A letter to Warhol. ‘I hear you like Tomato Soup’.

August 12th, 2010 • View Comments We like
Tags: Art, Cool, Funny, history, PR, World

Lovely.

This is a letter from 1964 written by overjoyed William McFarland, at that time product marketing manager at Campbell’s Soup to the young Andy Warhol. Some complimentary cans of soup soon followed. Two years prior to the letter Warhol had staged 32 of his now world famous Campbell Soup Can pictures.

Ah…multiplier outreach. You gotta love it. And as a letter almost as good as Mick Jagger’s letter to Andy Warhol five years later.

(thanks to A letter of note)

Apple + T-Mobile. United in Impotence.

August 9th, 2010 • View Comments Brands
Tags: Apple, Brands, disaster, iPhone, Iphone4, Mobile, Netherlands, PR

Dear Apple. Not ‘Antennagate’ is influencing my decision to buy an iPhone 4. Your inability to deliver does influence my decision. One day after the second launch wave hit Holland I tried to buy one in Amsterdam. Answer: I have to wait for at least 8-10 weeks. I mean WTF? We are talking about the day after the product launch. This is no intended artificial shortage – that is a disasterous launch for a product.

A week later I decided to really sign up for the waiting list via T-Mobile’s website in the Netherlands. I chose the desired model, click ‘bestellen’ (order) – and this is the result.

T-Mobile + Apple – wow, I am impressed. Well, in T-Mobile’s case I am at least happy they manage to keep up a consistent brand image no matter where you go.

Audi’s Green Police. Didn’t They say Hitler?

Januar 30th, 2010 • View Comments Ads, Brands
Tags: Ads, Audi, Brands, Fail, Germany, Ideas, Philosophy, PR, Social Influence Marketing, Strategy

Let’s start an intellectual experiment.

Think about e.g. an ex-spouse in your life and now think about any object in your appartment. Can you associate it with him or her somehow? You probably can. Take the old vase in your living room and you will probably find a connection to your ex who loved flowers so much. Most likely you will be able to link the TV set to her preferences for ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and so on…But why should you do that? Especially since you will be able to link pretty much anything to pretty much anything after thinking about it for a while. Plus, simply put, while you actually might not want to think about your ex-spouse anymore at all?

Well, that’s what self-proclaimed guardians of Political Correctness do on the web 24/7. They love to think about all kinds of connections because there is not one thing which makes them as happy as making up a good old PR disaster.

One information in advance: I am German and I work for a digital agency with Audi International on the client list (not PR, not Audi USA). This is just accidental and not the rationale behind this article. I am professionally not at all engaged in any Audi project even though I like the cars. I simply react on this article by Danny Brown, entitled “Audi and the Super Bowl Social Media Shit Storm“.  This is the story: In an attempt to spearhead a social media intiative, Audi USA (keep that in mind, it is important) had invented the so-called ‘Green Police’. It comes with a Super-Bowl ad, a Youtube channel and the inevitable twitter account. This is the more or less entertaining ad:

Did you realize it? No? Audi has just committed a major act of Political Incorrectness, according to Danny.

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Dear Brands. Please learn to say I am not sorry.

Oktober 18th, 2009 • View Comments Brands, Ideas, Social Business, Strategy
Tags: Ads, Brands, Fail, Ideas, Motrin, Pepsi, pepsifail, PR, Social Influence Marketing, Strategy, World

This article is a rant. A classic one.

Lately (I have to admit) I more and more get sick of the keepers of the holy grail of Political Correctness whenever a brand launches some kind of ironical, stereotype-laden communication tool in the social space. But wait, it’s not that simple! Actually I am more hacked off by brands who bow down to these people and beg for forgiveness whenever a group of these people start mocking around on twitter.

Pepsi and the score advisor app
Probably you have heard about the so-called Pepsi AMP fail. Early in October Pepsi has launched an iPhone application for its AMP range of energy drinks. The idea of the app is simple and (more or less) funny. After downloading the tool the user may choose between 24 different stereotypical female characters, ranging from “athlete” to “cougar” to “punk girl”. The app will then support your nightly challenge at the bar with helpful tips, pickup lines and conversation snippets to spice up your ‘pre score’ conversation with the respective woman of your choice.

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