The incredible power of a brand

Have you ever heard of Glyphosate? I hadn’t until I went to the hardware shop looking for something to kill weeds. I knew Roundup would do the trick. I’d heard the name and used it occasionally over the years. I can remember ads for Roundup where weeds ‘push up daisies’ (Get it?). The Roundup brand has almost become a verb in the landscaping industry. To ‘Roundup’ is to clear grass off a patch of ground.

I was about to reach for the Roundup when I paused and read the active ingredient. It’s Glyphosate. Just below the Roundup was another brand of weed killer called Pestmaster. Pestmaster’s active ingredient is also Glyphosate. Well, I thought as long as they are both the same I’ll take the cheaper of the two.

Working in advertising and marketing I expected the branded product to be more expensive. What I didn’t expect was that the difference would be 550%!!! That’s right. One litre of Pestmaster was $8 and one litre of Roundup was $44.

Not only can the makers of Roundup charge a 550% premium for their Glyphosate, they can and do have the worlds most popular weed killer. Farmers, Landscapers and Gardeners would rather pay $44 a litre than $8 a litre to have a well known and trusted brand do the job.

So next time someone suggests your brand is strong enough to have its marketing or advertising budget cut back shout, “Glyphosate!”

If you have a creative advertising problem call Tony Richardson on (02) 9929 0588 or visit Tony Richardson Advertising or TacticalTV.com.au

You are welcome to reprint any AdNotes article on your website and in your e-newsletters for FREE. All I ask is that you attribute me, Tony Richardson and include a link to http://www.TonyRichardson.com.au

An easy test for creative longevity

I was talking to a client, David, the other day about creative ideas. Actually we were congratulating ourselves on having captured his brands message in a few words and one picture.

Having agreed that the picture/headline summed up the brand message we found all the other channels were just falling into place.

Without realising it we had stumbled on an ancient technique (mid 80’s) for judging creative, called the poster test. The theory being, if you can express your TV idea or whatever as a poster it should more easily live in other media and channels and last a long time.

Proof that this technique is not used a lot is my mate Wayne. He makes a good living fixing ideas that have failed the poster test. Usually a large agency has created an exciting TVC but can’t carry the idea any further. Wayne beats them into shape (the ideas not the agencies) so they work in the cut-throat retail environment.

He drives a very nice car.

Maybe if we all applied the poster test to each new creative concept our advertising would be better and Wayne wouldn’t be so rich!

TIP: Ask your creatives to present the big idea (TV, radio, direct response, social media, whatever) as a poster. This will separate the long life campaigns from the one-off ideas.

If you have a creative advertising problem call Tony Richardson on (02) 9929 0588 or visit Tony Richardson Advertising or TacticalTV.com.au

You are welcome to reprint any AdNotes article on your website and in your e-newsletters for FREE. All I ask is that you attribute me, Tony Richardson and include a link to http://www.TonyRichardson.com.au

The year of persuasion

It’s New Years day 2011. If you are reading AdNotes on the day, Happy New Year. (We both really should be on the beach!)

This year is special because I plan to make no New Years resolutions, at least no personal ones. Losing weight, cutting down on the wine, and getting fit all seem to happen much better without a resolution.

However I will make a professional resolution and it’s one that you are welcome to share.

Currently the word ‘conversation’ has become fashionable when talking about the relationship our consumers have with our brands. Fair enough. Web 2.0 is all about consumers commenting on the actions of marketers and other consumers.

Traditional creative ad agencies still like using the terms ‘big idea’ and ‘concept’ to describe an over-arching creative theme that ties all the communication strands together. Again fair enough. A brands communication should be consistent and arresting.

Conversations and Big Ideas are important in building brand awareness.

But brand awareness alone will not sell stuff. The way to sell stuff is to ‘Persuade’.

Here’s an example. I really like Deus customised motorcycles (pronounced Day-Us). http://www.deus.com.au/#/bikes/motorcycles/ I’ve seen their advertising. I’ve been to the website. I’ve had conversations. So I am aware and very positively disposed to the brand. In a focus group I’d truthfully say I wanted to buy one.

Many digital and traditional agencies would call that mission accomplished and open the Bollinger. But I have not been ‘persuaded’ to buy. I love the brand but for many reasons I’ll probably never purchase.

So my New Years Resolution is this: On behalf of my client's brands, I will start conversations, create big ideas, and build brand awareness as usual. But most of all, I will PERSUADE consumers to buy!

If you have a creative advertising problem call Tony Richardson on (02) 9929 0588 or visit Tony Richardson Advertising or TacticalTV.com.au

You are welcome to reprint any AdNotes article on your website and in your e-newsletters for FREE. All I ask is that you attribute me, Tony Richardson and include a link to http://www.TonyRichardson.com.au

It's all about You

I was writing a headline for a lawn care company a few years ago. It wasn’t exactly award winning but it got straight to the point. As I wrote “XXX repairs your damaged lawn”, I wondered if how long the ‘your’ would last. Sure enough the client came back with “XXX repairs damaged lawns”

In sweep of the red pen we had moved from a conversation between XXX and a person with lawn problems, to an announcement by the mighty XXX corporation about lawns in general, directed to the entire universe. I’m sure the line made the executives at XXX feel more important but I’m equally sure it sold fewer bags of XXX Lawn Repair.

Consumers are people. And people are pretty self-absorbed. People don’t care about ‘lawns’ they care about ‘their lawn’. Sure, they can make the mental jump from a marketers demographic to themselves, but why make them jump at all?

I’ve never met a demographic. I hope I never do. They sound large, crowded and homogeneous. But I’ve met a lot of people. People are interested in their roof, their kids education, their overflowing toilet ....

Even Qantas uses the line ‘It’s all about you.’ It’s perfect for business class travel, which should be all about the customer. Earlier Qantas advertising was much more from the ‘We’ve bought 5 new planes’ school of communication. To which most business class passengers would rightly reply, ‘Who cares?’

Being ‘All about you’ shouldn’t stop at prestige brands or luxury services. I can’t think of any product or service that can’t be better sold by honing in on the individual and solving his or her problem.

Dale Carnegie in his book ‘How to win friends and influence people’, said the sound of a persons name is the sweetest sound of all to them. Advertising can’t refer to people by name, but it can say ‘you’ or ‘your’ and get much closer to people’s hearts. And best of all, most of your competitors (see, I’m doing it now) either don’t know or don’t care that they are speaking to a demographic rather than a person.

What a simple way to make your customers feel better about your brand.

If you have a creative advertising problem call Tony Richardson on (02) 9929 0588 or visit Tony Richardson Advertising or TacticalTV.com.au

You are welcome to reprint any AdNotes article on your website and in your e-newsletters for FREE. All I ask is that you attribute me, Tony Richardson and include a link to http://www.TonyRichardson.com.au

Worn out words

A few months ago I railed against clichés (the story was picked up by the marketing section of The Australian newspaper. Mention in the ‘real’ media! Quite a proud moment for AdNotes).

Little did I know a federal election was around the corner (oops a cliché!) It’s been an opportunity for both sides of politics to join up lots of clichés and call it a campaign.

But more irritating, to me anyway, are individual words that just get used too often. These are not strictly speaking Cliches, just words that suddenly seem to appear in every sentence or conversation.

There’s one that seems to be everywhere at the moment.

This little word has seen active service for centuries and used to evoke images of knights in armour battling dragons.

But recently it has evolved into a monster itself: a kind of irradiated moth from a sixties Japanese movie.

News-readers use it. Politicians use it. My 14 year old uses it. I try not to use it but it comes out anyway.

This overworked word is … challenge.

It can stand for anything from an ‘almost impossible task’ like plugging an oil leak in the US, to a ‘chore’ like peeling a potato on Masterchef.

But, I knew 'challenge' had lost all value when I picked up a flyer at St George Bank. The flyer invited me to ‘Challenge us for a better home loan deal.”

Poor ‘challenge’ now means nothing more than 'to ask’.

Like printing too many Zimbabwean dollars, overusing a word devalues it to the point where it has no worth or particular meaning.

If you have a creative advertising problem call Tony Richardson on (02) 9929 0588 or visit Tony Richardson Advertising or TacticalTV.com.au

You are welcome to reprint any AdNotes article on your website and in your e-newsletters for FREE. All I ask is that you attribute me, Tony Richardson and include a link to http://www.TonyRichardson.com.au

I hear Music

It seems that every time I see a new TV commercial these days it has a song or piece of music that sounds kind of familiar.

It’s easy to see (or hear) why familiar songs are so popular. They bring a familiarity and likability to your new spot. As a marketer you are effectively renting their popularity.

But rented popularity is not cheap. I’ve recently been doing a lot of work finding good music for a low cost. Let me share my findings.

First of all we have to understand the difference between publishing rights and recording rights. Publishing rights are given by the composer (or their heirs) based on channel, location and duration. Eg. Free to air, Pay TV, Internet, 12 months, Australia and NZ only. The fee for publishing rights varies by artist and record company, but for a well-known song expect to start at $75,000.

Now that’s just for the right to use the piece. If you want the actual performance that made the track so famous add another $75,000. Of course you can hire some talented mussos to record the song for a lot less, but everyone will know it’s not Aretha Franklin

So you’re looking at a starting price of $150,000 for publishing and performance rights. Add your agency markup. Add the artist’s ‘creative conditions’. Add a bit because everyone wants this artist at the moment, and your pleasant pop song is starting to give you a real headache.

Is there an alternative Tony?

Yes. A couple.

Option 1) Commission original music. It’s 100% yours. It will cost a tenth of the figure above. And it can be what-ever style you want. BUT it’s an unknown. You have to take a leap of faith. AND there is always the temptation to dabble, to dial up the branding, to have a go at this music lark. My advice? Don’t.

Either accept the piece or ask for another one. You want music that sounds like it came from a musician, not a marketer.

Option 2) Find existing music that is out of copyright. When you do this, the nasty $75,000 publishing rights disappear in a puff of smoke!

You still need to decide between an existing performed track or creating your own. Creating your own might be $15k. But finding an existing performance could be even less.

OK so what constitutes ‘out of copyright’? It’s different in every country. (In France if a composer dies fighting for his country his descendants get a bonus 30 years. I love that)

But here in Australia there are two rules. Copyright applies to music for up to 70 years after a composer dies. UNLESS he/she died before 1955 in which case it’s 50 years. You can find out more at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries'_copyright_length

Option 3) Find an up and coming band and sign them for peanuts. It has happened, but it’s messy, and time consuming. If you want to go down this road, make the music the core of the idea and be prepared to let it lead the campaign.

So there’s three ways … hang on. I almost forgot. Stock music.

Option 4) Stock Music. If it’s just to fill in the background a bit, stock music can be insanely cheap. I’m talking under $100! On one job, I had used up the client’s sound budget, so I paid for the music out of my own pocket! That’s how cheap it can be. Of course the tunes are pretty simple, but there’s a wide choice and if that’s all you need, it’s almost free.

So there’s FOUR ways to make your commercials sing (sorry couldn’t resist).

If you have a creative advertising problem call Tony Richardson on (02) 9929 0588 or visit Tony Richardson Advertising or TacticalTV.com.au

You are welcome to reprint any AdNotes article on your website and in your e-newsletters for FREE. All I ask is that you attribute me, Tony Richardson and include a link to http://www.TonyRichardson.com.au

Cardboard Marketing

I’ve just come back from a terrific Christmas holiday in New Zealand. My family and I drove all over the North Island, the less glamorous and more practical sister to the South Island.

Our final night was in windy Wellington and the family voted me as official pizza collection and delivery guy.

I had noticed a Pizza shop near our hotel. Or rather I had noticed a woman leaving the shop carrying a huge pizza box. The really massive ones they have in American movies and sitcoms. The ones big enough for the whole cast of Friends to munch on. The giant box had stuck in my head. I’d never seen one so big in real life.

I found the store pretty easily. It was called Wholly Pizza and specialized in thin crust, simple topping, large New York style pizzas. I chose a modest 14 inch size, rather than the 20 inch New York-size. And as it baked, I chatted with the owner, an ex-marketer of all things.

When it was ready my new friend slipped the 14 inch pizza into the giant 20 inch box. We only have one size of box, he told me. Strange, I thought.

So I made my way back to the hotel … in the wind … with a 20 inch pizza box. Of course it flapped around a bit. And being 20 inches wide I had to step out on the road just to get around groups of people on the footpath.

Every time I did someone would comment. Did I have enough to eat? Did I need a hand eating all that pizza? And so on.
Then, when I arrived at the hotel lift, a party of four was just ahead of me. Again with the jokes. ‘You’ll need a whole lift for that baby’. Although this turned out to be no joke. I had to let them go ahead without me. There was just not enough room for them, me and my gigantic pizza box.

As I entered the hotel room my wife and kids were surprised by the big box and I had to explain that there was a smaller pizza within.

We ate it and it was delicious.

But as I chewed I started thinking about the marketing implications of what just happened. In the space of a few minutes three or four groups of people (other than me the purchaser) had been touched by the Wholly Pizza brand. And I had originally gone there because I saw someone else with a big box.

Clever marketing communication is nearly always about ‘zigging’ when others ’zag’. But your zag doesn’t have to be complex or expensive or high tech. It can be as simple as a piece of folded cardboard.

Not more ideas!

- I recently discovered a firm that will, if supplied with a brief, provide a client with 100 ideas … overnight! They use Twitter to contact hundreds of ‘ideas people’ internationally.

- Creative agencies now provide media ideas as well as creative ideas. Media agencies now provide creative ideas as well as media ideas.

- Large supermarket retailers have in-house creative departments that can provide ideas and advertising for their supplier’s brands, rather than the other way around.

Marketers have more access to ideas than ever before. Everyone now seems to be providing ideas. As a creative person I’ve been raised to believe that the more ideas on the table the better.

But now I’m beginning to wonder.

Take Nandos Chicken. They’ve tried every bizarre idea you can think of. They had a stripping Mother wearing a Nandos Nicotine patch on TV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxsjhREHH3M&feature=related

They’ve created a radio ‘satire’ of Clare Werbeloff, the Chk Chk Boom girl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ-pt95BNZU&feature=related

They’ve even got into the latest craze of creating a disruptive PR stunt, that disrupted the king of disruptive PR stunts: Sacha Baron Cohen’s, Bruno.

(The raw footage has been removed from YouTube but you can see some of the news coverage at the following link)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIUlpkPKGvA

Some are funnier than others - I quite like the stripping Mum spot for some reason. But what story do they tell? What problem do they solve? What brand image do they build? What, as a consumer, am I supposed to think of the brand?

I honestly can’t tell. In Nandos I see dozens of random ideas and not a single brand message.

Possible taglines like, “We’re a little bit different”, “Unexpectedly delicious chicken” or even “We’re not for everyone” would tie the zaniness together. But we don’t get any help at all.

A visit to the website makes you think your dealing with a different brand altogether. It shows a low tech, hand drawn, food focussed, ethnic style brand. Nothing like the TV, radio and PR communication. I’m even more confused now!

http://www.nandos.com.au/

Many other brands are excitedly experimenting with channels, executions and ideas. Which is fantastic … as long as each piece of communication supports and builds on a consistent brand message. The beer people are particularly good at experimentation without losing sight of the message and target consumer.

When consumers are forced to re-evaluate a brand every time they see a new piece of communication, they just don’t bother.

Potential consumers of Nandos know the brand exists, and sells chicken. But they have no idea what it stands for and therefore why they should consider it.

When it comes to brand communication, dozens of random ideas won’t help you, one correct one will.

AdNotes is brought to you by Tony Richardson Advertising and our branded product, TacticalTV - absolutely free! (You are welcome to pass AdNotes on to your friends and colleagues.) We are specialists in creating and producing Tactical TV, Print, Design and Radio advertising. We believe that clever cost solutions are a big part of clever creative advertising. Maybe that’s why some of the biggest marketers in the world have used our small agency! To find out more visit TacticalTV.com.au orTonyRichardson.com.au or leave comments and view back issues at our blog adnotes-tony.blogspot.com Or call us on (02) 9929 0588

Masterchef: Not a show, more a huge piece of research.

A giant piece of real research into the Australian character has just been completed. You can access it for free. If you watched the final of Masterchef Australia last night, you took part in the study.

Australians have put down the tea towel and wandered into the TV room in record numbers.

It’s been said that Masterchef has captured the spirit of the times (or zeitgeist for the show-offs): that we’re staying in and learning how to cook again.

Maybe so, and that’s nice, but the show has also handed a gold plated gift to all Australian marketers and agencies. What the producers of Masterchef have done brilliantly is turn ‘likeability’ into an art form. They have spent millions supplying advertisers with a picture of the perfect consumer.

Let me explain.

The original gang of contenders were no random bunch of kitchen wannabes. Each had the potential to be Australia’s most loved person. The producers selected a cross section of middle Australia. Young, middle aged, pretty, average looking, Asian, even black.

Then they made them jump through culinary hoops as we grew to know and like them. The contest was not really about cooking, it was about who had the grit to pick themselves up after a near loss, dust off the flour and come back fighting the next day.

Gradually contestants were eliminated until a group small enough for us to remember their names remained.

Up until then Masterchef looked like any TV contest show (albeit a much friendlier one). ‘May the best cook win’ and all that.
But suddenly 3 eliminated contestants were given a second chance and brought back! Back came pretty blonde Justine. Back came pretty Asian Po. Back came gentle black Tom.

Justine was fairly good but Po and Tom were bit hit and miss when it came to cooking. Could it have been that the punters just liked this trio? Were they too good for the ratings for Masterchef to let them go?

The game continued. Tom left. The ratings climbed.

When Justine left the judges cried! Now that’s taking your ratings seriously!

Finally Po, slightly overweight Julie, and zany, hat wearing Chris were left.

Again if viewers thought this was just a cooking competition Chris’ departure answered that. He had been a strong performer throughout. His dishes were for the most part original, tasty and well presented. But had his confidence started to become cocky-ness? Had Australia fallen out of love with him?

Chris was astonished when Julie’s incomplete, unfinished, mess of a meal beat his unusual but professional offering. If Chris had won, as he should have, the final night could well have had a smaller audience than it did.

But as it turned out, over 4 million Australians (a fifth of the nation) stopped to see if Julie would beat Po. She did.
And now we know the kinds of women Australia loves at this moment.

Po is attractive, creative, experimental, hard working, organised, gutsy, determined, and ready to laugh.
Julie is middle class, a little overweight, obsessed with her family, a bit messy, brave, undaunted, focussed physically tough, and good humoured.

Australian marketing community, meet your ideal consumer. 4 million Aussies say so.

AdNotes is brought to you by Tony Richardson Advertising and our branded product, TacticalTV - absolutely free! (You are welcome to pass AdNotes on to your friends and colleagues.) We are specialists in creating and producing Tactical TV, Print, Design and Radio advertising. We believe that clever cost solutions are a big part of clever creative advertising. Maybe that’s why some of the biggest marketers in the world have used our small agency! To find out more visit TacticalTV.com.au or TonyRichardson.com.au or leave comments and view back issues at our blog adnotes-tony.blogspot.com Or call us on (02) 9929 0588

What can copywriters learn from Thomas Jefferson?

All American school children know that Thomas Jefferson wrote the declaration of independence in 1776.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” This most famous quote demonstrates Jefferson’s genius as a writer and an original thinker.

Or does it?

I hate to disappoint American school children and students of history, but Jefferson was not the sole genius behind the writing the declaration, and ‘self-evident truths’ was borrowed from another document altogether.

Admittedly Jefferson wrote the initial draft. But it was heavily amended by the rest of the committee he was part of, and then vigorously debated in full congress.

Jefferson’s original document was mercilessly altered. It lost about a quarter of his original text and 146 new words were added. Like most writers, Jefferson felt his work had been significantly weakened by the help of others.

And the ‘pursuit of happiness’ passage? That was very close to the Virginia Declaration of Independence written some time earlier by a George Mason. With a few changes it was appropriated by Jefferson.

Do these inconvenient truths lessen the power of the declaration? Or do they make Jefferson any less of a brilliant man? Not at all.

But they do bust the myth of the lone genius. And they highlight a few key realities in writing compelling copy of any kind.

1) Jefferson and his colleagues were aiming for clarity, rather than sounding important. In a time when sentences could run for pages they remained brief and to the point.

2) The project was owned by Jefferson but he had help. It was neither an orphan raised by a committee nor was it the sole preserve of one man.

3) Jefferson felt free to borrow ideas that worked for his cause -“all men are created equal”. He and his colleagues felt no need to reinvent wheels when it came to capturing a vital sentiment.

So, if one of the best-known documents in history had to be drastically edited by two committees and used recycled material, then maybe our advertising and communication copy can stand some scrutiny too.

And maybe we copywriters should consider constructive criticism a moment longer, before we automatically reject it.

AdNotes is brought to you by Tony Richardson Advertising and our branded product, TacticalTV - absolutely free! (You are welcome to pass AdNotes on to your friends and colleagues.) We are specialists in creating and producing Tactical TV, Print, Design and Radio advertising. We believe that clever cost solutions are a big part of clever creative advertising. Maybe that’s why some of the biggest marketers in the world have used our small agency! To find out more visit TacticalTV.com.au or TonyRichardson.com.au or leave comments and view back issues at our blog adnotes-tony.blogspot.com Or call us on (02) 9929 0588

Pitch Pitch Pitch

When even the guys who make a dollar out of organising pitches say they are fatally flawed, it might be time for a change.

A recent AdNews article got me thinking again about pitches. Most agency types hate them. But an increasing number of marketers are realising that pitching, as a process is slow, ineffective and ultimately very expensive.

You may seem to be getting free submissions from creative agencies when they pitch, but you are not.

Let’s say every large agency is spending, 10% of their time and resources on pitching. They can only pay for this by charging existing clients. It’s not as though they have other income streams.

So every client they have is paying an extra 10% just to cover the cost of pitching. That’s right. You are paying your agency to chase other work. And if they win and it conflicts with your category, you may be dumped as well!

It’s nuts!

Unfortunately most of the alternatives suggested by the ‘Pitch Doctors’ seem like variations on the theme of, ‘tell me again how we would work together’. Workshops and ‘getting to know you’ sessions are becoming more popular.

Either way, the personal charm of senior agency management makes or breaks the deal. Then management steps a side and a bunch of strangers actually does the work.

Is there a better way? Yes.

An incredibly effective way to test real working relationships is to simply work together. The client chooses an agency they’ve heard good things about and briefs a single real life project. Then they get to see how the real, behind the scenes, agency works.

Do the creatives get narky when asked for changes? Is the finished art full of typos? Does the agency hire quality suppliers? Are the contact people 12 years old? Does the agency rely on a conveyer belt of freelancers?

These are questions that will actually affect the clients business. And they are questions that are impossible to answer at a pitch or its modern variation, the workshop.

When the project is over the client can give more work to the agency. Or if the reality has turned out to be less than inspiring they can try a new one.

The client will save a lot of time, a lot of money and they’ll build up a very strong knowledge of who really performs.

AdNotes is brought to you by Tony Richardson Advertising and our branded product, TacticalTV - absolutely free! (You are welcome to pass AdNotes on to your friends and colleagues.) We are specialists in creating and producing Tactical TV, Print, Design and Radio advertising. We believe that clever cost solutions are a big part of clever creative advertising. Maybe that’s why some of the biggest marketers in the world have used our small agency! To find out more visit TacticalTV.com.au or TonyRichardson.com.au or leave comments and view back issues at our blog adnotes-tony.blogspot.com Or call us on (02) 9929 0588

Crazy or what?

I did a crazy thing this month. I sent out a short survey to a number of clients and ex-clients asking for brutal honesty.

And I got it.

I deliberately targeted a few who had fired me. Most people were very complimentary. But a small number mentioned the same issue that bugged them. I was unaware of this issue and will now do everything to fix it.

This made me wonder how huge brands, particularly services, could benefit by asking, “What one thing could we do better?” Imagine what a Bank could learn if it asked this simple question. And imagine how its brand image would be improved just by the act of asking.

If this becomes a marketing fad of the future, remember you heard it here first.

Hug an agency person

Gruen’s back. This show reminds me that there are some pretty smart people in the advertising industry. The Gruen Transfer brings a sense of pride and professionalism to an industry whose morale is very low. In fact, next time you have an agency meeting, why not give one of the ad people a hug and say ‘thankyou’. Tell them Tony said it was OK.

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/gruentransfer/

Digital Discoveries (or is that Interactive Interpretation?)

If you are sick of being abused for not 'getting' the digital space, I suggest visiting this page. Simon Van Wyk has a spray at ad agencies, clients, media folk, the digital industry and ad agencies again.
It suddenly hit me that digital is like a booming goldrush town: theres money and opportunity everywhere but no one is really sure where. People are digging holes that either collapse on them or yield fortunes. Its a fun ride but there is no certainty. There isnt even an industry as such!

After reading this article I felt quite relived that my knowledge was a bit muddled. It turns out that even the experts disagree, sometimes violently.

http://mumbrella.com.au/2009/03/16/guest-posting-interactive-agencies-need-to-stop-being-digital-agencies/

AdNotes is brought to you by Tony Richardson Advertising and our branded product, TacticalTV - absolutely free! (You are welcome to pass AdNotes on to your friends and colleagues.) We are specialists in creating and producing Tactical TV, Print, Design and Radio advertising. We believe that clever cost solutions are a big part of clever creative advertising. Maybe that’s why some of the biggest marketers in the world have used our small agency! To find out more visit TacticalTV.com.au or TonyRichardson.com.au or leave comments and view back issues at our blog adnotes-tony.blogspot.com Or call us on (02) 9929 0588

My dinner with Juliette

I had dinner with French actress Juliette Binoche last night. She made some very interesting remarks on creativity.

(OK … I was the guest of a TV exec. friend, at a fund-raising dinner where Ms Binoche spoke and dined. We never actually conversed.)

Best known as an Academy Award-winning actor, Juliette Binoche, has taught herself to dance and is travelling the world with dancer Akram Khan doing a very physical and emotional performance.

In an after show interview Binoche talked about risk. She said that all creativity requires risk, otherwise you just stood still.
As an actor she could easily have made a complete fool of herself attempting to dance. But she didn’t. The performance was extraordinary. The risk paid off.

This reminded me that in marketing communications we too need to take risks in order to reap greater rewards. A risk in our industry could be as simple as not copying what the competition are doing – I’ve mentioned before how most automotive ads look the same.

Another risk might be to commission original music rather than buying an existing track. Maybe next time you are judging a piece of creative work, it would be worth asking, where is the risk? Could it work better with a little more risk taking? Will a small risk give me the jump on my competition?

Here’s an example of a risk that I believe pays off big time. And it’s for an automotive brand!

The agency and marketing department of Skoda Cars could have taken the no-risk approach and just said ‘quality for less’ like all their competitors. They would have been on brief. And most consumers would have forgotten them instantly.

Instead they took a risk and cast a clown! I repeat ‘a clown’. Personally, I’ll never forget this ad … ever. How many of us can say that our last ad will stay with consumers for life?

AdNotes is brought to you by Tony Richardson Advertising and our branded product, TacticalTV - absolutely free! (You are welcome to pass AdNotes on to your friends and colleagues.) We are specialists in creating and producing Tactical TV, Print, Design and Radio advertising. We believe that clever cost solutions are a big part of clever creative advertising. Maybe that’s why some of the biggest marketers in the world have used our small agency! To find out more visit TacticalTV.com.au or TonyRichardson.com.au or leave comments and view back issues at our blog adnotes-tony.blogspot.com Or call us on (02) 9929 0588

Private Label Winning Battle of Brands.

I stumbled over this interesting article from the states: Private Label Winning Battle of Brands.
Quote: "We're pumping out the morphine of deal, deal, deal. And we need to be talking value."
Good reading for FMCG folk.

http://adage.com/article?article_id=134791

How to turn bad viral press into good viral press.

OK. Naked has demonstrated how NOT to handle 'a viral campaign/PR stunt/journalists in general'. The final bullet in the foot was when they released an ad 'exposing' the journalists they had fooled! This is not a joke. I wish it was.

http://mumbrella.com.au/2009/02/06/naked-publishes-names-of-the-journalists-it-hoaxed/#more-2142


But for an example of how to get it so right I attach another link. It shows how the world's greatest PR men, Sir Richard Branson, handles bad viral press. Using humour he turns it into good press.

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/laughing-my-head-off-branson-on-that-complaint-letter-20090211-84eg.html

I was going to write that Branson is a genius. He's not really. He just presents himself and his brand as being normal, considerate, and having a sense of humour and proportion. We can all learn a lot from him.

The jacket that blew up in the client's face

How would you like your brand name mentioned on most TV news programs and News Papers across the country for several days in a row? How would you like your brand to be discussed at BBQs on Australia day? And how would you like all this coverage without spending a cent on expensive TV media placement?

A Marketing Director’s dream come true, right? Well in the case of Witchery the dream that started out so wonderfully soon turned into a rather messy marketing nightmare: the one where you go to work with no pants on.

Rather than loosing his pants, a male Cinderella leaves his jacket behind. A pretty young woman, Heidi, in an impossibly neat almost art directed bedroom, posts a YouTube search for her man.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=zQybOsM-7Qw&feature=relate

It’s a great idea based not only on a human truth but a fairy tale that is burnt into most English speakers minds. Brilliant.

But there’s an evil stepmother waiting in the wings of this story.

The various journalists, who had been ‘seeded’ with the story, understandably had some questions. (You didn’t think that viral campaigns went viral without lots of help, did you?)

They soon found Heidi, real name Lilly, who claimed the story was 100% authentic. They found that jacket was a Witchery one and that Lilly/Heidi had modelled for Witchery in the past. They then found Witchery’s Agency, Naked, who present themselves as anything but an Ad Agency, but are in fact ... an Ad Agency. Senior Naked executives claimed a surprising ignorance of the whole affair.

The story completely unravelled in a few short days.

THEN another YouTube video was released allowing Heidi/Lilly to confess all on behalf of her employers … and to do a little retail spruiking while she was at it.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=lciYV9Fks-o&feature=related

Adam Ferrier is planning partner at Naked and he is quoted in B&T as saying, “We are very pleased with the start to the campaign – it has got people talking. No one I have spoken to has felt deceived. Everyone seems to be outraged, but they are not upset about it personally. It’s a playful campaign that creates a sense of intrigue. The word deception implies an element of harm. This campaign hasn’t harmed anyone, not even close.”

In 1974 then President Nixon is reported to have said, “It’s the lie that gets you.” That is, wrong actions are often forgiven, but deception just makes things worse.

I believe that is what’s happened here.

I’m sure (or I hope) there was a plan to eventually come clean and roll into the next stage of the campaign. But the fakery seems to have been tumbled much earlier than hoped. The agency and client seem to have variously panicked, hidden, taken a holiday, been untruthful, told us that being untruthful is OK if no one is harmed, and created a ‘come clean’ video after being sprung! At best they were off message. At worst they created an utter shambles.
What can we learn here? Several things.

- Consumers do not like being lied to, even if they are not being harmed. This campaign has variously been described in the non-advertising press as a hoax, a scam and a fraud.

- Too many industry players are disconnected from the real world. If Ferrier really knows no one who felt deceived, he needs to get out more. The builders, accountants, IT people, HR people, and teachers that I discussed this with feel VERY deceived.

- Any publicity is NOT good publicity. Naked has damaged Witchery’s brand image. Naked doesn’t look too smart either.

- Clients need to remember that Viral Campaigns are NOT free TV campaigns. They are 90% PR and 10% creative/production. Such a high level of PR means a loss of some control.

- Viral campaigns need to be planned EVEN MORE than traditional media. Undesirable outcomes as well as the desired one, need to be considered and prepared for. In this case a great idea has blown up in the faces of all concerned mainly because they had no plan for the direction it took.

After this brief but exciting part of the Witchery campaign I feel like we’ve all learned a lot about the still new channel of Viral + YouTube.

Will consumers and clients ever trust Witchery or Naked again? That I’m not so sure of.


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Are you paying too much for creative work?

Strong creative communications and advertising ideas are immensely valuable marketing tools. But what are they worth? How do you know that you are paying a fair price for something as ephemeral as an idea?

Let’s go to my kitchen to find out.

My kitchen mixer (or tap or faucet) had died and begun to leak all over the place. So I bought a new mixer and started the job of removing the old one. It soon became clear that the old mixer was held in by a single rusted bolt that didn’t want to budge. The job was a bit beyond me so I called a plumbing company.

He arrived, took a quick look and flipped open the price book. My eyes nearly fell out of their sockets when I saw the figure of $508. This is to install a kitchen mixer that I had already bought, mind you. The guy was an employee and the price was not negotiable.

I politely said, ‘No thanks, I’ll get a friend to help me get it sorted somehow.’
The plumber then offered to do the job for the company hourly rate: the hourly rate being $250. You may not be too surprised to hear that this was still too rich for my blood.

As I thanked him and showed him the door, the plumber then offered to do the job for $100 cash. Now he was talking sense! ‘You bet’, I replied. $100 is about what I had expected before he came.

The new mixer was installed in 10 minutes.

How does this relate to creative pricing?

Here’s how. Each of the prices quoted to me came with a bundle of advantages.

- The original $508 was fixed and known. This is very similar to paying a communications agency a monthly retainer. The costs are high but you know where you stand upfront. This method is good if you haven’t got a clue about what’s involved in the job.

- The hourly rate of $250 was half the fixed price. The risk I took was that the job would drag on. This is the same risk a marketer takes when they pay an agency by the hour. Where does it end? Is there any benefit in the supplier working quickly?

- The final figure of $100 was what I had in mind from the start. In the same way a marketer who states a price as part of their brief seldom gets cost blowouts.

But the really important parallel between my kitchen and your marketing communications is this:
The very same job can cost you up to 500% more!

- It will cost you more if you are unaware of the process. Acquaint yourself with the costs of similar jobs done in the past.

- It will cost you more if you want all the bells and whistles. Agencies with nice furniture, water views, free lunches, lots of staff: who pays for all this stuff? You.

- It will cost you more if you don’t set a realistic budget as part of the brief. Good creative suppliers will work to your stated budget.

So by following the tips above, you’ll get what you want for the cost you want.

Now, I’m going to have a chat to my kids about a future career in plumbing.

Let's get sensible about marketing communications in Australia in 2009

I’ve been speaking to quite a few marketing directors recently. Some are new to their roles and some are old hands who have worked through several recessions before. Their brands range from snack food to finance. The consensus in two words is DON’T PANIC.

It only FEELS bad. Did you know that the average Australian is $700 better off than they were six months ago? That’s the same as an $8400, tax free, annual pay increase!

Petrol prices are dropping and mortgage rates are heading towards levels not seen since 1964. Do you remember 1964? I don’t.

But consumers FEEL anxious. Their super is worth half what it was a year ago. They are bombarded with doom and gloom news coverage from the US. And now there is the new possibility of losing their job.

So it’s not all bad. But consumers, like ‘the market’, hate uncertainty. The old cliché, ‘Perception is reality’ is truer than ever.

Smart marketers are adjusting their communications accordingly.

One example is the finance industry. A year ago the message was all, ‘Buy it on your credit card, you deserve it.’ Now the message is ‘Buy it on your charge card, that’s the sensible thing to do.’ Notice the message is still encouraging purchase. It’s just couched in a different way: the sensible way.

Similarly Holden started to run the line, ‘Times are tough. Holden is tougher.’ GM Holden recognised the economic climate but then perhaps predictably talked about themselves instead of their consumer. It was later changed to the slightly clunky, ‘Times are tough but Australians and Holden are tougher.’

Holden is now positioned as the sensible choice. A year ago every vehicle from small hatch to station wagon was a sports car.

Many FMCG brands are talking ‘value’. Small indulgences such as chips and chocolates can be justified if they are of good quality. Food, household and personal care brands are all about quality for less. Look out for more advertising that balances a slightly higher cost with, in the case of laundry detergent, more washes per pack.

Australian consumers still have money. They just need to be reassured that they are not wasting it.

Here’s the three step plan to marketing communications in slow economic times:

1. Don’t panic

2. Don’t do nothing.

3. Communicate quality+value, and sensible purchasing decisions.

If you have a creative advertising problem call Tony Richardson on (02) 9929 0588 or visit Tony Richardson Advertising or TacticalTV.com.au

You are welcome to reprint any AdNotes article on your website and in your e-newsletters for FREE. All I ask is that you attribute me, Tony Richardson and include a link to http://www.TonyRichardson.com.au