Yes, I’m writing about Twitter again. (Or as I call it now, Xitter, pronounced Shitter. Thank you, James Fallows.) This time I’m poking my s’more fork into the dumpster fire that is that company’s new tagline, introduced abruptly and ill-advisedly last weekend. Read all about the inane “Blaze your glory!” [sic].
My previous Twitter-now-X story is here.
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On Tuesday, January 5, Rob Meyerson, creator of the How Brands Are Built website and podcast, asked on Twitter whether there’s “a word/phrase for when current events or culture ‘hijacks’ an otherwise OK brand name.” Rob cited Isis Mobile Wallet, which changed its name to Softcard in 2014 to avoid confusion with the terrorist group ISIS*; and Wix’s full-stack web development service Corvid (named for the bird species that includes crows), which had been confused with COVID-19 and which recently changed its name to Velo**. Wix released a clever video to announce the change.
Before the day was over, name developer Anthony Shore had come up two good ideas:
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Back in February, during the Before Time, I wrote about a billboard created by the Lincoln Project, a group of prominent anti-Trump Republicans.
The New Hampshire billboard
I was not, to put it diplomatically, a fan.
Last week the Lincoln Project made a much bigger splash with a one-minute video, “Mourning in America,” posted online. This week the spot appeared in three key broadcast markets: Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Fort Meyers-Naples, Florida; and the state of Ohio.
The ad looks a lot slicker than the billboard. Its creators claim it took only “a matter of hours” to produce, cost only $5,000, and got 1.5 million views before the three-state release. That sounds like an impressive return on investment.
But the ad falls apart under scrutiny. Let’s take a look at its three rhetorical failings.
Continue reading "Feeling sad about "Mourning in America"" »
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The Lincoln Project was launched in late 2019 by a group of high-profile Republicans (or ex-Republicans) who see the current president as “a clear and present danger to the Constitution and our Republic” and who seek to “defeat President Trump and Trumpism at the ballot box.” (Read more about the Lincoln Project.)
Worthy goals, supported by a sober, elegantly designed website.* So why were the Lincoln Project’s first ads, which appeared before this week’s New Hampshire primary election, such an amateurish bungle?
Continue reading "Bad political advertising: The Lincoln Project" »
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When is a billboard not a billboard? When it’s a freakin’ 227-word manifesto – 239 if you include the headline.
“This is our only billboard. We need it to say a lot.” No you don’t.
Yes, I counted the words in this screwy outdoor ad from Public Mobile, a Canadian wireless-telecom company. (I lifted the photo from Tim Nudd’s post on Adweek, which called the ad “clever.” I disagree.)
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I’ve been holding my tongue and staying my pen since January, when Fiverr – the online marketplace that matches skinflint budget-conscious business owners with freelancers willing to work for as little as $5 a gig* – launched its first ad campaign, “In Doers We Trust.” But my initial distaste for the ads has not faded with time.
“Dreamers, Kindly Step Aside.”
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My marketing brain knows this promoted tweet from Fruit of the Loom is supposed to be festive and funny. But my civilian brain finds it baffling and a little icky.
Undings are meant to be filled with underwear, no matter what style you plan on gifting. #NeverUndingFireplace pic.twitter.com/lMsy55fZla
— Fruit of the Loom (@FruitOfTheLoom) December 19, 2016
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In the last two and a half years, Thumbtack, which matches customers with local service professionals, has raised $255 million in funding. If the company had spent the merest fraction of that sum on a professional copywriter with an elementary understanding of how advertising works, it could have come up with something more effective than this existential shrug of a billboard.
“We don’t know.” <Shrug> 8th and Harrison streets, San Francisco
It’s not that I don’t get the tiny, unconvincing joke, O Hipster Ad Agency. Nothing rhymes with orange. Haha.
Here’s the thing (and it pains me to have to point this out):
Billboards are meant to grab your attention in a split-second. They’re not supposed to be convoluted in-jokes. They’re supposed to sell.
And they’re supposed to sell your stuff. Not roses, not “this billboard,” not even florists or poets. If you’re Thumbtack, you want people who see your ad to grok the glories of Thumbtack.
At the risk of repeating myself: We don’t know? Are you effing kidding me? Your website says you’re “reshaping local economies.” You’re “getting things done.” If you don’t know, who does?
And finally: Why is the most important message – “Hire skilled pros for absolutely everything” – in the tiniest type?
A good ad should make you smile in instant recognition. It should be memorable and motivational. It should leave you with a positive impression of the advertiser.
It shouldn’t make you feel like your soul’s been sucked out of your body and sacrificed to the gods of snark.
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Previously in Bad Advertising of the Bay Area:
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And yet, somehow, it did.
Outdoor ad for Lyft. Harrison between 8th and 9th streets, San Francisco, January 30, 2016.
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I enjoy a little word puzzle as much as, or maybe more than, the next public-transit user. But two Bay Area bus-shelter signs, both for worthy nonprofit organizations, go beyond puzzling to confounding.
Here’s the first one:
SF Environment, Fillmore Avenue, San Francisco, April 26, 2015.
“Do You Really Want the City 7 x 7 x 7?” asks this poster. I stood in front of it for a couple of minutes, trying to stitch together “Do you really want the city” and “7 x 7 x 7.” What could it possibly mean?
Mull it over while I show you the other ad.
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