Cool Factor

What is “cool factor”?

I my own words, cool factor is the tangible look and a feel of a product that just makes you say, “now that is cool”. Apple Computer has been working cool factor into their product design for years. Chrysler is another example of a company that has been recently incorporating cool factor into most of the car designs. Of course, there are practically and endless amount of companies using or trying to use cool factor in their product design.

If you talk to a marketing executive from a company that actively incorporates cool factor into their product design, her or she will probably take credit for their products look and feel. In reality, marketing might request a product with cool factor in their marketing plans, but the actual cool factor you can see and touch comes from product industrial designers.

The product industrial designers at Vuzix have definitely designed a Video Eyewear product with cool factor. The picture below shows their latest iWear Wrap 920AV consumer Video Eyewear product that will ship in the next few months.



If you think the iWear Wrap 920AV has cool factor, wait until you see iWear Flex 1080AV, due to ship in the Spring of 2011. Sorry I can’t provide a picture of this product because it’s still a closely guarded secret, but I can spill a factoid that came from a group of three future marketing geniuses at California Lutheran University.

iWear Flex 1080AV will be the worlds first high definition Video Eyewear product and will utilize the latest proprietary technological advancements in nanotechnology processors and flexible electronics originally developed for military applications.

Reflections on BUS 375 at CLU

I am officially in the blog bonus round (BBR). What is BBR? This when you completed the 10 required blogs and you post more blogs for extra credit.

My professional background to date has largly been as a mechanical designer/project manager/design group manager in the consumer electronics industry. My past experience working with marketing teams is they always want products that are difficult to design and deliver with the features, pricing, and schedule they need. Seems like I was always working my butt off to provide everything marketing wanted while they were just screwing around and planning their next slush fund event. Maybe my initial perceptions of marketing are correct, but now I have a solid understanding what these marketing teams are actually doing besides planning their next slush fund event.

I happily admit that I really enjoyed this class and I now have a greater understanding and appreciation for marketing.

Miller High Life 1 Second Commercials – Comments

I have a couple comments in regards to Dr. Kambara’s blog posting on the 1 second Miller High Life commercials.

First of all, I really hate Miller High Life and it’s not because I tossed my cookies after drinking a six pack when I was in high school. Ok, that’s why I hate Miller High Life.

I really need to question the effectiveness of these types of commercials. I realize the attention span of the general consumer towards advertising is getting shorter and shorter, but 1 second commercials just don’t provide enough time to send an effective message.

As in the Miller High Life commercials, a large product logo in the background does provide the minimum product connection, but still no time for an effective message. If product advertisers really need to take this route in the future, I would say 3-5 seconds would be enough to boldly display the product name or actual product and time to verbalize one key value proposition.

I offer a technology suggestion to future television advertisers who are looking for a way to combat clutter busters who use Tivo or DVR to quickly fast forward through commercials. Include some sort of product logo ghost image that is hidden when commercials are run at normal speed, but appears when the commercials are run in fast forward mode. At least the commercial is not a total waste and the consumer does see a product logo. I see this as the future of 1 second television commercials.

Pepsi Max – No Females Allowed in 2009

Pepsico has given me entirely way to much to blog about over the last month. It appears the target market for Pepsi Max has changed and females are no longer allowed to drink Pepsi Max. Maybe females never did drink Pepsi Max and this is the reason for the target market change.

When Pepsico first introduced Pepsi Max to the United States in 2007, it was called Diet Pepsi Max and of course it was a diet cola and the “max” stands for added caffeine and ginseng. In watching several commercials for Diet Pepsi Max over the last two years, it appears the target market is teen to twenty something, male and female. I don’t see anything wrong with that target market, but I guess Pepsico did.

Pepsico removed females from their target market and expanded their male target to include all males from teen to grave. According to Pepsico, Pepsi Max is now the first “diet” cola for men. I actually heard a radio commercial for the new Pepsi Max and “diet” is not mentioned in the ad, pretty darn sneaky.

New 2009 Pepsi Max Commercial

If you look at the new Pepsi Max product packaging and compare it to the old Diet Pepsi Max product packaging, you can clearly see the move from male and female target market to just male.

The old product packaging is blue in color and includes “diet” in product name.

The new product packaging is two tone black/silver and “diet” is nowhere to be seen in the product name.
Any guesses for next years target market?

Chevy Silverado Value Proposition

I really like the new television advertising campaign Chevrolet is doing for their Silverado line of trucks. These three commercials are humorous, short, and straight out value proposition advertisements. Chevy Silverado spokesman Howie Long does a great job in each of the three commercials as he picks out a particular value proposition from one of the three major truck manufacturers (Ford, Dodge, and Toyota) and bashes over their value proposition and presents them as being less than manly. In the end, a voiceover compares the competitions less than manly value proposition with Chevy Silverado’s value proposition.


Chevy Silverado Man Step Commercial

At the lumber yard a man secures a bird house in the back of his Ford F-150 with some tie down straps. When he is done he cautiously gets out of the bed of the truck with the help of the tailgate step and grab bar. He then proceeds to head to the cab of the truck until Howie says, "Hey buddy you left your little man step down." While the man embarrassingly flips down the grab bar, stows the step and closes the tailgate, the voiceover asks "Would you rather have a Ford F-150 with a man step or a Silverado that backs you for a 100,000 miles or 5 years?"


Chevy Silverado Manicure Commercial

While parking along the side of the street a man in a Dodge Ram truck backs up into Howie's Silverado giving the truck a slight bump. When Howie walks up to the driver's side of the truck the owner roles down the window and is very apologetic. Howie tells him, "Don’t worry it happens." Looking in the cab he asks, "Is that a heated steering wheel?" To which the man reluctantly admits. Howie then notices the man also has a manicure. Finding this all very funny he returns to his truck as the voiceover asks, "Would you rather have a Dodge Ram with a heated steering wheel or a Silverado with an EPA estimated 21 highway?"


Chevy Silverado Higher Voice
Howie notices a man in a vest and plaid shirt wiping some dirt off the hood of his truck and asks him if it is new. The man, trying to act manly and rugged responds in a forced deep voice, "Yep, a real trucker’s truck and real trucker’s stuff. You know truckers." When Howie asks, "How is it on gas?" the man’s voice becomes much higher as he responds "19 highway". Surprised Howie asks "V-8?" to which the man answers, "They said V-6." Howie smiles and tells the man, "Have fun being a real trucker." As Howie gets back into his truck the voicover states, "Tundra's V-6 offers an EPA estimated 19 highway Silverado's V-8 offers 21."

G

What is G?


Have you seen the new G commercial on television over the holidays, if not, here is a sample courtesy of Youtube. G Commercial

Still wondering what G is? G is a major rebranding for Gatorade and according to a company statement, "For Gatorade, G represents the heart, hustle and soul of athleticism and will become a badge of pride for anyone who sweats." In my opinion, the statement is a little over the top, but it’s marketing and what else would you expect.

The commercial is actually pretty good because it offers no connection to Gatorade and it leaves the viewer with a need to know what G is. I think this is a great way to start a rebranding campaign. Undoubtedly we will see some additional commercials in the near future that directly connect G to Gatorade.

Why does Gatorade need rebranding? It’s appears PepsiCo is in the mood for rebranding. Actually PepsiCo’s Gatorade brand in recent years has lost some market share to rivals in the hydration category, most notably Glaceau Vitaminwater. Articles on the Gatorade rebranding subject are available on Adweek and BevNet

In addition to rebranding Gatorade as G, line extensions will also be renamed. Wow, PepsiCo marketing executives are really doing this up big time. On the surface, renaming the line extensions sounds rather risky until you take a look at the new product packaging. At least the marketing executives had enough sense to reference the old line extension name so the consumer won’t be totally lost. I assume the old line extension name will be removed from the product packaging in due time.

Here are some pictures of the new rebranded products. Notice the old line extension name still appears on the product packaging.

Gatorade is now G.
Gatorade Fierce is now Bring It.
Gatorade X-Factor is now Be Tough.
Gatorade AM is now Shine On.
Gatorade Rain is now No Excuses.
It’s pretty safe to say PepsiCo marketing executives are exhibiting some XL huevos by rebranding Pepsi, Gatorade, and a couple other brands at the same time. As for ADEP Winter 09 BUS 375 and the timing of this major PepsiCo rebranding effort, priceless.

New Pepsi Logo – 2008 Version

Prepare yourself for the marketing blitz. After twenty one years, PepsiCo is dumping a perfectly good logo and going with a whole new look. I really don’t see a need for this, but apparently PepsiCo marketing executives feel the move is required to capture more market share, It’s hard to imagine the risk and expense to make such a move.

The picture below shows major shifts in the Pepsi logo over time.

New logo on a can

For such a huge decision, I find no press releases regarding the logo change on PepsiCo’s website, not even on the Pepsi website. I did find a bit of information regarding the logo change on BevNet. Maybe the job is not complete yet and no press is good press. I see a couple Pepsi websites are not complete yet. Pepsi Bottling Group still has product pictures with the old logo as well as the delivery truck. Take a look under the products tab at Pepsi USA and you will only see 5 of 12 Pepsi products displayed with the new logo.

What I find most interesting is the amount of negative comments in blogs on the internet, search “new Pepsi logo”. These are probably mostly people who are resistant to change, but I do like the creativity of one blogger who posted his version of the new Pepsi logo and the inspiration for it.

Only time will tell if this was a great or really bad decision for PepsiCo. Either way, I am sure the marketing blitz will be coming soon and leaving slowly.