social entrepreneurism & the advertising industry
Submitted by henr1927 on Thu, 08/14/2008 - 19:05.
I find it interesting that we are now beginning to see a desperate shift with these so-called, "socially conscious" & easily marketable companies, blindlessly investing their faith in an industry that was never meant for their good hearted efforts: advertising.
I'm sure it just goes without saying the disillusionment I feel with this industry. Needless to say, I'm sure we all know about McCann's recent and not so recent affairs with immorality: $1 billion contract with the pentagon to recruit soldiers, and indirectly brand the war or terror, the hundreds and millions of dollars in tax fraud, the gluttonous mastercard "priceless" campaign that continues to sink our middle & lower class deeper and deeper into financial recession.
All reasonably excusable. Let's all be realistic here. Capitalistic society, conglomerate monopoly, whatever you want to call it...someone's gotta do the dirty work.
What kills me though is that they have now made prey of Tom's shoes. I am sure we are all familiar - your posterchild company running wild, and successfully, with bogo (buy one, give one)-like ideals in tote. They're like the new crocs. My kids want them, my wife gives them to her co-workers during secret santa time, and you can't step outside without spotting a hipster kid dancing their way to school in them. And it's not just in LA, these shoes pop up in nationally distributed magazines globally. I first read about them on Seth Godin's blog and was blown away. We have a company here who is completely self-made, free from the over-dependence of consumer manipulation, clean from the rapture of the advertising industry. From what I can tell: pure, honest and good in every sense.
You can imagine my surprise, when sources informed me that they are now one of McCann's clients - credits to former colleagues who remain on the dark side of McCann for this piece of info. It is suggested that McCann plans to reinvent the shoe company's already thriving brand, that they are to head their marketing, much of their pr, and be the backbone behind their success I assume. Understandable even for McCann, now that they are desperately trying to clean up their poorly set reputation. However, McCann won't even go pro-bono on this one, instead charging rates that are only slightly discounted. Charging tom's for the things that their easily marketable system already allows them for free. I assume that just like any other startup, tom's will not be cutting profits for a few years. Can McCann not cut them a break? Or do something right for once, and leave them alone? I guess with over $8+ billion in revenue per year at McCann, why stop there, right?
We always sit here and critique the ad world for selling the products that are in desperate need of some customer manipulation...but what about when a helpless, infant of a company steps into the wrong territory? An innocent company just another casualty in the ad world, the blood on the hands of folks over at McCann. We might as well say goodbye to potentially world changing companies. We EXPECT more from these good companies, the few that there are. They have potential and opportunity. Need they self-sabotage and create a bloody mess? If tom's can't do it then I challenge someone else to try...otherwise we're in for a long future of meaningless brands.
any thoughts? what do you guys think of toms shoes? and this website? talk about a god awful mess...can think of a few places where they may have ripped off this look and/or purchased a $100 template. i won't even discuss the pink...just from these concept mock ups I'm starting to think maybe toms is being designed by the same patternmakers from conde naste's web development group.
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Are Tom's a non-profit? Because if they aren't, I don't see a reason they should get pro-bono work done. We have to eat too you know.
Never heard of Tom's shoes. If they're all that hot and fashionable, they can afford the advertising.
The website looks OK. Clearly laid out, the items nicely shown, looks like it's not too slow to load. I've shopped in far worse.
For every pair of Tom's shoes you buy - they give a pair to a child in need.
= For every extra pair McCann manages to help sell to people who have never heard of Tom's, there's an extra pair of shoes given to a child in need.
What's so wrong about that? I doubt Tom's is a "helpless, infant of a company". They know what they are doing and could have said no to the discounted rate.
I doubt henr1927 will ever return and explain their position. Shame that.
*crickets*