Get To The Grapes

Mistake proves propitious for Merlot Marketing.  Initially awarded three silver and three gold Addy’s for design, photography, promotions and self promotion, we later found out that one of our ‘silvers’ was actually a gold and we had won another silver they forgot to include in the program or announce during the event.  In any case, we’re pretty excited, especially for our clients who we owe great thanks for giving us the opportunity to work on their business.  Here’s a listing of our awards:

GOLD:

Merlot Marketing Christmas Card (a green approach to Christmas)

Everpure Water Bottle Display

Statistics showcase the need for water filtration!

Susan G. Komen Poster

Everpure Exubera Brochure

SILVER:

Everpure Aqua Party

Bug! Realty Photography

Bug! Real Estate Photo Shoot in San Francisco

Thermique Photography

Photo for an ad campaign

At this year’s Addy Awards show, Merlot Marketing brought home six Addys: three gold and three silver awards.  However, most exciting was Merlot Marketing’s own, Brenda Granucci, being awarded the AAF’s Media Person of the Year!

I am so incredibly proud of the Merlot team for these honors.  It takes hardwork, passion and creativity to win – all of which exemplifies this team.  Here are just a few of them…

This is only a portion of the team, but all deserve a congratulations. And Robert, I won't even ask what you're doing...

After researching, planning and placing millions in media on behalf of our clients, I nominated Brenda for Media Person of the Year – and she won!  The award is well-deserved because her passion and enthusiasm for our clients’ business is second to none. She has negotiated literally millions in savings for our clients and has great relationships with the media.  What can I say?  It’s a well-deserved award… CONGRATULATIONS!

Brenda accepting her award!

Here are a few more images from the evening:

LtoR: Debi Hammond, President/CEO; Brenda Granucci, Account Supervisor (Media Person of the Year!)

LtoR: Julie, PR AE & Brad Dore, AE

So which Super Bowl ad was your favorite?   (If you ‘tweet,’ check this out: Super Bowl Map)

I don’t know about you, but my Super Bowl has nothing to do with grown men running around a field trying to catch a leather-wrapped ball. The ’Big Game’ for me is the commercials! I love them.  All of them. Even the bad ones (they give us agency folks an incredible laugh while we wonder what agency talked their client into wasting $3M of hard earned cash on either an ineffective or unmemorable ad).  

So, although I did get a chuckle out of quite a few of the ads, none really moved me to truly laugh, cry or to go out and buy… Here are my sort-of-close-to-the-top picks for overall effectiveness based on the ‘M’ factor:

Was it Memorable? Did it Move viewers to take action or Move brand awareness? And lastly, was it Meaningful to the brand? Here are my picks for the GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY (and I’d love to hear yours):

THE GOOD

Bridgestone: Although not as good as last year’s (click on screaming squirrel below), I thought the “Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head”  ad was cute, clever and original (which seemed to be lost on most advertisers this year). I think every couple could relate to the dialog and the ad tied back to the product by having them in a sports car navigating sharp corners with ease.  Didn’t have me doubled over in laughter, but a solid performance. Ditto for their “Space Travelers” ad.

Budweiser: Gave us what we expect and enjoy.  A nostalgic, feel-good campaign that reminds us that Budweiser is truly a part of the American fabric; yes, like apple pie and baseball. And although I didn’t shed a  tear, “Daisy the Circus” horse did tug on my heart strings, a little.  Bud Light came through on its first ad (the guy who gets thrown out of the conference room window) but faltered after that.

THE BAD

GoDaddy: When GoDaddy launched at the Super Bowl in 2005, its brand went from unknown to nationally known over night. It was a brilliant marketing strategy and its efforts paid off in both Web traffic and marketshare. However, four years later, the creative concept has been played. It’s old. It’s tired. And it’s no longer original. The addition of celebrity Danica Patrick probably added more to the cost than marketshare.

Cheetos: I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to laugh or grab my child and run.  Chester was creepy, really creepy,  “yeeaaassss…” Nothing about that commercial made me we want to eat Cheetos.  It was dark and simply not that funny.  The overall message: if you do buy Cheetos, just remember it makes great bird food, just lookout for the ‘droppings.’   

CareerBuilder: There are no words…

THE UGLY

Jack In The box: Nothing about the cracked Jack head made me want to run over to JIB and get a burger dripping with ketchup.  Yeah, didn’t get it.  I figured I’d get it after the big payoff from the next commercial. But the next commercial never came. So I decided to do what they asked me to: I want to ‘hangintherejack.com’ to get the big laugh. Well, again, it wasn’t funny. So then I thought I’d follow his Twitter to get the real scoop.  Nope, that wasn’t very funny or interesting either. I liked the attempt at the social media tie-in, but next time, give me something worth following.

Hyundai: Paid $3M to tell viewers their name is pronounced ‘hun-day’ like ‘Sunday,’ and yet, no matter how I pronounce it, I’m still not buying their car. To there credit, though, I did find their financing message interesting and of course timely.

Doritos: I know this was ranked number one by USA Today, but really? The guy gets hit in the #%$’s and we all laugh like we’ve never seen that before?  Granted, I did chuckle, but from a strategic marketing standpoint, the ad lacked creativity and originality. So was it good? It was okay. Was it great? No.

To view all of the ads, visit Hulu.

For live commentary, click ?cid=6, then type in Merlot Marketing in the Search box.

Merlot Marketing tapped by #1 rated morning show to critique Super Bowl ads.

What makes a good Superbowl ad?  Well, besides, the obvious selling points: Sex, humor and (what I like to call) heartstrings (you know, those ads that tug at them), what makes a good ad is tapping into the three M’s.  First, the ad must be memorable.  If you’re going to spend $100,000 per second (yes, per second), you’d better hope that everyone in the room remembers your ad. 

The ad must also move the audience, either emotionally or literally.  The audience should be moved to pick up the phone, visit the website or change brands.  If it’s a branding campaign, then you’d better hope the needle moves in your direction with regard to awareness.  If a company is spending that kind of dough, something better move…

The last ‘M’ is meaningful.  Make the message meaningful to the brand.  For example, last year’s CareerBuilder.com ad staring none other than a heart that leaps out of a woman’s chest, was well, disturbing at best. In fact, better yet, it was gross, uncomfortable and made me think twice about finishing the bowl of chili I had been enjoying up until that very moment.  An ad must speak to the brand promise and reinforce it in some way.  There needs to be some connection between the brand and its message. 

So, which commercials actually met the ‘M’ criteria?  Here are a few of my picks. 

1. Bridgestone: “Screaming Squirrel (hilarious and tied directly back to the product)

2. E*Trade: Kids and animals are always a safe bet for commercials.  E-Trade put such an unexpected spin on the ‘kid’ thing and did it brilliantly.  It tied into the brand in that E-Trade is easy and anyone can do it.  And, they gave us a good laugh along the way.  The creepy clown comment…. priceless (and oh so true).

3. Budweiser: Hank the Clydesdale and the Dalmatian lived up to the Bud promise.  Although we LOVE the funny Bud Light commercials, we need something that makes us feel good.  Oh yeah, they tugged the ‘heartstrings’ hard – and we all loved it!

To get you warmed up for Super Bowl XLIII, here is a link to last year’s creative Top 10 lineup: Super Bowl XLII: Top 10 Ads

Merlot Marketing was once again named one of the Fastest-growing Companies by the Sacramento Business Journal.  Enjoying its fourth year in a row on the list, Merlot Marketing joined only four other advertising/PR firms that made the list this year.  Most of the top 10 companies on the list included solar companies and IT firms – definitely a sign of the times.  Thanks to our clients and our incredible team for helping us achieve our continued growth and success!

Journalists have been given a hard time lately and rightfully so. They editorialize when they should be reporting. And the traditional tough questions have been replaced with ’softballs.’ Friday, June 13th was a sad day for journalism because we lost areal journalist. A man that worked hard, asked tough questions and did his job the way it was meant to be done. He didn’t have ‘Ditto heads’ or ask ‘What say you?’ He wasn’t lumped into the ‘liberal media elite,’ he was simply regarded as a talented journalist and a well-liked and respected professional. Tim Russert was known for his straight-forward interviewing style and was one of the first journalists to actually ‘quote’ his guests and have them explain the true meaning behind it. When the guest tried to talk around the question, he’d re-read them their exact quote and ask them to explain the rationale behind their words. Now that’s a journalist! When watching him interview someone, I never walked away wondering why he didn’t ask the obvious questions, because he did. He asked the questions his guests didn’t necessarily want to answer, but that all of us wanted to hear. It seems as though our journalists are getting younger and prettier instead of smarter and simply better at their jobs. Unfortunately, for us the viewers, with the loss of Tim Russert, we will most likely be stuck watching wanna-be actors and actresses more interested in their white teeth than the White House.

If you thought you enjoyed reading blogs, hold on to your ‘wine glass’ because we’re creating a Merlog – two, in fact (see our agency Merlog “The Water Cooler”). “Get to the Grapes” is just that – a place to gain insight and access to the world of marketing (and other things of interest to me. In this industry blog (or Merlog as we like to call it), I’ll forego pretentious ponderings and simply get to the grapes about what’s happening in marketing and the world. Agency life is our life and we’d like to share with you our thoughts, ideas, and expertise from the agency perspective – and trust me, in this business, it’s a unique perspective. So, come back often and leave us a line – we encourage the conversation.