Down, But Not Out in the Big Apple...



"A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world," John Le Carre

Down, But Not Out in the Big Apple, but I'm looking for a brighter day. I'm at a Better Burger downing a muffin with organic eggs and turkey bacon in the Murray Hill section of Manhattan. I'm thinking that the organic prepared food sector is a topic that I need to work since so many urbane African Americans seem to bubble-up and lead this trend. 

The Doggie Do & Pussy Cats Too is next door with a stream of pets and owners coming and going in a stream taxis, sedans, and limos for their canine spa treatments. The pet sector is another I should investigate, but I'm not feeling it. 

A misty rain is descending on my second day in the Big Apple. And truth be told, the previous day had it's casualties. In addition to the all day downpour, I lost 2 of 4 scheduled appointments due to traffic and weather, a $200 mobile phone, and a borrowed umbrella I have yet to explain, and Al (my Allen Edmonds) and I were thoroughly drenched by day's end. 

I jump in a cab that's exited by a lady and her pooch that she summarily retrieves from her large Louis Vuitton purse and head uptown to see one my marketing guru colleagues in self-imposed exile. On the ride up I couldn't help but ponder that one of Rudy Gulliani's greatest achievements may have been overhauling New York's taxi system and giving a Brother a better shot at catching a cab -- even it was just inhabited by a pooch. As I was riding in the cab uptown to 67th, it occurs to me that I don't see any other Brothers in Manhattan. Brothers being African American males. None - not among the delivery drivers, Con Edison guys, suits on 3rd Avenue, construction crews, or seemingly wait staff in the restaurants. I can't figure those odds, even though I made straight A's in statistics. 

But to the untrained eye and ear there are men that look like Brothers on the streets of Manhattan, but for those in the know they are most likely from the Caribbean and maybe Africa -- even if the have on Jordan's. Moreover, when I visited my favorite bar & restaurant the previous night on Murray Hill , the bartender was Russian. It's also a trend that I have noticed in Manhattan restaurants, bistros and bars. It appears that many of the workers are from Russia or Eastern Europe. Upon further inquiry, the bartender, informed me that there was a relaxation in immigration as a result of the end of the Cold War in the 1990's Reagan Era that permitted many residents from communist block countries to immigrate to the U.S. 

Thanks to the U.S. Navy I probably know more about Russian geography, infrastructure, airplanes, ships, and weapons systems than most Russians, and now the Russians are serving me beer. The Russians aren't coming - they're here. How bout that! No Brothers, plenty of Russians, West Indians and Africans. I can remember what my mother used to say about things like that, "Son, life's funny that way". 

Caribbean immigration to New York City is outlined in the Urban Signs section of our eNewsletter.

My Favorite TV Commercials of 09

"I Think the mainstream is coming to what we are doing... rather than the other way around". P. Diddy, South Florida Sun Sentinel by Rod Safford Hagwood

Before we go on to the #1 commercial, lets first review the other picks and why:

5 - Nike’s Xmas Basketball Puppet 'Throwdown' - Shrewd use of puppets targeting urban youth who are not that far removed from watching Sesame Street, but are now the leading sneaker market segment. But, we should include their parents in this segment, because they are still footing the bill!

#4 - The Marine Corp “Black History Month” - Artfully links a cultural pride message within the overarching Marine Corp theme of "be one of us – the few, the proud, the marines."

#3 - McDonald's Cafe featuring Dwele - Picks-up on the urban coffee house dynamic seen in the 1950's (Beat Generation) and 1960's (Black Power Movement) that has become revitalized with the urban living set, the urban intelligentsia and Nu Soul crowd.

#"2" - Levi's The New Americans Go Forth in quotations - Brilliant concept and execution, but it rings hollow for me with Levi's standing in the wings for 20 years while Hip-Hop culture revolutionized the American and global causal jeans marketplace.

Now, with no more ado, onto my favorite, #1, numero uno TV Commercial for 09. Lights, camera, action…The scene opens with these fleeting black and white images of an architecturally classic modernist house, maybe by Paul Williams, circa 1960’s set somewhere in the Hollywood, Beverly or Sugar Hills of Los Angeles.

A vintage turntable starts to spin with the boom of Old Blue Eyes singing “Come fly with me, come fly with me” makes the scene recognizable, iconic, and classy. But, it takes your brain a minute to jog around before it starts factoring in that the images you are seeing are largely African Americans at dinner party or after party in formal evening attire listening to Old Blue Eyes.

They are partying, unwinding and enjoying some drinks. The drink is indubitably some a new product launch for the white spirits market, but P. Diddy flips the audience from purveyor of Hip-hop culture into mainstream culture and uses it within the context of this spirits ad, and pull it off wonderfully. As a consequence, this spot is our #1. Pulling this cultural flip off was also nothing arbitrary either.

Fact is - African American contributions and their presence have long been present in Hollywood for close to a century. They have not only lived in Hollywood, but they have been architects to the stars and movie moguls, as well as servants too.

Black architect Paul Williams designed the homes of Anthony Quinn, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Danny Thomas, ‘Old Blue Eyes’ himself Frank Sinatra (Palm Springs), as well as Lucielle Ball and Desi Arnaz. He also worked on the Beverly Hills Hotel, the LAX airport’s theme building, and several other commercial properties.

A family friend, the late Bill Jackson was an ‘all-around-man’ or servant for David O. Selznick (producer of Gone With The Wind) back in the late 1950’s and 1960’s. As it’s passed down in family lore Bill had to pull Selznick out of the swimming pool one night after he came home after having too many from one of those Hollywood dinner parties.

Much and little has changed since then as P. Diddy poignantly demonstrates in the Chiroc ad. He evens adds another important element while summoning what looks to be the Bentley for a female guest with “Drink Responsibly” as a voice-over, i.e. that drinking responsibly is further defined not only as responsible, but as now cool even, elegant and chivalrous.

This should be a seminal moment in advertising, this was the signal for what is to come. I also forgot to mention my least favorite TV commercial which was the Dr. Pepper spot with Dr. Dre - "Slow is Good". Besides the Dr. link it gives the appearance of having just stuck a rapper in the spot in an attempt to be cool, hip and with it’. I didn’t buy it, but what do I know, because I assume it made it out research testing?

Willis' Bag

My Favorite TV Commercials of '09

2009 is long gone by the wayside now, but my mind and memory till always reels around 'My Top 5 TV Commercials’ of the year, which is a matter I do not take lightly, and frankly obsess over, so here you go...

#5 - Nike’s Xmas Basketball Puppet Throwdown between the reindeer, Lebron and Kobe puppets was a tour-de-force in product targeting terms and along generational lines just like a Lebron dunk. It speaks to a broad and global adolescent urban market segment, which by-the-way is huge in population size, but that might be into basketball or just wants to look cool in a pair of Nike's, like a Sneakerhead. The commercials rap soundtrack was cleverly peppered with a seasonal baseline under “Jingle Bells” that helped to develop the storyline andbuild-up to the basketball game. But, the key feature about this spot and other Lebron/Kobe puppet spots is that any adolescent, pre-teen, or even teen market segment are not so far removed from watching Sesame Street that they jus might likely still pay attention to what some cuddly puppets might have to say or do. OK, maybe some Ole G’s too.

#4 - The Marine Corp “Black History Month” spot that I'm thinking premiered during one of the Friday night NBA games televised on ESPN during February of 2009. I found the combination of images and messaging exquisitely put together integrating both historical vignettes of the WWII with more recent footage of African American flag officers, astronauts, etc. As a cultural pride piece, the execution was flawless in connecting past, present, and most importantly imparting a feeling of welcome and tradition on the next generation of Marine Corp leaders. The spot comes full-circle with the over-arching Marine Corp advertising theme and message that says - 'you too can be one of us' - the few, the proud, the marines'.

#3 - McDonald’s Cafe' spot picks-up on the urban café scene with McDonald’s launch of various flavored coffees. It also serves as a take-off on the spoken word and poetry scene, and opens with an MC, audience, and Dewele singing. Based on some of the findings from Urban Radio: The Power Unlocked! the use of the Neo Soul musical genre was a clever way to resonate with the psychographics, demographics, and musical tastes of what we found in the research to be a younger, more educated and up-and-coming urban market segment. What's more, this younger intelligentsia segment has largely re-pioneered the urban coffee and poetry scene that was more prevalent back in the 1950's with the Beat Generation and 1960’s with the Black Power Movement.

Targeting this new urban city set, the urban intelligentsia with Neo Soul crowd was a good example of identifying and literally playing to an important trendsetting group while launching a new product or service line. Whether McDonald’s café coffee will pull them away from their urban coffee houses and Starbucks is still unknown, but someone really did their homework or maybe just followed their gut – spot-on!

Next time - our #1 and #2. What's are your favorites?

Willis’ Bag

Confessions of a Wire-Head

“California dreaming on such a winter’s day”

Peter, Paul and Mary’s iconic ‘California Dreaming’… “on such a winter’s day was rolling across my mind” as the McDonald-Douglas S-80 broke from the clouds above San Francisco revealing a stunning sunset, but all I could think of was Baltimore.

I couldn’t stop thinking about it - even with the weekend ahead in San Francisco with the great exhibits going on there - Tutankhamun was at the de Young Museum and Cartier & America was at the nearby Legion of Honor, which also meant that I could check-out Presidio, Haight Asbury, and even scoot over to Sausalito for some great seafood.

But, the sad reality was that I really was dreaming of Baltimore over the winter - when typically the new season of The Wire on HBO starts up, I was literally going through withdrawal. The Wire was taken off HBO after 5 seasons and what was regarded and critically acclaimed as the “best show” on television. Now just like Bubbles I’m a Wire head.

Funny, I had no withdrawal symptoms in previous years or even the past year during the spring, summer, or even fall. I was OK until the weather turned cold and wintry, so I guess it must be a seasonal thing. At first I was in denial about it, and just sat there looking at the box DVD sets of The Wire seasons #1 - #3 that I had purchased years ago to supplement my cravings.

It wasn’t long afterwards that I opened The Wire season #3 and started watching the Barksdales anywhere from one to two episodes per night. This quickly escalated to the point that The Wire was the only thing that I was watching in the evening. Next, I was onto Wire season #1, and then #2 with much the same viewing habits all but consuming me.

I couldn’t seem to stop, and after a couple weeks, I soon started to realize that my Wire supply was about to run out. So, in the parlance of The Wire, I needed a re-up of seasons #4 and #5 of The Wire. But, The Wire’s DVD box sets are kinda of pricey at around $60 a piece. So, I tried to go cold turkey for the next couple of weeks and watch my usual evening fare of programming and pretend to be gratified.

Miraculously, I read about a ½ price sale that Best Buy was having on selected HBO series box sets the week before Xmas. So, I ran out like a fiend and got The Wire seasons #4 and #5. But, fearing that I would soon exhaust seasons #4 and #5 also, I also got the entire Deadwood series.

Then - every chance I got, I would sneak off and sequester myself in the bonus room and watch The Wire seasons #4 and #5. Now I can now only hope and pray that the new series by the producers of the Wire entitled Treme will have a similar effect. However, after seeing the series debut recently, the jury is still out on Treme, and until its in, I’ll be Baltimore dreaming.

Maybe I can get in a support group. Anybody else out there like me?

Willis's Bag

He stayed in Haiti for 2½ years walking up and down those hills, the mountainsides and in the streets of Port-au-Prince. He never left the island of Haiti once during his tour. When I picked him up at the airport stateside - he still had those boots on.

Why I Wear Timberland

Not sure how exactly how I became familiar with the Timberland brand, but it was not initially good. Some kinda of fracas with young shoppers/consumers at one of their stores in the D.C. metro  back in the early 1990’s.  This was when those wheat colored nutbuck ankle boots by Timberland started to become so popular.

 

What happened after that was both the adoption and co-option of Timberland’s boots almost as a uniform. They are now seemingly a mandatory part of any outfit co-joined with jeans or cargo type pants for males or females.

At the same time, I didn’t notice any moves by Timberland to market or advertise to this younger consumer market segment. Timberland’s brand appeared slanted towards European-American outdoor hikers and skiers.

I was kinda perplexed by this consumer demand curve and brand equation that from all appearances should have been a train wreck along anybody's marketing strategy.

No doubt, Timberland has made a mint in the urban marketplace and in more rural confines with wheat colored nutbuck boots. What I would like to know is not the market share, but the percent of sales revenue that has come from those fuzzy looking urban boots that I’m projecting should be enough to rebuild a country?

My Timberland Gear

I bought my first piece of Timberland gear, which was a short sleeved polo shirt, about 15 years ago by accident after finding it on a sale table. I liked the feel of the cotton, so my brand entry was by touch and price point. But at that time, what I didn’t realize was how the wicked backing on the inside made it both moisture absorbent and really cool.

It quickly became a fan favorite of mine while traveling across Europe by train. I think I had it on when I jumped off a moving local train in Mons, Belgium. I realized that I was headed in the wrong direction as the train started lurch forward, so I kicked the luggage out and jumped off, and needless to say I didn’t break a sweat in my Timberland shirt.

I even was wearing it when I came upon another polo shirt from the Vanrykel Tailor shop in Brussels along rue du marche-aux-herbes. The shirt was made in Barcelona out of some luxurious mercerized cotton that I had never seen or touched before.

Today, I’m not sure whatever happened to that shirt, but my old Timberland shirt is now at Roy’s getting a small hole repaired. Somethings you keep.

Timberland and Haiti

So, when my son said he needed a pair of good boots for his upcoming Peace Corp tour in Haiti back in the late 1990’s – guess what brand of boots I suggested? Not the wheat colored nutbuck Timberland urban boots, but some real Timberland hiking boots (something like their Flume Mid Hiker). Needless to say that he had them on when he flew out of LAX for Haiti.

My son worked in Haiti (See A Day in the Life) with small farmers in countryside on reforestation projects using Mango trees as cash crops. Haiti it is very hilly and mountainous, and deforestation remains a rampant issue. He stayed in Haiti for 2½ years walking up and down those hills, the mountainsides and in the streets of Port-au-Prince.

He never left the island of Haiti once during his 2½ stint, and when I picked him up at the airport back to the U.S. – he was still wearing those boots.

I was very heartened to learn of Timberland’s support of Wycleaf Jeans’ Yele Foundation despite what are now some admitted vagaries associated with past activities of the foundation. Timberland has been previously working with the Yele Foundation to help in reforestation efforts in Haiti, but now all their efforts have been redirected wholly towards relief efforts in Haiti.

One of the things you can do is go on-line and purchase one or several Yele/Timberland T-shirts that are offered with all proceeds going to the Yele Foundation. The one below is mine, and now you know why I wear Timberland.

Willis’ Bag: “My Research”

A lot of responses came in from our feature on cable (broadband television) demand and penetration from last month’s e-Letter. So riddle me this, if you have 2 cable systems or service areas side-by-side with one having the highest per capita income and educational levels in an entire state and the other much more in the middle, which one should have the highest cable demand and penetration?

If you are a media planner, buyer or brand manager try placing your product or service in the same mix and substitute cable demand and penetration – with consumption indexes and market share for rice, mobile or long-distance telephony, beef, sneakers, MP3 players, hi-end audio, or hi-end auto, timeshare purchased, or whatever your ‘bag’.

We also break the cable demand and penetration equation down further in this month’s e-Letter article - A Day in the Life of an Urban System GM, and go way back to first attempt at creating a model for the cable industry at NCTA in 1985. But we don’t stop there, because typically the trick for any good research model is getting and establishing a baseline from related secondary data or from the world, and ideally from both. This is how you discover and see consumer market and media trends that put you ahead of the game.

So we pile on the demand equation in this month’s e-Letter and add several more articles, quotes, and plugs that speak to this baseline validation process and apprach, such as Robert Cooper’s quote in the one of the featured articles Flags -

'capturing the flag is about reaching inside yourself and entering the game, sharpening your senses, so you could notice (see, detect, discern) sooner and from greater distances'.

In another e-Letter article this month, Down, But Not Out In NYC, a quote by John Le Carre’ warns us that “a desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world”, and to that we say amen and give testament. In another feature on our upcoming report Urban Radio: The Power Unlocked!, we hear about urban radio’s struggles with audience numbers that do not adequately reflect ‘what they bring’, as in what they bring to the media and advertising table.

Yet, we go on to point out and talk about how media researchers from Howard University’s Graduate School of Mass Communications starting in the 1980’s pioneered and forged some of the most profound media research methodologies and audience models for capturing diverse audience media behavior. Researchers such as Drs. Howard Myrick (Uses and Gratifications); Oscar Gandy Jr. (Agenda-Setting); John Barber (Content Analysis), Clint C. Wilson (Multiculturalism) and Dr. Robert L. Nwanko.

As a result of their pioneering work, the soon to be released study Urban Radio: The Power Unlocked! by W.G. Smith & Associates "unlocks" the true power behind urban radio by continuing and building upon this rich HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) tradition in media research and cutting-edge audience models and methodologies.

OK, now back to the cable demand and penetration riddle - what ya got? What service area would have the highest cable demand and penetration brand monikers, cable gurus, and round-the-way marketers?

So, I will tell you this, and then I’m gone -- no matter what anybody tells you, consumer or cable demand and penetration (market share for some) comes down to time and money, and not in the order or way you might think, because like life, things are not quite that simple. Human needs, which we all have, also have a cultural context as well. Needs impact your financial resources, and your financial resources influence your time. The time you spend working, playing and socializing, and who you socialize with, and you know who that is.

Culture also influences the way you allocate money and time based on what’s 1) most important and 2) what’s most important to you, and this is greatly influenced by culture. Both need factors and cultural filters and cues help shape and drive the perception, cost benefit analysis, demand, penetration, or market share. This is why cultural diversity should be factored in even during early product development and not just roll-out, or after market.

On the cable side of things - this in part explains Why Diverse U.S. Cable Audiences Are Leading the Way..., which was a research paper that we presented at the World Audience Measurement Conference. It explains why and just how diverse U.S. cable audiences are setting audience trends in broadband television and consumer electronics in the U.S.

The updated Remixed version of this revolutionary cable study will be out in 2010. You can get the original from WARC (World Advertising Research Council) in the U.K. and ESOMAR (World Association of Research Professionals) in the Netherlands, because remarkably it has never been available in the U.S.

For more on the origins of cable demand and penetration market research and models don’t forget to see this months article A Day in the Life of an Urban System GM, and go behind the scenes of the making of the original cable demand and penetration model.

Willis’ Bag

OK, my bad. I’ve been inexplicably missing in action from my blog Willis’s Bag for a couple weeks, or months, or.... But, it hasn’t been 20 years OK.

My Research

Just to let you know I’ve been busy finishing-up the 10 year anniversary edition of the Urban Market Report: A Tapestry of Media & Life®.

This special edition of the Urban Market Report is called Urban Radio: The Power Unlocked!, and comes loaded with a number of urban market research firsts and a global search -- all in order to identify and validate the true power of urban radio that was 5 years in the making.

So, to make-up for my being missing in action, I’ve compiled an extended play ‘blog’ across my normal range of topics, which was rather clever I thought…, but what do I know.

Speaking of radio, a lot of noise in the radio industry is being made about Arbitron’s march towards audience engagement metrics. Gurus on both sides like Mark Ramsey question it, and others have been long giving it a call-to-arms like Chris Schroeder.

What we have had, in a general market sense, is exclusively GRPs, which isn’t much in an increasingly multi-channel and multimedia accessible world. But, in full disclosure, I was an advocate of the push towards audience engagement metrics led by Carat early-on.

Back in 03 - I was a presenter on audience measurement metrics on the panel 'Beyond GRP's’ at the World Audience Measurement Conference in 2003. A strong case was made then for different and more descriptive audience measurement systems as well as passive measurement technologies that were in use by many European media and research companies.

I’m still an advocate simply for the fact that in an increasingly fragmented and time-delayed media world.– ‘what are you going to do – nothing’? Even Apple’s added an FM tuner and video camera to their I-Pod Nano.

My Advertising

With the year coming to a close, my mind and memory turns to the selection ‘My Top TV Commercials’ of the year, which is a matter I do not take lightly, and frankly obsess over. Although I know what my # 1 is and why -- I would say that my #2 might be Levi Strauss’s ‘The New Americans Go Forth’ campaign, et al. The television spot has a lot of visual and aural mystery in it that gets me every time. I guess that’s why I love Robert Altman films so.

Yet, Levi Strauss’s ‘The New Americans Go Forth’ campaign (I’ve seen television and on-line applications) – rings hollow for me. Levi Strauss has no – shall we say - “street credibility” in my view in being apart of the ‘New America’ or the new American frontier, which should be more aptly named the new American urban frontier or pioneers. It’s like they tried to slip this one by after 20 years of … just-in-time manufacturing.

I’ve still got a black pair of Levi's (above) from about 15 years ago as well as a pair that I bought in the last 6 months, and they really don’t compare in sizing terms.

My Management

I’m not sure where Levi/Dockers has been for the past 20 years in American life. What I do know is that they perfected just-in-time-inventory controls and manufacturing that I project resulted in my Dockers and jeans being manufactured so tightly that I’m amazed that there was enough material in them to sewn together at all.

I recently bought a pair of “Relaxed Fit jeans” in the past 6 months one size larger than my new normal size and just figured they should work, but they still don’t compare to the black pair of Levis that I bought almost 2 decades ago that I can still get in and they still give me room to breathe without any relaxed fit labeling. Relaxed fit being Levi’s, Lee’s, and Wranglers counter to:

1) Carpenter Pants

2) the Baggy Jeans

3) Cargo Pants.

As Levi’s started to manufacture their jeans and chinos tighter and tighter (less material) -- a lot of ‘bigger’ and normal sized guys found greater comfort in more loosely fitting casual pants – I for one did. But, don’t get me wrong here, because I’m no big fan of how some boys, young men or Jay-Z wearing their jeans hanging down etc.

But, I’m amazed at how many ole, G’s like me across lines are now bespoke in a pair of baggy carpenter jeans or cargo pants, because bottom-line they are just more comfortable. Furthermore, the physical size of America’s boys and men have become larger not smaller, which is a physiological metric that I’ve seen in studies by the trade group Cotton Inc.

My Marketing

So, I guess what am I saying about Levi’s -- is that making a media and marketing campaign that says or shows Levis’ as hip, with it, and on-top-of-it with the new America and New Americans is a bit of a stretch for me, and as I cited it somehow rings hollow. Maybe Trend Influence, their market intelligence and branding shop, did not take into account this credibility gap, or maybe they thought that nobody would notice or be wise to the fact that Levis has been missing in action over the past 20 years, which is just about the tenure of Hip-hop culture in the U.S. and globally as well.

Did they think any association of the “baggy jeans” and Hip-hop culture were not a part of the New America or Americans? Clearly, what the urban market wants and wears – so too do the men and boys around the world want and wear. For better or worse missing the real trend influence of the hip-hop culture changing American men and boys tastes and fashion towards bigger more casual pants is questionable at best. Like I said in the beginning, although it’s a really nice spot, its kinda like the Levi jeans that I bought recently – something about them just doesn’t sit or fit right.

My Sports

Things have gotten so bad for me and my home football team – the
Carolina Panthers that I’ve now started to support the Bengals– my other home team. However, the Bengals lost this week and the Panthers won, but I’m sticking to my guns: “Who dey think going to beat them Bengals”. The ‘Who-dey’ parlance is a local Cincinnati reference to what was once a locally brewed beer – Hudepohl, aka ‘a Hu-de’ and Who-dey.

My Customer Service

My ‘Brown Skin’ Service Award goes to an unnamed and unheralded Red Robin restaurant waitress that served our contingent of “intelligentia” after attending a talk/lecture by Deborah Willis about her new book Posing Beauty at the Center for Documentary Studies in Durham, NC. The waitress was wonderfully adept, gracious and had a great smile. I might have thought I was at a Michelin 3 star with her service instead of a Red Robin, but these days it just goes to show you – you never know.