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American Morning

Interview with Jonathan Ressler, Linda Sherry

Aired August 30, 2002 - 09:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's face it. We are kind of proud, as consumers are finding better and better ways to tune out the conventional advertising. Marketers have to find more creative ways to get us to just sample their wares. It is called guerrilla or self- marketing because of the way that it just sneaks into your consciousness with tactics like product placement in TV shows and movies, to putting people on the street asking you take to their picture with a brand-new cell phone cam, and before you know it, you are hooked. Is this the height of creativity, or is it a new low in the age of advertising.
Joining us to talk about it, from San Francisco, Linda Sherry, of Consumer Action and from New York, Jonathan Ressler of Big Fat Promotions -- good morning to both of you.

JONATHAN RESSLER, BIG FAT PROMOTIONS: Good morning.

LINDA SHERRY, CONSUMER ACTION: Good morning.

KAGAN: Jonathan, you are in the business. Make me a pitch. I have got a product I want to sell, why should I hire your company, and how are you going to kind of sneak it in front of people's minds?

RESSLER: Well, we don't really look at it as sneaking in front of people's minds. Basically what we do is we present the product in a different way. We actually present the information through a different channel, much like product placement or anything else. We kind of just put the product out there in a more interesting kind of way.

KAGAN: Well, give me an example. I understand you have a campaign this fall for NesCafe. What are you doing with them?

RESSLER: Well, actually, we don't really talk about what we are doing with any specific clients, because the whole idea of stealth marketing...

KAGAN: Then it wouldn't be stealth.

RESSLER: ... is to be stealth. But I will give you an example of some programs that we have run. We have done things like, for example, for an on-line and bricks and mortar retailer, we paid doormen in New York City buildings to actually keep empty boxes near the podium so when people walked into the building, it looked like a lot of people were ordering from this Company X, and then a couple of days later, we went back in, and we paid the doormen to actually break the boxes down, and put them in the compacter room so people were reminded once again, wow, hey, it seems like a lot of people are ordering from Company X.

KAGAN: All right. That is one example. Linda, let's bring you in here. Does this all sound kind of sneaky to you, not above board?

SHERRY: It really does sound deceptive to me. It also sounds intrusive and I would say unethical, to some degree.

KAGAN: Really? Those are some strong words, unethical. How is that different than just watching your favorite sitcom and seeing your favorite character drinking some kind of soda or using some kind of detergent? How is that different?

SHERRY: Well, it is not really that different, but I really don't think that product placement in films and TV is particularly ethical itself. I think that when we read a magazine, the advertising supplements are clearly labeled as such, and I think that is the way stealth marketing should proceed, too.

KAGAN: Jonathan, how about those words? Unethical -- would you apply that to your business?

RESSLER: Well, they are certainly words that we have heard, but the reality is, we give consumers a lot of credit. We know consumers are smart. We are never going to be able -- I love dogs, but I don't own a dog, and there is no problem out there, no matter how stealth or not matter how persuasive that could get me to buy dog food because it doesn't fit in my life. I don't need dog food. Therefore, I only by products that I need, and all we do with stealth marketing is present the information. If the consumer doesn't need the product, they would never buy it. They would have no reason to.

KAGAN: Yes, but Jonathan, I am thinking of the example we just gave before like these new cell phone cameras. I don't need that, but if somebody in a sneaky way shows it to me, I might be kind of intrigued and go out buy it.

RESSLER: Well, that is true. You may not need it, but if it works, if it fits for you, if you have a reason to take a picture with your cell phone, then you would buy it. But if you think the whole idea is silly, a cell phone camera, then you would never buy it. Again, we give consumers a lot of credit, we know people are smart. They don't buy things they don't need.

KAGAN: Linda, what about that, that it is just the power of suggestion?

SHERRY: Well, honestly, do we want our entire life to become an infomercial. I think that people really believe that sometime we are off air in the sense that we don't have to be bombarded by advertising messages. If we are out walking in the street, if we are going into our building, our doorman is saying hello to us, do you really expect that a bunch of boxes at the corner are going to be advertising to us? I think we need to leave people alone sometimes.

This is more intrusive to me than telemarketing, and that is really saying something. KAGAN: Because it is sneakier in your opinion. Jonathan, I just have to ask you something about being efficient with marketing dollars. How much did that company pay you to run that advertising campaign, or whatever you want to call it, in that apartment building, and then how many sales did they really get out of it? It seems like such a small amount of people you are reaching with these kind of campaigns?

RESSLER: Well, it is definitely a smaller number of people than traditional mass media. However, it is the right people because it is very targeted. So I can't tell you what they paid for it, but what I can tell you...

KAGAN: Sure, you can.

RESSLER: You are right. You would like to, but I can't.

KAGAN: You won't.

RESSLER: I won't. Right, exactly. But the reality is, they liked the program so much, it was so effective they actually rolled it out into six other cities. So it does work very well, again because it is very targeted, and it is much less expensive than a traditional television, print, or radio-type campaign.

KAGAN: Maybe if we have you one again, we'll have you scroll that information at the bottom of the screen in a stealth kind of way.

RESSLER: That would be great.

KAGAN: Jonathan Ressler joining us and Linda Sherry from San Francisco, thank you so much for being with us.

RESSLER: Thank you.

SHERRY: Thank you.

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