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It is better
to not be on
the web than
to
be on and
not know why
John Sumser
Reality
is more
complex
than
it seems.
John Gall
It's better to
do a few things
really well
than
than to do
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If you can't
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commitments of
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to your
electronic
marketing
efforts
scale back
your plan.
John Sumser
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ERNIE, please use the form on the
linked page.
 Jobhead
II
(January 29, 2001) We were sure that we were done with the
"Job-head" thing after one article. Monster's "knowing wink" at on-the-job
drug usage was a large judgment error for a new little company. Snorting a
job, an act of addictive compulsion, was simply too far over the edge. One
note pointing it out should have been enough.
But, we've gotten a number of notes from several of the company's
Executive Vice Presidents:
Please, your reaction is a bit much. The ad
was a humorous take that people
DO get a great high when they
finally land
their dream job. You missed the
point. Remember the
card said software
engineer not mail room clerk.
I know you love to take shots at the big dog
but an ad is an
ad. They
aren't meant to change the social fabric.
They just get
your attention for
a couple seconds and if you are lucky someone
vaguely remembers your brand
when the time is right.
And, from another VP:
Your comments concern me and have prompted me
to
immediately stop receiving your daily comments via the
ERN. I
simply no longer see the value in your daily column.
We are trying to have fun in an extremely
competitive
business. Monster.com continues to be the the
market
leader and destination of choice for job seekers.
Apparently our
clients and 12 million members have the
ability to appreciate
comedy, you do not.
The humor in Monster's superbowl ad was only
apparent to people who are in on the joke (and share a certain
perspective). Sleight of hand delivery of an illicit substance to a worker
on the job, while funny to a range of people, we're sure, is at the heart
of the most difficult managerial problem of our times. Drug and alcohol
consumption on the job (not in moderation but compulsively, as the ad
portrayed) is the source of a huge volume of lost productivity and
potential.
An ad is much more than an ad. It is a statement of the company's core
values and the face it wants to present to a certain part of its audience.
You can probably understand how easy this mistake was to make.
Online job hunting, as you probably know, happens between 11AM on the
East coast through about 2PM on the west coast. This is the time when most
job hunters hit the web. Traffic is very high during these hours,
accounting for over 60% of the traffic to the major sites. In other words,
people look for new jobs while they are on the job, using their employer's
web connection. This is why features like "panic buttons", that
immediately click over to Yahoo or another innocuous site are so popular
on the smaller job boards. Looking for work online is often done by a job
hunter who is constantly paranoid that the boss will be walking by.
Knowing that this is a part of the audience, we're sure that the ad
development groups focused on that part of Job Hunting. The behavior is
very similar to other difficult problems as is the target audience.
While we certainly don't believe that anyone at Monster is actively
championing "at work drug consumption", we do think they should give
themselves some careful scrutiny. The difference between overt sanction -
encouragement and a "knowing wink" is not always very large.
Unfortunately, there are many issues in HR that can be triggered into play
with a "knowing wink". None of them are funny enough to use as the gag
line for a branding play in our space.
We doubt that this single episode will be enough to teach Monster the
things it needs to do as it matures. A few customers will stop using the
service because they don't see the humor. For the most part, it simply
underlines the lack of sensitivity the company has for its market.
Leadership, in this case a function of timing and budget, is
maintained by having respect, at an observable level, for the important
components of your audience. This is a mistake that, once made, places the
company under a new kind of scrutiny. It's the second time that will cost
them their position.
- John Sumser
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