Advertising is for the Birds, and Strange Bird People.

One of the benefits of working on the Hogle Zoo account at Richter7 is attending the annual Zoo Rendezvous, where you see birds, and people pretending to be birds or other strange creatures.  See for yourself.  (Be patient with my bad videography.)  

A Secret Weapon to Create Brand Distinction.

Ever heard of Dipak Jain?

Who?
He’s the former Dean of Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. A high and mighty calling. He’s had more than 50 articles published in leading academic journals. Hence, you might think he’s a left-brained stiff.

Not so.

Dean Jain has apparently been a long-time proponent of the importance of exquisite design in the marketing and branding process.

A lot of his preaching and teaching has dealt with how companies can, and must, create brand distinctions – which leads to his claim that in this age of me-too features many companies are using design to differentiate their products and services.

It’s nice to see some support for that theme from the intellectual realms of academia. Richter7’s battle cry suggests essentially the same theme – that aesthetics are crucial to effective marketing, to successful brands, to creating likeable style and personality (which, in turn, translate into sales).

The size of the type matters, the photo style matters, leading and kerning matter, the logo treatment matters, the color palette matters, the number of words in a sentence matters, and so on. Advertising is brain surgery, after all. It influences the preferences, thinking and habits of consumers – when done with aesthetic taste and cerebral creativity.

Every single visual element of a message matters when you’re trying to create meaningful differences in the mind of today’s sophisticated consumer.

And, thankfully, at least one very credible fellow from Northwestern University agrees.

The Undeniable Correlation Between Ad Creativity and Sales.

Much to the chagrin of ad agencies who spout the erroneous "awards don't matter" line (generally because they're not capable enough to win any, or are too scared to try), new reports further confirm the unmistakable connection between the ringing of the cash register and award-winning advertising.

In a July 12, 2010, ADWEEK article about the about the internationally prestigious Cannes awards festival, writer Noreen O'Leary reported the following:

"Mark Tutssel, Leo Burnett's global CCO and a Cannes judge, said that despite the occasional exception, Cannes winners tend to be solid business successes.  In previous years, Burnett has conducted surveys tracking award-winning ads with business performance.  In the most recent survey, Burnett found an 86 percent correlation between award-winning work and effectiveness, up from the 78 percent in 1997, the first year of the study.

Now for a specific example. 

The Old Spice campaign featuring the buff, bare-chested Old Spice guy in the shower has certainly garnered attention (and  numerous major awards), but has it sold product?

Here's what Eleftheria Parpis reported in the July 26, 2010 issue of ADWEEK.

According to Nielsen data provided by Old Spice, overall sales for Old Spice bodywash products are up 11 percent in the last 12 months; up 27 percent in the last six months; up 55 percent in the last three months; and in the last month, with two new TV spots and the online response videos, up a whopping 107 percent.

"Our business is on fire," says James Moorhead, brand manager of Old Spice.  "We've seen strong results over all of our portfolio.  That is the reward for the great work."  The "Smell like a man, man" campaign, which by mid-July had become a pop-culture sensation, with videos from the series accounting for eight of the top 11 most popular videos on YouTube, went on to win a Grand Prix at Cannes.

I Swim in Magazines.

Almost every evening I spend a little time reading a magazine.  I call it "relax and refresh" time.  Often, I read them in a big cushy chair, with my feet up.  Sometimes, the reading doesn't start until I jump in bed about 11 PM.  My feet are up then, too.  But I never read them on a computer.  Heaven forbid -- especially after staring at a screen all day long at the office.  That would be torture. 
I subscribe to, and read, many magazines -- including National Geographic, Wired, ADWEEK, Ad Age, Creativity, One, Fast Company, Inc,The Ensign, Time, Journal of Advertising Research, Communication Arts, Archive, ADNEWS, Community, Dwell, Graphis and several others that I can't remember at the moment.

So when my eye caught an ad headlined, "We surf the Internet, we swim in magazines," I paused, nodded, and began to scour the body copy.  Here's what I read:

"The Internet is exhilarating.  Magazines are enveloping.  The Internet grabs you.  Magazines embrace you.  The Internet is impulsive.  Magazines are immersive.  And both media are growing."

After all the hullabaloo about how all mediums are dying due to the Internet, I was surprised and rather comforted to note that fact.   I continued reading.

"During the 12-year life of Google, magazine readership actually increased by 11 percent.  What it proves, once again, is that a new medium doesn't necessaily displace an existing one.  Just as movies didn't kill radio.  Just as TV didn't kill movies.  Which is why peoople aren't giving up swimming, just because they also enjoy surfing."

I say Amen, and Amen.  I spend a fair amount of time on the Internet, but for a more luxurious, relaxing, comfortable, enjoyable, learning experience, I prefer the good, old, pages-in-your-hand magazine.  Too bad you have to read this blog on a computer screen.

 

Fear, Success and Self-Loathing

I suppose no matter how successful someone is, there is an innate tendency in most of us to think we are not.  I, for instance, can count innumerable flaws within myself, and can easily recite failures galore.  I'm a tortured soul, as my wife says.  All too often I worry that I might be one of those referred to in the following quote:

"How many people there are that could be described as mere channels for food, producers of excrement, fillers of latrines, for they have no other purpose in this world; they practice no virtue whatsoever; all that remains after them is a full latrine."
         Leonardo DaVinci, from Leonardo, the Leonardo DaVinci biography by Serge Bramley

So to avoid hyperventilation or semi-suicidal thoughts, I try to recall favorite sayings like the following that reside in my filing cabinet's treasure trove of inspirational comments.  Once again reviewing these two speech excerpts I heard years ago makes me feel a bit better.  It's corny, but true.

“Fear is the darkroom where all our failures are developed.”
        Joey Reimann, from a speech given to the Utah Advertising Federation, December 1991

“I wake up to find I’m still alive. 500 points. I have clean clothes to wear. 500 points. I have good food to eat. 500 points. I have a great wife. 500 points. I have a job. 500 points. I have a place to lay my head on consecutive nights. 500 points. Before I even get out of bed I have 3,000 point! Why shouldn’t I be positive?!”
          Tony Marsalla, Motivational Speaker

This Message Brought to You by Procter & Gamble

Not long ago, the President and CEO of Procter & Gamble, Robert McDonald, spoke in Salt Lake City. He’s a U of U alumnus, by the way. Several things he said stood out to me.

First point. “Choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong,” he stated. He applies that advice to the business world, as well as to his personal life. It’s a mantra that came from his Marine Corps training.

“Don’t treat others as you would want to be treated,” he noted, “Instead, treat them as they would want to be treated.” That’s a smart twist on an old piece of philosophy, and very applicable to interactions with my clients.

“Put the needs of the organization above yours. Your ambition should be for the company’s success, not your own,” was another pearl he offered. It’s a principle he practices and asks all those who work at P&G to practice. Here’s another principle to which he subscribes: “Leaders should clearly communicate their company’s goals and values, simply because people prefer to work for consistent leaders with vision, values and goals.” I hope I'm not guilty of being too quiet about such things. 

He also said, “Organizations must renew themselves. Change is crucial. Diversity leads to innovation, so avoid becoming a homogenized organization.”  (Sometimes the diversity thing is hard to do in Utah.) 

And one last tidbit from Mr. McDonald that was interesting to me as business owner: “Make sure you have the right people on your bus, and in the right seats. My greatest regret is not adhering to this advice strictly enough.” I believe we have the right people on the Richter7 bus, but I hope they will speak up if they're uncomfortable with their role. 

Is That Me Following Snow White Around?

The world doesn't need another grumpy, old man.  And I apologize to anyone if I have acted that way.  First of all, I don't consider myself to be old.  (Am I dreaming?)  Secondly, although the stressful burdens of the business world, raising a male teenager, and life in today's economic environment can be trying, I prefer the thought of being pleasant to the alternative.  I'm not always successful, it's true.  That's why these two quotes from office wall are helpful reminders:

"With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die." 

Abraham Lincoln

"Where is it written that important assignments must be carried out with an air of grim determination." 

Andy Stefanovich (founder of a Virginia think tank called PLAY)

I must remember those thoughts.  Must, must, must.  If I don't, please slap me and tell me to go back to Snow White's cadre of dwarves.  Thank you.

Several Semi-related Thoughts About Advertising

I'm back.  No one noticed I've not posted for several months.  No tears.  I'll continue talking to myself.  I do that a lot anyway -- or so my wife claims.  

I'm a collector of quotations -- probably because I've never felt accomplished enough to offer something stirring of my own.  It's okay.  I'm comfortable with that fact.  In my office, I have several files full of advertising quotations.  I review them regularly to stoke the fires of my creative idealism.  Here are four that happen to strike my fancy at this particular moment.

From the 1957 Yale Baccalaureate Address:

"Could a commitee have written 'The Odyssey,' or Warhol's soup cans been painted by a club?  Could the New Testament have been composed by a conference?  Creative ideas do not spring from groups.  They spring from individuals."

From Bill Bernbach, advertising icon and DDB founding partner:

"I have spent so much time urging freshness and originality, let me quickly add that doing it differently is not enough.  The pre-eminence of creativity in advertising  is not a license to be pretentious, or to put it as unpretentiously as I can, it is not a license to be phony, to do abstract acrobatics.  Your job is to simplify, to dramatize, to use all your taqlents to make crystal clear and memorable the message of the advertisement.  Yes, your ad ought to make noise, so that it will get noticed, but not a senseless noise."

From Jim Riswold, Creative Director at Weiden & Kennedy:

"Noise is nothing but shouting.  Shouting has been, is, and always will be a fail-safe recipe for bad advertising; it's hollow, braggadocio, vain, boorish, rude and a complete waste of time.  It doesn't care about the consumer.  The best advertising is, if you enjoy fancy terms, a symbiotic relationship, or if you prefer simple terms, a friendship between a brand and a consumer."

From Thelonious Monk, famed jazz musician and "beatnik:"

"I take risks.  The only cats who are worthwhile are the ones that take risks."