Jumpin’ Jehosaphat Jacksonville Jaguars!
I don't fault Jones-Drew one bit for wanting to renegotiate. He's 27. He's in the prime of his career and a franchise player, playing a position with a very short shelf-life. He's the face of the franchise and receiving mediocre pay. Aside from that, Jacksonville could use more marquis players that spend their careers exclusively in Jacksonville, a la the beloved Fred Taylor. Jacksonville could be the new Mecca for runningbacks the way that Penn State markets themselves as Linebacker U or the way my alma mater, Southern Illinois University markets the defensive effort put forth by their tenacious defense on the basketball court as “Floor Burn U”.
Gene Smith, as general manager, is granted an enormous amount of clemency due to the fact that we have a novice owner, and he can leverage his knowledge and experience in his favor. Not only would releasing or trading MOJO result in poor fan reaction and possibly turnout, but it would change the culture of football in Jacksonville, and that's a very dicey thing to do. Without being too heavy-handed with the econometrics, it makes financial sense to give MOJO the contract extension he seeks (around 4 years with elevated salary and some performance incentives should do). You can even include in the contract that he MUST always appear at mini-camp and other optional team activities.
This blog is meant to be two-fold…shedding light on a flawed advertising campaign, and for me, as a 3rd party to parlay my wisdom to the business public and pray to the football Gods that Gene Smith or other top executives within the Jaguar organization read this and elect to alter their perceptions of the current situation facing our beloved Jaguars. Come what may, I will always be a Jags fan to the end.
Efficiency is Key
The message I really want to convey in this blog, is KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GOOD AT and CAPITALIZE on it. Typically what we enjoy doing is something we excel in doing. America, for instance has long been trending toward a service economy from a manufacturing economy. Some people get a little disheartened that nothing is made in the USA anymore, but I'm here to tell you, FEAR NOT. If you're not outsourcing your manufacturing, you may not be taking full advantage of this highly competitive global market. First, consider the success of your business. If your business thrives, you can employ more people, thus creating jobs for Americans. These employees of yours will not be manufacturing anymore like the days of old, BUT you can focus on web development, marketing, logistics, etc… The USA no longer enjoys a comparative advantage in manufacturing (largely due to high labor costs and high overhead costs). This doesn't mean, you can't take full advantage of the global market.
Let us assume that you're an aspiring clothing designer. It would be in your best interest to design locally, while manufacturing your garments in a poorer country where they will be happy to receive the work, and have the skilled labor to carry out your order. These less developed nations have a comparative advantage in the manufacture of textiles. Once you receive your high quality shipment of fashionable clothing, you can market your product, set up a distribution center, and sell your product. As you can see, the goal doesn't need to be made in America, it needs to be SOLD in America.
Mobile Advertising is Taking Over
Where do you spend your ad dollars? With online usage jumping through the roof the past couple years, advertisers now have to consider this as a means of advertising. After reading an article by Richard Ting on theAtlantic.com I thought about these changes to the advertising world, and was able to put some numbers to it. People are now spending about 10% of their media time on their smartphones, but only 1% of ad-dollars is being spent on mobile ads. To compare this to what is spent on print, people spend 7% of their media time with print, but 25% of ad-dollars are being spent here. Just looking at these numbers, we can see a problem. As we know, print has been on its way out, not only because of the mobile web, but because of the web in general. But these numbers would make you think it hasn't gone anywhere.
More than 2/3 of the time spent on a mobile phone is now used for something other than talking. Mobile is making moves to surpass TV as their main source of entertainment (not to mention that you can now watch some forms of TV on your smartphone). This is the way entertainment is headed and advertising has to move with it.
Spending on the mobile web has gotten much easier. As stated earlier, it isn't just ads on mobile sites anymore, its in between a round of Words with Friends, in between songs on Pandora, and of course there's Facebook. Not to mention, this is still just the early years as far as smart phones and mobile web, we have a long way to go. So, if you haven't already jumped on the bandwagon, now might be a good time to try.
Creativity or Client Needs.. Which comes first?
While reading a recent article in Ad Age, I noticed the author's plea to not drop innovation and creativity just because the client does not ask for it. The ability to come up with great ideas is the whole reason we are in this business. Most anyone can do 'research' to find ways to 'best' the competition, but creativity and ideas come very specific to particular minds. That's how inventions are stumbled upon; innovation is our “standard” at Mad Men Marketing. If the only constant is change, then how can we thrive on anything but ideas?!
Creativity is typically the main reason companies shop for agencies in the first place. Not to see who's come up with the best analytics, or how you can beat your competition on the battle field of sales… but who is the most creative with their thoughts, ideas and execution along with their ability to conceive of something no one has ever seen before – therefore giving you the edge no bar graph can.
SO, give agencies a chance. Let us do what you hire us for… And if you didn't shop an agency with creative intention, hear them out every once and a while, they might surprise you – and if they don't… well then, maybe you're with the wrong agency. Bigger isn't always better.
GM partners with Manchester United
This change comes with a change in advertising for Chevrolet to a new advertising agency, Commonwealth. They replace the approximately 70 agencies that have worked on advertising for Chevrolet. They have changed up their thinking and are working to create more effective spending. An example of that is the 20 or so TV commercials pumped out for the Chevy Cruze, when only a half dozen were needed, as stated by Chief Marketing Officer for GM, Joel Ewanick.
Manchester United has long been one of the most popular soccer teams in the world. With 659 million followers, they are easily the most popular club in the world. For example, in a regular season game featuring Manchester United versus fellow EPL great, Manchester City, there was a recorded 600 million viewers, and compare that to the 110-115 million viewers of the Super Bowl in recent years. Looking at these numbers, it's easy to say they made the right choice here.
In other soccer and GM related news, GM has recently announced a plan to donate 1.5 million indestructible soccer balls all over the world (137 countries have already received soccer balls). This is a part of the project One World Futbol which started in 2010.