Advertising
Which retailer is happier?
And the happy war begins. Two beverage retailers. Both running the same advertising message - happy. But who will be happiest of all? Hopefully, the consumer.
You decide: Here is the first spot for Pepsi launching it's new smiling logo. Tomorrow, I'll post Coke as it is launching today. You can also catch the commercial launch tonight on, what else? American Idol.
Does optimism sell retail?
Within the last few months, lots of retail brands have hopped aboard the Obama hope train. Yesterday Pepsi hosted a Symposium with a message of ‘Refresh Everything’, just in time for the presidential inauguration.
The mastermind was TBWA Chiat Day. The symposium was held in Washington DC, with a line-up of high profile mind-changers: Robert Wolf (CEO & chairman, UBS investment bank), Rev Jesse Jackson JR (congressman), Spike Lee (filmmaker, human rights activist), Arianna Huffington (new media powerhouse) and Sean Combs (hip-hop) all debating on how best to refresh the economy, education, gender roles, hip-hop and black America and broadcast live via a microsite: http://refresheverything.com/symposium.html
The "bright side of life" type of campaigns are springing up everywhere and may also have come just in time for those retail brands, and the advertising agencies who are branding them, to rethink their retail approach to these hard economic times. The power of positive thinking has its place and time. Positive words. Positive action. And it’s right here. Right now. The public is ready to hear a lot of good news today. At least that’s what some of the biggest retail brands are rethinking.
Pepsi is now a series of smiling logos, and a new tagline, "Every generation refreshes the world,". Coca-Cola, meanwhile, is poised to launch a campaign, "Open happiness," that will replace its "Coke side of life" -- which is, naturally, the bright side. But Coke and Pepsi aren't the only brands selling a happy, empowering or upbeat message these days. Here are some others:
CALVIN KLEIN'S CK ONE:
"We are one," Laird & Partners
DUNKIN' DONUTS:
"You kin do it!" Hill Holliday
IKEA:
"Embrace change," Deutsch
MACY'S:
"Believe," JWT
OFFICEMAX:
"Life is beautiful. Work can be too," Escape Pod
If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all!
It's one of those pearls of wisdom we all heard from a mother, father, or even a teacher growing up. "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." And in today's age of advanced technology and communication, especially all of the social media tools that keep you connected to everyone you know (and maybe don't know) 24/7, the advice is even more appropriate.
The latest example comes at the expense of an ad exec recently on his way to visit a client for a presentation. Upon landing in Memphis the exec fired up his phone, launched the Twitter application, and sent the following tweet: "True confession but I'm in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say 'I would die if I had to live here!'"
Well, apparently someone from the client he was visiting saw the tweet, took offense to the comment, responded to the exec, and copied agency and client management. Yikes!
What's the big deal? Well, the client happened to be a little one you may have heard of, FedEx...double YIKES!!!
So the moral of the story is that the advice your mother gave you years ago is even more relevant in today's digital communication world. Learn from this exec's Twitter faux pas.
Have you had anything like this happen to you or someone you know. Do share.
What's your friendship worth?
I admit it – I’m not the most popular. I don’t have any Facebook bumper stickers. I’ve only received 1 gift in my lifetime. I thought 366 friends was a respectable number… oh wait, 367 (thanks Meagan!). But I think I’ve got something going for me... I haven’t been sacrificed for a flame-broiled sandwich!
Leave it to the creative geniuses at Crispin Porter + Bogusky to come up with another great advertising story for Burger King. They’ve utilized a social networking tool – but dared to be different. Instead of asking you to join a group or find new friends... the Whopper Sacrifice application allows you to trade in 10 of your Facebook friends for a free Whopper. Not only that – once you’ve made the sacrifice, everybody knows about it! “John sacrificed Jane for a free WHOPPER.”
Not only is the idea outrageously entertaining. It’s got everybody talking (and generating a ton of free press for BK). According to Whopper Sacrifice - over 231,872 friends have been sacrificed (with my help).
So, I’m sorry Maria, Scott, Misi, Melissa, Dave, Vong, Micci, Ennis, Katrina and Laurie – for the sake of a great idea, I hope you can forgive me! I’m getting a free lunch.
Word of the day.
As a copywriter, I rely on an array of resources to improve my communication skills. One of my favorites is a daily email I recieve from www.dictionary.com - Word of the Day. I’m addicted. Like caffeine in the morning, I now require a new word to jump start my brain. Sadly, I’ve learned a lot of words that I never get to use. I’m a writer in advertising so we usually stick with the basics. (We’ve also been known to make up some of our own.) Don’t get me wrong, in advertising, words are chosen very carefully, thoughtfully and strategically. Even the most simple word or words strung together (phrase) have the power to change a mind, even change the world. (Just Do It. Think Differently. Barak the Vote). That’s a big responsibility, knowing the word I choose may be the difference between someone choosing say, Comcast over an unreliable satellite service or HoneyBaked Ham over a lesser local brand. Something I do not take facetiously. (Another word of the day a few weeks back).
Every morning I rush to my email to see what new wonderful word awaits me, or one of my clients at Brogan & Partners. Lately, I’ve begun to notice a pattern. As if it were a horoscope, the word of the day seems to be setting the tone of the day. Yesterday, the word was:
daunt \dawnt, dahnt\, verb: 1. to frighten; overcome with fear
Is it coincidence I found myself faced with a blank sheet of paper and the daunting task of filling it with ideas in less than an hour? Maybe. But then how do you explain the day before?
melange \may-LAHNZH\, noun:
A mixture; a medley.
The day was a total mélange of tasks: organizing, researching brainstorming, strategizing, writing, reading, making phone calls, skipping lunch, sending emails – in another word: typical.
Needless to say, I was a bit apprehensive about opening my email this morning. What will the day hold? Was I willing to open it and risk another mélange of daunting experiences? Yes.
eclectic \i-KLEK-tik\, adjective:
1. selecting and using what seems best from various sources or systems; made up of selections from various sources
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Dating your clients.
Working in the account world of an advertising agency, the most important part of my job is to develop and grow long-term, successful partnerships with my clients. So, I’ve decided to share with you the best account advice I can think of. It’s quite simple really. Date your clients. Corny? Probably. But it works.
Rules for Dating your Client:
- Be yourself. Goofy, funny, nerdy, whatever it is that makes you – you.
- Be honest. No one likes a liar.
- Be trustworthy. Don’t go blabbing secrets.
- Be true to yourself (and your agency)– give your reasoning, your input and insight. And if your client doesn’t agree with you, move forward and support their decision.
- Be timely. Who wants to wait by themselves at a dinner table? (that means send things on time. And if you can’t make a deadline, call in advance.)
- Be truly interested and interesting. “You can’t be bored if you aren’t boring.”
- Be thoughtful. Remember special dates like birthdays & anniversaries.
Good luck. I hope you get asked out again.
Ta Ta Breast Cancer wins big!
Among the big winners at last night’s D-Show (Detroit’s prestigious advertising awards) were Dodge, Kaiser Permanente, Ford, Lincoln and Ellyn Davidson. Yep, I got my chance at being a client right alongside some of the bigger advertising clients in the Detroit area. Melissa Weber—my friend, colleague at Brogan & Partners, 3-day team walker and tent mate named Ta Ta Breast Cancer. And Dave Ryan, our wonderful art director created the perfect shirt. We loved the shirts and got tons of compliments and apparently the creative industry in Detroit agreed. This is completely the icing on the most beautiful cake. Ta Ta Breast Cancer raised nearly $87,000 with 25 walkers. We finished in the top 10 fundraisers and had a fantastic weekend. We are signed up and ready to go for 09.
BRCA testing--it's anything but simple.
Myriad Genetics is launching a public awareness advertising campaign in Florida to promote testing of a BRCA mutation (AKA the breast cancer gene).
As both a healthcare marketer and a woman with a BRCA mutation, I’m thrilled that they are raising awareness. But I’m equally concerned. I should preface this by saying I haven’t actually seen the advertising materials but I’ve seen some press on the campaign.
They quote an OBGYN as saying it’s a simple blood test. Sure it is. Most of these tests are simple but it’s the results that are not in the least bit simple. The article goes on to say: “Although no test is completely reliable, doctors recommend that all women know their BRCA status.”
Does that mean that all women should walk into their Primary Care Physician or OBGYN and take the test? Should women start doing this on their 18th birthday? Yikes. Are these doctor’s equipped to counsel women if they do have the BRCA mutation? Are they able to knowledgeably talk to the women prior to testing to discuss the implications of the test? BRCA is not something to take lightly.
If you have a known BRCA mutation, you have up to an 87% lifetime risk of breast cancer and up to a 44% chance of developing ovarian cancer. Genetics Counselors are the people that should be drawing your blood, counseling you and guiding you through the process. They have the knowledge, the training and the time to give you what you need. I only hope that Myriad is making this clear in their advertising. This test is anything but simple.
A television ad that saved a life.
I didn’t think that a TV ad could save a life. But I wrote a spot that actually saved the life of my friend and business partner. The spot starts with a woman in the shower who then finds a lump in her breast. Have a look:
Here’s how the spot saved Ellyn Davidson:
- The story replayed in Ellyn’s shower the next day—as the spot inspired her to give herself a breast exam.
- Ellyn found a very small lump, figured it was nothing, but called her doctor “just to be safe.”
- Ellyn’s doctor agreed that it was likely nothing, but did a biopsy “just to be safe.”
- The lump was cancerous.
- Ellyn elected a double mastectomy.
- She then learned she had the gene that makes it much more likely that she’d get ovarian cancer, so she had surgery to stop that from happening.
Like our commercial, Ellyn’s story had a happy ending, as she is now a breast cancer survivor.
How a complaint became an advertising campaign.
That’s what happened when a guy decided to complain about a malfunction on his Tiger Wood’s video game where it appeared that Tiger was walking on water. Rather than take it back to EA Games in exchange for a new one, this brilliant person uploaded the video and presented the glitch to the whole wide world on YouTube. EA’s agency (Wieden + Kennedy) discovered the video and with permission created a response to the YouTuber sparking a TV spot as well as a full blown viral campaign. Where will your next big idea come from? Probably from someone complaining about you to the rest of world. We’ll keep our eyes and ears out.
