Toyota - Saved by Zero Ads

Am I crazy or has the ad agency running Toyota's campaign lost their mind? If you haven't seen it...consider yourself lucky. The problem is if you have watched any NCAA College Football, Major League Baseball, or NFL Football over the past two weeks you have been attacked by this ad. In fact, my son and I counted the number of times the ad ran in just 45 minutes, it ran 5 times. If you want to see the ad, click here.

I took a little solace this morning when I Googled the ad and found a long list of links to other blogs and sites also commenting on the ad campaign. I even found a site that is offering an electronic petition to get ad taken off the air. To sign the petition, click here. Who in their right mind would have supported this type of advertising approach? Is this getting me to feel good about Toyota? Is it motivating it to drive me into the dealership to by a car? Can I even get a loan to purchase the car? Don't even start with the...everyone is talking about the ad stuff, because the only thing people are saying is how dumb the campaign is and how annoyed they are by the ad. If you want to read another blog, with a similar sentiment, click here. I am not alone.

Advertising has to tweak a pain...it has to touch on an issue that the potential customer is feeling right now. The last thing I want to see or hear is a lame jingle that tortures me for hours on end. If Toyota wants to learn how to really make advertising pay off, I would be happy to speak with their marketing team. If anyone knows any of them...feel free to have them email me.

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Does Reality Marketing Work?

I have been asked a couple of times...how do you know Reality Marketing works? I know because I see the performance with our clients who embrace our approach. But every know and then, you get a real example to illustrate how it works.

Since we have such a perfect example, I thought I would share it with you.
About 2 months ago, we were approached by the organizers of the Philly 100 event. This event honors the fastest growing private businesses in the Philadelphia metro area. When we met with them, we told them we would want to market the event differently. Once the organizers agreed, we were in.

Here are the results. They had a goal of 700 registrants this year and Thursday, October 16, they had 725 registrants. Last year, they had 33 total tables purchased and they already have 47 tables sold this year. In addition, sponsor revenue is up slightly in a year when businesses are cutting back significantly.

The event, on Wednesday, October 22nd will be one of the best in years. Come join us and the other fastest growing private business in the area on Wednesday.

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Book Sales Update

Our book, Reality Marketing Revolution has been on the market for about 60 days. To date, we have sold over 600 books and I was thrilled to see the book on the shelves of our local Barnes and Noble.

Take a look at the picture attached to the blog post. If you look closely, you will see the book, displayed prominently on the second shelf in the middle. Not bad, huh?

In addition, to the success found at local retail outlets, we are also in conversations with a number of large partners who are considering using out book as giveaways for their clients and prospects.

The book has already received national attention from a number of organizations like Start Up Nation, Executive Leaders Radio, and we are working on an interview segment on the Donnie Deutch show, The Big Idea.

Beyond the book, our company is going through a major hiring exercise right now. The key learnings from that are extensive and I thought I would share some of them with our readers over the next few days.

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