I sent a letter to the editors of US News And World Report this afternoon:

I am on the Board of a superb Boston-area teaching hospital and I run a marketing strategy firm that services a number of leading healthcare brands.

But when I have to pull a gummed ad for a brand name cholesterol drug off the US News And World Report list of "America's Best Hospitals" (July 23-30), I can't help but conclude that the rankings are anything but the public service they masquerade as.

While much of the accompanying editorial is interesting and useful, the "America's Best Hospitals" issue was clearly successful in its primary objective -- to sell a ton of healthcare advertising, which we all ultimately finance as patients.

Tom Simons
President/Creative Director
PARTNERS+simons
Boston, MA

Posted by Tom Simons at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Recently we filmed Jerry Remy, former Red Sox second baseman and current NESN color analyst, for our Sovereign Bank TV advertising. If you don't know Jerry, it's likely you live outside New  England or don't follow the Sox. He is a great choice for a lot of reasons, chief among them is his reputation of telling it like it is. Last week I was in a car listening to an interview with Jerry on WEEI. Suddenly, the discussion led him to speak about his experience shooting the ads. Oh, man. What would he say? Of course, he called it how he saw it. Take a listen.

Also, take a look below at the internal spot we created to get the Sovereign troops excited about their new campaign.

Posted by Todd Baird at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Any time I get more than 3 emails from 3 different people on the same topic on the same day I stand up and take notice. Especially when it has the subject “monkey with a death wish.”

But that’s not what this is about (although it is pretty darn funny).

I’m talking about the marketing for The Simpsons Movie. (In theaters starting July 27, 2007. Doh! I couldn’t stop myself.) It is a great example of surround the customer creative that works.

But let me start with a warning. If you think the Simpsons is stupid, stop reading and go ahead and click on the monkey with a death wish video.

But if you’re one of the many who consider the Simpsons TV show to be a high water mark in American culture and the most consistently funny, longest running sitcom in TV history, then by all means stay with me here.

Lots of brands try to surround the customer with marketing. But it doesn’t always work. And when you take on something as legendary as the Simpsons, it better be good and on brand.

Well, hooray, hooray, the people marketing the new Simpsons movie have it just right. For starters the movie site is incredibly addictive and engaging.  Granted it is still under construction, but I love the way the site immerses you in Springfield.

If you have time to kill, check out the Wrecking Ball Game. Very cathartic.  They also feature a tool called Create Your Simpson Avatar – a terrific, free lesson in cartooning the Simpsons way! There’s even a MySpace page that hits the right notes. All this plus a variety of desktop and mobile downloads from ringtones to icons to wallpapers.

(Even as I write this I can’t wait to see the movie. And pre-order the DVD. See, it works.)

While most of the target audience for this film lives online, the Simpsons marketing team also has a smart guerilla campaign.  For a limited time (as in during the promotion of this film) a number of 7-Eleven Stores have turned into Kwik-e-Marts from the show. The 7-Eleven site itself is a partner in crime.

 

But the campaign is more than skin deep. Inside these specially marked 7-Elevens Simpsons fans can buy merchandise heretofore only available in the fictitious Springfield convenient store including Squishees, Crusty-O’s cereal, Buzz Cola and more.
 
20th Century Fox also ran a promotion to see which of the real Springfields in the country would get to host the hometown premiere of The Simpsons Movie. Fourteen states participated by making their case via elaborate videos then posting them to the USA Today web site. Fans viewed the videos and voted. Vermont was the lucky winner.

So what is the lesson here?  Well, first, go see the movie. Second, pre-order the DVD. Third, buy the action figures (or inaction figure in the case of Homer).

Oh, the real lesson is this: if you are going to surround customers with marketing take the time to do it right. Or Chief Wiggum will book you for sloppy marketing.

Posted by Steve Lynch at 05:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Technology marketing sometimes gets a bum rap. For starters, it is a subset of business to business marketing which is already treated like the dreaded dull cousin who shows up at a barbecue and drones on and on about arcane topics—all while wearing a suit and tie.

But tech marketing can be fun if you remember one important thing about your audience: they’re human.

Say what you want about Apple’s relevance to business, they certainly know how to make technology fun. And human.

The iPhone guided tour on the Apple site is 20 minutes long and has probably had more views since it debuted than the entire history of the viral video phenom Numa Numa. That may be overstated. But not by much.

What’s the attraction? Apple is incredibly good at simplifying complex technology and communicating it in a way that is both accessible and exciting. It helps when you have some of the most innovative tech thinking at the core (pun intended). But we can all learn from Apple.

This year’s Cannes International Advertising Festival had its share of winners who demonstrated that humanized technology marketing is the best kind. Consider this wonderful direct mail package for IBM.

What better way to demonstrate that IBM caters to more than just large companies, than by sending a specially designed letter split into three parts, analogous to Small, Medium and Large businesses. All three parts could be read as one continuous letter. And each part could also be read as a standalone letter showing that every business regardless of size is important to IBM.  Brilliant and approachable. In other words, human.

Another wonderfully inventive piece of DM for Olympus Microscopes in Australia was also recognized at Cannes. Olympus had the challenge of losing market share to other cheaper equivalents in their space. What did they do? They sent out the world’s smallest questionnaire to their most valued customers. The survey was so small it could only be viewed on their microscope. Website traffic spiked 24% during the promotion and many of their best customers were retained.

Cannes has many other wonderful examples of inventive and human approaches to technology marketing. Check it out.

And next time you see that dreaded dull cousin at a barbecue, clip his tie and throw him a Hawaiian shirt. There really is no excuse for dull technology marketing.
 

Posted by Steve Lynch at 08:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

PARTNERS+simons and W2 Chairman Larry Weber has just announced the publication of his latest book: Marketing To The Social Web.

Here's where you can download a chapter. This is required reading for anyone serious about marketing in the 2.0 world. Pick up a copy.

Posted by Tom Simons at 01:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)