On Which Hangs the Hopes of Earth and Commerce
By Charlie Trotter on August 27, 2007
Ugh.
I’m feeling dichotomous (read “Bad attitude”).
I saw a special on TV about these new hangers that are made from 100% recycled paper. They are provided free-of-charge to dry cleaners who want to save money and save the planet by nixing their old wire hangers. I love the concept. It made me giddy at first. Then my No Free Lunches – Not Even for the Planet – Radar™ started tingling.
Right on time, came the catch. Someone is paying for those hangers to be manufactured, and they want something out of it. They want our eyeballs, and they want them in our bedrooms.
To pay for the cost of manufacturing, they are selling what used to be the open air inside the old wire hangers as ad space. Now, when you are browsing your dry cleaned wardrobe in the morning, you’ll be presented with coupon ads for various products from face cream to copy paper.
“This is a billboard in the bedroom.”, says the owner with spot-on huckster smarm in the NBC Nightly News story featured on their site. But it feels less greasy than the self-congratulatory expression on the face of Revlon’s VP of Marketing while he quoths “How I grew our business while helping to save the planet.” from the huge ad on the Hanger Network home page. That said, he has flawless skin and I can’t take that away from him.
Bad Attitude Alert: I’d rather spread carbon paste directly on the atmosphere if being green means letting marketers pry even further into the quiet moments of my life.
I wonder which came first in the concepting of the product: solving the problem of the un-green wire hanger, or solving the problem of the increasing irrelevance of traditional media. I love my DVR (read “TiVo” like tissue reads “Kleenex”) but I’m ready to go back to responding to traditional media if it will lessen the insidious creeping of marketing communication inching into every other corner of my life.
Despite my more negatively weighted comments, I am actually torn about it. I do like the Green move, but I don’t like the intrusive price. I’m about 72% sure I’ve got a bad attitude about this. So, talk to me about it. Am I full of buttermilk?
Mark on August 27
Charlie,
I heard about this deal, but in fact didn’t even care. Why? I’d like to think I’ve gotten really good at ignoring marketing.
On the other hand, if you want to put an ad on the wire hanger I already so deeply despise, go ahead. Now when I’m yelling at that stupid hanger for a low quality piece of crap, I can associate your brand with that sensation.
On a personal note, I’m sure you’ve already taken this step to prevent this kind of intrusive marketing, but I just wanted make sure you’ve ripped out all the tags from your clothes that hang on those hangers. I’d hate for you to be influenced by those things when in the comfort of your closet. ;)
In fact, when you think about it, there is probably marketing on you right now in places I’d rather not think about. [Shutter]
Mark on August 27
PS. Just realized the new hangers weren’t wire…I still doubt I will be impressed with the quality though.
Trey Reeme on August 27
I just got to thinking about logos I don’t mind seeing. Golf clubs, good drinks, guitars, underwear – no I won’t tell you if it’s boxers or briefs.
I like a logo on a product that works. The intrahanger marketing – bah. Clutter.
I don’t want to see logos just for the sake of seeing logos. Marketing for marketing’s sake stinks.
Mark on August 27
Ok I will concede logo trump coupons. However, when I look at the “potential” of dry cleaner hanger marketing, I do see the ability to provide very relevant marketing.
Let’s look at who gets dry cleaning often? (Professionals with office jobs.)
Where do people get dry cleaning done? (Local independently owned stores or franchises.)
If you need a clothes hanger to deliver me information about something that is both in tune with my lifestyle and my community, why would I stop that?
(This all of course assumes that the hanger marketing is done right.)
Charlie Trotter on August 27
Trey, it’s almost as bad as malfeasance for malfeasance’s sake.
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Doug Williams on August 27
ÔªøI take umbrage with this post, but I’m having trouble figuring out where to begin. Therefore, I’m listing all of them: find your favorite angle and indulge yourself.
There’s the whole “This is nothing new” angle: We eat our morning cereal out of co-branded boxes; we collected baseball cards designed to sell tobacco, then gum. Not to mention back in 1998, a Miami advertising firm pioneered advertising on dry cleaning bags and, oh, let’s not forget that dry cleaners have been advertising themselves on their own hangers since they’ve been doling out those hangers.
There’s the whole “America is about huckster-ism” angle where (cue patriotic music) the US was built on this kind of ingenuity, and, by God, we need an environmentally-friendly hanger option (we really do, and you need to take your wire hangers back to the dry cleaners that use them) and, by George, it is a dandy place to put targeted advertising (I’m particularly fond of the Mitchum hanger).
There’s the whole ‚ÄúAdvertising pretty much drove everything you like about the world” angle. Newspapers and magazines? Yeah, built to sell ads. Television. That, too. All this really cool stuff in the world wasn’t created by socialists on communes, folks. They didn’t do it because it was super-cool. It was designed to make a buck. Even product placement in movies: There’s a reason E.T. wasn’t eating M&M’s.
There’s the whole “Don’t be a stick in the mud‚Äù angle. Mitchum did a great job. I don’t mind ads that are funny. Indeed, they’ve become pantheons of pop culture. We embraced Miller Lite selling us beer, Nike selling us golf , and Coke selling us soda (in a much loved, but failed advertising campaign that itself speaks to the need for targeted advertising). See the second paragraph for more.
All three kind of say, ‚Äúdon’t be so na?Øve; embrace it.‚Äù Don’t be so na?Øve Charlie, embrace it!
I think the angle best taken is that of kinship to the fellow hawking these coat hangers. Because we’re in the same business. We’re a tactical execution of a marketing strategy. So are they. We provide a very valuable service of providing an online presence that will ultimately lead to member retention and growth. For the brands buying the ads, advertising on hangers will hopefully lead to brand loyalty and growth.
I come from an ‚Äúold school‚Äù form of marketing, where if you subscribe to a magazine or watch a show, you’re selecting yourself to be marketed to, because you’re aligning yourself with a demographic. It’s a rather passive, but real, form of permission-based marketing. Sports, politics, interests: there’s a reason Remington advertises its ammunition in Field and Stream and not Harper’s Monthly. There are outliers, but dry cleaning your clothes on a regular basis puts you into a demographic. All this is based on mathematical facts.
In fact, there’s a reason MySpace, YouTube and other giant social media sites have sold for millions ‚Äì it’s a group of people who have self-selected into targeted marketing groups. That’s the real, monetary value of social media. Not unlike sports fans and outdoorsmen and teenage girls in the past: you will gather together and create a critical mass. Then, the evil marketing boogie men will try and sell you something.
It’s a great product that’s really nothing new. Embrace it. And when Proctor and Gamble buys up Twitter, look for new ways to gather a group together in their own social media utopia, and make your own self rich.
It’s the American way.
Trey Reeme on August 28
Last night I came up with the ultimate argument against the “green marketing angle” (yes they call it an angle):
A simple question – what do you do when you get a wire coat hanger from the cleaners?
Brent, Charlie, and I keep the wire hanger. I will keep and reuse that hanger for at least a few years – unless it has a cardboard bottom on it and I break it by hanging too heavy a pair of jeans on it.
If I got a paper hanger, I seriously doubt it’ll last like the wire one will – especially when I cut out the middle of it to get the coupon. What happens? I throw it away.
How is that green?
Plus, they position it as “no trees used.” Uh, really?
terrell on August 28
Trey, 20-something males keep wire hangers. I don’t know one girlfriend of mine (no matter her age) who would keep a wire hanger in her closet. Trust me. Wire hangers = bad.
Yes, green marketing is an angle, but at least in the case of these hangers they are using recycled paper. Every bit helps.
terrell on August 28
p.s. Doug—I love your comment. Well said.
Âàõ‰?öËá¥ÂØåÊäï˵ÑÁ?ë on August 29
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VSelfridge on August 29
Have to agree with Terrell on the “Women don’t keep wire hangers” issue – they are only good to transport clothes home from the dry cleaner. After that – I switch the clothes to a “nice” hanger!
Brent on August 29
So then the new question is, why do women hate the environment so much?
Also, to Âàõ‰?öËá¥ÂØåÊäï˵ÑÁ?ë - I couldn’t agree more.
Charlie Trotter on August 31
Doug, while pouring myself a bowl of cereal just now I was enjoying the lack of co-branding on my Organic Toasted Os and remembered I promised you a retort a few days ago.
Your points are well-made and I won’t argue with most of them.
I know it’s nothing new. It’s more of the same. Too much more for my taste. I accept cereal boxes and baseball cards and E.T. (and yes, cue Fanfare for the Common Man). They are a part of my childhood I hold dear and defend jealously (see my broken heart at Bumble Bee not being a VW in the latest Transformers movie). I accept that context. What makes this taste like bitter herbs to me is that the vehicles for Mitchum to deliver their copywriter’s punchlines are encroaching evermore into all corners of my house.
I’m not being naive, I’m saying “Enough.” Some of the models might need to change. The bottom line for me is, while I wouldn’t mind the extra spending money, I don’t want this to end with some media sales rep making me a compelling offer for the space on the back of my eyelids because I’m 28 and can see and have therefore chosen to plant myself into someone’s marketing context. Being presented with a marketing message should not necessarily “come with the territory” of an interest the way being gored by a bull comes with the territory of riding one. I agree that that has been true since N.W. Ayer & Sons hung out a shingle, but, again, I say, “Enough.”
PS: Dear readers, don’t be nervous at our Trabian Family Banter. When you’re family you can curse each other for cowards in the same breath you ask each other to pass the mashed potatoes. I love Doug and Doug loves me and that will never change (OK, actually, Fanfare for the Common Man would go nicely right here.)
lucy fang on September 06
we can choose stronger hangers or hanger thin clothes on the small hangers.If you don’t need them, carry them to the cleaners.they’ll be very happy!Everything will be better if we think more and do more!But if you spend more time you may just do as usual. Thank you.It’s my opion.
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