood Drive.  Never before has giving blood rokked you so hard. 

And if you find that your guitar's tone isn't using women as objects quite enough for your liking, you can always switch on The Womanizer.   

 

Genius. 

I would be interested in doing the Pepsi Challenge with these pedals to see if guys that swear by them could tell the difference between them and their less ostentatious counterparts.