the world according to schmogel.

I am singling out one company here, but consider it a universal question…

In my past life, one of the most frustrating things about placing online media was deciding if your brand should be placed on a great property even if they site did something anti-consumer/anti-user experience.

Take bhg.com / lhj.com both great sites. Good content, loyal audience, etc. However, at least 3 times per visit you are bombarded with subscribe now pop-ups or interstitials.  It is akin to the annoying cards that fall out of magazines that 90% of people hate.

Every time I asked why? I was told, it was a business department decision and they perform well “believe it or not”. I asked, at what cost- to no answer.

With articles about listening, social sites, consumer control…

My question to you, and others like you: In the age of social marketing, if users had the ability to easily and immediately comment on your tactics, would you still do it?

For example, on a facebook fan page, would you start every post with subscription requests? change your status 10 times a day with subscription offers? tweet 50 times a day about subscriptions?

The follow-up question would be – who should be able to decide what equals a good user experience and can veto tactics that aren’t?  I vote nay to the guy who reuses the annoying magazine card tactic…  thoughts?

not sure how i feel about this new website… i curiously clicked on a diet coke ad that offered recipes. i was wondering if i would find recipes like a diet coke float, or sauces that used diet coke as an ingredient. that is not what i found…

http://www.dietcoke.com/cooking-entertaining/

i was greeted by tom colicchio awkwardly and painfully introducing his love for great taste and come into the diet coke kitchen and learn more. after a tour of a the virtual kitchen, i am still conflicted. on one hand, diet coke is about a healthier life style and offering tips and recipes are a good thing. on the other hand it is a virtual kitchen for diet pop…

the recipes are gourmet, the site is pretty at the expense of easy navigation… i will think about this one and get back to you on if i like it or not. because my opinion matters. it does.

pretty acurate. and because you can buy everything on a t-shirt… http://kk.org/ct2/2009/08/social-media-venn.php

No, not reganomics… it was the topic of my ad:tech chicago presentation/panel.

The theory is based on watching tactics, campaigns, executions… for many many years … and realizing many trends that brands execute today started in the entertainment category.

it’s true, trust me. Banner ads, video ads, websites… why wouldn’t it hold true in twitter.

adtech_twitter_vogel

Watch what movie studios, entertainment category and celebs are doing now online… it is what your brands will be doing in 6 – 18 months. 6 trends in twitter:

Watching my mom and aunt google themselves… And asking lots of questions. they are kids on christmas- it’s magic.

finally catching up on random pop culture news: bad #wholefoods, #regis is a crazy old man, #kourtney is 30?!? and #IOC = bait and switch

I recently had a realization. I happened to be in the fetal position on my couch, at noon, on a sunday, after a night of being way over-served. I was reprimanding myself. Who the hell did I think I was? Why did i pretend like i was 20?

You know, at 20, when you can start drinking at noon, play 3-man or asshole well into the night, cheersing as you watch the sun rise and wake up at 8am and start the day off with beer pong before you do it all over again… and again… and again.

At this point I started thinking about who else seems to wake up bright-eyed and ready to party after a night of partying, and a trend arose. That trend was divided into two distinct groups.  The Young and, surprisingly, The Older. Yes, The Older.

Think about it. You go to a wedding. Often times, it’s my aunts and uncles and parents of friends who are drinking into the night, doing shots and first one’s at the breakfast buffet.  They are the group that can sit at the end of a bar for hours and the next day go sight-seeing in a packed, no air-conditioning tourist bus…

So, as I laid there cursing anyone that was near me as i kept drinking glass after glass and praying for the hamburger gods to bring me something deliciously greasy… i realized, i have something to look forward to as I get old- i will once again be able to drink like a 20 year old again. cheers to that.

this list will not contain people. i wish i knew the name of the people that came up with the items in this list. i would sign them up for all sorts of spam, mailing lists and wish bad things upon them.

some may find this list ironic coming from me. i work in advertising and by default, i make up words a lot. I have even been known to fall victim to the inadvertant endorsement of fake words when i recycle the nonsense. those are not the words i speak of below. the words i use, i only use on other marketing folks and within the industry. by chosing a career in advertising or marketing you signed up for it. no, no, no… the words i speak of are the unspeakable… when professionals take made-up words and turn them loose on society. making them cool and ultimately part of universally accepted vocabulary.

i do not refer to brand words (twitter, google, bing), nor do i refer to pop culture words, as much as i hate most (as if, for reals, dramats). i refer to words that are used in advertising campaigns to give meaning to a brand. make it something new. making it “ownable” and “break through” and barf, barf, barf.

i say, boo on you, boo.

on to the list.

1. Any’tizers. shame on you, Tyson. Do 12 year old boys really need you to call out the fact that you can have buffalo wings after school or as a snack… and not just as a before meal, meal? [side note: if you can’t make up a word without the use of an apostrophe, don’t]

2. Cranergy. Ocean Spray, you have out done yourself. Not only did you make-up a new word… you actually turned it into a product line… i like you, so it hurts me to say this. i hope this line fails enough that you have to go through the pain and expense of renaming it.

3. Snackrifice. Kraft, i thought you were above this. jingles, logos, recipes, new products… but this? snackrifice. is almost as bad as staycation… almost.