by Next Wave Team | Dec 21, 2005 | Advertising, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Future of TV, Marketing & the Web, Web strategy
In the Dec 20th issue of USA today, technology writer Kevin Maney predicts that “2006 could be year that CEO Jobs falls off pedestal” in his “Cyberspeak” column. He also predicts that 2006 will be the year of RSS and that cell phone cameras will actually become useful. He also thinks that Google will inspire Microsoft to become better- which is like talking about Ford inspiring buggy whip manufacturers to greatness.
More than likely, 2006 will see an even bigger decline in newspaper print runs, and the beginning of the end for USA Today with it’s bite sized info-chunks. Really- an RSS summary of a quality news paper like the New York Times delivered to your web enabled cell phone- will be more likely to pick up monetized subscribers.
As to the fall of Steve Jobs- highly unlikely. Has Pixar made a dud yet? And even if they did- they set the bar, even if it lowered, it would still beat their nearest competition. The real fear here is a new generation of budding filmmakers (Machinima) using super realistic video games to render their visuals and editing the films on their pc. They can distribute their films through bit-torrent- or maybe- the iTunes video store (another Jobs creation). Which is where Steve and company may have hit the home run that even Google will covet.
With the new Intel based Mac’s coming in ’06, Jobs could open the floodgates by allowing dual system boots- giving PC people a way to own a Mac, but still run their PC software until they can afford the sizeable expense of switching licenses from PC to Mac. Adobe and Macromedia (before it was bought by Adobe) wouldn’t allow cross-platform transfers, and Microsoft would be crazy to allow it for Office. Abandoning all PC licenses adds several thousand dollars to a purchase price of a Mac for a PC owner.
Besides the Intel switch, Jobs is still riding an iPod high with no end in sight. Even elementary school kids now want iPods, and with the cost of flash RAM decreasing, the idea of Nano’s for your iKid aren’t so far fetched.
USA today, has nothing to look forward to. There has been no brand integration with other media, it hasn’t generated credibility with any community in particular, and it certainly hasn’t introduced any revolutionary ideas.
My bets stay on Steve Jobs and company.
What do you think?
by Next Wave Team | Dec 17, 2005 | Advertising, Brand Relevancy, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Future of advertising, How To Select An Ad Agency, Practical Marketing 101, Procter & Gamble Advertising
Next time you look at a campaign being presented by your agency, step back and pretend you are your biggest competitor. If you are selling HD video cameras and your name is Sony, pretend to be Canon, or Panasonic. If you are Dell, pretend to be HP, if you are Honda, think like Toyota- or if you are Miami Valley Hospital, pretend to be Kettering Medical Center.
On first glance- does the ad look like everything else they’ve done? If yes, then do I need to worry about any groundbreaking challenges to my position? If yes, what would I need to do to counter this ad? And all of a sudden you are looking at your own advertising and evaluating it in a whole new way. Proud of yourself, huh?
Problem is- your competitor isn’t your problem.
I’m not suggesting you work in a vacuum, but this is how you produce safe, boring ads that keep you in the status quo section of the market- and that is where you are most vulnerable to losing market share- even if you are the leader in your field.
Here is a secret- there is no such thing as “Market share.” While Procter & Gamble is comfortable with the idea of market share, and Coke and Pepsi slug it out over fractions of a percent shifts, consumers are not part of group, they are individuals making decisions as single entities. The moment you start lumping them into percentages or demographics, you loose sight of the part of marketing that is magical- what should be the goal of every creative toiling away on your account- and what makes a product into a brand- and that is making a connection one-on-one with that customer- where they identify themselves with you, not as your target.
Think of archery- we can shoot arrows at the target from far away, but if you really want to hit the bullseye- the heart- the easiest way is to be a part of that target and impale the arrow in yourself. Sounds gruesome- but that’s when your ads hit pay dirt.
So, instead of talking about yourself- try to give the consumer the tools to talk about their life with your product- in a way they don’t feel that they are owned by you- but that they own your brand. Nike accomplished this with “Just do it” – probably better than anyone, the question is- when you are looking at that next ad you are going to run- “Is is about us” or “Is it about our customer plus us.”
Makes all the difference in the world.
Just try it.
What do you think?
by Next Wave Team | Dec 10, 2005 | Advertising, BMW Advertising, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Design, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Guerrilla Campaigns, How To Select An Ad Agency, Marketing & the Web, Retail, VW advertising, Web strategy
Of late there has been a lot of major account changes noted in the advertising press. Every move by Crispin Porter + Bogusky in Miami is documented in the same style as paparazzi chasing movie stars. What was once a relatively small agency, with small clients, who got bought by a small “network” is now becoming a BIG AGENCY with BIG CLIENTS still owned by a small network. How well agencies scale should not be measured by CP+B because it is an anomaly: it’s reputation is so huge, they are able to get the pick of talent, steam roll over clients (since they have been crowned by the media as having the Midas touch) and have adopted a “media agnostic” throw as many ideas on the wall and see what sticks approach.
In case you aren’t aware of their storied life in the fast lane, they made their first appearance on the hot shop radar with their “Truth” campaign for Florida’s anti-smoking campaign. They won a Cannes Gold Lion for their spot for IKEA where a desk lamp gets kicked to the curb- but IKEA seems to be unable to stick with an agency having parted ways with the successor agency as well (IKEA should call us), then came the dream account (only because the car is so damn cute and already branded) the new BMW Mini account. Here CP+P showed off how to get the maximum muscle out of the minimal moola to an exponential effect. Putting Mini’s on top of Ford Expeditions, putting the whole car on a billboard in a Slingshot, even the tagline “Let’s Motor” was so fitting, you couldn’t help but be enchanted with the idea of “driving satisfaction” without having it screamed at you. It was the ultimate in talking with the customer- not at the customer- and it worked. BMW sold cars, CP+B made their client manager look so good, she got hired away from BMW to fix VW- that’s making your client more money than they pay you if I ever saw it. Her reward to her friends who got her there- the VW account, a prize beyond their wildest dreams when they were working on bike helmet campaigns and local business.
So impressive was the mini campaign that success breeds success and on comes Burger King- a traditionally “difficult” client who had been through agencies and “campaigns” faster than they sell whoppers. Along came CP+B throwing new stuff at the masses faster than they could say “Yes” to the “would you like fries with that” question. The first execution was a takeoff on the British TV show “The Office” and the return of the “have it your way tag line.”
For such creative geniuses to settle on someone else’s tagline is typically unheard of- typically agencies want to make their own mark- but that takes time. CP+B was smart enough to realize that a brand in trouble needs help now, not when their creativity kicks in. The campaign was outside the norm for the industry- with double-entendre’s and un-pretty people. But, it was easier to fly the old tagline back through the barriers of corporate CYA and it bought them time- time for an agency to find a brand voice. Great campaigns don’t happen overnight. “Think Small” wasn’t the first thing Bernbach did for VW, nor was “Just do it” the first shot by Wieden + Kennedy for Nike.
Next came Dr. Angus and his big burger diet, and my personal favorite- Ugoff- the fashion designer creating a “pouch” for hot chicken and shrimp” for BK’s new salads. All of these had Internet components- something many “big” agencies still do as an afterthought. Then came the viral “Subservient Chicken” which every fast feeder now wants to copy and then the King mask- of which I won’t comment. But, this huge out burst of creative work has all been in a span of less than 2 years- totally unheard of in the ad world- and…
This is NOT how most clients get the most out of their marketing budget.
Most clients don’t have 300 million to spend. They depend on consistency of message on target. This is why an Apple ad today for the most part looks like an Apple ad of yesterday (please don’t remind me that they only have 2% of the PC market- and that if it wasn’t for the iPod the stock would still be hurting) or that Wal-Mart ads look like Wal-Mart ads. The idea is that if you can’t get enough frequency at least get repetition working for you. With small budgets like BMW motorcycles, the idea of staying on brand message is considered key. If you only have so much money, keep it consistent. This is why brands are so careful about staying in voice, on target with the right trade dress (look and feel). It is also why when you have a great tagline like “have it your way” or “the ultimate driving machine” or “just do it” it never goes out of style.
So- the question we posed at the beginning is do you have the right agency? No matter what you spend, your agency will tell you it’s not enough (except our agency) because their compensation is probably tied back to media billings – the stupidest way to pay an agency ever devised. The second question is, does your brand voice do what it’s supposed to (differentiate you from your competition and connect you like no other to your market)? Lastly, is your agency looking at every avenue they can to make you highly visible to your target market through every channel possible- including the Internet, guerrilla advertising, PR and your trade dress down to the way your stores look, your salespeople communicate and your company ethics? If not, you aren’t using the right agency- or getting the right return on your dollar. There is more to this- but it could be a whole book. You can call us to discuss how you can build your business using these ideas. One of the first things we’ll do is ask to look at your website statistics- and analyze where your customers are coming from. When was the last time your agency did that?
What do you think?
