Coke' Misappropriates Vermeer With AI

A 3D billboard at Guarulhos International Airport in Sao Paulo is showcases  Coca-Cola's "Masterpiece" campaign by animating Vermeer's  "Girl with a Pearl Earring" as a girl whose life purpose it is to put bottles of Coke into a pipe that leads to the vending machine for the soft drink. 

This is not "real magic TM" as the Coke video declares. It is a travesty of art that reduces a masterpiece to a Disney-style short film. 

I can just picture the thought process behind this with a discussion of the creative team that went like this:

Rich: We need something everyone recognizes as a masterpiece!

Josh: But it has to not be under copyright!

Rich: Right! 

Dave: How about Mona Lisa?

Rich Maybe, but can we find something else?

Dave: Vermeer!

Rich: What?

Dave:  ChatGPT says one of his paintings is really famous because there was a movie about it.

Josh: Oh, yeah, "Girl With a Pearl Earring." So long as that's not under copyright, it should be good. 

Rich: Yeah, any woman in a famous piece of art acting as a waitress to get you to buy Coke should work.  

High fives all around.

And so you have it. The enigmatic subject of Vermeer's masterpiece is reduced to Disney-heroine-as-serving girl to allow Coke to appropriate high culture to sell you brown-colored carbonated water filled with ingredients that are detrimental to your health.

I'm fine with a brand promoting itself and with showing off 3D effects and other high tech. But it should have gone the route of creating its own character for this rather than stealing art that is not copyright protected.

Related: 

MAJOR MARKETING MISSTEPS FROM ADIDAS, M&M'S AND COKE

When automated messages make your brand look stupid

Marketers love using emails and texts to be in contact with customers. It's so cheap and easy to get messages out that some abuse the channels and send out daily messages. Even worse, some send out multiple messages a day, which just crowd a customers' inbox and make them start tuning out those messages.

One of the biggest offenders on this front is the Gap family of brands. As the umbrella organization comprises not just Gap but also Banana Republic, as well as the "Factory" versions of both those brands, on top of Old Navy and Althea, it sends me a minimum of three and sometimes even five emails each and every day. So, yes, I tune most of them out now. 

But the one pictured above caught my eye. Can you guess why?

Are you motivated to make a purchase because a brand lets you know that you have free money to spend that amounts to just $0 in rewards? In other words, your purchasing power is unchanged from what you thought it was before.

 It's all too obvious that Old Navy is attempting to personalize the offer not just by using my name but by trying to tempt me to make a purchase that will be discounted by my rewards. As the algorithm is not programmed to discard that message for customers without a reward balance, we get a message that shows not all personalization necessarily fits your marketing message.

A bit later I got this email that made a similar mistake in a PR pitch. Notice how the personalization is worked in without regard for understanding how we address people in real life:

"Setting up your business remotely during Great Resignation

Inbox

KJ Helms via prnewswire.com
to me

Hi Brown, Ariella​ Team,

 

I have a story I think Brown, Ariella​ would want to cover about a firm that can help businesses 

affected by “The Great Resignation,” which is continuing with 4.3 million resignations in 

December 2021 alone ⁽¹⁾.

One other nitpick I have is that it refers to the Great Resignation continuing by citing the numbers from December 2021. As we are in March now, that is a non sequitur. Instead of presenting the sentence in this order  the text should have started with the December stat and then say that the trend continues in 2022, possibly with its own sentence set up this way: In December 2021 alone 4.3 million resigned from their jobs, and "The Great Resignation" trend is continuing in 2022, raising concerns for businesses that want to retain their employees.

 Related:  

MAJOR MARKETING MISSTEPS FROM ADIDAS, M&M'S AND COKE

RYAN GEORGE SHOWS BEST AND WORST MARKETING PRACTICES

TODAY'S TARGETED MARKETING IS POWERED BY DATA AND AUTOMATION

7 WAYS TO GRAB CUSTOMER ATTENTION IN SUBJECT LINES

  

Holiday Marketing Fail from Adora Dolls

Below is the email I just saw copied exactly as it appeared except for the manual addition of one of the pictures.  So how many things does this get wrong?

1. Market targeting: my youngest is 16 -- in other words way past the stage of playing with dolls.

2.They say "multi-cultural" when they really mean muti-racial. Dolls don't have culture, and these are not the kind that come dressed in native costumes that reflect a particular ethnic or cultural identity.

3. They give themselves a big pat on the back for making dolls of color avaialbe yet show a girl of color holding a white doll.

4. Notice that for all their claiming broad-mindedness, including stressing the possibility that a boy may want to play with dolls, they don't show any little boy with a doll here. At best, they showa doll who could be dressed as a boy, or what they like to call"gender-neutral." In fact, parents have thought of giving their boys dolls to play with already decades ago (at least I did) and the fact that a doll may be dressed as a girl or as a boy really is not part of the equation. My girls had baby boy dolls, as well as those that were dressed in a gender-neutral clothing. 

5. The whole princess/prince thing is absurd. I never called my kids that, and it actually has very negative connotations in certain contexts.

So there you have it: if you're going to pitch your products in this way, do it right, and make sure you're actually reaching your target market via email rather than spamming countless people. 

Hi Ariella,

Isn't there enough racial tension today?  Not with Adora dolls.  This brand creates authentic multi-cultural dolls, boy dolls and gender neutral designs.  Their award winning dolls are also Machine Washable & BPA Free.  This is a company you want to support!!  Let me know if I can request a sample.  Thanks!  Jessica :)

Make It A Multicultural Holiday Season With Dolls From Adora

BPA-free, machine washable dolls & accessories for every child

It has been said America is the melting pot and today it could not be truer. Ethnic diversity has accelerated in recent decades, a trend which is expected to continue into the future. Ethnicity has important implications for culture, identity, and well-being that is why Adora has created a variety of ethnically diverse dolls that all children can identify with. No matter their ethnicity the nurturing aspect of doll play is good for all kids, (yes, boys too).

Adora encourages nurturing doll play with award-winning dolls and accessories that kids and moms love. Adora offers handcrafted toys that are as responsible as they are fun. Unlike other doll brands, Adora not only has gender neutral patterns, but many of their multicultural dolls have unique sculpts for different ethnicities.

Finding that special doll a child can identify with is essential to nurturing play and helps foster a healthy self image. In addition, doll play improves a child’s motor skills, social skills, sparks imaginations and teaches important social skill such as kindness and compassion.

Truly find a doll for ANY child and boost their confidence with Adora

 

• PlayTime Baby Floral Romper: Handmade with care, this adorable Asian baby doll is perfect for cuddling! With a bean bag weighted bottom which gives them their life-like feel, it’s great for ages 1 and up.

• PlayTime Baby Little Princess: The perfect first baby doll weighing just 12 ounces, your little one will love the life-like features from their button noses to little hands and feet! Created in exclusive, lightly baby powder scented, Gentle Touch vinyl, these baby dolls have a cuddly, silky-smooth body that reminds us all of the beloved trim on a child’s favorite blankie.

PlayTime Baby Little Prince: While some may still see dolls as a “girl toy,” there are plenty of little boys out there who adore their baby dolls. Downright adorable, this little prince will be the perfect cuddle buddy for your tiny tot!

Let Adora help foster a healthy self image with nurturing play this holiday season. Surprise them with an Adora doll that shows them just how beautiful they are in their own skin!

Prices range anywhere from $12.99 to $119.99. Adora Toys can be purchased online at http://www.adoraplay.com. For more information or a sample, contact jparise@chicexecs.com. 

Just Slightly Off Target

As I was going through my emails to see which to read and which to zap, I noticed this one from Target because the subject line "Women subject line should read: This sweater deal unravels tonight."
Here's the snip of the email as proof.

It looks like the former cake decorator may have finally learned not to misspell "birthday" and moved on to a job in charge of sending out Target's emails.

Marketing email fail

File under "Irony" or maybe just "Whoops!"

The following is something I just got in my email copied exactly as it came. Yup, they left in the code and failed to insert the name that is supposed to show how they really know what they're talking about in terms of getting data right for effective marketing.

Hi {lead.First Name:default=}, When you look at recent statistics around social media, marketing, and customer care, what story do they tell? At Sprinklr, we believe the enormous shifts in technology and marketing over the past decade mean that customer experience (CX) will soon be the central focus of every company that wants to stay relevant and stand out from the crowd. Customers are already asking for it, and now it’s time for brands to catch up. RECENT DATA BACKS THIS UP Sprinklr - 29 West 35th Street 7th Floor New York NY You received this email because you are subscribed to emails from Sprinklr. Unsubscribe from all future emails

No more survey response for Office Max

I won't be responding to any more survey requests from Office Max. I explain why in my latest post at level343.com: Survey Says: Triple Fail for Office Max Marketing

Major video fail

My blog on the video that spurred a storm of negative reviews, the trending hashtag #sciencegirlthing and a viral status that the EU Commission would have been happier without is posted here.  There is additional information, like the fact that the video cost 102,000 Euros to produce, and more links in the comments.