by Next Wave Team | Oct 21, 2005 | Advertising, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, VW advertising
The ads are running in prime time shows, they have people in suits standing around a car, talking about “Buick’s total value promise” – here is the transcription:
“Introducing the total value promise, from the award winning quality of Buick. I promise to stand behind your Buick, with our 4 year, 50,000 mile new vehicle warranty, and the serenity of a quiet tuned interior, I promise you the security of On-Star, Our 2006 LaCrosse has standard side curtain air bags, and V-6 power with an estimated 30 miles per gallon highway, the LaCrosse CX is under 22,600 after all applicable offers, see your Buick dealer – today.
Now of course, it has the car ad production feel- with a different talented actor for each line, and you see beauty shots of the car, but- is it talking about your new car- or theirs?
One of my favorite quotes in advertising comes to mind here:
“When people talk to themselves, it’s called insanity. When companies talk to themselves it’s called marketing.”
~Steve Bautista
Buick spent over $300,000 to produce this ad, and probably just as much to run it in ER- and it’s Buick - talking about what they think Buick is. How many people do you know will respond with “award winning quality” when you ask them what they think about Buick? Zero- and that’s probably even including Buick owners.
If there is a brand that absolutely has no persona, no cha-ching, no reason for being in the automotive category, it’s Buick- and its ads like this that get it there.
If there wasn’t a dealer pipeline to fill, and plants to run, Buick could go away tomorrow, and no one would miss them. A brand that hasn’t been relevant in a lifetime- except to old folks who still are reminiscing about a car company that hasn’t built a memorable car since, well, way back when.
Now GM is promising a “Total Value Promise” which means absolutely nothing- and bragging about a 50,000 mile/ 4 year warranty- has anyone looked at Hyundai lately (America’s Best warranty)? If you have such quality- go for the gusto and promise something more than a “quiet tuned interior.” To see the difference between an ad that means something and this drivel- see the post below about another GM division- one that gets it. This brand is dead.
For comparison- try to catch the ads for the New Passat from VW- talking about all the new features- demonstrating them to the customer- showcasing the little things that people fall in love with with a car- like hooks for hanging grocery bags in the trunk- all to a delightful diddy- “Thank you very much”- an ad that you want to watch again- and sing over and over in your head. When you visit the site- there is a mini-site that has some humorous little films like showing an elephant drop a log on command- which of course demonstrates a remote “trunk release.” Which do you think will sell more cars?
What do you think?
You can read about Buick’s follow up folly on Mark Silveira’s Ordinary Advertising blog
by Next Wave Team | Sep 8, 2005 | Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, VW advertising
I don’t know why we haven’t posted something like this before, but a guy was asking how to find an agency for his “online drum recording service” on Web Pro World News- so this was our answer:
Fascinating business model. Only problem is that now all the prima donna guitar players can find a drummer that might put up with their BS 🙂
On finding an advertising agency- for any business- large or small- our first advice to anyone is to learn a little about advertising. Wehighly recommend the timeless classic by David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising. We also have a tip sheet, called “Conversational advertising for everyone” on our site.
Once you understand better what advertising can and can’t do- the next thing is deciding if you really need an agency, or can afford one. We have a saying: “Advertising only costs when it doesn’t work”- think about it. If you spend X on advertising and get X to the tenth back in revenue, and profit structure is right, your advertising didn’t cost you a thing and your business is better off for it.
If you can’t handle a huge influx of work from the money you spent on advertising, you will probably be in worse shape than not having any business- since bad word of mouth travels faster than good. If you have no budget consider the book “Marketing without advertising” by Salli Raspberry & Michael Phillips (it’s out of print but worth it).
If you think your model can handle the business- by all means start interviewing agencies. As someone who has been in the business for a while, I can tell you the first question to ask is what else have the people at the agency done for a living and what made them go into advertising?
Why- because this isn’t a business about being cute- or funny- or cool, on someone else’s dime- it’s about selling things, and it’s serious business. I don’t know how many people I’ve met in this business (especially graphic designers) who have no clue about selling something other than their own ideas.
The second question is- what are their passions? If I hate sports, I’m not going to do a good job advertising your professional bicycle pursuit championships, but if I eat, sleep and breath bikes in my limited spare time- I’ll probably go to the ends of the earth to create the greatest ad campaign ever.
The third question is do you like the people at the agency? The working relationship between advertising agencies and their clients is like a marriage. You are allowing the other person to take your name and represent it to the world. With so many marriages in this country ending in divorce, it’s a wonder any ad agency/client relationships have a chance. Most important to this relationship (as in a marriage) is mutual respect and trust.
I’ve been assuming that you are approaching an agency that is the right size for your company all along- although if you are a non-profit, or something really offbeat that can allow an agency a chance to do something really creative and fun- you might get lucky with a bigger firm. You should always look for an agency that can afford to give you the right amount of attention for your budget.
So- once you’ve made it this far- start looking at methodology. There are agencies that always use the same formula for all their clients- TV, magazine, online, direct mail etc. Sometimes it’s based more on their own profit model/structure than your needs- be careful of that. The best agencies sell creativity- and are “media agnostic,” Crispin Porter Bogusky, the current darlings of the ad world have grown from a small Miami shop to a huge powerhouse by making small clients seem huge, not by spending more, but doing better creative. They started with the “Truth” anti-smoking campaign, moved up a notch with the introduction of the Mini Cooper to the USA and now have Burger King and as of September 6, 2005 VW.
You have to be willing to pay for creativity- not just media. If an agency is using the stupid model of a percentage of your media budget is their take, they will only advise you to spend more on media.
Look to what kind of “Brand voice” the agencies under consideration establish for their clients. Is it consistent, is it clear, is it distinct? Do they use a variety of media to surround the potential customer with your message? Does it evoke emotion? Does it make you want to be a part of the brand? This is what Crispin did so well with the Mini “Let’s motor” campaign. They found a voice for the brand, stuck with it, and spoke to their target market with a confidence that was sexy and smart.
The last part to look at, especially for a business that is dependent on the Internet, is to see if the agency really understands the net. Is it a part of every campaign? Do they insist on working on your site? Is the content updated often? Is it interesting, is it full of key words, is it built to search? If their own site is built in Flash- run. For the most part, Flash doesn’t search well, doesn’t tag well, and is useless for sending links to part of your site. A simple way to tell if a site is built well is to go to google and type in Site:theagencydomainname.com and see how many pages are indexed, how many have titles and descriptive descriptions. If the agency site doesn’t do this- how will yours?
Last but not least, call a few of their clients and ask how long they’ve worked together and how has their business grown.
We hope this helps answer your questions. Of course, I would hope you would consider our agency for your work, but, if not, we have a list of all our local competition on our site so you can do a comparison shop (and so that people looking for their poor sites, find us first 🙂
What do you think?
by Next Wave Team | Feb 17, 2005 | Advertising, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, VW advertising
I had an interesting meeting yesterday with a struggling arts group (and, no, they don’t have to be synonymous: struggling/arts group).
They are a performance organization and tour globally. They can draw at the Kennedy Center, but not at home. Could marketing be an issue? Of course.
For years a graphic designer has handled their advertising. Beautiful ads, exquisite imagery, no sales. (Isn’t that the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?)
So, of course, we can do better advertising (a snappy headline, a call to action, some emotional tinkering, the whole create lust- evoke trust® thing). But, a little informal research told me there was a deeper problem- the brand isn’t delivering the goods.
Suppose you went to buy a pair of Nike track shoes, but the store wouldn’t let you have them without buying a pair of really ugly shit-kicker boots.
That’s what this group was doing in their performances. Come to a show to see an emotionally uplifting, amazing good time, great show-but, to get that, you have to sit through the “culture lesson” they think you need which is going to go over like a root canal without anesthesia.
No amount of great advertising can overcome delivering a product that is only half what’s promised, at least on a repeat basis.
So, before you think your advertising needs help, do a little brand check up. Ask customers what they expect from you when they buy (our client the Pizza Factory delivers not only amazing imaginative pizzas, they deliver peace of mind that when you order the office lunch from them that you will get an amazing dining experience which will make you look like a hero to your boss) and then deliver that PLUS something extra special. It’s not up to you to decide what their expectations are, it’s up to you to know them and exceed them.
When you have figured out what they expect, then check your brand to see if it fits their perception: Apple- easy to use technology, Harley Davidson- macho motorcycles for true Americans, and see if you fit with your brand.
This arts organization is killing itself by trying to tell its audiences what they should know instead of giving them what they want. Not a model for success.
That’s why Volkswagen is going to have a hard time selling it’s Phaeton (a $70,000 luxury car) and Honda never moved a lot of S2000 2 seat sports cars (why this car wasn’t an Acura I’ll never know).
And that’s why Apple computer would be in deep trouble if them made a computer that was as complicated as a windows PC.
Make sure your brand performs what it’s supposed to.
What do you think?
by Next Wave Team | Feb 7, 2005 | Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Future of TV, VW advertising
Super Bowl. It’s supposed to be the world championship of advertising. Apple set the standard for excellence with its million-dollar ad launching the Macintosh in 1984. This year, we saw the most mundane, weak, el-crapo advertising ever.
Particularly bad were the car ads. Ford, three times the same ad for a car I can’t buy today. I kept waiting for a different ending, nope. Same stupid grin on the frozen idiot who drove his new Mustang convertible with the top down in a blizzard. The other ad, carried on the “scary biker” stereotype (recycled concept from a Mercedes ad- and others) with a pack of bikers being scared off by a row of “Tough trucks.” Excuse me, but, in case no one in Detroit has noticed, the people buying motorcycles today, the Harley’s they drop $8-$30K on, they don’t look like that or dress like that. They also buy trucks, just probably not Fords, anymore.
How about telling us about what makes a Ford truck a good value? Make the product a hero, while describing what differentiates it from a Chevy, or a Dodge.
Or a Honda, another vehicle I can’t buy today. The Ridgeline is a nice truck I’m sure, but, it looks like a Matchbox toy truck- tell me, calling it a 1 ton truck, with a bed that looks like it’s 3.5 feet long, doesn’t instill confidence. How about comparing it to something I might know- especially, since I can’t go out and drive one.
Same thing for Cadillac. Three new fast cars, that I can’t buy yet. Wasn’t “we build excitement” the line for Pontiac? Build excitement about a car I can buy.
Let’s just call this automotive flirtation, not advertising. One of my cardinal rules of marketing is don’t tease when you could deliver. It’s about wasting the consumer’s time. They value it, you should too.
Volvo offered to take me into space, but wasn’t that an ad for Virgin Galactic, not the Volvo- wait, it was Volvo wasn’t it? I don’t remember.
Toyota is still bragging about the Prius, using cool effects, but, do the crunchy granola types watch the Superbowl?
Car advertisers all fail.
But then again, how many good car ads are there?
How many car brands out there really get the connection to their intended market?
Mercedes got it for a while, but then because of mega agency mergers, they had to switch agencies, no matter how good the work was.
Mini, of course has gotten it, all on a budget for less that what Ford spent for their 4 ads- well maybe a little more. An Agency that has ideas, there is a good start.
VW had it too for a while, but that was only because they were the first to tie in trippy indy music with trippy indy cars, at least that’s what all the young yuppies thought when they bought the first German cars that proved that Germans don’t always get the engineering right.
Car brands have to take a look at Harley Davidson. Here’s a company that has a brand that works. Here’s a company that builds motorcycles almost as poorly as the American car companies build cars, yet sells them all. HD makes more money off licensing than from selling bikes these days. There was a day when the Chevy Bowtie had that kind of power, but it’s long gone now.
US car companies tried to trick the consumer offering cars that were the same, only different- Firebird/Camaro etc. It didn’t work.
Another cardinal rule of advertising- don’t fake it, keep it real.
Real differentiation, real reasons to buy one instead of the other. Substance over style.
So, take note. Next year, if you want to sell cars on the Superbowl, remember:
Don’t tease.
Don’t fake it.
Deliver real differentiation, and a way I can relate to owning that car.
The Super Bowl is the wrong place to play with selling cars.
