July 6, 2005

Copy Cats

Now Ford has joined the party. They've announced they're going to offer "employee prices" on their cars. DaimlerChrysler was scheduled to announce a plan of their own today. All this because GM reported that their sales increased by 41% in June over the same month last year.

I wouldn't have picked that promotion as a winner, so I'm eating some crow. And I certainly would have hoped that the competition would have thought of their OWN promotion. Perhaps that was hoping for too much.

Locally, I heard a car dealer radio ad on Friday urging listeners to rush to the dealership by 9pm that night because that would be the final deadline of their employee pricing promotion.

Then Saturday, the same dealer ran a radio ad saying that the employee pricing promotion was continued just through the July 4th weekend.

And then yesterday, they ran a new ad...announcing - you guessed it - an employee pricing promotion!

Not the way to build consumer confidence in the word of the dealer....and yet one wonders why so many dealers don't "get it."

Another dealer here has a billboard that reads something like, "If anyone else tells you they're Number One, they're lying." That is exactly the kind of boast that women hate...and, yes, women make more than 80% of the automobile buying decisions. Some marketers simply won't face the facts and respond appropriately to them.

Women's Reading Habits

I was told today that studies show that women's self-esteem drops 30% by the time they're read through the typical "women's" or "fashion" magazine. The theory is that they are constantly measuring themselves against the women they see in the magazines...and feeling that they come up short.

So I guess that's why the tabloids are so popular...because they show bad things happening to people whom women might otherwise feel were better (richer, prettier, thinner, happier, whatever) than them. Case in point...I noticed the latest "National Enquirer" today shows a bunch of cellulite-loaded celebs on the beach.

Smart Mag Marketing Move

The folks at Inc. Magazine came up with a smart idea that engages and involves their readers. In his Editor's Letter, John Koten notes that the publication has been put up for sale. He goes on to say that they are putting together a special advisory board of readers who will be asked to fill out occasional brief questionnaires and kept up-to-date on what's going on at the magazine. Readers are invited to apply to become members of this advisory board. Smart move. Helps readers feel involved. Helps the magazine get valuable feedback and input from its readers.