The Concept Farm’s Fresh Ideas 365

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

Nothing says Summer Insomnia quite like the Tour De France, except maybe Wilmbledon and soon, The 2008 Summer Olympics. (Although, this year, the Olympics say “Political Oggida” and “WTF” a little bit more, thereby crashing a bit of their late-night charm.) And after turning the thing upside down for some kind, any kind of local hook — there is none, unless you wanna count the ever-so-cute Versus Network, which is owned by Comcast but apparently run out of Connecticut — let us just say it plain: The whole thing is so cute, we could just scream. And there may be nothing more glorious than watching the whole of the French countryside spin out before each night as you fall asleep. At first, we were a little spooked by the aforementioned Versus — who’ve got exclusive rights to the Tour this year — and their Take Back The Tour campaign, but it turns out that this is not some patriotic mumbo jumbo (phew, this whole Fuck The French Movement has gotten tres boring) but is rather some stock extreme sports rhetoric that seems to be the only language Versus can speak. Although we have to give this to them: We also are as obsessed with crash footage as they are. Nevertheless, if it’s Americans you want, you can place all of your hopes and dreams in Team Garmin-Chipotle, who are pretty much the only thing going in American riders this year. And they’re cute, too! Maybe not as cute as these French guys, but still. The Tour De France started on the 5th and runs until the 27th; it’s on Versus pretty much all the time. Get into this, Philadelphia.

Posted by The Rooster

Versus promotes Tour de France via mobile

Tour de force marketing

The Versus television network is promoting its coverage of the 2008 Tour de France cycling race with a marketing campaign that includes text message alerts.

Versus viewers can sign up on the Web site at takebackthetour.com for up-to-the-minute Tour de France updates via SMS. Versus tapped mobile agency Concept Farm to handle the text alerts.

“We’re offering a one-stop site that incorporates popular aspects of social utilities to accurately represent and evangelize the passion of fans, cyclists, competitors and sponsors for one of the greatest sporting events in the world,” said Griffin Stenger, partner and creative director of the Concept Farm, New York.

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“The 100-plus-year-old Tour de France is longer than the Olympics and harder than any sporting event on earth and we have set out to create a platform for the viewers to express their dedication to the sport as an art form,” he said.

Fans can show their enthusiasm for the race by using their camera phones to photograph themselves biking, watching a race or otherwise showing how they would “Take Back the Tour.”
Versus promotes Tour de France via mobile

News cycle

The photos can be uploaded to Flickr right from their handset. Concept Farm takes the photos and includes them in its own Flickr group. The photos are then displayed on its campaign-specific site.

Versus’ multimedia campaign also includes television ads, which began June 9. The company is using other mediums such as viral films featuring current riders and print ads.

Versus’ coverage of the Tour de France will air July 5-27 and will last 14 hours per day.

This promotion comes in the wake of the Tour de France’s performance-enhancing, substance-abuse scandals, preventing some of the top teams and riders from competing in this year’s race. These advertising efforts are an attempt to overcome all of the bad press.

“This campaign is targeting all fans of professional cycling and anyone who has ever been frustrated by the scandals and desire unadulterated competition in its purest form,” Mr. Stenger said. “This is for people who want to have a voice and see their opinions reflected in both virtual and visual mediums.”

Mobile users can also upload videos of themselves to YouTube, giving their opinions about the tour and the current state of cycling. They can do so at takebackthetour.com or Concept Farm’s Facebook application.

The site features video clips, commercial spots, print advertising and information about Versus’ coverage of the tour.

“People are reachable to a larger degree than any other time in history,” Mr. Stenger said. “In a society which does not accept waiting until later, the only way to reach people in real time is to go mobile.

“We are a mobile, active society that does not like to wait until we get home or to our computer to catch up on the day’s news or to voice our passion,” he said. “The campaign champions riders who compete cleanly, while giving a platform and a voice to the passionate fan base who support them.”

Posted by The Rooster