Altyrian View

Seth Stevenson at Slate gives us the 12 television advertising types as created by Donald Gunn in 1978 for Leo Burnett. It’s a very interesting list. If you want to know more, watch the video.

1. The demo
2. The problem
3. Symbolize the problem
4. Symbolize the benefit
5. Comparison
6. Exemplary story
7. Benefit causes story
8. Testimonial
9. Ongoing character or celebrity
10. Associated user imagery
11. Unique personality property
12. Parody or borrowed format

What’s cool about the list is that not only was it created nearly 30 years ago, but it also still holds true today. The aforementioned video proves that with some really fun examples. If you want to just watch the ads without the commentary, check out the slideshow.

Leo Burnett had a great idea: Let’s turn 7-Eleven stores into Springfield Kwik-E-Marts to promote the Simpsons Movie. They presented the idea to Fox during some pitch meetings, and so it was done. Problem is, Leo Burnett didn’t win the account. According to NPR, they are mightily ticked off that they didn’t get any recognition, and more importantly, they didn’t get paid.

So, who owns the ideas? NPR points to a precedent created by the agency that came up with the Taco Bell Chihuahua. The court awarded that agency money for the idea because there was an implied contract during the pitch.

As agencies, what are well selling to our clients? Design? No, designers are a dime-a-dozen, and anyone can layout a pretty picture. Press releases? Nope. Again, anyone with a college degree can bang out a few paragraphs. Our product is ideas. That’s what we are selling. If our ideas suck, our agency fails. Brilliant ideas breed bigger clients.

So, if we are going to sell ideas, we have to prove to prospective clients that we can generate great ideas for them. In a pitch meeting, we present ideas. If they steal them, they are stealing our product. They are stealing the essence of what makes our agency different from the one down the street.

Sue them, Leo Burnett. Protect our ideas. And when you do, be sure to play their anti-piracy ad for the jury.

Hat tip to Ben Farrell for the story.

Once I got mightily upset when a billboard company stuck one of my client’s billboards on the side of an adult bookstore. What’s worse, the headline on the billboard was something like “better movie experience.” Taken to the extreme dirty mind, the billboard and it’s placement was… unfortunate.
I got a good laugh from this Web site that shows some unfortunate placements. Some might be photoshopped, but it’s fun to believe that they are real.

Warning! Some of these placements are offensive.

I’m wondering how people get their stuff into Advertising Age (I guess I could find out at their site… nah). Anyway, today I read a viewpoint column by Scott Johnson titled ”Electronic Media: Altering Our Intelligence”. In it he actually states “The media-induced diminution of human intelligence is very real. The good news for those of us in the advertising industry is that, slowly, an entirely new form of intelligence is being born to replace it.”

Let me get this right: We humans are getting more stupid and more intelligent at the same time? Neat trick! Let’s see, I can use the “I’m getting more stupid” part to keep me out of decisions I don’t want to make. Then I can use the “I’m gaining an entirely new form of intelligence” part to win arguments with my co-workers. This is fantastic! If only I even remotely agreed with his premise.

I don’t. In fact, I think it’s a silly and embarassing article to come from someone in our industry.

I recently Googled “spam defininition” and learned something amazing - there are tons of different definitions for spam but none that seem to cover it well. The ones I clicked into talk about “unwanted e-mail” and, true, this was the original application of the word. But ”spam” has expanded into other uses, so the definition should expand as well. To rectify this situation, I now offer what I feel is the true and meaningful definition of spam.

Spam: Any intrusive, annoying and unwanted communication delivered without permission to a large audience.

Consider this - you’re engrossed in your favorite TV show when your TV is taken over by low-quality video and a screeching voice telling you to “apply directly to your forehead!” Think that’s spam? I sure do. Ads for new and used car dealerships (on both TV and radio), pop-ups on Web sites and all other intrusive, annoying and unwanted messages sure seem like spam to me. Likewise, I recently read a post on AdJab and clicked to read the comment someone had posted - but it wasn’t a comment at all. Instead it was a sales pitch for cell phones. Spam? Absolutely.

In this month’s Media magazine, Faris Yakob has a column titled ”Are All Ads Spam?”. In it, he makes a similar argument for the broad definition of spam. He also offers advice on ways to make your message NOT spam. It’s a good article (hey, it agrees with my point here!) and I recommend it. I also recommend that we look at all ads, releases and other communications and ask “is this intrusive, annoying and unwanted?” If it is, I say we call it spam and toss it out.

I just watched the new Folger’s Advertisement that’s playing on the Internet. In it, a crowd of yellow glowing idiots (are they dead spirits?) sing and annoy the inhabitants of a seaside town until - surprise! - those inhabitants drink their coffee. A couple of sips of (you guessed it) Folgers and the townspeople actually tap their fingers along with the singing idiots. Message: drink your coffee and you’ll love mornings.

Heather Green over at BusinessWeek Online describes the spot as “disturbing.” In her blog she posts the Folger’s pitch for the ad. I’m with Heather - I find the ad disturbing as well, considering that the ad’s song includes the line “You can sleep when you are dead.” But, even more than disturbing to me is the horrible lack of strategy behind this ad. At our agency we drink lots and lots of coffee, and we actually drink Folger’s. I love the taste of Folger’s but I really hate this ad.

Come on Folger’s, did you think to ask the question “What’s this ad going to do for our brand?” From where I’m sitting this ad makes your brand silly, annoying and unlikeable. Don’t insult your customers with glowing yellow idiots (singing or otherwise) and don’t remind your customers that someday they’ll be dead. Your product is coffee - COFFEE!  Maybe you should keep your product AND your market in mind next time.

Interesting article from Forbes contributors Marc E. Babej and Tim Pollak.

It seems that there is a new trend in advertising. In the “old” days, good advertising transcended reality while today, good ads are realistic. They point to a few popular examples including the Jetta safety ads and the NY anti-smoking ads. Why more reality? Babej and Pollak discuss the rise in reality TV, and I would add our obsession with watching “real” videos over the ‘Net.

Does this mean that advertising has to be real now to be effective? They don’t say that in their article, and I don’t think that it does either. Each product is different and requires a different advertising strategy. We pitched a large television network an idea for a very “un-real” campaign. We think that it would work because it stands in stark contrast to other types of advertising done for similar networks. Perhaps what makes these ads work is not that they are real but they are different from what we would expect to see.

As Larry always says, “different isn’t always better, but better is always different.”

MediaWeek has a new article outlining research from Mediamark Research Inc. According to the research

• 11.2 percent of adults report having a DVR up from 8.6 in the Fall
• DVR households are 23% less likely to be heavy TV viewers
• DVR households are 43% more likely to be heavy readers of magazines
• DVR households are 40% more likely to be heavy readers of newspapers
• DVR households are 81% more likely to be heavy Internet users
• DVR households more upscale than the entire adult population

Communicators take note! To me this looks like the profile of a social media user. They might be fast forwarding through commercials, but they are paying attention to media relations initiatives and social media. Advertising is not dead, it’s just shifting its focus. TV is still a major player in an advertising mix, but will it always be that way? No. The DVR is giving us television when we want it – just like YouTube and iTunes and Google Video. This study does not imply that DVR users are less plugged in, it tells me that they are even more aware of products and services than are their commercial-watching counterparts. We need to recognize that the DVR gives us more opportunities to reach our audiences, and it forces us to be more creative with our television promotions.

Ken Fisher at arstechnica just posted about YouTube and its legal protection from copyright holders. It’s a very interesting article, and I’d suggest checking it out if you aren’t familiar with YouTube or how they “get away” with having all that copyrighted material on the site.

I’ve never produced a television show or a movie that I would need protected from pirates, but I am of the opinion that YouTube actually helps programs, movies, etc. make more money. And as an advertiser, I think that it’s a fantastic thing for our industry.

First a disclaimer, I’m not talking about using Limewire to download a full-length feature in HD and burning it to a DVD. YouTube limits video length to 10 minutes making videos more difficult to post entire programs and movies. Sure, someone could cut a TV show or movie into parts, but that does make it more difficult on the viewer. And I’m not necessarily going to debate the morality of posting TV shows on YouTube. We can discuss that in the comments if someone wants to get the ball rolling.

The really cool part of YouTube is that virtually anyone can post video for the world to see. People have cult followings of their video blogs. Funny clips have given us “America’s Funniest Home Videos” 24-7. And all of it is on demand.

Video on demand is here to stay. iTunes has available hundreds of shows available for purchase for $1.99. Most of the networks have video service on their Web site. To take my DVR, you’d have to pry it from my dead hands. Our cable company has a VOD product that provides content from about 20 different networks including HBO, Showtime, etc. YouTube is an extension of that need for video on demand. Video on demand is good for the television industry because that’s what the consumer wants.

So where does that leave the advertiser? So many of those video on demand options don’t include advertisements. An old rule of advertising is that you should get a message from the ad even if you are watching it with no sound. In the DVR world, try no sound and at 3 times the speed. Let’s face it, people don’t want to see commercials. Even before technology, we went to the bathroom during the commercials. People have never been captive to our ads. (I’m being extreme here to make a point – television advertising is still an important media to advertisers, we just have to continue to be creative to make people want to watch.)

YouTube allows advertisers a unique opportunity to share ads in a community. Not all ads are meant for YouTube, but if it’s funny, different, appealing, etc. it probably has an audience there. As you can imagine, ads that people choose to watch are far more effective than ads that are put in the middle of shows. YouTube gives us an opportunity to provide comment to eager viewers – we just have to provide the content that they want to watch. That’s where knowing your market comes into play.

Based on Ken’s article, YouTube is here to stay (for a while). As advertisers, we should be happy about that.

Broadcasted on June 9, 2006

Today, John Mims interviews Tom Gaillard, President of Concentric Direct Marketing. Gaillard discuses the market’s shift toward consumer centric marketing: its strategies and practices.

• The common approach before consumer centric marketing was product marketing where companies were pushing products at consumers, with little input. Now, with consumer centric strategies, companies experience an opposite effect with consumers pulling at products. Successful companies are able to determine, understand, and deliver what the consumer wants.

• Technology is causing the shift toward consumer centric marketing. With large data warehouses, the internet and collection tools, collecting and capturing data has become significantly easier and practical.

• As a result of consumer centric marketing, companies use more real-time and relevant communication with their customers. Consumers naturally create a media barrier, jaded from spam and other irksome advertising attempts, so it is necessary to deliver the right message, at the right time, and the right way.

• Cross selling opportunities are becoming more widespread. Companies target previous customers by analyzing their demographics. For example, if a customer opens a checking account, the next day the bank will send a thank you package with specific promotions and offers which would best apply to the interests of the consumer.

• Specific targeting saves money in the long run by not sending out unnecessary information. Companies now target customers specifically by sending out details and information the customer would be interested in.

Listen to the full broadcast on our iTunes Podcast Marketing Watch.
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