Adobe Goes Social, Johnson Controls saves money, and Vegas Means Business: Ads Reviewed by Terra L. Fletcher

Adobe Social

Maybe this ad caught my eye because its social media related. And I’m kinda, just a little bit interested in social media. Curious about this tool though, what it can do for publishing and moderating especially. I like the use of color and the ampersand. What a dynamic visual.

Johnson Controls

Anyway you look at it, money gets attention. Johnson Controls saved big bucks for the city of Baltimore. Why not tell the world about it? This ad does well incorporating a large visual into communications, especially since the company has limited visual appeal. JC has its headquarters in my home state of Wisconsin and I’m interested in see what local companies can do.

Vegas Means Business

The series of ads I’ve seen for this campaign are very compelling. They are simple, eye-catching, and many of them address a point of pain and/or overcome a misconception. There is an appeal to prestige with the mention of Fortune 500 companies and the black gives it a “rich” feel.

Please share an ad that’s caught your attention in the comments below.

NYC Ads Reviewed

Having just returned from The Big Apple, I thought I’d share some of my favorite ads and marketing pieces that I encountered.

“It’s a chalice, not a glass.” I liked this ad because I believe that the glass you drink from does change your beverage experience (just as we equate packaging with product). Though I can’t imagine tracking the ROI on a Times Square billboard, Stella Artois gained my attention. Brewed primarily in Belguim, Stella Artois is imported and distributed by Anheuser-Busch. They’ve been using prestige appeals for years. In the UK their slogan was “Reassuringly Expensive.” 

“Skin as dry as toast?” I saw this display through a window. I think I was walking near Rockefeller Center at the time. The simple, yet striking visual display caught my attention long enough to snap a picture. Finding their website, I discovered the nice match of simple and striking there as well (a nice consistent brand image). The company says, “We create handmade bath & body products and hand crafted home ware with the utmost attention to detail using natural ingredients with African origins. Rain products are responsibly handmade with love and care for our customers, craftspeople and the environment.” Who wouldn’t love that?

Here’s an idea that I didn’t include in How to Market to Tourists. This idea works because almost no one I met in New York City was actually from NYC. Several of the restaurants I ate at gave a postcard with the check. Some of them I mailed out, but I saved this one. I really like it, despite the backhanded dig at copywriters. (And please forgive the profanity.)

As always, if you have a marketing piece you’d like reviewed please mail it to me, terra@fletcherfreelance.com. And share your thoughts on these ads in the comments below.

Ads Reviewed by Terra L. Fletcher

 “A fleeting moment when time stands still. It all begins with a one-hand watch.” This watch ad by Rufus Lin Designs has an obvious sexual element. Buy a cool watch; get the girl. But this watch is truly unique, something I’ve never seen before, so despite the obvious and the cliché, it works. The ad has a clear call to action to view this and other timepieces online. It includes several options for contact. The interested party can call, email, or even snail mail. But the company name and contact info isn’t the most prominent thing in the ad (that’s a good thing). 

 “Give ‘em the bird.” If this Wild Turkey ad didn’t capture your attention, I don’t know what will. I was in the waiting room in a clinic when I saw this, so please forgive the poor camera phone picture. (But at least I didn’t rip it out of a magazine that wasn’t mine.) I like that this ad has the QR code, perfect for curious smartphone users. It also has the address of their Facebook page, which you know I like. What a great way to continue the conversation.

 I’m all for ads that don’t look like ads. That really is the best kind of advertising. If you notice the word “advertisement” on the top of this page, that’s you’re only clue that UPS paid for this page. I don’t like that it is in Businessweek because I know business owners will see the word advertisement and might feel (as I often do) that the advertiser was trying to trick them. Of course the carbon neutral is a good point and everyone likes to see companies they work with go green, but this ad just missed the target.

Having worked as the “keeper of the data” back when I still had a “day job” I could really relate to this ad by Splunk. “Every company is a data company.” There is a lot of truth to that. And I like the “AHA! moment.” This ad tells me that Splunk can make sense of all the numbers and jibberish before I even read the ad. The ad has strong benefits for users and great prestige appeals. It does lack a strong call to action and only has one means of contact.

Got an ad you'd like me to review? Please email it to terra@fletcherfreelance.com.

How to Advertise a Small Business

As the daughter of entrepreneurial parents, and living in a city of 9,000, I have a special place in my heart for the small business owner. And I understand that these people have an incredible drive and focus. A positive return on investment of their advertising dollars is crucial. When you’re working with very limited budgets, advertising cannot be just another expense, it must be an investment.

Advertising Rarely Works Overnight

It takes an average of nine exposures before a consumer will consider your business credible. Since they won’t catch every ad, you may have to run 20 or 30 ads for the same demographic to see nine ads. When you’re trying to get down to a cost per customer to calculate ROI, this is tricky business.

Advertising Cannot Be Generic

Your advertising plan must be tailored to your business, your audience, and your small town or market. Before you begin ask why you are advertising and what you expect to be the result. Do you know who your target market is? Who will buy your product or service?

If your advertising goal is to get the word out about a new business, your campaign will be very different from a more established business looking to take a larger slice of the pie. List and prioritize your goals. Focus on one goal at a time.

Great advertising is directed at one person, your best customer. Who is your very best customer? Talk to them. You need to know their age, gender, income, address, and what motivates them to buy. Are your best (potential) customers familiar with your business? Are they loyal to you or the competition? How can you better fill their needs? What emotional benefit can you give?

Does Advertising Work?

People often ask me what is the best media to advertise in? My answer is always the same. They are all good. But are they all good for you? You must be reaching your target market and getting a positive return on your investment.

Overwhelmed? Need a little direction? Call me. (715) 584-6773

What you Need to Know about Groupon.com

In November 2010 I informed my clients of the huge power of Groupon.com. Groupon had nearly 80% of group buying power online. Today digital coupon comet, Groupon, sends 70 million subscribers deal-of-the-day emails. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Groupon is a combination of (somewhat now passé) Yellow Pages and Valpak, acting as a kind of price-conscious concierge for millions of customers.


Untapped Potential

Groupon is growing exponentially, possibly the fastest company of all time! Budget is $3-4 billion this year, up from $750 million last year. Rumors of an IPO would value Andrew Mason’s digital couponing biz at $25 billion!

Groupon Now

Two simple buttons have transformed local commerce. Groupon’s “I’m hungry” And “I’m bored” options give single-click access to local merchants looking to fill empty seats, tables, rooms, etc. – now. Instead of being presented with dozens of options – Groupon Now has just two. The program is still in beta, but expected to go live to broader markets in April.

Groupon’s Sense of Humor

Do you remember the $3 million, 30-second ad during the Super Bowl that tried to make a joke of Tibetan repression? “The people of Tibet are in trouble… but they still whip up an amazing fish curry.” The spot bombed. But Groupon has remained an edgy, informative, and entertaining persona. Groupon is known to reward its best customers with silly things like mouth guards, shoe trees, and other non-essentials not coveted by most people. Groupon employs 70 comic writers.

Groupon’s Competition

There is a long list of wannabe daily-deal sites. LivingSocial started building apps for Facebook, but pivoted to daily deals after seeing Groupon takeoff.

The Groupon Now Difference

Daily deals present invites that help the average consumer step outside of their comfort zone. From sky diving to simply trying a different restaurant, you see the deals when you enter your location on your PC or smartphone. Daily deals generate a flood of new customers. A few may become regulars. With Groupon Now you get just a few customers, but at the right time. The real advantage of G Now is eliminating perishable inventory.

If a spa has a canceled massage, but your masseuse is already there - why not give a massage at a discount? If your restaurant is packed every weekend, but you could use a few patrons on a Tuesday for lunch – why not use G Now to draw customers to open tables? G Now is an everyday tool to keep business going.

Rob Solomon, Groupon’s president says, “If we get this right, we are going to influence what tens of millions of people are buying at a frequency that we have never seen before.

The Cons

Groupon takes a 40-50 percent cut on all deals. Small business owners already have a lot on their plate. Managing Groupon Now takes time. And of course – as with discounting too often in any venue – active discounting on Groupon could dissuade customers from ever paying full price. Groupon isn’t the only site around and now Facebook recently announced plans to collect daily deals from Groupon’s rivals.

Weasel Words used in Advertising

The phrase weasel word is derivative of the egg-eating habits of weasels. Perhaps originating with Shakespeare’s similes of weasels sucking eggs. There is some debate as to whether weasels actually suck eggs. Either way the image is a claim or word that, upon analysis, is empty. These words suck the life out of the words next to them.


Weasel words sound good, but don’t mean anything. They create the impression of something specific and meaningful, but are vague and ambiguous claims. Weasel words avoid making outright assertions, imply meaning far beyond the claim, soften force of otherwise controversial statements, detensify, and mislead.

Examples of weasel words include helps, virtual, acts, works, can be, as much as, refreshes, comforts, fights, somewhat, in most respects. Such words and phrases can “spin” a story in another direction, and change public impression.

You will see such trickery in the commonplace practice of “Items reduced up to 70%” Which allows shoppers to imagine many items reduced by 70%. In reality there will be no discounts exceeding 70%. In fact the store could not reduce any prices and still be “honest” in their ad.

Most common weasel words are vague numerical expressions (some people, experts, many), use the passive voice (“it is said”), or detensify (often, probably). Other expressions simply violate George Orwell’s rules by using euphemisms, clichés, qualifiers, vague generalizations, or non sequitur statements.

Examples from Wikipedia include:

• "A growing body of evidence..."[11] (Where is the raw data for your review?)

• "People say..." (Which people? How do they know?)

• "It has been claimed that..." (By whom, where, when?)

• "Critics claim..." (Which critics?)

• "Clearly..." (As if the premise is undeniably true)

• "It stands to reason that..." (Again, as if the premise is undeniably true—see "Clearly" above)

• "Questions have been raised..." (Implies a fatal flaw has been discovered)

• "I heard that..." (Who told you? Is the source reliable?)

• "There is evidence that..." (What evidence? Is the source reliable?)

• "Experience shows that..." (Whose experience? What was the experience? How does it demonstrate this?)

• "It has been mentioned that..." (Who are these mentioners? Can they be trusted?)

• "Popular wisdom has it that..." (Is popular wisdom a test of truth?)

• "Commonsense has it/insists that..." (The common sense of whom? Who says so? See "Popular wisdom" above, and "It is known that" below)

• "It is known that..." (By whom and by what method is it known?)

• "Officially known as..." (By whom, where, when—who says so?)

• "It turns out that..." (How does it turn out?)

• "It was noted that..." (A commonly used start of a line by Auditors with poor workpapers or little evidence)

• "See why more of our trucks are sold in Southern California than in any other part of the country." (Southern California is a big vehicle market.)

• "Nobody else's product is better than ours." (What is the evidence of this?)

• "Studies show..." (what studies?)

• "(The phenomenon) came to be seen as..." (by whom?)

• "Some argue..." (who?)

• "Up to sixty percent..." (so, 59%? 50%? 10%?)

• "More than seventy percent..." (How many more? 70.01%? 80%? 90%?)

• "The vast majority..." (All, more than half—how many?)

• "... up to 50% off." (How many items were actually decreased in price by half? The statement holds true even if the price of only one item is reduced by half, and the rest by very little.)

• "Save up to $100 or more!" (What exactly is the significance of the $100? It is neither a minimum nor a maximum, it just sits arbitrarily somewhere in an undefined range.)

• "... is now 20% cheaper!" (Cheaper than what? The last model? Some arbitrarily inflated price?)

• "Four out of five people would agree..." (How many subjects were included in the study?)

• "... is among the (top, leading, best, few, worst, etc.)" (Top 100? Best in customer service/quality/management?)

• "... for a fraction of the original price!" (This wording suggests a much lower price even though the fraction could easily be 99/100)

• "More people are using..." (What does that mean in numbers?)

• "Nothing Is Stronger/Longer Lasting/Safer." (How many are equally as strong/long lasting/safe?)

• "Lose 20 pounds in 3 weeks" (20 pounds of what? Water, muscle, bone?)

Check your ads. Do they sound like this? If so, it may be time to hire a professional copywriter. Call Terra today at (715) 584-6773.

Super Bowl XLV Commercials

I was going to blog today about Super Bowl XLV commercials.


How quickly we move on. According to Wikipedia, “2011's Super Bowl XLV holds the record for total number of U.S. viewers, attracting an average audience of 111 million viewers, making the game the most viewed television broadcast of any kind in U.S. history.” And yet, YouTube has already taken down their homepage link to all Super Bowl commercials. And there is no link from Fox’s homepage.

Ok, so I’m still going to blog about the commercials.

From the coin toss to the final score, I counted about 80 commercials. Of those 80, 7 had a Facebook related call to action (more had the Facebook logo at the end). Several I found quite entertaining; in fact, I think this year’s Super Bowl ads were overall better than the past few years.

My favorites were…

Volkswagen: The Force (Who didn't remember this one?)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chevy Cruze: Facebook Status (You knew I had to pick one featuring Facebook. Although, this wouldn't make me buy a car.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Car Max: Kid in a Candy Store

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best Buy: What's a Bieber?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audi: Luxury Prison

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the Audi commercial speaks well to its demographic. I also liked Doritos commercials. The Dog's Revenge was very good, the licking fingers one was disturbing, but memorable. Pepsi Max did a great job with the dieters and daters. Hyundai's first thing, Bridgestone's beavers, and Beetle's beetles were great.

 

My questions are: What were your favorites? How many of the 80ish commercials do you remember? Have you searched for any of them online? Did you visit any of the websites or Facebook pages of the business during or after the game?

 

Please leave a comment!

Advertising Techniques: Using Brand Characters

Brand characters in advertising allow a consistent visual image beyond the logo. The personality should be consistent and complex. The target audience should be able to connect in a beneficial relationship.

Some examples of brand characters are James Dyson the creator of the Dyson vacuum cleaners. Other companies employ the use of the same actor throughout the campaign. Progressive’s Flo and Mac’s Mac and PC characters are a good example. Created characters are often well received. You’ll remember the long-standing Michelin Man and the Geico Gecko.

When it comes to complexity and interest Dos Equis, does it well with the World’s Most Interesting Man.

Create your own character. First choose whether you will use an imaginary character or real person. Then create a dramatic role for the real person character. For the cartoon character try turning the product into a person or the person into a product. Create a whole spectrum of morphs and choose the best one.

Be advised that it will take some time for the character to become synonymous with the brand. Advertising spokes-characters are especially effective with the young. The dynamic audiovisual medium attracts attention. Characters are likely to be remembered for the impact on visual and verbal areas of the brain. With characters there are no words to remember.

Stay tuned for more advertising techniques.

Quick Response Codes

Quick Response codes or QR codes are two-dimensional barcodes. They are readable by QR readers and camera phones (especially smart phones with QR apps). The information contained in the small black and white box could be text, a website address, link to video, or contact information. The mobile information tags are popping up on product packaging, print advertising, and on billboards.

Quick Response codes were created in 1994 and have been popular in Japan for more than a decade, but are relatively new in the United States. Signs and graphics containing QR codes generate more interest and reach tech-savvy customers, potential and existing.

These little black and white codes are finding their way into all sorts of marketing and one of the biggest advantages is that they work. Instead of having to remember a call to action and acting on it later Quick Response codes are just that, quick. Our on-demand society with jam-packed schedules doesn’t have to take action later. They can do it right now. Otherwise passive viewers may be more likely to make a purchase, register for a contest, take a survey, or join your mailing list.

QR codes improve website traffic. Companies are using these little codes on business cards, brochures, even street signage - and directing viewers to the company website. Again you can gently nudge “maybe laters” to act now. And, possibly the best part, you can track the effectiveness of each campaign. Because what doesn’t get measured doesn’t improve.

So if you still don’t have a Blackberry, iPhone, or Android, here’s one more thing you’re missing out on. Keeping up with technology, that’s good for business.

How would you use a QR code?

Ad Critique

“Wash the day away.” There is a lot going on in this ad. The primary feeling/imagery conveyed is that of relaxation, therapy even. The showerhead being sold is one that comes apart so you can target healing streams of water right where you need it. And whose shoulders don’t need a little extra attention at the end of the day? And I have to admit, the attractive model caught my attention. Who thought Delta was a sexy brand?  The old adage “sex sells” certainly applies.

I picked up this napkin on a recent visit to the mall. It is a good reminder not to overlook marketing opportunities. What do you have or giveaway that could have your name on it? Are you making wise use of dressing room walls, for example? You could post photos of ensembles or testimonials from satisfied clients. Does your waiting room feature general topic magazines and abstract art? Could you display charts or graphs and educational brochures? Don’t overlook an opportunity.

I have to give a shoutout to local company, Darboy Stone and Brick. Their radio commercials are some of the best I’ve heard in a long time. There website is really nice as well.

Ad Critiques

I clipped this off the back of a cereal box. I like it because, instead of the games you find on boxes of “kids’ cereal” there was marketing copy. Not a hard sell, but a softer reminder – and almost an affirmation that the consumer chose wisely.

Although this ad is entertaining and eye catching, is it a good ad? Now that you’ve caught my attention, deliver a powerful call to action. It’s hard to tell what the objective of this ad really is. Was the graphic artist just showing off? Just because an ad is entertaining or aesthetically pleasing doesn’t mean it sells.

This ad is different. There are few black pages in the magazine, so that grabs you. But this ad is very simple and does not contain a hard sell, or strong call to action. Why it works? This ad, though for furniture, reminds me of a higher-end or couture brand ad. It’s just there, looking beautiful and giving the impression that you’ll achieve higher status when you purchase the item. I expect the target audience is people who enjoy the finer things (this ad was found in a magazine that targets this group). An ad like this appeals to achievement motivated individuals who look for products and services that demonstrate their success to peers. They are receptive to new ideas, but skeptical of advertising.

Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. If you’d like Fletcher Freelance to critique your ad – please email it to terra (at) fletcherfreelance (dot) com with “ad critique request” in the subject line.