Ad Report Card: Huh Inc.
Posted Monday, Sept. 18, 2000, at 12:18 PM ETOne of the indirect contributions that the Internet has made to American discourse is the large preponderance of completely inexplicable advertisements. Whether it's because eye-catching obscurity is a good way to stand out or because their actual business is too difficult to explain or because they simply have no idea what they're doing, many Web companies seem to consciously avoid even hinting as to what their product (or "solution") might be. An example is the recent ad campaign of a company called MarchFirst--technically it's marchFIRST, consistent with the attention-getting strategy of using Joycean capitalization and punctuation, but I don't think anyone is really obliged to go along with such foolishness. I'll explain what MarchFirst is in a moment. For now, suffice it to say that the firm has been running print ads and TV spots on the theme of "being first"--for example, a print ad might feature a shot of fanatic teen-agers and the words "First Rock Star." Or there's this TV spot on an art exhibit, which you can view on the AdCritic.com Web site.
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StumbleUponThe ad: It's set in an art gallery, shot from the point of view of a painting. An avant-garde painting. Onlookers opine ("C'est fantastique!" "C'est terrible!"), cover it up, laugh, squabble, and generally can't stop looking at the thing. Finally, alone in the gallery at night, a cleaning woman tilts it at an angle and nods. Type comes up: "The first Cubist exhibition. Here's to being first." She turns away to mop. The spot fades to black and ends with more type: "A New World, A New Way. MarchFirst.com."
What it might mean: We're an innovative company? We think "outside the box"? We're inventors? We're artists? We have some sort of technology that represents a breakthrough on a par with Cubism? We're French? We're first at ... something?
What it's supposed to mean: MarchFirst is a consulting firm. Surprised? Actually I'm sure the MarchFirsters would say they are more than that: The company, formed by the merger of USWeb/CKS Group (an "Internet-focused services firm") with Whittman-Hart ("a leading provider of e-business solutions"), launched in this form on March 1, 2000. Its Web site describes the company as "the only Internet professional services firm that combines the disciplines needed to compete and win in the new economy." It's not clear what those disciplines are, but they seem to involve "multidisciplinary expertise," as well as 9,000 employees. Whatever.
The grade: This campaign will reportedly cost $50 million, and its goal seems to boil down to simple name awareness. I suppose that when it is all over, significantly more people will be vaguely familiar with the name MarchFirst than were before. I find the "Cubist" spot to be mildly entertaining and certainly well-produced. But I can't imagine that many people will find it interesting enough to actually go out and research what the hell MarchFirst is--I mean, I did, but this is my job. Sort of. Anyway, I'm giving the ad a C-. It's a "New World," I guess, but most ads still work better when they admit what they're selling.
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Reader Comment from The Fray:
Well it sounds like you are the type of guy that if you are on a roadtrip you are more concerned about getting to McDonalds by closing to capitalize on that 99 cent cheeseburger rather than pulling over to the side of the road for ten minutes to watch the best sunset of the trip. marchFIRST is being creative man. And it's not creativity just for the heck of it. Our ads are really tying into our name. There is an underlying concept that will pan out soon enough for the public. Be patient. Ads don't always have to tell you everything, every time. Use your head and try going through the door that is closed, not the one that everyone is waiting in line for. Have the courage to give it a try. It might be unlocked. You did write about our ads, so they work.
--Paul Taylor
(To reply, click here.)
[Mr Taylor is a Designer at marchFIRST.]
It is true that one of the flaws in the campaign is that afterwards, you still don't know what we do. But then marchFIRST is mainly made out of two companies that probably still aren't entirely sure what the other one did, either. US Web/CKS (itself an earlier product of mergers) made websites, mostly, and also did ad agency stuff. Whittman-Hart consulted and put in those big Oracle/SAP type backend systems that seem extremely valuable and important to e-commerce even though no one quite knows what they do. Now marchFIRST does everything from put those backend systems in, to make the websites that are what you the consumer see of them, to create the ads that promote the websites to get you to see them. It's fairly logical to bring all that together. But it is unfortunate that the only time you've ever heard a marchFIRST copywriter explain it comprehensibly was right here in The Fray
--Mike Gebert
(To reply, click here.)
[Note from the Fray Editor: Did you notice our craven editorial conformism in The Fray on the subject of Joycean capitalization, compared with Mr Walker's rebellious free spirit?
A defense of the ad did also come from a non-marchFIRST source:]
Your article assumes that the marchFIRST ads were directed at the everyday viewer. I believe that these ads are directed at CEO's of prospective clients and to employees, especially prospective employees. You might find interesting the fact that since the ads began running, marchFIRST received a 300% increase in the number of resumes, and a similar increase in the number of hits on their web site. I'm sure you know that all the internet service providers are desperate for additional personnel. To be able to grow them organically saves money and builds the organization more effectively. This set of video ads seems to be achieving just what they set out to do in their recruiting program. To give you an idea of what it costs to grow through acquisition, one would need to look no further than the prospective purchase by Diamond Technology Partners, Inc. of Cluster, Incorporated. Diamond is paying a price of $930M for a firm that has a total of 370 consultants. I would guess that marchFIRST hired more than that number of new people already, even before the Olympics ads began to run. As for the pitch to prospective clients, I have no information on whether they've had any success. If my guesstimates about the number of new hires are correct, perhaps you'd like to re-consider that grade of C+?
--Grannybarbara
(To reply, click here.)
[So did Rob Walker re-consider? To find out, click here.]
(9/19)