Category Archives: Marketing

Pitchman Billy Mays: Marketing Lessons

Posted by HayzelCriollo on

billy maysLets face it Billy Mays knew how to catch your attention even if you didn’t care about OxiClean, Orange Glo or any cleaning product for that matter, his loud sales pitches prevented you from switching the channel and ignoring the ad. I truly enjoyed his big well groomed bread, loud voice, and high energy level. I recall when Billy first came out with the OxiClean product. I called my mom and told her to look at this guy screaming and full of energy we were both drawn to the ad. Yes, she brought OxiClean and the product worked. When he pitched Orange Glo my mother trusted him and brought that product as well. Clearly Billy Mays marketing was effective.

Billy Mays later went on to air the show “Pitchman” on the discovery channel which followed Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan as they attempted to sell various inventions through direct-response marketing.

So what marketing lessons can we learn from Billy Mays?

Have a product that works. The problem with selling a product that is junk is that you will lose credibility and you don’t want that. Make sure your product does what your claiming. Your brand/product= trustworthy/reliable

Research consumers response to your product. Go out and find out what consumers are saying and feeling about your product. These are the people, consumers, who will be buying your product so get some feedback.

Be able to answer “How will (insert product/brand) make my life easier?” For example I love the Swiffer Why? Because I do not need to grab a mop and bucket and get my hands all dirty. Or why do I like my electric toothbrush because I do not need to shake my hand vigorously to brush my teeth. It makes my life easier. (I have cleaner teeth in the morning.)

Test your campaign on a small scale before doing it big and WATCH YOUR COMPETITION. Don’t but your feet up and call it a day. Always continue optimizing and seeing where improvements can a be made, “what else can you do to increase sales, etc?”

If i missed something please let me know! Thanks

Billy Mays passed away on June 28, 2009.

Nike Sneakers Are Greener, Same Performance. Do you mind?

Posted by HayzelCriollo on

I’m akin to eco-friendly products and take the opportunity whenever possible to transcend into a greener lifestyle.  So when I came across an article by Business Week “Nike Goes Green. Very Quietly” I was intrigued. Quietly? Then I remembered that Nike customers don’t care much about being eco-chic. Of course this is not everyone but a good majority enough to highly impact sales.

It makes sense to go greener because of the environmental benefits as well as the financial ones. So Nike is making this transitioning by making its supply chain and products greener. Although Nike does not give specific numbers about the financial benefits, they do state that the amount of material they waste will be reduced by 17% over the next decade. The Air Jordan XX3 an eco-friendly sneaker was designed to fit together like a puzzle eliminating any excess plastic. The company invented a sewing machine that speeds up the assembly line in turn saving electricity.

A good question asked by Dean Crutchfield is “How is sustainability relevant to its brand(Nike)?” Nothing. Which is why there first line of environmentally friendly shoes called Considered in 2005 were off the shelves within a year of their debut.

The Air Jordan’s have sold well because performance continues to meet the customers standards.  So the fact that they are eco-friendly is on a need to know basis.  Everyone wins!

Currently Nike’s line up includes eco-friendly football, basketball, soccer, tennis and running shoes.  I want  greener sneakers so I did a Google search to find as many eco-friendly Nike sneakers as possible but continued to come across only these sneakers:

NIke 1nike 2

nike 3

Marketers- Break some RULES

Posted by HayzelCriollo on

In case you didn’t notice this ad was 4 minutes long if compared to the average ad which is 15 to 20 seconds. So did you watch the whole thing? Well I did because I found this engaging and some what educational from a marketer’s perspective.

So what can be learned from this ad?

For starters it’s entertaining and it doesn’t look like advertisement. It’s connected to the issue, product, brand which in this case is Obama.  This ad would generate quickly through social networks because it’s attention-grabbing.

Marketers shouldn’t be scared to be different. I believe that different works and will always grab peoples attention. With an ad like this viewers will be less likely to skip it and actually enjoy it. Although breaking some standard barriers in marketing may not work for cable TV, sky is the limit online.

Advice: Break some rules!!

This online video was created for the Jewish Council for Education and Research by Droga5 starring Sarah Silverman (comedian).