The Shitake Hits the Fan

We must admit that we enjoy browsing the aisles of Whole Foods. The service is great, the products are high quality, and the variety...where else can you find a jar of Punjabi dipping sauce? But as much as we browse, as much as the dipping sauce may be the closest we could ever get to the Punjab, we have never purchased anything at Whole Foods. Never spent a penny.

Along with the great service, which is truly great, and the high quality, which is undoubtedly high, come high prices. The job of a curmudgeon has never been lucrative, and in this economy, there are many curmudgeons whose forums are facing foreclosure. Your Tio Tito shakes his fist only for the love of fist shaking. Ranting at the wind brings us no financial gain. And we understand and accept that service, quality and variety aren't free.

But we suspect that at Whole Foods you get, and pay for, more than this. As we pass the other customers, the ones actually putting food in their carts with the full intention of purchasing it, we get the sense that shopping at Whole Foods is more than shopping, more than filling the pantry. When a Whole Foods customer buys locally/organically grown broccoli at $2.19 per pound, they want to feel that they're the kind of people who buy locally/organically grown broccoli for $2.19 per pound. They want to know that the beans that they brew for their coffee are sourced from farmer cooperatives in Guatemala. When you're a customer of Whole Foods, your cash buys cachet. For los Mambos, when broccoli hits 99 cents per pound, we don't eat broccolli.

Now John Mackey, the CEO and co-founder of Whole Foods is facing a backlash from his customers who have a bent to blog. In a piece in last week's Wall Street Journal (here) Mackey shared his opinions on health care reform. Risking over-simplification, we will summarize that Mr. Mackey believes the federal government should play a secondary role to the choice and responsibilty of the health-care consumer.


Mackey provides the following preface before offering eight suggestions of his own for health-care reform:

"While we clearly need health-care reform, the last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system. Instead, we should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the opposite direction—toward less government control and more individual empowerment. Here are eight reforms that would greatly lower the cost of health care for everyone."

The spirit of his piece and his specific suggestions seem reasonable to us. In the long run, they may not be correct, may not be feasible, but they fall within the range that fits the space of adult political discussion. At least to us they do.

Mr. Mackey's piece has ignited an internet inferno. A Facebook page called "Boycott Whole Foods" (here) has gone up and as of this morning has nearly 25,000 fans, and so many postings that the moderators shut down the discussion last night so they could catch up. Whole Foods own public forum has a section dedicated to the debate. The chart below, courtesy of Technorati, shows the increase in blog activity on John Mackey over the past few weeks.


There are many things of which we are uncertain. First, we are uncertain of the proportion of this internet activity that is opposed to Mackey's comments, and that which supports them. There are just too many comments to count and no one has yet been kind enough to do that for us.

Our suspicion is that there are more comments against Mackey than for him. Even the other Whole Foods co-founder, Renee Lawson Hardy has posted a letter on the company forum disagreeing with Mackey and encouraging others to read the source texts of ObamaCare with an open mind "free from ideological clinging". (more here)

We are uncertain as to which of Mr. Mackey's points are the cause of the offense. Posts mention frustration with the Iraq War, the financial bailout, Whole Foods relationship with unions, and Mr. Mackey's contributions to Tom DeLay. We have been unable to find one critic that directly takes on a point in his opinion piece related to health care. We suspect they may be out there, but there's so little time. All posts end by vowing to find alternative sources for their groceries. Here is an excerpt from a writer at the Daily Kos, known as "DarkSyde":

"Mr. Mackey, you just shat all over your best customers. Given the years of pseudonymous postings on Yahoo finance slamming a competitor you were quietly trying to acquire at the time, double talk and unethical behavior arguably seems to be becoming a habit for you. So I will never, ever, shop at your stores again, unless you retract that op-ed, apologize for stabbing us in the back, or resign." (more here)

Mr. DarkSyde seems to express as best as possible the opposition's specific criticisms against Mackey's health care suggestions.

Dear readers, let us assure you that we make no attempt to judge Mr. Mackey's critics or his supporters. We are confused by much of the debate and issues of health care reform. Perhaps if we knew more, we too would be outraged.

We are also uncertain as to what the message is for corporate leaders who are inclined to share their point of view with the public. Blogging and twittering by executives has been encouraged in recent years. Tony Hsieh of Zappos is the poster boy. But those in the public who yesterday applauded openness from the exec suite are today's Jacobins who will terrorize those they disagree with. At least the guillotine was quick compared to the blogotine. We expect that there will be an increasing reluctance to openness by exec's who are unsure of the value of social media but quite sure of it's dangers.

But let's return to the beginning and something of which we're reasonably certain. Whole Foods is more than a grocery store, it's a place at which many people who share a relatively common outlook gather to express their faith through the sacrament of shopping. Sometimes we only see the power of a brand and the source of its power when the shared but unspoken assumptions of the relationship are violated.

The Fruits of Karma

As inviolable as the law of gravity is the law of karma. Karma is a causal explanation for our lot in life. The idea of karma has a place in all of India's religions. It seems to work for them. As you pass through the cycles of becoming, the samsara, the quality of your deeds determines the form you take when reincarnated. If you're a kind goat herder, you may come back as a holy person. If you're a nasty goat herder, you may come back as the goat.

We at marketmambo believe that karma works not only over lifetimes, but also over shorter periods, such as weeks or days. If bad things happen to you on Wednesday, its probably because you did something bad on Monday. We were not raised in the Jain or Sikh or Hindu faith, but karma is nothing more than the admonition of the Apostle Paul who said "You reap what you sow", but more conveniently packaged in a handy two-syllable word. Hence we subscribe.

Let us explain and perhaps provide an excuse for our early digression on karma.

Karma I

In mid-July we followed the press coverage of one Matthew Robson, age 15 years and 7 months. Matthew is an intern at the London office of Morgan Stanley who wrote a short research brief entitled "How Teenagers Consume Media". The managers were so impressed with Matthew's brief that they published it. This week we had the time to read the brief and were impressed that something so insightful and thoughtful could have been written by one so young. Matthew's findings are based on his personal observations of the lifestyle of his friends. Science and rigor are absent from the brief, but we don't believe there is a strict correlation between numbers and truth.

We won't be reviewing Matthew's ideas here, but it is worth a read. Please follow this link if you'd like to see the actual three-page report. We'd like to mention one of his findings that drew the press coverage. In the brief Matthew states matter of factly that teenagers don't use twitter.

Most teenagers are heavily active on a combination of social networking sites. Facebook is the most common, with nearly everyone with an internet connection registered and visiting >4 times a week. Facebook is popular as one can interact with friends on a wide scale. On the other hand, teenagers do not use twitter. Most have signed up to the service, but then just leave it as they release (sic) that they are not going to update it (mostly because texting twitter uses up credit, and they would rather text friends with that credit). In addition, they realise that no one is viewing their profile, so their ‘tweets’ are pointless.

The rationale makes sense to us and we have no direct experience which would stir us to argue the position. Others in the press and blogoshere where less accepting because it wasn't substantiated by percent signs and decimal points.

Well now its is. In response to debate caused by the 15 year old's brief, Nielsen has released data from their NetRatings Panel (here) that shows that this teenager is smarter than most adults. According to Nielsen, despite the remarkable growth of twitter, only (here come the percent signs) 16% of twitter users are under 25, though that group as a whole makes up 25% of internet users. For those of you who have some history with media indices, this means that the under 25 group under indexes by 36%. We provide below the chart from Nielsen which shows the growth of twitter across all demographics.



We may take on the possible reason for this unexpected finding in a later post. But for now we offer up this incident to show how easy its is for an adult in a cubicle to dismiss the intelligence and insight that a teenager has about their own life. This is bigotry, ageism, karma.

Yes, karma. Let's call this instance Karma I, for there is another to be mentioned.

Karma II

We at marketmambo enjoy no smugness about karma's role in this affair because this week karma kept her keen eye on us as well. Careful readers of this blog may recall that in our post on the commercial success of Billy Mays, we facetiously blamed the arrogance and artistic pretenses of ineffective creative directors on the success of John Hughes, the writer/movie director. Sure enough Mr. Hughes also passed away this week (what a summer). The official cause was a heart attack, but for someone who is sensitive to the workings of karma, we can't help but feel that our post may have dislodged the clot that caused the infarction.

We'll label this as Karma II and make no attempt to shirk responsibility.

Let's be clear that we've enjoyed the work of Mr. Hughes from our first viewing of National Lampoon's Vacation. The script was based on Mr. Hughes own recollections of cross country trips he made with his family as a teenager. Hughes built much of his career on sensitively depicting the life and angst of teenagers, as in Ferris Beuller's Day Off and The Breakfast Club, and many teenagers in the audience responded.

We were moved by the recollections of one blogger who was a teen in the mid-eighties. After seeing The Breakfast Club, Alison Byrne Fields wrote the director to tell him of the effect it had on her life. Unexpectedly, the young Ms. Fields and Hughes began a two-year relationship as pen pals. Now the author of the blog We'll Know When We Get There, Ms. Fields writes of her correspondence in the post Sincerely, John Hughes. We recommend that you give it a glance.

We believe that we are very early in our own samsara. We are still in the process of becoming. At any rate we are far from completion. In fact, we wouldn't be surprised if we gained a pair of legs in our next incarnation. Perhaps even two pair. Tell your children to be kind to goats, and just to be safe, flys also.

We need not have such worries for Mr. Hughes. He will enjoy the fruit of his karma. He found a way to connect with people at a very trying time of their lives, and those people still appreciate him to this day. Not bad for an ex-advertising hack.

More Than Meets the Eye

You auto be in pictures...

Nothing says summer like the big budget blockbusters, and I, Tito Mambo and the little ones—ah, but not so little anymore—have enjoyed each and everyone of them. We've seen Ice Age 3 twice, Harry Potter (Five?) once. And there's the latest Transformers, G-Force this weekend and soon after GI Joe. Has anyone noticed that both Transformers and GI Joe were toys before they were movies? Here's wishing you a Hasbro summer.

And before they were toys that could turn from cars into robots, Transformers was a Marvel comics series. The Autobots and the Decepticons come to earth from another planet. When they arrive, the Autobots gain the power to transform into cars, err, autos. The Decepticons, who can transform into other stuff, run riot over the planet in search of an energy source. The Autobots join forces with humans to resist the Decepticons. But I'm sure you remember all this.

One Autobot in particular, Bumble Bee, the spunky younger brother of another Autobot, befriends the teenage human hero, Sam. At various times, Bumblebee has been killed, only to be reborn. In the first movie BB can talk, in the most recent he can't. In the comics, Bumble Bee is a Volkswagon, but becomes a Camaro for the big screen. The only constants for Bumblee Bee are his yellow and black coloring, his youthful determination to prove himself, and his ability to protect his human friends from destruction.

Finally Tito, we hear you thinking, a topic we will enjoy: film. Sorry, my friends, but this is the end of the reel. We mention films, in general, and Transformers in particular because of Bumble Bee, especially Bumble Bee the Camaro. It seems that the early part of this summer has also belonged to Camaro, not just Hasbro.

GM, who has seen overall sales drop 40% this year, has a hit car on its hands with the comeback Camaro. For a car that stopped production seven years ago, it is now bringing excitement back to the Chevrolet line and welcome relief to dealers, who have sold about 10,000 Camaros in June alone, and have 13,000 more on back order.

How can a throwback brand like the Camaro bring fresh traffic to show rooms when otherwise only the promise of a $4000 cash for clunkers check is moving buyers from the safety of their sofas? It seems that great brands, the ones that live in the heart, are hard to kill.

Power Struggle

The Camaro was born in 1967 as Chevy's answer to the wildly popular Ford Mustang. The brand was in keeping with Chevrolet's inclination to attach names to new models that began with “C”: Corvette, Chevette, Corvair. When reporters asked product managers to explain what exactly was a Camaro, they answered, “a small, vicious animal that eats Mustangs”.

Among those who care about such things, the Camaro is considered more of a Pony car, more of a sports car, than a true muscle car such as the GTO. The first Camaro was based on the compact Nova frame. It sold for a base price of about $2500. A few more dollars got you the big engine and 375 horses of pony-power that made it feel like a full-sized muscle car.

Like muscle cars the Camaro struggled with the onslaught of more stringent emission standards in the early '70's. Sacrificing power for compliance, the 1975 top-end model offered a very practical, very boring, 155 horsepower engine.

The Camaro reclaimed some of it's lost glory in the mid-eighties with the introduction of the IROC model, named after the International Race of Champions. But the car was at its best standing still. With an aesthetic make-over and a middle-aged engine, it looked powerful only when waiting at red lights. Unfortunately the Camaro brand became almost synonymous with IROC, and when the sponsorship of the race was taken over by Dodge in 1990, the Camaro lost even the veneer of authority. Chevy produced the car long enough to fulfill its agreement with the Canadian government which had offered GM attractive tax breaks to host the Camaro plant. In 2002, with the agreement expired and a near obsolete frame design, GM's car czar Bob Lutz announced the brand was to be placed on “hiatus”.

From the Ashes

We observed in our last posting that Billy Mays would enjoy a period of immortality, an after-life, as the brands that he pitched worked through their remaining store of produced spots. In reality this is not immortality or after-life, not as one would hope for, as the video images of Mr. Mays provide none of the satisfaction of the real thing to himself or his loved ones.

But are brands burdened by the same corporal constraints as people? Can a brand, a thing of the mind and the heart, return from the distant shore that becomes the final inescapable home of us mortals, who appear in flesh but once? Friends of marketmambo, we had never considered this question, and likely would have assumed that once a brand departs, or is placed on “hiatus”, especially after years of steady decline into irrelevancy, there would be little hope for a fresh incarnation.

One who believes in the rebirth of brands is GM's Bob Lutz, the same man who had euthanized the gracelessly aging Camaro. In 2006, Mr. Lutz began development of a new Camaro concept car, which he nurtured through several versions. In March of this year, the reborn Camaro—officially model year 2010--went into production with a new frame and a new, more efficient assembly plant.

What hasn't been made new is the car itself. In fact, GM found inspiration in earlier models for the new Camaro's style and engine. It's big, almost two-tons of car. The hood is long and low like a traditional muscle car. It's fenders bulge like a tight t-shirt stretched over well-worked biceps. The $31,000 SS model with the V8 engine puts out 426 horses of very impractical power.

Not long ago we wrote about GM's decision to end its Pontiac line. Traditionally, the Pontiac was built with big Detroit engines, American Muscle we called it. The Pontiac GTO did more than any other brand to launch the muscle car era, and the demise of Pontiac was a long-delayed symbol of the era's passing. The Camaro has made its comeback when the preferences of auto shoppers and the business of auto makers aligns with small and practical, when pious Prius drivers savor the smugness of their cultish correctitude, when Chevy waits for salvation from a hero yet to come, the Volt.

Bob Lutz has recently taken over marketing for GM. Does the success of the Camaro suggest a special marketing savvy on the part of Mr. Lutz? So far we have been unimpressed with the efforts, certainly the marketing spend seems unimpressive. Maybe the answer doesn't lie in current marketing. Maybe, like the old tag for the Transformer toys, there's more than meets the eye.

Mr. Lutz seems to understand the power of well-loved brands. A generation of men, maybe two, came of age with the Camaro as their first auto-infatuation. For many, their desire went unfulfilled at the time. But older, wealthier, and as passionate as ever, the Camaro reappears, buff and bulging, among its bulemic siblings.

Also, Mr. Lutz seems to understand that for the Camaro to be successful, the car would need to go beyond aesthetics. The new Camaro offers as powerful an engine as it ever did in its history. The brand had failed as its engine atrophied, it became a name plate without substance to reinforce its heritage. Thank you to Mr. Lutz and GM for actually offering a product that lives up to its name. Most marketers today don't understand their brands value or the link between the brand value and its design.

But perhaps most of all, Mr. Lutz understands then when you follow the herd, all you'll likely see are bovine behinds. There is no greater opportunity than the moment your competition righteously marches off in the same direction, especially when by doing so they've turned their backs on a group of customers who are hesitant to follow.

The Boys of Summer

Twenty-five years ago, “Papa” John Schnatter sold his '72 Camaro to fund his new business, Papa John's Pizza. Schnatter is off on a road trip this summer, in a replica of that Camaro to find the real thing. He's also offering a $25,000 reward for anyone who helps him find it. At the time of this posting, we believe he is in Denver. You can follow his progress at papasroadtrip.com if you like.

In June, Chevrolet sponsored “Gay Day at the Movies” at the Hollywood Cinema, featuring a preview of the new Transformers movie. The event was supported with youtube videos of “bumble bee boys” clad only in black and yellow speedos washing a new Camaro. Chevy provide the Camaro free of charge for the video. Unfortunately, the video is no longer available. We're not sure if our friends at comicbookqueers.com had any reaction to this, but if not, we extend an invitation to them to post one here.

Finally, Chevy has announced that it will offer a Transformers version of its Camaro. For less than $1000, you can upgrade your purchase to Bumble Bee yellow and black. Chevy appropriately made it's announcement at last week's Comic-Con in San Diego.

We apologize for our inability to provide access to the bumble bee boys washing the new Camaro. Hopefully, we can make up for this. In the mid-eighties, about the same time Chevy introduced the middle-aged IROC, the same time John Schnatter started his business, a mature Don Henley released “The Boys of Summer”. In the song, Henley meditates on the lost passion of his younger days, and more broadly on our sometimes fruitless attempts to recapture this passion.

Out on the road today I saw a deadhead sticker
On a cadillac
A little voice inside my head said, dont
Look back. you can never look back.
I thought I knew what love was,
What did I know?
Those days are gone forever
I should just let them go

Legend has it that this line was inspired by the Grateful Dead sticker on the bumper of the Cadillac hearse owned by Joe Walsh. This may not be true, but it should be.

For those who wish the original, here is the link to the Henley video. But we've embedded below the 2003 version by The Ataris, who changed “deadhead” to “Black Flag” so as to be more relevant to their generation. But like the new Camaro, this version is updated but captures the essence of the original. Please enjoy.

Mortal Coil Shuffler, Act Now!

June, the traitorous month.

We fall victim to the pleasure of it's languid slumber. The last frost has retreated from the field. Brown becomes green. The month offers the days that nearly escape the need for night. It is the month, we are told, which is ideal for matrimony. We need present no more evidence of it's infidelity.

What dreams accompany this slumber? This year they were the disquiet caused by the reminders of our own mortality. We closed the final days of June with the passing of Michael, Farrah, and Ed. Death, at its cruelest, often steals from us only in pairs. Jimi and Janice. Bobby and Martin. We leave to you, the faithful of marketmambo, to weigh your own grief at the loss of this trio.

But your Tio Tito would like to speak another name for our remembrance: Billy Mays. Billy, as we're sure you know, also fell in June. America's favorite pitchman passed quietly, as he slept, from heart failure, at his home in Tampa. He was close to our heart as well as our hearth.

Billy was a throwback. He learned his hard-sell style of pitching on the boardwalks of Atlantic City in the early '70's, when he was taken under the wings of established but anonymous hawkers. Billy's booming voice hit the airwaves when he was asked to sell Orange Glo on the Home Shopping Network in 1996. He went on to sell a variety of products, though he's best remembered for his work for OxiClean.

Billy joined the Mambo family in April of this year as his TV show, Pitchmen, became a favorite of mine and little Tito. He teamed up with his long-time business partner and fellow pitchman Anthony Sullivan to enthusiastically champion the products which represented the dreams and passions of some entrepreneurial inventor. One week it was slippers that cleaned the floor, the following week a device for removing stripped screws. Each episode showed Billy and Anthony developing the campaign from initial selling idea to production of the spot to evaluation of the return.

Pitchmen was something of a classroom for DRTV hopefuls. Billy and Anthony had three rules for determining if a product could be sold in a two-minute spot. First, the product had to solve a problem experienced frequently in everyday life. Second, the product had to sell at a price that eliminated any barrier to an impulsive purchase. Twenty-dollars was often the number which was associated with success. Finally, the product had to lend itself to a dramatic demonstration that proved its effectiveness.

While these rules are useful, its unlikely that anyone following them by rote would have the same success as Billy. For what sold the products, more than the media schedule, the pricing, or the products themselves was Billy. He was passionate about the products he pitched and found a way to transfer his passion to the screen. He was serious about what he did but not serious about himself. As would be appropriate, Billy was laid to rest in an OxiClean shirt and his pallbearers wore the same blue shirts that had become Billy's trademark.

We are surprised that no one has made what would seem to be the obvious connection between Billy and another of the recently departed, Ed McMahon. Those of us who have passed a certain minimum age will remember that Mr. McMahon was also a pitchman. No, we're not referring to his emeritus work for senior insurance, but his prime of life pitching for brands such as Alpo and Budweiser. Ed did live spots for these brands while he was the sidekick on the Tonight Show, sometimes with unexpected results. Below is a link to one such adventure. (If video doesn't appear below for any reason, click here for a direct link)

Please friends, absorb this paragraph of the post slowly, for Billy has left us with a message, a moral, that we all must learn from. TV sells. Or at least it can sell. Advertising became synonymous with TV commercials, and as the value of the TV commercial fell into disrepute, as the price of TV airtime has fallen, it has taken the entire industry for a ride. Deservedly so. We blame John Hughes. Yes John Hughes the writer or National Lampoon's Vacation, the director of Home Alone. Some may not realize that he was a creative director at Leo Burnett in Chicago, who turned his cinematic side interests into a lucrative career and carved a possible path of salvation for many other advertising creatives who felt that selling products was a waste of their talent. After John Hughes every TV spot became a 30 second indie film, a pay-off to a “this is what I'm doing until Hollywood returns my calls” story. Selling took a back seat to cinematic pretense. Billy used TV, the moribund medium, to pitch without shame or apology, and along the way he made a lot of money for himself and his clients.

If you missed it the first time: TV sells.

Billy will enjoy some momentary immortality. He'll be seen in a few TV spots that had already been produced. Two will be for the Mighty brand, in this case Mighty Putty and Mighty Tape. His family approves of the post mortem appearance by Billy, sure that he'd like to go out pitching. Billy would also be pleased to know that since his death, sales of Mighty products are up 30% in retail outlets. Church and Dwight, owners of Orange Glo, have decided to not air their remaining Billy Mays spots.

And only this week the Discovery Channel announced that because of the success of the first season of Pitchmen, they'll be renewing the show for a second season, this time with Billy Mays II as the on-air partner of Anthony Sullivan.

If you'd like a sampling of Billy Mays at his finest, the Discovery Channel will be re-airing Pitchmen: A Tribute to Billy Mays on Friday, July 24^th.

Readers may have noticed the allusions to another Billy littering this post, Billy Shakespeare. Brushes with mortality put us in a reflective mood. If the mortal coil shuffler ever becomes available, we are compelled to ask, who would fardels bear?

We would like to leave you on a different note, returning to our opening attack on the month just past, the month that marked the passing of so many. Please savor “Summer Wind” by clicking the link below, and Frank Sinatra will share his feelings on the loss of one he loved, made appropriate to the season.

Summer Wind