dog, the discount shopper
Monday, I mentioned the new JCPenney lame in Quick Thoughts (here comes the “more” even sooner than expected). If you didn’t watch the video there, watch below. It’s about five (long) minutes:
Men are fuckwads in need of women to scold them until they realize the awe inspiring power of giving them (discount) diamonds. Oh how stupid men are and how patient and nurturing women are. What a great world of redundant stereotypical this is. (Yawn.)
Marketing is desperate for something new because no one cares anymore. Sarcastic, absurd and subversive campaigns are all they’ve managed. Now, as @alisamleo says on The Web is Social, they have far more powerful tools and are still coming out with this lame. (Seems it should be easier to sell the world’s most prolific consumers more stuff.)
I’ve gone into the “diamond issue” before so I’ll just ask: are we, as consumers, supposed to be swayed by pathetic, sexist, buzz-word-marketing afterthoughts like this? If so, here’s how every marketing meeting from now ’til you’re dead will go down:
Boss: Our sales are knee-deep and the holiday season predictions are dismal. What do you have for me? Think out of the box people! Take it to another level.
Marketing manager: (Stands up, totally stoked to prove he’s on a new level) We’ve already started running with the concept. We have an incredibly long commercial because we aren’t constrained by television airtime. We’ll put it on a promotional microsite—my daughter loved Out-of-Your-League-Girl. It’ll go viral in no time. We’ve got great visuals and incessent, repetitive talking points to really drive it home.
Marketing underling: (Excitedly passes note that reads, “tell him about the [interactive feature]“)
Marketing manager: We’ve even got another section of the site that will display uploaded photos and SMS messages. It’ll be great for those users that fit easily into one-dimensional architypes.
Boss: (After making a series of checks onto his notepad list titled: “Buzz-isms”) Is it web 2.0? What about Facebook?
Marketing underling: I have a profile. We could…
Marketing manager: They have [Feature like Facebook Connect] now. We can add it to the site and have users add their contacts so we can then draw them to the site. It’s a call to action that will viral all over the outside of the box!Boss: Sounds incredible. Go with it. Keep it simple.
Marketing underling: We could use it to add social features and create an experience…
Boss: That’s not keeping it simple. You’ve lost me. Stick to the “add contacts” thing.
Marketing underling: … but how does that engage the audience, develop a relationship?
Boss, Marketing manager: (In unison) I don’t understand the question