by Next Wave Team | Aug 29, 2006 | Advertising, Brand Relevancy, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Future of advertising, Low Budget Advertising, Procter & Gamble Advertising
A client forwarded me an e-mail, suggesting that the high and mighty brand managers at P&G now think “aspiring copywriters, commercial artists, videographers” working in the food service industry are their new best hope to sell their soap.
Maybe P&G should award paychecks to brand managers based on a “if we like you- we may pay you” basis too.
For the worlds largest advertiser to turn to this is bad enough, but to make the top prize a measly grand, is an insult.
Never mind the instructions (facts, guidelines, tips) read like a “See Spot run” book- instead of a creative brief.
If P&G is really this desperate for ideas, maybe they should reevaluate their crazy bureaucracy that makes doing business with them so difficult.
Here is the text to the invite followed by a link to their site with an excerpt from the intro:
Procter & Gamble Professional looking for a few good ads
Aspiring copywriters, commercial artists, videographers and others working in the foodservice industry now have the opportunity to cash in on an exciting new initiative from Procter & Gamble Professional, the away from home division of the nation’s largest advertiser.
The “Create Our Ad” contest challenges foodservice professionals to develop print or video advertisements focusing on the back-of-house cleaning and sanitation needs of their industry. The winner will receive $1,000, and his or her ad will become part of the company’s advertising campaign. Procter & Gamble Professional will award $500 and $250 to the second and third place winners, respectively. Winners also will receive an introductory case of each product in the Dawn Grease Fighting Arsenal.
Procter & Gamble Professional is accepting print and video ads in any format. Visit www.pgbrands.com/createourad for contest details, general guidelines and suggestions to help non-advertising professionals create ads. Contestants will also be asked to recommend the publication or Web site where their entry should run.
Procter & Gamble Professional will accept entries through October 16.
Winners will be announced on October 31, with the winning ad appearing in print and online later this year.
Create Our Ad
CREATE OUR AD CONTEST: INTRODUCTION So, you think you have what it takes to create advertising for Procter & Gamble? We’re counting on it! After all, as someone who works in the foodservice industry - the industry we cater to - you’re the expert. Put that expertise to work, and the $1,000 first prize and bragging rights might be yours when your winning entry starts showing up in magazines or Web sites later this year.
Yeah, we all work for “bragging rights”- instead of providing valuable expertise in marketing, promoting, advertising and selling products.
Remind me not to buy P&G products anymore. If they can’t respect our profession- how can we respect their products?
by Next Wave Team | Aug 27, 2006 | Advertising, Brand Relevancy, Change the world, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Future of advertising, Great Ad Agencies, Marketing & the Web, Search and Business, Web strategy
Google is perhaps one of the greatest market research tools ever. Want to find out when someone or something peaks the interest of the market- go to Google labs and look at Google trends. Find out when searches peak for what term.
The two major areas where search engines still aren’t very useful are by location and by time, but Google trends is one of the early tools to be able to show us time and place.
Imagine being able to track buzz by market when launching a new campaign- without having to do expensive research- look at the search for Crispin Porter + Bogusky- and see that winning a major account and winning major awards- create a bump in search.
Google Trends: crispin porter bogusky
Want to see if a new campaign started an increase in interest?
Here is the link to Google trends for the word “Pontiac”- remember they ran a campaign asking customers to google them? Well, it seems labor issues and plant closings are more likely to push search than ads asking people to Google you:
Google Trends: Pontiac
This only works for terms with huge search numbers- trying it on my name results in an error message saying not enough search volume to display graphs- and search Chiat Day- gives a graph- with no data points- but does give location stats.
Tools like this will become increasingly relevant to agency compensation structures- if your campaign doesn’t increase search, or site traffic- it’s not doing its job.
What do you think?
by Next Wave Team | Aug 19, 2006 | Advertising, Creativity, Design, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Future of advertising, Low Budget Advertising, Marketing & the Web, Practical Marketing 101, Viral Marketing
If you are involved in advertising, more than ever, there are two mediums that you shouldn’t ignore- the web and outdoor.
We’re here trying to educate clients (and other ad agencies) about not making “brochure-ware” websites and “Chest-beater” sites.
Definition of a chest-beater website:
a ego-centric site all about the site owner, and how great they are, without any real, useful information, typically built in Flash, so it’s guaranteed not to index or be W3C compliant (accessible to blind people).
Example copy: We’re the best advertising agency in the world- and that’s why you should hire us. We’ve won every major ad award, and throw amazing parties at Cannes. We work with all “A” level directors, and allow our creative departments to spend all your budget on very expensive TV spots, while ignoring your website, operational opportunities for marketing and anything we can’t win an award for.
Outdoor advertising on the other hand, is often the budgetary afterthought. After all, agencies don’t make as much money on cost effective media- due to the stupid idea of paying agencies with a discount on media billings. (more…)
by Next Wave Team | Aug 16, 2006 | Advertising, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Guerrilla Campaigns, Low Budget Advertising, Marketing & the Web, Search and Business, Web strategy
We took to the streets today to promote the Websitetology.com seminar. Downtown Dayton Ohio has the cleanest sidewalks - making this both fun and easy.
Of course some people around here always get their panties in a twist about something - the post in front of the Mead Tower- was poking fun at the “New Page” Corporation- which just announced they are bailing for the ‘burbs-
“A “New Page” is a Websitetology.com”
In front of CityWide Development- we put a message about the realities of our website technology:
We also suggested you can get a great website for less:
“A Great website shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg”
We also reminded people that no one watches TV commercials anymore- which is a good reason for chalk on sidewalks- Guerrilla Marketing-
There were more- including
- “I came, I saw! Because I googled”
- “I Google, therefore I am”
- “Get a PhD in Websitetology for only $79”
We’ll let you know how far $5 of chalk and a couple of hours can get you.
by Next Wave Team | Aug 15, 2006 | Advertising, Brand Relevancy, Creativity, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Future of advertising, Great Ad Agencies, How To Select An Ad Agency, Low Budget Advertising, Practical Marketing 101
When we first wrote about the Chiat/Day produced Apple “get a mac” ads- I was comparing them to the Burger King Manthem- and viewing them from an efficiency standpoint.
Reading this article in the LA Times, we find out that Apple has at least 25 of these in the can- and I can guarantee they all cost less than the one BK Manthem spot produced by Crispin Porter & Bogusky.
Not strictly commercial - Los Angeles Times
There have been seven spots so far with Long playing the slacker-hip Mac guy to John Hodgman’s nerdy PC guy and there are almost 20 more in the can, guaranteeing that what is currently the hottest campaign on TV can last as long as the heat does.
So- in the day of one off ideas, fire for effect TV spots- with huge budgets- and very little actual selling going on- this Apple campaign is a standout- every spot hammers home a message of why Apple is cool, hip and reliable- while the PC isn’t.
The simple production values have caused a slew of spoofs- as a quick search of YouTube will show- but, if nothing else- that validates the concept as buzzworthy.
The question remains for other marketers- if two guys, in front of a white background- joshing each other for :30 can build sales- why have you spent so much with special effects, crazy stunts, exotic locales, etc?
If you had to sell your products or services with two guys in front of a white screen- what would they say?
by Next Wave Team | Aug 3, 2006 | Advertising, Brand Relevancy, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Guerrilla Campaigns, How To Select An Ad Agency, Marketing & the Web, Practical Marketing 101, VW advertising
The debate in the ad community about the video launched on YouTube by an agency (who will now remain unnamed) on their pitch for Subway’s online business will continue for a while.
Which is fine- but the question to really answer, is if any ad agency can help Subway sell more sandwiches? And is advertising the answer?
The following is a cheeky review comparing Subway and its fast growing competitor Quizno’s. Neither has good advertising, but in this battle, it might not be advertising that’s needed:
Munch goes to Quizno’s and Subway
Point is, the Quizno’s-Subway question inspires both competition and passionate discourse, and Munch now feels obligated to interject. “Subway or Quizno’s?” is the “paper or plastic?” of the 21st century. At some point, everybody must answer. So cueing the drum roll at this precise time, Munch will now deliver the verdict.Quizno’s.
Yup, Quizno’s is better.
In fact, it isn’t even close.
Munch came by this decision after one week of careful scrutiny, during which Munch sought opinions from several confidants and promptly dismissed all who dared to contest Quizno’s superiority.
It’s the same reason that Toyota, Honda and Nissan are making money, while GM, Ford, Chrysler and VW are having problems.
Quality.
In today’s world of information empowered consumers- if your product sucks, everyone will know. No matter how good your advertising is.
If you are smart, as VW has been in hiring Crispin Porter + Bogusky, you can distract audiences with entertainment, and making the brand water cooler discussion while you work like mad to fix your quality problems. The thing VW has going for it, unlike Subway or Quizno’s, is that at one time it had good advertising and a great reputation for quality. The brand was at one time a lifestyle brand. People who owned VW’s thought they were special.
About the only thing people can say about eating Subway is that:
- It was cheap.
- I think I’m eating healthy.
Not exactly a great foundation for an ad strategy.
Quizno’s has had lousy ads. Seriously lousy ads. But, they have a reputation for quality and own a position of “Toasted” in the sub market. Much better foundation to build from, but unfortunately their growth hasn’t caught up with their aspirations for a national ad budget yet, and they’ve continued to try to overreach with painful results.
Quizno’s could benefit from better advertising. Subway needs to reevaluate their value proposition and the offering. “Eat Fresh” as a tag line doesn’t fit with their plastic bagged products and their processed ingredients. By basing their positioning on a statement that most people wouldn’t agree fits, they are hurting themselves. A better strategy might be “Eat cheap”- which is based on an underlying truth.
While many agency types are offering opinons on the attempted “viral” pitch- the fact is not many are offering anything useful in the discussion. We hope that we’ve done our part to help elevate the conversation from talking about agency pitches- to how to solve Subway’s problems.
What would you suggest Subway do to improve sales?
