when use of a celebrity in TV ad fails – the new security bank’s TV ad with Megan Young

use of celebrities in ads is a huge trend in the philippines, it has been for decades years now.  almost all the ads you see in TV, print, billboards and hear on radio use a celebrity. use of a celebrity in advertising is the go-to ad concept for most if not all the advertising agencies in the phiippines. we do not know how that happened or if that was instigated by ad agencies in general or clients in general. that is an interesting question but it is for another article in the future.

for now, we are interested in this particular celebrity TV ad by security bank using megan young.

megan young won the Miss World beauty title in 2013. she has brought so much glory to the country for this win
specially when it has been a long time when the country has won a major international beauty contest title.

beautiful women and men have been big choices for philippine advertising agencies specially if they have gained celebrity status. the usual choices are TV and movie stars and big sports heroes like manny pacquiao but beauty queens specially someone like young who has won a major international beauty contest classifies her a celebrity endorser.

security bank is a medium sized bank in the country. it has a good reputation among institutional or business bank clients but not as popular and in fact has very little mass consumer clientele like the top 3 major banks. you would know very few among your friends and relatives who bank with security bank.

security bank is not a big advertiser among the banks. it makes sense that it is not since its clientele, specially among mass consumers is not that much but it has been known to try to get into attract mass consumer clientele from time to time in spurts and in very limited efforts in the past.

this advertising with megan young represents a giant marketing effort for security bank. it has been many, many years since it had released any kind of advertising and in this magnitude. it has been airing heavily in the past weeks.

in marketing this megan young TV campaign represent what is called a brand relaunch where the bank re-positions itself and puts across a “new bank”, a new security bank.

based on the TV ad, security ad wants consumers to “switch to the new security bank, you deserve better“, the tagline of the ad. the “new security bank” offers the following new services : “priority queuing”, “exclusive privileges” and a “relationship manager” with all that intending to give clients better, more efficient, faster and personalized banking services. the ad shows young going into the bank and talks to the camera about her “new relationship” and she breezes through the bank services and gets attended to by a handsome relationship manager who wears a suit, no less.

well, that part of the handsome relationship manager in a suit is for certain an over promise and the roominess and good ambiance of the security bank branch featured in the TV, we do not think there is one single branch of security bank that has that kind of employee and branch design. but let’s pretend that is not an issue in this ad for the moment.

the ad also shows megan young being served coffee by the relationship manager. another over-promise that we should pretend we did not see in the ad and something we should not expect in an actual security bank branch.

the issue we have on this TV ad is much more than the over-promises of what a security bank branch looks like and what happens to customers inside the bank, what we are making a point on is the choice of the talent in the ad, the celebrity endorser and what the promises of what a new security bank is all about.

first a side bar – technically, security bank as a whole has not been changed. it’s not really a “new security bank” but its a just new product that security bank offers to well-off clients. this “new relationship” or the “new security bank” that is being talked about in the ad will be given to a select number of clients – those who have a minimum P100,000 deposit in the bank, not to all clients of the bank. because it is offered only to a select few of its clients, it is just one product in the bank. do not expect to get the kind of servicing in a security bank if you are an ordinary bank client.

this new product of security bank  is being pitched to young bank clients, the yuppies given the use of young who is herself young (pun unintended) and the ad uses references to “relationships that are not complicated” a modern-day reference to social media (facebook) that young adults are familiar with and most likely very few older adults know about.

from there the question comes up on the defined target market of the ad – young yuppies as we would think very few of them can afford to have a remaining balance of  P100,000 in their bank accounts. they can afford to buy an iPhone worth P30,0000+ but hardly will you find people at that age bracket having that large amount of cash in their bank accounts.

now back to megan young.

the point of this “new security bank” but actually the new security bank product is that it promises to give its bank clients “special treatment”, something that clients of other banks and other security bank clients will not or do not get. what it is saying is that bank clients get the regular treatment of having to line up, no privileges and no relationship manager tending to your personal needs (including coffee being served). it is saying many bank clients get the regular treatment, not the special one.

and that is where the choice of megan young as talent in this tv ad shows a disconnect.

megan young IS A VERY POPULAR CELEBRITY. everyone knows her. for being a celebrity and this kind of beauty with an international beauty title, she WILL get special treatment from any bank or in fact any establishment like restaurants, department stores and malls even if she does not do anything, ask for it or have P100,000 with her to open a bank account with. getting special treatment, even the priority ones is part and parcel of the benefits one gets in being a celebrity and being an international beauty titlist.

we are willing to bet that if she enters any branch of any bank, the branch manager will most likely stand up from her desk and attend to her. she is that recognizable and that is what we do for celebrities.

using her in this ad then destroys the whole concept of the “new security bank”. if the bank used a regular person, a non-celebrity in the ad and the ad proceeds to show this regular person gets special treatment in security bank, then the ad works and delivers the message very well.

the point of relationship products like this is that one gets “special treatment” even if you are an ordinary person but has P100,000 minimum deposit. a regular person gets special treatment, that is the idea.

in this ad and with the new security bank product, the choice of a celebrity endorser destroyed the very idea of the new product. it’s a WAWAM!

 

 ~~~ mindscape landmark ~~~
carlo arvisu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ford Focus direct mail effort – impressive spending but unimpressive mailer material that fails

i got a surprising knock at my house from LBC – they delivered an odd sized package to me. quickly, i made a mental audit – am i expecting a package or document from anyone? the quick answer was – none. bells in my mind  rang!  oh, is this a surprise from someone? 

i opened the pack and i found a mailer from Ford on their new car, the Focus. i checked the envelope and yes it was addressed to me and it had my address. i wondered if it was sent to “occupant” or if it was sent to my house by mistake. no such mistake.

i was impressed with the direct mailing effort of Ford!

it was impressive as this was the first direct mail i got through LBC and this was addressed specifically to me. sending direct mail through LBC is a very expensive proposition. LBC cost alone is a killer of advertising budgets.

the other thing that is equally impressive was that it was  specifically for me. i was surprised they got my name and address. coming from marketing and advertising myself, i have for many years not given out my name, address and even cell phone number to almost anyone or any organization that i thought can  turn my personal information into data in a direct mail effort.

the most i do is sign my name when asked by any organization, including the schools of my children, retail outlets, stores or any other organization. when an address is required, all i put is the city name, not the complete address. for telephone or cell phone numbers, i would usually put some random number and very far from my real cell phone number.

this ford focus mailer was very targeted, having the ability to reach potential buyers. a targeted direct mail effort is very difficult for many direct mail agencies to pull off. this means this direct mail agency has a very good data base.

although i was impressed with the direct mail effort, i was not at all impressed with the mailer material they sent out.

front page & letter

the main weakness of the mailer is that it is just a re-layout of their print ads and a restating of the key elements of their TV ad. not saying the mailer should have a different advertising strategy and ad components from the TV and print ad, as  they should have the same but they should have changed the execution and implementation of the elements.

the mailer does not look like a mailer, it looks like a print ad but printed in glossy paper and folded. except for the letter that came with it, the mailer had nothing in it from a design and content standpoint that will get the recipient to take action or even just enjoy the mailer.

aside from coming up with a new design appropriate for a mailer, it should have some elements that exploit the mailer format medium. it could have been more interactive or leading where the recipient will want to read, interact with or manipulate  the mailer because it is interesting or creative.

the Focus has a few features that are unique in the market and potentially very attractive to potential car buyers. while these were mentioned in the mailer, it was not exploited in a way that is creative and compelling.

the mailer as an advertising medium is self contained and has the target audience practically as captive, designing the mailer to exploit the great features of the car and the characteristics of the medium would have served Ford very well.

inside pages

another key weakness of this mailer is that it does not include some kind of an incentive for the recipient to take action – for the recipient to go to the Ford showroom and look at the car or as the letter suggests to test drive the car.

the end objective of this mailer is not just to generate awareness on the features of the car, it is to get the target audience to go to the showroom to look and test drive the car. the weak design of the mailer fails in achieving this key objective.

the mailer may succeed in informing the target audience of the features of the car but it may be failing in getting them to take action.

lacking this incentive and the weakness of the design and concept makes this mailer a WAWAM! What A Waste Of Advertising Money!

———-

we will be going to a Ford showroom to complete the experience and effort of this mailer. will post a write-up here.

 

~~~ mindscape landmark ~~~
carrlo arvisu

 

wawamTECH: how bad is globe service? smart launches a national ad campaign to exploit it

competitive advertising  is one of the most effective advertising concept and format. competitive advertising takes many forms, one is calling out the weakness of your competitor to set up your brand as the superior brand to the inferiority of your competitor. it is one of the most effective as consumers will always go for the superior brand.

not only that, users of your competitive brand, the inferior brand will be encouraged to switch to your brand. that is the main reason why smart telco has launched a new advertising campaign.

globe, it’s only other competitor has been experiencing network problems for many months now.

click to read here : wawamTECH: globe handyphone service failing for months now, collapses metro manila wide on the weekend

globe service has been very unreliable with frequent downtime, inconsistent signal strength, fluctuating signal strength from zero to 2 bars, 30 minute to several hours of receiving and sending text and inability of subscribers to make calls. this has been happening to globe for several months now. this happens area to area but the other weekend the globe system apparently failed metro manila wide.

smart very smartly exploited the inferiority of service that globe has been showing by launching an national ad campaign calling out globe’s network failures. the advertising objective is to get globe subscribers to switch to smart and to prevent new subscribers from going to globe.

this move of smart is very unusual from an advertising strategy standpoint. ads like what smart ran are usually aired by new brands just launching into the market, not by a brand that has been in the market for almost as long as globe is. newly introduced brands use this type of advertising to get loyal consumers of competitive brands already in the market to switch to the new entrant.

globe has been having network problems as a result of a mismanagement of their switch over to a new hardware and system from chinese supplier Huawei which was supposed to upgrade their service – faster service and bigger handling capacity. the change over is so bad that it is wrecking havoc to globe service. (read link, above)

smart obviously knew this as you don’t normally run ad campaigns that feature competitive weaknesses that can easily be solved and quickly. doing that will waste advertising money. smart must have known that the network problems of globe will be going on for a long time that they can actually air an ad campaign on it. smart’s competitive ad campaign has bite only if globe continues to have an inferior product.

this cellphone service war can very well be named as – how your own upgrade can kill yourself.

~~~mindscape landmark~~~
carlo p arvisu 

marketing & advertising 101 : how to apply hard core mass consumer marketing & advertising to the intangible product “family planning”

we have started a series of articles on our experience on applying hard core mass consumer  marketing & advertising to the intangible product called “family planning”

 this will be a first of a series of articles that will explore how hard core mass consumer marketing and advertising have been successfully applied to a near intangible product called “family planning”. the product “family planning” is actually a mindset and a practice and something you cannot buy like a detergent bar for washing clothes that you can get in a supermarket or sari-sari store (neighborhood store),

while family planning can eventually take the form of real and tangible products like condoms or pills which has real brand names and packages that can be bought in retail and drug stores, what the effort intended to do was to get the target audience to buy in or believe in “family planning” and for the same target audience to decide to use any one of family planning methods available.

source :  http://bit.ly/ycZ5QI

read the full article on the key findings on the first  part of the qualitative research done for family planning here:  http://bit.ly/ApfPVi (why pinoys who are single or married need family planning in their relationship)

read how the focus group discussion was designed within the lines of the kinds of research done for mass consumer products: applying mass consumer marketing & advertising to the intangible “family planning” product (click here:  http://bit.ly/ycZ5QI)

~~mindscape landscape~~

carlo p arvisu

mead johnson milk products for children hit by product recall

a product recall for a milk product for children is an absolute nightmare to happen. safety and quality are two product attributes all mothers expect that a milk product will deliver as most basic. they are a must have.

but the FDA had ordered mead johnson to recall two for their products for not meeting the fat content standard set by the FDA.

what makes the recall bad is that  the statement of the FDA in it’s recall order has the following words in them:

“thus indisputably making the same non-compliant to the standard of inferior quality,” Tacandong said.
—
Continuous distribution of the milk products would present “gross deception” to consumers and may “present risk and injury to young children,” said the FDA order.

the FDA categorically says the recall need to be made to prevent “risk and injury” to young children. we are not sure how a milk product that does not meet fat content standards can “injure” young children, but those are the words being used by the FDA.

read more about this here:

http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/2010/09/mead-johnsons-brand-and-corporate-image.html

the globe handyphone experience – when customer relations hot line service is not hot and a disservice

there was a time not long ago getting some customer service  was very difficult. if something goes wrong with the telephone service you subscribe to, it was not easy to get it resolved. first you might not know what number to call. if you get connected to someone, that might not be the person who can help you. if you talk to somebody, it will take a long time to get it resolved.

a silver bullet called customer relations service was invented. companies have set up these with the thinking it is  best from a  business standpoint  to satisfy an existing customer and prevent that customer from dropping your service or product and move to competition.  studies show that it is much more costly and much more difficult for a company to get new users or customers than keeping an existing one. the thinking is that you do your best to prevent your customers from dropping your service to move to other companies. this is much easier to services like a mobile service  than products like toothpaste or shampoo. service companies have the luxury of talking directly to their customers, making customer retention an easier task.

modern marketing is also a very competitive one. two to three competing companies are fighting for the same customer. when a current customer is already using your product/service, it will be much easier to convince that customer to stay on since he/she already has experience with your product/service. converting a new customer puts you on stage 1 of the product preference cycle not to mention your competitors are most likely also going after the same customer.

pair the idea of customer relations with another emerging trend called the call center makes it even more potent. with call centers, dispensing customer relations will be much more efficient, makes it standard and more importantly very quick. this pair builds more loyal customers.

or at least so goes the theory.

that is the theory part because in practice, in this case with globe handyphone in particular, that might not be true at all and has the effect of the exact opposite.

we have been experiencing globe handyphone’s customer service hotline in the past weeks and this is where we are:

• the first call we made to globe handyphone’s hotline service was on march 20. it has been unresolved as of this writing – now  30 days.
• since march 20, to follow-up, we have made a call to the hotline number at least 14 days out of  the 30 days for an average of 1 call every other day.  since april 1, this was more frequent with calls almost on a daily basis. the average will go much higher if you subtract 4 days from the total because of the holy week period when there  was no work.
• we have accumulated a total of 6 reference numbers on the same topic and complaint
• we have on file the names of at least 16 call center agents and 4 supervisors  (with their corresponding ID numbers),  in total at least 20 who we have talked to on the phone
• we have talked to 3 supervisors who promised me they will call me back within the day to tell me when someone will call me but he/she never did

obviously, the globe handyphone customer service hot line is a failure in my case.  i have been calling them for the same problem for 30 days now and it continue to be unresolved. some observations:

• i don’t understand why they need to give me a separate reference number every time i call when it is exactly the same topic.  towards the end, i refused to accept a new reference number as having a new one gives it a more recent time stamp and just delays the call back time aside from the fact that it is just confusing.
• every time i called them, they will tell me someone will call me within 3 to 5 working days.
• first, i don’t understand why it will take them 3 to 5 working days. taking a full work  week i think is just too long.  that is extremely slow service specially when it is to resolove a problem. it will take half a day to stop subscription and move to another mobile company.
• saying each time someone will call you in 3 to 5 working days just extends the period. they actually never called back. it has been 12 working days since april 1 and no one has called me back yet. it has been 11 working days since april 2 and no one has called me back either.  the list goes on.
• the call center agents keep asking me for my number where they can call me back. this question kills me and is most irritating.  i am a subscriber to their cell phone service why will they not know how to call me? is my cell phone number not in their record? i have also given them my landline number a long time ago, they did not keep that on file?
• that is the same problem with my email address. one of the agents asked for my email address. i gave it to them but 5 days after, talking to another call center agent, she asks me again for my email address. that means the first person who asked me the info did not file it in their system.
• what is the point of asking a customers for their contact numbers and email address when they don’t bother to save it in their system?
• they also have this habit of asking for the past history of the calls when these are supposed to be recorded in their system.  we would be asked when and with whom we  have talked to during previous calla.
• instead of answering, we asked  them – do you have my file open on your monitor? a few would say yes. most will ask for 30 seconds to open my record on their computer. i don’t understand this – why would they not open my record at  the start of the call?
• then i ask another question –  can you not see the history of my calls on your computer screen? the answer is yes sir, it’s here. so we ask – why are you asking that question when you will know the answer just by looking at your computer screen? no reply. then change topic.

customer relations dispensed through call centers is supposed to make customer servicing much more efficient and quicker. my experience so far with globe handyphone is it is mostly inefficient and very much slow. the whole system simply does not work nor is it giving globe the speed and efficiency they were supposed to get in investing in computer systems and hiring or outsourcing call center services.

neither are their customers happier and more satisfied with their service. if at all this customer is angrier and more disappointed at the kind of service they were giving us. we have been a globe handyphone customer for the past 11 years and never missed paying a single monthly bill. this is my first major call to them that is service related. we have made  no more than 4 calls within that 11 year period. globe is making a lot of money out of my subscription to their service – monthly bills paid on time for 11 years and with only 5 calls made to their call center. we are not a bother to them and we pay them good money.

the systems they have put in place, the customer service and call center facility is meant to make things easier and faster for customers, our experience with them so far is anything but fats and efficient.

the above customer service experience is just on the first level in resolving the issue we have brought to them. apparently there is another department who is in charge of resolving the issue. unfortunately it is this other department that has been very unresponsive.

all the call center agents and supervisors we have talked to have said they have sent urgent requests to have my issue resolved by that other department.  it is also the other department who is supposed to call me about my problem.  it looks like the continuing problems i have been encountering with them is being caused by that other department.

the name of the department — the Loyalty Group or the Customer Relations Management.

we think it is the ultimate irony that the department who has been unresponsive to a customer relations complaint is the one in charge of “loyalty” and “customer relations”.

the experience so far, for the past 30 days is one that does not inspire loyalty to globe handyphone on our side nor do we think their non-action and unresponsiveness is good “customer relations”.  for sure the mission of the department is to “build loyalty” among current customers and  to “ensure good customer relations” among subscribers.

with this performance and the way they have set up their system – what then is the point of putting up a “loyalty group” and a “customer relations group”?

tomorrow will be 31 days of unresolved loyalty and customer relations for us.

Hornitex is a name of a company, what does it sell?

this is not a joke. this is an actual picture of the side of a small delivery van with the name of the company painted on its side. i am sure the company owners know what the company name sounds like.

based on the name, what do you think do they sell? read about it, click  here: “Hornitex” – what does it sell? for adults only?

iphone 3g: AT&T’s success with it and globe’s failure at it

we wrote about globe telecom’s launch of the iphone 3G last year and said their launch plans were wrong. AT&T’s iphone 3G launch in the US was a huge hit while it has done practically nothing for globe in the philippines.

read in full here: http://tinyurl.com/cbud6b

globe did not adapt the pricing strategy of AT&T in the US where they decided to take a hit on profits trading that off for higher unit sales and higher market share. we said then that globe’s pricing strategy may have generated for them high margins but it lost them the opportunity for higher unit sales which could very well have recovered the lower margin per unit they had to take. more importantly, globe lost the opportunity to take market leadership away from smart telecoms.

read all the discussions on globe’s iphone 3G launch here: http://tinyurl.com/d3awn2

Shell Lubricants consumer promo – tHe idiOts proMo that gets you mad and feeling insulted

all consumer promotions, including price offs, are meant to generate increased purchase or trial of a product. it is meant to increase sales. to do that, a consumer promotion must in essence give the consumer an offer he/she cannot refuse. most key to the success of the consumer promotion is the latter. the offer must be attractive, otherwise it’s a waste of valuable marketing budget. if you cannot give an offer the consumer cannot refuse – DO NOT RUN THE CONSUMER PROMOTION. spend your marketing funds elsewhere.

this shell consumer promo does nothing of the above, instead what it does is get you angry and very insulted.

this shell promo is  tHe idiOts proMo!  read about it here: http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/tHe%20idiOts%20proMo

maggi magic sarap and judy ann santos a dream ad – that stays in your dreams

here is a tv ad that’s a dream – judy ann santos appearing in a maggi magic sarap commercial. a dream in that sense that this as is only possible in your dream. where is the credibility and believability in seeing a superstar like judy ann santos going to a a palengke to shop for food, dressed like that and in a palengke that only exist in a production designer’s sketch pad? read about it here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/

view here or click this link to go to YouTube to view : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D082Lxm7k5Q

WAWAM! What A Waste Of Advertising Money! On Philippine advertising and Philippine marketing

the inspiration is mount pinatubo when some years ago, all of a sudden, after decades of being dormant, it decided to erupt, spewing debris and ash several kilometers high, blowing ashes to float everywhere, far and wide, turning the skies gloomy gray as far away as metro manila, hundreds of kilometers away, covering metro manila streets and rooftops with thick ash. the pinatubo eruption was so powerful that its ashes changed the color of sunsets not only in the philippines but also worldwide.

that’s what happens when clients and advertising agencies decide to run ads not worthy to be called advertising. its dark, its huge and very irritating and unfortunately, everywhere!

all they are doing is wawam! – what a waste of advertising money!

who wants a sad face on Jollibee?

logos are very important to a brand, it’s the “face” of the brand  to consumers. we want them to remember how it looks like all the time and we don’t want them confused. also, the face of our brands, the logo, communicates our brand values. they stand for something and that something is the brand equity.

the jollibee logo has two parts – the name and the face of Jollibee. but who put a sad face to jollibee? and who wants a sad face on jollibee? read about it in WAWAM! http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/

philippine advertising and philippine marketing

WAWAM! is all about advertising and marketing with a focus on the philippines. read about it and join the discussion at WAWAM! –>  http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/