[Re: Loose Cannon: Dance: 10; Looks: 3, Direct Newsline, Dec. 4, 2006 http://directmag.com/loosecannon/loose-cannon-dance-looks-120306]:
Canadian marketing is not the same as US marketing. My experience shows Canadians are loathe to spend money on marketing programs (other than standing on street corners shouting about great products), or even money to educate themselves on a new market.
Witness when Corel (Ottawa company) bought WordPerfect – technically a very good match. Virtually no ad dollars, little if any direct marketing, were spent. BUT a tag line was created that mocked Microsoft. Microsoft was using “Go Anywhere” – Corel used “Go further”.
BUT NO ONE EVER saw the tag line because Michael Cowpland (CEO of Corel at the time) did not spend money to get the message out. When he spoke at conferences (I saw him at FOSE in Wash DC) he touted the technical superiority of the Corel/WordPerfect product in technical language so arcane that the massive crowd of less than 200) dwindled before his speech was over. It may have been superior, but end-users rarely care about minor technical superiority.
Moral of the story? When was the last time you heard “WordPerfect”???
Of course the Canadians like a free (or very cheap) catalog with their stuff in it – they did not have to pay for it, or not pay very much. .
Not that I have an opinion.
Mark Amtower
Amtower & Company
Highland MD
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Well done, as always. In addition to the thoughtful perspective on Canada Post’s lookbook ™, you should be commended on the culturally relevant and appropriately pithy title of your piece. Clearly you are doing your part to help the revival of “A Chorus Line.”
I look forward to where you will go from here. Do you stick with the same Broadway play and entitle your next piece, “I Hope I Get It,” (from the opening number of the show) bemoaning the postal deliverability issues of today’s direct mail? Or maybe you’ll move on to other entertainment genre, perhaps using a classic movie line from Chevy Chase in “Fletch” in your next piece. We avid readers trust your judgment.
Thanks for burying these kernels of cleverness in Loose Cannon. It keeps us on our toes (no “A Chorus Line” pun intended).
Craig Wood
Founder and CEO
Clarity Group Inc.
Chapel Hill, NC
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