February 11, 2010
While big ideas still matter most, digital technology is changing the very nature of advertising. At a conference recently, I got to hear and converse with Pam Evens, Global Web Marketing Manager for IBM. In talking about IBM’s global campaign called “Smarter Planet”, it became clear to me that advertising and branding is no longer about pushing out messages to the right target audience. Digital technology allows marketers to have a conversation with consumers at best, and be part of the conversation at the very least.
Events such as Smarter Planet, which took on a life of its own for IBM including 50 cities developing their own events called Smarter Cities, allowed the company to be at the hub of conversations about problems such as traffic and environmental issues that IBM technology can helps solve. By starting the conversation, and not necessarily controlling it but being at the hub of it, IBM got to listen to consumers, key influencers, and decision makers and leverage IBM’s intellectual capital to help solve problems. It led to huge surges in sales last year for IBM.
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November 30, 2009
Quirky ads are showing up everywhere from those kids whose eyebrows move in crazy ways to prat falls by hockey players heading into the dressing room. Remember what the products were they were advertising? Don’t feel bad if you don’t remember.
Quirky on its own is no way to build brands. Top brand builders know that there is no point in getting people’s attention if the message doesn’t align with a strategic point of difference that resonates and is memorable for the target audience.
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October 13, 2009
People ask me all the time why there are still so many ads (especially TV ads) that are so very bad. Why do the Lastmans think people will want to shop after seeing their obnoxious ads, whereas IKEA ads by zig are so cool? In my opinion, cool ad equals cool brand. And the proof is in the results. Who shops at Lastman’s Bad Boy? “NoooooBodeee.” Who shops at IKEA? Everybody. Well some people obviously shop at Bad Boy but one IKEA store probably does more revenue in one week than Bad Boy does in a year. And, IKEA has thousands of stores around the world.
Here’s why so many bad ads exist. First, good ads are based on having an insight about your target audience. Most advertisers and many agency people don’t know what an insight is, never mind how to find it or express it. Why are insights important? The insight leads to an important message, one thing you want to say. A Big Idea. Secondly, you have to express the big Idea as one thing you want to say. Only one. People don’t remember more than one thing. Many advertisers figure they pay for the space they might as well stuff in as much information as they can. This is the equivalent to a song writer trying to put nine completely different hooks or ten different choruses in a song. You end up with chaos that no one wants to listen to. And, in advertising, the most important thing you want to accomplish is to have people watch/read/listen to you. You have to be engaging.
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July 02, 2009
There is much debate and discussion these days about the tactical use of non-traditional or “digital” media. For example, there are a host of digital experts who claim that it was the use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter along with regular e-mail and texting that won the election for Obama. However, it is always good to remember that it is not how the message gets out that is important, though using all available means to tell people your story is a given. The real reason for Obama’s victory is not the media he used, but the message he gave consistently -- one of hope, clarity and reason, a badly needed elixir after George Bush fomented rage globally and at home.
In all marketing communications having a message that inspires and engages is the real key whether that message gets out using digital or traditional media. Too many people in business are overly enamored with new media while ignoring the fundamental laws of attraction that govern communication. If you aren’t interesting and engaging, you won’t be heard, no matter what medium you use.
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June 11, 2009
Thankfully, Play is being noticed in the news these days. At the LCBO’s annual awards ceremony in June known as the Elsies, PLAY’s client Colio Estate Wines won three awards, two of them for the PLAY-designed Girls’ Night Out line of wines. The first award was for Best Niche Marketing, since the line of VQA’s is aimed at women. And the second Elsie was awarded for the wines being the most successful launch of a VQA in 2008. There are more exciting things to come from Colio as it leverages it’s success to launch more wines and expand the Girls’ Night Out franchise with PLAY’s assistance.
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March 30, 2009
When you see advertising on television such as Mel Lastman desperately screaming at viewers that it’s good to buy Canadian made furniture, or any kind of advertising that makes you immediately flip to another station or, in my case throw the nearest pillow at the TV set, you have to ask why are so many companies still choosing to produce advertising that talks, even yells at people instead of engaging them. I think it comes down to education. These advertisers simply haven’t been introduced to the strategic process that allows for insights that lead to a solid brief, that leads to brilliant advertising.
And, it is this process and the level of brilliance available at good creative shops that makes clients win big and grab big chunks of market share. I suppose it is a little like someone who doesn’t know what makes a good story, or a good joke. Or someone who looks at an abstract painting by Pollack or de Kooning and sees something “anyone can do”. Until they try it. These are classically trained artists. They are remarkably talented drawers and painters who chose abstract. At the Dali Museum in St, Petersburg Florida it’s worth seeing Dali’s work from the start of his career, essentially interpreting the great genres such as cubism and impressionism, and then finding his stride and unique expression.
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