Takes

i'm ok, you're a disaster: Happy Days Are Here Again--If Only We'd Believe It The folks at The Harris Poll sound almost indignant, and who can blame them? "By most objective standards, these are remarkably good times to be living in the United States," remarks the polling firm in introducing some new survey data. The economy is up, crime is down, etc. "And yet most people don't get it." As quantified by Harris' polling, Americans "underestimate, deny or disbelieve these positive trends." While Alan Greenspan warns of an interest-rate hike to moderate the economy's breakneck growth, 45 percent of survey respondents don't even believe it is growing. Despite some of the lowest unemployment numbers in living memory, 21 percent think the number of jobs is falling and another 17 percent believe it's flat. Similarly, a negligible 2 percent believe rates of violent crime are decreasing "a lot," notwithstanding a ton of data documenting such a trend. Indeed, 60 percent believe violent crime is on the increase. Do numbers like these arise because the decade's good news benefits just a lucky few? Not to judge by people's responses when asked about their own lives. A striking 94 percent answered affirmatively when asked, "Do you feel good about the quality of your life overall?" Eighty-seven percent said the same of their "standard of living." In short, the ongoing boom has done nothing to erase a tendency we've seen throughout the decade: People think they're doing fine personally even as they believe the country at large is going to hell in a handbasket. The sense of social isolation implicit in this is tempered only by Americans' sense of belonging to their locality. Thus, 70 percent said they feel good about "the morals and values of people in your community," while just 36 percent said the same of "the morals and values of Americans in general." men vs. health: Who Needs Doctors? Maybe it's a misguided attempt to please the mothers who hoped their sons would grow up to be doctors. Whatever the reason--fear is a good candidate--men persist in trying to diagnose their own symptoms instead of going to the doctor. (Having played nurse when they were little girls, women are conditioned to consult doctors.) A joint survey by CNN and Men's Health magazine finds "approximately one-third of all men will not go to the doctor even when experiencing life-threatening symptoms." For that matter, 32 percent of men reported having a cancer screening in the past year, versus 55 percent of women. It's not as if men are saving themselves by adhering to healthy diets. As you can see from the chart, they're less likely than women to believe eating right can fend off disease. Seventy-five percent of women said they "try to balance unhealthy food choices with healthy ones" when they shop for groceries, versus 65 percent of men. And while 16 percent of women confessed they "usually end up buying a lot of junk food," 22 percent of men said the same. MIXED BLESSINGS: Web Chicks, Raves for Viagra's Poster Boy, Tile Work, Etc. Girl Power hits the Web. The number of female consumers online jumped 80 percent in the nine months ending in April, passing the 10 million mark, according to a new study from CommerceNet and Nielsen Media Research. The total number of Internet users in North America, 16 years and older, grew 16 percent but the number of online shoppers rose 40 percent to 28 million. More than two out of every five people surveyed are now on the Web. Women are helping to drive e-commerce; they now make up 38 percent of consumers compared to 29 percent last summer. Their top picks? Clothes, followed by books. Bob Dole may think he gets no respect from the media, but he's getting praise in at least one quarter: former Food and Drug Administration commissioner David Kessler, now dean of the Yale University School of Medicine. At a recent conference sponsored by Time and Health, Kessler applauded Dole's Viagra TV spot as a "public service ad," unlike other direct-to-consumer ads for serious medical conditions that may steer consumers away from choosing the right prescription drug. His concern underscores the boom in DTC advertising after the FDA issued TV guidelines two years ago. Marketers boosted spending in all media 24 percent to $1.35 billion last year. Recent research from Time shows that one in four people said they discussed a drug choice with a healthcare professional because of a TV spot and only one in three read the small print in ads. Ever since Minnesotans elected Jesse 'The Body' Ventura we've been wondering: What are they thinking? Be curious no longer. The Star Tribune just queried adults in the state and here's what they say. Forty-nine percent contend the ideal family has two children, compared to four, cited in 1947. Girls should wait until they're 15 before dating, unchanged from responses in 1945. Boys, on the other hand, need to stay away from the fairer sex until they're at least 18 or 19, many people feel. Where residents of Minnesota, past and present, agree is the necessity of spanking children when they misbehave. How about wrestling them to the ground? We'll expect an answer in the next polling. Jackie Chan can relax. Nothing about this crowd suggests they're about to take over martial arts films. Sonora Wall Tiles, in Mumbai, (formerly Bombay) India, uses these young students--their arms in casts--to show they couldn't slice the company's tiles. The campaign, from Chaitra/Leo Burnett, Mumbai, India, carries the tag: "Extraordinary strength. Extraordinary tiles." RACING TO THE TOP: Ford, BMW Hold the Keys To Branding Success Maybe James Bond was on to something. When he garaged his Aston Martin for a BMW in GoldenEye, the British media was up in arms. It was bad enough that the German interloper took over two of the United Kingdom's automotive crown jewels: Rover and Rolls Royce. But it was unbearable to think that the empire's leading man of mystery would drive into battle in a BMW roadster. A new survey of the best regarded corporate names in the auto world confirms the worst. Bavarian Motor Works has jumped to second place in 1998, up from No. 4 in 1997 in the rankings from Corporate Branding LLC. Taking top honors is Ford Motor Co., which ranked No. 2 the year earlier. In 1997, Toyota was ranked No. 1. A sign of Ford's continued brand superiority is its reputation among competitors. "One of the benefits of their branding effort is that the company now enjoys an 'acquirer of choice' status around the world," says Corporate Branding chief executive James Gregory. Corporate Branding's methodology surveys "key decision makers," a group defined as vice presidents or higher at the top 20 percent of U.S. corporations in 34 different industries. The Stamford, Conn.-based firm measures familiarity and favorability on a 1 to 100 scale. Ford rated 64.6; BMW, 62.9; Honda, 62.7; Toyota, 62.2; General Motors, 60.8; Chrysler, 58.3; Volvo, 56.2; Nissan, 52.0; Volkswagen, 51.2 and Mitsubishi Motors, 50.9. "The first thing we ask respondents is: 'Are they familiar with the brand?'" explains Brad Puckey, brand manager, analysis. "After we establish familiarity, we ask about things like overall reputation, perception of management and perception of the company as an investment. Our view of branding is intellectual strategy, communications and quality of management over time. Corporate Branding's Gregory adds: "Branding really drives success or failure. Autos are big-ticket items so buyers want to feel confident about the company they're doing business with. " As recently as 1996, Ford ranked No. 6, while BMW came in No. 3. The survey didn't reflect Chrysler's merger with Daimler-Benz. Daimler was on the list in 1996 but has fallen off since then. Daimler, not Mercedes, was on the questionnaire, which explains why one of the most popular cars among executives failed to make the rankings. ATTACK OF THE NERDS: Don't Trust Anyone Without Stock Options Now that 24-year-olds are becoming millionaires faster than they can lace-up their Adidas, marketers can have fun with the precocious tycoons. In this ad from investment management firm Frank Russell Co., the imagery can't help but make you think about the changing face of American business. The ad's wing tip/sneaker hybrid signals a new version of the generation gap at century's end. The current ranks of top U.S. corporate management, the same guys who in the '60s warned, "Don't trust anyone over 30," are seeing their own corridors of power invaded by options-flaunting, techno-speaking kids. Geeky ones at that. They don't even shop at Paul Stuart! Tacoma-based Russell is currently running the ads in Canada while it considers introducing them into the States. They are being tried out in Canada first for reasons related to Russell's streamlined distribution network there. (In the U.S., it's a more complicated arrangement.) The ads target a dual audience: potential investors and distributors who like the promotional support. The campaign's run up north adds a wink to the implied message, since Canada was the preferred locale for '60s draft dodgers. The striking, graphically driven print and outdoor pitch from Saatchi & Saatchi, Toronto, underscores the sense of divide through a bold band of color. It's refreshingly clean and to the point for a financial services company, a place where copy typically reads as if it was churned out by the legal department. Russell simply says: See how the other half invests. "The other half can be anyone who's out there achieving their goals in the marketplace. People see all these choices--mutual funds, Internet stocks--and it's confusing. They get the sense some people understand how to invest, but they don't," says Ian Lamberton, manager of Russell's advertising and marketing communications. While the shoe ad offers a wonderful visual metaphor about the business world's shifting power base, there are other ads in the series as well. Hamburgers and French fries morph into sushi and sashimi. A disposable razor turns into a gold and mahogany shaving instrument. A leather high-backed executive throne is melded to a seat from the secretarial pool. The visual puns are not the sort of advertising you'd expect from a company that manages a billion dollars worldwide or from Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance, Russell's parent."We were able to restrain ourselves on the body copy and headline," explains Lamberton. "We wanted to focus on creating an intrigue. We were able to restrain ourselves on the body copy and headline," he says. When Russell first started advertising just three years, its ads were copy dense, but they're still running in the U.S.

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