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to April
March 28, 2003
Selling a career in the military during wartime is a challenge. Here’s the link to
two stories in Business 2.0 (the second one reveals key marketing tactics and results):
Advertising
copywriter blog link
Advertising
copywriter blog link
And another to an article in Newsday:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
There are a lot of good lessons here for advertisers, the main one of which is to keep
advertising. Whatever you have to sell, it can’t be harder than this.
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March 25, 2003
UPS is re-branding, and here’s the article in CBS’ MarketWatch:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
First, paying $20 million to throw away 42 years of visual equity is stupid. It doesn’t matter that they no longer accept packages tied with strings; it was visual shorthand for a package, any package, for crying out loud. The new logo carefully represents nothing.
Second, changing the slogan from the concise “Worldwide Delivery Service” to the meaningless “Synchronizing the World of Commerce” is stupid. “We Run the Tightest Ship in the Shipping Business” was a great slogan, one with both internal and external branding. (What’s internal branding, you ask? Here’s an example: if I work for the Tightest Ship in the Shipping Business, that gives me a pretty good idea how to go about my job, whether I’m the CEO or a shipping clerk. But, if I work for the company that is Synchronizing the World of Commerce, what the heck does that mean to me? A slogan is meant to rally the troops. It comes, by way of the Irish slogorne (“battle cry”), from the Gaelic sluagh ghairm, meaning “army cry” or “cry to the multitude.”)
Third, because of this stupidity, I believe that UPS will lose market share over the next three years. It’s not entirely the bad re-branding that’ll be at fault; it’s also having executives dumb enough to have commissioned and implemented this nonsense.
You know, it occurs to me that there’s no money in smart branding - encouraging
clients to stay the course and persevere, building their brand equity day-by-day and
dollar-by-dollar. All the money is in dumb branding - encouraging clients to dump years of
brand equity in favor of some slick, meaningless logo and jargon-filled, new age slogan.
There is something seriously wrong with that picture.
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March 24, 2003
Here are the results of a poll in Ad Age, about changing advertising practices because of
the war:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
The question asked was “Does it make sense to shut down advertising, further weakening the economy during the new kinds of conflicts we’re engaged in?” Yes, the question is poorly written, but the intent is clear. Out of 1,089 people, about 751 (67%) voted no to curtailing advertising - not a surprising result given that the livelihood of the typical Ad Age reader depends on advertising.
Ad Age apparently fielded few responses from those engaged in the creative side of advertising. So, speaking as an advertising copywriter, here is my response to the question: No, it does not make sense to curtail advertising, nor to reduce the commitment to the brand strategy; however, it does make sense to evaluate advertising tactics (including the media buy and creative execution) in light of current events. By way of example, let’s take a hypothetical product, say, a household cleaner. If the media buy included Time magazine or, on TV, The Nightly News, I could definitely see reducing the immediate spend there and increasing the spend in, say, Good Housekeeping or a cable-access Home & Garden Show. Likewise, if the creative execution was over-the-top war-like, as might happen when advertising a product that kills germs and wipes out stains, then that should be adjusted.
This could be a good thing for copywriters and art directors. Suddenly (and at last),
cheekiness for cheekiness’ sake is revealed to be simply irrelevant. We could see the
rise of creative that actually respects the product, respects the medium, and,
most-important, respects the audience, breaking through the fourth wall in unexpected
ways.
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March 20, 2003
An article from the Wall Street Journal, via Yahoo News, about advertisers rethinking
their advertising plans during war:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
I’m not going to address the issue of whether or not to advertise during wartime, having done so weeks ago.
Instead, I’ll talk about the creative side of the issue. I believe that some ads
(such as the Miller “cat-fight” ad) are bad creative and an inappropriate tactic
at any time, not just during war. Demeaning women is neither creative nor necessary to
sell beer. Perhaps the war makes advertisers more aware of the mass in mass
media; more aware of audience segments outside their target market which frequently
make up the bulk of mass media reach. If one result of the war is plain old-fashioned
respect for the audience, that would be a good thing for advertising.
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March 19, 2003
The U.S. State Department cancelled a $15 million image advertising campaign headed by
veteran advertising whiz Charlotte Beers. The Arab outreach infomercials in particular
fell under heavy criticism as “happy Muslim ads,” and most stations - both
government run and private - refused to air them. Here’s the link to the story by
UPI:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
And another to an earlier story from ABC News 13, Panama City, Florida:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
It’s tempting to blame Beers, but the key hint lies in the long approval process through layers of bureaucracy - no wonder the State Department ended up talking to themselves. The people in the target market were forgotten, an unforgiveable advertising sin. These people don’t know us and have no reason - in their minds - to trust us. The task of the advertising should have been to build that trust, not dive in with a transparent, we-oriented, propaganda piece.
A noble effort at heart, but the advertising strategy was so far out of touch with the
intended audience that it negated everything else.
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March 17, 2003
Al Ries (Positioning, etc.) has an article in Ad Age titled “Why Marketing
People Get It Wrong:”
Advertising
copywriter blog link
Normally I agree with Ries, and I mostly do in this case, but I think he missed something in his set-up. The litany of words in that Infiniti FX45 ad are less an attempt at communication as a (bad) attempt at positioning.
I have seen with my own eyes the kinds of documents that lead to this sort of advertising drivel. They ask fuzzy questions like “If the product were a person, it would be ...” and “If the product were an animal, it would be ...” and “Product’s key emotional attributes.” The list (renegade, fearless, unexpected, bold, true, spontaneous, curious, etc.) is likely pulled straight off an actual creative brief.
Now, those questions are not bad ones to consider as part of the creative process. They are, however, very bad ones to over-think, which is what often happens. Stuck with a form to fill out, someone fills it to the brim, piling thought upon thought until the creative brief is sunk in minutae. “Ah, now that’s a detailed brief,” the person thinks.
This positioning-by-thesaurus fails for two reasons. First, because positioning doesn’t work once you get past one concept, one thought, even, if possible, one word (note Ries’ automotive branding examples at the end of his article). Second, because positioning carries within it the concept of competition. “Renegade” is perhaps competitive, in that there’s an implied majority being rejected; most of the other words are not competitive singly and cannot be competitive as a group.
What’s wrong, as I see it, is not that there was no attempt at positioning, but
that it was done so very poorly.
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March 15, 2003
A study of generic orange juice ads showed that (by golly) they worked! Each dollar in
advertising led to an additional 0.62 gallons of orange juice sold. The article is from
The Ledger, in Lakeland, Florida:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
The study also points out that brand advertising did little to increase total
per-capita consumption of orange juice, but then, that’s not the point of brand
advertising. Generally speaking, the goal of category advertising is to increase market
size; the goal of brand advertising is to increase market share. It takes both to
have a healthy brand in a healthy category. It’s nice to see that the old thinking
about the roles of category and brand advertising continue to be validated.
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March 13, 2003
Everything old is new again: an article from the Cox News Service in The Springfield News
Sun, Springfield, Ohio, about blurring the boundaries between advertising and television
programming:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
It’s the return of the Westinghouse Theater! Can the rise of Rinsoville be far
behind? (N.B.: “Rinsoville” was part of a tongue-in-cheek chapter title in James
Thurber’s excellent study of the radio serial, “Soapland,” in The Beast
in Me and Other Animals. Read it and see the future in the past.)
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March 12, 2003
On a lighter note, here’s a story I love. Here’s a link to the blurb in the
Cincinnati Enquirer, about how one advertising agency turned the tables on the
traditional pro-bono pitch:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
Anyone who’s worked in an ad agency knows the business value of doing pro-bono
work, and also the challenge of competing for pro-bono accounts. Yes, compete - I
have seen 100-page RFPs for these kinds of advertising accounts. Now,
Cincinnati-based Barefoot Advertising has challenged area non-profits to compete for their
services in the form of two advertising campaigns. I hope it works. I hope they get lots
of agencies and organizations competing for their work. I hope their work makes a real
difference to two small, previously overlooked non-profits. And, I hope their work wins
boxfuls of accolades for them. Starting with this one.
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March 10, 2003
Okay, this one makes me scared and angry. Connecticut is now taxing creative services and
production services related to advertising, public relations, and direct mail. Here’s
a link to the article in Ad Age:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
A 3% tax on creative services and production services is nothing less than a Value-Added Tax, plain and simple. And, according to the article, Connecticut is not alone; Arkansas and Nebraska are considering similar measures.
It seems to me that advertising agencies and public relations firms in Connecticut are potentially d-e-a-d, dead. A media company can just increase the price of the (un-taxed) media buy, and charge zero for creative and production services, side-stepping the tax; for ad agencies and p.r. firms, their creative and production services are their products, and they’re going to be saddled with both paying and keeping track of a new tax.
Every service business needs to be very, very worried about this. State legislators
spent recklessly during boom times, and now, instead of having money set aside to handle a
cyclical downturn in the economy, they turn to reckless “emergency” taxation as
the ready answer. The new tax takes effect on April 1, but the real April Fools are anyone
- consumers and businesspeople alike - who ignore the devastating economic effect a trend
toward Value-Added Taxation will have, not just on the cost of goods and services, but on
the cost of compliance and, indeed, of doing business at all.
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March 7, 2003
An article from the Contra Costa Times about how advertising is intruding itself into the
movie-going experience:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
These advertisers are missing the boat here. There’s a terrific opportunity to
provide sponsored or brand-centric “shorts,” and web-driven
“newsreels,” modeling the movie-going experience on the old days. Again, this
involves thinking of the audience first, and providing worthwhile entertainment -
otherwise, movie-goers will simply start arriving 20 minutes late. If in-theater
advertising remains formatted as ads, even in extended theatrical format, I doubt that the
recall rate will remain higher than that of television advertising, especially once the
novelty factor wears off.
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March 6, 2003
Yahoo! News picked up this press release from Macromedia about an “industry
initiative to improve the online advertising experience:”
Advertising
copywriter blog link
I read it, and I read it again, and one thing became obvious. What they’re
concerned about, is improving the online advertising experience for advertisers.
There is little concern expressed for the online advertising experience for potential
consumers, except to the extent that the advertising be effective (which it won’t
be, as long as they keep putting themselves first). I have a problem with defining
advertising as an “experience” anyway. Advertising is an act of persuasion,
which requires more involvement on the part of the potential consumer than just sitting
there having “an experience.”
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March 5, 2003
Two stories from the San Diego Union-Tribune today . The first is about a recent U.S.
Supreme Court case that pit Victor’s Little Secret against Victoria’s Secret in
a trademark dilution case:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
In a nutshell, the U.S. Supreme Court said that it’s not enough to show that the use of a similar name was of benefit - fair or unfair - to the lesser-known brand. Instead, evidence of damage to the better-known brand must be given, putting the burden of proof squarely on the better-known brand to show harm. The case is now back in a Federal Appeals Court, where Victoria’s Secret will have the opportunity to prove damages.
I have mixed feelings about this. Obviously Victor’s Little Secret is leveraging the branding associated with Victoria’s Secret, and planned to do so from its start-up in 1998. (Note that you probably didn’t have to think more than a second to know what kind of products you might find at Victor’s Little Secret.) Yet, “Victor” is the owner’s name, and one ought to be able to use one’s own given name in a business enterprise.
The ramifications are pretty big. For instance, someone named Ford could go into the
automotive business (and, conversely, why should he or she be prevented from using his or
her own name?), as long as Ford Motor Company can’t provide “proof of real
harm” in its trademark dilution suit. It also means that made-up brand names, such
as, say “Compaq,” may have a future edge over proper names, such as
“Dell,” or existing words, such as “Gateway,” especially as the brand
begins to extend its reach.
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Next up are two articles (a big news day today) about advertisers bracing for
war by cutting ad placements (and, thereby, slashing their budgets):
Advertising
copywriter blog link
Advertising
copywriter blog link
Having your brand vanish during wartime is exactly the wrong thing to do, especially if
events turn out to take longer than our government would have us believe. Granted, the
creative may need to change to reflect new realities, but that should have been built into
every advertiser’s contingency planning all along. Disasters, natural and man-made
alike, happen all the time. History has shown that advertisers who kept their brand before
the public grew when good times returned; those who vanished when times were rough stayed
gone. I find it telling that the guys who intuitively understand this are the car dealer
and the furniture store, who depend on a constant flow of customers regardless of the
economy; most smart retailers, in fact, will act in similar ways with a combined tactical
approach. However, it also appears that a whole new generation of advertisers are about to
re-learn the same old lessons about consistent branding.
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March 3, 2003
My goodness, self-referential already! I am quoted as an “industry expert” in
the Asian Business Strategy Ezine, published by the Asia Pacific Management Forum
(www.apmforum.com), in an article about branding titled Building a Brand and Losing
Your Shirt by Kristian Gotthelf:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
Here’s the link to the article on this website from which that quote was pulled: Advertising strategy and other
lies. And, having said what I needed to say, I don’t have anything to add.
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Backwards in time to February 2003
Main page | Consumer goods | Food services | Free red pen | Healthcare | Hospitality & tourism | Internet | Manufacturing | Packaged goods | Portfolio | Real estate & construction | Retail & restaurants | Service | Technology
Why should you hire me as your advertising copywriter? | FAQ
Advertising strategy and other lies
An advertising copywriter’s bookshelf:
recommended books
Brands and branding: a white paper
Do you make these mistakes in
advertising?
Free (yes, free) advertising copywriting
resources
Four ad copy traps that ensnare even
experienced copywriters
How to
become an advertising copywriter
How to write a brochure: advice from an advertising copywriter
How to write better ads
Long John Silver on writing ads
More career advice: what’s it like being
an advertising copywriter?
Napoleon’s advice to entrepreneurs,
Part I: starting the enterprise
Napoleon’s advice to entrepreneurs,
Part II: the entrepreneurial character
Napoleon’s advice to entrepreneurs,
Part III: growing the enterprise
The economy (and what to do about it)
The Tightwad
Marketing project
Advertising copywriting
mentorship
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Awards & honors | Curriculum vitae | Services
Phone and fax: (619) 465-6100
John Kuraoka, freelance advertising copywriter
6877 Barker Way
San Diego, California
92119-1301