Astonish Your Customer(s)

Fabreeze - Product-Centric Advertising

Here's one great ad! Here

1. Everyday problem (realistically dramatized)
2. Vividly presented
3. Specific 
4. Visual 
5. No words needed

O.D.O.o.O.D.B. 

 

 

Does Mass Media Still 'Work'

TV viewing is at an all-time high. Even teens spend way more time watching TV than surfing the web. 

The world's most successful brands have learned to use mass media to achieve share-of-mind ascendancy and make it immensely difficult for new entries into a vast swath of consumer goods and service categories. You want to introduce a new brand of toothpaste or peanut butter? Good luck.

The ability to utilize and influence mass media has become as important as manufacturing and customer service in creating successful marketing enterprises.

You don't have to dig very deep to find examples of awful companies (think banks, telecom, airlines, food) whose reputations among consumers are abysmal, but whose size has allowed them to dominate media and consequently dominate marketing in their categories.

TY: Bob Hoffman, The AdContrarian

O.D.O.o.O.D.B.

YouTube Convergence with TV

Right now, YouTube is producing a slew of new "channels."

They have a decidedly familiar ring to them: sitcoms, sports, scripted series, celebrity showcases.

Although the long-promised convergence of the web and TV has not yet arrived there is one thing we can deduce fromYouTube's effort -- no one wants TV to be more like the web. They want the web to be more like TV. 

TY: Bob Hoffman, The AdContrarian

O.D.O.o.O.D.B. 

Men no longer allowed to pee from standing position

Change a rule = Get noticed.

I think it was P.T. Barnum who famously said, "If you want a crowd, pick a fight.".

There are all sorts of ways to get noticed. The best way is to create a remarkable product.

Another way is to change very longstanding rules and conventions and norms.

Enter the Vancouver restaurant that bans men from peeing while standing.

O.D.O.o.O.D.B.

Don't force consumer to enter your solution through the problem

While Method Products relied primarily on style and substance to inspire interest in cleaning products, we also tap into an often overlooked subset of consumers: people who actually love to clean. You probably even know a few friends whom you consider to be clean freaks.

We believe in making the act of cleaning more enjoyable and, if we may say so, aspirational. But virtually every commercial treats cleaning as if it were a huge hassle, virtually screaming promises of convenience and ease. Pandering to women with images of grinning maids in aprons, it was as if taking care of your things was something to be ashamed of, something you'd rather leave to someone else.

This is typical problem-solution marketing, in which you set up a problem (mildew in the bathroom) and then present your product as the hero solution (Pow! mildew gone). The problem with this approach is that it forces the consumer to enter through the problem, so your brand will always live in low-interest land.

Even if you don't find an ounce of joy in cleaning, virtually everyone loves the end state, a clean home. So we focused on talking about the aspirational end state of cleaning, and we found that, to many people, cleaning is an important part of life. It's the ritual of connecting to their homes and families by putting life back in order. To many, cleaning is a form of caring for their children or pets by providing a safe haven for those they care about most. Seeking to draw out our audience's inner clean freaks, we filled our ad campaigns with young, great-looking naked people in gorgeous, hip homes, using (or maybe just caressing) a rainbow of beautiful Method products. Rather than the "quick and painless" promises in our competitors' ads, we communicated with clever, cheeky messages intended to promote the aspirational idea that cleaning could be cool (gasp!). Flying in the face of decades of traditional cleaning commercials, the ads resonated with people of all ages.

To many people, jogging is a chore. Imagine if Nike ran advertisements featuring unhappy joggers forcing themselves through another grueling early morning routine. Not likely. To the contrary, the brand celebrates every sport it touches, with aspirational imagery. We'd even bet there are some fierce badminton ads out there that would inspire you to Just Do It with a birdie! Nike ties this to its social mission of bringing inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. As Bill Bowerman, track coach and cofounder of Nike, said, "If you have a body, you are an athlete."

TY: Fast Company

Advertising and the Future of Apple

By Bob Hoffman at www.AdContrarian.blogspot.com

After Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO of Apple last week, speculation about the company's future began immediately.

The consensus seemed to be that Jobs built a strong culture, hired smart people, and taught a way of thinking that will serve Apple well in the future. The story line went like this-- while Jobs will be missed, he is no longer essential to the future of the company and it will go on brilliantly without him.

 

I don't buy this for a second. Genius is non-transferable.

Jobs hasn't just created better computers, he has created a world that nobody else could envision. He brought an artist's sensibility to a field previously populated by capable but tone-deaf engineers. He didn't just make beautiful looking hardware, he took what was a dead screen full of little green letters on a blue background and turned it into an astounding, enchanting world of graphics, music, and video that has become a central feature of contemporary life.

He has made work more fun, knowledge more available, and entertainment more rewarding.

Anyone who has had the pleasure of buying an Apple product knows the great aesthetic delight of turning it on for the first time and seeing the beauty that ensues. Even going to an Apple store is a completely unique and strangely arresting experience.

On Friday, Apple became the world's largest company, surpassing ExxonMobil in market value. It will not simply evaporate. The most likely scenario is that Apple will continue to shine for a few years while the initiatives that Jobs started are still in the pipeline, and then slowly the company's radiance will start to dim. They will be successful and will continue to produce excellent products for a long time -- but the startling brilliance will slowly fade.

Many successful creative enterprises turn out to be the extended shadow of one individual. My best guess is that Apple is such an enterprise.

Interestingly, one of the first indications of whether Apple is capable of continuing its explosion of creative energy without Jobs at the helm may be found in its advertising. The product pipeline will take years to screw up. But the ad pipeline can be screwed up in no time.

About a year from now, with Jobs in the background, the knuckleheads at Apple (there are knuckleheads everywhere) will have a chance to get their sweaty hands on the advertising.

Jobs is a brilliant technology visionary. But let's not forget that he is also the best ad man of his generation. He is what you might call a "classicist." Apple advertising is simple. It is almost always product-focused (the product usually sits smack dab in the middle of a white page.) The TV spots for the iPad and iPhone are usually nothing more than simple but compelling product demonstrations.

Here are some clues to look for in Apple's advertising that will indicate that dull hands are grabbing at the wheel:

1. Creeping Brandism: The Apple brand was built bottom-up. That is, the products defined the brand. Virtually every Apple ad was about a product, not  the brand (okay, there was "Think Different" but that didn't last.) Keep an eye out for the erosion of this discipline.

2. Agency change: Vapid marketing people relegated to the background all these years by Jobs' dominance may suddenly start flexing. They wouldn't dare contradict Jobs' legacy, but they could accomplish the same thing by undermining the agency.

3. The Tortured Logic of Account Planning: Look for ads about you the consumer instead of Apple products. Look for moronic online "engagement" gimmicks. Or look for social media pandering.

4. Complications: Part of the brilliance of Apple advertising has been its simplicity.  Keep an eye out for complicated ideas or ads with more than one product.

5. Media: Apple has used online media sparingly. The preponderance of its advertising has been conducted in traditional media -- TV, print, and outdoor. Watch to see if Apple suddenly starts going all trendy and new age in its media choices.

If you start seeing any of these signs coming out of Cupertino, sell your shares.

Advertising will be an early indicator of whether people without vision and taste are moving in at Apple. It will be interesting to watch.

O.D.O.o.O.D.B.

Career Lessons from David Ogilvy

Career Lessons from the Father of Advertising

By Chris Prentice

David Ogilvy, the "father of advertising," would be turning 100 this month if he were still alive. Though Ogilvy died in 1999, the advertising and career advice he gives in his 1963 classic, Confessions of an Advertising Man, still stands up today.  For example, Ogilvy discovered that little brands can compete with big brands by acting like them.  When Ogilvy opened his shop in 1948, it was long before the days of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, now owned by WPP Group Plc, and a leader in the industry. To make ends meet, the agency worked on mostly small accounts such as Wedgewood, Hathaway shirts and Schweppes.  In a risk few others would take, Ogilvy dedicated the entire media spend of these accounts to just one magazine, The New Yorker. By doing so, he brought small brands up to the level of larger ones by acting like them. These campaigns made Ogilvy one of the most recognized names in the ad business. Think big and act big when building your campaigns -- and your career. O.D.O.o.O.D.B.

 

Don't worry so much about a big launch day

It looks good in the news but almost all the mega-hits (Starbucks, NetFlix, Jet Blue, Amazon, facebook, Nike, IBM, Sam Adams, Burt's Bees) didn't start out that way.

O.D.O.o.O.D.B.

TY: Seth Godin  

Hey CPG, (re)Commit to Boomers

From Nielsen via Marketing Daily July 22, 2010

As focused as marketers are these days on Gen Y's environmental commitment or Gen X's coupon savvy, Nielsen reports that CPG companies have major blind spots in the way they target Baby Boomers.

With a continued emphasis on either the 18-to-34 or the 18-to-49 demographic, companies are increasingly losing their connection with the 78 million Baby Boomers, Doug Anderson, SVP/research & development for Nielsen, tells Marketing Daily.

"There is practically no segment or category out there where Boomers aren't a significant audience -- even across technology, including cell phones and computers. They may not be the first ones in the door when a new product comes out, but it's close," he says. "They are purchasing at rates just as high as other segments, and because they are often buying for their kids, many are double-dipping."

While Boomers spend 38.5% of CPG dollars, Nielsen estimates that only 5% of advertising dollars are currently targeted toward adults 35-64 years old (a slice that includes the latter half of Generation X as well as Boomers).

Part of the issue, he says, is that marketers continue to believe that Boomers are either reluctant to experiment with new technology and brands, or that because they've been loyal to a certain brand for a number of years, they'll stay that way.

Another issue, he says, is that even marketers who do focus on Boomers tend to make errors. Nuance, he says, really matters. "It is certainly true that Baby Boomers are big, important marketplaces for almost all products, and they need to be talked to and marketed to and advertised to directly," he says. "But it has to be in ways they will accept. They are not 27, and they are not 67."

Nielsen's research says Boomers dominate 1,023 out of 1,083 consumer packaged goods categories, and watch 9.34 hours of video per day -- more than any other segment. They also comprise a third of all TV viewers, online users, social media users and Twitter users, and are significantly more likely to have broadband Internet.

"Marketers have this tendency to think the Baby Boom -- getting closer to retirement -- will just be calm and peaceful as they move ahead, and that's not true. Everything we see with our behavioral data says these people are going to be active consumers for much longer. They are going to be in better health, and despite the ugliness around the retirement stuff now, they are still going to be more affluent," Anderson says. "They are going to be an important segment for a long time."

According to Nielsen, "Dominate" means Boomers purchase the highest share of category dollars than any other generation cohort. Nielsen compared Boomers to Millenials, Gen X, and the Old Guard.  

O.D.O.o.O.D.B.

To The Vague

Microsoft has been running their "To The Cloud" campaign for awhile. 

When I see the ads I ask these questions: 

1. What is the goal of the ad - spike curiosity? educate? close a sale?   
2. Who is the desired audience? I tend to see the ad when watching football games.
3. Does the desired audience know what the cloud is? 
4. Does the desired audience know what the benefit of the cloud is? 
5. Does the desired audience know what action to take after the ad has been viewed?
6. Does the cloud require new software or hardware or both? 

 To me, there is not an obvious answer to any of these questions despite a mammoth ad spend by Microsoft. 

Compare these Cloud ads to the iPad TV ads that are running, which are chock full of straight-forward examples of the product and reasons to pay attention and act/buy. 

It is common saying that the first rule of marketing (and medicine) is "Do No Harm". Maybe it should be - Don't Be Vague. 

O.D.O.o.O.D.B.