For advertising people

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Update: Got this e-mail and a bumper sticker. Thanks peeps.

Hi Matt,

Thanks for spreading the word about The Bush-McCain Challenge! We wanted you to know five of your friends took the Challenge, so you'll receive a free bumper sticker -- "Bush's Third Term: McCain." We'll email you soon with instructions for claiming your bumper sticker.

If five people do, I get a free bumper sticker.

So try it.

No implied endorsement, herein.

A cool ad.

Directed by Guy Ritchie. Kinda neat that the dude suits up for the Gunners.

Bills to play Miami at home in Toronto

Bills Schedule is out. The Bills will play Miami in a home game at Rogers Center in Toronto. That sigh you hear across Western New York is a sigh that the this is step one to the Bills leaving the friendly confines of way, way south of Buffalo, NY, to the friendly confines of the mega city, and my former home, Toronto.

They'll never go there. Ever. A team might go there, but it won't be one from the league. Here's why: TV.

When I lived in Canada, I had an American Express Card. I had good credit on it (and i got Air Miles, I miss Air Miles). When I moved here, the banks, including Amex wouldn't lend me a dime. The only credit card I could get was the kind where you give them $300 and they give you a credit card with a $300 limit. It's a build credit card card.

I tell you all this because of this: if Amex buys an ad on TV, they aren't interested in the number of Canadians whop see the ad. in fact, they could care less. Thus, if the team left Buffalo, all of Western New York would stop watching, and they would be replaced by all of Toronto. And while the all of Toronto is a bigger number, it's actually a net loss of numbers for Amex (and every other brand that advertises).

Meaning, they would ask the networks for a discount. And the networks would ask the NFL for a discount. And who does that help?

Radio, as defined by Autumn

When Autumn learns certain words, Radio, Telephone, TV, her definition of these words will be entirely different from the way we think of these words.

Take Radio. Currently, Autumn can listen to the radio on a radio (yes, they exist), but more and more we can 'listen' to the radio online via podcasting. At home, we listen to This American Life, RadioLab, Car Talk, and The Curling Show all online. (You really will like all of these. No matter who you are.)

Now. how far away are we from a radio that can connect to the internet and pick up podcasts of your favorite shows? The technology exists. And since it does, I think we're in a golden age of radio. Where, instead of tuning into news-like shows that seem repetitive, you can pick other shows you like and listen to them when you want.

The next revolution is the elimination of the hour show. With the exception of The Curling Show, above, the shows we listen to are Made for Radio. They are hour shows and have acts to keep the shows moving through the hour. Not so with the curling show. It can be 10 minutes, or 20. It's dependent on the content, not a radio schedule. And soon, shows like This American Life might realize there's more of a market for snippet podcasts and create shows that work like that.

Just think: in your car, you hit wireless hotspots all the time. Why not have a wireless radio? Or whatever it is that Autumn calls it.

This calls for a joke

You've seen the ad that goes: apply directly to the forehead. Right?

Some enterprising ad guy (and it would have to be a guy) could have some fun with this:

The country I live in

A show about advertising

According to Adfreak, there's gonna be a new show about advertising on TNT. Which I thought was called The Nashville Network, until I realized that's TNN. I have no idea what TNT stands for and can't be bothered to google it. Anyway, here's the presser:

"Eric McCormack has been tapped for one of the leading roles in the TNT drama pilot “Truth in Advertising.”

Tom Cavanagh is in final negotiations for the other lead in the project, from Warner Horizon and Shephard/Robin Co.

“Advertising” is set at the multimillion-dollar advertising agency Rothman, Greene & Moore, where executives must continually prove themselves as their jobs are on the line every day.

McCormack will play Mason McGuire, vp and art director at the Chicago agency. He is described as a nice guy navigating the politics in an increasingly cutthroat corporate world. When he is promoted to creative director, Mason must learn to cultivate his inner shark.

Cavanagh would play the highly emotional and creative Conner, Mason’s partner, friend and copywriter. He gets that advertising is a business but is always looking for ways to mix in plenty of pleasure."

I think it will be kinda neat to see how they develop the relationship between the Art Director and the copywriter. I've had some doozy relationships myself. My first partner was an English bloke, who may or may not have been gay. My next partner was incredibly creative, and completely late on everything. The next one was a true conspiracy theorist who continually thought he was going to get fired, or abducted, or both. (Since getting abducted would mean missing enough work to get fired).

My current partner is extremely talented, and defiantly gay. I don't mean that in a negative way, just that he's gay and proud.

But this little trip down memory lane is really because the thing that first struck me about this new show, set in Chicago, is that both men are Canadian.

That just struck me.

Advertising works

So often, we advertisers are faced with the very real dilemma of wondering if our ads work. The reality is, it's in the question where we do the most wondering. What on earth do we mean by work?

If a really popular ad generates an increase in sales, then by gosh, the ad worked. However, if an ad tests well, but a small flaw in the product is discovered, one can argue that the faster people stop buying the product would also be an indication of the ads effectiveness. To wit, an ad promotes trial, a bad product ensures there's no retrial.

In direct marketing, that's junk mail to the common folk, the communication is judged on how many people call. Indeed, depending on price point and other factors, if 3 people out of a 1000 call, the communication can be judged to have worked. Generally though, direct marketers think of 3-5% response as 'working'.

Things get a little tougher when the objective of the ad isn't as clear. Lets say your objective is an introduction. The ad says: introducing a new flavor from Tropicana. The simple fact is, the ability of the ad to work is directly tied with the shelf space that the store gives the product. An ad can create desire, bu the product better be there when the shopper heads to the store.

I say all this because of an article I read whereby things like vegetables taste better when wrapped in McDonald's wrappers. McDonald's has such positive brand equity amongst kids that things that aren't McDonald's foods taste better when wrapped in their brand. Interesting.

I would Twitter this

New technologies. I know this is a little late to the party, but I read something interesting about Twitter, a new social network. Where I to sign up, I would use it to tell people what I am up to, when I'm up to it. Like for instance, I'm typing this in an internet cafe in Ellicottville, NY. Anyway, this is what I read:

From this blog:

The 35W bridge over the Mississippi collapsed today. I found out via Twitter. It happened at approximately 6:00 pm. There are cars in the river. There was a school bus full of kids on the bridge, but the bus didn't actually fall in the water. A whole section of bridge dropped straight down and is sitting just above the water. CNN's running photos that folks downtown have taken from their apartment.

There's been construction work going on on various parts of 35W near downtown for a long time, but I wasn't aware that they were actually working on this bridge.

Phone service is spotty.

That means, a social network designed for really selfish kinds of reasons, actually has a purpose. Interesting. Anyway, we're in Ellicottville because Rhona is running a race. She's actually in the race right now. It's only a 5K, so I don't have long before I need to get back to cheer her on. And if you're wondering, the peanut is being watched by nanny and granddad.

Brand loyalty

"Man endures thumb surgery to better enable iPhone use." link

Really, what else do you need to know? Apple has that kind of brand loyalty. I mean, we're loyal to Apple. We love our Mac. But I think I love my finger more. But I guess that's just me.

The guy nod and the 'moue'

Today I read this in a blog I read:

"I just passed my neighbor in the street and he gave me the New England salute: a "moue."

He might have waved his hand, nodded, smiled, flashed his eyebrows, or even stopped to chat. But, no, what he had for me was a moue.

This is a small gesture of the mouth. Lips are pulled back and compressed, as if someone were about to play the trumpet. it happens very quickly. If you are not watching very closely, you'll miss it. (In the image to the right, President Bush is making what might be a moue.)

He gets more in-depth about what is being communicated with the 'moue'. "...the moue feels stingy. It feels like a withholding." He writes. He goes on to point out that a cheery hello is a better thing than the moue.

Me though, I'm less interested in exactly what is being communicated in a moue, or a nod, or a smile. I'll agree that a hello is better, but I'm more interested in our need to feel a connection with the person we're passing on the street. Even more so, why do we ask people how they are when we really have no interest in how they are?

I wrote a lengthy post once about the guy nod. I even guy nodded once with Ryan Miller, on my street. My argument was then, and is now, that there are things going on with us humans that transcends language. Duh, you might say. But as a marketer, there are things we communicate without words. There are gestures that say more than all the words in this post. And that's neat. And I'm glad to read others are thinking about this. It makes me feel connected.

And for the record, I have no idea what relevance this has to anything.

Holy smokes, this is cool

I think this is gonna change the way we do ads. I really do. And as a copywriter, I'm psyched by the possibilities of infinite space.

You get what you pay for

In a blog entry called, "The China Price", Nigel Hollis asks if "you get what you pay for" when it comes to China. He reports that 80% of the world's toys come from China, and that "wooden railway toys coated with lead paint" were recently discovered.

This is straight economics. When the price is pushed hard, quality is often the loser. In the US, consumers push price hard. We're told that price is the number one factor in the purchasing decision. Nigel says this:

People are not to blame for wanting the best price, but Western retailers and manufacturers who try to provide the best price by buying their products or ingredients from the cheapest supplier (at home or abroad) are potentially vulnerable.

I agree. People aren't to blame for wanting the lowest price. But they are to blame for not factoring in other hidden costs. People must be aware that when they buy a shirt from Wal-Mart for $1.99 with a Made in China label that there are hidden costs associated with that shirt. Quality is certainly one. The China brand isn't yet associated with quality. But there's also an intuitive cost associated with the shirt. Like 'quality', it's hard to quantify, but that doesn't mean it's hard to identify.

He finishes his post with this question:

Who is ultimately responsible for the quality and safety of the goods we buy?

Some will argue that the market should be responsible. If the "China brand" continues to be blasted with lead toys, bad fish, poisonous toothpaste, there will be a tipping point whereby people will avoid it. However, there could be changes in the labeling laws that make it harder to avoid. How does one avoid eating Chinese ascorbic acid (vitamin C) if it isn't labeled? Likewise, how does one avoid eating Chinese fish if it's merely fish in your local Wal-Mart?

My feeling is, and always has been that there are cost hidden within the China Brand. Although, avoiding it altogether is tough, consumers can make smarter decisions about purchases that will move the market to items that combine quality, safety and price.

Finally, I know this: I would not want to be on the creative team selling brand China.

Web 2.0

Early this morning I did a power point presentation on Web 2.0. My point was to let people here know about the possibilities on the internet. Web 2.0 is a conversation. Not a one way message from agency to consumer, but a way to facilitate a community.

Here's my presentation.



Plus, I spoke.

Copywriting and writing

The other day, a long lost school chum asked me what a copywriter was. It sorta came out like this:

Her: are you still writing?

Me: yes, I'm a copywriter

Her: and that is?

Leading me to ponder what is a copywriter. The simple answer is that I write ads. Product A wants people B to buy their product. We ask them nicely to buy. It's really that simple. But it felt woefully inadequate. Where I work, we have a tagline called Talk Human. It means to speak clearly, like humans do. Because advertising people have the ability to speak marketingese, a language that is more confusing, I'll bet, than French (a language I am currently attempting to relearn so I can teach Autumn).

Anyway, Talk human means talk like you're not writing it down, sort of. Obviously, a copywriter must write it down, I mean it's right there in the title. But it's what 'it' is.

Then it sort of occurred to me. A writer is one who writes sentences and complete thoughts. Writers write articles, novels, movies, TV shows, essays, newspaper articles, even blogs.

Copywriters don't. Our job isn't to write the article, but compact the article into a short pithy description. With products, we don't tell the story of the product, we tell you why you want to get to know the story. We're the preview of the movie, the jacket cover of the book. We're the ad in the magazine offering a reason to try or another reason to buy.

Sometimes our job is to figure out what the medium is -- I once convinced a bank to do podcasts. I'm lucky that i love my job. It makes life less grumpified.

Funny ad, not funny website

This is a funny ad for a beer. It speaks to a nice moment that guys can relate to; which is that sometimes talk a lot. Especially in the dating process. These ads are targeted to an older demographic, the men are a little older, and they are asking the men to switch to a beer that is brewed differently.



Notice that they don't talk about taste, they don't talk about how the 'brewed differently' will make it taste good. They use a funny site gag to reinforce the message they are trying to communicate. Interestingly, it's not a new message. All beers are "brewed differently". Bud brews it's beer different from Coors. However, there's nothing wrong with an advertiser trying to own something everyone else does. If you tell people you brew differently, they might think about your brand differently. And I would presume that this beer is a premium beer, so throwing in the brewed differently sets up the reason for the premium. All good stuff so far.

Except, when you go to the web site. There is nothing going on there. They could at least post the youtube ads on the website. Or talk some more about how men are brewed different. They do talk about the brewing process, but you can tell the tone is different:

"Red Tail Ale is an amber ale brewed in a traditional Old World Manner using premium two-row malted barley, hops, our own special proprietary yeast strain and pure water. Red Tail Ale's recipe calls for generous amounts of Pale and Caramel malt balanced by whole Cascade and Cluster hops, this makes it the substantial, full-bodied amber ale that has over the years become THE LEGEND."

It's missing the clever tone of the ads. Which means, of course, that Mendocino speaks differently to people, depending on their market. And that isn't the boldest strategy. So, thumbs up for the ad, thumbs down for the way it plays out.

How ideas are generated

So, here's the deal. As writers, we come up with ideas. Ideas are inspired from somewhere. I use magazines to come up with ideas. The web. Other ads. It turns out, I use more. Watch this:



I wonder if they did this test a few times, or if it worked once. Still, cool.

Interactive banner ads

This is cool. Across the US, people will see banner ads for the new Saturn Aura. Clicking on the banner ad will launch a spot that uses Google Earth to take them to their nearest Saturn Dealer and meet the manager. Obviously the banner ads will be strategically purchased, and it apparently works on the IP address of the computer. It's all very cool. Take a look here. That's interesting stuff for a monday morning.

Really?

So, I was doing some research on user-created media this aftertoon when I came up on a new ad for the Sony Bravia HDTV. Here's the deal:

The ads will run on regular TV, but people with DVR's (TiVo-like machines) will be able to pick the ending of the ad, based on whether they are a man or a woman. Sounds interesting, until you watch them. Which you can do here.

I'll give this some more thought. But immediately it bugged me that the men's color is blue and the women's is pink. And when the women began singing and dancing about shoes, I almost cried.

This is 2006. does it really come down to the guy is the gangster or the ninja and the gal loves shoes and an over-the-top love story?

Maybe they meant everything to be big and over the top because that's what they are going for in the brand. They are the ones, after-all, who painted a building.

Or maybe it turned out that they couldn't settle on the ending for a guy and a gal that were sufficiently different, so they decided to go to the extreme. Boys kill things, girls buy shoes and fall in love.

Somehow though, as the dad of a 13 week old little girl, their execution just made me sad.