Chik-fil-Awesome

I confess – like many of us raised down south, I have a real weakness/problem/addiction when it comes to Chick-fil-A, so keep in mind this marketing “opinion” may be seasoned, lightly battered, and served up piping hot with a pickle on a white bun. That said, the new “Reserve your free spicy chicken sandwich” promotion is pretty smart any way you slice it.

First off, Chik-fil-A is introducing a spicy sandwich, which in theory is a marriage made in southern fried chicken heaven. Unlike a lot of quick service restaurants (Or QSR’s for us in the club), Chik-fil-A almost always practices brand extension with relative restraint – they do chicken, period (except on Sunday, the one day of the week I wake up with a dyslexic-cow-sized CFA craving).

So off the bat, they get points for smart marketing in terms of “P for Product”. But the real smarts of this intro is the integration of a simple web element to corral and enhance the classic “free sample” tactic other QSRs have used ad nauseum to hype new menu features. Instead of “for a limited time” lines usually trotted out for new offers or the cattle call “free for the first 100 people” location stunts, Chik-fil-A has created a reservation system for lucky (and quick!) fans to secure their FREE spicy sandwich. It’s simple, it’s organized, it’s interactive, and it will generate a healthy list of fans that Chik-fil-A can connect with time and again. Not to mention the fact that the tactic itself has been wildly hyped, so much so that in Atlanta (my hometown) there isn’t a reservation to be had.

Smart + simple usually equals effective. My only critique? With no seats at the virtual table left to reserve, I had nothing to slake my desire for spicy, chicken-y goodness. A consolation coupon would have been nice. That and a Sunday drive-thru open every now and then.

Will the Real Atlanta Sports Campaign Please Rise Up?

As a native and a fairly afflicted sports addict, I listen to a lot of sport stalk radio. And as you’d imagine, with a relatively “target narrow” medium like sports talk, nearly 99% of the advertising I hear connects with my inner target demographicalness directly and effectively. Some notable exceptions exist – hair loss cures and divorce attorneys – though I pretty much remember all of those ads too, because as a long-time listener (first-time caller) I hear the same handful of ads repeatedly. All the time. Over and over.

Needless to say, for me, almost all radio advertising gets at least a little stale. Worse so when multiple advertisers jump on the same tired concept (for a while no fewer than 10 local businesses were offering stimulus packages). Well now, two of my beloved home-town franchises seemed to have crossed their campaign streams, as evidenced by the new Falcons’ advertising that sports the old Hawks tagline, “Rise Up”.

The Hawks originally “Rose Up” in 2007-2008, limped into the playoffs, then eventually lost in a pretty charged-up series against Boston (which sparked the next year’s slogan “Shock the World”). That was just two seasons ago, yet somehow the Falcons are now “Rising Up” in 2010? Don’t get me wrong, I like the new Falcon ads a ton; they feature a gospel-preacher-with-a-bag-of-SportCenter-analogies vibe that are really well written and expertly delivered. But we couldn’t come up with a new tag? I mean, if last year the “Hunt Was On” for the Falcons, why do we have to settle for a retread tagline?

Rise Up, Falcons, and grab a new tagline (and a couple defensive pieces couldn’t hurt either).

A Marketers Holy Grail of Commercials

While watching the Olympics I saw what was quite possibly the best commercial I've seen in a long time- if not ever. The spot, titled "Hands", is for Delta's Pilar faucet with Touch20 Technology. Apparently the spot has been around since at least this summer - but it is new to me so please forgive my dated praise.

This spot stands out above the rest for the following reasons:

• It's the perfect blend of merchandising meets marketing. For once, these two disparate yet intrinsically linked disciplines joined forces to create something that actually communicates the product benefits in a way that is meaningful to consumers.
• The contrast of the dirty, sticky hands on the black background is a striking balance of gross reality and artful beauty.
• The music is infectious. Come on, who doesn't love the Count from Sesame Street!
• It's simple. It's focused. It's powerful.
• It's not just creative for creative's sake - It's effective. I don't know about you, but I WANT one - no, NEED one.

Kudos to the client and agency who produced this.

Awesomer Bowl?

The inevitable post Super Bowl advertising blog post is here. I’ll try not to repeat what everyone else is talking about (but probably will). Some observations:

1. Volume Turned Down: Is it me or did it seem like the volume of ads was down? Maybe it was because the game was compelling, or because CBS threw-in a lot of ads for their own programming, but volume seemed down.
2. Don’t Believe the Hype: the vaunted pro-life Tebow spot barely registered, as did the not-really-all-that-steamy-or-sensical GoDaddy ads. La-lame.
3. In Need of a New Gameplan: Budweiser and Bud Light, two big brand Super Bowl stalwarts are falling flat these days. Budweiser, let go of the Clydesdales thing…and Bud Light, please try and find a campaign out there somewhere – your schizophrenic attempts to make us laugh are doing just the opposite (sad when the old Auto-Tune T-Pain joke is your best offering).
4. Surprisingly Strong Veteran Play: Doritos, thank you for being less “extreme” and more obsessive – it’s a lot easier to relate to a guy being buried in a massive casket of Doritos than it is to see said Dorioto-er doing a backflip on a BMX bike.
5. Really Really Surprising Veteran Play: Not the brand, but the stars – Snickers use of Betty White and Abe Vigoda! Simply awesome.
6. Shockingly not shocking MVP: Can Google do no wrong? Absolute genius – you got drunk people to read – and the cognitive process to well, process.
   
7. Questionable Calls: The census bureau really needs to get people to participate? Really? And Coke spends all that money on the Simpsons, and then…well, not much happens.
8. Surprising Rookies: The creepy Denny’s chickens were pretty awesome, and I’ll take odds on the number of folks that line up for that free Grand Slam breakfast.

There was plenty more of the expected - yes, talking eTrade babies, yes, slow-mo NFL fan mania, yes plenty from the online employment folks, yes, more ads with men running around in their tighty whiteys (2 that I counted), awesomer nuts - or was it popcorn, and yes, Charles Barkley acting like Charles Barkly (which is still worth watching).

Probably the biggest surprise for me this year was there was no surprise – nothing that sticks out or sticks to my brain anyway. Except maybe that new Bud Select 55. 55 Calories? Wha? How is that even possible? ( über lame commercial, but the message got across).

Here’s to seeing something surprising next year – like the Falcons in the Super Bowl.

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