On Monday, June 13, 2011 the Miami Herald ran a Macy’s ad that said “Congratulations Miami! Celebrate the 2011 NBA Champions with official merchandise from Adidas”. Great ad – with only one small problem…the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA Championship – not the Miami Heat.

Like I said everyone and every company makes mistakes. Some of my classics that I have made were emailing a client some “interesting” comments when I thought I was emailing my internal team and of course I hit reply all and responded to 450 people with meaningless information.

• What are some of the classics that you recall?
   
• Are there any company classic mistakes that come to mind?

I look forward to reading your comments.

I must admit I don’t watch a lot of commercials these days. With TiVo fast forwarding is very easy and if I am watching regular TV I will channel surf when a commercial comes on.

I must admit I like this commercial. It makes me chuckle all the time but more important I believe this commercial differentiates this company from the competition.

Most people don’t like the airlines these days.  They don’t like how they are being nickel and dimed for everything. Eight dollars for an ugly, small blanket . . . do I need to say more?

• This commercial directly goes after the competition
   
• It clearly identifies a price difference between Southwest Airlines and other carriers
   
• It highlights baggage carriers – which to me look like regular people who care about their job.

To Southwest Airlines I tip my cap and say "a job well done and money well spent!"

What do you think?

• Do you like the commercial?
   
• Do you think Southwest does a nice job with the message?
   
• What other companies’ commercials do you currently like?

I look forward to your comments.

Last week I was going through the mail and got a fairly big flat envelope in the mail. After opening up the envelope I noticed it was from BMW and had a note that read Happy Anniversary from BMW. Here’s what it said:

We congratulate you on your first anniversary of your ULTIMATE DRIVING MACHINE. Enclosed you will find our special gift to you: a designer’s sketch of your BMW vehicle. An attractive addition to any BMW’s home or office, it also provides insight into our passion for automobile design – by starting with a great idea. Compliments of Moritz BMW.

A few things jumped out at me:

• I have actually had the car for 14 months
   
• I have owned a few other BMW’s and never got an anniversary gift before so this must be a new program
   
• The sketch doesn’t have a BMW logo on it
   
• I would NEVER frame this sketch and put it in my home or office

I really applaud BMW for coming up with an anniversary program for my car. Although it would have been nice if I received the gift closer to my anniversary date, it was still really nice. I think they really swung and missed on this one. I could think of a bunch of other things they could have sent that I would have used. Here are a few thoughts:

• BMW key chain
   
• BMW shirt
   
• Tickets to a sporting event with my salesman
   
• A coupon for a friend to test drive a BMW for an entire weekend

All of those ideas could help with BMW’s branding and potential future sales. I really don’t see the value in a sketch.

Am I wrong?

• What do you think?
   
• What could have BMW sent their customers that would have made a difference?
   
• Do you get an anniversary gift from your dealership?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

PS – that is a picture of me holding up the sketch.

A few weeks ago I was thinking about the most recognizable business symbols and trademarks.

I closed my eyes and quickly jotted down a list of companies that I could recognize based on their symbols and trademarks. My list included:

• Frito Lay
• Ford
• IBM
• Dell
• Pepsi
• Google
• Apple
• Wal-Mart
• Home Depot

With my top three being:

1. Nike
2. McDonalds
3. Coca Cola

• What do you think of my choices?
   
• Close your eyes and tell me your top three most recognizable symbols and trademarks

I look forward to reading your comments.

Last month I was reading USA Today and noticed a really cool ad. It was a full two page ad with a headline of "You Asked For More Here Goes". A few weeks earlier Target had published an invitation to tell them what more they could do for their customers. They received over 600 responses and followed up with this two page ad highlighting what people said and what Target is doing about it.

Here are a few examples of the five they listed:

Customer said:

You could do a much better job of replenishing your stock, especially in the food.

Target’s response:

To better meet our guests’ wants and needs, we’re making improvements to our replenishment methods. Specifically, in the refrigerator/freezer case, product is being filled every hour – directly from the truck whenever possible.

Customer said:

Can you offer more Plus Size women’s clothing:

Target’s response:

Launched last month, our new Pure Energy brand delivers fashion-forward looks for Plus Size women to complete their wardrobe at affordable prices, with new styles arriving in stores each month. And for other brands you can always find a broader selection of Plus Size options at Target.com.

For me I really liked the fact that the ads included marketing research. It made me feel a little bit better towards their company, what they were selling and it would make a difference to me for shopping at the store and buying products.

What about you?

• Do you like when companies include market research in their ads?
   
• Can you think of any others that are currently doing that?
   
• As a researcher, how does it make you feel when a company does this?

I look forward to reading your comments.