The Concept Farm’s Fresh Ideas 365

Blaise Zerega loves his Orbea. The shocking news today that Saunier Duval has withdrawn from the Tour de France after Riccardo Ricco, its top rider and winner of two stages thus far, had tested positive for EPO, gives new urgency to a compelling and innovative marketing campaign called Take Back the Tour.

Let’s face it, doping is a major problem for my favorite sport and leading up to this year’s Tour, it was obvious that something dramatic was needed to rekindle people’s passion for it. The good folks at the Versus channel (which broadcasts the Tour in the US) turned to The Concept Farm, a NY-based ad-production-entertainment firm.

The result is a sneak peek into the future of advertising and marketing. Concept Farm’s impressive campaign integrates TV, Print, and Web, making full use of interactivity and community. This means a Rants blog, Flickr photos, YouTube videos, and Facebook. Registered participation is not huge, but I wouldn’t count that against the campaign.  It’s bold, visonary, and it will spawn a raft of imitators.

Best of all is its message: Screw the dopers…They ripped the soul out of this race…It belongs to us… We’re masochists. We’re believers. And it’s our time. Take back the tour.

Posted by The Rooster

Consumer technology companies may be missing the mark when it comes to marketing their products. Most gadgets are typically targeted toward the prized 18-34 year old demographic, but another group is eager to be included: those over 55.

Laura Ries, president of Ries & Ries, an Atlanta-based marketing firm, said tech companies cannot ignore the sheer number of baby boomers.

“There’s enormous opportunity here,” she said. “The vast majority of wealth is with people over 50. They have a more time and more money; two things technology is good at sucking up.”

While many companies aim at what they call the “early adopters,” the over-55-population is apparently just as eager to try new tech toys.

“There are lots of people in their 50s who are the first ones on the block with the new product. They’re passionate about new tech, have been for 30 years, and always will be,” said Chris Gaibler, Sony’s vice president of corporate marketing.

For Sony, this means “shifting our marketing segment strategy from age to attitude,” said Gaibler.

Most consumer tech companies do not make products for specific age groups. They produce gadgets for the masses and let the market determine where they best fit.

“They don’t create the market, they create the product and they watch the heavy users to see where the heavy users are taking the technology next,” said Griffin Stenger of the Concept Farm, a New York advertising firm.

But Stenger said by presenting gadgets in a culturally relevant manner tech makers can make them more appealing to those who might not have taken interest before. “I don’t mean creating new features, but showing how the product fits your lifestyle,” he said.

The difficulty is appealing to a range of age groups with a variety of interests. “What makes profit for companies is building strong brands,” said Atlanta marketer Ries, adding that “the danger” is when companies try to expand a brand’s appeal too broadly and wind up appealing to no one.

Nintendo seems to have successfully bridged the generation gap with Nintendo Wii. Wii Sports takes traditional games like tennis and golf and makes them accessible as video games. “Wii has helped demonstrate that if you’re not already actively playing video games, you can,” said Nintendo spokeswoman Denise Kaigler. “We have seen everyone from young kids to great-grandparents playing Wii.”

Many in the 50+ know exactly what they want when it comes to gadgets. “I would never spend any money on these new cell phones that can do anything”, said Dr. James Kelly, a 70-year-old professor at Fordham University.

For them there are companies like Del Mar, Calif., based Jitterbug, which has found success catering specifically to the needs of that market. Arlene Harris, Jitterbug’s co-founder, came up with a simple, easy-to-use cell phone. “Tech was moving fast and some people were left in a vacuum,” said Harris. Jitterbug’s target audience is “Boomers and seniors or anyone who’s interested in a simple affordable cell phone solution,” said Jitterbug CEO David Inns.

Sony’s Gaibler broadly summed up tech marketers views toward older consumers: “Anyone that’s not concerned about the 50+ group is leaving money on the table,” he said.

Posted by The Rooster

A cameraman catches the action earlier today during the 2008 Tour de France cycling race.

Props to the folks at Versus for directly confronting the elephant in the room during the network’s ongoing coverage of the 2008 Tour de France.

The elephant, of course, is doping, which for a decade has made the results of the world’s greatest bicycle race less than believable.

Versus came up with a striking promotional spot, “A New Stage Begins,” in which some of the sport’s most notorious dopers — Erik Zabel, Alexander Vinokourov, Michael Rasmussen and Jan Ullrich — are shown riding backward. The defrocked 2006 champion, Floyd Landis, is stripped of the yellow jersey.

As the film rolls in reverse, British singer-songwriter Paul Weller (Jam, Style Council) sings lyrics from his song, “Brand New Start”:

I’m gonna get myself straight.
I know it’s never too late.
to make a brand new start.

Versus marketing vice president Ryan Donovan told me this morning that the point of the spot is to reinforce the network’s role as a voice of authority on a sport in which it is heavily invested.

“We want to create a dialogue with our viewers and to celebrate clean competition,” Donovan said. “But you can’t celebrate the guys doing it clean and the hard way without pointing out the guys who didn’t do it the hard way.”

A considerable shadow of doubt still hangs over cycling — reinforced by further doping incidents at this year’s Tour of Italy — and I vowed a year ago not to write about the sport until it could stay straight for two years.

But that has not dissuaded me from observing my July ritual of watching Versus’ coverage of the race, for two reasons:

1.) I am an unabashed Francophile, and the views of the beautiful landscapes the race traverses are eye candy that sets me to dreaming about trips past (and hopefully future) to France.

2)  I am ending my first year as a recreational road cyclist (thanks to a 61-year-old Achilles tendon that said “no more running”) who rides with a “peleton” on weekends, has just endured his first crash and is unabashedly awestruck by the speed and handling skills (doped or not) of professional riders.

Versus recently announced it has acquired rights to the Tour de France through 2013, which provides me several more years of pleasure in what may be illicit entertainment. (Isn’t there an old saying about something being so good it must be illegal?) I may not trust the results, but I cannot beat my habit.

It makes me feel better that Versus wants to let everyone know that the event it is promoting is struggling to beat its habit too.

– Philip Hersh

Posted by The Rooster