Several months ago, there were people left in the United States that felt the economic downturn was a fluke. Certainly there were people in the state of North Dakota that felt we were unaffected by it. More recently, however, it has become apparent that even the Podunk towns of North Dakota are feeling the crunch.
Everyone knows that when times get tough, every family cuts things from their budget. They trade in nice dinners out for quick dinners that come in a paper sack. New jeans come from Gordmans or Kohls, rather than The Buckle or Gap. People change hair salons, mechanic shops, even doctors in some extreme cases. These are all changes that seem normal and expected when the economy takes a turn for the worse.
A change that isn’t “normal” and certainly was not expected has to do with where people buy their toiletries: those things like paper towels, toilet paper, soap and shampoo, and pet food; and their groceries. During the last quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, Target stores across the nation have seen a marked decline in patronage, while Wal-Mart stores are reveling in 4% increases.
Why, do you ask? It’s because Wal-Mart has long marketed themselves as a discount store, a store where everything costs less. Their newest advertising campaigns are no different.
We’ve all seen the commercials where the lady saves over $700 a year by purchasing her weekly groceries (milk, eggs, cheese, potato chips, etc.) at Wal-Mart. How enticing is an ad like that to a family that is barely scraping by?
Or what about the ads where the parent is able to prepare their child for school by getting them a quality laptop and “cool” clothes at prices that don’t break the family bank? We all know how important it is as a teenager to feel that you belong.
For my home, I do the majority of my shopping at Wal-Mart and have realized significant savings over the last year or so.
I think Wal-Mart has done some great ads over the years. If you ever want to know what issue was considered a hot topic in a particular year, check out what type of ads Wal-Mart was running. Their advertising team has always been responsive to what the country is talking about. They have run the gamut from going green to saving the average family thousands each year. Even though they are a huge corporation, Wal-Mart does well appealing to people from all walks of life.
Because last week was the week we were supposed to discuss advertisements, I want to clarify that Wal-Mart is not only successful because of their advertising campaigns. They are successful because they are a well-rounded company that cares. In 2006, Wal-Mart was named the largest corporate donor of cash, giving over $272 million to charities across the globe. They hold annual fundraisers to raise money for school supplies for children in need. They have even co-oped with the Children's Miracle Network. How can any good American not love a store that does all this and still saves us money?!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Bad, The Good, & Nothing In-Between
Three long days ago, I sat down and read Shannon’s blog assignment. Immediately, an example of an ineffective, irritating ad came to mind. Now, after the last few days, I also have an extremely effective ad that I wish to address.
First, the ineffective ad…
Over the last month or so, I have started looking on Geico as an ineffective advertiser. In the spirit of full disclosure, I will say that I am a Geico customer because they offered me the lowest rate eight long years ago when I got my license. By no stretch of the imagination, however, am I a supporter of their current advertising campaign.
People tend to equate the quality of a company’s ads with the quality of the product they sell or the services they provide. I’m sure many of us have seen good quality advertisements and now associate that company with quality, even if we’ve never been there. The same is true with poor advertisements; the consumer sees a poor quality commercial and assumes that the company is poorly managed.
When you see a stack of money with a pair of googly eyes on the top of it, what does that say to you? To me, it smacks of cheapness. Even though I tell myself that Geico is a fine company, I still cringe whenever I hear their new jingle come on the TV.
This is certainly something to keep in mind if any of us choose to become advertising executives for companies both large and small. It is important to make sure that your ad portrays the message you want portrayed about your company.
Next, the effective ad…
Even though this isn’t a true advertisement, it has certainly played the part well. All of you know about the flood we’re fighting here in the Red River Valley. With the ever-increasing river crest, the need for volunteer sandbaggers has increased exponentially. For the last four nights, I have been out volunteering, and the sheer number of people there with me is just amazing.
The metro area sent out a call via every radio and television station in the area, and the public responded to this very real cry for help. To me, this is a perfect example of what makes an advertisement effective: the human connection. People are more apt to remember a product, service, or plea for help if they are able to make that connection.
We are all out there volunteering because we have seen the destruction that Mother Nature can bring, and we all want to do anything and everything we can to alleviate this batch.
Before I stop for this week, I just want to send out my own plea for help. If you haven’t gone out and volunteered yet, do so soon! Everyone’s help is so crucial in our area’s time of need. For those of you that have volunteered or have plans to do so, thank you so much!!
First, the ineffective ad…
Over the last month or so, I have started looking on Geico as an ineffective advertiser. In the spirit of full disclosure, I will say that I am a Geico customer because they offered me the lowest rate eight long years ago when I got my license. By no stretch of the imagination, however, am I a supporter of their current advertising campaign.
People tend to equate the quality of a company’s ads with the quality of the product they sell or the services they provide. I’m sure many of us have seen good quality advertisements and now associate that company with quality, even if we’ve never been there. The same is true with poor advertisements; the consumer sees a poor quality commercial and assumes that the company is poorly managed.
When you see a stack of money with a pair of googly eyes on the top of it, what does that say to you? To me, it smacks of cheapness. Even though I tell myself that Geico is a fine company, I still cringe whenever I hear their new jingle come on the TV.
This is certainly something to keep in mind if any of us choose to become advertising executives for companies both large and small. It is important to make sure that your ad portrays the message you want portrayed about your company.
Next, the effective ad…
Even though this isn’t a true advertisement, it has certainly played the part well. All of you know about the flood we’re fighting here in the Red River Valley. With the ever-increasing river crest, the need for volunteer sandbaggers has increased exponentially. For the last four nights, I have been out volunteering, and the sheer number of people there with me is just amazing.
The metro area sent out a call via every radio and television station in the area, and the public responded to this very real cry for help. To me, this is a perfect example of what makes an advertisement effective: the human connection. People are more apt to remember a product, service, or plea for help if they are able to make that connection.
We are all out there volunteering because we have seen the destruction that Mother Nature can bring, and we all want to do anything and everything we can to alleviate this batch.
Before I stop for this week, I just want to send out my own plea for help. If you haven’t gone out and volunteered yet, do so soon! Everyone’s help is so crucial in our area’s time of need. For those of you that have volunteered or have plans to do so, thank you so much!!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Increased Premiums, Incentive Trips, New CEO
I know many of you are probably aware of what happened yesterday at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota. Their board voted to replace President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Unhjem. This move came after BCBS made the front page of the Forum last week for sending their employees to the Cayman Islands.
If there has been one thing that has happened locally during this semester that can be considered a PR nightmare, I have to say this one takes the cake. Being associated with BCBS is going to be extremely controversial and difficult over the next few months as they try to recoup the area’s trust and respect.
Before I go any further, I would like to say that I know Mr. Unhjem; I work closely with him on many United Way projects. I cannot imagine him doing anything that would jeopardize the respect and trust that the public holds for BCBS. So, if I seem to be a little irritated that they fired him, please let my above statement speak to that emotion!
This whole thing goes back to 1986, when BCBS sent board members on an all expenses paid retreat to a posh resort. They received flak back then for using policyholders’ money to fund something that could have been held in state.
Now, 23 years later, BCBS is back under the microscope for sending top-performing employees to the Cayman Islands. It has been reported that $250,000 was budgeted for that trip, even though there have been rumblings about the need to increase policyholders’ premiums.
Let’s face it; we all know what a stupid mistake this was. You cannot tell your policyholders that their insurance company is going to come up short at the end of the year so they need to increase their premiums AND then send people on vacation! No matter which way you crunch the numbers, it just doesn’t compute.
The icing on this financial mess is Mr. Unhjem’s salary, a whopping $664,000 a year (coincidently, what Mr. Unhjem made in 2005 is the same amount that BCBS raised during their United Way campaign in 2007-08). In this difficult economy, I am sure this number also played a big part in the board’s decision to let him go. If Executive Vice President Tim Huckle will step up and do the job for the interim, BCBS can save some money.
As I said before, the next few months will be hard going for BCBS. They will be looking for a new President and CEO, working on a campaign to raise premiums, and trying to regain the trust and respect of the area. Sounds like a pretty hefty PR package to deal with by January 2010. Unfortunately for them, they will be doing all this hard work without the hopes of an all expenses paid trip at the end of it all!
If there has been one thing that has happened locally during this semester that can be considered a PR nightmare, I have to say this one takes the cake. Being associated with BCBS is going to be extremely controversial and difficult over the next few months as they try to recoup the area’s trust and respect.
Before I go any further, I would like to say that I know Mr. Unhjem; I work closely with him on many United Way projects. I cannot imagine him doing anything that would jeopardize the respect and trust that the public holds for BCBS. So, if I seem to be a little irritated that they fired him, please let my above statement speak to that emotion!
This whole thing goes back to 1986, when BCBS sent board members on an all expenses paid retreat to a posh resort. They received flak back then for using policyholders’ money to fund something that could have been held in state.
Now, 23 years later, BCBS is back under the microscope for sending top-performing employees to the Cayman Islands. It has been reported that $250,000 was budgeted for that trip, even though there have been rumblings about the need to increase policyholders’ premiums.
Let’s face it; we all know what a stupid mistake this was. You cannot tell your policyholders that their insurance company is going to come up short at the end of the year so they need to increase their premiums AND then send people on vacation! No matter which way you crunch the numbers, it just doesn’t compute.
The icing on this financial mess is Mr. Unhjem’s salary, a whopping $664,000 a year (coincidently, what Mr. Unhjem made in 2005 is the same amount that BCBS raised during their United Way campaign in 2007-08). In this difficult economy, I am sure this number also played a big part in the board’s decision to let him go. If Executive Vice President Tim Huckle will step up and do the job for the interim, BCBS can save some money.
As I said before, the next few months will be hard going for BCBS. They will be looking for a new President and CEO, working on a campaign to raise premiums, and trying to regain the trust and respect of the area. Sounds like a pretty hefty PR package to deal with by January 2010. Unfortunately for them, they will be doing all this hard work without the hopes of an all expenses paid trip at the end of it all!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Can you eat PR on that diet?
My blog topic this week is a testament to how much importance society places on appearances. I open up my internet at home, and MSN is my homepage. One of the biggest boxes on the page is talking about 70 Years of Style Icons. Of course I cannot help myself, and I click on the darn thing…
A whole new world opened up for me with that one click of my mouse button! There were links to articles about dieting, hairstyles, fads and trends, the best and worst sex advice, and many other things that everyone apparently needs to know about.
The one that caught my eye was the article on the 7 Decades of Wacky Dieting Trends. It amazed me that people have been advertising and marketing diet trends for the last 70 years. If that is true, how is it also true that America is at its highest obesity ever? Something just doesn’t compute…
I believe that this phenomenon is all tied up in a tangled PR circle. Celebrities began hiring PR representatives to get their names and faces out to the public. When that happened, the public realized that they wanted to look like Heather Locklear and Faith Hill: tall, skinny, and confident. Dieting companies like Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, and hundreds of others were born.
The PR reps for those companies in turn hire those celebrities to promote their product, thus giving it credibility. People purchase them and try them for a time, only to realize that they will never look like Shania Twain or Brooke Shields. That is where the continued rise of obesity comes in.
But, I have not forgotten about all those new diet or exercise companies that keep popping up on my television night after night. You see, those companies are getting smarter, and are refining the way they promote their product or service.
Nutrisystem is a great example. They know that the people of today are leading much busier lives than prior generations did. Promoting the ease of their product (it’s delivered right to your door, it is real food, there are no meetings to attend) was the smartest PR move they ever could have made. Using Nutrisystem could take longer to achieve results, but people aren’t going to care as long as it is easy to do.
I think PR is important in many industries, but especially in those where there is so much competition. The diet and exercise industry is a prime example of that. Those companies need to be at the top of their game at all times, otherwise they will lose their market share to the company that sells itself the best to busy families.
A whole new world opened up for me with that one click of my mouse button! There were links to articles about dieting, hairstyles, fads and trends, the best and worst sex advice, and many other things that everyone apparently needs to know about.
The one that caught my eye was the article on the 7 Decades of Wacky Dieting Trends. It amazed me that people have been advertising and marketing diet trends for the last 70 years. If that is true, how is it also true that America is at its highest obesity ever? Something just doesn’t compute…
I believe that this phenomenon is all tied up in a tangled PR circle. Celebrities began hiring PR representatives to get their names and faces out to the public. When that happened, the public realized that they wanted to look like Heather Locklear and Faith Hill: tall, skinny, and confident. Dieting companies like Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, and hundreds of others were born.
The PR reps for those companies in turn hire those celebrities to promote their product, thus giving it credibility. People purchase them and try them for a time, only to realize that they will never look like Shania Twain or Brooke Shields. That is where the continued rise of obesity comes in.
But, I have not forgotten about all those new diet or exercise companies that keep popping up on my television night after night. You see, those companies are getting smarter, and are refining the way they promote their product or service.
Nutrisystem is a great example. They know that the people of today are leading much busier lives than prior generations did. Promoting the ease of their product (it’s delivered right to your door, it is real food, there are no meetings to attend) was the smartest PR move they ever could have made. Using Nutrisystem could take longer to achieve results, but people aren’t going to care as long as it is easy to do.
I think PR is important in many industries, but especially in those where there is so much competition. The diet and exercise industry is a prime example of that. Those companies need to be at the top of their game at all times, otherwise they will lose their market share to the company that sells itself the best to busy families.
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