Zazou Marketing

Recently I posted about how Starbucks was bucking the short-copy trend — opting for a page of copy rather than a one-line zinger. But it looks like they have been out-copied by a long shot!

As part of Cesar Sunrise’s launch of “the first-ever gourmet canine cuisine breakfast,” they have created an eight-page, make-believe humorous newspaper. Called The West Highland Herald, it is chock-full of stories written by dogs for dogs. Yes, you read that right: The stories are written by dogs with their dog peers in mind. (You can also view the paper on their Web site.)

To give you a sense of this newspaper, in the “fashion and lifestyle section” the headline reads, “Bold Shapes Dominate Milan Runways” and runs with the following photo:

This story includes the following excerpt:

First, let’s talk collars. Expect them to get tougher than leather, with several designers taking their cue from the junkyard and early 80s punk music. That’s right, studs and spikes are back! Goodbye bitch—hello butch!

And in the “Regional News” section a headline says, “Dog Saves Family from Vicious Vacuum,” with a story that starts with the following copy:

LOST GATOS—A very brave and fast-acting South Bay Pomeranian put an end to an upright vacuum bent on destruction this past Saturday. Teddy, 4, of La Serra Terrace, made a split-second decision that spared his family certain harm.

And there is a lot more where this came from.

You may ask, “Where is the Cesar ad in all of this?” That’s easy: On each page there is a labeled advertisement (definitely keeping things authentic here).  One says, “wake up to something special, cesar sunrise breakfast entrees.” Another says “new! cesar sunrise brand.” When you click through any of the ads, an extensive, multi-paged interactive Cesar ad pops up.

As for whether this humorous campaign will generate additional business, as always that remains to be seen. However, this ad campaign is entertaining and is certainly designed to go viral. If it does (with the help of a few people like me) it may very well increase sales.

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.

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?

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.

More and more ad campaigns focus exclusively on getting your attention through visuals. While I am definitely an advocate of eye-catching design, I also absolutely believe that to get a good return on your investment, design and good copy go hand-in-hand.

Which is why I was so interested in hearing that Starbucks is running a new campaign: a series of full-page newspaper ads that are loaded with copy. A full-page ad? With loads of copy? This is definitely a different tactic. And it’s one that I am interested in seeing.

Both their website and the senior vice president of marketing’s blog offer a sneak-peak of the ads (I can’t display them here without a password). But from Advertising Age I learned that the ads will tell their story of what separates them from their competition, with topics including their use of fair-trade beans and giving health care to many part time employees. The ads will also address the issue of price—warning that “paying less for your coffee comes with a price.”

Come Sunday, I’ll definitely check out the first ad in the New York Times to see just how much copy there is and to see if it is compelling enough to keep me reading. Then, of course, the true test for this trend-bucking tactic will be to see if the ads have any effect on the company’s bottom line.

In this series, “Quick Tip”, we offer you linguistic rules of thumb. These explore grammar rules that will help you keep your business correspondence and marketing materials error-free. After all, you want your writing to reflect just how professional you are, don’t you?

So, here’s our first grammar tip for writing business correspondence and marketing materials:

The last time you wrote an e-mail asking a colleague to meet a deadline, you may have written, “Will you try and have that done on Monday?”

That’s fine for everyday relaxed conversation (and e-mails).

But for formal, precise prose, use the infinitive: try to (“Will you try to have that done on Monday?”).