Still Advertising a Printed Newspaper

On television the other day, an advertisement was airing for the San Jose Mercury Newspaper. Touting it as an inexpensive option to other daily purchases, the voice over listed the benefits of the newspaper; "and all that for less than 50 cents a day."

In my opinion, it would seem the effectiveness of the advertisements to draw readers to the daily print paper would be minimal at best. It appears the way of the printed paper is dead and will continue to lose subscribers on an annual basis for some time to come. The money could rather be spent for some advertising and branding efforts for the Newspaper's online presence.

The newspaper company could probable make more money from online advertisements over the next 5 than compared to print. Additionally the branding campaign could help establish the newspaper's online presence for the local area.

Some Poor Combo Branding

This past week, Combo snacks began a new advertising campaign. These advertisements depicted an over weight, 30ish male posing questions to his mother (who was actually a 50 something male dressed in women’s clothes). The careless “mom” practically ignored the childish son, but rather was enthralled by how they were able to get all the cheese in the middle of the pretzel. The tag-line being; “What your mother would feed you if she was a man.”

With all the advertising going on these days, I understand trying to carve out a niche market and trying to own a piece of the consumer’s mind, but really? The “food your mother would feed you if she was a man” is not a market that this snack company should be carving out. Campbell’s has done a good job using the mothers of NFL stars to sell their Hearty soups, but do so in a positive light.

America today is a health conscious consumer. I’m not only scared to look at the health facts on the back of the snack bag, but seeing two overweight men is not something that most consumers want to imagine themselves as; especially recalling the obesity when choosing a snack, either at the grocery or convenience store.

A much better branding route would be how impressed friends would be when the see the snack at a Super Bowl party or the great taste in one small Combo. How many pretzels do you see being advertised on television, not many, that’s the market to carve out… how about something along the lines of “It’s a pretzel with flavor” or “A pretzel never tasted so good.”

Own the pretzel market, not the overweight, unattractive market.

Comparison Advertising Done on a Mac

Apple recently released a series of advertisements comparing the Macs against PCs. Along with revolutionary spots back with their first television commercial, Apple’s more recent iPod commercial advertising has helped strengthen its image of a company that doesn’t align with the masses and helps people to express their true personalities. In past, comparison advertising has helped other companies position themselves against the leader in the industry, just as these new ads help strengthen Apple’s brand as an alternative to PC computers.

In recent years, Miller beer has run attack ads against Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser and other beers, by touting that Miller had half the amount of carbs as Budweiser and that Miller tastes better according to a taste test. These commercials in turn received attention because Anheuser-Busch did something rare as the industry leader, it responded with its own line of ads taking direct aim at Miller. Usually the industry leader will not acknowledge the comparison advertisements publicly because it just further helps gain publicity for the smaller company.

One of the more famous comparison advertisements campaigns was when Avis launched its “We try harder” campaign in the early 1960s. With Hertz as a clear leader in the industry, Avis tried to answer the question that consumers had to be asking themselves, ‘Why rent from Avis?’ Avis conveyed that because it wasn’t the leader in the industry, the company couldn’t afford any mistakes that would leave the customer dissatisfied with their service. Avis made it clear to consumers the differences between itself and Hertz and the results were impressive. This branding effort helped Avis tripled their market share in five years and established itself within the industry.

In a style only Apple could pull off, these commercials have two actors representing Mac and PC computers as they discuss how they deal with common issues known to occur on the more popular PCs and how the Mac handles more difficult problems with ease. By simplifying the representation of computers, Apple is able to clearly state why the Mac is more user friendly and less problematic then the industry leading PC platform. The commercials help answer the consumers question ‘if everyone else uses a PC, then why would I want to buy a Mac?’



Apple’s campaign takes direct aim at its only competitor and industry leader. These advertisements help build on the frustrations of many PC users and identify why so many consumers have taken to the ease and simplicity of the Macs. By making the direct omparison, Apple has helped strengthen its brand as a company of self expression and simplicity.

(You can watch a few of the ads here)