The Quisenblog

It’s certainly not news that all ads are not created equal. Some grab us by the throats (or the funny bone) the very first time we see them. We remember them. We tell others about them. We might even look them up on YouTube. Other spots? There are many we have been exposed to dozens of times but never paid them any mind. Such is the nature of creativity in advertising.

It doesn’t take a genius to conclude that ads that do a better job of engaging or entertaining us also do a better job of selling. Yet there are some in this business who still tend to discount creativity in advertising to be somewhat of a commodity. They see “entertainment” and “selling” as somehow being mutually exclusive. These folks for whatever reason have yet to buy into the notion that the quality of creative corresponds directly to the success of a marketing program. As support, they may point to the success of spots such as the infomercial-esque “as seen on TV” ads as proof that it’s what the ad says, not how it’s said that matters. And they have a point: interrupt people with $30 million in paid media, and the needle will move.

But more and more, we are moving to a model of opt-in content. Less are we able to interrupt the consumer with whatever message we feel like and expect them to pay attention to it.

The dynamics of Social Media illustrate this perfectly. There are no multi-million “buys” on YouTube, Facebook, blogs or the like. The barrier to entry is non-existent. Access to Social Media platforms has been democratized. Anyone can post anything. And the success of that content isn’t how much the creator puts behind it. It’s on how many users feel inclined to pass it forward and to talk it up.

In the opt-in world, you’re only as good as your content. A great illustration of this point would be to compare the results of a recent Social Media success (The Old Spice “Man Your Man Could Smell Like”) to one that’s not-so-successful (Cisco’s “Ted From Accounting” series).

In the Old Spice campaign, Social Media users were invited to correspond with The Old Spice Guy. Old Spice’s agency (Wieden & Kennedy) then shot nearly 200 “personalized web videos” addressed to fans (and Social Media heavyweights) over a couple of days and posted them online. The resulting buzz generated an estimated 1.4 BILLION views, hits and mentions over the period of a few weeks. (Oh, and sales were up over 100% over that period.) You can view some of the spots here.

On the other hand, Cisco’s “Ted From Accounting” series was launched as a web series in hopes of going viral.

Response to the web videos was less than overwhelming (fewer than 10,000 views, despite a huge PR push). One commenter on their YouTube page summed up reaction to the campaign this way: “I am embarrassed for your marketing department. This is the sad result of a poorly orchestrated attempt at some sort of viral leaching by a room full of middle aged guys, who’s (sic) kids saw something on YouTube that they thought would be a good idea to copy.”

Ouch.

Granted this is hardly an apples-to-apples comparison. The Old Spice campaign started as a mass media campaign and extended to include the digital component. But while “Ted in Accounting” didn’t have that mass media lift, my bet is that you could have put millions behind it and viewers’ reactions wouldn’t have been any different than the YouTube poster above.

The digital world is proving what we who have developed offline content for years have always known: people aren’t going to waste their time with boring content.

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Mickey Creative, Media, New Media, On Customers, Social Media cisco, old spice, Social Media, success stories, ted from accounting, viral video

Since the days of Claude Hopkins, one of the primary roles of advertising has been to create a need for the product or service. Used to be that the need was not so much created as simply pointed out.

But as more and more products appeared on the scene, and competition for the public’s attention, time and money intensified, simply pointing out a need no longer became enough. Hence was born The Modern Age of Marketing. Suddenly shoppers had a multitude of options, and the differences between products or brands were minimal.

It was during these time the idea of “Strawman Marketing” came about. Marketers dramatized a negative situation that might occur should the consumer not buy their products. Hence was born campaigns for Glade’s “House-a-tosis”, Scope’s “Morning Breath” and one of the most grating of all (presented here) Wisk’s “Ring Around the Collar.”

Without a doubt the strategy of setting up a straw man worked. Phrases like “The Fear of Being Close”, “Choosy Mothers Choose Jiff” and “It’s Not Nice To Fool With Mother Nature” not only sold product, they became part of the popular lexicon.

But how would these “straw man” tactics work today, in the age of Social Media, where audience skepticism, self-appointed brand watchdogs and the need for transparency rule the day?

One thing that has remained constant in advertising is that we’re not selling products, we’re selling the possibility of a better life. To that end, competitive advertising (whether of the head-to-head variety or against the so-called straw man) continues to have its place. I believe, though, that any such attempt to “create a need” with our audience must come from a place of authenticity. Anything that reeks of being misleading, manipulative, irrelevant or disingenuous risks suffering sever blow back from customers and the blogosphere.

What I’m noticing these days is that successful straw man marketing is tempered with a fair amount of self-effacing humor. A few examples that come to mind are the Axe Anti-Perspirant spot that shows the “perpetual sweating” guy, and this recent “Bacon Neck” spot from Hanes. The tongue-in-cheek humor of these is a lot easier to swallow than, say, the mock exasperation of “Ring Around the Collar.”

Want to set up a straw man to beat down in your marketing? Feel free. Just be smart (and sensitive) about it. Treat it as an inside joke with your followers. And whatever you do, avoid “Ring Around the Collar.”

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Mickey Creative, On Clients, On Customers, Ramblings bacon collar, competitive advertising, hanes, ring around the collar, Straw Man, wisk

Sometimes, the more you know, the less you know.

Such is the state right now of the mindset of the American consumer. Several research studies released over the past month seem to paint conflicting pictures of what’s going on with consumers, their shopping habits and their view on spending. Given that 70% of our economy is based on consumer spending, you can see how important it is to get a handle on what consumers are thinking.

Many an economist has talked about the current state of the economy as being “the new normal.” But given actual consumer behavior, we may want to rename it “the new abnormal.”

Their houses are being foreclosed. Their retirement plans are gutted. But they’re lining up for iPads and $3 coffees.

Wal-Mart and Target are in the doldrums, but Mercedes Benz is having a record sales year. Procter & Gamble is struggling to keep people from abandoning its Ivory soap and Crest toothpaste brands for generics, but Starbuck’s just announced its most profitable quarter in more than four years. And while consumers self-report that they are being “cautious” about spending, a Consumer Reports study shows retail spending per household has actually gone up $40 a month.

As marketers, what are we to make of this schizophrenia? I consulted my Magic 8-Ball, and it reported that, “The answer is murky.”

No doubt the severity of the economic downturn and how it affected American households is going to have some long-term effects. What we know for sure is that there’s less credit out there and that consumers are no longer able to use their houses as ATM machines. So their spending is going to be scrutinized. My belief is that consumers will continue to splurge on “affordable luxuries” such as $3 coffee drinks and moderately-priced electronic doo-dads because of the “highs” they experience from them. But I do believe the recession is making people think they need “post-rational” justifications for their extravagant purchases.

In dealing with an uncertain future such as this, it helps to approach the situation as a baseball team who has lost 100 games would approach the coming season: focus first on the fundamentals. And the fundamental concern for every marketer (in any economy, really) should be about demonstrated value.

Know your customer better than your competitors know theirs. Find out what they expect from you, and the real reason they buy from you. Then set about amplifying that, giving them more, and giving them reason to talk about you in their circles. Find out where you have the opportunity to surprise them. And for crying out loud, don’t scrimp when it comes to creating that positive experience.

For more in depth look into some of the most recent customer surveys, check out the Alix Partners study or the Deloitte “American Pantry Study”.

A rising economy can be forgiving of a lot of marketing laziness. But in an economy where, literally, anything goes, stick to the basics.

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Mickey On Clients, On Customers, Ramblings conflicitng information, consumer behavior, consumer research, consumer schizophrenia, Magic 8-ball, mixed messages

I came across this article, authored by John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing, last week. His points about the importance of ethics in business relationships were so articulate, I thought the readers of The Quisenblog might appreciate them undoctored. So here, in its original form, is Jantsch’s article, “A Return to Decency.”

“As one of the worst recessions in recent history seems to loosen its grip, both fundamentally and psychologically, it’s time to take stock in what I hope we’ve learned.

Real relationships took a back seat in business. That’s not what caused the recession, but a quick scan of the worst headlines would suggest that if the major ethical lapses reported on Wall Street could occur, then perhaps even the smallest of firms had let go of behavior that looked something like decency.

As we rebound and even boom, I hope that we will see a return to business relationships built on a foundation of mutual respect, trust and decency.

While words like trust and decency can be hard to define tangibly, there are behaviors that any business can adopt to keep the focus where it should be.

Create more value

Price is a function of value, there’s no question about that fact. And value is delivered in many little ways. Now is the time to deconstruct our products and services, and perhaps more importantly, the way our customers experience our organization, with an eye on making the entire collection more valuable, remarkable, fun, flexible and personal. Doing that can set an organization on the path to a solid foundation of customer loyalty that serves in good times and bad.

Take a holistic view

As we view your customer needs, what if we tried to understand everything they need, including areas unrelated to our products and services? If we can come to appreciate all of our customer’s desires and goals, we can develop a team of strategic partners that can plug into our offerings and help us dramatically deepen our customer relationships.

What if we began to think of our role as a customer booster rocket and “go to” resource for everything they needed? Do this and we also develop a referral network that will turn into our ongoing lead generation machine.

Mine the collaboration universe

One of the greatest developments associated with the growth of the Web is the proliferation of tools that make it very easy to collaborate, both online and off, with prospective customers, vendors, mentors, suppliers, staff and even competitors. We must mine this technology and enable the players in our collaboration universe to expand what they can offer us, our team, and our customers.

And for decency bonus points…

Let’s take a quick look at our closest competitors. What’s happened to them during this downturn? Is there an opportunity to grab market share? If so, resist it and consider lending them a hand instead. I know this may run counter to competitive wisdom, and I’m not suggesting we need to take on their payables, but I do think there’s a long view in being the kind of company that uses their position in the community to establish a statement about what’s really important.

I grew up in a farm community and while it’s unlikely one farmer thought of themselves as fierce competitors of another, they did provide a market with the same products. However, if one farmer experienced a hardship, a broken down tractor, loss of livestock, or need to get the crop in before a big storm, they could usually count on the help of neighboring farms without the need to ask or expectation of payment. Everyone in the community knew that they would probably need this same kind of support and gave a hand willingly. I wonder if today’s small business community could take this view?

Learn from social behavior

Social technology affords us a glimpse into the personal lives of those around us. Certainly this can be abused on both ends, but it also calls out for a new form of leadership that is much more open and willing to blend business and personal.

With mainstream acceptance and sharing on social networks we have the tools to automatically build deeper relationships that take into consideration the challenges and objectives of those around us in ways never before experienced in the business world.

I often use the Mister Rogers quote, “It’s hard not to like somebody once you know their story,” to drive this point home. If we use the shift in social behavior to tell our own stories and learn from the stories of others and we’ll be much more equipped to create a culture of decency throughout.

Say thank you

With the rush and go, always crushed with things to do, it’s pretty easy to get complacent about who and what pays the bills. If we’ve lapsed into this, we need to remake space to thank the people that make our businesses possible.

This process starts with letting our staff members understand how valuable they are and how much we appreciate what they add. (In fact, acknowledging a job well done is the most powerful motivation tool in the box.)

I’ve taken up sending hand-written notes to those I should thank. It’s not that hard to establish a habit of sitting down at a set time each week and sending inked words of appreciation, recognition and observation.

That might be the most decent thing any of us can do.”

Thanks, John, for your thoughts.

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Mickey On Clients, On Customers, Ramblings Duct Tape, ethics, John Jantsch, relationships, respect, trust

Last Friday, the last Chrysler PT Cruiser rolled off the assembly line. The iconic vehicle with its love-it-or-hate-it “post retro” looks bit the dust after a tumultuous ten year run. That an automobile model has a pillow held over its face is not news. Automakers phase out models all the time.What is news, to marketers anyway, is how this car, which sold 145,000 vehicles its first year and had months-long waiting lists at many dealers, was killed off while dealers are saddled with a bloated inventory of this year’s model.

In other words, marketing malpractice at its worst.

Like most cases of mismarketing, this one started out with success. Chrysler succeeded admirably at creating buzz for the PT even before its launch in 2001. Described as a cross between a 1930’s sedan and a vintage milk truck, it was the darling of car shows. Pre-orders were strong. Anticipation of the model drove scores of the curious (most of them non-Chrysler types) to dealer showrooms. Early adopters paid well over invoice for the PT of their choice. Fan clubs were formed. Rallies were organized. Aftermarket pimping commenced. It was also the first of the “post retro” crop of vehicles, which has grown to include the Ford Mustang, the Dodge Challenger and the Chevrolet Camaro and HHR.

The Cruiser also proved to be a demographic-buster, appealing to everyone from retirees to customizers to first-time car buyers looking for something spacious, inexpensive and yes, head-turning. (In the spirit of disclosure, I must inform you I purchase a 2002 model, which I still drive today.)

It didn’t take long for Chrysler to squander its success. Here are a few of the marketing sins commited by the automaker on behalf of the Cruiser:

• It failed to reinvest in the brand. We’ve written before about the necessity for marketers to continually add value to their offerings (click here for post). If you see a PT coming down the street, you’d be hard pressed to tell if it was a 2001 model, a 2007 model or a 2010 model. Version 2.0 never arrived. Initial owners loved their Cruisers. But when it came time to trade them in, I suspect very few bought another one. Why buy the same car twice? As an example of an automaker who has done it right, check out the 2010 Honda Civic compared to the 2001.
• It failed to understand its user base. The downside of having a product that appeals to many demographics is that it is easy to lose site of your “sweet spot.” While you never want to turn away buyers, you definitely want to cater to your bread and butter. And Chrysler could never decide who its core market was. Was it the young urban family looking for economical transportation? The boomer who was swept up in the nostalgic looks? The soccer mom who wouldn’t be caught dead in a minivan?
• It allowed the model to become too ubiquitous. This is a tough one. The idea, after all is to sell more units, right? Well, actually the idea is to make more profits, and there are a lot of ways to go on that. The initial demand for the PT should have signaled Chrysler that it had a powerful niche model on it hands, but that’s all it would be. It was too polarizing to become the automaker’s flagship vehicle. By limiting production of the PT, Chrysler could have justified a premium price, which would played into the “individualism” the model inspired. And by upgrading the model (or adding variations: a panel truck, a woody station wagon, a top-less roadster, a club coupe?) Chrysler could continue to appeal to that crowd. Make the product’s Brand Vision “Head Turner.”

A former client of mine who was in the auto business once shared with me his early indicator of when a model was in trouble. “When you see rental car lots full of them, then you know the end is near,” he said. That was certainly true of the PT.

But perhaps the biggest marketing sin committed on behalf of the PT was to take a product that inspired passion, loyalty and camaraderie and allow it to suffer a Saturn-like fate.

Good luck, Fiat. Your work’s cut out for you.

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admin Creative, On Clients, On Customers, Ramblings brand vision, Chrysler, marketing malpractice, mismarketing, PT Cruiser

Harry Anderson is a not your typical magician. Instead of performing outrageous tricks, then leaving the audience guessing how each trick was performed, Harry performs his tricks, then shows the audience exactly how he pulled off the illusion.

David Blaine, he’s not.  Harry does not create a distance between himself and his audience as most performers do. Instead he wows you with the results of his creativity and endless hours of dedication. And then he lets you in on the gag. At that moment, he becomes an ‘everyman.’ Members of his audience connect with him by thinking, “Hey, with enough practice, maybe even I could pull this off.”

Does this transparency diminish Harry’s act? Does it make his illusions any less “magical?” No. In fact, quite the opposite. Once you have an opportunity to “look behind the curtain,” you can more fully appreciate Harry’s act. By “giving away his secrets,” Harry his making magic more human and approachable. It’s one thing to make a 40-story skyscraper disappear. It’s another to have the magician show you how he did it. It gives you a more complete story. It gives you “expert knowledge” that you can try out on your own or share.  It gives you a deeper connection to the craft.

So how can you apply this to your marketing? Instead of attempting to be secretive about everything that goes into the creation of your products, consider what would happen if you were more transparent. Sure, there is a fine line here: there are always patents, trade secrets and competitive intelligence that need to be protected. But most of what we do on a day-to-day basis doesn’t exactly fall under the auspices of “classified information.” Yet we’re reluctant to share much about our processes.

One thing you’ll find out is that the customers who are truly passionate about your products want to know as much as they can about the organization. Just as Harry’s act creates a more complete story for his followers, inviting followers to learn more about your products, people and processes builds a more complete story for them to share.

Here’s Harry perfoming one of his most famous tricks: the old “needle-though-the-arm”:

And here’s the follow-up revealing how it’s done:

Now that you know how the trick works, aren’t you more likely to talk about it later? A more complete story provides a more complete experience.

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Mickey On Clients, On Customers, Ramblings complete story, Harry Anderson, magic, needle trick, storytelling, transparency

It’s been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. While I’m not sure of the exact number, one thing I can say is this four-minute video does a heck of a lot more to parse the impact of Social Media than a 400-word blog post could. Enjoy.

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Mickey New Media, On Customers, Social Media Facebook, fatboy slim, social media growth, social media revolution, Social media video

We’ve all seen TV spots that really get our attention, make us laugh and inspire us to want to share them with others. But then, two seconds after they’ve ended, we can’t remember who they were for. Was the spot run on behalf of Ford or Mitsubishi? Taco Bell or McDonald’s? Miller or Bud?

Marketing purists have used examples such as this to poo-poo the benefits of creative advertising. “What good is over-the-top creativity if no one remembers who the advertiser is,” they say.

Now, however, we’re finding that even when subjects can’t recall the communication on a literal level, they retain much more information subliminally.

Recent research conducted by Melanie Dempsey (Ryerson University) and Andrew A. Mitchell (University of Toronto) proved that advertising messaging actually engages subjects on several different levels. There is the literal, linear level (“what does the communication say?”), which is what most recall testing measures. Beyond that, however, Dempsey and Mitchell mapped out how most of what is communicated via advertising messages is subconscious. The “language” of these subconscious communications is much more primal, primarily emotions, feelings and stimulating visuals.

That would explain why the consumer may remember a spot but not the advertiser the day after seeing it, yet follows through on purchasing the product at a later date for reasons unknown. Dempsey and Mitchell dubbed this effect the “I-like-it-but-I-don’t-know-why” effect.

In short, it’s more about how the consumer feels about the brand than what he knows about it.
To further test the potency of these unconscious brand preferences, Dempsey and Mitchell carried out a second experiment in which the subjects were presented with factual product information that cast their product preferences in a negative light. Despite this, the subjects continued to chose the products they “knew” to be inferior, but for which they had received positive branding associations. In other words, it is the feelings one has about a brand that contributes to brand loyalty.

You can read more about Dempsey and Mitchell’s study here.

The lesson to take away from Dempsey and Mitchell’s work is to recognize that Top Of Mind Recall is just the tip of the communications ice berg. If that is all we’re interesting in measuring, we’ll be short-changing ourselves. What’s most important is what’s subconsciously communicated under the radar.

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admin Creative, Media, On Customers, Ramblings subconscious, subliminal advertising, top of mind

In case you haven’t noticed, the era of “telling” has ended. The era of “trying” is upon us.

“Selling by Telling” is how we in advertising and marketing communications have made our livings since the days of Marconi. We told people why our products were just what they were looking for. How their whites would be whiter, their floors would be shinier and their hair more manageable. We skillfully created an itch with the consumer that could be salved with our product. We totally controlled all aspects of the messaging. The customer role in this process was to listen. She only heard what we wanted her to hear.

Time to wave those days bye-bye. Today, we’re not the only source of information for our customers. They’re hearing about us from their friends. From their peers. From media sources. From bloggers. From message boards. From third-party review sites.

No matter how you try to spin it, the information control we used to enjoy has gone the way of the 14.4 modem. What it comes down to for consumers is, who can I trust when making purchase decisions? In an era of perpetual spin, of misleading and manipulative messaging, of being misled and mistreated by marketers, who can blame them for not accepting as gospel everything we say?

I’m convinced that today, the best way to sell to a consumer is to allow them to sell to themselves. Instead of relying on puffery and unsubstantiated claims to win over consumers, let them discover what our product can deliver on their own. Enable communication between peers. Monitor customer reviews. Make information on your products easily available.

This changes the way we would approach marketing communications. Instead of relying on a check list of copy points, we would start with a core platform of a single, understandable believable promise, and a shared set of values. Less argument, more promise.

It also assumes that communication alone is not going to “complete the sale.” To allow someone to sell herself she needs to try our product. We need to do whatever it takes to get it into her hands and let her discover for herself that the promise we are making is true. Old-school tools like coupons, trial sizes, in-store demos and free trial periods take on a more prominent role in the marketing process. Instead of giving us a short-term competitive advantage, those things actually are critical in moving customers up the decision ladder.

Research over the past year (from Nielson and others) shows that coupon redemption is at record highs among consumers of all demos. While one can chalk this up to the stuttering economy, he must also be open to the idea that consumer behavior has made a permanent change to where “trial” has become amplified in the purchase decision process.

As part of your long-term marketing strategy, it makes sense to include initiatives that will allow consumers to use product trial as a way of selling themselves.

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Mickey Creative, New Media, On Clients, On Customers, Ramblings

Hey, who couldn’t. We’re talking just five measly percent here.

You should be able to achieve that kind of improvement without having to break much of a sweat. You could probably get there without revamping systems, adding new platforms or hiring more bodies, right?

But imagine the impact that extra 5% could have on your brand. If your perceived quality went up 5%. If awareness, interest and preference of your brand went up 5%. If 5% more people recalled your TV spots or clicked through on your banner ads. If 5% more customers recommended you to others, or contributed to your Facebook page.

The question of course is, how do you get 5% better?

This is where it is important to be in synch with your customer. To know what compels her to do business with you. What do you give her that is better than anyone else, that keeps her coming back?

Find out why your most loyal customers like you, then improve that element 5%. If they think you have the friendliest staff, look into initiatives that could make them 5% more helpful. If they think you have the best selection, try adding 5% more SKUs. If they buy you because of your reliability, up it by 5%, perhaps by including a no-questions-asked return policy or a longer warranty period. If they buy you because you’re cheaper, investigate how you could trim prices by another 5%, or at least add 5% more perceived value. If they like your advertising, kick it up a notch and challenge your agency to up the engagement by 5%. You get the idea.

Inevitably, the success of your brand will coincides with its perceived usefulness to customers. Make your products and services demonstrably more useful to customers, and you’re golden.

And it all starts with 5%.

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Mickey Creative, On Clients, On Customers, Ramblings 5 percent, awareness, brand image, customer service, five percent, interest, preference