Letter to Bi Lo

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, as the guy said, fortunately, I was mistaken in the idea that it was on a motion detector and it was simply a case of terrible, TERRIBLE timing. But danged if it didn't sound just like an auto-play ad of some sort. I mean, the way it came on right when I went into the stall, the fact that it ran a length of time that it was just right for an average bathroom visit, etc.

It's still a bit tacky to subject a customer to loud ads while they're in the crapper. But at least it was more like the bathroom just happens to have the same musak as the rest of the store, rather than targeting people who are actually on the throne.

I am very, very relieved to learn this. So to speak.

[GolfCart34]

I have a degree in marketing, however I feel as though my education stayed as far away from crappy advertising schemes as possible. A lot of the reason why I don't think I'd actually survive in the marketing industry is because I actually have a sense of decency and wouldn't just go along with a crappy advertising campaign. I also like to take the time to really find out what people want and base my marketing on that.

If I were in school now I'd have lots of fodder on how not to do advertising simply coming from where I work. It seems like the bank keeps wanting to implement these crappy ideas that do nothing for customer service (although they claim it does) and make the bank hordes of money. Ok, I get the point of a bank is to make a profit, but they are being very blatant about it. I'm seriously tempted to ask to see their marketing research and strategy reports that show that their new product campaigns are a good idea. $10 says they have no clue what a marketing strategy reports is nor would they have any clue how to come up with one. Did I mention that these people have no marketing background other than what some half assed bank offered class told them was right? Yeah, this is why I'm only a teller and not in marketing. They probably would hate to learn how things are done the proper way.

Ok, back to the subject of those annoying talking things... I personally think that putting one of those things in the bathroom is rather intrusive. I'm going into the bathroom to take care of some personal business... Which, unfortunately, does not include deciding on what kind of meats to buy from the butcher.

[Primer]

In a fit of impotent rage one day I decided that the best place for the 487th Strip I'd put out in that day would be in the same place at pregnancy testing kits, the punchline? That particular strip was full of three packs of extra safe condoms.

IMHO that is great placement! Kinda like putting tp next to the Olestra chips!

[Broomjockey]

They don't have audio ads in the toilets that I know of, but they do have mini-poster ads in the washrooms around here. Over each urinal, and on the inside of stall doors. Audio really can't be that far off.

[Crawley]

Well, with the right ad (liike the OP said) it would kinda make sense. At least a toliet paper ad or something.

"Store brand tissue rubbing you the wrong way? Try new Charmin's Ultra Soft. 4, 12 and 24 packs available on Aisle 14"

[chops]

At the Chemist I used to work at we had the pleasure of have Klip Strips, annoying, messy hanging bits of plastic that we hung from the shelves in a desperate last ditched pathetic attempt to claw more money from people.

You're not the only one who thinks they're annoying. We used to pre-package our air horns on them, and they were such a pain to work with in the box. We've been phasing them out, thankfully.

Well, the guy just sent me an apology saying that he was sorry for the unfortunate timing of that particular ad and that there was no motion sensor in the john. All I know is that it was silent when I went in there, and about the time I got settled in the stall, I heard something come on and then the ad started playing.

Well, it's a good thing it was just a matter of bad timing.

But you wait. Someone out there is going to read this thread and make audio ads on the crapper a reality. That whole captive-audience thing and all.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, the guy just sent me an apology saying that he was sorry for the unfortunate timing of that particular ad and that there was no motion sensor in the john. All I know is that it was silent when I went in there, and about the time I got settled in the stall, I heard something come on and then the ad started playing.

Probably the musak station cycling through. He said it was musak that played throughout the entire store, and if I alerted him prior to the next shopping trip, he'd turn it down in the crapper. I'm not freaking doing that. If he wants to blast the sound in the bathroom loud enough to shake wallpaper loose, hey, it's his store.

Well, I hope he got a laugh out of it, at least.

[crazylegs]

PS I’m thinking about suggesting an idea I’ve been kicking around for putting motion-activated adware into condoms in our next marketing meeting. What do you think?

At the Chemist I used to work at we had the pleasure of have Klip Strips, annoying, messy hanging bits of plastic that we hung from the shelves in a desperate last ditched pathetic attempt to claw more money from people. In a fit of impotent rage one day I decided that the best place for the 487th Strip I'd put out in that day would be in the same place at pregnancy testing kits, the punchline? That particular strip was full of three packs of extra safe condoms.

For some reason people didn't get the hint and I never had to refill that particular strip in four months!

[Boozy]

This must be something they don't tell people when they go into college for their marketing degrees, I think a lot of this could be solved if they handed these folks a little piece of paper along with their diplomas that said something like.


"At best, people will hate you for what you are doing"

Now that's just funny.

[Seshat]

I think a lot of this could be solved if they handed these folks a little piece of paper along with their diplomas that said something like.

"At best, people will hate you for what you are doing"

Actually, done properly, marketing is a good thing.

Done properly - where 'properly' is according to the marketing shows I watched when I was insomniac and watching the local adult-education channel - marketing is about figuring out what people need and helping it get to them.

Marketers - in this ideal world - go out into the community and figure out where there's a need.

Like figuring out that some people want organic reusable diapers which are actually shaped to a baby's bum, and don't want them closed with safety pins that might prick their baby. So snappis and shaped and fitted cloth diapers (nappies in Aus-speak) are developed.(*)

Then they figure out how to let the people who might use these products know about them. This is where they so often go horribly wrong. Something like the Snappi or the fitted cloth diaper could be easily marketed by putting a couple in the care packages given out at maternity wards until word of mouth spread the info; or putting ads in parenting magazines and 'green' environmental tree-hugger magazines.

But that doesn't give a fast enough response or saturate the market enough for some CEOs and shareholder organisations, and that pressure is what turns 'marketing' into bullying annoying shouting 'advertising'.

(* you may wonder how someone like me knows so much about baby stuff. I have nieces and nephews, and I'm an environmentalist tree-hugger myself. )

[cinema guy]

Nice one RK.

But you realise that you have to go back in six weeks or so and see if they've followed your suggestions.

[Argabarga]

This must be something they don't tell people when they go into college for their marketing degrees, I think a lot of this could be solved if they handed these folks a little piece of paper along with their diplomas that said something like.


"At best, people will hate you for what you are doing"

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, there it is. I tried to send this via their web site, but they only have one of those shitty form letters I despise, so I just sent a note saying "I don't do these form letters. Can I contact you another way please?" and the store manager contacted me with his store's direct email address. So I fired this little gem off about 1 minute ago, directly to the store. Ought to brighten up his day a bit.

I would have loved to have sent it to corporate, but they're far too chicken to put their email out there.

I'll keep you all posted.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I swear if the speaker was of a design I could have found and pried off the wall, it would have ended up crammed into the bowl.

I mean, for frig's sake, I now know that nothing is too intrusive or tasteless for some of these marketing people. Geez!

[Daisy]

Most would have tried to associate their beef products in a context of enjoyment and gastronomical pleasure.

My boyfriend now thinks I am totally nuts as I sit here giggling uncontrollably over this sentence.

Seriously though, things in stores that start talking to me freak me out. That razor display probably would have given me a heart attack. It's also bad when I go to the mall, and as the doors open, you hear, "You are passing through entry number three into neighborhood number three..." then something about Discover card. Yes folks, the universe is turning into one great big never ending commercial.

As an aside, one mall in the area had a gigantic talking bear one Christmas - it would randomly say things, I don't really remember what exactly. I had to have been at least 14, and we stopped at a bench to get out stuff in order, and that bear started talking, and I must have jumped six feet in the air. I wouldn't go near that damn bear again. She still gives me hell about that.