Crashing the Boards

I went to the hockey game between the Minnesota Gophers and the Wisconsin Badgers on Friday. The Badgers won and honestly hockey isn't high on my sports priority list so I'm not too upset over it. Also, I'm officially mad at gopher hockey fans because an old guy in a gopher hockey shirt yelled at me to "SIIITTT DOOWWWNNN" when all I was doing was returning to my seat (there had been a short stoppage in play that turned out not to be long enough for me to get to my seat before play started up again...sorry old guy).

Anyways, being the advertising nerd that I am I was intrigued by the companies and ads that surrounded the boards within the rink. Normally the Target Center does not host hockey matches (I kept calling the hockey game a match just to upset people that love hockey and I will continue to do so now) so I'm guessing these boards may have been old or borrowed (or brand new...what do I know, but I believe one of the only other times the Target Center uses a large sheet of ice is for epic events like Blues Clues on ice).

The boards had quite an array of companies including national brands like McDonald's and Wendy's and a local construction company. Most of the space was taken up by company logos with a few exceptions of actual ad looking messages/images. What got me going was how crowded and overwhelming the space was. There was a new company every 5 feet and it was really hard to focus on a specific brand. It reminded me of walking through the enclosed part of the Washington Avenue Bridge at the beginning of fall semester after all the clubs had painted their new image/logo/message on the wall and how it was barely possible to keep up with all the images while walking to good old Wiley Hall (for those of you that did not go to the University of MN this probably makes no sense but just go with it).

I thought to myself, if I was McDonald's and had a advertising budget similar to the cost of the new Dallas Cowboy's stadium, I would pay double whatever half of the board space was currently going for and come up with something really cool that takes up half that board space. Now maybe the gopher hockey team has too many sponsors for this to be plausible, but if I am McDonald's and I do, insert really cool ad that takes of half the board space, I have people leaving the game saying thins like "I wish the gophers hadn't had that goal taken away by having a man in the crease, and did you see that thing McDonald's did with the boards?" You might even ignite the "cell phone" effect where people bust out their fancy phones and snap pictures or even shoot videos that might end up on YouTube.

To me this is a classic "cluttered advertising space" case that presents an opportunity to do something different.

That's all I got.


One love, one heart


Eric McPherson


Twitter: @EricWMcPherson

Do Something Positive

This post is completely random and off topic but my post ideas have been running a little thin lately (or I could give the old excuse that I have been really busy which may or may not be true but really aren't we all sick of hearing that?).

To preface this very random post I have to explain that I am commissioning a March Madness pool (on Yahoo for $10, if you are interested in joining send me an email or text or call or send a carrier pigeon and I will get you the info). Part of my commissioning duties are to remind people that they need to pay up or they will get booted from the group come tournament time. One of my tactics for this particular duty is mass texting, which usually includes what I believe to be hilarious quips and threats (in all likelihood the texts are probably just annoying but that's neither here nor there nor over there).

So I sent a mass text to a bunch of the people that are signed up on Yahoo who have not signed up to pay through the third party account. One of these persons is an old friend of mine from when I worked for the fine City of Bloomington mowing grass and taking down diseased trees. This friend has been living in Arizona for a few years so we do not contact each other too often. However, I must say that he is quite the prankster which definitely contributed to what follows (he used to hide on top of the warehouse where we kept the mowers and pour buckets of water on people as they walked inside...classic). Maybe I am the only one who thinks what follows is funny but apparently I had the wrong number for who I thought was my old friend. The following text messaging conversation has not been altered in any way, of course nobody would have any way of knowing that but just trust me it hasn't...enjoy.

Me: "I see a lot of you have signed up for the March Madness pool on Yahoo but not to pay on leaguesafe (third party site)...16 days until the deadline to pay, you were warned..."

Anonymous person I thought was my friend: "Pay for what?!!! I don't even use Yahoo, you have the wrong person. Take me off your list please. Thank you."

Me: "You are lying, I will boot you from the March Madness Yahoo group so fast..."

Anonymous person I thought was my friend: "I am going to report you if you threaten me any further. Why would I lie about a March Madness group. That is nuts. I have not signed up for anything lik"

Anonymous person I thought was my friend (he or she ran out of characters): "e that in my life. Do not harass me any further. I have no idea who you are and this is scaring me."

Me: "You are signed up for a March Madness pool...stop lying"

Anonymous person I thought was my friend: "if I was signed up for that, that would mean I wanted to be in it, so you wouldn't be hearing this. I am an honest person. You must have the wrong person"

Anonymous person I thought was my friend (he or she ran out of characters): ". Will you please leave me alone now. If you text me again, I am going to report you to the police for harassing me for NO reason. I would rather not hav"

Anonymous person I thought was my friend (he or she ran out of characters): "e to do that, but I will if I have to. Do something positive."



Now maybe you are thinking I am a jerk and should have left this person alone after one text or maybe you are thinking I should have been meaner and taken this way further just to get this person to use more hilarious verbage. Either way, I think "Do something positive" is just a phenomenal line and wanted to share it with anyone who might be interested.

That is all I got, if the person I interacted with via text message reads this...I hope this falls under your category of "positive"...cause I did it.

One love, one heart


Eric McPherson

Be Observant

 
I'm going to saddle up and get back on my high horse here with some advice I once received mixed in with my own thoughts. As you probably gathered from the title it pertains to being observant (or perhaps you were not able to pick that up in which case you should really take this advice seriously).

As I was driving home yesterday I pulled up to a stop light near my place of residence. There was a homeless person standing there holding a sign, a common site at many busy intersections in Minneapolis. Being the curious natured fellow that I am I tried to read the sign but got frustrated instantly. The sign was probably about 12 X 8 inches and had approximately 30 words on it. 

Now I could lie and say that the first thing I thought of was how sad it was or how I felt compassion or something sappy like that, but I've seen a thousand of these people and these signs and so sue me but I do not get that sort of reaction.

Rather, the first thing that popped into my mind was, "That homeless guy's sign has way too many words on it." This thought progressed to me pondering what I would write on a sign in hopes of getting money should I be standing on the side of the road at an intersection. I thought something to the point and simple would be much more effective like "Please help" or "Homeless" or "Hungry" or even "$". 

From what I gathered this particular guy's sign was claiming he was not a criminal or a drunk or on drugs, etc. I thought to myself even if all that is true and if whatever the rest of the sign says that I didn't get to is true you cannot tell your life story on a small piece of cardboard. The short term goal is to get people to roll down their window and hand you some money or some food. I have no proof that my simplistic signs would be more effective than this guy's lengthy sign but that's not really my point. 

After I drove away and concluded my thoughts on this I realized wow, I am a huge advertising nerd. But at the same time I rationalized it by thinking maybe I am just an observant person. I believe this is critical when working in the field of advertising. As everyone knows people are exposed to thousands of advertisements every single day. Taking in your surroundings and thinking about "why this" or "why is something like that" should be second nature.

In my first semester of my junior year of college I had Marketing 3001 at the Carlson school of business. My professor was deemed by many as arrogant and kind of a jerk. I thought he was a pretty smart dude that had a lot to offer beyond learning about the 4 P's. I remember one day he went off on a tangent about your mindset if you are serious about marketing and advertising. He said things like "you need to live it, breathe it" He said, "it needs to become second nature, when you are walking down the aisles of the grocery store you should be fascinated by all that's around you". 

I really liked that professor, but at that particular time I thought this was kind of dumb. I was more concerned about the score of the Twins game from the night before.

I'm sure you know where this is going but here it is anyways. On a daily basis I find myself noticing things wondering how something got there or what other people think of "that". I don't just mean billboards and other advertisements but all kinds of things. I also find myself reminiscing about that day of class and thinking to myself that crazy old man was on to something.

I know I am being a bit hypocritical by saying you need to be conscious of being more observant and then saying it should be second nature. Perhaps it's something you can consciously do for a while and it can become subconscious naturally. I'm not going to lie and say I have any clue how it really works. Regardless, it's something to keep in mind because in the world of advertising and many other fields it is critical to be aware of the physical world around you, even if you don't always understand it.

I apologize for the lack of cool pictures, videos or links in this post; I did this on purpose (deep, I know).


One love, one heart


Eric McPherson


Twitter: @EricWMcPherson

Wear a Seat Belt

This advertisement encouraging people to wear their seat belts has been getting a lot of positive feedback. One might even say that it is getting a lot of hype (at least in the online world). I really do not have a lot so say other than I could not agree more. Put simply, this is one of the best advertisements I have ever seen. It's also a great example of how emotional connection trumps the "sex sells" type ads, humor, scare tactics, etc. Those forms of advertising certainly have their place, but (watch out here comes the cliche) at the end of the day ads like this have the most impact.

If you plan on watching this and then not wearing a seat belt...don't kid yourself.




One love, one heart


Eric McPherson

Suck on These....Taxes

It has been a while since I went the easy route and expressed my opinion on a commercial I saw on TV. This is where I would normally insert a stupid joke about how I am actually not going to do that and talk about something way more deep an/or abstract but actually I'm just going to talk about a commercial I saw.

My girlfriend and I were watching Community, this season's hit new comedy on NBC, and naturally we were utilizing the DVR to its max potential. Which basically means we recorded it and were fast forwarding through the commercials at three arrow speeds (you show me someone that can accurately fast forward at four arrow speeds and I will show you a liar or a true American prodigy).

Just after Joel McHale was done saying something hilarious the commercials came on and I hit fast forward quicker than Cool Hand Luke, when all of a sudden we both went "Whoa, what was that?" I proceeded to pause and rewind the commercial at one arrow speed in order to ensure precision and accuracy. It was a commercial that featured two of the characters from the show, the Spanish teacher (aka the Chinese guy from the Hangover) and the dean (the small, bald, nerdy guy). We proceeded to watch the commercial discovering that it was for TurboTax. The actors do the commercial in character which you can see below.

Earlier I was unable to find the video footage so I asked you to just imagine this clip is an ad for TurboTax.



As soon as I saw the ad I thought it would be a cool topic to write about. Apparently I was not the only one considering you can find much more qualified analysis here, here or here (or even here....IN THE FAAACE).

My point is this. There is a common cliche that the 30 second spot is going to die and there is another common cliche that the 30 second spot is not going to die because advertisers will become more creative. This is a prime example of why I am a member of cliche camp number two. I did not stop and rewind this ad because I work in advertising, I rewound it because I think that guy from The Hangover is hilarious and I didn't want to miss something that might wet my entertainment palette.

Go Vikings

I am with Coco aka Team Conan

One love, one heart


Eric McPherson


Follow me on Twitter @EricWMcPherson