As we begin to welcome the warm, sunny spring weather we’ve been so patiently waiting for, we thought we’d share another edition of our “famous” QUOTES!

So sit back, relax and enjoy a good laugh at our expense.

-I found an earring. It either belongs to one of you guys or Captain Jack Sparrow.

-Those boobs are on overdrive.

-Let me just tell you. It’s hard to catch a chicken!

-You’ll be the tannest Marie Antoinette ever.

-You can’t expect creativity to happen if I have to be serious.

-Everyone eats chicken, unless you’re a vegetarian or a vegan and then you don’t count as a person.

-There’s not enough time in life to use full words.

-When people laugh at me because I’m dumb, I feel so good about myself.

-I just pour it on the thing and rub it on? (That’s what she said)

-Keep going it’ll come (That’s what she said).

If you lived in Argentina and spoke the local tongue, you would order a Pepsi by requesting a Pecsi.  Phonetically, this pronunciation is easier for Argentineans.  In 2009, Pepsi acknowledged this little quirk and gave BBDO Argentina the green light to give a friendly nod to the locals and rebrand Pepsi as Pecsi –a significant move to localize an international brand.

Pecsi Case from BBDO argentina on Vimeo.

National Advertisers have always recognized the importance of advertising on a local level, just not always as successfully as Pepsi. Or, Pecsi for those readers in Argentina. For the majority of national Advertisers the successful implementation of local advertising has been hindered by their misunderstanding about the best tactics and traffic sources to use, and how to effectively measure the results and return on investment (ROI). This confusion exists because they don’t live and work in every community they are targeting.  But you do.

As a local business, you have the upper hand. You are not only a marketer to a locale; you are a local yourself. The idiosyncrasies and particulars of your target area are part of your everyday life.  Benefiting from this advantage isn’t as easy as just being present, though.  You must recognize the shift in consumer control and engage your evangelists—your most loyal customers and fellow citizens.  The good news is you don’t have to spend huge marketing dollars to make your brand relevant to the local community, like Pecsi.

Thankfully the current technology environment has driven media consumption on the go – making it easy for local brands to reach and engage their audiences. The emergence and mass acceptance of new devices from laptops to tablets to smart phones has created an intuitive engaged user experience.  According to the latest Mobile Audience Insights Report from JiWire, when local content is added to creative, users engage 100-120 percent more than they do with the same ad without the local content.  There are more cost effective, measurable ways to stretch your marketing dollars farther than there have ever been before.

If you don’t know where to start, that’s okay – we do.

Planning today is so much more complex and important than years ago. Back in the day, planners had to answer such simple questions such as where to place ads and how many times it would run a week. Every time I see the media gal make an appearance in AMC’s Mad Men, I just laugh. It was a new concept then, but far from difficult.

Today’s planners must be much sharper and have a greater knowledge of marketing and brand development. The cause of this is the evolution of a single ad campaign to a full marketing concept. Now every media plan will be measured based on how effectively it helps to attain marketing objectives. Another cause of change is the availability of more definitive audience research techniques. Add to this evolution, the boom of the Internet and the ability for the consumer to find, buy and be exposed to thousands of marketing messages a day and you now have a need for a top notch media planner.

Today’s advertisers expect more rationale and a science to the spending of their media dollars. The new planner must possess the marketing, research and creative knowledge to provide this rationale.

There once was a time when running a laundry detergent ad during the weekday when housewives were glued to the tv watching their stories was genius. Those days are long gone and your media planner needs to step it up.

The spot itself doesn’t tout itself as revolutionary – rather it is a somber acknowledgment of what happened and how to move forward. However, for those of us in advertising, this ad is the first time we have ever seen a sponsor launch an ad in support of a celebrity in the throes of controversy. The new Nike ad, launched this week, is below:

So everyone here at the agency had an impromptu discussion about the spot yesterday morning. Several different reactions and issues surfaced.

Earl Woods Voice

It’s an artful use of Tiger’s father’s voice, and eerily appropriate for the current situation. Also, the use of Earl’s voice could help prevent backlash because (1) the ad itself is already criticizing Tiger somewhat and (2) nobody wants to criticize the voice of someone that has recently passed. On the other hand, some might think it’s not in good taste. His father passed away several years ago and no one can say for sure what Earl Woods’ reaction would’ve been to Tiger’s behavior. Also, Earl was apparently unfaithful himself, which makes the spot ironic and deflates it’s meaning if such allegations are true.

The original quote wasn’t referring to Tiger

The original sound byte from Earl Woods was actually referring to himself, in the context of comparison with his ex-wife. Some of us felt that this was misleading to the viewer, who could assume that the quote was originally about Tiger. Others here felt that it was irrelevant what the original quote was for, and what is important is the meaning ascribed in this new context.

The Spot Exists in the First Place

Putting aside all discussion of the contents of the spot, the fact that Nike created it and put it out there is simply revolutionary. It’s the status quo for companies to distance themselves from celebrity and athlete spokespeople when they make a blunder like Tiger did. Nike was one of the only sponsors who didn’t drop Woods. That in and of itself was surprising, but to come out with a spot created to help relaunch their spokesperson into the world of golf and rebuild his reputation is entirely new ground. Think about it, no one has ever done anything like this on this level. Nike is taking an honest and powerful stand in support of Tiger Woods, a risk on some level, but ground breaking on another. You could make the argument that Nike was taking heat by sticking with Tiger Woods while the rest of his sponsors dropped him, so they made the spot to show that they don’t condone his behavior but still support him as an athlete. Regardless of the motivation, the spot coming from one of the world’s largest advertisers in direct support of an athlete and his personal situation is part of advertising history.

Miscellaneous Consequenses

This blog is getting long, so we will wrap it up. But we did want to mention that this ad spawned both good and bad consequences: the ad has become a huge talking point for media, and has also become very popular online. This ad will probably see twice the media impressions that Nike actually paid for. That said, there have also been negative parodies, some of which we think are poignantly amusing.

If you haven’t heard, Toyota has recently been hard at work cleaning up the mess of its 2.3 million vehicle recall. While it is potentially devastating for Toyota, whose entire brand image has been based on vehicle reliability, it led for some pretty opportunistic moments for others in the auto industry.

Hardly anyone took advantage, but GM stepped up to the plate with an awesome incentive program that helped capture what would otherwise be some pretty loyal Toyota consumers. The best part about GM’s plan is that they didn’t alter their positioning at all. They haven’t made any new promises or changed their advertising. They simply allow Toyota owners (who terminate their Toyota lease, of course) to get up to $1,000 off a new or leased GM vehicle: a pretty good incentive for making the switch. Toyota’s fumble couldn’t have come at a better time for a company like GM; it has allowed them to really push their own promises of reliability and quality to a very tuned in audience with a specific set of needs. So whether or not Toyota is handling their recall the right way is almost beside the point; GM has stepped in at exactly the right time to take advantage of their competitor’s weakness.

As far as any business goes, it is important for your company to be able to handle problems and crises with foresight and grace, but it is just as important to know what is going on beyond your company. Keeping tabs on your industry and your competitors can bring advantageous opportunities to really reach your audience.