Zazou Marketing

Do you ever dream about the time in your future when all of your marketing pursuits will have paid off and you’ll be able to take a marketing break? Ah, yes, it does sound divine. But here’s the reality check: Even when things are clicking along and you have more work than you can handle, you can not take a break from marketing. Want proof? Even “Harry Potter” needs to do marketing. Yes, that’s right. Even the boy wizard who is known worldwide has to do marketing.

Even "Harry Potter" needs to do marketing

What’s next on the “Harry Potter” marketing initiative? Getting people to the 6th movie this summer. What are they up against? By some accounts, the “Twilight” franchise, whose vampires have a major cross-over audience.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

Hollywood marketing executives say that these days the “Twilight” franchise has influenced almost every studio marketing campaign that targets teenage girls. Some posters for the upcoming “Potter” film echo “Twilight”’s emphasis on romance. One features Harry and his crush, Ginny, gazing longingly into each others’ eyes, in a pose reminiscent of “Twilight”’s now-iconic image of its star-crossed lovers, Bella and Edward. Another shows Harry’s friend Ron with his girlfriend Lavender, while a jealous Hermione scowls in the background.

Still, the “Harry Potter” marketing team says that they didn’t consider “Twilight” when creating their marketing campaign. More from the article:

Warner Bros. and the team behind “Potter” say they didn’t take the “Twilight” franchise into account when designing their marketing materials for “The Half-Blood Prince.” Instead, they crafted a campaign aimed to resonate with previous “Potter” films, the executives and filmmakers say, dismissing the notion that there is a rivalry between the franchises among fans.

“With all due respect to “Twilight,” the longevity and world-wide success of the Harry Potter franchise speaks for itself,” a studio representative said.

Whether they considered “Twilight” or not when creating a marketing campaign, you will notice that they are doing marketing. They are not saying, “We’re so famous, we don’t need marketing.”

So, sorry to burst your marketing-break bubble. But if “Harry Potter” needs to continue to market even with the success he has had, so do you.

If you’re trying to build up your business, you should always focus on your target market. No question. But do you have a segment of your target market that doesn’t make up the bulk of your business (that also generally gets ignored when you do a marketing push)? It may be time to spend a little energy focusing on them.

And if Boomer Men is an aspect of your target market that you generally ignore, then the Natural Marketing Institute is definitely recommending that you put a little bit of marketing effort their way. According to a story in MediaPost’s Marketing Daily:

“Even though men may amount to a minimum of purchases for a product or service, they should not be forgotten,” says Steve French, executive vice president and managing partner at the Natural Marketing Institute, which recently conducted a survey of more than 3,000 adults about the economy. “If you’re never targeting them, you’re never going to get the purchase.”

According to the NMI survey, 40% of men over the age of 50 said they are not feeling increased stress because of the economy, compared with 30% of women in the same age group. In addition, Baby Boomer men are taking on more family shopping roles and are more likely to buy brand-name products. The survey found that about one-third of Baby Boomer males are the main household grocery shopper, up from 20% ten years ago. While in the store, about half (46%) of these men are willing to purchase brand names over store brands, compared with about 26% of women.

While this study was specific to Boomer Men, it is a good reminder that the aspects of your target market that get ignored aren’t going to find out about your product or service until you do put a little of your marketing efforts their way.

If you’ve ever seen a Starburst advertisement, you know that they are usually a bit zany. For example, a recent ad showed a man trying to make a friend feel better by offering him a Starburst candy. But both men had really, really long arms, so the candy fell into a sewer.

Now, though, the company is launching a marketing campaign that is still silly — but talks about the product more. The crux of the new marketing message is the “contradiction” between the candy’s hard outer shell and the chewy center.

According to Brandweek:

One new TV spot features a kilt wearing and bagpipe-clad Korean man admonishing a child for eating Starburst. “Look at this! One contradiction eating another!” the man says. “What do you mean?” the boy asks in bewilderment. “You’re Scotch-Korean. You don’t make a wee bit of sense. And neither does Starburst. Starburst is a solid. It’s juicy. Like a liquid,” the musical player replies in a thick, Scottish accent.

Where did the idea for this marketing campaign come from? You guessed it: The customer.

Again, from the Brandweek article:

Starburst marketing director Trish Trecartin said the “contradiction” insight came from consumers. “Each time someone unwraps a piece, they are greeted with a mouthful of contradictions or surprises—a solid candy that is chewy, a treat meant for sharing that is hard to give away, and an instant burst of juicy flavor that lasts a long time,” she said via e-mail.

So, when you are coming up with your marketing message, feel free to include some zany copywriting. But also remember to ask your customers what makes them buy your product or service. And once you find out, figure out how to include those insights in your marketing message and copy.

Tell me the truth: Are you more likely to buy a camping chair because it is made of polyester/nylon mesh or because the fabric dries quickly and won’t puddle water when left out in the rain? If you chose the latter, that’s because you are like everybody else in the world — you like to know how a product will benefit you.

Luckily for REI, I got this example from their website, where they did it right: Their description focused on the benefits of the chair (that the material dries quickly), instead of just listing the features of the chair (that the material is polyester/nylon mesh).

REI successfully touts this chair's benefits, not features, on its website

But just because REI succeeds in giving benefits over features, doesn’t mean that all the big companies do so in their marketing materials. In fact, the New York Times just ran a blog posting about how Ford forgot this very important aspect of marketing and copywriting.

The posting is about the company’s new van that gets 22 to 25 miles per gallon, and it’s being marketed as a small-business delivery van. Here’s a portion of the blog:

“When I looked over the marketing sheet for the trucks before they got here, I couldn’t help but notice that Ford’s marketing people don’t really know how to talk to their customers — they don’t speak “entrepreneur.” It was a classic case of selling the features instead of the benefits….

For instance, they say, “The power train was upgraded to include a proven Duratec 2.0 liter dual overhead cam (DOHC) I-4 engine …” What does that mean? But then I drove the truck and noticed the pick up. Me understand. Me go fast. Me want. How many people even know what a power train is? Or a dual overhead cam? Oh, excuse me, a DOHC.”

The posting goes on to cover point by point how the brochure fails to sell this van to its customer.

Luckily for Ford, the writer actually saw the van in person and didn’t have to rely on the marketing materials to discover that it’s a perfect fit for his needs (and then went on to write about that in the New York Times).

But how many of their potential customers are going to have that same opportunity? And how many of their potential customers will have the chance to tell so many people about the vehicle’s benefits?

According to the NY Times, Ford's brochure for this new van fails to tell its potential customer how he or she will benefit from buying this vehicle.

So take this as just another reminder that if you offer a product or service, you need to find out how it benefits your customer — and then tell your customer all about that in your marketing materials.

Imagine how powerful a message could be created by some of the worlds’ most creative minds. Specifically, imagine what kind of a message the United Nations, the International Advertising Association and some of the world’s greatest advertising, marketing and media agencies could create…

Well, they have done just that with the launch of Hopenhagen, or hopenhagen.org, “a global marketing and communications initiative that will inspire and generate mass activation around the world,” according to the press release. Yep, we’ve got big names, big ideas and big, lofty goals all converging with this marketing campaign.

What exactly is Hopenhagen? Here’s the opening copy from the website:

“Welcome to Hopenhagen.
On December 7, 2009, leaders from 192 countries will gather at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark to determine the fate of our planet. Let’s turn Copenhagen into Hopenhagen.”

The focus of the climate change conference is to solve our environmental crisis, explains the copy.

And accompanying the marketing campaign copy is a place to add your own thoughts on what gives you hope. The ideas that people have input then run as a scroll on the bottom of the web page.

The focus, then, is clearly hope. And here’s what the press release says about what inspired the idea:

“Hopenhagen stemmed from the idea that the UN Climate Change Conference is an opportunity to protect people and the planet, while powering global green growth. The campaign will emphasize a shift from “coping” or ignoring to “hoping” and ultimately acting to create a new reality.”

What I find most interesting about this marketing campaign is that in today’s world of flash and design-driven advertising and marketing campaigns, it’s primarily copy driven. Even more, it’s effective: the campaign is simple; the copy is creative; and it gets you engaged and thinking.

So, what gives you hope?

Toyota’s marketing campaign for the 2010 Prius includes advertising on Gas Station TV — you know, those TV screens at the gas pump that show news and ads. I for one hate those TV screens and do everything I can to avoid going to gas stations that have them. I simply resent being forced to watch and listen to whatever is being blasted during the time that I pump my gas.

Assuming I am not the only one who feels that way, I might discourage Prius from using this marketing medium. However, a new study shows that this may just be the perfect venue for Prius to market to those unfortunate people who do have to watch ads while they are pumping.

Why? Because relevance is key. A generally known concept in marketing circles, there is new data to further back it up:

Ads on websites with content that related to those ads were 61 percent more likely to be recalled than those on websites with unrelated content, according to a study from CBS Vision, as reported by MediaPost’s Online Media Daily. Interestingly, social networks, shopping sites and food sites created the best recall rates (29 percent to 39 percent). And non-topic-specific search and portal sites had the lowest recall rates.

While this study is website specific, the results just back up what has already been proved by other studies. So, Prius may actually be smart to advertise to people who are pumping gas (and would rather not be). And you should definitely figure out who your target market is and where they are — and make sure to market to them there.

As the future of our country’s health care is debated, the health care insurance companies look like they are getting nervous — or at least preparing for the worst. What’s the indicator? Health insurance companies have increased direct mail offers by 18% in the past year, according to Mintel Comperemedia (as reported by MediaPost’s MarketingDaily).

The reason I mention it here is because I find it interesting how they are using their copy to differentiate themselves from one another. According to MarketingDaily:

United Healthcare advertises affordability and choice in its new UnitedHealthOne brand, while Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia’s SmartSense plan focuses on low costs for the unemployed. Taking a slightly different angle, Kaiser Permanente’s direct mail emphasizes general health and well being, claiming “we’ll help you live well, be well, and thrive.”

No matter what you think about healthcare reform, we could probably all learn a bit from their savvy marketing efforts and attempts to grab some of the market by setting themselves apart from each other.

This morning I got a newsletter in the mail from a company that I have hired in the past. I scanned it quickly and immediately threw it in the recycling. Such a waste — a waste of people’s time and a waste of resources. As you know, this is a very common experience. But then, once in a while, you get one that you actually read. Why? Because it’s interesting and relevant.

Yes, a newsletter that is actually relevant may take more time to create than just spitting out some words to keep on people’s radar. But wouldn’t you rather put your resources toward something that gets read, rather than toward something that is just discarded?

So, when you write your next newsletter, whether for snail mail or e-mail, make sure to do the following:

• Write about something relevant to your customers. Think about what problems your customers call you about and give advice to help solve those problems.
• Tell real stories. Even better, use real customers to illustrate your story — there’s usually no better way to sell your service or product .
• Minimize the sales-y copy. Yes, you want to give your company a plug, but keep it short and sweet. Instead, put the focus on good information — it will be much more effective than focusing on a sales pitch.

Yesterday I wrote about how Dunkin’ Donuts’ new ad campaign successfully differentiates the company from their competition. Today I am writing about a company’s ad campaign that fails to do just that. In fact, this ad campaign simply makes me wonder what they were thinking.

In this ad campaign, Microsoft accuses Google of causing global economic ruin as a narrator says: “While everyone was searching, there was bailing. . . . While everyone was lost in the links, there was collapsing.” The product? Microsoft’s new  search engine, Bing. All I can say to this is, “What?!”

I am not alone in this confusion. The LA Times ran a story about it today, titled “Microsoft’s Bing TV ad: Huh?”

This is my favorite part of the article:

I find many mysteries in this commercial. The first is how an ad firm with an estimated $100 million entrusted to it fails to notice the clumsy grammar (”there was bailing . . . there was collapsing” sounds as if the lines were translated from Zulu). While I’ve got my copy-editing hat on, I’d note that a long stretch of the ad’s narration — “Starting today we need the right information to make the right decisions, decisions that help us feel right, decisions that help us get to the right place at the right time, even if it’s right around the corner. . . . ” — is so vacuous it practically sucked my eyeballs out of their sockets.

Sucking eyeballs out of sockets is probably the last association that Microsoft wanted when they launched this marketing campaign. But I still do wonder what it is that they did want. Maybe the purspose of the campaign is just to turn heads? I suppose simply by getting attention some people will try the search engine. But I can’t help but think that if they gave people a good reason to switch from Google to Bing, many, many more people would give it a try — this is, after all, what any good marketing material should do.

Despite the title of this post, I am not going to cover all rules for commas here. Instead, I am going to review the rule about essential phrases and nonessential phrases. That’s because this is a rule I use all the time and, for some reason, I have to look it up every time.

In fact, I had to look it up again this morning when I was working on a client’s marketing one-sheet. For the marketing collateral, I needed to include the name of person and a descriptor before her name. The marketing material also had to include the name of a title of a show. In each case I had to decide when and if a comma was necessary.

So, which of the following is correct?:

The creator of Pole Superstar, Diane Passage, will be a judge.

The creator of Pole Superstar Diane Passage will be a judge.

Similarly, which of the following is correct?:

Her varied accomplishments include producing the off-Broadway play, “Artfuckers.”

Her varied accomplishments include producing the off-Broadway play “Artfuckers.”

Once again, I headed to my handy APA Style Book and looked it up. In short, it says that an essential phrase, one that is “critical to the reader’s understanding of what the author had in mind,” is not set off with commas. And a nonessential phrase, which “provides more information about something,” is set off by commas.

OK. Makes sense. But what about the above examples?

In the first one, her name is a nonessential clause (and needs commas) because only one person is the creator of Pole Superstar, so including her name is additional information. Even without her name, no one else could have been meant.

In the second one, “Artfuckers” is an essential clause (and does not need commas) because many plays are off-Broadway plays, and without the name the reader does not know which play is being referred to.

So, the final verdict is:

The creator of Pole Superstar, Diane Passage, will be a judge. Her varied accomplishments include producing the off-Broadway play “Artfuckers.”

By the way, if you want to read about a similar dilemma — Deciding Whether to Capitalize “How” in a Title — see my past post.