Super Bowl advertising price tag is about $4.5 million for a :30 spot for the game this Sunday

"If you build it, they will come" is a phrase most closely associated with the sport of baseball, and specifically the movie Field of Dreams. But that phrase is also appropriate when discussing the ever-growing success of football's Super Bowl coming up this weekend.

In good economies and bad, the total amount of advertising spending has had a steady increase year after year. This year will prove to be no different. The NFL has stumbled on an event, #49 this Sunday when New England plays Seattle, that is amazing thing to watch unfold.

The biggest audience, the best creative and the tension of an event combines into a marketers dream. The beauty of the Super Bowl is that the event means different things to different people. For me, the event is the game even if I am an advertising and marketing professional. But for many people, probably the majority that tune in each year, the event is the advertising and creativity on display.

The Wall Street Journal has compiled some great insight on the marketing associated with the Super Bowl. This year, a :30 spot in the game went for $4.5 million dollars. The mix of advertisers has changed over the years, including less automotive this year. There is no shortage of takers for the limited inventory to reach 100 million Americans. Click here to read the Wall Street Journal article written by Steven Perlbert and Willa Plank.

Can American consumers not handle an emotional advertising message?

If you go looking for trouble, eventually you are going to find it. This week, people on that quest has focused on McDonald's and a TV ad that they ran last weekend during the NFL games and on the Golden Globes. I was watching the football games last week and saw the ad as it ran. I had a reaction as well, but much different than those seeking controversy.

Click here to view and decide for yourself!

The TV spot in question showed a montage of McDonald's restaurant message signs, and the messages that they have conveyed over the years with a children's choir singing "Carry On" in the background. Most were very personal and touching, but a few placed focus on national tragedies. "We Remember 9-11" and "Boston Strong" were two that people found offensive.

Not only did I not find it offensive, I found it to be a moving tribute. I recall thinking at the time that this was McDonald's 2015 version of the classic Coke commercial "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing". Very positive, and a great branding commercial.

American's are funny about TV commercials. Perhaps we want to be moved to buy something but do not want to be moved emotionally. Is that possible? Sexual content is commonplace in commercials in Europe and Australia, but largely taboo in the U.S. And now a simple image within a McDonald's commercial is too much for some.

The AP's Candice Choi did an article about the reaction. You can get more details at:  http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mcdonalds-walks-fine-line-signs-170028992.html

Newspaper protects the First Admendment and scores a marketing win at the same time

To say that it is tough to publish a newspapers these days is a big understatement. The pressure comes from many different angles: owners/stockholders who want to make more money, digital competitors trying to take audience and diminished use of traditional print by consumers just to name a few.

Add in a crack-pot politician threatening to go against the First Admendment of the Constitution, and you've got the situation being faced by the Frederick News-Press in Frederick, Maryland. Local councilman Kirby Delauter decided recently to threaten court action if the local newspaper printed his name. Nevermind the Constitution which protects the press or any other rational thought, Delauter felt he was above the Bill of Rights.

Delauter has since apologized for threatening the reporter and the newspaper. But the lesson learned is in the reaction that the newspaper had to the initial issue. Their editorial, which they actually released online prior to print, was intended to achieve two goals; both of which they knocked out of the park in my opinion.

First, they wanted to send a message to Delauter, and any other hack politician for that matter, that the Constitution still matters, and the local newspaper still matters. My guess is this stand has been a huge win for the News-Press in their local marketplace. Like the politician or not, people tend to rally around when an official tries to bully people, or institutions in this case.

Also, this has been a huge plus for the newspaper with marketing. I'm in Indiana blogging about this, and found out about this situation from a local TV station. The web traffic they have been able to harness from this on some level has to mean money. More than money is the opportunity to show staffers and advertisers the power of their digital platform.

To truly appreciate the creativity put into the situation, you need to read the official editorial published about four days ago. You can read it on the Frederick News-Press website, at:  http://m.fredericknewspost.com/news/politics_and_government/kirby-delauter-kirby-delauter-kirby-delauter/article_da85d6f4-fa3c-524f-bbf6-8e5ddc0d1c0a.html?mode=jqm

It is a great editorial with some hidden jabs in it. For instance, if you take the first letter of each paragraph they form the name of the politician, Kirby Delauter.

Brilliantly done. Kudos.

Smarter retailing by businesses to target consumers without discounting too much in advertising messages

January 1 is always a highly optimistic day for all of us. A clean slate of a year in front of us, and hopefully perspective on the past year. Here's to a happy and prosperous New Year for us all.

Looking ahead to 2015 for marketing and advertising, one of the big trends to come will be the use of data to target advertising messages even more than we've seen in the recent past. This past holiday shopping season has several examples in it which I believe are big signs for the future.

The best example is Kohl's, at least in my household. It seems like we get Kohl's offers weekly through direct mail, in addition to their inserts in the daily newspaper. The direct mail often has the peal away sticker with a discount coupon. The longer you go between making purchases on your Kohl's credit card, the larger that discount sticker; topping out at 30% off I believe. While I don't have inside information on how Kohl's does their mailing and discount patterns, it seems obvious to me that they have tied in their marketing database with their credit card database, taking consumer spending habits and blending them with discount offers.

Kohl's is certainly not alone.

The Wall Street Journal's Shelly Banjo had a great article on how retailers are targeting offers to consumers to not only lure shoppers, but to also increase profit margins, average sale and more. The Wall Street Journal article is behind a paywall, but you can read it on Yahoo Finance.

Smart retailing will get more people in the store, but will also keep average sales higher since they are not offering deep discounts to consumers that are willing to pay full retail price. From the article:

A fifth of online shoppers are considered true “discount junkies,” people who make purchases only when plied with discounts, according to new data from AgilOne Inc., which works with 150 retailers to analyze customers’ purchases and predict their behavior. About 15% of shoppers generally pay full price for items and don’t bother searching for sales.

It is hard to predict what 2015 will have in store for us. I do believe retailing will continue to see difficulties, despite a solid retailing holiday season. As old-line retailers like Sears / K-Mart struggle to find black ink on their ledgers, smart retailing like described in this article might be a way to increase sales, traffic and profitability.

15 tips for business and leadership offered up by Pope Francis

Just before Christmas, I wrote about how I don't offer up the traditional memo any longer. I have great respect for the memo that Warren Buffett offered up to managers within Berkshire Hathaway, which proved that there is still a place in business for a well written memo from the top.

Hours after writing that post, I heard about another great memo for business leaders that was offered up over the past few days. It came from a much different source that business icon Buffett, but is quite possibly more relevant. It was the annual Christmas address from Pope Francis to the leaders of the Roman Catholic church, and what he called 15 ailments that are plaguing the Curia.

As I listened to a debate rage on Fox News about the thoughts of the Pope, I was struck that his concerns with the leadership at the Vatican were concerns most people would have about their own workplace. Once I got home, I did an online search and found an article written by Inc. Magazine's Graham Winfrey (twitter @GrahamWinfrey) that took a similar look at the business applications to the concerns expressed by the Pope.

Pope Francis touch on the following areas of concerns, which are most likely applicable to your operations on some level:

False indispensability
Workaholism
Corporate disillusionment
Perfectionism
Poor communication
Forgotten mission statement
Excessive competition
Institutionalization
Office gossip
Brownnosing
Isolationalism
Disgruntled-employee syndrome
Materialism
Office cliques
Power-hungry employees

Often I have said that churches need to think and act a little more like a business. That statement will not always sit well with some, and I don't suggest that a church must act like a business all the time. Acts of faith and spiritual callings do not fit into a business concept every time. But the list provided by Pope Francis is very translatable to the business world, and leaders (from the church and businesses) would do well to give consideration to the pitfalls laid out in his message.

Buffett's advise in year end memo: guard the reputation of your business and plan for the future

Memos have lost their place in the business place for the most part. I'll send a broadcast email, which is just another name for a memo I guess. I think when social media started compiling the worst / meanest memos of the year is when I officially stopped using the Microsoft Office template for memos and opted for gentler emails.

But the era of the company memo is alive and well in some businesses, including the empire of Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. Late last week, Warren sent out a memo to his 'All Star' managers throughout the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio including their media properties. 

Buffett hit the nail on the head in my opinion. 

Reputation is a top priority for any business, especially for journalist. Given the scandals that have impacted some publications, including recently with Rolling Stone magazine, managers and especially publishers must guard the reputation of  their outlet. Buffett's words struck such a chord with me that I read parts of his memo to some of my staff this week. I think parts of his semi-annual address should be shared with newspaper operations throughout the country.

The second big point in the Buffett memo was the need to plan for successors in your operation. This is another area for consideration by media outlets, especially newspapers. What is the average age of your newsroom and advertising department? In many newspapers across the country, the answer likely older than ever. The industry, largely because of its own bad press is struggling to attract young talent. At age 47, I still think I'm a younger leader than many in this business. 

What we are doing to attract and retain the best of the best? In my new position, I've been told repeatedly that recruitment is a top job priority for me. Just like sales for advertising, it is important to have a prospect funnel for new employees. It is not that you want to turn over your entire staff, but rather that you're prepared with when turnover happens. 

The Berkshire Hathaway memo talks about finding the next leader for the various business units receiving the note from Buffett. But that need to have plans in place for the next man (or woman) up should be the goal for your entire org chart.

The Wall Street Journal's Erik Holm and Anupreeta Das did a good job on the story. There is also a full reprint of the Buffett memo available at http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/12/19/buffett-reminds-his-top-managers-reputation-is-everything/?mod=e2fb

It is time for newspaper publishers to again hold their head high and regain a little of the old swagger

When I started selling advertising, for a radio station against newspapers, I found it easy to sell against newspaper reps. I worked harder and was more creative which gained the respect of accounts. There was no sense of entitlement in my eyes for the customer to get their business.

Newspaper reps were more into servicing their accounts, managing what they had which at the time was plentiful. Creativity happened occasionally but don't get use to an idea too often. Newspaper reps could be arrogant and felt all they needed to do was show up at the account to get the business. These bad habits, allowed for generations by newspaper publishers, is in part to blame for the situation newspapers find themselves.

Early in my sales career, at the very first daily newspaper I worked the publisher was not a people person. A chain smoking, hard headed liberal, the publisher was always in conflict with a more conservative community in which he did business. One afternoon, he made his way to my second biggest account; a furniture store run by a local Republican party leader. They have their words with each other with me watching. Finally the publishers turns to my customer and says, "Tom, if you don't like it get $3 million and start your own G** damn newspaper." And then storms out. The ability to control a small town by being the only media around created arrogant bullies, and made the newspaper business a quick and easy target for upstarts.

Clearly the world has changed since that time. Marketing and advertising has been turned upside down through a number of disruptive forces. Few newspapers and newspaper sales reps can continue with the old mentality and be effective in today's environment. The future of any media outlet rests in its ability to innovate and change as fast as it can. For media sales reps, being adaptive means learning new technology and finding ways for it to solve customer problems. The days of merely showing up and getting the money has past, but there is still money to be earned if you show up with good ideas and solutions.

I do long for some parts of the old days however. This industry must be more outward facing, and trying to help the community's we serve and the advertiser's we partner with if we are going to find success. But I do believe a little bit of swagger, if done in moderation and kept in check by reality would help!

Newspapers have beat themselves up to the point of being apologetic. The industry gets hung up on all that is wrong, and forgets what is right. In most cities and towns across the country, newspapers still hold a lock on the largest audience, the most influential audience with disposable income. The newspaper is still vital to the daily lives of millions, helps keep government in check, chronicles the success and failures in our communities and champion causes to make a difference. Newspaper websites are a main stop for people when they go online, and coupled with print provides as broad a coverage as anyone in most markets. http://www.naa.org/Trends-and-Numbers.aspx

My head is not in the sand. There is still plenty wrong with the current newspaper business model, and swift action is necessary. But in the midst of all the negative that surrounds the future, the legacy product still has a lot to offer.