Talk Stupid To Me: Marketing Edition

by · February 6, 2015

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49 Responses

  1. greginak says:
    February 6, 2015 at 2:38 pm

    Overlord: no. It is easiest to understand if you assume marketing people are all C – students with great smiles, slick hair and are lack any common sense or talent .Report

    • Saul Degraw in reply to greginak says:
      February 6, 2015 at 2:50 pm

      @greginak

      I was trying not to be snobby for a change. But a friend wrote this on FB today

      ‘The slogan for the new film “Mr. Holmes” is “meet the man behind the myth.”

      This makes no sense unless the film is about Arthur Conan Doyle. Which it isn’t.’

      My response was to note that there is a reason ornery people like us don’t have great careers in marketing and advertising. We would be fired quickly for pointing all this stuff out.Report

    • LeeEsq in reply to greginak says:
      February 6, 2015 at 3:02 pm

      Thats my impression. Marketing attracts people who aren’t really deep and reflective thinkers. It attracts superficial thinkers who love flash and go with their instincts.Report

    • Mo in reply to greginak says:
      February 9, 2015 at 10:31 am

      @greginak I’m not a marketing person (some of my best friends and all that), but a lot of marketing is complex and deep data analysis.Report

  2. Jaybird says:
    February 6, 2015 at 2:56 pm

    I thought that “We Love To See You Smile” was a solid B when it came to ad copy. It had a decent cadence but was a hair clunky but, at the end of the day, it wasn’t too obtrusive, had a decent jingle, and did its job.

    “I’m Lovin’ It” struck me as a C+ at best. Who is the “I” in the statement? Why did they drop the ‘g’? What is the “it”? I SHOULDN’T BE ASKING THESE QUESTIONS!!!

    “Pay With Lovin'” was the obvious next step. It’s confusing, lends itself to weird hypotheticals, and they will encounter more people irritated that they can’t pay with hugging a stranger than pleased that they got a free burger.

    The VP in charge of the ad department will be gone before summer.Report

    • greginak in reply to Jaybird says:
      February 6, 2015 at 3:06 pm

      Not to mention plenty of McD workers will have to put with off color offers from people who really really would love to “pay with lovin”. They really didn’t think through that they just made their counter staff official ad recommended targets for every offer of lovin someone can think of.Report

  3. Kimmi says:
    February 6, 2015 at 3:03 pm

    “I just can’t fathom why anyone thought it would be a good idea to make people perform stunts for their food. Is corporate America really trying to be an overlord?”

    No. That’s corporate JAPAN. Pictures available on the internet, I’m not going to link.Report

  4. Reformed Republican says:
    February 6, 2015 at 5:15 pm

    At least they aren’t retweeting Mein Kampf.
    .Report

    • Chris in reply to Reformed Republican says:
      February 6, 2015 at 7:02 pm

      “The result was that for a couple of hours on Tuesday morning, Coca-Cola’s Twitter feed was broadcasting big chunks of Adolf Hitler’s text, albeit built in the form of a smiling banana or a cat playing a drum kit.”

      The internet is over.Report

      • Mike Schilling in reply to Chris says:
        February 6, 2015 at 9:57 pm

        This is actually great news. If we’re ever threatened by advanced robots trying to take over the world, we always have one weapon that can reduce them to harmless imbeciles.Report

    • Mo in reply to Reformed Republican says:
      February 9, 2015 at 10:37 am

      That stunt makes Gawker look worse than it makes Coke. Coke has a somewhat lame idea to turn internet meanness into cutsey ASCII art to “counter” the fact that the internet is a hive of scum and villainy. Gawker decides that Coke is right and decides that sending Mein Kampf would be totes funny. If Gawker was legitimately creative they would have sent over Pepsi ad copy or comments from environmental groups that slammed Coke.Report

  5. Damon says:
    February 6, 2015 at 7:31 pm

    Dear jebus, that’s even stupider than a corporate type telling me that the Quarterly Business Review will happen in February on January actuals. Jan is the beginning our fiscal year.

    HelloooooReport

    • LeeEsq in reply to Damon says:
      February 6, 2015 at 7:41 pm

      Yet, you keep advocating the wonders of the free market to us. ;).Report

      • Damon in reply to LeeEsq says:
        February 7, 2015 at 9:07 am

        I don’t actually recall advocating free markets, although I support them. I recall criticizing the current regulated markets and the incompetence of gov’t but don’t recall specifically advocating free markets on this website. Of course, I’m willing to state that I could have forgotten. 🙂Report

  6. Kazzy says:
    February 6, 2015 at 7:52 pm

    Every so often, Ikea does free breakfast day. You get whatever their basic breakfast is, something that normally retails for $1.99 or so. People line up around the block. People love free shit. So if people think, “Hey, maybe I’ll be the lucky one to get free breakfast today,” they might be more likely to go to McDonalds and, boom, huge sales increase.

    Think of it this way: How many people are not going to eat at McDonalds today (who otherwise would have) on account of this promotion? Now compare that to how many people are going to eat at McDonalds today (who otherwise would not have) on account of this promotion? I’d venture to guess the latter far outpaces the former. Ergo, marketing genius.Report

  7. krogerfoot says:
    February 6, 2015 at 11:09 pm

    Also, have I missed previous entries in the Talk Stupid To Me series, or did you have a different title in mind?Report

    • zic in reply to krogerfoot says:
      February 7, 2015 at 12:23 am

      It started as “Talk to me like I’m stupid,” a tagline Ta-Nehisi Coates used when he wanted help with research or understanding a topic. Frequently abbreviated TTMLIS.

      But sometimes, talk stupid to me works, too. Depends in your perspective.Report

  8. Stillwater says:
    February 7, 2015 at 12:14 am

    I just can’t fathom why anyone thought it would be a good idea to make people perform stunts for their food.

    I think it’s one of those “we’ll be greeted as liberators” sorta thing. So alien you can’t even imagine what it’s like to actually believe it.Report

  9. DensityDuck says:
    February 9, 2015 at 1:01 am

    This isn’t an idea, it’s a joke that a hack screenwriter has a stereotypically clueless business executive say to illustrate the marketing world’s humorous lack of creativity.

    (I ripped that off from an Onion AVClub comment about the movie “Chill Factor”.)Report

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