Mohawk College, with campuses in Hamilton and Brantford, has hired PLAY to give the college a new look and new brand campaign. “PLAY had the edge we were looking for in a branding agency,” says Ronald Holgerson, VP Marketing. PLAY was chosen from a short list of three agencies by a panel comprised of students leaders, faculty and marketing staff.
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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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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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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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Superior Propane, Canada’s only national propane supply and service organization and Canada’s number one brand for propane, recently chose PLAY as it’s advertising and branding agency of record. “We’re very happy they chose us,” says PLAY president Brian Torsney. “We’re well suited to this challenge because, as a partner, we bring business insights and engaging creativity.”
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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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