The Wall St. Journal (sub) writes today about the 'copy cat' ads resulting from the auto industry's latest ploy to drive their sales #'s up. (Notice that Honda, Toyota, and pretty much everyone else outside the US doesn't seem to need to resort to these tactics?) Funny, because I've been thinking about since a few local companies have done 'employee discount' ads and sales on the heels of the Big 3's employee discount ad campaigns. One of them from Menards, a DIY home store chain, was actually really funny. They had the whole round of employees saying "pay what we pay" and you could clearly tell that they were having fun with it, as many of them were nearly laughing. It was almost a parody ad, but effective none the less. I got the rest of my garage shelving there during the sale. Saved a bundle too!

I can't help but think that from some employees' perspectives that this is a bit of a slap. Not that discounts should be a reason for working somewhere, but I recall when I was in the bicycle industry that most kids that worked at shops liked bikes, but LOVED the employee deals and the schwag that went with working there.

Face it, people, especially employees of any enterprise, like to feel special. Special deals are one of those things that some folks hold sacred. Why else are we the members of certaing clubs, buy into store discount programs, carry around a half-dozen keychain cards for the grocery stores in our area and search our employers' intranets for those special 'supplier deals' that might be lurking out there on local lawn service or discounts on national goods, if your employer is large enough. I can't help but feel that this whole 'employee discount' phenomenon just cheapens the whole experience.

On the flip side, it's damn hard to argue with the results. Spurred by the promotions, in July auto makers recorded their third-best sales month in history.

The other funny thing is, where are the bloggers and word-of-mouth in all of this? If it were not for TV, these results would NOT have been possible. Just goes to show that there still is room for TV and the mass media in advertising and marketing. It's true then, advertising does drive the economy!

[UPDATE] Brand Autopsy is calling this the EDEO Marketing Epidemic.