Zazou Marketing

When you think of people who rent out apartments, what’s the first thing you think of? It’s probably not superheroes, but Apartments.com wants that to change. The website is launching a new marketing campaign that “empowers its advertisers to become everyday superheroes,” says the company’s press release. It goes on to say, “we’re committed to ensuring our advertisers continue to be heroic by adding exposure opportunities and first-class products that drive qualified renter traffic to their leasing office doors.”

All I can say to this is, “What?! Come on!”

Iconic superheroes Batman, Superman and... apartment leasers? Art by Alex Ross and Jim Lee.

The premise, I believe, is to say that they make leasing professionals into more powerful sales people. OK, I can buy that. But the leap to being a superhero? Even after repeatedly reading the company’s press release, I still don’t get the connection — so I certainly can’t explain it here.

It is always a good idea to have good creative when you are launching a marketing campaign. And it’s a great idea to offer a new twist or turn to catch people’s attention. But this marketing campaign is just off-base. I can imagine a leasing professional doing a lot of things, but leaping tall buildings in a single bound is not one of them.

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?”