Nobody likes a Negative Nancy.
And believe me, coming from a guy like me who certainly does his share of ranting and complaining, I can understand how that might not have as much weight as I’d like to diplomatically think that it should, but just here me out on this one because although I may challenge the norm more than most, at least the bulk of those challenges include a varying viewpoint on my part with usually a good deal of thought and foresight put into not only the problem, but also an alternative solution – you’ve got to give me credit for that. With that said, this week we’re going to talk about something that I’ve been noticing more and more these days as I’m actually finding time to spend in front of the TV – negative advertising.
While none of us can stand all of the mud-slinging that goes on during the political campaigns we’re forced to endure every couple of years, it seems that more and more these days we’re also faced with hearing and watching that same grade-school level of drivel in traditional advertising from the massive corporations that fight day and night for our consumer dollars. Now it’s not enough to just say how good your own product is that you’ve also got to take a few stabs at the other guy in the process … just in case we didn’t already know for ourselves that your company makes the best pizza or provides the best cellular network in most major populated areas across the Continental United States. And of course, you know what they say – betcha can’t stab just one – before long, the ads are just about how much your competition sucks, followed by a shiny logo at the end reminding us that clearly your company is awesome. Where’s the creativity in that?!
Maybe it’s just easier to criticize than it is to come up with a worthwhile sale for yourself, but I have to wonder in the long run if it’s even more successful advertising than being original. I can say that at least with each and every one of the commercials that built up to actually inspire the writing of this column, exactly none of them managed to persuade me to switch over to the other guy. Maybe it’s just me, but it takes more than just twenty-two seconds of spite and slanted marketing data to sway my hard-earned dollars as an educated consumer, and I really don’t think I’m the only one who thinks this way. How’s about taking some of that negative energy and pouring it into making a really swell product or service, and then we’ll talk about earning my dollar…
So exactly which of your favorite commercials were those golden few that somehow managed to rub this agitated writer in all the wrong ways? Let’s break it down from worse to worst:
3. AllTel Wireless and Their “Circle of Friends”
These ads have actually been running for a while now, so we’ve seen a few different scenes, but the jest of them shows “sales reps” from all of the other major cellular providers hanging out together as they’re continuously wowed by just how awesome the AllTel guy has it. Free calling to your choice of people on any network, new Razrs … even though pretty much all of the carriers have them at this point, and lest we not forget that clearly they have the best cell plans of the whole bunch … according to them…
Of course, the truth of the matter is that you’re pretty much just trading one signature feature for another, and theirs happens to be their Circle of Friends. I agree that it’s a neat feature because it sounds easier than getting my most frequently-called friends to all switch to the same carrier, but you don’t have to tell me that my current provider sucks in the process. Up-selling your own services will have the same effect, and I’ll still know that I made the wrong choice without it being crammed down my throat.
2. Pizza Hut Sneaks a Bite with the Competition
Another friend among friends, this time Pizza Hut shares a slice with long-time rivals Domino’s and Papa John’s in their advertisement featuring alleged “delivery guys” from each of the chains digging into a Pizza Hut pizza, each boldly expressing how much better the pie is than their own brand before sheepishly covering their heads (or not…) and scurrying off back to work. It’s pretty much the AllTel marketing plan, only substitute adequate cellular service with adequate pizza.
Is this really the most innovative idea to come out of these high-dollar New York advertising agencies?! “What better way to sell our own product than to have our competition say that they’d prefer it to their own product…even though they never actually would do that in real life!” I can see it happening maybe once, but no copycats, folks – how’s about coming up with your own crappy idea for marketing pizza? Those ones with Jessica Simpson were pretty hot…
1. Verizon Online is Just BETTER THAN BRIGHT HOUSE NETWORKS!!
This one was actually a radio commercial that I heard the morning that I began writing this column and even before it was over, I knew that I hated it for two very distinct reasons: 1) I knew several of the “facts” to be false; and 2) plain and simply it was just very, very annoying. Throughout the entire ad, the actual name of their competition was partially “bleeped” so we heard *bleep* House this and *Bleep* House that – I don’t know if they were trying to be cute or clever, but neither were even close in my own personal experience.
But besides that, I guess I’ve just always considered most DSL promotions … at least from Verizon … to be pet peeves of mine simply because they claim to be something that they’re not – that is, better than cable. Now maybe I’ve just had extraordinarily good service with my cable providers both here in Florida (Bright House Networks) and in Northern Michigan (Charter Communications) because I’ve never had the outages that these DSL companies “warn us of” with cable and I’ve certainly never seen any drops in speed when our neighborhood begins “heavier simultaneous usage.” If anything, they’d still have an awful long ways to drop down from my 7mbps connection that I currently have to get down to the 768kbps – 3mbps connections that Verizon offers with their DSL services.
Hands down, I’m already a happy cable subscriber from the start, so this kind of negative advertising when you don’t even have a better product to back it up does nothing but further distance me as a potential customer from your brand. Sorry, guys…
So what do you think? Am I just being too sensitive by taking offense when the competition knocks my seemingly poor choice for any of these products and services, or would their marketing efforts be more effective if they focused a little less on what the other guys were doing wrong and more on all of the hard work that goes into making their own products what they are today? It’s always easy to attack the other guy, especially in a sales position where possibly you’re not really quite as awesome as you like to think you are, and it was certainly clear for me with each of the examples listed above because if you take a look at the competition for nearly all of these companies above, you don’t really see the same tactics at all. Verizon Wireless continues to keep with their theme of having the largest network in the country, because according to service areas they do; Papa Johns’ commercials tote their offering of better ingredients to create their signature pizzas and are doing well; and as for Bright House, well they’ve just sort of been hanging back at this point, seemingly to see if Verizon will just dig its own grave…which so far it seems to be doing just fine! As long as people know the difference between 3 and 7, I’ve got faith that they’ll continue to make the bright choice…
I know firsthand that being creative can be tough, but just like Momma always said after our days on the playground, you shouldn’t have to talk bad about somebody else to make yourself feel better. And I think that ultimately the same goes in the sales world as well – those who truly do have the better products will succeed, and those who are nothing more than hype and slander will fall to the wayside. Of course, there are always those in between that have so-so products and bad marketing schemes – like we’ve seen above – and I suppose they’ll just have to wait and see when the numbers come back to see if their efforts were worth the bad-mouthing.
I hope they weren’t.
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