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Comcast Marketing
I’ve been meaning to write about Comcast’s marketing for more than a year now and their latest TV ad campaign finally gave me the impetus to get it done.
A couple of days ago Comcast launched a new ad campaign called Comcast Town. On the one hand Comcast Town is different and certainly stands out, at least for me. Lord knows they’re running the thing 6 times an hour on every TV show I watch lately it seems. And I admit the ads are memorable. The lyrics don’t do much for me but the tune is sort of catchy (though not nearly as catchy as Starbuck’s Are You In ad). There is also a pretty extensive web site that they spent a lot of money on and that no one will ever use (but I’m sure when they demoed it to all the execs who had to approve it, it went over big).
But Will Comcast Town convince anyone to switch to Comcast from satellite or one of the telcos? Or upgrade their current basic service to a premium tier? Or hate them less? Or buy their stock? I think not.
But that’s not the point really. My real issue with Comcast’s marketing is what the heck is their message??? Their identity? What do they want consumers to think about them? They’re all over the friggin’ map in their marketing.
We’re talking about one of the most disliked companies in one of the most disliked industries in the country here. They need some good marketing, Personally I think they get a slightly worse rep than they deserve but still … their marketers must be looking at that data, no. I’ve Googled till my fingers are raw, and for the life of me I can’t find the site, but I’m positive I saw a stat recently that showed that Comcast and several other cable operators had worst customer satisfaction than the US airlines. Are you kidding me??? How is that even possible? I hate writing that big check every month for crappy TV and slow Internet as much as the next guy but worse than United Airlines? American Air? Northwest???? I was shocked! A friend from the cable industry told me cable operators actually ranked lower that even the IRS. How low can you go? I mean, REALLY??????
Comcast spends millions on all kinds of marketing but there is absolutely no method to their madness. No consistency. Nada. Zero. Zilch. Do you want broadband Internet? Meet the Slowskys. Want phone? Well you have the pathetically named Comcast Digital Voice. And who can forget that ridiculous It’s Comcastic campaign? And now we have Comcast Town.
There is also no integration across their marketing. I will see the Slowsky’s and Comcast Town ads during the same TV “sitting” one night. I’ll get my weekly direct mail piece about Comcast Digital Voice the next day, and I’ll log on to www.Comcast.com to pay my bill and none of it is tied together creatively. As a consumer I’m confused and have absolutely no idea what Comcast stands for.
Message to Comcast: your marketing should focus on the customer, with a simple, compelling message and a cohesive creative approach. It should mask, and not reflect, your organizational structure. |
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