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Apology!
On Tuesday August 5th, Ruby Tuesday will blow up its last old-style restaurant live on the Internet. (Editor’s note: The chain instead pretended to detonate a neighboring building.) Investors in the struggling chain may get a perverse pleasure out of watching as Ruby Tuesday’s performance has been among the poorest in the casual dining category.
The sit-down segment as a whole is reeling because of the economy and oversaturation of locations. Yesterday, Bennigan’s and sibling Steak Ale restaurants filed for bankruptcy, putting the thousands who worked at 200 locations out of work.
Ruby Tuesday will look to shake off double-digit same-store sales decreases with its symbolic new campaign. The publicity stunt kicks off the “It’s a brand new Tuesday” ad campaign.
Marketing will tout a menu overhaul from “bar & grill” to “simple, fresh, American dining.” Plus the fact that décor for the 948-location chain has shifted from “Tiffany lamps and tchotchkes” to “simple and modern.”
“They have redone everything. They have gotten rid of all the bicycles hanging from the recycles, the surfboards and old movie posters to point where there wasn’t an inch of space,” said David Oakley, creative director at Ruby Tuesday’s agency BooneOakley, Charlotte, N.C. A company rep confirmed the stunt.
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Seinfeld Makes His Debut for Microsoft
Jerry Seinfeld
BOSTON The intense albeit short wait for the first Microsoft spot from MDC’s Crispin Porter + Bogusky with Jerry Seinfeld ended tonight when a commercial starring the iconic ’90s comedian and the software giant’s chairman, Bill Gates, aired during National Football League coverage.
The 90-second clip employs quick-cut editing and the kind of “humor from nothing” approach that defined Seinfeld’s TV series. It tells the story of the odd couple’s day at discount emporium Shoe Circus in the mall, where Gates buys a snappy leather number called “The Conquistador.”
As they exit , Seinfeld asks if Microsoft is working on something to make computers “moist and chewy like cake, so we can eat ‘em while we’re working.” Seinfeld tells Gates to adjust his underwear if the answer is yes, and the software mogul does so, much to the comic’s delight.
The commercial closes with the words “The future. Delicious.” There’s no overt sales pitch for specific Microsoft products like the oft-maligned Windows Vista operating system, though the company’s logo does appear briefly.
“The Windows brand identity has gotten a little invisible,” said Brad Brooks, vp for Windows consumer product marketing, in an interview with Bloomberg.com. “We want to make sure Windows goes from being invisible to something that becomes indispensable.”
Immediate reaction on the Web was almost as intense as the run-up to the clip’s debut — and generally just as negative. Gizmodo said the spot “makes no sense,” while Seeking Alpha trotted out a well-worn line from Seinfeld and opined that the ad “is about nothing.” CrunchGear, possibly the first blog to post the work online, noted: “While this ad doesn’t really tell us anything about Microsoft or its products, it does tell us that someday computers will be edible. So there’s that. Gates is kinda funny, too.”
Adweek’s ad critic Barbara Lippert, writing on Aug. 27, a week before the effort broke, was none too enamored of Microsoft employing Seinfeld as a pitchman: “The pick is so preposterously unhip it’s as if the company had unconsciously internalized all of Apple’s knocks against the poor, frustrated PC guy.”
Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft is expected to spend an estimated $300 million on the overall push. The marks the first work for Microsoft by Miami-based Crispin.
The American Institute of Architects North Carolina has named Charlotte-based Shook Kelley Inc. the AIA North Carolina Firm of the Year.
The award is presented annually to an N.C. firm that has consistently produced quality architecture for at least 10 years.
Shook Kelley was founded in 1992, when UNC Charlotte graduates Terry Shook and Kevin Kelley decided to establish a firm specializing in urban planning and design, architecture and branding, communication design and interior design.
The firm has 40 employees.
AIA North Carolina, which has more than 2,300 members, represents architects at local and state levels. The organization works to advance the interests of architects and the public.
Charlotte Bobcats executive vice president and chief marketing officer Greg Economou is leaving the team.
According to a written statement from Bobcats Sports & Entertainment, Economou and the team are amicably parting ways.
“Greg has been an important part of this organization in so many ways,” says Fred Whitfield, president and chief operating officer. “He played a valuable role in many of our major successes as a business in the past two years, and we wish him nothing but the best.”
The move is part of a restructuring in which Whitfield will now oversee both basketball and business operations.
Bobcats General Manager Rod Higgins and Chief Administrative Officer Jared Bartie also will be part of the executive team.
Higgins will continue to oversee basketball operations, including coaching and player personnel decisions. He was named general manager in May 2007, succeeding Bernie Bickerstaff.
Bartie will begin his second full season with the franchise by adding management of the departments responsible for revenue generation, communication and community outreach to his list of responsibilities.
The Bobcats are owned by Bobcats Sports & Entertainment, which also operates Time Warner Cable Arena uptown. The team begins its fifth NBA season on Oct. 30.
Woodbine, one of the Triad’s largest marketing and advertising firms, has spent recent months shifting its focus to brand revitalization.
The move has paid off with several new account wins, and its top two executives will switch roles to guide the company’s future.
Peter Mitchell, previously the chief operating officer, will become president and CEO. His business partner and founder Maureen Hall has returned from a three-month sabbatical to serve as chief relationships officer.
Mitchell said the firm has the creative team in place it needs for the new focus, but the shift has resulted in recruiting for two new positions in account management.
“As we looked over our best work over the years, seemingly every time it was with an established brand that had hit the wall or lost its momentum,” Mitchell said. “We found an uncanny ability to get those brands back on track and reach new consumers.”
Mitchell said focusing on brand revitalization was the best way for Woodbine to set itself apart from other firms, particularly as the economy sours and businesses look to their marketing budgets for cutbacks.
“Finding a true point of difference among agencies sometimes can be a struggle,” he said. “This is how we can gain some traction in the marketplace, rather than try to be all things to all people.”
Lee Bush, an assistant professor in the Elon University School of Communications and a former brand manager for a Chicago public relations firm, said the brand revitalization space is becoming more crowded.
“While it’s hard to say what will happen with the marketing communications industry in this economic downturn, I believe that Woodbine has made a smart move by focusing on its strengths,” she said. “The only downside I see is that Woodbine will now be competing with branding agencies that have already built a strong reputation in this space, in addition to the full-service agency.
Through this spring and summer, Woodbine has been hired by decades-old companies including apparel maker Kayser-Roth Inc., home furnishings company Ekornes Inc, and Fafard, a soil producer and subsidiary of Syngenta Group Co.
Ann Bryan, marketing services manager for Fafard, said Woodbine was the only agency out of eight that responded to a request for proposals that had no experience with agricultural products. But Fafard executives liked Woodbine’s work with helping other companies increase their market share.
Woodbine will roll out a completely overhauled brand strategy for Fafard next week at the Independent Garden Show in Chicago.
“We were looking for a fresh approach,” Bryan said. “We now have a compelling story that better tells who we are and what we do.”