All You Need Is A Good Idea!

WHAT’S A NICE PRODUCT LIKE YOU DOING IN A PLACE LIKE THIS?

It was a long ago copy exploratory for Anacin. (A copy exploratory is where the ad agency is in crisis mode and the entire creative department pitches in to come up with new ideas. It is more panicky than a new business pitch, because here the business is yours to lose.)

You can read the exciting details about my good idea for the TV campaign in my book, pages 134-138. But it is the print executions I want to discuss. My plan was to put my tag line, with no other copy, in places no aspirin ads had gone before. Sections of a newspaper, for example, that were inherently headache provoking, such as the real estate pages. There, among all the listings for homes and apartments—filled with prices and decisions guaranteed to be nerve racking—was the simple message, “What would you give for some Anacin right now?” and an image of an Anacin bottle. Or picture the same graphic and slogan in the midst of the help wanted section. Or the stock market pages. Or the financial section.

What brought this all to mind was a recent blog of Drew McMellan’s that had a graphic of a product with very unexpected, but brilliant shelf placement. Head to his page to see for yourself, and maybe print the picture and paste it on your computer for inspiration.

My question for you, as usual, is to how you can adapt this thinking for your Phufkel. Is there a media buy or product placement or any other kind of creative twist that you can use for yourself? Is there a blog you can link to that seemingly has nothing in common with yours, till you get the light bulb moment? How about an ad for a stain remover in the restaurant section?

How about you think of some for yourself?

BE A WINNER

In the old days—less than 1,000 days ago— you would run a promotion that required a customer to scratch a card to reveal the prize they had won, redeemable at a retail location or by mailing the card or bottle cap to you.

How black-and-white-television that seems today. As the above card from Subway demonstrates, now the rubbing reveals a code that forces customers to go to the sponsor’s web site to find out what they might have won.

As we know, the real reason for the use of promotions like this is that the customer is required to fill in personal information to access the contest site. And you now have harvested their e-mails so you can offer them additional promotions, coupons, etc. in the future.

Except…you have no idea how many people have gone to the website, saw they had to fill in all the “required” fields and left, perhaps with a sour taste in their mouths, because they knew exactly what you were doing.

So what would happen if instead, you did this: When someone clicks on the “Find out if you have won a prize” page, give them a choice. They can fill in whatever information you request, or just go directly to the next page even if they have left all fields blank.

I can hear the left-brainers now. The whole point, they will say, is to accumulate addresses, they will not use the information to spam anyone, and they will offer additional contests, and special offers to the entrants.

They may be more correct than I am. But somehow I feel that you can more readily build a community by not forcing anyone to join. By offering a choice of filling in the info, rather than forcing them, people might be more likely to offer up the information you want anyway. They certainly will have a more upbeat opinion about your company. And they will definitely give better word of mouth.

Of course, that is just my opinion. What do you think?

STOP WINEING

When Rodney Dangerfield, of “I don’t’ get no respect” fame, was asked what he thought the future might bring, his response was something to the effect of, “The best I can look forward to is someday getting sick and dying.”

Now that I’ve cheered us all up, let me point out something else you can be sure of. Whatever good marketing idea you develop, someone else will use it someday. Ideas are simply out there, often popping into several heads at once, since we are all exposed to the same movies, TV, news, headlines and other stimuli. And, of course, they may also just steal it.

For example, the Wall Street Journal has had a wine club for a while. Hard to miss their full page introductory offers; buy a case of wine at a reduced price, and also get a free fancy corkscrew set. Now I see the New York Times is doing the same thing. Sure, different wines, different incentive, but basically identical.

Now, I am not taking sides. For all I know, Popular Science magazine has had a wine club for ten years. My point is that later, or sooner, your good idea will appear elsewhere. And there is probably nothing practical you can do to protect it.

But there is one useful thing you can do: Don’t worry about it. Just keep developing new creative answers. The better you get at creating good ideas, the less you have to worry about any one in particular being ripped off. Because you will have moved on, becoming as enamored of your latest creative progeny as you were of its elder siblings who may have been adopted by your competition.

What do you think?

UPDATE: Just found out that USA Today is joining the wine club frenzy.

THE WOOLF IS SO RIGHT

“Literature is strewn with the wreckage of those who have minded beyond reason the opinions of others.” Virginia Woolf

 

I know that the marketing messages we devise are in no sense literature. But Ms. Woolf’s thought is important for all us who pound the keys, particularly if your goal is the art of persuasion.

Since many of us are big on audacity but weak on creative confidence, we often bounce our ideas off others. (The truth is that we are not seeking constructive criticism; we are aiming for applause.) Yet we tend to value the comments very highly; we defer to observations from those with whom we otherwise share absolutely no common interests or attitudes. Why should we care about the insight—to glorify the input—of someone, regarding a headline or turn of phrase, when we would not care a fig for the opinion of that same person when he is providing a movie or restaurant recommendation?

The truth is that we do. And to a certain point, it is reasonable. The problem occurs when you place more importance on the opinions of others than the convictions of yourself.

“Marketing communications are sprinkled with the debris of those who have heeded beyond common sense the judgment of others.” (Sorry Virginia.)

What do you think?

YOUR BACK TO THE WALL

Your goal is a good one. You want to open a store and feature one product, rather than a wide range of goods. That way, you figure, you will more quickly get a brand identity built. And that way you can create a marketing message that is single minded, banging home one simple, powerful persuasive message, based on one key attribute. You will sell other items of course, but they will be related in some way, and not the focus.

Let’s say you’re going with muffins. You will offer a wide range of flavors, and ingredients, and hope to soon become the go-to place for those who crave muffins. And you will devote all your energy, physical and creative, to getting the word out.

But then you say, well, I do have to pay the rent, and my employees, and my suppliers. So you broaden your appeal, in hopes of broadening your audience. Coffee seems a natural offering. Then maybe add other items like bagels, and cupcakes and croissants. After all, our customer has to get them somewhere. Then fruit and cheese and as long as you have your oven going, pizza, soups, hot dogs. And how much space can a Gelato machine take up?

Here’s today’s thought. Soon you are another food place, offering everything to everyone. And because you are now expanding your offerings, you are no longer forced to focus on your muffins. You no longer have to create ideas that will produce a unique identity, because you no longer have a unique identity. When you leave yourself wriggle room, seems to me the odds are that you are gonna wriggle. If muffin sales dip, you are not forced to create good ideas to publicize your muffins, because your back is not to the wall; you have other items to feature and push.

Starbucks is coffee. Crumbs, a New York institution, is the cupcake place. Tropicana is orange juice. So when people want coffee, cupcakes or orange juice they come to the top of mind immediately. Yes, they all offer other things, but in a word association test, they would each be the one-word association.

How many words would it take to describe who you are?

 

I'M SAVING UP FOR A FRAPPUCCINO

By now you have heard about Starbucks shifting the pricing of its drinks. (“By now” currently means immediately or within 12 hours. So it no longer is only bad news that travels fast; every piece of information zooms around the globe more speedily than a fly evades a swatter. Amazing.)

Anyway, as you know, some drinks will cost less; some will be more expensive. The marketing aspect that was most interesting to me was the comment by Kenneth Davids, editor of Coffee Review. His insight was that Starbucks was safe raising the prices of their specialty drinks because they are where the company best differentiates itself. Meaning that for the “normal” coffee choices, the basic beverages you can purchase anywhere—McDonalds, your local coffee shop, Dunkin’—prices will remain the same, or even be lowered.

By limiting the price increases to what makes Starbucks unique and superior they are more likely to keep customers who were, and are, willing to pay more for unusual and personalized treats.

So, faithful reader, what is it that differentiates you? Price, colors, service, location, variety…? Those are the things you can capitalize on that are more price elastic than your commodity offerings. And it seems logical that the more you can create differences and communicate them, the better off your bottom line will be.

What do you think?

THIS ABOVE ALL

Shakespeare, in Hamlet, has Polonius prepare his son for travel abroad with advice that includes: "This above all—to thine own self be true.” If Shakespeare were the CEO of your company, and Polonius the Creative Director, it would make excellent marketing advice as well.

One way to create a great brand is not to be distracted, especially when temptation knocks. If you sell Phufkels, and want to be known as the best place to go for Phufkels, stick to Phufkels and closely related items. Just because you suddenly have an opportunity to get a great deal on shoetrees, don’t start adding them to your product mix. You will dilute your image, weaken your identity, and become “another place” instead of “the place.”

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t expand your brand. But be true to what you are. Aunt Jemima has a wonderful reputation for pancake syrups and mixes. So a new Frozen Blueberry product is right on. But should Zagat surveys, which has made its reputation on reviewing and rating restaurants, expand to rating doctors, as this article in the New York Times says it has?  It may depend on whether Zagat is thought of as a brand that rates restaurants, or a brand that does reviews.

You’ll have to decide for yourself, of course, what is relevant to building your brand, and what is a disruption. But as Shakespeare also (almost) said, “The course of true marketing never did run smooth.”

 

So an elephant walks through a flowerbed...

There is an old definition (old if you’ve heard it before; if not, it is brand new) that explains the differences among advertising, promotion, publicity, public relations and marketing. It uses a Circus metaphor, and goes like this: “If you paint a sign that says, ‘The circus is coming to town Saturday,’ that’s advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk him through town, that a promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor’s flowerbed, that’s publicity. If you get the mayor to laugh about it, that’s public relations. And if you planned the whole thing, that’s marketing.”

I like the updated version I found, which includes, “If you make the elephant run through the mayor’s flower bed, that’s guerrilla marketing. If you run a contest and ask everyone to create their own videos about circus animals running amok, that’s user generated content. If they post their videos and forward them to their friends, that’s viral marketing.”

Have you updated your marketing programs? Are you still satisfied to just let the elephant walk through the flowerbed, or are you going after user-generated content? Still just painting signs, or are you doing something viral?

My question for you is: Are you going to be the ringmaster, or the clown?

YOU’RE THE BEST

When telling people about your product or service, there seem to be certain words and phrases that get used over and over. Certainly the use of superlatives is easier than actually thinking of new fresh language. And because they are superlatives—and your product is clearly the best of its type—you believe they truthfully describe the obvious superiority of your product.

So every product improvement claims it is “Revolutionary.”  Every new movie is “The Year’s Best.” Each innovative piece of software offers “The Easiest,” or  “Most Reliable.” And, though obviously impossible, the new whatever is “The Last ---- You Will Ever Buy.” And why is every application for the IPhone “The Most Addictive”?

You can see it clearly when casually strolling down a street lined with food establishments. Each one claims, according to its ethnicity, “The Best Pizza, The Best Hot Dog, The Best Ice Cream, The Best Deli.” As do, similarly, the comparable stores on the next thoroughfare.

These are invisible, indistinguishable claims that do nothing except provide you with the bogus feeling that you are actually doing marketing. It is not a waste of time, because it takes none. But it is a waste of money.

You certainly did not start your business enthusiastically aspiring to offer a me-too product. There must be something intrinsically better/different in your product or service that will provide a basis for a marketing communication effort. Your campaign must be grounded in that difference, using a combination of words that are fresh, arresting, unexpected. It must be a thought that comes out of who and what you are, not merely layered on because you saw someone else use them, or you like they boastful way they sound.

Not always easy, but always the best way.

THE MOST TERRIFYING PART OF MARKETING

It says, Gulp, “Your ad goes here.” And you’re the one it is talking to, the one who has to create the advertisement. Not the committee, not the group, not the panel. For now, it is just you and the computer.

(Oh, “they” will be there all right. But not until after it is no longer a bare page. That’s when they’ll show up, comment, edit, change emphasis, and revise. And depending upon whether they are actually right, or they are higher up in the pecking order, you will accommodate their suggestions.)

Hopefully you’ve read All You Need Is A Good Idea! So you are not completely adrift. But it sure is still scary. To give you all the guidance and advice you need would take a book, and it did. But here are three quick hints:

• Don’t wait for it to be perfect.
• Make certain it has a “Wow” in it.
• What’s in it for the reader?

That barely scratches the surface, so how about this real world exercise, using the empty billboard below. When you are working on your next marketing communications project, how about creating a headline that fits in that space. Yep, probably eight words or less. No, it is not easy. Then again, today’s blog title only had six, and it got you here.

Let me know how it works out.