Who is Jane Hambleton?
Prior to January 8, 2008, a blog search on Google would not have yielded any non-spam results for Jane Hambleton. In the three days since then, she’s had 400 or more blog posts that address her directly.
The Google News results are similar. Nothing notable at all prior to January 8, 2008. Since then, over 150 articles have been written about her.
How’d it all start? Jane Hambleton, first described as a disc jockey in local papers, and later self-described on national television as a copywriter, Jane wrote less than 50 words to sell a car she had in her possession.
The ad read as follows:
OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don’t love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet.
And where did she advertise these words? Not on a billboard, not as part of a massive marketing campaign, and not exclaimed over loud speakers to a large live audience. Ms. Hambleton posted a classified ad in the Des Moines Register newspaper.
If good copywriting isn’t part of your marketing mix, it certainly should be. Just look at the results!
Corporate Social Media Strategy - Sprint Ahead
The corporate social media strategy embraced by Sprint is very attractive to me, (as was their Sprint flashlight ad), and puts them directly at odds with the branding of Cingular and AT&T as “The New AT&T”. It is discussed at Phone News, that the ads, “don’t tell you one good reason to go with Sprint over anyone else.” While this is true, I do not see that as a fundamental flaw in the advertising campaign. The new Waitless.org site is pretty cool. I disagree that it “establishes [no] more than a tenuous link to Sprint.” I encourage you to see where your time goes each day with their “calculate your time” tool, and then discover how to live a more productive lifestyle.
People switch networks for a number of reasons. The only reason I am going to switch from one carrier to another, is based on the network and the price. I am not one to switch my network to purchase a brand new iPhone, (available only on AT&T). This ad campaign has the potential to grab people on many different fronts. The fact that they haven’t indicated pricing points or innovative phones or other reasons to go with Sprint over another network does not mean it isn’t a good ad campaign. And it is, in fact, a great viral marketing campaign. Sending an e-card is generally boring, (though I quite like them at Sprint Sweets, minus the long load time). Showing people something, like how to take off a shirt quickly, chill soda, or parallel park, is engaging because it is humorous, entertaining, and creative, while sticking to their “sprint ahead” and lifehacking branding.
I applaud this corporate social media strategy and effort, and look forward to seeing them incorporate reasons to switch as the campaign continues to evolve.
Airline Marketing Strategies and Travel Advertising
Airline marketing strategies are lacking. Airlines aren’t embracing the surging online advertising and marketing dollars available to them. While relaxing on the beach, I was confronted with 3-4 aerial banners each day being pulled by small airplanes. These aerial banners advertised local restaurants and happy hours, and the specials on them were time-restricted to that day or the day after on many occasions. What struck me about these banners was how similar they were to PPC ads. Based on the abbreviations, it seemed likely that there were character limitations, like the airplane could only pull so many letters.
So if Google lets me buy advertising on radio, in newspapers, in search engines, why not en-route? Why not on airplanes, in airplanes, on airline tickets, in in-flight entertainment, from the in-flight magazines to the in-flight television? Why not let me sponsor the inevitably coming flying wi-fi? And while they’re at it, why don’t those ads subsidize the cost of my flight? This isn’t about Google and the ad networks, it’s about the airlines needing to embrace simpler forms of discovering how I can advertise with them. And it’s also about co-branding. For every offline marketing advertisement, is an opportunity to better brand the airline and discuss its benefits over competing airlines.
And just like that, on my summer vacation, I had spiraled into thoughts on airline marketing strategies and the many opportunities that airlines are missing out on in the advertising world. I can fly cross country for $350, sometimes less, but I’m perpetually on the search for the cheapest flight. I don’t care much who gets me to my destination, simply that I get there as cheaply as possible, and preferably, on time, with the fewest connections. I don’t mind being bombarded by advertising while I travel, (though I may be alone,) there’s a great post from a while back on “in-flight hostage marketing.” But apparently, at least someone, the Inflight Marketing Bureau is trying to capitalize in this area. But really, unlike the profitability concerns described about Skybus, I think we can have cheap, safe, on-time flights in many destinations, and I think advertising is how it’s done.
What are your thoughts on what airlines can be doing in their marketing strategy? And how businesses can embrace the airline and airplane marketing arena?
