Showing posts with label New York. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York. Show all posts
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Why I Shuttered my Marketing Agency for Tourism
I had started a new business venture about two years ago. It was a section of my company that was dedicated to tourism and travel and it was a very profitable business actually. Because of my background in the mass media and operating on the receiving end of marketing and advertising companies, I saw how clients were, well, getting ripped off. I knew I do do a hundred times better for clients. I set targets and goals and I saved the clients big money too!
I knew that I could make decent money by arranging huge promotions between client companies for 1/50th the cost of what a major Japanese marketing company like Dentsu or Hakuhodo or even the smaller agencies could do.
I did arrange many of these campaigns for little cost to my clients. Many were nationwide internet and TV campaigns. Some were huge multi-media tie up with networks, major magazines and non-traditional media. My concept was to find clients that had needs that could be met with a sort of mutual promotional campaign. Everything had to make sense and be organic. Then I spread the costs evenly around to each client. Instead of charging them separately.
So, instead of spending, say $400,000 ~$500,000 (USD) on a campaign (if a sponsor bought it through, say, Dentsu) I could arrange it for $12,000 total or so. I did it too, many times.
Here's a good example:
Domino Pizza Japan wants to get more people ordering online in order to more efficient promote its product and cut down on expenses (telephone ordering is not cost effect nor efficient).
A airlines or foreign tourist board wants Japanese to go to visit their country.
A wine company wants to get the word out on their services.
What should I do? I thought about it and got them together and created a cost effective, mutually beneficial campaign that cost each of these parties next to nothing.
In this example, I arranged for a vacation to a foreign country for anyone who would join and become a member of the Domino pizza online ordering system. The top winner would get a vacation for two, business class, to a foreign country and hotel. The airline & hotel prize supporting companies would get the massive promotion that goes along with the campaign. The wine company provided all the second place awards: 100 people win a set of quality red & white wine.
The campaign runs for two months!
Domino Pizza prints (get this):
7.8 million newspaper inserts
2 million menus
1.6 million direct email magazine to subscribers
250,000 pizza box top ads
750,000 regular direct mail
Airlines provides 2 business class tickets and 5-star hotel for 4 nights.
Wine company (iwine.jp) provides 200 bottles of quality Coppola wine.
Cost to Domino if using Dentsu? Approximately $200,000
Cost to airlines if using Dentsu? (considering the reach of ad materials): Approximately $400,000
Cost to wine company if using Dentsu? Approximately $100,000
My company total charge: $25,000 that's inclusive to all three clients!
You can see the results of this campaign here: http://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot.com/2011/09/two-people-win-vacation-business-class.html
(By the way, the campaign ends on 10/31 so you still have time to join the campaign and win the trip to New York!)
Why did I make these types of campaigns? A two reasons: First, I liked the clients. Second, I think Japanese advertising agency business is way too over priced. If I can help to lower advertising costs, then prices might go down and that makes life better for everyone, no?
But I am thinking about closing this business.
Why would anyone close a profitable business, you ask? Well, since it was tied to tourism and travel every time I organize a campaign, something bad would happen:
Here's a list of those bad things:
1) Airlines goes bankrupt
2) Riots in destination cities
3) Huge earthquakes, tsunami and nuke disasters
4) Riots in destination cities
and, finally,
5) Riots in destination cities, bankruptcies, etc., etc., etc.,
You might think I am just unlucky or have bad timing... But I don't. I am very lucky and have great timing that's why I am out of the tourism and travel advertising business...
Things tied up with tourism don't seem like good ideas in this day and age. The world economy is collapsing and things are getting nasty. As Gerald Celente says, "When people lose everything, they lose it." People are losing it all over the world. Read this from my friend, Mish Shedlock: http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/10/occupy-wall-street-protests-go-global.html
... I was about to line up an Italian campaign.... But, after watching that video on Mish's page... I think not!
I knew that I could make decent money by arranging huge promotions between client companies for 1/50th the cost of what a major Japanese marketing company like Dentsu or Hakuhodo or even the smaller agencies could do.
I did arrange many of these campaigns for little cost to my clients. Many were nationwide internet and TV campaigns. Some were huge multi-media tie up with networks, major magazines and non-traditional media. My concept was to find clients that had needs that could be met with a sort of mutual promotional campaign. Everything had to make sense and be organic. Then I spread the costs evenly around to each client. Instead of charging them separately.
So, instead of spending, say $400,000 ~$500,000 (USD) on a campaign (if a sponsor bought it through, say, Dentsu) I could arrange it for $12,000 total or so. I did it too, many times.
Here's a good example:
Domino Pizza Japan wants to get more people ordering online in order to more efficient promote its product and cut down on expenses (telephone ordering is not cost effect nor efficient).
A airlines or foreign tourist board wants Japanese to go to visit their country.
A wine company wants to get the word out on their services.
What should I do? I thought about it and got them together and created a cost effective, mutually beneficial campaign that cost each of these parties next to nothing.
In this example, I arranged for a vacation to a foreign country for anyone who would join and become a member of the Domino pizza online ordering system. The top winner would get a vacation for two, business class, to a foreign country and hotel. The airline & hotel prize supporting companies would get the massive promotion that goes along with the campaign. The wine company provided all the second place awards: 100 people win a set of quality red & white wine.
The campaign runs for two months!
Domino Pizza prints (get this):
7.8 million newspaper inserts
2 million menus
1.6 million direct email magazine to subscribers
250,000 pizza box top ads
750,000 regular direct mail
Airlines provides 2 business class tickets and 5-star hotel for 4 nights.
Wine company (iwine.jp) provides 200 bottles of quality Coppola wine.
Cost to Domino if using Dentsu? Approximately $200,000
Cost to airlines if using Dentsu? (considering the reach of ad materials): Approximately $400,000
Cost to wine company if using Dentsu? Approximately $100,000
My company total charge: $25,000 that's inclusive to all three clients!
You can see the results of this campaign here: http://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot.com/2011/09/two-people-win-vacation-business-class.html
(By the way, the campaign ends on 10/31 so you still have time to join the campaign and win the trip to New York!)
Why did I make these types of campaigns? A two reasons: First, I liked the clients. Second, I think Japanese advertising agency business is way too over priced. If I can help to lower advertising costs, then prices might go down and that makes life better for everyone, no?
But I am thinking about closing this business.
All vacations come complete with helmet and baton!
Here's a list of those bad things:
1) Airlines goes bankrupt
2) Riots in destination cities
3) Huge earthquakes, tsunami and nuke disasters
4) Riots in destination cities
and, finally,
5) Riots in destination cities, bankruptcies, etc., etc., etc.,
You might think I am just unlucky or have bad timing... But I don't. I am very lucky and have great timing that's why I am out of the tourism and travel advertising business...
Things tied up with tourism don't seem like good ideas in this day and age. The world economy is collapsing and things are getting nasty. As Gerald Celente says, "When people lose everything, they lose it." People are losing it all over the world. Read this from my friend, Mish Shedlock: http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/10/occupy-wall-street-protests-go-global.html
... I was about to line up an Italian campaign.... But, after watching that video on Mish's page... I think not!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Idiot People and Cultural Superiority Complex
This will come as no surprise to anyone, but there are some really stupid people running around. The surprise to me is how these stupid people have gainful employment or even live the upper-class life.
Today is a typical example of one. He represents just one more person (a microcosm that represents the whole) of why the USA is collapsing as the ruling class fails to understand the working class or poor people (the rapidly expanding portion of the US population).
The guy is a writer named Ben Stein. This guy is so full of himself and living in such a sheltered world that it defies explanation. Wikipedia says:
Hmmm? He was born in 1944 and was a speechwriter for president Nixon? Then a game show host? What a tool! This guy is a real life joke.
Now he writes for the American Spectator? Well, we all know how wealthy magazine writers are by how their numbers of subscribers are rapidly expanding! Ha! Ha! Ha!
By the way, Nixon was president from 1969 to 1974... So, I think this "speechwriter" for Nixon is an exaggeration. They are saying that a 26 ~ 30 year old guy was a "speechwriter" for a US president? I find that hard to believe. I might believe that he wrote a speech, or a few speeches, but "speechwriter" suggests that he wrote many speeches and was on staff, no?...
Doesn't that stretch the imagination a bit?
Anyway... Besides exaggeration and the ability to bloviate his past record (why anyone would brag about writing stuff for that other slick talking president Ford), Stein has written a piece criticizing the Occupy Wall Street Movement. I am not pro or anti Wall Street Occupation. My personal opinion is that this occupation won't last (especially when it starts to get cold, or will just wind up as a bunch more homeless people in New York. There's lots of those so what's a few thousand more in a city of millions?) But, I am happy that people are waking up in the USA finally.
Anyhow, Stein criticizes these people. I have no problem with that, but I do have a problem with his holiness and his cultural superiority complex.
He writes in the American Spectator:
Today is a typical example of one. He represents just one more person (a microcosm that represents the whole) of why the USA is collapsing as the ruling class fails to understand the working class or poor people (the rapidly expanding portion of the US population).
Benjamin Jeremy "Ben" Stein (born November 25, 1944) is an American actor, writer, lawyer, and commentator on political and economic issues. He attained early success as a speechwriter for American presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Later he entered the entertainment field and became an actor, comedian, and Emmy Award-winning game show host.
Stein has frequently written commentaries on economic, political, and social issues, along with financial advice to individual investors.Hmmm? He was born in 1944 and was a speechwriter for president Nixon? Then a game show host? What a tool! This guy is a real life joke.
Now he writes for the American Spectator? Well, we all know how wealthy magazine writers are by how their numbers of subscribers are rapidly expanding! Ha! Ha! Ha!
By the way, Nixon was president from 1969 to 1974... So, I think this "speechwriter" for Nixon is an exaggeration. They are saying that a 26 ~ 30 year old guy was a "speechwriter" for a US president? I find that hard to believe. I might believe that he wrote a speech, or a few speeches, but "speechwriter" suggests that he wrote many speeches and was on staff, no?...
Doesn't that stretch the imagination a bit?
Anyway... Besides exaggeration and the ability to bloviate his past record (why anyone would brag about writing stuff for that other slick talking president Ford), Stein has written a piece criticizing the Occupy Wall Street Movement. I am not pro or anti Wall Street Occupation. My personal opinion is that this occupation won't last (especially when it starts to get cold, or will just wind up as a bunch more homeless people in New York. There's lots of those so what's a few thousand more in a city of millions?) But, I am happy that people are waking up in the USA finally.
Anyhow, Stein criticizes these people. I have no problem with that, but I do have a problem with his holiness and his cultural superiority complex.
He writes in the American Spectator:
Wednesday
So... today rain came down in sheets here in Los Angeles. As I walked down Camden Drive in Beverly Hills after a righteous lunch at Mister Chow, the wind was forcing the rain at me horizontally. I got soaked. Earlier, my wife had slipped and fallen on the wet, slippery floor of a parking garage. No one in the garage made a move to help her. I, of course, picked her up and said to the parking attendant, "You're pretty stupid. That woman who fell is the only woman in Beverly Hills who wouldn't sue you for that slip. You might at least thank her and help her."
So... today rain came down in sheets here in Los Angeles. As I walked down Camden Drive in Beverly Hills after a righteous lunch at Mister Chow, the wind was forcing the rain at me horizontally. I got soaked. Earlier, my wife had slipped and fallen on the wet, slippery floor of a parking garage. No one in the garage made a move to help her. I, of course, picked her up and said to the parking attendant, "You're pretty stupid. That woman who fell is the only woman in Beverly Hills who wouldn't sue you for that slip. You might at least thank her and help her."
He shrugged and said something in Spanish.
Laughable. "Righteous lunch at Mister Chow"? Are you kidding me? Did you get a free lunch for this shameless plug?....
Laughable. "Righteous lunch at Mister Chow"? Are you kidding me? Did you get a free lunch for this shameless plug?....
On top of that, he actually wrote this crap:
No one in the garage made a move to help her. I, of course, picked her up and said to the parking attendant, You’re pretty stupid. That woman who fell is the only woman in Beverly Hills who wouldn’t sue you for that slip. You might at least thank her and help her.
No one in the garage made a move to help her. I, of course, picked her up and said to the parking attendant, You’re pretty stupid. That woman who fell is the only woman in Beverly Hills who wouldn’t sue you for that slip. You might at least thank her and help her.
What's he want the guy to say? "Thank you, ma'am for falling. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Can I help you fall again?" What an idiot Ben Stein is. I can't believe that he writes such drivel. The attendant is "....pretty stupid. That woman who fell is the only woman in Beverly Hills who wouldn’t sue you for that slip."
Gee, if he wants car parking service, he should use the valet parking.
Riiiiiight! This rich woman from Beverly Hills and her husband is going to sue some Hispanic parking lot attendant because the wife slipped on the parking lot floor? Heavens!
Sue the parking lot attendant for what? The $80 a week he makes?
Gee, if he wants car parking service, he should use the valet parking.
Riiiiiight! This rich woman from Beverly Hills and her husband is going to sue some Hispanic parking lot attendant because the wife slipped on the parking lot floor? Heavens!
Sue the parking lot attendant for what? The $80 a week he makes?
Ben Stein is the only "stupid" person in this picture, wouldn't you agree? (Maybe that's what the attendant replied in Spanish).
Ben Stein! Planet earth is calling you. Time to get back to the real world. If you don't like it, why don't you go crying to daddy? Or, perhaps, learn some Spanish, honky, like the more than 55% of the people in Southern California speak!
Stein is pretty much indicative of why the USA is so messed up and how white people (OK, he's Jewish, so what?) fail to - or don't even attempt to - understand the way the lower middle class and poor people live. That's why things in the USA keep getting worse.
Sue a parking lot attendant in court, indeed!
Stein! Conseguir una vida! (Get a life!)
*Mr. Stein, if you don't like this article by a nobody blogger... I'm sure you can seek a lawyer... I mean, after you win your court case of Stein vs. Parking Lot Attendant.
Ben Stein! Planet earth is calling you. Time to get back to the real world. If you don't like it, why don't you go crying to daddy? Or, perhaps, learn some Spanish, honky, like the more than 55% of the people in Southern California speak!
Stein is pretty much indicative of why the USA is so messed up and how white people (OK, he's Jewish, so what?) fail to - or don't even attempt to - understand the way the lower middle class and poor people live. That's why things in the USA keep getting worse.
Sue a parking lot attendant in court, indeed!
Stein! Conseguir una vida! (Get a life!)
*Mr. Stein, if you don't like this article by a nobody blogger... I'm sure you can seek a lawyer... I mean, after you win your court case of Stein vs. Parking Lot Attendant.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Two People Win a Vacation Business Class to New York & 5-Star Hotel w/ Domino Pizza
Domino Pizza Japan is having another fantastically fun and exciting campaign! One couple is eligibile to win Business Class round-trip fare courtesy of America's best airlines: Delta airlines and it includes a 4 nights stay at a 5-star hotel in Manhattan courtesy of Delta Tours and all you have to do is signup! There is no purchase necessary!
日本語はこちら：http://www.dominos.jp/topics/110829_c.html
That's not all! 100 people will also win a Francis Ford Coppola red and white wine set courtesy of Japan's online wine superstore, iwine.jp! www.iwine.jp is Japan's online wine superstore and you can order in Japanese or English and have your wine delivered right to your door! Go to: http://www.iwine.jp/
So get in on the action! What do you have to lose? Signup now....
Of course, I, Mike Rogers, give my stamp of approval to this great campaign because I helped arrange it! I fly Delta every time I go to the continental USA or to Guam and can vouch that it is my airlines of choice for those routes!
Join now and win the vacation dream of a lifetime!
For more information, click here. If that link doesn't work: http://www.dominos.jp/topics/110829_c.html
(Hint: Domino Pizza also has an English ordering site that has specials that are an even better deal than their regular Japanese page like their 2 for 1 special! Buy one pizza and get one free! Check the Domino Pizza English webpage here: http://www.dominos.jp/eng/.
Also check the iwine.jp page for great everyday specials on the best in wine selections at www.iwine.jp!
日本語はこちら：http://www.dominos.jp/topics/110829_c.html
FOR LARGER VIEW CLICK ON IMAGE
That's not all! 100 people will also win a Francis Ford Coppola red and white wine set courtesy of Japan's online wine superstore, iwine.jp! www.iwine.jp is Japan's online wine superstore and you can order in Japanese or English and have your wine delivered right to your door! Go to: http://www.iwine.jp/
FOR LARGER VIEW CLICK ON IMAGE
Domino Pizza is having their Brooklyn Pizza campaign and it's another winner! The campaign runs from August 30 until October 30 and all you have to do is go to the Domino Pizza Japan webpage and signup. No purchase nessessary! The URL is: http://www.dominos.jp/
FOR LARGER VIEW CLICK ON IMAGE
So get in on the action! What do you have to lose? Signup now....
Of course, I, Mike Rogers, give my stamp of approval to this great campaign because I helped arrange it! I fly Delta every time I go to the continental USA or to Guam and can vouch that it is my airlines of choice for those routes!
Join now and win the vacation dream of a lifetime!
For more information, click here. If that link doesn't work: http://www.dominos.jp/topics/110829_c.html
FOR LARGER VIEW CLICK ON IMAGE
(Hint: Domino Pizza also has an English ordering site that has specials that are an even better deal than their regular Japanese page like their 2 for 1 special! Buy one pizza and get one free! Check the Domino Pizza English webpage here: http://www.dominos.jp/eng/.
Also check the iwine.jp page for great everyday specials on the best in wine selections at www.iwine.jp!
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