Seriously, what’s up with them? Their new ad features an oven that begs a Quiznos employee to “put it in me, Scott,” as the camera pans over what it calls a Toasty Torpedo. There’s also a subliminal flash of a periscope jutting up from the flames at one point, as our eagle-eyed reader Bbender pointed out.
marketing
Unfortunately Named Truck To Help Save Environment
By 3.25.09
I love the idea of electric vehicles, but did Electric Vehicles International really have to call it the “eviLightTruck”? Probably not a good idea to have, you know, Satan, in your product name. You’re electric, people already think you’re going to blow up their baby carriages, don’t go out looking for ways to make your job tougher. [evi-usa]
High Credit Limits Encourage Consumers To Spend More
By 3.17.09
The more credulous you are, either because you’re new to the whole line-of-credit experience or because you’re uneducated, the more likely you are to mistake a high line of credit for an indication of your future earnings potential. You can see how this can lead to bad things, as noted by the researchers who studied this unfortunate problem earlier this decade. Luckily, the savvier you get about credit cards, the less influence your credit limit has on you, which is yet another great reason to make financial literacy education mandatory.
JC Penney Emails You To Let You Know They Won't Email You
By 3.13.09
Reader psionix bought some PJ’s from JC Penney for his wife and, upon checkout, chose not to receive any emails from JC Penney. The retailer then emailed him to let him know that they won’t be emailing him, and asked him to fill out a survey on why he didn’t want to receive any emails from them. Here’s what they sent:
The Easier It Is, The Safer It Seems
By 3.10.09
Self-identified rational people take pride in the fact that they can’t be easily manipulated, but of course that’s the pride part of their dumb monkey brains talking. Here’s an interesting study that measured whether hard-to-pronounce words were perceived as riskier than words that were easier to pronounce—in this case, by comparing fake additives in food and asking which ones were more likely to be harmful.
Royal Caribbean Caught Infiltrating Review Sites With Viral Marketing Team
By 3.8.09
Meet the “Royal Caribbean Champions,” a group of fifty prolific posters to popular online communities that Royal Caribbean rewards with special access and free cruises in exchange for their frequent and positive commentary. The Champions were outed by their creators, the Customer Insight Group, which boasted on their company blog that the potent group is “regularly leveraged for ongoing marketing initiates. Members of the popular reviewing site Cruise Critic, one of the main targets of the program, are understandably pissed.
Comcast Using Free Wi-Fi To Keep You From Switching To FiOS
By 3.3.09
Comcast is testing WiFi service at about 120 NJ Transit rail stations in an effort to retain broadband customers who might otherwise be tempted to switch to FiOS. Will it work?
Consumer Reports Tests The Amish Heater
By 3.3.09
You’ve seen the ads where the hard-working Amish folk are handcrafting miracle space heaters and no doubt scoffed at their absurdity and marveled at their Photoshop skills- but do the darn things work? Consumer Reports investigates in this video.
Smart Television Alliance Asks "Feature Films For Families" To Stop Using Its Name
By 2.27.09
Feature Films For Families—the company that’s been phone-spamming random people over the past few weeks—follows no man’s law! The nonprofit Smart Television Alliance, which works to educate parents on how to improve the television experience for kids*, discovered that the company was using its name without permission.
Why The Quiznos Free Sandwich Promo Burnt Some Customers
By 2.27.09
According to tipster Rich Piotrowski, a former Quiznos franchise owner who won a counter-suit against the company, the big reason why some Quiznos were being jerks about taking the free sandwich coupon is that at first corporate was making the franchises pay for all the sandwiches. (Quiznos mandates franchises buy all their ingredients from HQ, often at above-market rates…). Then it looks like they decided to reimburse up to 400 coupons, then bumped that up to 700 to meet the demand, and now they’re going to reimburse all coupons. Don’t give away free stuff in these times unless you’re ready for an onslaught of interest, at the outset. Corporate seems to have realized this and contacted us to say that if you have any problems redeeming coupons you can email millionsubs@quiznos.com. Tipster’s comment, and an internal Quiznos memo, inside…
Technically, There Is Nothing Wrong With This Display
By 2.27.09
On the other hand, we think the CVS manager in this D.C. store might want to take a look around and see how other stores are doing it. (Thanks to Rob!)
The Annoying Sound Stores Use To Drive Youngins Away
By 2.26.09
Here’s an example of that annoying noise that’s supposedly being used to drive teenagers away from stores and other places where they tend to gather and formulate their plans for world domination. It has also been used in commercials. Supposedly, only people under 25 can hear the noise. For the record, our staff can hear it and we think it sounds like that ringing in your ears that happens when people are “talking about you.” Annoying. [Teenager Audio Test via BuzzFeed] (Photo: Karl O’Brien)
Verizon Wireless Sues "Velveteen Rabbit" Telemarketers
By 2.26.09
Hooray for Verizon Wireless! Wait, what? The cellular carrier has just filed a lawsuit against Feature Films For Families for illegally telemarketing. Specifically, they’re accusing the company of using an auto-dialer to cold call hundreds of thousands of Verizon Wireless customers earlier this month, which is illegal according to NJ state laws (where the suit was filed) and the Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
By 2.26.09
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One final Tropicana thing: this video clip from 5 weeks ago shows Peter Arnell explaining the thought process behind the Tropicana redesign. It’s a peek behind the curtains at how much thought goes into packaging, and how it’s designed to communicate to you subconsciously. [AdAge] (Thanks to wanda!)
Tropicana's Failed Packaging Design Was A Real Life Poochie
By 2.26.09
The Tropicana redesign disaster seemed strangely familiar to us, and we just now realized why: the Simpsons already did it.
Oklahoma Legislature Has Cocaine (The Drink) Party, Stays Up All Night Debating Ban, Grinding Teeth
By 2.25.09
Should an energy drink be allowed to brand itself with the name of an outlawed drug? A state lawmaker in Oklahoma says no, especially not when kids can buy it, and he’s trying to get the drink pulled off of shelves in the state.
