3 musician rock from the UKL’s Band of Skulls. As it should be.
Insights
Ready To Leave Advertising For Silicon?
If you are ready to leave advertising for what might appear to be greener silicon valley or alley pastures*… Here are some places that might be looking for you and their recruitment tag lines. These lines are actually quite effective (except for Walmart’s which is _____, well, you fill in the blank.)
Take one of the tag lines before getting on New York’s 7 train to battle with your clients.
Automattic: 21% down, 79% to go. WordPress.
Disqus: Join the Web’s Community of Communities.
Crowdtilt: The easiest way to crowdfund anything.
Atlassian: Grow with us.
DoubleDutch: Mobile like a fox.
Amazon: Work hard. Have fun. Make history.
Microsoft: Come as you are. Do what you love.
Twitter: Less characters; more fulfilling.Hmm. I wouldn’t have thought that these guys would have such good copywriting. But, then again, they can afford good writing.
*Note about greener pastures. My old friend Michael Keeshan used to tell employees that were leaving his agency that “the grass is just as shit brown on the other side of the fence.” Or as my more yoga-style friends like to say: “wherever you go, there you are.” But, Google does have nice buses when its neighbors are not beating them with baseball bats.
Advertising Age & Web Marketing ala 1997
Ah, the joys of doing an Internet search on yourself. Here is an oldy but goody editorial I wrote for Advertising Age in May, 1997 on advertising agencies not getting into digital marketing fast enough. Remember… this is from 1997. I left Saatchi & Saatchi in 1995 to put newspapers online for Advance Publications. Yes, I invented the Internet with my friend Al. If you are an Advertising Age subscriber, you can see the editorial here.
Opinion: Have agencies lost their footing in Web marketing?
I’m worried that the advertising community is getting behind the curve when it comes to the Internet. Most clients are ahead of their agencies in understanding the value of Internet marketing–I know, because they’re coming to us to design their programs.
What’s holding agencies back? A love of proven media and maybe some myths.
1. Advertising agencies cannot make money planning and producing Web advertising.
Agency profits, strangled by clients during the past 10 years, don’t leave much room to dabble in new low cash-flow technologies. It’s easier to plan and buy TV.
However, almost every client is now marketing on the Web. Since the Web seems a bit better at direct response and promotion than brand building, I think it provides agencies with a great opportunity to grab from these other ripe budgets.
2. The only folks making money on the Web are pornographers.
Dell is selling $7 million worth of computers online every week. New Jersey’s Planet Honda has sold over $1 million worth of cars and parts off its site. Condomania is selling $1,000 worth of condoms every day off of a $10,000 Web site.
3. Banners do not work.
I worked in advertising for over 15 years, and the only time I could swear on a Bible that advertising had any direct effect on sales was when my airline client’s fare ads sent people to the counter. Now, when I look at my advertisers’ banner statistics, I know exactly what worked and what didn’t.
4. Web advertising will not work for mass brands.
Why not? Both men and women buy pasta, and when they’re online, they’re not using other media. Use the Web to leverage some of that mega co-op spend out there. Imagine a banner that says “50¢ off pasta today at A&P” and also links to that “brand-building” Italian odyssey site the creatives want to build.
5. The only big-time advertisers on the Web are large Web sites or technology companies.
Advertising follows the eyeballs. It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million users; TV, 13; cable, 10; and the Internet, five. That’s why a recent scan of “high-tech” Web advertisers included Rockport, Levi’s, Visa, Gatorade and Godiva.
6. Push is the future.
Maybe familiarity with broadcast is why the new “idea” of push is so beloved by the advertising industry. Pull is the power of the Internet. It may be hard to learn how to turn it into an advertising tool, but it is intrinsically more powerful and consumer-focused.
7. PointCast is push.
OK, I do like push. But sorry, guys, e-mail is the push God. E-mail is easy to use, it’s low-tech and highly targeted. There are more than 35 million Americans (70 million worldwide) using e-mail every day, while there are only 1 million active PointCast users. Pick one.
Peter Levitan is president of Advance Publications’New Jersey Online.
So, was I right? I was certainly opinionated. I am still.
From X Rated to 4 Skins
Last week I got to deliver my first X Rated blog post.
This week I get to point you to one of my favorite (WTF?) brand names: 4 Skins Wine. Hmmm. I don’t even know where to begin or should I just cut myself off?
I found this brand while doing some competitive agency research for a great Canadian agency client. Competitive research can be a bit boring but when you find such an exciting, attention generating, scrumptious sounding and mouth watering brand name, you just have to tell the world. Here it is care of Halifax’s Spectacle Group. Enjoy!
Advertising Pitch Book Update
I hit 41,000 words this weekend. That’s 41,000 words on how advertising, digital, design and PR agencies can better manage the process they employ to build new business winning presentations. 41,000 means I am getting close to finishing the book.
Why am I repeating myself? Good question. Here is a short segment from the book on the art of repetition.
Think Flow.
“We can learn a lot from Nancy Duarte’s sparklines analysis of Steve Jobs. However, I suspect that you might be thinking that channeling a new Apple product launch with the dramatic reveal of the first iPhone might not directly relate to an agency pitch about advertising the essence of Widgets. An advertising agency new business pitch most likely does not have an earth-moving climax. But, lets get past that. For another path to channel, consider Aristotle.
Aristotle, apparently one of the earlier presentation coaches, is credited with developing the three act structure and advising people to, “Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them.”
Tell them what you are going to tell them. Tell them what you want to say and what they want to hear form you. This will set up your major points and will let the client know that you have your act together.
Tell them. In this section you’ll tell them that you understand their needs, that you have the experience to meet these needs and that you have proof that you can deliver. Think of this as the content section.
Tell them what you told them. I consider this the support section. You will reiterate your major points, support these points with clear rationale and you will nail your pitch with conviction and enthusiasm.”
Experts.
The book includes interviews with experts from the world of agency search consultants, major advertiser organizations, procurement specialists, IP lawyers and the world’s smartest presentation consultant and author. What is a word they all use to describe what it takes to win the heart and mind of a new client?
Chemistry.
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