Cold reception, but worth millions

Now my blog thusfar has been loaded with entries regarding General Motors and people are probably tired of reading them (those 2 that actually read this blog) (sorry thats an exageration, the 1 that reads this blog). Well i'm going to try to turn to a new topic that will dominate the blog.
Beer.

And what better way to go than probably one of the most covered news stories in all of Canada.......a beer billboard.

Yes, thats right. The wildfires and gangshootings in British Columbia have taken a backseat to a national crisis involving a Coors Light billboard. For full disclosure I am a coors light drinker and avid silver bullet fan. I am also a life west-coaster and find this whole matter hilarious.

Have a look and see if you can see whats making this newsworthy....



















If you guessed "Someone from Toronto saw it and took it personally" you are correct!

Yes, as soon as the complaints started pouring in, one of the complainees was smart enough to go to the papers and give Coors Light millions of dollars worth of free advertising because this story is literally in every paper, every blog, every news show i've seen yesterday and today. Not only that but there is a serious dislike for Toronto in general in British Columbia and many other provinces throughout Canada, so all this news is getting them serious street cred among the population.

The best part I think is that Coors Light is a Molson brand who is headquartered in Ontario and the creative was also done by a Toronto firm. Lets just say that this is brilliant execution in my mind and I don't think Coors Light is disappointed at all by the result.

I look forward to the response from a Toronto based beer company that actually has the balls to fire back at this ad. It won't be Sleeman's or another national brand that could turn BC residents off its beer, but i'm guessing a micro brew or a smaller company will have an answer.

I also think that Coors Light should turn this into a social media opportunity and have some contests for "What is the coolest Colder than slogan you have".

Here's my entry "Colder than your girlfriends stare when you crack your 6th coors light post game"

The death of print media

This topic is pretty prevalent in the news these days and is at the forefront of marketing discussions everywhere. Print media is dying and newspapers are not adapting to the new world quick enough to survive. I was watching the Daily Show with Jon Stewart the other day and as much as they create a satirical news program, they still do a good job reporting on some of the major issues in the world (albeit in a different form from traditional newscasts).

The show in question had a segment done by correspondent Jason Jones, fast forward to 4:30 of the clip, http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart/full-episodes/june-10-2009/#clip180782 (canadian version, for american go to Comedy Central June 10th, part 1). He went to the New York Times and talked with employees about the newspaper situation. He summed up the entire segment with this question to the Assistant Managing Editor of the paper "Why is aged news better than real time news?" and then asks the editor to "Give me one thing in there that happened today." He then finishes the interview by asking an editor "What's black and white and red all over?" the answer being the New York Times financial statements.

As entertaining as the clip is it raises good points for both sides of the argument. Newspapers don't deliver news in a timely enough manner for the new generation, they use rss feeds, blogs, online video, etc. From the newspapers point of view, you get people on the ground where the action is happening, experts in their area, and well versed/researched in the subject they are writing about. Which often times is not the case with a blog.

So, while the battle rages on, its becoming more and more evident that not long down the road the majority of newspaper presses will be coming to a stop as more and more people get their news electronically.

Magnifique Re-Gift!

After I just created my post on re-gifting your brand yesterday, this pops up

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/mar/02/pompidou-centre-vides-exhibition

An exhibit of nothing!

Now from what i've heard it is normal for there to be some empty rooms at the Pompidou Exhibition Centre because they don't always have pieces to put in them. So why not combine them all together and turn it into a PR landslide, by claiming it is actually a new exhibit!

No its not, it's an empty set of rooms. You can have as many artists saying it is a radical concept and explaining in their ramblings that it allows people to be "free for a moment to think about what we are going to do".

It's a series of empty rooms, because you didn't have anything to put there. Congratulations to your marketing team, a brilliant Re-gift. Not many people can pull off the re-gift of nothingness and turn it into a huge win for their company.