Spam on Spam.....

I've gotten several SPAM emails promising to help me get rid of SPAM forever. Ironic, eh? Kind of like a telemarketer selling Telezappers...

The message just seems a little off-the-mark to me. But there's a lot of much more off-target marketing. And it's costing us all a lot of money.

Case in point: Accenture, the consulting arm of former Arthur Andersen spent a reported $175 million several years ago to announce their new name with expensive TV commercials and consumer print ads. You may not even remember the spots. I don't remember them, either. That's because the ads weren't very creative.

I have just one question: Why?

Isn't their core market is a few executives at big businesses who make the decisions to hire consultants? Wouldn't it be more effective to focus on business publications, direct mail and personal selling (maybe even telemarketing!)?

How is this costing us all money? That $175 million came from clients. Clients like Sara Lee, Bristol-Meyers, Best Buy -- even Jelly Belly Candies. And where do the clients get the money? People like us who pay a little more so the consultants can do wasteful advertising.

O.K. maybe I'm being a little melodramatic. Perhaps the wasteful advertising isn't the end of the world. Not when you have $175 million to burn. But smaller businesses, like yours, can't afford to be off target.

Are you hitting your target? Are you using the right media? Is your message getting results?

-- Phil Sasso