Next week, the Spring radio ratings are released. In the business I’m in, I’m often asked by clients to plan media schedules, and along with that make recommendations on which media they should buy, influenced in no small part by the results of these ratings surveys.
Planning media buys often means meeting with different media sales people, all of whom are trained at specialized media propaganda training camps in Russia to insist their station/newspaper/etc. is number one. It’s rumoured one radio station sales rep once claimed his station was number two. He was immediately shipped off to a Gulag and never heard from again.
So, how exactly are ratings determined? By sales reps pummelling each other with foam nerf bats, of course. I’m kidding, though there is an argument to be made for adopting this system.
Instead, broadcast media ratings are determined by periodic surveys conducted throughout the year. In radio, BBM, formerly known as The Bureau of Broadcast Measurements, conducts two surveys a year, in the Spring and Fall.
During radio ratings periods (indicated by the sudden onslaught of radio stations giving away cars, trips, small countries, etc.), diaries are distributed randomly throughout various coverage areas. Regular people, like you and I, receive these diaries and are invited to log our radio listening habits during this period. When we’re done, we return the diaries so data can be compiled and published in a ratings ‘book’.
Once published, media sales reps lock themselves away in darkened rooms for days, studying all the various number combinations, in an effort to find the statistics needed to justify emerging days later, claiming to be number one.
So, does this mean there can actually be more than one number one? Odd as it may sound, the answer is yes. Broadcast media ratings are convoluted, complex beasts, measuring every imaginable demographic, day of the week, time of day, etc. These statistics can be interpreted in many, many different ways and inevitably are.
Some calls from media reps following the release of a new ‘book’ go like this:
“Adam, great news, the ratings just came out and we’re number one with women aged 25-54, Monday - Sunday, all day parts!”
Others go like this:
“Adam, great news, the ratings just came out and we’re number one with one-legged, male clowns aged 90-99, between the hours of 3am and 4am on Mondays! Hello? Hellooooo?”
While one station can be number one with males 25 - 44, another station can be number one with males 35-44. While one station can be number one woman 18-24, 18-34 and even 18-44, another station could still take top honours in the 18+ category (meaning everybody over the age of 18).
Comparing apples to apples is always the key to making educated ratings decisions. Make sure whenever you request ratings information from different stations, what you get back is consistent across the board; same demographics, same time periods, and so on.
In the end, of course, if you’re still not satisfied you’re getting the information you need, don’t be afraid to get assertive and be insistent. And when all else fails, a good, firm foam nerf bat always helps.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
One More Time... With Passion!
As those who follow my columns know (and I thank you both), I often refer to my kids in these little scribblings. This week though, I feel compelled to puff out my chest as a boastful Father and congratulate my daughter for winning the Grade 7 School District 23 Rotary Speech Competition this past Tuesday.
She delivered a fantastic speech, but what was just as impressive as what she said, was the conviction and passion with which she said it.
I was reminded as I watched her, passion sells! And therein, lies a good lesson for all those in the business of pitching ideas. (you know who you are)
I’ve spent nearly thirty years pitching concepts to clients. I’ve pitched every type of client in every type of situation and two things I’ve noticed: 1. Clients are scary and 2. When you really believe in an idea and you show it, the energy is infectious.
I’ve seen many great ideas plummet faster than George Bush’s second term approval ratings’ as a result of a less than impassioned pitch. Creative ideas, being intangible as they are, are often difficult to visualize. In many cases, the confidence of the presenter is the only way to determine whether or not there is genuine confidence in the proposed direction. And when grasping the concept isn’t all that easy to do, sometimes it’s that confidence that wins the day.
Now, there is a converse to this, which is that creative people, in sinking their heart and soul into a creative idea, can at times become so attached to their own work they will fight for it long after the idea’s been read its last rites.
Years ago, I was sent by the company I worked for to a creative conference in San Francisco. During one of the sessions (yes, I did actually attend one or two of them in between trolly rides and far too much time spent at Fisherman’s Wharf - sorry if my old boss is reading this) a Creative Director from Chiat & Day, a leading US agency, reminded us to court our ideas but never marry them, which was a good thing because one of my ideas wound up cheating on me and running off with a pediatrist. I’m over it.
Creatives, like myself, always believe in what we create. That isn’t to say however, that what we create is always right, or that it’s the only idea that works. As important as presenting a concept with passion, is the ability to know when to give it up.
And here’s a tip, when an idea is right, everybody knows it! If you have to try too hard to sell the idea, it may not be a matter of ‘them’ not getting it. It may just be that the idea doesn’t work, period. Exhibit A: Green ketchup.
While working in radio in the 1990’s, I worked with a writer who would call a client with a script idea and what followed was a theatrical, over-the-phone performance worthy of an Oscar. He would mimic sound effects and do all the character voices in a one-man-show worthy of paid admission. His passion and his energy were irresistible.
This dynamic applies to brainstorming sessions as well.
Brainstorming can be an intimidating process, even for the most creative people. The thought of throwing an idea out there to face a potential mauling by a room full of creative grizzlies can render silent even the loudest voices in the group.
So, got a great idea? Present it with passion and conviction. Be prepared to fight for it with the same passion and conviction. And always know when to quit.
Before signing off, a shout out to my kid. Congratulations sweetie. The good news is you won! The bad news is, in a few years I’ll be getting you to do all my pitches! Did I mention clients are scary?
She delivered a fantastic speech, but what was just as impressive as what she said, was the conviction and passion with which she said it.
I was reminded as I watched her, passion sells! And therein, lies a good lesson for all those in the business of pitching ideas. (you know who you are)
I’ve spent nearly thirty years pitching concepts to clients. I’ve pitched every type of client in every type of situation and two things I’ve noticed: 1. Clients are scary and 2. When you really believe in an idea and you show it, the energy is infectious.
I’ve seen many great ideas plummet faster than George Bush’s second term approval ratings’ as a result of a less than impassioned pitch. Creative ideas, being intangible as they are, are often difficult to visualize. In many cases, the confidence of the presenter is the only way to determine whether or not there is genuine confidence in the proposed direction. And when grasping the concept isn’t all that easy to do, sometimes it’s that confidence that wins the day.
Now, there is a converse to this, which is that creative people, in sinking their heart and soul into a creative idea, can at times become so attached to their own work they will fight for it long after the idea’s been read its last rites.
Years ago, I was sent by the company I worked for to a creative conference in San Francisco. During one of the sessions (yes, I did actually attend one or two of them in between trolly rides and far too much time spent at Fisherman’s Wharf - sorry if my old boss is reading this) a Creative Director from Chiat & Day, a leading US agency, reminded us to court our ideas but never marry them, which was a good thing because one of my ideas wound up cheating on me and running off with a pediatrist. I’m over it.
Creatives, like myself, always believe in what we create. That isn’t to say however, that what we create is always right, or that it’s the only idea that works. As important as presenting a concept with passion, is the ability to know when to give it up.
And here’s a tip, when an idea is right, everybody knows it! If you have to try too hard to sell the idea, it may not be a matter of ‘them’ not getting it. It may just be that the idea doesn’t work, period. Exhibit A: Green ketchup.
While working in radio in the 1990’s, I worked with a writer who would call a client with a script idea and what followed was a theatrical, over-the-phone performance worthy of an Oscar. He would mimic sound effects and do all the character voices in a one-man-show worthy of paid admission. His passion and his energy were irresistible.
This dynamic applies to brainstorming sessions as well.
Brainstorming can be an intimidating process, even for the most creative people. The thought of throwing an idea out there to face a potential mauling by a room full of creative grizzlies can render silent even the loudest voices in the group.
So, got a great idea? Present it with passion and conviction. Be prepared to fight for it with the same passion and conviction. And always know when to quit.
Before signing off, a shout out to my kid. Congratulations sweetie. The good news is you won! The bad news is, in a few years I’ll be getting you to do all my pitches! Did I mention clients are scary?
Music To My Ears!
Tuesday and Wednesday nights, my house is filled with intolerable wailing, piercing squeals and the occasional inappropriate gyration. I’m speaking, of course, of American Idol.
We watch with anticipation, fresh, innocent youngsters transformed into cocky, self absorbed superstars, one of them destined for fame, fortune and the Betty Ford clinic. Now that’s family entertainment.
I hate American Idol and it’s cavalcade of singers who leave me humming 1970’s Captain and Tennille songs for a week, unable to get the melodies out of my head. This week, the wannabees belted out Elvis Presley classics. I’ve spent the last three days working to Blue Suede Shoes playing over and over in my brain.
Such is the power of music and audio. And therein lies a useful tip for advertisers.
For advertisers using broadcast mediums, there are few things more powerful than a memorable jingle.
For years in Vancouver, I created advertising for companies like United Furniture Warehouse, Lens & Shutter, Speedy Auto Glass and Budget Brake & Muffler, all of whom were heavy broadcast advertisers. Jingles were an invaluable tool used to deliver their brand to the market.
Not all the jingles are hood. Then again, not all Elvis’s songs were good either, but he never complained.
A memorable jingle, used repeatedly over time, creates an indelible marker in our brain that never disappears. A few bars forces complete recall of the advertiser, in a powerful, influential way. Even if we don’t like the jingle, its ability to reside in the brain’s filing cabinet and be instantly recalled is incredible.
Buyology Inc. and Elias Arts, a sound identity company in New York, wired up 50 volunteers and measured their galvanic, pupil, and brainwave responses to sounds using the latest neuroscience-based research methods. Amazing was how many commercial brands over the past 20 years have made their way into the world’s 10 most powerful and addictive sounds, beating some of the most familiar and comforting sounds of nature.
Sound is such a powerful stimulus, in Las Vegas, when casinos experimented with removing sounds from their slot machines, the end result was a decline in revenues of 24%. Coincidentally, they tried the same thing with Wayne Newton, turning off his microphone during his concerts... ticket sales soared.
A good jingle can run several thousand dollars or more. But prorated, over the life of the jingle, which can be several years or even several decades, the cost is minimal. Companies like Budget Brake & Muffler, for example, have been using their jingle since the 1980’s.
Jingles can be as simple as a little “stinger”, like the electronic Intel signature sound, which, by the way, ranked number two on Buyology Inc.’s most addictive, memorable sounds of all time. Or they can be fully blown songs with verses and choruses, something, apparently, Eminem is still trying to figure out how to do.
For advertisers looking to create a jingle, there are several good jingle companies locally, ranging from one-person composers, to larger, fully equipped studios. Of course, you can look to larger markets like Vancouver or Toronto, but expect to spend a lot more money.
If you’re a broadcast advertiser, don’t under estimate the power of sound and the value of a great jingle.
Get a great tune into the consumer’s head, and it’s there forever! ... “Well it’s one for the money.. two for the show.. three to...”, sorry, what was I saying?
We watch with anticipation, fresh, innocent youngsters transformed into cocky, self absorbed superstars, one of them destined for fame, fortune and the Betty Ford clinic. Now that’s family entertainment.
I hate American Idol and it’s cavalcade of singers who leave me humming 1970’s Captain and Tennille songs for a week, unable to get the melodies out of my head. This week, the wannabees belted out Elvis Presley classics. I’ve spent the last three days working to Blue Suede Shoes playing over and over in my brain.
Such is the power of music and audio. And therein lies a useful tip for advertisers.
For advertisers using broadcast mediums, there are few things more powerful than a memorable jingle.
For years in Vancouver, I created advertising for companies like United Furniture Warehouse, Lens & Shutter, Speedy Auto Glass and Budget Brake & Muffler, all of whom were heavy broadcast advertisers. Jingles were an invaluable tool used to deliver their brand to the market.
Not all the jingles are hood. Then again, not all Elvis’s songs were good either, but he never complained.
A memorable jingle, used repeatedly over time, creates an indelible marker in our brain that never disappears. A few bars forces complete recall of the advertiser, in a powerful, influential way. Even if we don’t like the jingle, its ability to reside in the brain’s filing cabinet and be instantly recalled is incredible.
Buyology Inc. and Elias Arts, a sound identity company in New York, wired up 50 volunteers and measured their galvanic, pupil, and brainwave responses to sounds using the latest neuroscience-based research methods. Amazing was how many commercial brands over the past 20 years have made their way into the world’s 10 most powerful and addictive sounds, beating some of the most familiar and comforting sounds of nature.
Sound is such a powerful stimulus, in Las Vegas, when casinos experimented with removing sounds from their slot machines, the end result was a decline in revenues of 24%. Coincidentally, they tried the same thing with Wayne Newton, turning off his microphone during his concerts... ticket sales soared.
A good jingle can run several thousand dollars or more. But prorated, over the life of the jingle, which can be several years or even several decades, the cost is minimal. Companies like Budget Brake & Muffler, for example, have been using their jingle since the 1980’s.
Jingles can be as simple as a little “stinger”, like the electronic Intel signature sound, which, by the way, ranked number two on Buyology Inc.’s most addictive, memorable sounds of all time. Or they can be fully blown songs with verses and choruses, something, apparently, Eminem is still trying to figure out how to do.
For advertisers looking to create a jingle, there are several good jingle companies locally, ranging from one-person composers, to larger, fully equipped studios. Of course, you can look to larger markets like Vancouver or Toronto, but expect to spend a lot more money.
If you’re a broadcast advertiser, don’t under estimate the power of sound and the value of a great jingle.
Get a great tune into the consumer’s head, and it’s there forever! ... “Well it’s one for the money.. two for the show.. three to...”, sorry, what was I saying?
Medium Rare.
Recently I had lunch with a friend of mine who also happens to be my banker. I know he’ll be reading this, so I have to be nice. I don’t want my interest rates to go up.
After catching up on our personal lives, we began talking about marketing, mainly because talking about banking while I eat gives me indigestion.
Half way through his quesadilla, he stopped in mid bite and asked me which media works best.
It’s a question I get asked quite often by my clients, usually followed by, “I’ve tried ‘such and such’ media and it doesn’t work.”
Some weeks ago I wrote a column encouraging advertisers not to blame the media but instead question the message. In some ways, this is part two of that same topic.
While the message is critically important, understanding each media and how to use, is just as important.
Contrary to what many advertisers think, all mediums are not alike. But let me reassure you, they all work.
If newspaper advertising didn’t work, you wouldn’t be reading this column, because there would be no more newspapers published. If radio didn’t work, there would be no radio stations. If TV didn’t work, Survivor wouldn’t exist and Mark Burnett would be grilling burgers and asking drive thru customers if they’d like fries with that.
It all works; TV, radio, print, the Internet, busboards, billboards, magazines, map guides, even those little one page coffee readers in coffee shops everywhere that treat you to important trivial facts about women in Cleveland with cantaloupes growing out of their heads.
Where things tend to fall down is when advertisers make the assumption that every media is digested the same way by all consumers.
Take TV and newspapers, for example.
TV is an entertainment media, that is if you don’t include shows with Tori Spelling in them. It’s an escape, where viewers tune in to be stimulated and entertained. Even TV news is more entertainment than news. When a consumer is in entertainment mode, advertising needs to follow suit.
In contrast, newspapers are embraced for their news and information value. Readers want content (and that includes advertising) that is informative and current. Newspaper creative should therefore be developed with that in mind.
This can be extended even further to individual media outlets within the same media and the differences between them.
I remember years ago, working in radio, advertisers would often produce the same piece of creative to run on three different radio stations. With the same commercial running on a country station, a rock station and a news/talk station, advertisers would wonder why their ads weren’t as effective as they’d hoped.
What works on a twenty year-old heavy metal listener doesn’t necessarily work on a forty year-old academic listening to a program discussing the psychological ramifications of polyster on society.
Want to create an effective TV ad, it had better be entertaining and stimulating. Want a great newspaper campaign, make the message current and create urgency. Plan on spending some money in that little coffee shop one-pager? Keep it short and compelling... it doesn’t hurt to throw in the odd picture of a woman with a cantaloupe growing out of her head either. And if you’re running advertising on two or three local radio stations, consider developing different creative to appeal to each unique audience.
That’s this week’s tip. And if my banker is reading this, since I wrote my column about it, do you think I can submit my club sandwich as a business expense?
After catching up on our personal lives, we began talking about marketing, mainly because talking about banking while I eat gives me indigestion.
Half way through his quesadilla, he stopped in mid bite and asked me which media works best.
It’s a question I get asked quite often by my clients, usually followed by, “I’ve tried ‘such and such’ media and it doesn’t work.”
Some weeks ago I wrote a column encouraging advertisers not to blame the media but instead question the message. In some ways, this is part two of that same topic.
While the message is critically important, understanding each media and how to use, is just as important.
Contrary to what many advertisers think, all mediums are not alike. But let me reassure you, they all work.
If newspaper advertising didn’t work, you wouldn’t be reading this column, because there would be no more newspapers published. If radio didn’t work, there would be no radio stations. If TV didn’t work, Survivor wouldn’t exist and Mark Burnett would be grilling burgers and asking drive thru customers if they’d like fries with that.
It all works; TV, radio, print, the Internet, busboards, billboards, magazines, map guides, even those little one page coffee readers in coffee shops everywhere that treat you to important trivial facts about women in Cleveland with cantaloupes growing out of their heads.
Where things tend to fall down is when advertisers make the assumption that every media is digested the same way by all consumers.
Take TV and newspapers, for example.
TV is an entertainment media, that is if you don’t include shows with Tori Spelling in them. It’s an escape, where viewers tune in to be stimulated and entertained. Even TV news is more entertainment than news. When a consumer is in entertainment mode, advertising needs to follow suit.
In contrast, newspapers are embraced for their news and information value. Readers want content (and that includes advertising) that is informative and current. Newspaper creative should therefore be developed with that in mind.
This can be extended even further to individual media outlets within the same media and the differences between them.
I remember years ago, working in radio, advertisers would often produce the same piece of creative to run on three different radio stations. With the same commercial running on a country station, a rock station and a news/talk station, advertisers would wonder why their ads weren’t as effective as they’d hoped.
What works on a twenty year-old heavy metal listener doesn’t necessarily work on a forty year-old academic listening to a program discussing the psychological ramifications of polyster on society.
Want to create an effective TV ad, it had better be entertaining and stimulating. Want a great newspaper campaign, make the message current and create urgency. Plan on spending some money in that little coffee shop one-pager? Keep it short and compelling... it doesn’t hurt to throw in the odd picture of a woman with a cantaloupe growing out of her head either. And if you’re running advertising on two or three local radio stations, consider developing different creative to appeal to each unique audience.
That’s this week’s tip. And if my banker is reading this, since I wrote my column about it, do you think I can submit my club sandwich as a business expense?
Slap This!
I cleaned up my storage room recently. The reason, of course, was to make room for... more storage.
I’ve come to realize my home has become an expensive storage locker, packed to the brim with old camping supplies, personal documents dating back to 1873, food dehydrators and the occasional, dusty Ab-Master thrown in for good measure. This weekend we’ll be drawing straws to determine which one of us will now have to move into our backyard.
Here’s an observation. No matter what item you choose to store in the most hard to get at place, you can be certain it will be the first thing you need once you get everything packed tightly away.
I’m no stranger to fitting a lot of stuff into a small space, after all I ran a radio station Creative Department for many years, writing thousands of commercials that had to fit into thirty-second time slots.
Unlike the valuable tools they really are, unfortunately, many advertisers see broadcast commercials and print ads like marketing storage lockers. In an effort to utilize the space they’ve purchased to the fullest, they cram everything they can into their commercial real estate.
Any fans of Celebrity Apprentice will have seen this result in the downfall of Team Tenacity last Sunday night. Those who aren’t fans of Celebrity Apprentice can clip that last reference out and store it away somewhere.
Rule number one in advertising, less is more. (a saying I particularly like, by the way)
I’ve seen it happen many times in print advertising, where the game is often to fill every last ounce of space with information.
Client: “We’ve booked a postage stamp sized ad for this weekend’s paper.”
Me: “Great, what are we putting in it?”
Client: “The first three chapters of War and Peace.”
Me: “There’s not enough room for that!”
Client: “Fine, leave out the table of contents.”
I think using colour in print advertising is a great idea, but I’ve seen colour in print ads handled much the same way as space. Advertisers pay extra for colour, and darn it, they want to use that colour! The next thing you see is a print ad with so many colours plastered all over the place, it looks like Walt Disney threw up on the printing press.
We’ve all been in our cars, driving, when suddenly the radio station goes dead. What’s the first thing you do? You pay attention. You notice the dead air. The same way you notice the ”white space” in the newspaper.
Consumers respond to a message that is clear, concise and easy to understand. Thirty-second radio rants that come out sounding like the Chipmunks on steroids won’t get heard. Print ads that look more like business plans than advertising don’t get digested. The best ads are the ones that deliver a simple, often single message without clutter.
That means white space is our friend and silence really is golden. Sometimes what you take out of an ad is even more important than what you put in it.
Fill your ad to the brim with messages and I guarantee the most important one will wind up in a place where nobody can find it.
Which reminds me, time to sign off, I’ve got a Slap Chop to pack up!
I’ve come to realize my home has become an expensive storage locker, packed to the brim with old camping supplies, personal documents dating back to 1873, food dehydrators and the occasional, dusty Ab-Master thrown in for good measure. This weekend we’ll be drawing straws to determine which one of us will now have to move into our backyard.
Here’s an observation. No matter what item you choose to store in the most hard to get at place, you can be certain it will be the first thing you need once you get everything packed tightly away.
I’m no stranger to fitting a lot of stuff into a small space, after all I ran a radio station Creative Department for many years, writing thousands of commercials that had to fit into thirty-second time slots.
Unlike the valuable tools they really are, unfortunately, many advertisers see broadcast commercials and print ads like marketing storage lockers. In an effort to utilize the space they’ve purchased to the fullest, they cram everything they can into their commercial real estate.
Any fans of Celebrity Apprentice will have seen this result in the downfall of Team Tenacity last Sunday night. Those who aren’t fans of Celebrity Apprentice can clip that last reference out and store it away somewhere.
Rule number one in advertising, less is more. (a saying I particularly like, by the way)
I’ve seen it happen many times in print advertising, where the game is often to fill every last ounce of space with information.
Client: “We’ve booked a postage stamp sized ad for this weekend’s paper.”
Me: “Great, what are we putting in it?”
Client: “The first three chapters of War and Peace.”
Me: “There’s not enough room for that!”
Client: “Fine, leave out the table of contents.”
I think using colour in print advertising is a great idea, but I’ve seen colour in print ads handled much the same way as space. Advertisers pay extra for colour, and darn it, they want to use that colour! The next thing you see is a print ad with so many colours plastered all over the place, it looks like Walt Disney threw up on the printing press.
We’ve all been in our cars, driving, when suddenly the radio station goes dead. What’s the first thing you do? You pay attention. You notice the dead air. The same way you notice the ”white space” in the newspaper.
Consumers respond to a message that is clear, concise and easy to understand. Thirty-second radio rants that come out sounding like the Chipmunks on steroids won’t get heard. Print ads that look more like business plans than advertising don’t get digested. The best ads are the ones that deliver a simple, often single message without clutter.
That means white space is our friend and silence really is golden. Sometimes what you take out of an ad is even more important than what you put in it.
Fill your ad to the brim with messages and I guarantee the most important one will wind up in a place where nobody can find it.
Which reminds me, time to sign off, I’ve got a Slap Chop to pack up!
New Posts! Finally!
For those who, for whatever unknown and perverse reason, come here and read my posts, I apologize for not having updated the Blog in a while. I have now added new posts and am back on the blogosphere (which is probably spelled wrong), and I'll make an effort to be more diligent as far as refreshing these columns.
So read the latest posts and don't be afraid to leave a comment or two along the way!
So read the latest posts and don't be afraid to leave a comment or two along the way!
It's Classified!
I want to use this week’s column to personally thank Pierre Omidyar and Craig Newmark, founders of eBay and Craigslist respectively.
Thanks to Pierre and Craig, I now proudly own over a decade’s worth of stuff I probably don’t need.
I began using eBay in 1996, just socially at first, until I found myself injecting the online auction site directly into my arteries several times a day.
After years of therapy and retail shopping interventions, I weaned myself from eBay, just in time for Craig Newmark to slip me an unsuspecting Craigslist in 2006. Back I was again, hooked on looking for other people’s junk.
Thanks to eBay and Craigslist, even though I live in the Okanagan, I can now buy other people’s junk from all over the world. (The Swedes have some excellent junk by the way).
In all seriousness, both eBay and Craigslist are not only great sites for finding highly sought after stuff like Pinocchio shaped food dehydrators and Pamela Anderson, Tommy Lee commemorative divorce spoons but, believe it or not, they’re also great sites for studying marketing at a grass roots level.
Common mistakes in ‘amateur’ advertising can often be useful lessons easily adapted to the commercial marketplace.
In a recent exchange, for example, a Craigslist seller in Seattle responded to an offer on an item by telling me the offer was too low, because he knew what the item was worth. As it happens, sellers don’t dictate price, the market does.
Interestingly, what the market will pay for one item and not pay for another, despite which item may be more ‘valuable’, doesn’t always make sense. Often times it comes down to how you sell, not what you sell; and that’s the power of marketing.
Take the following two examples.
In the first, a liquid product is produced that is extremely rare and becoming rarer. It is available in only a few areas of the world. It requires enormous plants, machinery and skilled workers to create it, complex distribution channels to bring it to market and is only sold at specific retail outlets. This particular product is essential to maintaining our modern existence.
The second liquid product is quite literally available everywhere. It can be produced and packaged by virtually anyone with no major equipment, factories or skills required. Distributing it is simple and the product is widely available for sale at all kinds of retailers on every street corner, despite the fact that we can access the very same product for free whenever we want.
By these two definitions it would stand to reason that the first product would be far more valuable and demand a much higher price than the second.
As it happens, first product is gasoline. The second is bottled water.
While gasoline hovers at a dollar a liter, a penny or two increase in the price of gas can cause near riots on the streets, consumer boycotts and general disdain for the entire oil industry.
And yet, bottled water sells at a premium, in some cases for several times a liter more than gasoline, with few consumers ever complaining about the price or even bothering to pay attention to what they paid for their last bottle of evian.
The marketplace and how you sell into it is the same whether you’re Shell Oil flogging gasoline at the pumps or Fred Wimplemore pushing a 1965 Meccano set on eBay. In some cases, how you market will do more to create demand than what you market.
And for those of you who would like to treasure these words forever, you’ll be pleased to hear copies of this column are now available on Craigsliist... But, don’t bother trying to negotiate on the price, I know what these columns are worth!
Thanks to Pierre and Craig, I now proudly own over a decade’s worth of stuff I probably don’t need.
I began using eBay in 1996, just socially at first, until I found myself injecting the online auction site directly into my arteries several times a day.
After years of therapy and retail shopping interventions, I weaned myself from eBay, just in time for Craig Newmark to slip me an unsuspecting Craigslist in 2006. Back I was again, hooked on looking for other people’s junk.
Thanks to eBay and Craigslist, even though I live in the Okanagan, I can now buy other people’s junk from all over the world. (The Swedes have some excellent junk by the way).
In all seriousness, both eBay and Craigslist are not only great sites for finding highly sought after stuff like Pinocchio shaped food dehydrators and Pamela Anderson, Tommy Lee commemorative divorce spoons but, believe it or not, they’re also great sites for studying marketing at a grass roots level.
Common mistakes in ‘amateur’ advertising can often be useful lessons easily adapted to the commercial marketplace.
In a recent exchange, for example, a Craigslist seller in Seattle responded to an offer on an item by telling me the offer was too low, because he knew what the item was worth. As it happens, sellers don’t dictate price, the market does.
Interestingly, what the market will pay for one item and not pay for another, despite which item may be more ‘valuable’, doesn’t always make sense. Often times it comes down to how you sell, not what you sell; and that’s the power of marketing.
Take the following two examples.
In the first, a liquid product is produced that is extremely rare and becoming rarer. It is available in only a few areas of the world. It requires enormous plants, machinery and skilled workers to create it, complex distribution channels to bring it to market and is only sold at specific retail outlets. This particular product is essential to maintaining our modern existence.
The second liquid product is quite literally available everywhere. It can be produced and packaged by virtually anyone with no major equipment, factories or skills required. Distributing it is simple and the product is widely available for sale at all kinds of retailers on every street corner, despite the fact that we can access the very same product for free whenever we want.
By these two definitions it would stand to reason that the first product would be far more valuable and demand a much higher price than the second.
As it happens, first product is gasoline. The second is bottled water.
While gasoline hovers at a dollar a liter, a penny or two increase in the price of gas can cause near riots on the streets, consumer boycotts and general disdain for the entire oil industry.
And yet, bottled water sells at a premium, in some cases for several times a liter more than gasoline, with few consumers ever complaining about the price or even bothering to pay attention to what they paid for their last bottle of evian.
The marketplace and how you sell into it is the same whether you’re Shell Oil flogging gasoline at the pumps or Fred Wimplemore pushing a 1965 Meccano set on eBay. In some cases, how you market will do more to create demand than what you market.
And for those of you who would like to treasure these words forever, you’ll be pleased to hear copies of this column are now available on Craigsliist... But, don’t bother trying to negotiate on the price, I know what these columns are worth!
Advertising vs Art
How many advertising creative people does it take to change a light bulb? Two. One to change the bulb, the other to receive the award for it.
It always frustrates me that great advertising is often judged by industry accolades rather than the results it generates.
In the early ‘80s, while Creative Director at an advertising agency in Vancouver, I began working on a furniture store account with two locations. I won’t mention the name of the store to protect the innocent (and me).
The owner of the store repeatedly insisted on running the tackiest, low-priced commercials imaginable, and it was my mandate to produce them. Not exactly the glamour account I had yearned for.
I would constantly find myself in a group with someone who would insist on pointing out that I was the person behind the account’s terrible ads. Never hang out with your Mother.
Sure enough, at the mere mention of these ads, everyone in the group would pull I-just-swallowed-a-pitcher-full-of-sour-milk faces, and I’d wind up wearing a wig, false nose and dark sunglasses for a month in an effort to avoid being recognized.
Month after month, year after year, despite my opposition, the advertiser would insist on producing these horrible commercials. I was certain he was making an enormous mistake!
I worked with the account for seven years before leaving Vancouver, by which time, the furniture company had grown to over one hundred and fifty stores across the country and was on the road to becoming the largest and most successful discount furniture chain in Canada.
I left Vancouver having learned a very valuable lesson about advertising. Advertising is not art. That, and never leave your car parked at the Metrotown Mall and forget which entrance you used.
Art is something that is created purely to be admired. It is passive and serves only to appeal to the audience.
Advertising is assertive. Advertising is intended to do something; to evoke a response. It must generate consumer interest.
What my furniture store client understood, that I didn’t at the time, was that he was targeting people looking for cheap furniture. Consumers, the ones looking for cheap furniture, would see his cheap commercials, hate them, but say to themselves “I hate those commercials, but their prices must be low. I should check that store out!” And they did, in droves.
My tip to advertising creative types is spend less time re-working your acceptance speech for the award you hope to win with your next campaign, and focus more time on how to create a campaign that generates results.
People continually recite to me ‘great’ commercials they’ve seen, only to wind up staring blankly at the ceiling when asked who the ad was for.
I know this look because it’s the one I give my wife when she asks me if took the garbage out.
The same people will come to me criticizing a commercial they despise. Two days later, I’ll bump into them at that advertiser’s store.
And my tip to advertisers this week, is to look for creative people to create your advertising who don’t allow ego to influence their judgment. Seek advertising creators who strive to produce results, not simply awards. Every now and then you’ll run into one of these people. Look for them.
They’ll be the ones wearing wigs, false noses and dark sunglasses, be gentle on them.
It always frustrates me that great advertising is often judged by industry accolades rather than the results it generates.
In the early ‘80s, while Creative Director at an advertising agency in Vancouver, I began working on a furniture store account with two locations. I won’t mention the name of the store to protect the innocent (and me).
The owner of the store repeatedly insisted on running the tackiest, low-priced commercials imaginable, and it was my mandate to produce them. Not exactly the glamour account I had yearned for.
I would constantly find myself in a group with someone who would insist on pointing out that I was the person behind the account’s terrible ads. Never hang out with your Mother.
Sure enough, at the mere mention of these ads, everyone in the group would pull I-just-swallowed-a-pitcher-full-of-sour-milk faces, and I’d wind up wearing a wig, false nose and dark sunglasses for a month in an effort to avoid being recognized.
Month after month, year after year, despite my opposition, the advertiser would insist on producing these horrible commercials. I was certain he was making an enormous mistake!
I worked with the account for seven years before leaving Vancouver, by which time, the furniture company had grown to over one hundred and fifty stores across the country and was on the road to becoming the largest and most successful discount furniture chain in Canada.
I left Vancouver having learned a very valuable lesson about advertising. Advertising is not art. That, and never leave your car parked at the Metrotown Mall and forget which entrance you used.
Art is something that is created purely to be admired. It is passive and serves only to appeal to the audience.
Advertising is assertive. Advertising is intended to do something; to evoke a response. It must generate consumer interest.
What my furniture store client understood, that I didn’t at the time, was that he was targeting people looking for cheap furniture. Consumers, the ones looking for cheap furniture, would see his cheap commercials, hate them, but say to themselves “I hate those commercials, but their prices must be low. I should check that store out!” And they did, in droves.
My tip to advertising creative types is spend less time re-working your acceptance speech for the award you hope to win with your next campaign, and focus more time on how to create a campaign that generates results.
People continually recite to me ‘great’ commercials they’ve seen, only to wind up staring blankly at the ceiling when asked who the ad was for.
I know this look because it’s the one I give my wife when she asks me if took the garbage out.
The same people will come to me criticizing a commercial they despise. Two days later, I’ll bump into them at that advertiser’s store.
And my tip to advertisers this week, is to look for creative people to create your advertising who don’t allow ego to influence their judgment. Seek advertising creators who strive to produce results, not simply awards. Every now and then you’ll run into one of these people. Look for them.
They’ll be the ones wearing wigs, false noses and dark sunglasses, be gentle on them.
My Bestest Post Yet
Never try to use adult logic to win a debate with a 12 year old. I discovered that this week, while driving my daughter to her friend’s house.
Our conversation started with a simple question.
“Honey, which one of your friends is your best friend?”
My daughter rattled off several names, to which I responded, “But which one is your best friend?”
“Dad, they’re all my best friends.”
I explained, using the full might of my adult logic, that you can only have one best friend. My daughter, clearly not willing to concede to her older, wiser, pocket-money bearing Father corrected me.
“No, you can have lots of best friends.”
I won’t bore you with the rest of the conversation, though it went something like:
“No you can’t”
“Yes you can.”
“No you can’t”
“Yes you can.”
“No you can’t”
“Yes you can...”
Coming away from that conversation, I learned two things. My daughter can be extremely frustrating in a debate and, what we believe is reality is skewed by our own perceptions.
In marketing, perception is everything. This isn’t to say that advertisers shouldn’t be truthful, but sometimes truth itself is a matter of perception.
Years ago, during a rather unfortunate period in the airline industry, when airplanes that are supposed to stay up in the sky, didn’t, and didn’t at an alarming rate, airlines scrambled to do damage control. Some re-painted their airplanes. Others switched from in-flight peanuts to cashews. One even began playing Burt Reynolds movies during flights. They went out of business almost immediately.
But one airline did something very clever. They ran an ad campaign featuring a very simple TV commercial.
In the commercial, a long list of airplane parts scrolled across a black screen. An announcer narration re-assured viewers that this particular airline really cared about it’s passengers. So much so, the airline replaced every one of the parts listed, on every one of the airline’s aircraft, after every so many thousand miles flown. The commercial ended with the announcer reiterating the message, emphasizing that the airline ‘really cared’ about its passengers!
The commercial made a lot of people want to fly with the airline, realizing they were safer on the airline’s airplanes than on the ground where other airlines’ airplanes could fall on them.
The airline’s sales skyrocketed.
On the surface of it, it was a good ad from a company that went the extra mile for its customers. At least, that was the perception.
While it was true this particular airline did, in fact, replace every one of the parts listed after the amount of miles flown, as suggested, the ad failed to point out one important fact; The list of parts used in the ad was taken directly from the FAA regulations, requiring all aircraft to replace all these parts after the amount of miles specified in the commercial.
That’s right, every airline was doing exactly the same thing, as required by the FAA. But one airline said so, giving the impression it was doing more than the competition. Everything the airline said it was doing was true, and never did it actually say it was the only airline doing it.
Marketing is a business of perception, but not deception. As a consumer, what you believe is your reality. Facts count, but interpretation of those facts often counts more.
That’s this week’s column. If you agree with this column, feel free to drop me a line. If, on the other hand, you disagree with anything I’ve written, take it up with my daughter. Good luck with that.
Our conversation started with a simple question.
“Honey, which one of your friends is your best friend?”
My daughter rattled off several names, to which I responded, “But which one is your best friend?”
“Dad, they’re all my best friends.”
I explained, using the full might of my adult logic, that you can only have one best friend. My daughter, clearly not willing to concede to her older, wiser, pocket-money bearing Father corrected me.
“No, you can have lots of best friends.”
I won’t bore you with the rest of the conversation, though it went something like:
“No you can’t”
“Yes you can.”
“No you can’t”
“Yes you can.”
“No you can’t”
“Yes you can...”
Coming away from that conversation, I learned two things. My daughter can be extremely frustrating in a debate and, what we believe is reality is skewed by our own perceptions.
In marketing, perception is everything. This isn’t to say that advertisers shouldn’t be truthful, but sometimes truth itself is a matter of perception.
Years ago, during a rather unfortunate period in the airline industry, when airplanes that are supposed to stay up in the sky, didn’t, and didn’t at an alarming rate, airlines scrambled to do damage control. Some re-painted their airplanes. Others switched from in-flight peanuts to cashews. One even began playing Burt Reynolds movies during flights. They went out of business almost immediately.
But one airline did something very clever. They ran an ad campaign featuring a very simple TV commercial.
In the commercial, a long list of airplane parts scrolled across a black screen. An announcer narration re-assured viewers that this particular airline really cared about it’s passengers. So much so, the airline replaced every one of the parts listed, on every one of the airline’s aircraft, after every so many thousand miles flown. The commercial ended with the announcer reiterating the message, emphasizing that the airline ‘really cared’ about its passengers!
The commercial made a lot of people want to fly with the airline, realizing they were safer on the airline’s airplanes than on the ground where other airlines’ airplanes could fall on them.
The airline’s sales skyrocketed.
On the surface of it, it was a good ad from a company that went the extra mile for its customers. At least, that was the perception.
While it was true this particular airline did, in fact, replace every one of the parts listed after the amount of miles flown, as suggested, the ad failed to point out one important fact; The list of parts used in the ad was taken directly from the FAA regulations, requiring all aircraft to replace all these parts after the amount of miles specified in the commercial.
That’s right, every airline was doing exactly the same thing, as required by the FAA. But one airline said so, giving the impression it was doing more than the competition. Everything the airline said it was doing was true, and never did it actually say it was the only airline doing it.
Marketing is a business of perception, but not deception. As a consumer, what you believe is your reality. Facts count, but interpretation of those facts often counts more.
That’s this week’s column. If you agree with this column, feel free to drop me a line. If, on the other hand, you disagree with anything I’ve written, take it up with my daughter. Good luck with that.
Brain Drain.
Ever notice that the extent to which someone can’t remember the name of a particular song is directly proportionate to their inability to carry a tune when trying to get others around them to help.
This happened to a friend of mine recently. It was driving him crazy that he couldn’t remember the name of a particular tune. I asked how the song went and he offered to hum a few bars. What he hummed, however, sounded more like the wails of a small animal with its head stuck between two railings than a popular song.
Needless to say, his efforts to seek help failed.
Two days later, long after he had forgotten about the song, he called to say he’d been out running errands and sure enough, out of the blue, the name of this song, Sweet Gypsy Rose, just popped into his head.
Which raises a couple of interesting questions.
1. Why would anyone want to remember a 1970’s Tony Orlando song?
2. Why is it that when we strain our brains to think of something, the answer can be so elusive. Yet later, when we’re not thinking about it at all, the answer just seems to show up out of nowhere.
Question one was a trick question of course, nobody really wants to remember Tony Orlando songs.
As for question 2, the brain is like one of those annoying technicians you take your computer to for repairs. They tell you to leave it with them while they disappear into a darkened cave somewhere to do their magic.
The brain is a loner. It operates on its own time and doesn’t like you interfering in the process.
I’ve worked in an industry for nearly three decades where coming up with new and creative ideas lies at the heart of every workday. But I’ve learned that sometimes the best way to think up a new idea is to not think up a new idea.
I give my brain the challenge, then walk away and leave it to do its thing. When it’s ready, it nudges me on the shoulder and hands me something creative for which I take all the credit. In return I give my brain three weeks paid vacation a year and a hefty expense account.
As a Creative Director, I would give my creative staff briefs, condensed documents outlining the details of a client’s campaign. I would tell the staff to read their briefs then put them away and forget about them for a day.
Sure enough they’d return the next day, pick up the brief and a great idea would suddenly appear, like magic, and I’d look like David Copperfield.
The truth is, the mind continues to work even when we don’t ask it to. While we eat, while we watch TV, even while we sleep, the brain is processing information, randomly drawing from its vast database of memories, experiences and knowledge tgo solve complex creative challenges.
So yes, creativity is very much a process, but not always one we can control.
Need a brilliant creative idea for your next campaign or promotion? Send the details to the brain then walk away for a while. You might be surprised how, when you least expect it, a moment of genius appears. Trust me, it’s not magic, it’s just the creative process at work.
In fact, I think there’s an old song about that... oh what’s it called? It goes something like... Never mind.
This happened to a friend of mine recently. It was driving him crazy that he couldn’t remember the name of a particular tune. I asked how the song went and he offered to hum a few bars. What he hummed, however, sounded more like the wails of a small animal with its head stuck between two railings than a popular song.
Needless to say, his efforts to seek help failed.
Two days later, long after he had forgotten about the song, he called to say he’d been out running errands and sure enough, out of the blue, the name of this song, Sweet Gypsy Rose, just popped into his head.
Which raises a couple of interesting questions.
1. Why would anyone want to remember a 1970’s Tony Orlando song?
2. Why is it that when we strain our brains to think of something, the answer can be so elusive. Yet later, when we’re not thinking about it at all, the answer just seems to show up out of nowhere.
Question one was a trick question of course, nobody really wants to remember Tony Orlando songs.
As for question 2, the brain is like one of those annoying technicians you take your computer to for repairs. They tell you to leave it with them while they disappear into a darkened cave somewhere to do their magic.
The brain is a loner. It operates on its own time and doesn’t like you interfering in the process.
I’ve worked in an industry for nearly three decades where coming up with new and creative ideas lies at the heart of every workday. But I’ve learned that sometimes the best way to think up a new idea is to not think up a new idea.
I give my brain the challenge, then walk away and leave it to do its thing. When it’s ready, it nudges me on the shoulder and hands me something creative for which I take all the credit. In return I give my brain three weeks paid vacation a year and a hefty expense account.
As a Creative Director, I would give my creative staff briefs, condensed documents outlining the details of a client’s campaign. I would tell the staff to read their briefs then put them away and forget about them for a day.
Sure enough they’d return the next day, pick up the brief and a great idea would suddenly appear, like magic, and I’d look like David Copperfield.
The truth is, the mind continues to work even when we don’t ask it to. While we eat, while we watch TV, even while we sleep, the brain is processing information, randomly drawing from its vast database of memories, experiences and knowledge tgo solve complex creative challenges.
So yes, creativity is very much a process, but not always one we can control.
Need a brilliant creative idea for your next campaign or promotion? Send the details to the brain then walk away for a while. You might be surprised how, when you least expect it, a moment of genius appears. Trust me, it’s not magic, it’s just the creative process at work.
In fact, I think there’s an old song about that... oh what’s it called? It goes something like... Never mind.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
It's A Woman's World!
I told my wife that this week’s column was about a muscular black man, sitting on a white horse wearing nothing but a towel... By the time you read this, my wife will have purchased seven hundred copies of this newspaper.
Seriously though, I want to take a moment to applaud the latest Old Spice commercial from south of the border, courtesy of advertising firm Wieden & Kennedy.
The commercial features a handsome, muscle-clad spokesman, dressed in a bath towel who, in one continuous camera shot, goes from standing in a shower to walking on a boat to sitting on a horse. The spokesman proudly reminds us that while our ‘man’ may not actually be the spokesman, our ‘man’ could at least smell like the spokesman, if he used Old Spice after shave.
One problem. I don’t have a ‘man’. My wife does though.
Wait a minute! Is it possible that Wieden & Kennedy are actually selling a man’s after shave by targeting women?
That’s crazy! But then again, in a world where Kate Gosselin can be featured as a Celebrity on ‘Dancing With the Stars’, anything’s possible.
Actually, there is method to Wieden & Kennedy’s madness.
A recent study conducted in the United States suggests that women are the key decision makers for 81% of all purchases. Another study conducted here in Canada suggests women are responsible for up to 90% of all purchases.
What does this mean?
That men have it 9% better in the United States.
It also means that advertisers need to wake up and recognize it’s a woman’s world when it comes to buying products and services, even the turbo powered, body-odoured, beer-swilling, guy ones.
What Wieden & Kennedy recognize is that, while men may conduct many of the transactions, it’s actually women who have the greatest influence over purchasing decisions, even the purchasing of their ‘man’s’ after shave.
So, Mr. 18 Volt Lithium Powered, Hi Torque Impact Driver Sales Guy, how do you advertise to women? First off, it helps to understand some of the basic scientific differences between men and women.
For example, scientific studies prove women can read facial expressions and body language better than men.
The same studies show the corpus callosum fibres connecting the left and right sides of the brain are more developed in women, contributing to a women’s heightened sense of intuition. Some believe this means women are more responsive to contextual and intuitive marketing than men.
A University of Wisconsin survey concluded that women collect and retain 70% more detail than men.
What does it all mean?
It means that those 1950s commercials depicting women as naive homemakers, caring more about their spaghetti sauce than their finances, may have worked fifty years ago. Today, however, women play a different role. Partly because they are smarter, more independent, and ambitious. Partly because they’ve perfected the art of making spaghetti sauce.
Today’s women have university degrees, control household finances, have successful careers, and have even learned how to run the TV remote control. Maybe they haven’t figured out how to watch seven shows at once, but it’s only a matter of time!
In the end, when it comes to marketing, it’s a women’s world. The winner of the marketing battle is the advertiser who competes on the woman’s side of the battlefield, even if the battle is selling to men.
Win the women, win the war. Just ask my wife... That is, just as soon as she gets back from the store with my new bottle of Old Spice.
Seriously though, I want to take a moment to applaud the latest Old Spice commercial from south of the border, courtesy of advertising firm Wieden & Kennedy.
The commercial features a handsome, muscle-clad spokesman, dressed in a bath towel who, in one continuous camera shot, goes from standing in a shower to walking on a boat to sitting on a horse. The spokesman proudly reminds us that while our ‘man’ may not actually be the spokesman, our ‘man’ could at least smell like the spokesman, if he used Old Spice after shave.
One problem. I don’t have a ‘man’. My wife does though.
Wait a minute! Is it possible that Wieden & Kennedy are actually selling a man’s after shave by targeting women?
That’s crazy! But then again, in a world where Kate Gosselin can be featured as a Celebrity on ‘Dancing With the Stars’, anything’s possible.
Actually, there is method to Wieden & Kennedy’s madness.
A recent study conducted in the United States suggests that women are the key decision makers for 81% of all purchases. Another study conducted here in Canada suggests women are responsible for up to 90% of all purchases.
What does this mean?
That men have it 9% better in the United States.
It also means that advertisers need to wake up and recognize it’s a woman’s world when it comes to buying products and services, even the turbo powered, body-odoured, beer-swilling, guy ones.
What Wieden & Kennedy recognize is that, while men may conduct many of the transactions, it’s actually women who have the greatest influence over purchasing decisions, even the purchasing of their ‘man’s’ after shave.
So, Mr. 18 Volt Lithium Powered, Hi Torque Impact Driver Sales Guy, how do you advertise to women? First off, it helps to understand some of the basic scientific differences between men and women.
For example, scientific studies prove women can read facial expressions and body language better than men.
The same studies show the corpus callosum fibres connecting the left and right sides of the brain are more developed in women, contributing to a women’s heightened sense of intuition. Some believe this means women are more responsive to contextual and intuitive marketing than men.
A University of Wisconsin survey concluded that women collect and retain 70% more detail than men.
What does it all mean?
It means that those 1950s commercials depicting women as naive homemakers, caring more about their spaghetti sauce than their finances, may have worked fifty years ago. Today, however, women play a different role. Partly because they are smarter, more independent, and ambitious. Partly because they’ve perfected the art of making spaghetti sauce.
Today’s women have university degrees, control household finances, have successful careers, and have even learned how to run the TV remote control. Maybe they haven’t figured out how to watch seven shows at once, but it’s only a matter of time!
In the end, when it comes to marketing, it’s a women’s world. The winner of the marketing battle is the advertiser who competes on the woman’s side of the battlefield, even if the battle is selling to men.
Win the women, win the war. Just ask my wife... That is, just as soon as she gets back from the store with my new bottle of Old Spice.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Just say “No!”
Ah Spring is almost upon us.
Every Spring, my family participates in an annual event we call ‘Clean Sweep’, a two week festival of Spring house cleaning, culminating in a ceremony known as ‘The Cleaning Out of the Wardrobes’.
‘The Cleaning Out of the Wardrobes’ requires the entire family to dress in floral headgear and perform a ritualistic dance while disposing of virtually every article of clothing we own. The ceremony ends with a drive to the mall to replace the discarded clothes with new clothes, so that we may have something to dispose of at next year’s ceremony.
Following a massive clothing purge last Spring, we all ventured over the bridge to one of the big department stores in town.
After shopping for a while, I began scouring a shelf for a particular shirt in my size. Unable to find it, I looked for help.
I spotted two sales clerks, hiding just a few yards away in men’s underwear. I approached cautiously, careful not to startle them or interrupt their conversation about tongue piercings. But as soon as they saw me, both clerks bolted.
Like a gazelle, one leapt over several racks of clothing escaping into sporting goods. The other, the smaller and weaker of the two, wasn’t as lucky.
Attempting to sprint across to housewares, she found herself cornered and forced to assist me. She did so with the enthusiasm of a child visiting the dentist for a root canal.
Gesturing to the shirt, I asked whether one was available in an extra-large.
“No!” she snapped back, having memorized all three hundred and fifty-seven thousand items in the store’s inventory.
When asked if one might be available somewhere in ‘the back’, the place I’ve come to recognize as a forbidden haven reserved for sales clerks fleeing customers, she snapped me another “No!”, quickly sliding beneath the trouser rack and disappearing into cosmetics.
Welcome to the 21st century shopping experience.
While business owners scan spreadsheets, devising new ways to improve bottom lines, the art of serving the customer is being ignored.
‘Customer satisfaction’ has become the gold standard to which retailers aspire. Some even have an ‘index’ for rating customer satisfaction.
Customer ‘satisfaction’? Seriously?
‘Satisfaction’ is a minimum requirement for doing business. After all, what’s the alternative? Customer dissatisfaction?
Today’s mainstream business culture has become one of mediocrity, where achieving the bare minimum is celebrated and rewarded. As long as the clerk in the clothing store doesn’t follow me to the parking lot and set fire to my car, I should applaud my shopping experience.
Here’s a tip for business owners, forget customer ‘satisfaction’. Strive to thrill your customers with service that exceeds expectation.
Train staff to understand their importance in the sales process. Give them autonomy to make decisions and resolve customer concerns immediately. By default, I’m an advertising advocate, but instead of focusing entirely on your print layouts and radio scripts, invest as much effort in the end of the sales process as the start of it.
My tip this week is to read a book called “Raving Fans” by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles. This book should be mandatory reading for any retail business owner, and his or her staff. I highly suggest you look for a copy at your local book store. If you can’t find one, ask a sales clerk for help.
Just be sure to block their escape routes first.
Every Spring, my family participates in an annual event we call ‘Clean Sweep’, a two week festival of Spring house cleaning, culminating in a ceremony known as ‘The Cleaning Out of the Wardrobes’.
‘The Cleaning Out of the Wardrobes’ requires the entire family to dress in floral headgear and perform a ritualistic dance while disposing of virtually every article of clothing we own. The ceremony ends with a drive to the mall to replace the discarded clothes with new clothes, so that we may have something to dispose of at next year’s ceremony.
Following a massive clothing purge last Spring, we all ventured over the bridge to one of the big department stores in town.
After shopping for a while, I began scouring a shelf for a particular shirt in my size. Unable to find it, I looked for help.
I spotted two sales clerks, hiding just a few yards away in men’s underwear. I approached cautiously, careful not to startle them or interrupt their conversation about tongue piercings. But as soon as they saw me, both clerks bolted.
Like a gazelle, one leapt over several racks of clothing escaping into sporting goods. The other, the smaller and weaker of the two, wasn’t as lucky.
Attempting to sprint across to housewares, she found herself cornered and forced to assist me. She did so with the enthusiasm of a child visiting the dentist for a root canal.
Gesturing to the shirt, I asked whether one was available in an extra-large.
“No!” she snapped back, having memorized all three hundred and fifty-seven thousand items in the store’s inventory.
When asked if one might be available somewhere in ‘the back’, the place I’ve come to recognize as a forbidden haven reserved for sales clerks fleeing customers, she snapped me another “No!”, quickly sliding beneath the trouser rack and disappearing into cosmetics.
Welcome to the 21st century shopping experience.
While business owners scan spreadsheets, devising new ways to improve bottom lines, the art of serving the customer is being ignored.
‘Customer satisfaction’ has become the gold standard to which retailers aspire. Some even have an ‘index’ for rating customer satisfaction.
Customer ‘satisfaction’? Seriously?
‘Satisfaction’ is a minimum requirement for doing business. After all, what’s the alternative? Customer dissatisfaction?
Today’s mainstream business culture has become one of mediocrity, where achieving the bare minimum is celebrated and rewarded. As long as the clerk in the clothing store doesn’t follow me to the parking lot and set fire to my car, I should applaud my shopping experience.
Here’s a tip for business owners, forget customer ‘satisfaction’. Strive to thrill your customers with service that exceeds expectation.
Train staff to understand their importance in the sales process. Give them autonomy to make decisions and resolve customer concerns immediately. By default, I’m an advertising advocate, but instead of focusing entirely on your print layouts and radio scripts, invest as much effort in the end of the sales process as the start of it.
My tip this week is to read a book called “Raving Fans” by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles. This book should be mandatory reading for any retail business owner, and his or her staff. I highly suggest you look for a copy at your local book store. If you can’t find one, ask a sales clerk for help.
Just be sure to block their escape routes first.
The Rule of Three
I just came back from a meeting with a client who asked whether or not I could guarantee his new ad campaign would be successful.
There are two ways to answer this question.
The first is to defer.
“Can I guarantee your campaign will be successful? Well, let me put it this way... Oh, is that a photo of your daughter? She’s adorable. Oh, that’s your dalmation? My apologies.”
The other, is to answer the question honestly.
“Can I guarantee your campaign will be successful? No... Oh, is that a photo of your daughter? She’s adorable. Oh, that’s your dalmation? My apologies.”
There are no guarantees in advertising. If there were, the keyholder to the great secrets of producing non-stop, successful advertising would be a multi-gazillionaire and the rest of us marketers would be taking orders for french fries at the local drive-thru.
Advertising is a complex business, where the creation of the product relies on a combination of knowledge, science, experience, art, research, intuition and caffeine. (and sometimes Scotch).
While there are no steadfast rules or sure-fire guarantees in advertising, there are proven tactics to help give your advertising the best possible shot at success.
One of these I call The Rule of Three. Here’s how it works.
Every successful ad should include three things. First, it should have something that makes it stand out from all the rest.
I find a flamingo costume and a foghorn are always effective, but enough about my hobbies, let’s continue on.
Second, an effective ad must have an offer or message that is perceptually equal to or better than the competitor’s.
‘Perceptually’ is the key word here.
Years ago, Vancouver’s Dean Brothers Collision Repair was battling for business in a highly competitive market. At the time, all repair companies offered verbal guarantees to cover their work, though not one promoted the fact.
At the time, our agency handled Dean Brothers, and we came up with the idea of producing a printed version of Dean Brothers’ guarantee and promoting it in their advertising.
While they weren’t alone offering a guarantee, by being the only shop to promote one, Dean Brothers were ‘perceived’ as the only shop in the Lower Mainland to guarantee their work. The campaign was hugely successful and I was treated to all the free frame alignment I could eat.
The third part of The Rule of Three is to ensure that whatever makes an ad stand out also forces recall of the message and the advertiser.
We’ve all, at one time or another, raved about a great TV commercial we’ve seen, only to realize that when reciting it to someone else, we can’t remember who the ad was for.
By tying in the ad’s hook, or creative element directly to the offer and the advertiser, you maximize your advertising dollars and ensure you don’t find yourself spending money on advertising that consumers end up attributing to your competition.
That’s The Rule of Three.
It’s a great guideline to use. Can I guarantee it will work every time? Well, let me put it this way... Oh, is that a photo of your daughter?...
There are two ways to answer this question.
The first is to defer.
“Can I guarantee your campaign will be successful? Well, let me put it this way... Oh, is that a photo of your daughter? She’s adorable. Oh, that’s your dalmation? My apologies.”
The other, is to answer the question honestly.
“Can I guarantee your campaign will be successful? No... Oh, is that a photo of your daughter? She’s adorable. Oh, that’s your dalmation? My apologies.”
There are no guarantees in advertising. If there were, the keyholder to the great secrets of producing non-stop, successful advertising would be a multi-gazillionaire and the rest of us marketers would be taking orders for french fries at the local drive-thru.
Advertising is a complex business, where the creation of the product relies on a combination of knowledge, science, experience, art, research, intuition and caffeine. (and sometimes Scotch).
While there are no steadfast rules or sure-fire guarantees in advertising, there are proven tactics to help give your advertising the best possible shot at success.
One of these I call The Rule of Three. Here’s how it works.
Every successful ad should include three things. First, it should have something that makes it stand out from all the rest.
I find a flamingo costume and a foghorn are always effective, but enough about my hobbies, let’s continue on.
Second, an effective ad must have an offer or message that is perceptually equal to or better than the competitor’s.
‘Perceptually’ is the key word here.
Years ago, Vancouver’s Dean Brothers Collision Repair was battling for business in a highly competitive market. At the time, all repair companies offered verbal guarantees to cover their work, though not one promoted the fact.
At the time, our agency handled Dean Brothers, and we came up with the idea of producing a printed version of Dean Brothers’ guarantee and promoting it in their advertising.
While they weren’t alone offering a guarantee, by being the only shop to promote one, Dean Brothers were ‘perceived’ as the only shop in the Lower Mainland to guarantee their work. The campaign was hugely successful and I was treated to all the free frame alignment I could eat.
The third part of The Rule of Three is to ensure that whatever makes an ad stand out also forces recall of the message and the advertiser.
We’ve all, at one time or another, raved about a great TV commercial we’ve seen, only to realize that when reciting it to someone else, we can’t remember who the ad was for.
By tying in the ad’s hook, or creative element directly to the offer and the advertiser, you maximize your advertising dollars and ensure you don’t find yourself spending money on advertising that consumers end up attributing to your competition.
That’s The Rule of Three.
It’s a great guideline to use. Can I guarantee it will work every time? Well, let me put it this way... Oh, is that a photo of your daughter?...
True Patriot Love
Last Sunday, Canada finally introduced its brand to the world. I couldn’t be happier, after all, I do own part of it.
As a teenager, I grew up in London, England where I attended an American International School for a number of years. As a Canadian growing up with Americans in England, all I can say is it’s a good thing we traveled with our own therapist.
One thing I came to understand about Americans and Brits though, is that their brand is clearly defined and they, along with everyone else, get it.
The Canadian brand, on the other hand, (btw, I don’t get paid extra for rhyming) has always been, in my opinion, a brand mis-defined.
My American and British friends always saw me as a bit of an oddity. Sure, my Bay City Rollers pants didn’t help, but what really confused them was what it meant, my being a Canadian.
The best shot they took at understanding the Canadian brand, was to draw an igloo beside the picture of me in my yearbook.
It’s my belief that much of the world has never really understood what the Canadian brand is all about. But is that their fault or ours?
Look at our flag.
The British have the Union Jack. Strong. Bold. United.
The Americans have the Stars & Stripes. Magical. Wondrous. Proud.
The Japanese have the Rising Sun. Majestic. Inspiring. Hopeful.
What do Canadians have? A leaf.
And what of the symbols we use to promote our brand.
Souvenir shops in New York, London or Paris flog bronzed statues of iconic symbols like The Empire State Building, Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower, while Canadian souvenir shops sell maple syrup.
Other countries promote themselves with internationally recognized landmarks. We promote Canada with condiments.
For years, the Canadian brand has been seen by many as symbolizing a nation of polite lumberjacks living on a frozen tundra, whittling canoes, hunting for beaver pelts and filling up on back bacon.
I’m a Canadian, and I can honestly say I’ve never whittled a canoe, I don’t like back bacon and, while I’m on the subject, I’ve never been chased along the Trans Canada Highway by a burly police officer on horseback wearing red surge.
Canada’s lack of a relevant, powerful, well-defined brand has always impeded us from the recognition and respect we deserve on an international stage.
But that all changed for me last Sunday.
I watched the Olympic Games closing ceremonies, grinning from ear-to-ear as huge Royal Canadian Mounted Police piggy banks glided across the floor of BC Place, sharing the stage with twenty foot tall Beavers, oversized table-hockey players and dancers dressed in giant maple leaves. It was all intended to poke fun at the archaic and inaccurate image of the Canadian brand, as perpetuated by politically correct marketers for years.
This Sunday, I believe, Canada shed its skin of obscurity and revealed a new age of the Canadian brand. A brand that is confident and proud, progressive and self-aware. For once we were able to see our brand as others have seen it for so many decades. We finally recognized what we aren’t, and in doing so acknowledged, once and for all, what we are.
Way to go Canada!
I’d write more but I’ve got an igloo to dismantle and a few hundred jugs of maple syrup to list on Ebay. Americans love all that Canadian stuff.
As a teenager, I grew up in London, England where I attended an American International School for a number of years. As a Canadian growing up with Americans in England, all I can say is it’s a good thing we traveled with our own therapist.
One thing I came to understand about Americans and Brits though, is that their brand is clearly defined and they, along with everyone else, get it.
The Canadian brand, on the other hand, (btw, I don’t get paid extra for rhyming) has always been, in my opinion, a brand mis-defined.
My American and British friends always saw me as a bit of an oddity. Sure, my Bay City Rollers pants didn’t help, but what really confused them was what it meant, my being a Canadian.
The best shot they took at understanding the Canadian brand, was to draw an igloo beside the picture of me in my yearbook.
It’s my belief that much of the world has never really understood what the Canadian brand is all about. But is that their fault or ours?
Look at our flag.
The British have the Union Jack. Strong. Bold. United.
The Americans have the Stars & Stripes. Magical. Wondrous. Proud.
The Japanese have the Rising Sun. Majestic. Inspiring. Hopeful.
What do Canadians have? A leaf.
And what of the symbols we use to promote our brand.
Souvenir shops in New York, London or Paris flog bronzed statues of iconic symbols like The Empire State Building, Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower, while Canadian souvenir shops sell maple syrup.
Other countries promote themselves with internationally recognized landmarks. We promote Canada with condiments.
For years, the Canadian brand has been seen by many as symbolizing a nation of polite lumberjacks living on a frozen tundra, whittling canoes, hunting for beaver pelts and filling up on back bacon.
I’m a Canadian, and I can honestly say I’ve never whittled a canoe, I don’t like back bacon and, while I’m on the subject, I’ve never been chased along the Trans Canada Highway by a burly police officer on horseback wearing red surge.
Canada’s lack of a relevant, powerful, well-defined brand has always impeded us from the recognition and respect we deserve on an international stage.
But that all changed for me last Sunday.
I watched the Olympic Games closing ceremonies, grinning from ear-to-ear as huge Royal Canadian Mounted Police piggy banks glided across the floor of BC Place, sharing the stage with twenty foot tall Beavers, oversized table-hockey players and dancers dressed in giant maple leaves. It was all intended to poke fun at the archaic and inaccurate image of the Canadian brand, as perpetuated by politically correct marketers for years.
This Sunday, I believe, Canada shed its skin of obscurity and revealed a new age of the Canadian brand. A brand that is confident and proud, progressive and self-aware. For once we were able to see our brand as others have seen it for so many decades. We finally recognized what we aren’t, and in doing so acknowledged, once and for all, what we are.
Way to go Canada!
I’d write more but I’ve got an igloo to dismantle and a few hundred jugs of maple syrup to list on Ebay. Americans love all that Canadian stuff.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Let Them Eat Cake!
I ordered pizza recently. It was a two for one deal. Naive as I am, I thought that meant two pizzas for the price of one. Since one pizza was $12, two pizzas for $12 seemed like a pretty good deal.
Imagine my surprise when two pizzas arrived at my door along with an $18 bill. When I asked why two pizzas weren’t $12 in total, I was told that “two for One” means two for “One” price. The one price? $18.
Delicious? Yes. Deceptive? Absolutely!
This leads me to a news story some time back, entitled “Buffet Bans Couple for Eating Too Much”.
Quoting the news source, “A couple on a low-carb diet were kicked out of the Chuck-A-Rama Restaurant after the manager said they’d eaten too much roast beef. Sui Amaama, who along with his wife, have been on the Atkins Diet for two weeks, was asked to leave after he went up to the buffet for his 12th slice of roast beef.”
Amaama’s wife Isabelle, claimed the two were under the impression the restaurant offered an all-you-can-eat buffet, a claim the restaurant’s District Manager, Jack Johanson denied.
Reading this story, I was horrified. After all, who in their right mind would eat at a restaurant named Chuck-A-Rama in the first place?! But I digress...
I was also reminded that on the great marketing highway there are times when misleading advertising claims and consumers meet head-on. The results can be devastating, often more so for the advertiser than the consumer.
Take our friends the Amaamas. While they suffered a few minutes of localized embarassment, good old Chuck-A-Rama made the national news, and not for their outstanding salad bar, which, as I understand, is actually quite good.
Contrary to what many advertisers think, advertising is not a ‘claims’ free-for-all. In fact, claims are very strictly regulated in Canada.
Advertising Standards Canada is responsible for upholding advertising standards as described in the Canadian Competition Act. Small volumes of these rules, each approximately the size of Sweden, have been developed for almost every category of product or service.
I remember having to refrain from using words like fresh or homemade when describing food in restaurant advertising. I was, however, permitted to use fresh and homemade to describe sporting goods.
Should advertisers fear the watchful eyes (and ears) of Advertising Standards Canada?
Possibly.
More importantly, advertisers should consider the most critical watchdog of all...the consumer.
Your business relies on customers. Neglecting them by making outlandish claims may make for compelling advertising, but may also result in hordes of unhappy people running around town criticizing your roast beef buffet.
To avoid being “Amaamanated”, deliver your message with impact but without suggesting or implying a promise you can’t deliver, whether you can argue your way out of it or not.
Call yourself a buffet, and you’d better be prepared to feed the next Amaama family that walks through the door. Otherwise, for the sake of a few slices of roast beef, you could be on the receiving end of thousands of dollars of negative publicity, and maybe even a fine for good measure.
For those of you interested in finding out more about Canadian advertising codes, visit www.adstandards.com.
For those interested in new business ventures, I hear Chuck-A-Rama has a few franchise opportunities opening up. Watch for their “Two for One” Prime Rib special, coming soon!
Imagine my surprise when two pizzas arrived at my door along with an $18 bill. When I asked why two pizzas weren’t $12 in total, I was told that “two for One” means two for “One” price. The one price? $18.
Delicious? Yes. Deceptive? Absolutely!
This leads me to a news story some time back, entitled “Buffet Bans Couple for Eating Too Much”.
Quoting the news source, “A couple on a low-carb diet were kicked out of the Chuck-A-Rama Restaurant after the manager said they’d eaten too much roast beef. Sui Amaama, who along with his wife, have been on the Atkins Diet for two weeks, was asked to leave after he went up to the buffet for his 12th slice of roast beef.”
Amaama’s wife Isabelle, claimed the two were under the impression the restaurant offered an all-you-can-eat buffet, a claim the restaurant’s District Manager, Jack Johanson denied.
Reading this story, I was horrified. After all, who in their right mind would eat at a restaurant named Chuck-A-Rama in the first place?! But I digress...
I was also reminded that on the great marketing highway there are times when misleading advertising claims and consumers meet head-on. The results can be devastating, often more so for the advertiser than the consumer.
Take our friends the Amaamas. While they suffered a few minutes of localized embarassment, good old Chuck-A-Rama made the national news, and not for their outstanding salad bar, which, as I understand, is actually quite good.
Contrary to what many advertisers think, advertising is not a ‘claims’ free-for-all. In fact, claims are very strictly regulated in Canada.
Advertising Standards Canada is responsible for upholding advertising standards as described in the Canadian Competition Act. Small volumes of these rules, each approximately the size of Sweden, have been developed for almost every category of product or service.
I remember having to refrain from using words like fresh or homemade when describing food in restaurant advertising. I was, however, permitted to use fresh and homemade to describe sporting goods.
Should advertisers fear the watchful eyes (and ears) of Advertising Standards Canada?
Possibly.
More importantly, advertisers should consider the most critical watchdog of all...the consumer.
Your business relies on customers. Neglecting them by making outlandish claims may make for compelling advertising, but may also result in hordes of unhappy people running around town criticizing your roast beef buffet.
To avoid being “Amaamanated”, deliver your message with impact but without suggesting or implying a promise you can’t deliver, whether you can argue your way out of it or not.
Call yourself a buffet, and you’d better be prepared to feed the next Amaama family that walks through the door. Otherwise, for the sake of a few slices of roast beef, you could be on the receiving end of thousands of dollars of negative publicity, and maybe even a fine for good measure.
For those of you interested in finding out more about Canadian advertising codes, visit www.adstandards.com.
For those interested in new business ventures, I hear Chuck-A-Rama has a few franchise opportunities opening up. Watch for their “Two for One” Prime Rib special, coming soon!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
It's Official!
The Winter Olympics are just days away, and I couldn’t be more excited. Two weeks of fierce rivalries and gruelling competition!
And that’s just the battle for sponsorship supremacy!
Event sponsorship is a powerful marketing tool at any level, but few events eclipse the Olympic Games for global exposure and overuse of spandex. This explains why the Olympics is one of the prime targets of Ambush Marketers.
Ambush marketing is not about hiding in the bushes, jumping out to sell shoes to startled, unsuspecting customers, though that does sound like fun. Ambush marketing is about gaining brand exposure on someone else’s dime.
It’s a tactic many marketers use to unofficially ‘attach’ to a major event without having to foot the bill.
Think of it this way. You hold a big party to announce your engagement. You pay for the catering and the decorations, only to have the limelight stolen by a guest who beats you to the punch by announcing they’re pregnant!
That’s ambush marketing, made even more dramatic if the guest happens to be six foot three, has a beard and is named Frank.
Take the 1984 Olympic Games, where Kodak sponsored all television coverage while its competition, Fuji was the official Games sponsor. Despite both company’s efforts however, neither scored well in long jump.
Unapologetically, Nike is the ultimate ambush marketer. Nike refrains from sponsoring events, choosing instead to sponsor teams and individuals. The company’s sponsorship of the 2002 US Olympic hockey team earned as much exposure as any official sponsor without Nike ever having to pay the Olympic Organizing Committee a penny.
And Ambush marketing isn’t proprietary to brand giants.
To become the official sponsor of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Anheuser-Busch paid more than $50 million. In return they received exclusive rights to use the word ‘Olympic’ in their advertising.
Schirf Brewery, the small, local brewer of Wasutch Beer, ingeniously worked around copyright regulations. The company marked its trucks with “Wasutch Beers. The Official Beer. 2002 Winter Games.” By avoiding using the word ‘Olympic’, they connected to the games without having to purchase official status as a sponsor.
Is there anything wrong with ambush marketing? Technically, no. But considering the top nine global Olympic sponsors paid $900 million for sponsorship rights, it’s understandable why some companies frown on being punked by ambush marketers.
If conventional marketing is like beating the competition over the head with a stick, ambush marketing is like beating the competition over the head with their own stick, while they’re not looking...
So, come February 12th, as you watch a grown man in spandex race down an icy track passing by a succession of blurred official Coca Cola banners, keep your eyes open for the big unofficial Pepsi logo tacked to the side of his helmet, always in focus and always on the screen.
Take it from me, the unofficial marketing columnist of the 2010 Winter Games, ambush marketing may not be ‘the real thing’, but it works.
And that’s just the battle for sponsorship supremacy!
Event sponsorship is a powerful marketing tool at any level, but few events eclipse the Olympic Games for global exposure and overuse of spandex. This explains why the Olympics is one of the prime targets of Ambush Marketers.
Ambush marketing is not about hiding in the bushes, jumping out to sell shoes to startled, unsuspecting customers, though that does sound like fun. Ambush marketing is about gaining brand exposure on someone else’s dime.
It’s a tactic many marketers use to unofficially ‘attach’ to a major event without having to foot the bill.
Think of it this way. You hold a big party to announce your engagement. You pay for the catering and the decorations, only to have the limelight stolen by a guest who beats you to the punch by announcing they’re pregnant!
That’s ambush marketing, made even more dramatic if the guest happens to be six foot three, has a beard and is named Frank.
Take the 1984 Olympic Games, where Kodak sponsored all television coverage while its competition, Fuji was the official Games sponsor. Despite both company’s efforts however, neither scored well in long jump.
Unapologetically, Nike is the ultimate ambush marketer. Nike refrains from sponsoring events, choosing instead to sponsor teams and individuals. The company’s sponsorship of the 2002 US Olympic hockey team earned as much exposure as any official sponsor without Nike ever having to pay the Olympic Organizing Committee a penny.
And Ambush marketing isn’t proprietary to brand giants.
To become the official sponsor of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Anheuser-Busch paid more than $50 million. In return they received exclusive rights to use the word ‘Olympic’ in their advertising.
Schirf Brewery, the small, local brewer of Wasutch Beer, ingeniously worked around copyright regulations. The company marked its trucks with “Wasutch Beers. The Official Beer. 2002 Winter Games.” By avoiding using the word ‘Olympic’, they connected to the games without having to purchase official status as a sponsor.
Is there anything wrong with ambush marketing? Technically, no. But considering the top nine global Olympic sponsors paid $900 million for sponsorship rights, it’s understandable why some companies frown on being punked by ambush marketers.
If conventional marketing is like beating the competition over the head with a stick, ambush marketing is like beating the competition over the head with their own stick, while they’re not looking...
So, come February 12th, as you watch a grown man in spandex race down an icy track passing by a succession of blurred official Coca Cola banners, keep your eyes open for the big unofficial Pepsi logo tacked to the side of his helmet, always in focus and always on the screen.
Take it from me, the unofficial marketing columnist of the 2010 Winter Games, ambush marketing may not be ‘the real thing’, but it works.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
New Column Starts Saturday!
Read Flying Kites, my new weekly column beginning this Saturday in the Okanagan Saturday newspaper delivered throughout the Okanagan Valley.
Next week, I'm back with more blog posts... next time the topic for discussion? Demographics! Yuck!
Next week, I'm back with more blog posts... next time the topic for discussion? Demographics! Yuck!
Monday, January 18, 2010
New Columns Beginning in The Kelowna Daily Courier
I've taken this week off, reluctantly neglecting the blog as I prepare columns for a new weekly edition starting in February in The Kelowna Daily Courier.
Starting in February I'll be working double-time preparing columns for 'Propelling Brands' as well as keeping up with my newspaper deadline.
Lots to come, so stay tuned!
Starting in February I'll be working double-time preparing columns for 'Propelling Brands' as well as keeping up with my newspaper deadline.
Lots to come, so stay tuned!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Choo Choo, Hop On Board
I love marketing, especially the strategic and creative end of the business. I spend every day, coffee in hand, thinking up new stuff to battle old problems. That's what marketing is really all about. The field of problems facing marketers never really changes. It's the goal posts we call solutions that keep moving on us.
For a brief period some years ago (about an hour and a half) I worked in media sales. I was fortunate at the time to have been working for a Sales Manager whom I still consider to be a media sales guru. He would conduct regular two-hour weekly sales training sessions, many of the principles from which I still use today.
I remember one session during which we were presented the video of a seminar conducted by a well known consultant down south named Don Beveridge. Beveridge is a fellow who consults with major corporations like Ford and Burger King, providing them guidance and advice to improve their businesses.
In the video, Beveridge described a common shortcoming years ago of the auto industry which, in marketing new products each year, would rely on something Beveridge refers to as "the next big thing".
He described the mentality of auto makers who, in an effort to stimulate consumer interest, would look at what all the other auto manufacturers were doing trying to find and subsequently copy whatever the next big thing was going to be for the upcoming year.
"Chrysler's introducing fins... we should do fins... fins are the next big thing!"
While marketers are supposed to be the innovators, creating new ideas and new ways to drive consumer interest, all too often I find marketers can be as guilty of jumping on board the 'next big thing' express train as everybody else.
Today's 'next big thing' for marketers is a little something we like to call social marketing, often driven by a little something else we like to call social media.
Talk to any advertising agency today and they'll tell you all about their expertise in social marketing. They'll introduce you to their social marketing team, their social marketing portfolio, their social marketing process, they'll even pour you a cup of their social marketing blend coffee!
It's the thing every business wants, even though few know what they want it for or how to use it.
Take a look at the social media scene and sites like Facebook. Facebook is littered these days with businesses, all of whom feel it necessary to have a Facebook page though few know what to do with it once they have it.
Twitter is the same. It wasn't long ago the average person couldn't even tell you what Twitter was. There was even a telecom commercial this past year which poked fun at the fact that few people understood Twitter.
Suddenly today, businesses everywhere are flocking to Twitter in droves, setting up accounts and desperately posting anything they can think of in the hopes of being seen as hip by engaging in social media culture.
TWEET: "I just picked up a new client"
TWEET: "I just came back from the bank"
TWEET: "I just poured milk into my coffee"
TWEET: "I just stapled my hand to my desk"
TWEET: "I just realized how chronically boring I really am"
Social media isn't simply the 21st century version of newspaper advertising. Social marketing isn't simply a cool new way to describe flogging your wares.
Social marketing and social media are about people communicating with people. In the old days we used to call it "a conversation". Social media is simply a forum to stimulate a 21st century, hi-tech version of that social "conversation".
The part missed by most businesses seeking to use social media to conduct social marketing, is the need to actually inject compelling substance into the conversation.
Imagine standing at a cocktail party, martini in hand. You see a face you recognize across the room. What's the likelihood you'd just walk up and blurt out "Hey Bob, it's me Bill... I do duct cleaning. Can I clean your ducts?"
Of course you wouldn't, especially if your name wasn't Bill and you didn't do duct cleaning.
Instead, you would be more likely to stir up a conversation that engages your cocktail party partner and stimulates them to participate in a discussion. Only when the subject of duct cleaning is raised, as it always inevitably is at cocktail parties, would you consider inserting a plug for yourself and your duct cleaning business.
To put it more simply, if advertising is s statement, social marketing is a question.
Used well, social marketing can be terrific. Used ineffectively, social marketing will be seen as a contrivance and may, in its worst form, do more damage to your credibility than good.
So my advice in this column is to hop on board that social marketing express train, just make sure you know where the train is going, pack appropriately for the trip and above all else, keep your eyes peeled for the soon to be phenomenon of 3D holographic morse code... I hear it's the next big thing!
For a brief period some years ago (about an hour and a half) I worked in media sales. I was fortunate at the time to have been working for a Sales Manager whom I still consider to be a media sales guru. He would conduct regular two-hour weekly sales training sessions, many of the principles from which I still use today.
I remember one session during which we were presented the video of a seminar conducted by a well known consultant down south named Don Beveridge. Beveridge is a fellow who consults with major corporations like Ford and Burger King, providing them guidance and advice to improve their businesses.
In the video, Beveridge described a common shortcoming years ago of the auto industry which, in marketing new products each year, would rely on something Beveridge refers to as "the next big thing".
He described the mentality of auto makers who, in an effort to stimulate consumer interest, would look at what all the other auto manufacturers were doing trying to find and subsequently copy whatever the next big thing was going to be for the upcoming year.
"Chrysler's introducing fins... we should do fins... fins are the next big thing!"
While marketers are supposed to be the innovators, creating new ideas and new ways to drive consumer interest, all too often I find marketers can be as guilty of jumping on board the 'next big thing' express train as everybody else.
Today's 'next big thing' for marketers is a little something we like to call social marketing, often driven by a little something else we like to call social media.
Talk to any advertising agency today and they'll tell you all about their expertise in social marketing. They'll introduce you to their social marketing team, their social marketing portfolio, their social marketing process, they'll even pour you a cup of their social marketing blend coffee!
It's the thing every business wants, even though few know what they want it for or how to use it.
Take a look at the social media scene and sites like Facebook. Facebook is littered these days with businesses, all of whom feel it necessary to have a Facebook page though few know what to do with it once they have it.
Twitter is the same. It wasn't long ago the average person couldn't even tell you what Twitter was. There was even a telecom commercial this past year which poked fun at the fact that few people understood Twitter.
Suddenly today, businesses everywhere are flocking to Twitter in droves, setting up accounts and desperately posting anything they can think of in the hopes of being seen as hip by engaging in social media culture.
TWEET: "I just picked up a new client"
TWEET: "I just came back from the bank"
TWEET: "I just poured milk into my coffee"
TWEET: "I just stapled my hand to my desk"
TWEET: "I just realized how chronically boring I really am"
Social media isn't simply the 21st century version of newspaper advertising. Social marketing isn't simply a cool new way to describe flogging your wares.
Social marketing and social media are about people communicating with people. In the old days we used to call it "a conversation". Social media is simply a forum to stimulate a 21st century, hi-tech version of that social "conversation".
The part missed by most businesses seeking to use social media to conduct social marketing, is the need to actually inject compelling substance into the conversation.
Imagine standing at a cocktail party, martini in hand. You see a face you recognize across the room. What's the likelihood you'd just walk up and blurt out "Hey Bob, it's me Bill... I do duct cleaning. Can I clean your ducts?"
Of course you wouldn't, especially if your name wasn't Bill and you didn't do duct cleaning.
Instead, you would be more likely to stir up a conversation that engages your cocktail party partner and stimulates them to participate in a discussion. Only when the subject of duct cleaning is raised, as it always inevitably is at cocktail parties, would you consider inserting a plug for yourself and your duct cleaning business.
To put it more simply, if advertising is s statement, social marketing is a question.
Used well, social marketing can be terrific. Used ineffectively, social marketing will be seen as a contrivance and may, in its worst form, do more damage to your credibility than good.
So my advice in this column is to hop on board that social marketing express train, just make sure you know where the train is going, pack appropriately for the trip and above all else, keep your eyes peeled for the soon to be phenomenon of 3D holographic morse code... I hear it's the next big thing!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
