Cool city

Thanks to Alicia for sharing this image video about yaybia's great home town of Minneapolis.



Lovely. Now I am homesick (not that I am not homesick the rest of the time, this just didn't help).

They just forgot to mention that those "climate-controlled" skywalks are not only there to shield all the dynamic business people from the burning sun. Now, if you want to attract visitors and investors it's probably NOT a good idea to hush up the very fact that everybody associates with your city in the first place. Winter? Non of our business! Let the Florida people deal with that while we ride our bikes in our evergreen city. Yeah, sure very convincing...

C'mon you urban marketing folks, who do you want to fool? Be proud, but also be self-depreciating and funny and above all, be real.

Minneapolis is in fact a great place. But at times it is also a cold place. Everybody knows that anyways, so just tell potential visitors that they can still do all the exciting stuff they can do in every major city plus all that extra cool stuff they can only ever experience in an extra cool city. That certain chiliness is the very thing that makes Minneapolis and its inhabitants special. And I know from experience how very special they are! Anyone can act cool in a sunny place, but it takes a lot to be hot when your city is cold half of the year.

Also, they forgot to mention yaybia in their video about all things great from Minneapolis. Somebody should definetely shoot a realness remake to set the record straight.

Silence of the Lam

I saw this first gem on my walk home this evening and then not an hour later I was greeted by this lovely Facebook ad. Ok, I GET IT, I haven't blogged in centuries. The Silence of the Lam is over. Hope you guys are ready.

Pizza Turnaround; Breadstick Standstill

Jameson and I ordered Domino's tonight at my insistence because I've been totally mesmerized by the Pizza Turnaround campaign. Some will argue that it's an admission that Domino's had shitty pizza. Well, yeah, it is. But it's also the only way they could ever get customers (like me) who had made up our minds that Domino's = failfest to try it again. Also, it's an admission that they are listening to what people are saying, and their social media has gone from crisis management to being reactive and receptive.

Anyway.

The new pizza was pretty, pretty, pretty good. I'd say at least Pizza Hut quality. But I'm not here to talk about pizza. I'm here because online we ordered breadsticks:

Pretty standard, 8 pieces with dipping sauce. Yum. We received:

Perhaps Pizza Turnaround really was just an ad campaign, and not an actual recommitment to quality? Sad face.

Google Ad Placement Fail

What do you do when Gmail goes down? Mostly, I talked about it on Twitter, kept checking my Google reader for more articles, and chatted on iGoogle.

While going through my Reader, it seemed all my blogs are talking about it: AgencySpy, TechCrunch and Mashable... Mashable has some ideas for what to do while Gmail is down, but the funniest part of seeing their article when it popped up in my Google Reader was that they are supported by in-RSS-reader Google Ads.

FAIL:
The ad reads: Buying another expensive email server made me go Google.

Profitting From Being Free

Today on my beloved Google Reader, Susan shared an article from Mashable about a band's website that had an embedded music video from YouTube that was later removed due to copyright violations. So, to summarize, they had a copyright violation of their own video on their own website. FAIL. I also loved Susan's accompanying quote: "HA. I'm so sick of seeing those copywrite claims. Not being able to see a YouTube of a music video is not going to make me rush over to iTunes and buy it for $1.99.”

This is also a pet peeve of mine (I tried to find an old classic Campbell's commercial the other day, and the only copies had been removed due to copyrights. What?! You are preventing me from seeing your commercial somewhere other than TV even though I am seeking you out? What's that about?).

Anyway, today I read an interesting article on MediaPost (unfortunately subscription required, but I've included a screenshot of the article below). The main point of the article: Making entertainment available for free increases demand, which ultimately results in sales. This includes both officially sponsored content and pirated content. The article cites successful examples of this theory such as the Monty Python YouTube Channel and the RadioHead "pay what you want" online campaign.

This follows the same theory as free samples. Maybe people who would never buy your album would after hearing a song or two for free on YouTube. Why? They don't know if they like your music and won't pay until they do. But, once they like it, they won't want to go back to YouTube and hit play and search over and over again. It's not convenient. You can't automatically have playlists or upload them to your iPod for on the go convenience. Same reason you should be on Pandora, let people discover you, remember you, and appreciate you for allowing them to have free content. After all, I didn't respect Campbell's right to be copyrighted in some rational inner battle, rather, I was annoyed I couldn't share the commercial I loved.

What are your opinions?

MediaPost Article (click through to zoom in)

Social Media's Fail(?) of the Day

I waffle between security v. convenience all the time; especially online. It is more secure to have a variety of passwords over all accounts, but much more convenient to have 1. In this case, this potential security v. convenience fail comes from Facebook.

For the first time today I got this:

While trying to update my status so my friends can have the link to this very cool article about our own Yaybia! But, today, instead of updating immediately I got a Security Check, and if I don't want to get this every time I try to update something, I have to have Facebook verify that I am a real person by sending a confirmation code to my mobile phone (standard rates and other fees may apply). Well, I did it. And still got the security things.

The point of this is to verify your existence, and they reason that if you are on Facebook you must have a mobile phone. Also, I could still have my old fake account (RIP Thunder Girl) and still send the message to my phone. Also, what if I don't want Facebook to have my phone number?

This might make Facebook a tiny bit more secure, but right now I'm voting for convenience.

Don't Make HTML Jokes in Blogger comments

Google does not appreciate HTML jokes.

Ad Fail to the Tenth Degree

Google, just when I think I love you to the max, you go and fail on me in a big way. A blog I follow called "Mashable!" pointed out a majorly offensive ad fail from Google Ads which recently popped up in several online news stories about the Mumbai terrorist attacks. Yikes.



I've never heard of getting an online degree in terrorism, so I'm pretty sure that this is a keyword match ad and if it were a story about kittens, we might see "get your degree in kittens online." However, this is where the keyword match feature in these online ads goes from funny to fail in 0.3 seconds.

Music Fail

While this is not technically a fail in the classic sense, I shall classify it that way anyway:
Music is not the ONLY way to connect to a younger, cool audience. Just because you have free (or pay) music downloads on your site does not mean that youth will flock to your site in droves, nor does it fit with the personality of your brand. Here is a sample of some recent offenders:

Pizza Hut: Initially, I thought this sounded like a pretty good deal. If you order on pizzahut.com between 11/5 and 12/27 you will get a link to eMusic where you get 75 free music downloads: 25 from a Pizza Hut playlist and 50 from eMusic's giant catalog. However, this includes a 14-day trial to eMusic. This means entering credit card information, and that if you don't to cancel you will be charged thereafter. Fail. Maybe I am being to sensitive to this, I had a long ordeal trying to cancel a "free" magazine subscription (alright ma'am, but before we officially cancel, would you like us to throw in 3 month at half price?) and my roommate tends to forget about these things and loses money on it. And Pizza Hut's justification of using music? They use music in their marketing. Gee, when was the last time you saw a commercial that used music?

Tic Tac: Tic Tac launched a new microsite called Tic Tac Chill where a visitor can download four free "chill" songs. And the first 1,000 visitors get a free sample of Tic Tac Chill Mints. Personally, I'd just rather get the free mints.

Who did it right:

Radiohead: Yes, they are a band so their "brand" is defined by their music, but by allowing users to pay whatever they want, even nothing, for their new album In Rainbows. “Radiohead made more money before In Rainbows was physically released than they made in total on the previous album Hail To the Thief.” It was a unique way to use their music. It got media attention. Also, fans who loved their music would pay more, and people who had never heard of them got to sample them for free becoming potential lifelong fans.

Music may be easy, but it is not the only way. Teens still hang out with friends, go on vacation, and go to the movies. Life offline and unplugged still exists. Sure, there are 5 billion iTunes music downloads per day. And radio listening for young people is back on the rise. It's no secret that people like music, but just because you slap a free download on a mediocre site does not mean you are going to be the next big thing. Like the viral video or the user-generated content contest, it's been done. Find the next big thing rather than jumping on the band wagon.

How the Mighty Have Fallen*

Two years ago, if you had told Starbucks that they would be giving their product away like Taco Bell or McDonald's lattes, they would have laughed in your face. But then the economy went to hell, and this once-premium brand has hit rock bottom.



If you ask me, Starbucks' recent mistakes have been:

• Ridiculous brand extensions. I really don't want Starbucks breakfast beyond muffins and coffee cakes, and the brand can't seem to figure out what it wants to do, either. And I'm not paying $6 for a shrinkwrapped chicken sandwich. The coffee shop atmosphere just isn't conducive to a meal.
• Dunkin' and McDonald's slowly but surely crept into the premium coffee industry. Starbucks got scared when their sales took a dip and tried to compete with price promotions and the aforementioned food. But it doesn't seem as though McD's is really stealing away that many faithful Starbucks drinkers. Are real Starbucks customers really trading down to fast food? Or are there other reasons (brand dilution, a Starbucks atmosphere that has strayed from its roots, and yes, the economy) that have them skipping their morning joe?
  
• MyStarbucksIdea.com. Creating a social network for people to basically complain about the brand and offer ideas that will never ever get implemented was maybe not the smartest idea.

On the other hand, Ben & Jerry's is another premium-priced brand that is giving away product on Election Day. But for them, it works. Just look at the website. B&J never takes itself too seriously and is always pushing fun--it's ice cream! They also have an annual customer appreciation/Free Cone Day complete with long lines, brand ambassadors, and even a dancing cow. Ben & Jerry's built its entire brand on doing good and having a positive outlook, and giving away ice cream fits. Watching the Starbucks ad, though, you see how seriously they take themselves. The targets, the attitudes of the brands, and the motives for the giveaway are all completely different. For Starbucks, it just doesn't work.

This election giveaway is icing on the GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK! cake for Starbucks. Maybe they just expanded too fast and erroneously thought they could mix luxury prices with a mass audience. Maybe consumers really are remembering that $4 a day not spent on coffee could help buy next week's groceries. In any case, I'll be at work in the morning and at the Bob Dylan show in the evening, so I'll probably miss out on this sad promotion from the former coffee giant.

*Or in the case of our very own Erin Lamberty, the mighty have fallen, torn three ligaments in their knee, bruised and swollen beyond recognition, and been placed in an immobilizer until further notice. That probably describes Starbucks even better.

$200... no, $100

So I was sifting through my lately neglected gmail account when I came across an email inviting me to be a "Shoe Maven" (give my opinions about shoes for market research) for a chance to win $200 in shoes. I don't really have much of an opinion to give, but I like shoes, $200 of them would be nice. So, I click through to the website and complete the initial questionnaire, but then, what do a see? It's a promise that I'll be entered in the chance to win $100 worth of shoes (aka, 1-2 pairs). Where did that other $100 go? Were my answers not good enough? Let's be consistent with our prize promises, especially when they go down.

Ultra Douche Personified

No. Way.

via Best Week Ever

Context FAIL

New York Times: "McCain Seeks to Delay First Debate Amid Financial Crisis" flanked by FIRST DEBATE FRIDAY NIGHT! CNN banners. Granted, this is breaking news. But somebody on the CNN media planning team needs to have their servers hold off on those for a hot minute.

fail number...what are we up to? 4?

Ladies and gentleman, we have a theme of the day here at Yaybia. It is "Fail Monday." Looks like something went wrong with this banner ad. In fact, I can't even click on it!


Note to banner hosting sites and advertisers: keep an eye on your stuff. Fortunately this one doesn't tell us who the company is or who the host is, but it is a pretty big fail.

Facebook Fail 2: With a Vengeance!

I'm jumping on the Fail-Train. Woot Woot!

As one of the largest aggregators of personal information, Facebook's ad-targeting capabilities should be second-to-none, or at least top 3. Sometimes, however, I am served an ad that just does not make sense (since when have I spoken Arabic, or whatever language that is?):

facebook fail

On my previous note of failing:




I haven't quite figured this one out - but it has happened to me many times. So you log in, and suddenly you get a redirect sending you to some other website. Now mind you, none of these are major websites, but if we are going to look at this from a marketing point of view: your annoying site just hacked my facebook experience. i will never go to your site.

epic fail

Epic fail:



I feel like I see one of these a few times a year...a completely inconvenient placement of an ad in a magazine. But sometimes it goes the other way - there is an article about teen pregnancy and an ad for birth control, or an article recommending various beauty products, and next to it a makeup ad. So if you can specifically request to have your ad placed somewhere, and someone checks that the request is met...why doesn't anyone catch something like this?

This is compliments of failblog.org. Great blog!