There’s something fishy at Pret and Facebook faces the music.

Pret's claim that its sushi is fresh has been exposed as untrue by the Telegraph. Seems it’s flown in from Chile, 7000 miles away. Under regulations, they can de-freeze it and repackage it and call it fresh which make s a mockery of the term fresh. For a brand that relies on its values, fresh food everyday, this will do a lot of damage to consumer trust.

 

This is just one example of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. While those responsible for the brand are spending millions promoting a brand’s value, some accountant is screwing it up, all to save a few quid. Maybe companies need to educate all their staff in reputation management.

 

I do feel sorry for Aviva’s marketing department, they must want to shoot the pen pushing clerk who asked a customer for £235,000 back after he finally found a limp excuse to reject the claim. The poor woman was the victim of arson and then became the victim of Aviva’s claims department. While the cleric was probably bragging how he’d managed to avoid paying out, the newspapers were busy going after Aviv. I don’t think you could have got worse press, and no doubt, major reputation damage. Lets be honest, no one trust insurance companies and this was not only a blow for Aviva bit the whole industry. Many years ago I worked on an insurance account and the client openly admitted, “we’ve not in the business of paying out, we’re in the business of getting paid.”

 

Supermarkets have also found themselves a demon on the doorstep in the form of private parking companies. These cowboys (not my words but those of many articles) who operate these schemes are using unethical tactics to con people out of money. The result, supermarkets lose customers. I recently had the pleasure of dealing with Morrison’s lot.

 

After threatening letters and the threats of bailiffs being sent in to claim the fine – they have no lawful claim to the fine by the way and no company has pursued one in a court because they wouldn’t win – I caught them out for law breaking by failing to put their company registration number on their material. Companies House stepped in, they shut up. I now shop at another supermarket.

 

I use to be a regular listener to LBC but am appalled that they are taking sponsorship from what must be the lowest profession of all and a sign that we are not as civilise a  society as we like to think – bailiffs. I am about to write to the ASA over Dawkin’s ads as unethical, “don’t let people use you as a bank… let us get what you’re owed.” In these financially challenging times the Government should suspend licences for debt collectors and bailiffs and allow a more ethical groups to handle debt.

 

Facebook could also be facing the music soon, but over data. There seems to be some potential issues over how they handle data when they bar people. Of course handing access to any database to another party is illegal. So when they bar the administrator of a group and then openly offer the group to anyone who wants to admin it they are in effect in breach of the data protection laws. Also the destruction of your data constitutes the destruction of property as it’s your IP so could result in a legal case for damages. Unfortunately, making people click a T&C box has little legal upholding and doesn’t over ride laws. Lawyers are currently looking at this. This could open the door to massive claims against Facebook from barred customers. Watch this space.

 

And finally I have to comment on people brands. Having suffered a number of episodes of Paris Hilton’s BBF (in the interest of research) I cannot think of anyone who more deserves the badge of the ultimate Bimbo Brand.

Proof we advertisers can sell anything…

Bottled Water has to be the ultimate proof that marketing can sell anything. When you look into it you have to wonder how stupid the public really are. They certainly don’t check out their facts and even when you tell them they go into denial.

 

I came across a great report on 20:20 (American ABC news channel) on bottled water. It really does prove we marketing people can sell anything for 100 times the price, in US alone they sell over 4b dollars of water a year. Yet across the other side of the world millions have none.

 

Bottle water is almost an urban myth in that many consumers think it’s better for you or tastes better than tap. That it’s safer. Seems test after test proves that what we think and what is reality is not the same.

 

In fact it can harbour bacteria and minerals that may not be so good for you. We’ve probably all seen a water cooler that is left in the light go green inside. One report in America revealed that 1/3 of water violated industry standards. One brand had arsnic in it.

 

The report on 20 20 sums up just how fickle the public are. As one consumer says, ”I’m the only one in my household who dares to drink tap water.” Seems the bottled water industry have managed to sell the public a big lie. Many consumers say they think bottled water is cleaner and safer and healthier. Experts and taste sessions seem to prove the opposite is true.

 

But it’s all coming apart as there’s a backlash towards bottled water. There’s also a big trend away from plastic bottle towards refillable ones with slogans on like: “Friends don’t let friends drink from plastic.”

 

Check out these videos. The Penn & Teller one is very funny.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2KUCgvemjM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzOOvC803rc&feature=fvw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfPAjUvvnIc

 

YouTube rocks to 1bn but is the end in sight for Facebook?

YouTube has just hit £1bn viewers a day, with Susan Boyle being one of the top hits, how sad is that?

But YouTube just keeps growing, despite many rival sites, many with better features. Founded by Steve Chen & Chad Hurley in 2005, just a year later Google paid a massive £883million for it.

In the world of the web success can come very fast. It can also vanish just as quickly when the next big thing arrives. But for time being YouTube is it with over 20 hours of video being uploaded every minute.

The most popular videos include a kid having his finger bitten by a baby, a man dancing badly, a man in Star Wars gear, a sneezing panda and numerous Britain’s Got Talent clips. What does that say about the taste of the general public?

As advertisers we can learn a lot from what is popular and what’s not. Serious rational stuff – no one’s interested. Stuff selling stuff, no interest. TV ads, not interested. People making fools of themselves, animals and pop videos, yep that’s what they want.

Overall what people want is something to make them laugh, smile, be surprised, shocked or fascinated – all raised human reactions.

So this begs the question, why are most TV ads so dull? Well because too many brands think rationally about them.

Yep there’s been a few minor hits from TV advertising, Gorilla being one but as numbers go it’s small stuff and in fact far less than the audience you can get just by running the ad on any evening on ITV.

Clients think that making a viral will get them lots of free air time, millions will pass around their video and buy their product. Dream on. One in a million does it.

It’s the same as thinking you can write a hit single. Sure a really good viral can spread but spreading isn’t the same as selling.

As David Ogilvy once said, it’s one thing that people talk about your ad, it’s another if they buy it. The most famous case being a time when it was reported that Guinness ads were so good people talked about them in pubs whilst drinking their gin & tonics.

As a society we are just sheep and like to follow the pack. As consumers we are becoming less loyal, shorter attention spans and always looking for the next thing.

So what about Facebook? Its recent revamps was unpopular with many. It somehow already feels old and tired. It’s just become a massive address book (of friends who aren’t friends) that seems to steal away our day.

I know lots of people who have just stopped using it, that’s a worrying trend. Sure it’s convenient but you can’t help feeling their’s a better, more exciting new site waiting to happen.

An interesting observation, ask people if there are ads on Facebook.

Surprisingly a large number of people say no. Why? Because they are in the visual dead zone where they are easy to ignore.

I certainly wouldn’t advertise on it. Of course the big challenge to all these sites is how to make money before they peak and burn. Having just got addicted to the new US series Flash Forward, I’d love to see into the future and see how many are still about in 5 years. I think it’ll be all change.