MAKING PRINT THAT STOPS AND SELLS

I have to admit that when it comes to Print advertising, I am a complete David Ogilvy approach disciple. He loved print .......and I agree with him, but he also had the most fantastic eye for great print copy.

Based on his thoughts and my experience, the way I look at print by working through 3 key things:

#1 Most important thing: powerful visual
It must have the power to stop people paging through the magazine. It should be bold and interesting. It should be proactive and arresting. It should draw the viewer in

#2 Most key thing: Headline
This needs to sell the benefit. It must be very clear on the benefit.

If you are a David Ogilvy follower he would also argue that (1) headlines with news work and are read more (this is kind of close as it says "Now you can....." and (2) headlines with the brand and product name in are recalled best.

# 3 Key issue: Branding.
When people read then tend to scan from top left to bottom right on page. Though as the visual is the key thing that stops them, they may start in the centre of a page if the visual is there. But the best layout work with eye flow as it helps drive branding. You get stopped by the visual, get a clear benefit headline and the go to the pack which is bottom right hand corner. Ideally put a competitive brand promise or claim under the pack (e.g. 2mm lift that lasts).

Agency always seem to want small packs. Expect to have disagreements on this topic. It needs to be big enough to help consumers know what they will be looking for.

And which pack? If you sell a product in a box for example, I lean towards having the box with the inner package as well - as often that is more beautiful.

#4: Of some interest to a few: Body copy
Very few people will read your precious body copy, and so I always see this as a bonus.
If you can make it more visual to communicate something even if not read that is best. Ogilvy spoke about using huge quantities of body copy when he wanted to give consumers reassurance there was substance behind the product. On some of the products I work on where science and performance is key I like it when we have graphs or demo type visuals. Even if never read it leaves a visual impression.

Remember that in 9 out 10 times only you, the copy writer, the legal clearance people and your Mum will be just about the only people to read your body copy in detail

What do you think? Email me or leave a comment by clicking on the comment button on the blog posting

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

This is more of a plug than an analysis, but about an interesting new business that has just been started by one of my nephews (Mark Ballance) in London.

Mark (with an MA in Sustainable Design & Development) and Peter Perstel (with an MA in Product and Spatial design) have created a design company called Credo Design (sustainable design, materials and promotion) which meets a growing trend and taps into the growing awareness of the need for more environmental and sustainable solutions around us.

They believe is that you should not have to compromise on style and fashion to do so. Both studied product design and they met and formulated the idea for this new business while working for the Creative Resource Sustainable Materials Library.

Their brand belief is about: living for sustainably aware design, materials and product promotion. They offer sustainable material consulting, product design and development an more.

Some of the projects they have worked on for clients like Steenberg Wine Estates, Nulife Glass and CCAT, plus some other conceptual designs are worth viewing on their site at: http://www.credodesign.co.uk/projects.html

You can contact them at info@credodesign.co.uk or via their site: http://www.credodesign.co.uk/

despite what some people think, ads can't make people buy what they don't need....

THROUGH THE COMPETITORS EYES PART 2

My posting about how to better understand and predict competitive reactions got a lot of comment and debate going.

This is what Brian W had to say:

"I loved your piece on looking at the competition & marketplace through their eyes. It's such a great way to provide new insights on the category and re-evaluate the way you do Things. 

Three things I learned from having done this on a few categories;

1. Be multi disciplinary. Sales, finance, operations and R&D frequently provide valuable insights while the marketing community often initially struggles to get passed long accepted mantras such as 'they have twice our budget/staff' etc

2. Roll play 3 rounds.  Or in other words, if we succeed in our strategy what's the worst thing they could do to us, what would we do then and how might they come back at us a second time. I wonder if Innocent Drinks would have launched Orange Juice in the UK if Tropicana hadn't launched into smoothies...

3. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Having worked in both large and small businesses, one of most underutilized strategies for big brands is alliances. Who is battling with your competitor or talking to your target customers in related/ complementary categories? Would they promote or sample your product: e.g. Johnson's was being outspent on advertising adult wipes in the UK a few years ago and new it couldn't match the spend, so the brand team did a deal with Kellogg’s to promote and sample on their packs, with Kellogg’s covering much of the cost involved.

Hope it triggers some useful thoughts!"

RoC Retinol Anti-Cellulite TV Ad 2008

This is an ad I worked on. I posted it to have a record over time of ads I have done.

This ad was a huge success, doubling market share in the category where it was run. So that was nice...

To watch the ad on YouTube: click here

PREDICTING COMPETITIVE REACTION...

I got a query from a colleague asking:

"Do you have any formats or templates we could use to lead the team through an exercise intended to anticipate and address potential competitive moves. We are assessing the impact of some of our new product launches, and attempting to proactively anticipate competitive reaction. Do you have any suggestions on how best to approach this type of exercise?"

There is a technique that I have used that worked really well in some training I was involved with and this came to mind, it is called THROUGH THEIR EYES

This was my suggestion:

"I have found that the exercise that I have used when done with senior people works really well. It was a "though their eyes" exercise where we got teams to think as the competitor would in reality.. So immerse them in recent launches etc and then get them to identify what drives the competition (e.g. is it insights, claims, spend, range etc), what their core competency is, how they make decisions (e.g. are they very centralised) and then get people to highlight that and based on that what they would do if they were acting like P&G or L'Oreal etc

I found that senior people really managed to think "though the eyes" of the competition and come up with very varied and different reactions that felt like the competition - and surprised the teams at how different it was to how we think as a company. A simple approach, which of course can then be costed and worked into more substance"


Do you have any better ideas and approaches that have worked for you? Please email me or leave a comment on the blog post right now!

Read Part 2 with some more suggestions: click here

Axe: Soap.. use a woman's soap and you will smell like one

A very simple and clear message in this ad. You only need to see it once and can you ever reach out and use your missus's soap or gel again...

I love the ads that Axe/ Lynx do. Always entertaining, but clear messages.

Watch the ad on YouTube or on the blog posting

Hovis "lad" ad: a trend for brands?

There are a few brands that are turing back and using more and more appealing to heritage, maybe a reaction to the drive my grocery stores knocking brands and offering cheaper alternatives.

Hovis have, to be fair, always used a heritage appeal but this latest ad (which is more of an "epic") tries both to be a mini story to encourage you to watch it as well as make it just that bit harder to not reach for the brand... time will tell...

Watch the ad on YouTube or on the blog posting

Telling your agency what to do, and then hating them for it...

I had expected a big outcry to my posting called "At what point do you tell your agency what to do" (http://www.garybembridge.com/2008/08/at-what-point-do-you-tell-your-agency.html) as it was quite provocative,...... though based on experience. and occasional frustration.....

I was pleased to get the point of view from Joe (who is ex client and now heads up a major agency in the States) who wrote the following to the post on Facebook:

Comment # 1:
"If you know exactly what to do, fire them, save the money you're paying them and do it yourself."

Comment # 2:
"My honest answer is never....the execution is where the magic happens and if you dictate that you are becoming the creative director and the best folks at the agency will focus their magic and vision elsewhere....maybe not right away but it will happen and your reputation as a client will be cast."

So you tell at your peril.

The secret is probably HOW you feedback to the agency.

One of my most vivid learning was when I had my own very small consultancy and had a young but very talented creative chap working with me. I saw how he would work like a demon for clients that feedback about what they were trying to achieve, what they hoped would "pop".... and how when clients asked for "blue and capital letters" ended up getting "blue and capital letters"... and ended up hating us as they did not like what they got....

Your thoughts... email me or leave a comment on the blog posting

BRANDTAGS.NET: what your brand stands for!

The Brandtags.net site is a really interesting site that is also some sort of brand and brand association experiment. You are shown a series of brand logos and have to type in a word or short phrase that comes to mind as soon as you see the logo. This helps show what brands stand for (so if your brand logo is not there, get it added!). So the site is building up some interesting data. You can view what people have said for each brand. For example click on this link for what JOHNSON & JOHNSON stands for , or here for BAND-AID based on people who have rated it so far

There is also a "Battle of the Brands" where you chose a brand that wins from two of them: click here

There is also a blog that goes with the site: click here

Tesco offering a cheaper alternative. The end of brands?

Watching TV here in the UK last night, I was struck by an ad for Tesco.com (the online ordering and delivery grocery shopping division of the wildly successful Tesco).

The ad, which shows a branded bread loaf, tells that when you shop on Tesco.com that you will be offered a lower priced alternative when you make a selection. It then shows a Tesco branded loaf showing how much you can save.

As someone who has grown up in a branded manufacturing environment, the approach gave me a shudder. On the surface, while it looks like a consumer serving approach that offers to save them money, it also makes a possible comment on the role of brand from this massive retailer.

After making me shudder, it did though also make me wonder what consumers would do if they selected the brand I work on and were offered a cheaper alternative. If the value of my brand is not giving them what they want, then I probably deserve to lose them. Value, of course is more than just price - it includes performance (perceived and real), aspirations, trust etc, and at a price that the consumer feels is worth it.

So while on the surface the Tesco approach is disturbing, as a brand you have to be sure that what you offer your consumer offers great value - and if your bundle is no better than Tesco brand (as I assume most of their recommendations will be for own brand) then you deserve to lose them.

What do you think? Email me or post a comment on the blog post now

Watch the Tesco ad that offers a cheaper alternative

Tesco.com - Cheaper ..
Watch the ad...

A loaf of bread is seen on screen with its price as the narrator advises that Tesco.com is determined to help us spend less, so if we choose a top brand online, they will suggest a cheaper alternative. Another cheaper loaf is shown with its price, and she continues that they don't want us finding a cheaper alternative elsewhere.

The end of "Real Beauty".......

And so that is that. After the endless hype and acres of PR that it generated, what industry people had predicted was correct. The Dove “Real Beauty” campaign failed to shift product. Unilever have announced that they will be now be focusing on “product superiority” and have actually put the global task of generating a new campaign for the key Dove Bar to pitch.

The fundamental problem with the Dove “Real Beauty” approach, which I have written about before, is that while it was fantastic that the brand had found a brand belief that would resonate they never found a way to link it to products. It also suffered from a credibility issue, as at the same time as they hailed beauty in all shapes and sizes they were selling beauty products. Products that promised to improve what you have.

I always thought that the key concept behind celebrating beauty in all shapes and sizes was interesting, but they could have done that and actually celebrated all beauty – including the most beautiful and aspirational instead of getting more and more bizarre and limited. They also absolutely needed to link to products and product superiority. In the studies and work I have done to date I have not found a product that was not seen and perceived as superior that had a strong emotional bond. By forgetting this and focusing on the hype they missed the fundamental fact that consumers buy products to work. This is especially true in beauty care where people buy hope in a bottle as much as the physical results.

At the time the “Real Beauty” campaign broke, many people within the beauty area, myself included, felt that it would not work as it missed some of the fundamentals in consumer understanding and category understanding. It seems that this is also Unilever’s conclusion as sales have just not materialized to the degree they should have.

At what point do you tell your agency exactly what to do?

At what point do you tell your agency exactly what to do?

This is the on-going dilemma in any advertising development process.

I think that there are a few times that you do that and these include:

(1) When you have a great and really big Creative Idea, and they are being too precious about the detail in the execution.

Big Ideas are the key, and that is what an agency are there for. That is what you really are buying as if you could do it then you would (and should) be in an agency and not a client. The thing that agencies are there to do is to develop and sell are big ideas.

The problem is you are there to sell shed loads of products and are taking the immediate risks. This is when you agree that you have bought the idea, but you will insist on a whacking great pack shot so people can see what they should be looking out for, that you will spend more time on how the product works and why it is better than others - and you will want more time on the demo. You are not making art, you are making an ad.

But make damn sure you have a big idea and a strong execution before you start telling them what you want to do within in. If you screw that up you will really have nothing.

(2) Only when you are really clear about who is making the call
One major problem is that clients tend to develop creative with layers and committees. You have to be really clear about who decides and who tells agency what they need to do. The President may have ideas but are they the one to tell the agency what to do or add. If you are not clear you will end up with a Mir Space Station - that had all sort added and put on ... and finally was let to drift into the atmosphere and be destroyed

Any others?

email me or add a comment on the blog posting

50 Golden Brands

50GoldenBrands.com: The Marketing Society (UK) was launched in 1959 (same year as I was born), and they have started their 50th anniversary celebrations (a few months early but they seem in more of a hurry to get to 50 than I am!).

Part of the celebration is that they have launched a FANTASTIC site called "50 Golden Brands". They have chosen 50 brands, one for each year, that they feel was the star of that year. If you click on the year and brand they then have an ad and some background and why they chose it.
You also get a chance to enter the debate about of they made the right choice or what you feel should be added.

This site can be addictive. It features brands based on their success mostly in the UK, but not exclusively. This is not only a lot of fun, but a great resource for brand builders!