Zazou Marketing

Advertising campaigns inevitably responds to the times. And, as we are all very aware: The times are now tough. Which is why some brands have eschewed upbeat ads that dominated the boom times, opting instead for sober messages that harken back to the Great Depression.

Here are a few examples, as covered in a New York Times article that ran yesterday:

• A Farmers insurance ad campaign talks about how the company was started “a year before the crash.”

Farmers insurance ad campaign refers to the Great Depression

• Retailer Brooks Brothers is reprinting advertisements from the 1930s.
• Print ads for Soyjoy bars describe how “the Great Depression turned the land of opportunity into a land of despair.”

The effectiveness of these ads will inevitably run the gamut. But I do wonder about the wisdom (not to mention the relevance) of talking about the Great Depression in relation to a food bar. Though, to be fair, I should reserve my verdict until I actually see it.

A few days ago I was working on a brochure about a new product launch. In it I needed to explain that matcha green tea has more antioxidants in it than any other tea. To do so I wrote, “Matcha has 10 times the antioxidants, when compared to traditional green and black teas.”

Then I thought… “Is that right?”

As I have done in the past, I headed over to my “APA Style Book” and looked it up. Here’s what it has to say:

compared to, compared with

Used compared to when the intent is to assert, without the need for elaboration, that two or more items are similar: She compared her work for women’s rights to Susan B. Anthony’s campaign for women’s suffrage.

Use compared with when juxtaposing two or more items to illustrate similarities and/or differences: His time was 2:11:10, compared with 2:14 for his closest competitor.

So, according to the “APA Style Book,” no, I was not right. It would be: “Matcha has 10 times the antioxidants, when compared with traditional green and black teas.”

I fear sounding like a broken record, but that’s not going to stop me from saying it again: Make me care.

I know that I just wrote about this, but I was inspired to revisit the topic when I read Amanda Ameer’s Life’s a Pitch blog posting today. This week she is asking the same eleven questions of different New York City publicists. Today, she posted the answers of Steven Swartz, who is the founder of Dotdotdotmusic, which provides PR and consulting services to the new music field.

Here is an excerpt from the post:

What is the purpose of a press release? And what, in your opinion, is the most important aspect of a press release?  How does that element accomplish the purpose?

I think any publicist would agree that it’s not enough to convey the essential information — you have to answer the reader’s unspoken question, “Why should I care?”  Ideally, all of the elements of the release work together to provide that answer, but the heavy lifting is accomplished by the narrative you create in the release, and the context you provide to support and enrich that narrative.

So there you have it. Another voice who reminds us that whether you are writing a press release, a brochure, a website or any other marketing material — make sure it answers the question, “Why should I care?”

Just in case anyone at Chase is reading this…. I think that you need to rethink one of your ad campaigns.

Here’s why: One of the first things I tell my clients is to drop the “We’ve been in business for xx years” from the first line of your marketing materials. Why? Two reasons:

• If you are thinking about buying a service or product what do you care about first: Do you care about what the service or product can do for you, or do you care that they have been around for 10 or 20 years? I guarantee you only care about the latter after you know what they can do for you.

• The longevity of your business may or may not be relevant. Need an example? Bear Stearns was founded in 1923; Lehman Brothers was founded in 1850; Washington Mutual was incorporated in 1889**. Need I remind anyone what happened to each of these banks in the last year? Clearly experience doesn’t guarantee success. (And, yes, I’m writing about banks and their marketing campaigns again.)

What does this all have to do with Chase? I was driving down the freeway and saw a billboard that read “Chase. New to California, but not to banking.” (or something close to that — I was driving so not only could I not get a photo, but I also couldn’t write it down.)

If I had seen this advertisement a year ago maybe I would have thought, “Well maybe my rule can be broken in some instances.” But now? I think it just makes my point even clearer. After all, what does the length they have been in business promise or guarantee — especially now that we know huge banks with a long history can go belly up?

So, I’ve said this before and even before that and will say it again: If you are creating marketing materials for your business, I remind you to wait until you’ve made people care before you tell people how long you have been in business.

**These dates are all according to Wikipedia, which is not always accurate. But for the purposes of this blog, the point is that these companies were all around for a loooooong time.

It’s one thing to waste free space. It’s another to pay top dollar and waste it.

In an earlier post, I talked about a banner at Lincoln Center that simply tells you to “Celebrate Lincoln Center’s 50th Anniversary.” I brought this up as a reminder that advertising copy and marketing materials need to include the information that people want, as well as what will make them care–both of which this banner sorely lacks.

So that covers the wasted free space. What about paying to waste it? Well in the May 2009 O Magazine, there is a similarly uninteresting and uninformative Lincoln Center advertisement. It splashes the same “50″ across the page and has the following copy: “Saluting Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on its 50th anniversary.” Then there is the “Lincoln Center 50 Years, just the beginning” logo and the website, LincolnCenter.org.

Lincoln Center 50 years ad campaign

Is it just me, or is this another missed opportunity to make me care?! Seriously, use your advertising copy to tell me something, anything that will entice me! What have you done that’s so special? What are you planning that is so special? What exactly are you doing to celebrate? If I am interested, what can I do to celebrate? And why should I take any time out of my day to go to your website when you haven’t told me a thing about why I should go there?

Sometimes marketing campaigns just aren’t sexy. And that’s OK.

Take banks, for example. There is a whole slew of them who want the public to know that they are safe and solid–in a word, they’re boring. I have personal experience with this message, since I was hired recently by a credit union to two write letters for their annual report. The content of those letters? In part it was that the credit union is safe, solid and growing. And that they never took part in all of those risky lending practices that got the big banks in trouble.

But the marketing message definitely goes beyond one credit union. The New York Times ran an article about banks earlier this month, titled “We’re Dull, Small Banks Say, but Have Profits.” While the title pretty much sums it up, here’s an excerpt:

“community bankers have felt compelled in recent months to mount public relations campaigns to emphasize their fiscal health and in some cases to announce they rejected Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, funds. Some have held cookouts, others have held “reassurance” meetings in their lobbies, hoping to educate customers and prevent panics.”

The point of all of this? Sometimes what sets you apart from your competitors is not something bold and flashy. Sometimes it is your boring old business practices that give you an edge. The important part is that whatever it is that gives you an edge, go ahead and sell it!

I was contacted by two new clients this week. One gave me a list of ideas about their company; the other gave me what amounted to a list of facts about an event. Both clients wanted the information turned into one page of marketing material copy. And both were rush jobs — the marketing materials needed to be done in less than 24 hours — so there was no time to get additional information to fill out the marketing pieces.

Can you guess which one I took on and which one I passed on until I could get additional information? You may be surprised to know that I took on the one that started out as essentially a list of facts. Why? Because with such details I knew the:

• unique selling proposition
• target market
• what sets them apart from their competition

Here’s the key: If I have the facts and details to start with, I can usually add flavor, tone, and style. But with only series of belief statements, I have little to work with to tell your customer why they should hire you or buy your product.

Here’s an example: The list of facts included the location of a contest that the organization is putting on (Highline Ballroomin NYC) and what the grand prize will be for the winner of the contest (including a Jacob & Co. pendant).

There are certainly plenty of people who know exactly what kind of vibe and caliber this performance space is and just how coveted a a custom-made Jacob & Co. pendant is. However, there are plenty of people who do not. And if someone who does not know is being approached to be an investor, the one-sheet needs to let him or her know what kind of an event this is.

That in mind, to address what kind of a club the Highline Ballroom is (and by extension, the contest), I included the caliber of artists who have performed there:

“That night, the six contestants will let loose and have some fun—all at the same location that performers like Lou Reed, Mos Def, and Amy Winehouse have performed, at the Highline Ballroom, a performance space in the Meat Packing District on 16th Street.”

And when I described the grand prize, I included some of the designer’s celebrity fans — thereby showing just what kind of caliber the entire contest is:

“a custom-made Jacob & Co. pendant (popularized by the likes of Angela Bassett, Jimmy Fallon, Gisele Bundchen, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Enrique Iglesias, Justin Timberlake, Fred Durst, David and Victoria Beckham and many others)”

So, when you are creating your marketing materials, remember to include the details of what sets you apart — and also remember to include information that lets people know just why those details are relevant.

I have absolutely no emotional reaction when I think of Chipotle. Instead, my thinking process probably goes something like this: “black bean burrito,” “fast food counter,” “husband got sick once.” So it was a complete shock to me to learn that the brand has such a strong following that when they changed their ad campaign recently, a group of Denver-based creatives started a “war” on Chipotle’s new ad campaign, called “Cheapotle.”

New ad campaign from Chipotle

An ad that is part of the "war" on Chipotle's new ad campaign.

Since I didn’t know about the new ad campaign until I found about this war, I did some reasearch about it. Apparently, Chipotle is focusing the campaign, called “My Chipotle,” on its variety of menu items and ingredients. Included in the campaign is a microsite, Mychipotle.com, where consumers can leave audio and video recordings talking about their burrito creations.

Now, listen to who this campaign is targeting, from an article in Brandweek:

“With this campaign, it is our intention to harness the power of our most loyal fans,” said Mark Crumpacker, Chipotle CMO, in a statement. “We want them to be a part of the process because we know they’re consistently expressing themselves through their menu choices. By encouraging them to tell us why they eat what they do, we think they’ll spread the word and encourage others to come in and give Chipotle a try as well.”

Hmmmm. Maybe some of their loyal fans will love this campaign and play along. But apparently they went very wrong with at least a few of those Denver-based loyal fans.

And I certainly can’t help but notice that the ad campaign was meant to spur community action–maybe just not the kind of community action that it actually has spurred.

A few choice words can make a powerful image. If you have any doubt, just check out the new ad campaign Mars just launched. In fact, in this case, the image and the words are just too much, in my opinion.

The ad campaign is for the first new candy bar Mars has launched in 20 years. Called the “Fling,” it is being marketed to women. The ad campaign is using plenty of double entrendres, including calling it a “chocolate finger.” I don’t know about you, but instead of making me say, “Yum, give me some chocolate,” that image in relation to a chocolate bar makes me say, “Yuck.” I doubt that that was what Mars wanted when they launched this ad campaign.

Take a look for yourself at one piece of the marketing materials for this ad campaign:

a promotional mailer for Mars' new candy bar, the "Fling"

I’m not the only one who thinks this campaign goes too far. NPR’s “All Things Considered” ran a story yesterday about the ad campaign. Here’s an excerpt from that story:

“The overall campaign feels weird,” Lisa Johnson says. “It feels creepy.” Johnson is the co-author of Don’t Think Pink: What Really Makes Women Buy — and How to Increase Your Share of This Crucial Market. She describes the marketing as a “full-frontal attack.”

“The language of it has so much sexual innuendo, you could pack it into a trashy novel.” Johnson says marketers are taking the connection women often make between chocolate and sensuality too literally. “There are other things you can do that can hit this note without banging on it.”

It remains to be seen how effective the ad campaign will be, of course. But I would definitely like to see toned-down copy for this ad campaign. And my guess is that such a toned-down version would be much more effective.

Recently I was with a group of people trying to decide where to get dinner. None of us knew of a restaurant nearby, so we went online to do some research. Once again I was stunned that some of the restaurant’s websites didn’t include any menu or at least some menu items, while others didn’t include directions or even a map of where the restaurant was located. It was another reminder that signs, brochures, websites, or any other marketing and promotional materials need to include the basic information that people want, at the very least. And don’t think that only small-time organizations fail to deliver.

Here’s a great example of a banner at Lincoln Center that simply tells you to “Celebrate Lincoln Center’s 50th Anniversary,” as originally posted by  Amanda Ameer’s Life’s a Pitch blog:

Here’s what she has to say about the banner:

Question: Why don’t either of the two massive banners for the Lincoln Center 50th Anniversary at the Time Warner Center tell us how or with whom we will be celebrating? (The second banner hanging to the right of this one is identical.) What kind of programming and which artists will the festivities include? Are we not excited enough about this to put an exclamation point after “Anniversary”? That’s too bad. Was there not space to maybe list some of the features of the new plaza? What’s my motivation for going to LincolnCenter.org/50? Lots of “50s” in something resembling the 9 to 5: The Musical font doesn’t exactly spur me to digital action.

As she points out, not only are some of the basics missing in these banners, but there is plenty of space to actually draw someone in and entice them into caring and wanting to get involved. So when you are creating your own marketing materials, remember to include the information that people want, as well as what will make them actually care.