Author: Drew Neisser

Call me a simpleton but I believe laughter can save the world. Give me some time and I can dig up scientific studies that show that laughter can help you live longer. Laughter is a universal language. It breaks the tension, the tedium, even the tears of sorrow. It sounds morbid but I have enjoyed some of my most life-affirming laughs at a funeral when a particular recollection brought back joyful memories of a deceased loved one. So it should be no surprise that Marketing for Good encourages marketers to make people laugh. But is it alright for marketers to make some people laugh at something others take extremely seriously?

VW and GM decided recently that it wasn’t okay after coming under fire for their ads that contained contemplations of suicide. These withdrawals made headlines including last Friday’s USA Today. Never one to shy away from an issue, I offered some thoughts to USA Today and they ran as follows:

Yet, when marketers back down, it creates a “very dangerous” environment for the ad industry, says Drew Neisser, CEO of the Renegade Marketing Group. “The recent withdrawals will embolden every interest group to push their agenda and complain about any ad that doesn’t jibe with their mission,” he says. “To create ads that offend no one is a fruitless endeavor,” Neisser says. “To cut through, there must be an element of surprise … that someone, somewhere, might not like.”

As I’ve noted before in this blog, everything is funny unless it happens to you. Sure enough, I got an email from a person who saw my comments in USA Today expressing her concerns over the insensitivity of my comments:

As a marketing professional and someone who has lost a loved one to suicide, I just wanted to express my concerns over your statement in the recent USA Today article on the ads that VW and GM pulled because of their depiction of suicidal acts. One of the most painful and disappointing aspects of our society is that suicide is used as a form of humor. It is atrocious that ad agencies develop and their clients then buy concepts that portray suicide as a way to create a shock factor or humor in their ads. I agree with you that every interest group out there should not have a say in what does and does not make it into advertising, however I do not believe that these particular groups can be seen purely as “interest groups” per se. If a commercial depicted someone dying of cancer or in a car crash to sell products or get a rise out of consumers, there would be public outrage. Suicide is a just as relevant and serious a public health issue as any other disease or cause of death, and I hope that people in the advertising and entertainment industries will eventually recognize it as such. That is the only agenda pushing that the two organizations were doing, and I applaud them…I wish you would too.

I wrote back to this individual and included the following thoughts:

Thank you very much for your note. I understand your point-of-view and can assure you that we have no plans to produce any commercials that go anywhere near the subject of suicide. That said, I have no doubt that we will produce some ads that someone somewhere will complain about it and as a marketer I want to be able to have that right. For example, we could work on a campaign promoting condoms which the entire Catholic church could find morally offensive. Suicide is an important and personal issue to you. Condom usage may seem like a ridiculous parallel and perhaps it is. The point is that I wasn’t really talking about suicide depiction specifically–I was simply advocating free speech and the right to face the consequences of alienating one perspective or another.

On a side note, I can’t help but wonder why suicide is used to so often as a form of humor in our society. There must be a reason because it has been going on for a really long time. Kids do it an early age like dragging a finger across their neck when they get a hard test. I overhear my kids saying things like “if she says that one more time, I’m going to kill myself” all the time. Perhaps it is this prevalence that inspires advertisers to think it is okay to talk about it.

So, Marketing for Good struggles forward, aspiring to make life better for some without making it worse for others. Clearly, this is going to be a lot tougher than I thought.

Perhaps this blog has gone to the dogs but I figured I’d end the week with a fluffy overview of Meetup.com. If you have never been to this site, I’d highly recommend that you stop reading this, click on over there and check it out. The premise is wonderfully simple. Affinity groups of any kind can Meet Up online and then Meet Up in real life. For example, I own a French bulldog and recently joined the NYC French bulldog group which has an astounding 360 members, each probably as dopey about their Frenchie as we are. They have hosted 42 events so far and undoubtedly one of the next ones will be like the call of the wild for us.

What’s interesting to me about this idea is that it uses state-of-the-art technology to let people do what they have been doing since people started walking upright — getting together and bonding over common interests. Meetup creates new communities, new tribes if you will, just when the world probably needed it most. Meetup breaks down the walls, the hedges, and the gates, letting people congregate with a simple excuse like, “Hey I like Frenchies, you like Frenchies, let’s compare notes.”
For marketers, the opportunity to engage these affinity groups is wide open. Meetup has over 2 million registered users spread across over 21,000 different Meetup groups. A smart marketer will find a way to support the groups that are relevant to his/her product/service in a meaningful and non-intrusive manner. I can’t give you specifics yet but I can tell you that I’d love to get a Renegade client involved with Meetup. Stay tuned…

A friend calls my wife and says “you have to visit the Westminster dog show website and watch the best of breed competition (for french bulldogs).” Like the dutiful dog dopes we are, we did, loving every minute of it, despite our shouts, “Oh, he is no way near as cute as our dog!” Before we could watch the video, there was an ad for Pedigree dog food that encourages pet adoption, and shows lots of cute dogs in shelters (see yesterday’s post on 9Lives similar effort supporting adoptions).  Unlike the ads I typically zap on my DVR, I was not reaching for the fast forward button when the Pedigree spot ran. First, I didn’t realize it was an ad until the end since they just showed dogs in a shelter and discussed the importance of adoption. Second, once Pedigree revealed itself, I was not unhappy since I quickly realized someone had to pay for the cost of producing the show dog video we were about to watch.There are several Marketing for Good elements at work here. First, if you develop strong content for target groups with strong affinities (like dog lovers), they will spread the word for you quickly and efficiently. Second, in order to engage consumers, you need to provide a fair exchange of value. In this case, the exchange was watching a commercial before watching an entertaining video. Thirdly, never understatement the dopiness of dog lovers. To further illustrate this point, tomorrow I will talk about MeetUp.com and what they are doing to bring dog lovers and other affinity groups together virtually and physically.

Figured it might be time to lighten up so this post is about a recent promotion from 9 Lives Catfood. This classic Marketing for Good effort includes a celebrity spokesperson, American Idol judge Randy Jackson, a 34 market vehicle tour and a strong good-will component focused on encouraging cat adoption. Here’s what they said about it on Promo Magazine yesterday:

9Lives is revving up for the second leg of its national tour that has prompted 100,000 cat adoptions in its first five months. The tour, called Morris’ Million Cat Rescue, resumes this week after a holiday hiatus. Morris and the tour crew will visit another 23 cities through spring after touring 11 cities last fall.

The 36-foot tour bus houses an adoption center, showcasing cats from local shelters near each tour stop. A “Cat’s-Eye View” display lets passers by watch the cats play; a quiet room inside the bus lets potential pet owners interact with a cat they’re considering adopting.

Since this tour has been on for a while, I thought I’d check a few pet fan blogs for their reaction. Steve Dale, wrote a long entry about this program on his blog noting that 9Lives will donate one dollar per purchase to an animal charity. Steve seemed to be particular interested in Randy Jackson’s involvement quoting Randy: “Man, adopting one million cats. It can be done. It has to be. I mean it blew me away when I learned three of every four cats that enters a shelter doesn’t make it out alive.” The Petwork blog also praised the 9 Lives program noting, “Everyone on the 9Lives Morris’ Million Cat Rescue tour team has a passion for saving cats, and for sharing their experiences.”

This program is good for 9 Lives on a number levels generating national & local PR coverage, gaining strong grass roots support from cat adoption activists like the ASPCA and praise from animal lovers in the bloggosphere, while giving consumers a relevant means to experience the brand and their “spokescats” Morris and Little Mo! The program extends their long time national advertising campaign and is also linked directly to sales via the donation with purchase component. In fact, it is a purrfect example of Marketing for Good.

Two interesting ways to support non-profits came across my desk recently. The first is GoodSearch
which donates dollars to the charity of your choice every time you use it to search. Here’s the copy from their viral email:

I’m now using GoodSearch.com to search the Internet. Every time I do, money goes to my favorite charity or school. I hope you’ll give it a try and support the cause that you care most about.

The site is powered by Yahoo!, so you’ll get the same quality search results that you’re used to. What’s unique is that they have developed a way to direct money to your charity or school with every click.

The more people who use this site, the more money will go to those in need. So please spread the word to your friends and family.

Unless you have a problem with using Yahoo! for search instead of Google, this seems like a no brainer. Why wouldn’t you use this search engine and help your favorite charity at the same time?

The second idea was reported on in great detail on fellow Renegade Charles Gallant’s blog:

Facebook just announced “gifts,” which are little pictures that you can post on someone’s profile. The pictures are small icons designed by Susan Kare, who designed some of Apple’s original set of icons in the early 80’s. Each one costs a dollar to give, and the net proceeds go to breast cancer research.

Simple, smart idea. Makes a lot of sense. If you’re going to post pictures, why not add one of these icons? It’s like having a virtual “live strong” band or a pink ribbon on your site that just keeps on giving. Marketers would be doing good by encouraging their employees, customers and suppliers to use one or both of these new viral giving techniques.

A fellow Renegade sent me the link to Harley-Davidson’s new microsite called Live By It. Starting with video anthem that expresses what it means to live a Harley life, the site (livingbyit.com) offers riders the opportunity to “share their creed” with other members of the community. You can also learn more about the stories of some riders that participated in a movie they put together. This website presents a clear “love us or leave us” POV about Harley riders and their dream lifestyle. It is not for everyone but it is easy to imagine Harley lovers eating it up. It is not politically correct but it is correct for the target.

Several bloggers have written about this site already. Jeff Henshaw takes a more cynical POV noting:

Individualism or Ultra-Conformity?
There are times when some companies begin drinking so much of their own Kool-Aid that they make a mockery of themselves. It’s time to contemplate whether Harley Davidson has hit that point, is about to reach it, or went past it years ago.

Another blogger who is also a Harley owner really liked the website noting:

Rather than talking and p;using messages to consumers the video really does a great job at pulling people in… What a great way to Listen. Empower Cusomters and make them further engaged to drive positive WOM and make your brand remarkable no?

Bottom line–Marketing for Good is about engaging your specific target in a meaningful way without necessarily worrying about what other people think. Brands need to have a point-of-view, and for my money, the sharper the better. Now if I could only convince my wife to let me buy a hog!

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