Driving Miss Bella

I've been teaching my daughter to drive. There are many parallels between that and marketing and advertising . Click here to find out more.

Web Video

How much web video are you running on your web site?

I don’t mean a little version of your latest TVC. I mean a dedicated video that explains or announces something useful about your brand.

If the answer is ‘none’ you could be missing out on some golden opportunities.

1. Your consumer is already ‘searching’. Make it easy for her. Web Video can inform and educate her in seconds. Your consumer has less time than ever. She has gone to your site looking for information and would love to get it as easily and quickly as possible.

2. You can change, remove, or alter Web Video as quickly as your business situations change. Unlike a TV campaign, changes can be made quickly and easily.

3. Forget 15 and 30 second slots. Your Web Video can be the length it needs to be: just not too long (see point 1 above)

4. $ave $ave $ave. From a simple but elegant slide show can be produced for as little as a few thousand dollars. A high end campaign obviously with a more polished the result obviously costs more.

5. Media cost? - $0. Broadcasting TV spots costs a lot of money because audience size is (generally) guaranteed. But if your website is working well, your Web Video will make it work even better.

6. Google seems to quite like Web Video! – Visit this link for the scoop on SEO and Web Video.

TIPS FOR MARKETERS

- Always look professional. (Professional doesn’t have to mean expensive)

- Always use professional technicians. (Just because you brother in law has a video camera that doesn’t make him a cameraman)

- Commission a script. (Saves heaps of time and therefore heaps of money)

- Contact Tony Richardson Advertising. Yes, this is the ad part!
Our advertising agency can take you from brief, to creative development of ideas and scripts, to pre-production, shoot day, editing and post-production. Just like a full on TVC. Then we supply the finished video in an easy to use file to your web guy/girl. It’s that Simple!

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 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

Enjoy the end of December

It’s almost that time of year again. The time when we wind up our work and take a well earned break.

I’m talking of course about Christmas. But maybe I shouldn’t.

Recently I had the tricky task of writing about the Christmas break without using the word Christmas. After ‘festive season’ and ‘holiday break’ I ran out of synonyms.

Despite my best efforts the written piece had a strange ‘beat around the bush’ tone to it. Not surprising really when the subject I was writing about could not be written.

The reason I couldn’t write the C word is still a bit unclear to me. The client was an American company. Apparently in the US some people are concerned that saying Christmas at Christmas time will offend non-Christians.

It’s an interesting concept. And one I thought was confined to the US, until yesterday when an unnamed NSW bureaucrat gave directions on Christmas office decorations. She issued an email saying, ''Be respectful of other cultures and religious beliefs. Do not select religious decorations such as nativity scenes.''

As a child living in Singapore I can assure you I was never offended by alternative religious holidays. I gladly took the day off school for Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Deepavali and Chinese New Year. I had no idea what they all meant. I just enjoyed the dangerous fireworks and bean flavoured lollies.

My (Aussie) mate Troy who resides in Shanghai has chosen not to take holidays at Christmas, preferring to take off Chinese New Year with the rest of the office. I’m pretty sure he isn’t offended either.

And while I was shooting in Japan, progress was slowed by the annual ‘ride your bicycle into Tokyo’ holiday. We weren’t insulted at all. Delayed, yes. Perplexed, yes. Offended, no.

To quote consultant Alan Weiss, “You don’t have to “believe” in anything other than good will to others to have a happy and renewing time during the holidays.”

I think that’s the best advice of all.

So, I wish all AdNotes readers a wonderful and relaxing festive, occasion, season, break, holiday … um… thingy.

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

Free Rolls Royce with every purchase

Who doesn’t love a GWP or ‘Gift with purchase’ - a free pair of socks with your cold tablets, a free cookbook with your cream cheese?

The good old GWP took an interesting turn recently when Stuart Ashton started thinking creatively.

You probably haven’t heard of Stuart, but he’d give a lot of professional marketers a run for their money.

Stuart and his wife Jean were selling their Mosman home and they thought it would be a good idea to throw in a little incentive, or GWP as we marketers call it.

The gift? A Rolls Royce car!

A free Rolls Royce sounds fantastic. RR has done a sterling job of attaching a luxury image to what is a very old-fashioned gas-guzzler. We don’t say ‘the Toyota of lawn mowers’ for example, we say ‘the Rolls Royce of lawn mowers’.

I wondered what this gold plated GWP was actually worth. A quick trip online told me his 1979 Rolls Royce was worth about $20 thousand. Not bad but hardly what you might expect to pay for true automotive luxury. And selling such a car on the open market could take months or even years.

The next stage in Stuart’s marketing campaign is a PR one. The free Roller story earned him a half page of free publicity on page 6 of the Mosman Daily where his regular house for sale ads were appearing. The synergies are almost too complete! Of course the story appeared online as well and I believe gained a little radio coverage too.

Stuart created a very neat marketing campaign on a very tight budget.

He provided a GWP that had the perfect balance of appearing to be very valuable while in fact not costing the marketer that much at all.

This appearance of value created an interesting PR opportunity that was followed in the very publication in which his target market was browsing.

Good media coverage, sure, but with all this ‘conversation’ did the house actually sell?

Yes.

Stuart and Jean not only sold the house, they got $150,000 above their reserve. A very good result in what is currently a flat housing market.

The final price was $2.25 million. So the cost of Stuart’s GWP and associated buzz represented only 0.008% of the total sale.

Maybe some of the big promotions agencies should give Stuart a call.

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