[The Product Is You* is an occasional Murketing series collecting advertising that is aimed at advertisers: Magazines or television networks packaging up their consumers — that is, you, the potential ad target — in ways designed to attract advertisers. ]
Meredith, publisher of magazines such as Better Homes, Parents, More, and ReadyMade, and operator of various associated online properties, here explains to potential advertisers the reason they should buy space in the Meredith universe. If you are among the “75 million women” that the ad states are Meredith’s audience, that reason is you.
Often you the media audience are pitched to potential advertisers with statistics or catchphrases. Here, a visual dominates. Read more
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The Product Is You
This post was written by Rob Walker on December 3, 2009
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[The Product Is You* is an occasional Murketing.com series collecting advertising that is aimed at advertisers: Magazines or television networks packaging up their consumers — that is, you, the potential ad target — in ways designed to attract advertisers. ]
Just as Bravo pushes the idea that its viewers are “affluencers” (well-off and inflential people, desirable to advertisers), the WE network concocts a name for those who watch its programming: They are “I Do-ers.” Does this mean they are overly willing to get married??
Not exactly. Read more
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The Product Is You
This post was written by Rob Walker on November 25, 2009
Comments Off on The Product Is You, No. 16
[The Product Is You* is an occasional Murketing series collecting advertising that is aimed at advertisers: Magazines or television networks (or in this case a Web company) packaging up their consumers — that is, you, the potential ad target — in ways designed to attract advertisers. ]
In today’s installment, Yahoo enlightens the advertising public (meaning the public that is made up of advertising/marketing people) about its users. The pitch explains: “We built it for him; Now it’s all about YOU!” That is, Yahoo is “all about” potential advertisers.
Above, a fellow I will call Yahoo Dude. And below, Yahoo Mom. They’re a somewhat disconcerting pair in that Yahoo Dude, even at a glance, seems a bit feckless to be a father. Kind of like that Levi Johnston guy. And Yahoo Mom looks about the same age. Or maybe she’s younger — sort of a Juno vibe? (I never actually saw Juno.) Anyway I don’t think we’re supposed to see them as a couple.
Point is: More after the jump.
Read more
[The Product Is You* is an occasional Murketing series collecting advertising that is aimed at advertisers: Magazines or television networks packaging up their consumers — that is, you, the potential ad target — in ways designed to attract advertisers. ]
In today’s installment, Rob, 37, stands in as the consumer that advertisers want. Look at him. He’s a loving father of course. And he has a pretty nice house. Probably a good amount of disposable income, too. You can get a hint of how he’s disposed of it by admiring his sunny kitchen.
“His job keeps him busy.” Rob, 37, has work. The income is coming in. Where will he dispose of it next?
I don’t know if it’s Rob’s day off and he feels compelled to keep up with work even during his quality time with the kiddo, or perhaps he just works at home. Either way, Rob, 37, is one of “those who matter.” You want him to “spend quality time with your brand.”
Most Product Is You advertising comes from specific media venues, such as a cable network. But Rob, 37, is one of those elusive consumers whose media habits aren’t so easily pinned down. This ad explains how the advertised company can help brand-owners “target your audience at scale across multiple channels.”
This service allows you to “place your message carefully,” so that you’ll reach him even if he is, oh, let’s say, spending time with his daughter, while surfing the Web, or whatever. This looks looks like a happy moment. Maybe your brand should be part of it. “Our platform puts your brand where consumers live online,” this ad tells marketers. “So you and your audience can enjoy a whole lot of togetherness.”
That’s what this service is for. It’s there so that Rob, 37, can spend quality time with his daughter, and your brand. A whole lot of it.
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The Product Is You
This post was written by Rob Walker on September 21, 2009
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[The Product Is You* is an occasional Murketing series collecting advertising that is aimed at advertisers: Magazines or television networks packaging up their consumers — that is, you, the potential ad target — in ways designed to attract advertisers. ]
The message here is that a potential advertiser might be under the impression that ESPN watchers (like you, perhaps) have brains clogged with information about sports, and sports only. Not so, this ad argues: They also think about products. In fact watching ESPN and thinking about sports makes them think about products (and think about products flows seamlessly back into thinking about sports.
For example, a thought train from Boston Celtics to Fighting Irish flows naturally to Lucky Charms, to cereal in general, to orange juice, and then to the Orange Bowl. The message is that if you watch ESPN, that’s how your brain works. It is all connected in your buzzing brain. Wouldn’t a Potential Advertiser want to fling its brand into that buzz?
* Related: Gladys Santiago has a Tumblr on related matters: Advertising To Advertisers. Steve Portigal has a somewhat related post, “Personas Leaking Outside The Enterprise.” Check ’em out.
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The Product Is You
This post was written by Rob Walker on August 31, 2009
Comments Off on The Product Is You, No. 13
[The Product Is You is an occasional Murketing series collecting advertising that is aimed at advertisers: Magazines or television networks packaging up their consumers — that is, you, the potential ad target — in ways designed to attract advertisers.
Been quite a while since I posted one of these, but I had a chance recently to clear out my office and in the process discovered some examples I’d set aside. Here’s one. It’s an ad targeting potential advertisers on the History Channel.
“There is a type of consumer that advertisers crave,” this History Channel promotion tells members of the marketing profession. “He’s hard to find, but not if you know where to look.”
The idea is that you will find them watching the History Channel, and that’s where you should tell your corporate clients to buy ad time. Here are some attributes of the “consumer that advertisers crave”: Read more
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The Product Is You
This post was written by Rob Walker on August 17, 2009
Comments Off on The Product Is You, No. 12
I really didn’t think Bravo and Oxygen would run this type of marketing campaign this year because of the economic climate, but I guess “affluencers, trenders, spenders, and recommenders” don’t know the meaning of the word downsize.
Click “all sizes” for more detail and to read the fine print. The graffiti is courtesy of a very insightful straphanger.
Thanks GladiolaBean.
[The Product Is You is an occasional Murketing series collecting advertising that is aimed at advertisers: Magazines or television networks packaging up their consumers — that is, you, the potential ad target — in ways designed to attract advertisers. Previous installments here.]
Here, in an from a trade journal, some insight into how Fuse, a cable music channel, thinks about its viewers. Regarding this “brand groupie,” we learn that: “Everything in her life is influenced by her music.” Thus, Fuse is the place to influence her — to “captivate trendsetting adults, 18-34.”
[The Product Is You is an occasional Murketing series collecting advertising that is aimed at advertisers: Magazines or television networks packaging up their consumers — that is, you, the potential ad target — in ways designed to attract advertisers. Previous installments here.]
A recent CNBC campaign touting its audience to potential advertisers emphasizes (once again) that those audience members are supposedly rich. The point is made repeatedly, juxtaposing the high-end version of some thing (a watch, kobe beef, Faberge egg, fancy car) against the mass version. You, the CNBC viewer, are special. Why? Because you have money to burn. According to these ads, anyway. The ad above and below says that “97 percent of CNBC viewers own securities with an average value of $1,631,000.” Another says the average CNBC watcher has a net worth that “exceeds $2.7 million.” All the ads use the phrase that matters most to potential advertisers: “purchasing power.”
Read more
[The Product Is You is an occasional Murketing series collecting advertising that is aimed at advertisers: Magazines or television networks packaging up their consumers — that is, you, the potential ad target — in ways designed to attract advertisers. Previous installments here.]
Here, another blunt example of the exchange these ads elucidate: The advertiser is invited to “buy” a CNBC household, and in this case the attraction (per the pitch at least) is obvious — such households are full of people with money. So much money they have a guesthouse. If metaphors don’t cut it, the boast about wealthy viewers is spelled out on a second page.
[The Product Is You is an occasional Murketing series collecting advertising that is aimed at advertisers: Magazines or television networks packaging up their consumers — that is, you, the potential ad target — in ways designed to attract advertisers. Previous installments here.]
Comedy Central’s 2005 appeal to advertisers who seek to sell things to women … or chicks. Claims of increased viewership among women in various age groups suggest the network is “red hot with women.”
[The Product Is You is an occasional Murketing series collecting advertising that is aimed at advertisers: Magazines or television networks packaging up their consumers — that is, you, the potential ad target — in ways designed to attract advertisers. Previous installments here.]
This somewhat recent summation by Seventeen Magazine of who its readers are, and why advertisers want to reach them, is a model of the form. The first page panders to the marketing-world viewpoint that today’s teens are incredibly difficult to understand, practically another life form, and whatever “your idea of teens” is, it’s wrong. Then page two brushes aside the entire notion that teens are scary aliens — or at least the teens who read Seventeen aren’t. In fact, they are consumption machines. They have money to burn, and you need to get your brand in their face right away. By advertising in Seventeen, of course.
After the jump, a second ad from the same campaign further reassures potential advertisers that not only is the Seventeen reader jarringly shopping-mad, but so are her friends — and she works hard to make sure they follow her example. Read more
[The Product Is You is an occasional Murketing series collecting advertising that is aimed at advertisers: Magazines or television networks packaging up their consumers — that is, you, the potential ad target — in ways designed to attract advertisers. Previous installments here.]
Here is a Channel 1 ad, promising those who would advertise on the in-school television network that doing so will “connect teens to your brand.” What sort of teens does Channel 1 have to offer? Apparently the sort of teen who is concerned about such issues as high gas prices. But the key is why is concerned: “I have to spend my money on gas and not other things I’d like to buy.” He is tuned in to the big issues of the day — because he recognizes that they might have an effect on his personal consumption habits. Perfect.
[The Product Is You is an occasional Murketing series collecting advertising that is aimed at advertisers: Magazines or television networks packaging up their consumers — that is, you, the potential ad target — in ways designed to attract advertisers. Previous installments here.]
In recognition of the recent reports that Jane Magazine is shutting down, two examples of how the publication characterized its readers to potential advertisers.
[The Product Is You is an occasional Murketing series collecting advertising that is aimed at advertisers: Magazines or television networks packaging up their consumers — that is, you, the potential ad target — in ways designed to attract advertisers. Previous installments here.]
This is from a couple of years ago, but I’ve hung onto it because it’s one of my favorite examples of the transaction being proposed: Hey advertiser, we would like to sell you this guy.
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