Meow Mix: The Cutting Edge Cat Food

In dramatic movie-announcer voice:

THIS SUMMER...
CATTY...
GOES...
TO...
A...
WHOLE...
NEW...
LEVEL...

(hyper-fast montage of cats scratching each other, hissing, chasing each other, cuddling, screaming at each other, with drum music, playing faster and faster until...)

-- fade away --

THE MEOW MIX HOUSE
June on Fox

Ok, maybe it's not on Fox. Maybe it's not even on TV, but Meow Mix has done it again. Say what you will about the quirky brand, it's hard for me to think of another CPG, let alone a pet food brand, that has done as much as they have to experiment and really push the boundaries in the name of brand and marketing.

They created Meow TV, the Meow Mix Cafe in New York and now they have created the Meow Mix House, apparently a real house that will have 10 cats (selected from shelters) living in it from June 13-23, to love, laugh and scratch each other's eyes out. It will have webcams in every room and America will vote for their favorites. The least favorite will be voted out and the top cat "gets" to be a taster for the company.

Ok, I'm not going to comment on whether or not this will sell cat food for Meow Mix or whether they should measure response and all that (of course they should). It seems as if Meow Mix has made a commitment to make their brand about being out there, about going where the people are and giving a cat-twist to things. I think their relatively bold moves in their field represents the chutzpah of the brand and that's probably translating to consumers who identify with fun and quirky (and may be a little nuts to boot -- hey, they're cat people after all).

I hope they do track it and they have been somehow tracking their other efforts, but my guess is that they are creating more buzz and PR hits than similar budgets would be able to generate. Most importantly, they are trying things and (hopefully) learning from them.

You Can't Spell .mobi Without "MOB"

Forget the Sopranos. How about ICANN? How can you get a gig to be the OFFICIAL organization that gets to extort money from every single corporation and wannabe company in the world?

I'm talking about the .mobi extension. Paying to get your .mobi extension is like extorsion, isn't it? The mob (ICANN) comes to you and tells you (use your favorite gangster voice), "yo, I suggest you pay the fee and nobody gets hurt. I would also suggest auto-renewal. Otherwise? Maybe all of a sudden you won't be found in Google, or anywhere else, capische? Oh, and by the way, because you're a big company with money (ahem!), I mean, for your protection, we're going to charge you a higher rate, to dissuade those nasty cyber-squatters (not that we know any) from coming in and damaging your name. You wouldn't want that, now would you? Oh, and if you have any other companies or brands, you wouldn't want them to get hurt either, would you?"

What a scam. I mean, how many of these companies REALLY believe that this is where they have to be, at least right now? To which of these companies is it really THAT important? I mean, do you really need to be checking job listings on your phone (Hot Jobs was reportedly one of the first to sign up)? I can barely get through the day on my crappy battery just using the phone for what it's for -- CALLS. Really, what's the rush? We've been hearing about this mobile phone jazz for about five years now. It's coming, I know, but it's not here yet, that's for sure.

Anyway, I'm not really mad at ICANN. I just want to be jumped in. I want to be made.

Print and Online Work Together, Not Apart

In an OMMA article, Bob Carrigan makes the point that online sites of magazines are not and should not be just a repurposing of the offline content. I can't agree more.

He details how online counterparts to offline magazines should offer more than what is in print, and the best examples of sites that have succeeded end up looking little like their print parent.

The article is aimed at marketers having to evaluate publishers to advertise with (and Bob recommends going with those that have recognized the value of adding to the experience through their site, since those will be the ones that survive and thrive). However, I think his points also help validate my long-standing thoughts that traditional print (along with other traditional media like TV and radio) will ultimately become more of a driver to online than destinations themselves.

With the flexibility of display (video, audio, graphics) and especially the ability to connect and interact, the web (or some evolved cousin of the web we know and love today) will be the destination. This is already happening in several ways (way too many to mention here), but a good example is The Apprentice or some similar show. I'm a big fan of the show (hey, don't judge me) and I LOVE the fact that you can get uncut footage of some of the boardroom battles. I knew for several seaons that they must've edited the hell out of those things and it's just great that you can now get more online. This speaks to another great thing about online. It's not someone choosing for you what you get to see (well, to a certain extent, but bear with me), it allows you to self-select what you want to see more of and then you get to delve deeper.

With magazines the options are even greater. Instead of getting a little (like say, 3 pages and two photos) about a subject, you can go online and get a link to a video or more photos, or links to even more photos, or links to related articles, demos, tools you can use, and most of all, the ability to interact with the writers, editors and fellow readers, to truly get the most out of what you're looking for. The sky's the limit. And marketing online is likewise limitless.

[As an aside, I also believe that online presents a very strong ability for strong magazine brands to expand into the world of broadcast/video by experimentally floating out content to see what hits and what doesn't at a far lower cost and risk than trying to make a mega-deal with a network or cable channel.]

Anyway, as you can tell, I can go on and on, but I'll finish up here. Just mark my words, in the near future, the Internet is going to be media and all other current media will just drive people there.

User-Generated Content Crumudgeon

In an iMedia Connection article the author lashes out at user-generated content and it's continuing foibles, notably the recent Chevy Tahoe user-generated ad fiasco. He absolutely rails on the GM execs and how there is no way that GM even thought of the potential hazards and how, basically, the whole thing was nothing short of a complete and utter failure.

He then implies that sites like MySpace will never generate serious money because mainstream brands are afraid of the unbridled content.

Now, I acknowledge that there are definitely problems with user-generated content and that yes, marketers should learn from the past when thinking about using such media for advertising purposes. In fact, when working with one of the top automotive companies wanting to explore a community site, I argued against it due to its unpredictable nature. However, there is a difference between being cautious and being completely negative on the subject. After all, user-generated content is truly changing the face of the Internet and nearly all media and is not going to let up any time soon.

The trick is going to be how to effectively get in there and effectively manage the issues inherent in a free-form media. The solution is not to lambaste those brave enough (note I am not calling them "stupid enough") to venture out and explore the possibilities. In fact, we should applaud those pioneers. I don't think pulling out the old and dusty case study of GeoCities is going to necessarily be the light we all need to understand and navigate through today's Internet. It's a whole new world and if you don't adapt, you might as well go back to TV.

Axe Booty Tones

A recent MediaPost article outlines how Axe Body Spray has created a new mobile phone related promotion, called Axe Booty Tones where you can view a "black book" and download ringtones that match the girl that you choose.

More than the promotion, I enjoyed the analysis of the article which not only acknowledged the annoying quality of ringtones, but also succintly noted why this campaign stands out. Mostly, it creates an emotional connection with it's target, identifying the young males' undeniable desire to use media (in this case a ringtone) as social currency.

Can we all just (file) share?

Interesting Business 2.0 Article talks about three services using file-sharing for transferring large files to hopefully end the problems of attaching large files (e.g. photos, video files) to emails. The solutions are Pando Networks, Perenety and WiredReach.

Although the new services use the same (or similar) technology some of us more geeky types have been using (allegedly) to illegally download music and video online, their goal is to create a more user-friendly interface, similar to (or actually using) regular email.

Sounds like an easy transition from this to implementing the same to bolster the biggies' (AOL, Yahoo, MSN) instant messenger services, no?

Mission: Stupidity or Mission: Genius?

Love this story about a Mission: Impossible III stunt gone awry. Apparently a bunch of newspaper racks were rigged to play the M:I theme song when someone opened them to buy a newspaper, but some of the units fell on the paper and looked like bombs.

As a result, the bomb squad blew them up. Ha! A spokesperson said it was the "least intended outcome." So, was it a mistake or was it on purpose? I mean they must've generated many many times more news stories than if the gimmick had just gone as planned. Hmmm... marketers take note. :)