Marketing as Service is not a Band-aid « The Drew Blog

Marketing as Service
Marketing for Bad

Marketing as Service is not a Band-aid

11/09/08

To be effective, Marketing of Service needs to a genuine commitment versus a one-off stunt. While few marketers will have the perseverance to make it 108 years like Michelin with its peripatetic guides, I suspect they can make it longer than a weekend like the recent painfully misguided “free taxi” effort by Tylenol.

Thanks to Jason Wurtzel for spotting these when they first arrived in the city on November 3rd. Not knowing anything about the program at that moment, I neglected to post Jason’s shots (see below) or to feel any sense of flattery since these were another attempt to copy the HSBC BankCab, which I might add is in its sixth year of driving loyalty to The World’s Local Bank.

Tylenol TaxiTylenol Taxi close up

Still on the case, Jason then forwarded this snippet about the cabs on The Gothamist:

The Tylenol (global?) “Warming Taxis” will take you anywhere in Manhattan, today through Sunday, from noon to 8 p.m. Your best shot of catching one is heading to a CVS at 630 Lexington, 540 Amsterdam, 272 8th or 307 6th Avenues and waiting for a stranger in a white car to offer you a lift and some Tylenol.

One weekend? Is that really supposed to heat up our feelings about Tylenol? As the Renegade behind the BankCab, that just plain hurts. It wasn’t even a cold weekend by November standards so the warming part fell flat. J&J, a usually savvy marketer, should know better than to treat Marketing as Service as a Band-Aid or perhaps they got ripped off by an unlicensed guerrilla practitioner.

4 Comments on "Marketing as Service is not a Band-aid"

Bob Gilbreath writes:
1

I love the overall Feel Better campaign for Tylenol, but you make an excellent point about this being simply a stunt. Feels like an attempt to secure an advertising award, rather than make a real business or service impact.
Nov 11 2008 | 12:59PM
drew writes:
2

I like the Feel Better campaign as well which is why this struck such a painful chord with me.
Nov 12 2008 | 01:13PM
Driver writes:
3

As one of the Drivers for the promotion id say your an idiot and pretty clueless.. you cant comment or call something a stunt unless you partake in the actuall promotion which you didnt… your friend sent you a snap shot of the cars not even off the flat bed and you asume to know everything about it… typical New York dumbass
Dec 18 2008 | 12:02AM
drew writes:
4

Dear Driver:
Thanks for your courteous response. Are you sure you’re not a New Yorker? You seem to have all 8 million of us pegged. Anyway, I called the Tylenol cabs a stunt because it lasted for such a short time versus the HSBC BankCab which is now in its six year of operation. Feel free to tell me what I missed about this promotion that would qualify it as anything more than a marketing band-aid.
Cheers,
Drew
Dec 19 2008 | 10:52AM

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