Canadian Customs (Department of)

Why is it, that every time I come to Canada is get a new customs story to tell when I return to my safe enclave in the states?

This time, after flying from Roanoke to Chicago to Vancouver, I disembarked and walked about two miles, only to find an unGodly line stretching and snaking though rows and rows of queues. I was directed, as a non-Canadian to move to the line on the right, but I noticed the homeys on the left side didn't have it that much better; their line was just as long as ours. I haven't seen that many people in line at one time since this year's airshot of the American Idol try-outs.

Waiting endlessly is never something I do with silent, peaceful grace - especially when I sense that there is a better way, or that the people in authority just don't care how much they are inconveniencing the customers, or the captive citizens. AND it was therefore galling to see that with all of the agents working, there were still about 14 empty booths. Hey, it was noon on a weekday - when are agents in those booths if not then? Why is it OK to have people visiting your country for business and pleasure stand in line for 45 minutes just to pass through customs? Why don't they bring in personnel to fill the booths during the peak periods so that the necessary process happens faster? This was as bad as a visit to the DMV in Virginia.

We have traveled all over Europe,through countries that have a remarkable reputation for efficiency (Germany), and those who have a remarkable reputation for inefficiency (Italy), and nowhere have we waited longer than 10 minutes to get through customs. Why can't - or more likely why won't - Canada get its act together here?

And when you get to the agent, that's when the real fun begins. Here I am, a 51 year old, gray-headed businessman, and I get peppered with questions as he flips through my passport pages.

Business or Pleasure?

What is your business?

What company are you working for?

What kind of marketing research?

Where are you staying while you're here?

Hey, I know it's their job to catch the people who are crossing the border to smuggle in plants, who have walked across farmland, who are bringing their herpetology exhibit, who have more than $10,000 in cash and might want to spend it on something illegal or immoral, and who just might bring some harm to the wonderful country or people of Canada.

But where is the sense of service ethic - the one where the Canadian government wants to be welcoming and respectful of the time of the 99.999% of the visitors - the people who love Canada, who want to do some business, enjoy themselves and spend money and have a wonderful experience?

I know Canada can do better.

How NOT to Moderate a Focus Group

This is hilarious - BUT - I have had clients such as these AND seen Moderators worse! Be careful out there!

Wendy's

The word is out today from Advertising Age Online. The "Wendy's" spot, featuring a dude in red pig tails, "is big on smiles but short on sales". In other words, while people find the commercials vaguely entertaining and maybe a little creative, no one is deciding to run out for a Frosty or Single with Cheese. Same store sales are flat, while competitive fast food restaurants are increasing sales. 

Big surprise - amusing does not equal effective. We learned that with Mean Joe Green - one of the most popular commercials of ALL-TIME did NOT increase Coke sales. 

What gives with agencies these days? What blows me away is that anyone could look at these commercials and think they would motivate ANYBODY to go to Wendy's. They're SILLY, and violate one of the cardinal rules of advertising - namely not to insult the intelligence of the viewer. 

Do you think the agency did any research with this series of ads? What kind? With whom? And what were they trying to accomplish? I doubt it. 

And who at Wendy's could possibly have signed off on this boondoggle? Did they have any independent research backing up the decision? My guess is no. Why not?

The "Lunacy of Focus Groups" - Cavemen

The blogger showed this well-done video as as example of "the lunacy of focus groups and how they can kill good ideas"...

To me, it's a better example of the following:

• A misapplication of the focus group methodology. Focus groups should never be used to present totally new concepts for a "go or no go" reaction. It's too much to expect people to grasp in a few minutes.
• A very poor moderator - He did nothing to bring out the other participants, and allows "Grog" to dominate the others.
• The presentation of the concept and the opening question were terrible. Much better would be "Let's explore the ways these might be useful in your life now". 

Take a look and tell me what you think!

Truth in Advertising!

A GREAT story about the creation of advertising by people who seem more than a little jaded. Be warned, if bad words offend you, go no further. This will REALLY piss you off! 

This fantastic video highlights some of the things that are so frustrating about being in the Agency biz - and anyone who had worked on more than two campaigns will see something that looks painfully familiar.

Note that NO mention is made of marketing research - not even "We'll commission thousands of dollars worth of focus groups, and then ignore everything those idiot participants said!"