A Challenge: prove you are more clever than the average advertiser
Also available on the Calgary Herald’s Q.
I’ve been ridiculously delinquent here on this blog lately, haven’t I? Well, here’s why: about a month ago I took a new contract working with Lunchbox Theatre here in Calgary. The extra work has been cutting into my blogging time – aka “the workday”. (Lunch hour, naturally.) But I’ve got something fun for us all to participate in that makes everything worth it.
A little back story first. If you work in downtown Calgary you’ve probably heard of Lunchbox Theatre. For the past 33 years they have been providing professional “one-act” theatre (mostly comedies and musicals) over the noon-hour out of their theatre in Bow Valley Square. Shows start at 12:10, run for 40 to 45 minutes and then you are back at your desk by 1pm. (And yes you can eat your lunch in the theatre.) Tickets are $16 for adults. It’s been a pretty sweet deal for 33 years.
The problem is for the past couple of years Lunchbox has, in my opinion, relied a little too much on their core audience and haven’t done much advertising. Or, really, any advertising. And thus their audience has dwindled a little. This dwindling is further compounded by the fact that they will be moving theatres this summer. (No need for me to get into the details as to why here. What’s important is they are opening a brand new theatre at the base of the Calgary Tower!)
This is where I come in. Fix the problem, get the word out. So I’ll be kicking out a full on awareness campaign this August; the primary focus of which will be transit advertising. On the sides of C-Train cars and inside C-Trains and buses, that kind of thing. (Here’s an example on the right.) I plan on doing the ads as a throwback to what I think was Lunchbox’s most successful ad campaign of the past.
Those ads were funny and had sayings such as:
- If Romeo and Juliet ended after act one everybody would be much better off
- We write three acts and throw out the worst two
Pretty entertaining stuff for to read during your commute to work. (Better than the standard addiction counselling and continuing education ads that populate the bus roof now at least.)
So here’s where you come in: Do you think you can write a better Lunchbox Theatre slogan? Then go for it! Make sure you take some time to think about it because the best one will receive tickets to Lunchbox Theatre and if it is really good I may even use it on a bus. Either leave slogan(s) in the comments, or email me at blog@djkelly.ca.
Here are some of the ones Lunchbox staff have come up with lately for more inspiration:
- Play with your food?
- Do you have time for a lunch hour quickie?
Now it’s your turn. Prove you’re more clever than the average advertising copy writer. Shouldn’t be hard, right? We’ll see!
A fashion designer will not solve the global energy crisis
A solar powered bra, that is worn under a shirt, where the sun won’t reach it = potentially the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.
Can we stop letting fashion designers try to solve the world’s energy problems?
Babies should not be murdered by poorly maintained databases!
Also available on the Calgary Herald’s Q.
Databases are important. As a marketer I often preach this to my clients. As a matter of fact, a couple years back I told one that I was working for that if the building caught on fire there was only one thing they had to rescue: their computer server. That computer contained 10 years worth of client data and was, as far as I’m concerned, irreplaceable. I only half-kiddingly said, ‘the company will continue with a new building, you can train new staff, you can do your work with new equipment, but you cannot do business without the information included in that database.’
This past week databases and death collided in real life.
You no doubt have heard the story of the NE Calgary family that lost their child when it took paramedics 30 minutes to respond after they first dialled 911. What happened? It turns out this family has an VOIP phone – also known as an internet phone. The problem is these phones have developed a reputation as being unreliable when calling 911 – deservingly so in this case. The first time the family called for an ambulance they got a support tech – and promptly got disconnected. The second time they called they did finally get connected to emergency services. However before they could give all their data to the dispatcher they were disconnected again. Thinking they passed on enough info they waited for an ambulance to arrive. It never did. (Until a neighbour called from a good old fashion land line.)
So what went wrong? And what does a database have to do with it? Well, it turns out an ambulance was dispatched. To the family’s old address in Ontario. It seems, while the family’s billing information and IP information was updated in the internet phone company’s database, nobody ever updated their emergency contact info. And now a child is dead and a family is grieving with the worst lost imaginable.
In the company’s process ensuring they have the correct address to send a bill to was more important than ensuring the emergency services address was right. Two databases instead of one. Why?
I will remember this example next time I run into a database situation that drives me nuts. Like having Telus tell me it will take 3 months to clear my account after cancelling my home phone line, because their internet and telephone services are on a different billing cycle and are different databases. I’ll take a deep breath, sigh, think about how such a similarly small thing led to the death of a baby in north-east Calgary and thank God no one will die because my ex-phone company can’t keep their customers happy.
Subscribe
-
Like Minded
