OK. It's not a bleat. It's an authoritatively deep male voice. And, it scared the crap out of me because I hadn't had any coffee yet and I was not ready for THE KOCHS.
It happened on Salon's site via the Internet. It's happening all over on television -- which I don't watch.
It's the
WE ARE KOCH AD CAMPAIGN
For a location near you below:
YouTube.
Salon is using fly-by ads squidged in between articles which disappear after dumping the propaganda, usually just visually -- but Koch has gone aggressively audio.
Koch Industries, which produces goods ranging from Angel Soft toilet paper to iPhone parts, is adopting a more visible strategy to neutralize critics on the left and
promote a warm, patriotic image of its multinational empire.
It represents a rare foray into the spotlight by one of the world’s largest privately held companies, whose varied industries include oil refining, ranching, fertilizer production and paper products. Despite its reach, however, it has become known primarily for the polarizing brothers at its helm.
And:
Now the brothers, together reportedly worth about $80 billion, are looking to soften their brand by running a national ad campaign that focuses not on their politics, but on the inherent goodness of their mega-congomlerate Koch Industries, which last year raked in $115 billion in revenue. The ads have recently begun airing in the Madison market.
"One of our nation's largest private companies is proudly built on American values and skill," gushes a dulcet female voiceover to video snippets of farm trucks gliding over lush fields, cowboys, gas pumps, attractive Koch workers and toilet paper rolls. "Koch Industries started in the heartland and has expanded to nearly every state."
From
Advertising Age:
The campaign, which promotes the company's American heritage and job creation without referencing the Koch brothers themselves, is part of a larger recruiting effort, said Steve Lombardo, chief communications and marketing officer for Koch since February. The company created his role as part of the overall push to boost its communications resources.
The ultimate goal is to "tell a story about who we are" to potential employees as well as businesses and people in local communities in which the company operates, he added.
Spearheading the campaign, "Steve Lombardo, chief communications and marketing officer for Koch since February (2014). The company created his role as part of the overall push to boost its communications resources."
Lombardo on HuffPost (2012):
As we know, brands are important. In the marketing world, brands give consumers shorthand codes about the character and identity of products and companies. Brands tell consumers how these products or companies are different, or how they are better. Whether it's the Nike swoosh or the Coke polar bears, brand images and logos are a product's core values. The best brands in the world find a way of both making consumers want to be part of their community and differentiating the product from their competitors. The 2012 Republican Party did neither. We know from our work in developing global communications campaigns that promoting brands requires addressing their emotional and rational sides. Doing so helps to ensure that our efforts will have the maximum impact with consumers and, in effect, win their votes.
The Edward Flattau HuffPost counterpunch (2015):
Koch Industries, considered Public Enemy Number One by many environmentalists, is blanketing the airwaves with an ad campaign touting its contributions to society.
Charles and David Koch, billionaire moguls of a fossil fuel empire, sign off their company's self-aggrandizing ads with the triumphant exclamation "we are Koch!"
The main ad in their series of spot commercials features a kaleidoscope of bucolic farms as well as bustling factory workers and lab technicians. A narrator informs us that the company has a 60,000 strong workforce dedicated to providing a broad range of products to" help people improve their lives." ["We Are Koch."]
There is no mention of this second largest privately held company in the nation being slapped with numerous fines for pollution offenses. There is nary a word about the Koch brothers using their immense wealth to finance the debunking of climate change. No reference is made to the company's lobbying efforts to thwart clean, renewable energy expansion and weaken anti-pollution regulations.
No, we ain't.
Koch.