Lessons Learned from Pfizer: Choose A Spokesperson Carefully

Having a spokesperson for your business is only a good idea if the spokesperson truly represents your message. Using a celebrity either of the hollywood or ground-breaking kind can really give your product or service a boost. But when the chosen spokesperson is scrutinized for not being all that your company purports, your company receives unintended negative attention.

That is what happened to Pfizer recently when its commercials featuring Robert Jarvik were scrutized for offering "misimpressions." You might remember Jarvik as the pioneer behind the artificial heart. In Pfizer commericals for Lipitor, Jarvik refers to himself as a physician. It is that reference that is under scrutiny.

You see Jarvik is not a practicing physician - anywhere at this time. I have seen the television commericals featuring Jarvik (prior to the scrutiny) and I wondered whether he was still a practicing physician myself. You see I remember all of the hubbub over the artificial heart and I know for a fact that I was just a little girl. It was at least 28 years ago. So when I saw the commerical for the first time, I said to myself "is this guy really still a doctor?" Obviously, that same thought came to the minds of the Federal Drug Administration officials - hence the removal of the ad campaign.

So Pfizer has now pulled all of the ads featuring Jarvik. But I wonder who were the marketing and advertising executives that thought it was okay to have a non-practicing physician reference being a doctor or physcian in an advertisement? Had someone on the advertising team (external or internal) raised their hand and asked "Can we have Jarvik reference being a physician even though he is currently not?" I would not be writing about this topic. But alas, I am because someone on Pfizer's team failed to do their due diligence on the matter. Just think, if he had only referenced his experience in the medical field rather than calling himself a physician these ads would have been fine and still effective. Who would lik

The lesson here is to choose your celebrity carefully and conduct due diligence. Yes, it might be nice to have a local celebrity represent your car dealership in ads and commercials, but it will do your business no good if that same celebrity has a record of DUI's and perhaps one of them driving one of your cars.

Do your business and yourself a favor: when selecting a company spokesman make sure you ask the right questions of your spokesman and your marketing team. Avoid embarrassing moments like having to pull all of your advertising (which wastes money) and having to apologize to your customers.

Super Bowl Ads: The Smart, the Bold and the Funny

It was no doubt a great football game. The New York Giants gave it their all to beat the once thought unbeatable New England Patriots. But admidst all the excitement was the high price legendary Super Bowl advertising blitz. Some big brands spent their advertising dollars wiser than others, but there were some clear stand out favorites. But I must mention that those who did spend the millions to run their ad during the super bowl invested well since the ads will get even more exposure from myspace.com where the ads can live on in infamy - at least for a little. This is due to FOX (which ran the game) and Myspace both being owned by News Corp. which is clever in leveraging its popular social networking site.

A few years ago, a little internet technology company named Godaddy.com spent major bucks on its first television ad that ran during the Super Bowl. (Those who are fans might remember an attractive woman in a court scene in a skimpy outfit that few have forgotten.) It was a very sexy commercial which had everyone buzzing and talking about Godaddy. This year, instead of giving one of their sexy ads direct to Super Bowl viewers, they chose to use the ad to tease the sexy ad now appearing on the godaddy.com website. This ad was smart because there is no better way for an internet-based company to get consumers to its site than to have a sexy video running on www.GoDaddy.com that will no doubt become viral. Plus, they will more than likely convert many of the gawkers into paid clients. A smart move indeed.

Bridgestone over the last years has been marred by a tire scandal and definitely needs a fresh start with consumers. Two Bridgrstone commercials ran during the game that were quite humorous. One featured furry animals screaming in fright as a car with Bridestone tires came barreling toward them (no animals appeared to be harmed.) Another featured metal legend Alice Cooper and exercise guru Richard Simmons who escaped being run down by a car with Bridgestone tires. These were fun and light-hearted ads that appealed to animal lovers and Richard Simmons haters.

My favorite commercial was the Diet Pepsi Max (energy beverage) commercial featuring the song "What is love?" by 90's one hit wonder, Haddaway. You might recall a skit from Saturday Night Live (SNL) by Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan dressed in shiny suits going club hopping and incessantly bopping their head to the Haddaway tune. Well, the Pepsi Max commercial played on the head bop by showing actors and well-know celebrites needing a little boost of energy to get their heads bopping. Some of celebs featured included: Troy Aikman, Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott and LL Cool J. After getting fueled with the beverage, everyone was shown bopping their heads to the tune just like the famous SNL skit. Chris Kattan made a cameo at the end yelling "stop it" - seeming annoyed that everyone was STILL doing his old routine. This commercial used an infamous tv skit to get its point across. Brilliant!

Audi used a memorable scene from The Godfather to introduce its new luxury muscle car the "R8". The commercial took The Godfather scene in which a movie executive wakes up screaming in horror to find that his sheets are wet with the blood of his thoroughbred horse's head that was lying at the foot of his bed. In the commercial, the actor wakes up to find oil all over his beautiful sheets and the front end of his luxury car (could it have been a Mercedes?) at the foot of his bed. The commercial ends with the R8 racing of the man's estate. I loved this commercial because it used the same intimidation The Godfather's Corleone family did to "send a message" to its foes. Of course, those who have never seen The Godfather were oblivious to this, but those few should check the movie out.

Fox was the biggest winner. The network intertwined its Super Bowl coverage with branding from its new show Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The NFL on FOX has a big football player robot that jumps around during interstitials. During the game, the NFL robot still jumped around, but had a few encounters with the Terminator robot. They battled for three interstitials with the last one ending with the Terminator robot being approached by two other NFL robots. The use of these built-in interstitials to promote network programming was extremely clever and done quite effectively. Although, I do not watch the Terminator program (and I have no intention on watching it) I appreciated the co-branding and thought behind the promotion.

Target Advertising – Niche Audiences Result in Brand Loyalty

Do you have a product or service that only appeals to a certain audience? Niche audiences can bring a stream of sales to your business – regularly. It used to be that if you had a product or service that didn’t appeal to the masses that your business would fail. Now with social networking, niche audiences can build brand loyalty and the best part about it is that your niche audience can be your foot soldiers!

Here is a really great example of taking advantage of a captive audience within a specific niche. I recently read in a media relations newsletter that a magazine that ceased publication nearly four years ago is coming back. The magazine is called, “Victoria.” It isn’t a fashion magazine or a gossip magazine, it is an elegant publication about living a simple yet elegant lifestyle. And it has rabid fans.

Since it ceased publication, fans of the magazine have been getting together virtually in online forums, sharing their love for the magazine and the information similar to what was in the magazine. The magazine’s publishers, Hoffman Publications, noticed that these rabid fans would be a perfect and CAPTIVE audience. “Victoria” will be back as a subscriber publication in 2008. Besides finding out that the fans were extremely loyal, publishers also learned that readers HATED the redesign of the publication months before it stopped publishing. The revitalized “Victoria” will be the pre-redesign version.

Another example of this is that CBS cancelled a program called, “Jericho.” Fans were so outraged they conducted a very organized campaign directed toward to the programming department at CBS. They went as far as sending large amounts of items that represented a theme from the show to CBS headquarters. End result? This program is coming back for another season for its rabid fans in January 2008.

Lesson learned? Even if your product or service has a smaller reach than desired, if you have clients or customers loyal to your brand, they will do some of the marketing for you. Social networking is a powerful tool for brand loyalty. If you have a website, think about posting a message board that your customers can use to talk about your product or service. If you are concerned about the material that will be posted, be sure to have moderating capabilities. Send your loyal customers information about your products or services using services such as Constant Contact.

There is something to be said about targeting a niche audience for brand loyalty. Take a good look at who your audience is and figure out how to best appease them so they go to market on your behalf.