There was an interview of Kellyanne Conway toward the end of the 2016 presidential election cycle. “Everyone” of the polls predicted that Hillary would win the election.

Everyone knew it and the polls showed it. As one example, here’s a headline to a story from CNN on October 23, 2016, that showed Hillary up 12 points 2 weeks before the election.

New poll shows Clinton over Trump by double-digits

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7776173333.

Well, everyone knew it except Kellyanne Conway. Kellyanne felt Trump would win and said so. Why? Well, before Kellyanne officially took over the Trump campaign she owned and operated a survey company called The Polling Company.

Kellyanne, knew her survey technology. She knew that respondents will often answer survey questions with a “social” answer.

As he comes into his office one bright Monday morning, Dr. Lawrence Jessup, DDS, walks by his office manager, 27-year-old Margie Swanson, sitting at her desk looking at a computer screen.

“Good morning, Margie,” says the good doctor. “How are you this morning?”

“Fine, Doctor Jessup, just fine.”

Fine is a “social” answer to the question.

Margie had a fight with her boyfriend last night. She is hungover.

“Fine” is a social answer to the question.

And that is what Kellyanne could see in the responses to the surveys being conducted by other polling firms. You have to be a pro to discern the difference between social answers and real answers to survey questions. Kellyanne is a pro and could see that the pro-Hillary or “anti-Trump” responses were social answers.

A pro can see beyond the social answers and discern the true feelings of the respondent.

The real key to this is done by creating survey questions that prompt answers that cut through the social veneer. Kellyanne knows how to write those questions.

And so do I. With more than 30 years conducting surveys for companies in virtually every sector of the American economy as well as Europe, Australia, and Mexico we know surveys.

We know how to create questions that will get you honest answers from your clients and / or your prospects. We also know the proper technology of survey tabulation that finds the “hot buttons” you can use in your marketing. The “buttons” from these surveys also enable us to create positioning surveys, the results of which create an instant familiarity and understanding of your brand.

Just ask our clients.

“Working with Bruce was like working with the Roger Federer of Surveys.  The questions evoked exactly what our public was thinking.  Now with the button and positioning in place our promotions are like an arrow going through tissue paper rather than a fist into a brick wall.  Our copy and imagery say exactly what the clientele is thinking and therefor procures more leads.

You served up an ace Bruce. Thank you.”

We conduct competitor research, survey your customers, survey your prospects all of which enables us to come up with recommendations that will make your cash register sing.

Contact me for a quote. Surveys may be just more reasonable than you think.

Best,

Bruce

Bruce Wiseman

President & CEO

On Target Research

www.ontargetresearch.com

Br***@br**********.net

1-818-397-1401

I didn’t have a dog in the fight this year. But when one is born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area, opposition to the Rams, Dodgers, and the Lakers is part of one’s DNA.

Still I couldn’t help but admire the Rams defensive line that sacked Joe Burrow, the Bengals quarterback, again, again and again. Bottom line, I have to wait until next year for the 9ers.

The game aside, the commercials this year generated eye-watering amounts of money to NBC and star power that only Hollywood could deliver to the major marketing event on the planet.

Revenue for commercials for this year’s Super Bowl was about $600 million. Serious coin for a single program. But the commercials don’t just cost the airtime ($6.5 million for 30 seconds, $13 million for 60 seconds). The talent is pricey, and this year more than any other, the commercials featured high profile celebrities flogging everything from beer and potato chips to mortgage lending, electric vehicles and 5G phone service.

Everyone from Arnold and Salma Hayek promoting the new BMW EV to Ana Kendrick selling mortgages, Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd doing their potato chip thing and Scarlett Johansen and her husband demonstrating Amazon’s Alexa, to name a few.

The Rams’ team members each got $101,000 in bonus money for winning the Super Bowl, but the movie stars score much more dinero for appearing in their commercial work. So, besides the cost of the airtime ($6.5 > $13 million), celebrities typically pick up anywhere from $500,000 to $2,000,000 for promoting everything from sea shells to the metaverse to the Hard Rock cafe. Some are paid more.

For example, here are some past pay checks – Super Bowl commercial stars and the amounts they were paid, leaked from various sources: Kate Upton was paid $1 million for her appearance in a milk bath for the Game of War video game, Arnold was paid $3 million for a Bud Light Super Bowl commercial in 2014 and Brad Pitt picked up $4 million back in 2005 for a Heineken commercial.

Celebrities attract eyeballs…and get paid for it. (This year’s viewership clocked in at 101.1 million.)

https://www.thelist.com/437370/heres-how-much-celebs-get-paid-for-super-bowl-commercials/

So, with airtime, cost of talent, production costs and the director’s fees, figure $10 to $20 million depending on the length of the spot. Yet it is stunning to me that corporate marketing directors or CEOs approve these multi-million dollar budgets when the commercials position their products with harm, damage or loss in an apparent effort to be funny, not to sell.

This is a a disease, probably borne out of some Harvard MBA class that has metastasized to ad agencies and corporate marketing departments that humor sells and that humor is generated by some kind of negative, damaging or disparaging occurrence.

AMAZON

Scarlett Johansson and her husband, comic Colin Jost, “stared” in a commercial for Amazon’s Alexa, which is kind of a video butler. Now I am a Scarlett Johansson fan (who isn’t) and she and her husband go through various scenes where in there is the implied possibility that Alexa can read minds. It’s kind of silly but OK, then at the end, Alexa announces to dining table full of guests that Colin left the oysters in his car for five hours at which point everybody at the table chokes and  barfs out their oysters onto their plate.

See the last scene for yourself – everyone  is regurgitating oysters at the end of the commercial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0UEAr8I9G8

Really? Is this supposed to be funny? Do you think you are going to sell more Alexas cutting a commercial the last scene of which positions the product with a table full of friends regurgitating oysters?

PEPSI

There’s a Pepsi commercial staring Payton and Eli Manning the great NFL quarterback brothers, both now retired. They are about to watch the Super Bowl, they toss jabs back and forth as Eli drinks Pepsi and Payton munches on Lays potato chips. Then, famed NFL running back Jerome Bettis storms into the house in an effort to get them on a bus to the game. Payton says no so Bettis ties a tow line from bus to the house, drives off and rips the living room out of the house.

Huh?

There’s more but please tell me why you couldn’t produce a Super Bowl commercial staring Eli and Payton Manning promoting Pepsi  without destroying their house?

What’s the message? Drink Pepsi, get your living room demolished?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2C6ZJEb0kg

There are others.

The Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd commercial promoting Lays potato chips ends with Seth marrying a ghoul that looks like she has been dug up from the grave. You know, something out of the walking dead.

The commercial ends with the picture of this ghastly looking female. Just the positioning that would prompt you to run to the store and grab a bag of Lays potato chips.

Not.

Every Super Bowl 56 commercial, ranked

And the Hellmann’s mayonnaise commercial is 60 seconds of people being slammed to the floor, the last of which is Kim Kardashian’s new squeeze, Pete Davidson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_1Ordi5GjY

Like I said, it’s a disease. But, thankfully, they are not all produced this way. With a Dolly Parton introduction Miley Cyrus belts out a ballad promoting T-Mobile’s 5G network. Miley displays some really impressive vocal chops. The lyrics are weird but the girl can sing. And the maps that compare T Mobile coverage to Verizon’s  are very convincing.

https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/dolly-parton-miley-cyrus-super-bowl-commercial-t-mobile-1235180320/

If I were in the market for a new pickup, the commercial for the new Chevy Silverado EV pickup would get me to the dealer for a test drive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bZYqFsU72Y

But the commercial that really scored, that got the public to REACH, was that of Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S.

The super clever commercial was 60 seconds of a QR code floating across the screen. That’s it. No audio, no “hot button” text, just the floating QR code.

The result? 20 million people copied the QR code, and went to the Coinbase site. The volume was so intense, it temporarily crashed their server. Coinbase has yet to reveal how many of those 20 Million visitors signed up for a new account.

That is what is what you call marketing success – a commercial that gets a response, a huge response, a huge reach.

So, how did they know? How did they know what to offer that would get a response?

They survey.

That’s right, Coinbase surveys both their existing customers and their prospects to find out what they need and want or consider valuable.

https://help.coinbase.com/en/coinbase/other-topics/other/coinbase-user-research

You think Amazon conducted surveys that suggested they position their brand with people getting sick at dinner, or that Hellmanns’ research revealed that seeing people get knocked to the ground would motivate more mayonnaise sales?

Surveys let you know what is in the mind of your publics (both existing customers and prospects). They open the door to more leads, more sales and more income.

How do I know?

We have been conducting surveys and increasing sales and income for clients for more than 25 years

Bruce,

I want to thank you and your team for the amazing survey On Target performed for Energy Professionals. 

We have been using your survey results for our website, all of our marketing materials, our training for our sales reps and for the foundation of all our company communications.  One of the results we have achieved using this information was our highest ever sales last month.

Your services are very valuable, and we will be back for more surveys.

Sincerely yours,

Jim

Jim Mathers

CEO/President

Energy Professionals, LLC.

If you want to increase your sales and income, give me a call or shot me an email.

Best,

Bruce

Bruce Wiseman

President & CEO

On Target Research

www.ontargetresearch.com

Br***@br**********.net

1-818-397-1401

y

In 1997, Steve Jobs said that Apple was 90 days from bankruptcy. Today Apple is the largest company in the world with a net worth of a trillion dollars.

But Steve Jobs died in 2011. And while Apple was a tech power brand in 2011, it was “only” the 8^thmost valuable brand globally at that time and so there have been other factors.

“Apple has been the largest name in technology for years. This is not necessarily because they are the most innovative. Instead, it is because they use market research to find out exactly what their customers want from their devices; they then figure out how to make those wants a reality.”
…
“These surveys have led to different designs and modifications of Apple products. Such modifications include having bigger screens to view videos and games more clearly.^”
https://www.surveypolice.com/blog/how-5-massive-companies-changed-using-market-research/

They conduct massive amounts of market research including breaking down surveys by location, market segment [age] and other differentiators. As an example…
“After several quarters of declining sales, McDonald’s executives decided, in 2015, that major changes were required to combat the public perception of McDonald’s products as being unhealthy. Based on market research, the company made menu changes and no longer sells chicken products containing human antibiotics or other ingredients, such as phosphates and maltodextrin. Other changes include the addition of more salad choices and healthier desserts including apple slices.”
https://www.thebalancesmb.com/market-research-2948350d
Okay. Eliminating antibiotic laced chicken and including apple slices with Happy Meals may not make them the Whole Foods of the fast food restaurant world, but it’s movement in the right direction, driven by customer sentiment. We’ll give them a happy face on the refrigerator door.
How about that cuppa’ Joe?

“Starbucks has been successful over many decades largely because of its stellar business strategies. The company expertly employs market research to keep its offerings and marketing messaging in line with consumer sentiment.”
https://www.thebalancesmb.com/brand-equity-case-study-engaged-starbucks-customers-2296829

There is a short 2+ minute video on our site that gives a couple of excellent real life examples of positioning – ontargetresearch.com.

“In addition, the positioning that grew out of your research was nothing short of stellar! We now have a strategically researched, laserlike position that will dramatically assist us in rolling out our new brand.”
JLD, President.

“The business we received from these surveyed menus was phenomenal. Our take-out business increased 150% in just a few days. It has leveled off in a range about double what it had been before the survey was done.”

P B Manager

Best,
Bruce

In the early nineteenth century, from about 1820s to 1846s, immense Mexican land grants of tens of thousands of acres dominated the California landscape. The grants covered the soft rolling hills along the coast and inland and became grazing lands for cattle on a thousand hills in the halcyon days of Mexican California.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Massachusetts had become the recognized capital of American shoe manufacturing and the booming new industry needed leather, lots of it.

That need created a whole new paradigm: sleek, three-masted clipper ships loaded with provisions such as iron cooking pots, farm tools, musical instruments, gunpowder, coffee and tea, spices, cocoa, sugar and molasses, silks and lace sailed from Boston and made the torturous 17,000 mile, 6 month journey to California. (Makes one think twice about complaining about the economy seats in the 5-hour flight across the country).

Once arrived in ports like Monterey, San Diego, Santa Barbara, they would trade their goods for the valuable cow hides which would be carried back to Boston to feed the ravenous shoe manufactures.

Fast forward several decades to 1918 and we find 16-year-old Nathan Swartz, the 4^th generation in a long family tradition of shoe makers, having emigrated to America from Odessa, Russia, and getting a job as an apprentice at the Abington shoe repair shop in Boston.

In 1952, Nathan bought a 50% interest in the expanded Abington Shoe company and bought the remaining 50% in 1955. Nathan retired in 1968. His sons took over and in 1973 they created the iconic Timberland boot and brand name, later changing the name of the company to the Timberland company.