The Girl Scout are going through a modernization revamp, and it tastes delicious. Besides testing out accepting credit cards via smartphone, they have also opened up several “pop-up” shops in each of the five New York boroughs. That’s right, a physical location that you can drive to to purchase Thin Mints, Tagalongs and Samoas that has regular business hours. And unlike the front of a grocery store, they’re inside a building. Here’s a list of their cookie depots, which will be open until May 5. If one of these was opened in your town, would you frequent it? [More]
marketing
Video Of Home Depot Easy Button Ripoff In Action
By 3.24.11
Reader Ed went back to Home Depot and took a video of that Home Depot ripoff of the Staple’s “Easy Button” getting pressed. The mechanized voice released from inside says, “Don’t see the product you want you want on our displays? The Home Depot can still provide it! Ask an associate to set up a CFP to locate the product you want!” That’s a lot more words than when you push the original button, which says, “That was Easy.” Nice job, big orange, you steal someone else’s idea and then totally ruin the whole concept by adding a bunch of extra marketing language. [More]
BK Splits With Agency That Gave Us Creepy King
By 3.21.11
The King has fired his jester. Burger King is parting ways with its ad agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, with whom it has worked since 2004. While the work never succeeded in toppling McDonald’s as number 1 hamburger slinger, it certainly recreated Burger King in the consumer mindspace and helped usher in a new era of advertising. Adfreak rounds up what they think are the 15 most quintessential CP+B+BK ads. I’d have to agree with their top pick, the infamous “Whopper Virgins” series where they brought Burger King and McDonald’s hamburgers to remote Thai hill villagers and Transylvanian farmers and videotaped their taste test. [More]
Troll Dolls Get Sassy Makeover, For Some Reason
By 3.10.11
Retro toy doll sensation “Trolls” are coming back to shelves with a huge makeover. Instead of chubby bodies and hideous faces, the new dolls are basically “Bratz” with giant hairdos. The creatures are called “Trollz” and are tied in with an animated cartoon series. This is actually their redebut; after a lackluster offering in 2006, they are trotting out the dolls and the cartoon for another go-round. Second second time’s the charm? [More]
Verizon Gives Out Refunds For Deceptive Premium Text Messages
By 3.10.11
Verizon has set up a site to give out refunds to customers who signed up for premium text messages with an advertiser who “did not meet Verizon Wireless’ standards for the disclosure of pricing and subscription information.” Here is a list of the 120 affected short codes. If you were a Verizon customer who signed up for one of them, you can file a claim here. [More]
Spirit Airline Ad Riffs On Sheen Meltdown
By 3.4.11
Spirit Airlines has another tasteless email promotion, this time riffing off the crazy phrases Charlie Sheen has been spewing in his latest media meltdown. Unlike their previous ones that made jokes about the BP oil spill, muff-diving and M.I.L.Fs (“many islands, low fares” – ahem), this one does not make me want to punch them in the face. So kudos on that, guys. [More]
I Don't Not Understand Sara Lee's Curiously Double Negative Slogan
By 2.24.11
The cameraphone of reader Thomas points us to a classic American slogan that has been bedeviling consumers for decades, “Everybody doesn’t like something, but nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee.” It is shortened on this truck to “Nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee.” Huh? Isn’t that a double negative? Yes, and it was planned this way. [More]
Via Email, HP Apologizes For Sending Too Many Emails
By 2.24.11
HP apparently sent some customers too many emails recently by accident. So they sent out an apology to them, via email. No doubt they will realize this additional email was an unwanted further intrusion and send out another email to apologize for it. [More]
Drugstores Cross-Promoting Chocolate And Condoms For Valentine's
By 2.14.11
Drugstores are making it easier for you to get your Valentine’s Day shopping in by putting endcaps of condoms and lubrication on their their chocolate and candy displays. Now you only have to visit one aisle! [More]
Sony's "Kevin Butler" Retweets PS3 Jailbreak Code
By 2.9.11
“Kevin Butler” is the fictional Sony VP who is the face of its recent PlayStation ads, so of course he has a Twitter account. It looks like whoever is running the account hasn’t been reading the news much. When a Twitter user tweeted at him the code used to jailbreak PS3’s, the entity misinterpreted the series of letters and numbers and made a Battleship joke, retweeting the code in the process, reports Engadget. This is ironic because Sony has been cracking down with legal threats and attacks on anyone they can find disseminating the jailbreak information. I wonder if Kevin Butler will be getting one of these C&D’s… [More]
Duracell Battery Pack Comes With Free Glue Stick. But Why?
By 2.8.11
Here’s an interesting cross-promo. Reader Ally spotted a pack of Duracells at her lokcal Hannaford that came with a FREE glue stick. It wasn’t something that the store had shrinkwrapped together, but the glue stick was actually in the package itself. What’s the marketing strategy here? Maybe because they’re both supplies you put in your desk drawer. Maybe the glue makes the electrons stick together better. Inquiring minds want to know. [More]
Groupon CEO Responds To Super Bowl Ad Fracas
By 2.8.11
In a blog post responding to the furor over their Super Bowl ads, Groupon’s CEO Andrew Mason says that “the last thing we wanted was to offend our customers.” Hm, maybe you should have showed the ads to a few of them first. [More]
Were Groupon's Super Bowl Ads Tasteless?
By 2.7.11
Groupon spent several million dollars offending a lot of people last night with a series of Super Bowl ads that started off as philanthropic pitches, then quickly segued into how you could get a great deal on the endangered entity with a Groupon. The online backlash was immediate and left many viewers wondering if Kenneth Cole was moonlighting as a Groupon ad copywriter. [More]
21 Super Bowl Ad Previews
By 2.4.11
For some (me), the best part of the show on Sunday will be the ads. But now I don’t even need to suffer through a sport that stole its name from an already established and much better game, which you know as soccer, because Adfreak has got the goods on the Super Bowl ad spots, with 21 teasers and full ads. Darth Volkswagen is already an early contender for best of the night, and first place in my heart: [More]
Spot Fake Product Reviews By Looking For Marketing Speak
By 2.3.11
Online marketers are constantly trying to game the system by leaving puffed up reviews for their own products on online shopping sites. But they often leave tracks behind. One of the biggest is “marketing speak,” turns of phrase and words that no human would ever use to describe an actual experience they had. Coupon Sherpa says to look for the following red flags: [More]
The Colonel Is Kicking Ronald's Ass In The China Fast Food Wars
By 1.28.11
Though KFC is struggling stateside, in China it is dominating over all other fast food rivals, even global juggernaut McDonald’s. In some parts of the country, the image of Colonel Sanders is more ubiquitous than Mao’s, reports Bloomberg Markets magazine. That’s no mean feat in a country that has proven resistant to foreign penetration. The secret, is in the sauce, using local ingredients in the food as well as its management team, building up partnerships with local suppliers and catering menus to include regional dishes. [More]
DiGiorno’s Pizza And Cookies Combo Is Watershed Moment In American Obesity
By 1.26.11 — Updated: 8.5.14
DiGiorno is rolling out a new combo box that includes both frozen pizza and a batch of Toll House chocolate chip cookie dough. While you heat up your pizza, why not also make a side of cookies? The only thing this is missing is a side of lard dipping sauce. Yes, you would dip both products in it. [More]
Men Pay More Attention To "Sexier" News Anchors, But Remember Less
By 1.25.11
TV networks try to boost ratings by hiring comely female anchors and dressing them and shooting them in ways to accentuate their visual assets, but a study finds it actually reduces the amount of information recalled by male viewers. The “sexier” the female anchors, the more attention men pay, but the less they remember of what the news was about. [More]
