I was discussing my major with my dermatologist a while back. I told her that I originally planned to do optical engineering, but recently decided against it, in favor of (what I believe to be) the more exciting fields of either economics or marketing. She told me that she understood m attitude. She said she understood that I wanted to “change the world”. “Change the world?” I thought, “I’d be a surgeon if I wanted to do that. I’m just looking for something interesting that puts food on the table.”
Effective marketing does, in a sense, change the world. McDonald’s is an example of stellar marketing. According to Eric Schlosser (2005), “A survey of American schoolchildren found that 96 percent could identify Ronald McDonald. The only fictional character with a higher degree of recognition was Santa Claus. The impact of McDonald’s on the way we live today is hard to overstate. The Golden Arches are now more widely recognized than the Christian cross” (pp. 4-5). Besides the disturbing point that McDonald’s is more recognized than a prominent religious symbol in the United States, it shows how good marketing molds people’s ideas. In the July 7-13 2007 issue of The Economist, one article (p. 74) discusses how to more easily understand exchange rates by converting currency not to other currency, rather, to Big Macs. The article itself is interesting in teaching about exchange rates and such, but what I find more striking is the vast amount of countries that sell Big Macs (32 countries are listed in the article), which is a clear indicator of McDonald’s shaping of the world.
Notably, the Big Mac has “changed the world”, but not necessarily for the better. So how does one use marketing to change the world for the better? Perhaps its easiest if I discuss one of the simplest forms of advertisement – signs.
BAD SIGNS
I was riding from San Francisco to Pleasanton (where my grandmother lives) when I noticed some billboards on the highway. None of them were particlarly interesting and some were downright annoying.
I saw a billboard for (what I assumed was) real estate advertisement. It was essentially a billboard split into four signs, each advertising its own company, and each advertising just what was so amazing about their “unique” company. I tried to memorize the sign so I might write out its features here, but it had so much information (yet so little useful information) that I gave up.
I saw another advertisement on my way to the airport (which is where I am writing the original article right now). The picture had a girl standing while holding a phone. There was an arrow at her feet. In the background were various rees lit up by the night sky. It was a beautiful looking poster, only I had no idea what it was trying to advertise. I needed to squint to see a small Sprint logo in the upper-right corner. Terrible marketing, if one doesn’t even understand what the product itself is supposed to be.
A GOOD SIGN
I was on the same drive from San Francisco that I mentioned before when I noticed what I believed to be a nearly perfect sign.
The sign was ironic in that it was far less budgeted than the other signs; it was about four times smaller, and was attached to a light pole via tape. It was cardboard decorated with red paint, and had exactly two words.
Fresh cherries.
There was an arrow under the two words, and a painting of a cherry. It was an amazing sign because it told what was sold (cherries), what was so good about them (fresh), and where they were (with the arrow). I saw the sign at about the same time and speed as I saw the real estate sign and Spring sign, yet I instantly had a craving for fresh cherries.
BETTER USES OF MARKETING
There are good signs that easily get three main points across, and there are terrible signs that, well, don’t. What do I think makes a good sign? I’m no professional, but I think I’m entitled to an opinion here. After all, I am the target of marketing, and marketers should have to follow my opinions. Here are three questions that every good sign must answer:
- What is being sold?
- What’s so good about this product?
- How do I get this product?
So you ponder these three questions and think that perhaps I’m making sense (or not), but you look back to the subtitle of this section and ask your self if I’m ever going to get to the point.
Becase I do, in fact, have a point.
I was passing down a highway (what can I say? highways are good places to find billboards!!) from Arizona to California, and noticed a sign. It had a yellow background and bold black text. It was easy to spot and very easy to understand its message. I glanced at it for maybe three seconds. I suppose I will remember this billboard for a long time, because not only was it a great billboard, but…
Well, it was set up in the style of a checklist. There were two boxes:
__ do nothing
__ fightglobalwarming.com
Needless to say, I’m currently signed up for their newsletter. And THAT, my friends, is my point.
REFERENCES
Schlosser, E. (2005). Fast food nation: The dark side of the all-American meal. New York, NY: Harper Perennial
(2007, July 7). The Big Mac index: Sizzling. The Economist, 384, 74-74.