Nobel Prize in Marketing 2005
The Nobel Prize committee gives awards every year in the categories of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, peace, and economics. But what about marketing? The science behind getting people to buy shit is sometimes just as impressive as anything Einstein ever came up with. What's that, you say? Marketing is the scourge of civilization and all marketing people should be dragged into the street and shot?
Well, sorry, but that's not what the Nobel Prize is about. They've given physics prizes to people who built atomic bombs and they've given peace prizes to terrorists. Hell, even Alfred Nobel himself invented dynamite, which just made me check to see if they ever gave a Nobel Prize in Literature to Jimmie Walker.
So it's only natural that they give an award to those individuals who break new ground in the world of advertising a product. With new challenges to marketers such as TiVo, increased illiteracy, a bad economy, and our nation's blinding passionate hatred of advertising, I hope to nominate several businesses and individuals who break new ground in this very competitive field.
Nomination #1 - 1-800 Water Damage
1-800 Water Damage is a franchise company that recently moved its headquarters from the Bay Area to Seattle. The franchises work with homeowners to repair water damage. It plans to grow to 300 franchises in the next five years. But for now, they plan to "flood the market", and this week, Seattle residents found out exactly what that means.
All throughout Seattle, the company put up yellow signs on the sides of roads, similar to the picture below.
Naturally, it confused drivers (which is admittedly not hard to do in Seattle) and raised the ire of the local Department of Transportation. Drivers couldn't call the number because they were already on the phone, and it wasn't even supposed to rain this week. So why was this good?
Well, because it made the local news, that's why! Mission accomplished. People tend to forgive you for creating a driving hazard when their basement is flooded. And it's that kind of thinking that puts you in the running for the Nobel Prize in Marketing.
Well, sorry, but that's not what the Nobel Prize is about. They've given physics prizes to people who built atomic bombs and they've given peace prizes to terrorists. Hell, even Alfred Nobel himself invented dynamite, which just made me check to see if they ever gave a Nobel Prize in Literature to Jimmie Walker.
So it's only natural that they give an award to those individuals who break new ground in the world of advertising a product. With new challenges to marketers such as TiVo, increased illiteracy, a bad economy, and our nation's blinding passionate hatred of advertising, I hope to nominate several businesses and individuals who break new ground in this very competitive field.
Nomination #1 - 1-800 Water Damage
1-800 Water Damage is a franchise company that recently moved its headquarters from the Bay Area to Seattle. The franchises work with homeowners to repair water damage. It plans to grow to 300 franchises in the next five years. But for now, they plan to "flood the market", and this week, Seattle residents found out exactly what that means.
All throughout Seattle, the company put up yellow signs on the sides of roads, similar to the picture below.
Naturally, it confused drivers (which is admittedly not hard to do in Seattle) and raised the ire of the local Department of Transportation. Drivers couldn't call the number because they were already on the phone, and it wasn't even supposed to rain this week. So why was this good?
Well, because it made the local news, that's why! Mission accomplished. People tend to forgive you for creating a driving hazard when their basement is flooded. And it's that kind of thinking that puts you in the running for the Nobel Prize in Marketing.
posted by thehim at 9:25 PM
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