Crowdsource or Crowdscorn?
May 3rd, 2013
While a debate on the merit of crowdsourcing may not warrant the kind of air-time or personal reflection that say, a debate on gun-control, gay marriage, or the latest layout change to Facebook might, it does make for a good discussion on the relationship between innovation, human capacity and technology.
As far as buzzwords go in the marketing world, “crowdsourcing” isn’t exactly new. First coined in 2006 by venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson, the word was originally used to refer to “a collective effort to manage an online discussion forum on flickr,” though it is now used more generally to refer to any sort of crowd-based outsourcing, as the portmanteau implies. Crowdsourcing itself is much older, however, and notably, pre-Internet, with examples like the completion of the original Oxford English Dictionary through millions of individual submissions by the community. Most recently, crowdsourcing has found itself above the fold as people tried to help identify Boston bomber suspects via Reddit, an open Internet forum, and less direly, for the selection of a logo for the nascent College Football Playoff. Read the rest of this entry »
Lessons From a So-Called “Controversial” Sponsorship
April 16th, 2013
Google “NRA 500” and the leading responses won’t be about Kyle Busch’s victory at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday evening. 
In fact, the headlines won’t even be about what many saw as a controversial sponsorship by powerful gun rights organization, the National Rifle Association. Rather, in a twist of irony worthy of Poe, the headlines are all about the man who took his life with a gun following an altercation in the infield at the NRA 500.
At DeepThoughts, we try to stay inside our lane of expertise, so rest assured, we’re not going to try to tackle the issue of gun violence in this post. However, the incident shines a spotlight even brighter on the role of sponsorship and the responsibility that comes with it.
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Which Brands Made DEEP Connections With Their Super Bowl Ads?
February 5th, 2013
In the broadest of contexts, the slate of Super Bowl XLVII ads was an impressive collection of strategic, fun, and in several cases, memorable marketing communication. I felt even stronger about the efforts after taking a second look at each ad that appeared during the game. By and large, the advertising seemed a bit smarter overall;
fewer sophomoric spots, fewer animal gags, and more ties to an actual brand position. That’s progress in my book even if I wasn’t constantly bowled over during the game itself.
As we’ve done the past three years, we like to analyze the spots that do a particularly great job of connecting a brand its audience, whether that audience is extremely broad or more targeted. And, for fun, we like to call out a few that we think just missed the mark. Read the rest of this entry »
THE NHL IS BACK! For the third time.
January 24th, 2013
I am not, contrary to the beliefs of my coworkers, the only person who cares about hockey in the United States, or Canada for that matter, and the NHL is very – let me repeat – very concerned about winning back the favor of its fans after the 2012 lockout. Interesting to note, however, is that depending on what newspaper or column you read today, the NHL either has “work to do” to win back “hardened fans” or there really isn’t much to worry about since fans are “in a frenzy” with the sport’s return.
Let me be the first to volunteer that I am not in a frenzy. I’m not saying I’m unhappy the NHL is back, or that the owners aren’t trying to do right by the fans (and especially the season ticket holders), but all of it just seems so transparent and so…forced. Oh, you’re giving away 1,000 signed Chicago Blackhawks jerseys over the next 99 days? That’s great, but I’d rather have had you keep the swag and give me the other 34 games of the ’12-’13 season and the Winter Classic back. Oh, you’re running a lottery for a “unique experience” with a Hawks player? How about the unique experience of being a hockey fan without a constant fear of labor stoppage?
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5 DEEP Considerations for Athlete Endorsement — Revisited
January 17th, 2013
Even without the Oprah couch confessional, the Lance Armstrong drama is significantly newsworthy both from a sports and celebrity standpoint. It’s never been our intent here at DeepThoughts to get too far outside our lane and dive into the more sordid issues at play. However, given the swiftness that Mr. Armstrong’s vast array of sponsors dumped him (Anheuser-Busch, Nike, 24-Hour Fitness, Trek Bikes, et al) and recognizing that his attempts at rehabilitation (including a modicum of honesty) are geared toward once again competing in something, we felt that it was a good time to revisit our “5 DEEP Considerations” list for athlete endorsement.
Almost two years ago, DEEP published its “5 DEEP Considerations for Athlete Endorsement” on our DeepThoughts blog page as the Tiger Woods scandal was exploding. Our intent then, as it is now, was not to advise marketers how to deal with a scandal or to suggest to athletes how to better manage their own personal brand. Rather it was to alert marketers to what needed to be considered before entering into an endorsement deal.
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Why Market Through Sports
January 14th, 2013
According to a recently released IEG 2013 forecast, overall sponsorship spending is expected to grow 5.5% up to $19.94 billion, fueled largely by a significant jump in sports sponsorship. This projected increase is significantly higher than the last four years, not all that surprising since the economy has been shaking itself out of a deep recession. There are however a few interesting takeaways when considering this report in relation to the overall sponsorship landscape:
• The absence of a major non-annual event in 2013 such as an Olympic Games or World Cup makes the projected record growth even more impressive; surprising in fact.
• Sponsorship never really saw the tumble many expected. While the market favored the “buyer” or the brand marketer for a while after the financial collapse, there was not a mass exodus from sponsorship many anticipated. Read the rest of this entry »
Big Where It Counts
November 19th, 2012
DEEP ALLIANCE MARKETING, at its core, is a small business. While our service-based offering may not translate as well to commercials for banks than, say, a restaurant or cupcake shop, we are at heart and in reality, a small business. We understand full well what we’re up against in the marketplace. And, we completely embrace that. We revel in being small, but we are big where it counts: providing creative marketing solutions to our clients and delivering superior execution and value.
That’s why we are quite fond of the efforts of American Express to institutionalize and celebrate Small Business Saturday. I’m certain that if polls were taken today, Small Business Saturday’s approval rating would crush Black Friday, while slightly edging out Cyber Monday. Whereas many people avoid Black Friday like the black plague, 93% of consumers believe it’s important to support the local small businesses that they value in their community and 89% said they believe small businesses positively contribute to their local communities. All of us at DEEP would have to agree.
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Reflections on the Ryder Cup
October 8th, 2012
A couple of weekends ago, I checked off an item that had been on the sports event subset of my bucket list for longer than I’ve known what a bucket list was. And I didn’t even have to go far to collect this particular prize. Thanks to the PGA of America’s ostensible love of the Midwest, the 2012 Ryder Cup was played at Medinah Country Club, a spectacular golf mecca cozily located in Chicago’s northwest suburbs.
The Ryder Cup is like no other sporting event. If I wasn’t still in semi shock from the American meltdown during the Sunday singles matches, I could probably write for hours just on the emotional roller coaster ride the Ryder Cup takes you on.
But the Ryder Cup is loaded with storylines so we’re going to take a swing at a few related to the business side.
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Packers Linebacker stars in new ATI Physical Therapy ad from DEEP
August 27th, 2012
Check out A.J. Hawk, linebacker of the Green Bay Packers, as he highlights the benefits of ATI Physical Therapy in a new commercial written and produced by DEEP in conjunction with Bill O’Neil.
I Stand With NBC
August 2nd, 2012
If time has taught me anything in this business, or really, if time in the 21st post-invention-of-the-Internet century has taught me anything, it’s that people like to talk. And talk they do, given the fantastically accessible mouthpieces afforded to them via Facebook and Twitter. From the wildly passionate dissent over U.S. Olympic apparel not being made in the USA, to the much-hyped and little-materialized London security concerns, to the most recent #NBCfail debacle, I have to wonder – how did people defuse all this fury when they couldn’t spend hours and hours callously smacking away at the keyboard about how awful everything is?
To dig deeper into the tape-delay conversation, which in most cases does begin as a legitimate discussion, I can understand the frustration of having major Olympic events “spoiled” for you. It’s happened to me about 14 times this week while working on client projects. At the same time, just how catastrophic is it that NBC has “hidden” primetime Olympic coverage from me all day…while I am supposed to be hard at work in the office anyway? Not to mention that with a little legwork, you can get the necessary information from your cable provider to stream the Games live, if you so choose.
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