Messaging Technique | Charlie Moger's ADmissions

Three steps to advertising clarity

An Orange Creamsicle cake. The perfect end to my perfect meal at Geronimo in Santa Fe. Good enough for the kid in me to wish I’d had it first – and that’s when it dawned on me why so many advertising dollars are wasted.

Instead of starting with the meat of a marketing strategy, businesses jump to the “dessert” of media selection. That’s why the typical marketing meeting quickly devolves into:

“I want to do some TV. Let’s do some billboards. Do some radio and we’ll see traffic.”

This kind of do this and do that discussion leads to nothing but advertising do-do.

Seeing before doing

Before actually doing anything, we normally have a goal and a larger strategy, even on the mundane, day-to-day level. Most of us don’t just get up from our chairs and then wonder why; we decide we need to perk up and the best way to accomplish that would be another cup of coffee. In other words, we start with why, then we picture ourselves getting the coffee and perking up, and only then do we get up.

People who don’t do that – guys who just get up and wander around are usually patients in some kind of institution. The very aimlessness and irrationality of their behavior is characteristic of the mentally unbalanced. If only we had that same clarity in business!

What’s your WHY?

Before DOing takes control of your next project, look at the bigger picture and ask yourself: Why are you in business? Is what you’re considering leading there? What are the alternatives? What’s your timetable? Keep going until you see it specifically. Write it down.

Be prepared: this will take more than a one-time five-minute sit-down. I work on mine at night before turning in. Then, look at it briefly in the morning.

Expressing your WHY in a dozen words or less helps you understand where you are now, what you want to be in the future. It clarifies what you need to DO. There’s one more step to getting the most from WHY:

Ask the compass question

Get a piece of paper and a marker. Write WHY? in big letters. Hang it above your computer monitor. Next time you’re moved to DO something, look up and see through this lens of purpose.

Are you jumping on twitter? Why? What’s the purpose and goal? Are you writing a bog post? What’s the objective and how does it fit in with your brand’s reason for being?

WHY? is the one word compass question. Follow where it leads.

WHY gives you three choices about what to DO:

If it leads you away from what you’ve envisioned, stop. Abandon it.

If it doesn’t move you one way or the other, set it aside.

If it sparks acceleration toward your vision, pour gasoline on it.

The best dessert is success

Let your WHY be your guide. Once you codify the Purpose – or the WHY – of your company, you’ll be delighted at how much less do-do you have to wade through.

It’s not easy. Few will do it. No worries. That just leaves more Orange Creamsicle cake for us.

It’s all in the reveal

You’ve seen them, but you may not know what they’re called: a reveal. It’s when the camera moves to reveal something previously just out of view. It’s sometimes used to terrify. It’s sometimes used for comic result. Either way, it works every time. A good reveal delivers an ah-ha moment. That emotional reaction, whether a smile or scream, drives recall.

Washington lottery reveals enviable absurdity

We laugh at this because, while few of us would go Segway jousting, we all have some absurd idea that only money prevents us from doing. We watch this. We laugh. We think: what would I do with the money. You leave the ad thinking. I score that a win.

UPDATE: Seen it before—sorta

Saw some chatter on this ad. Turns out the whole Segway-in-the-wrong-period thing has been done. eBay used the gimmic two years ago. Or, did they? Some call this a knock-off. You think so?

Play angle of approach for fun and profit

By what magnetic power can the same car be a dream come true to one customer and a rolling piece of scrap to the next? It’s called angle of approach; how you come at something. It’s how you add magnetic appeal to your marketing.

Our point of view is one angle of approach. How you present something is another. Understanding angle of approach lets you transform an every-day offer into a compelling must-have.

Pitching with magnetic intrigue

A used car salesman in Springfield, Vermont taught me this principle. Looking at a green AMC Gremlin on Jim’s lot, I wondered out loud who would buy such an eyesore. He flashed his used car salesman smile saying, “There’s a butt for every seat.”

But, how could angle of approach make an ugly duckling Gremlin appealing? First, let go of what you see and look through the customer’s eyes. I saw the geekiest ride ever inflicted on America’s highways. But, to a customer looking for a car to ferry family and cargo for a less than the cost of a truck, that green Gremlin was a beautiful sight.

A product or service isn’t good or bad, right or wrong; it is what it is. What separates a runaway success from so-so performance is often an intriguing angle of approach. Do it well and you can give any product magnetic appeal.

Sell better with angle of approach

Let’s say you’re Vivitar. You have a supply of outdated point-and-shoot film cameras. They use this stuff called film. You expose it, spool it back into a canister, take it to the drug store and wait a couple hours to see your pictures.

Who wants those?

How about seniors easily frustrated by technology. What you and I see as a throw-back, a senior will see as a familiar technology they can operate. No confusing software. No tangle of cables. Best of all, you can use it again and again.

“Here’s a camera that works just like the ones you’ve used for years. Point, shoot, get prints to share. Best of all, it’s only $10—0r, two for $5.”

You think I’m kidding? Watch angle of approach at work in this ad found on Engadget:

See their way, sell that way in three steps

Getting angle of approach right means seeing it from your customer’s point of view. Maybe that’s how Vivitar saw obsolete cameras as an appealing solution for seniors. You have to look at a problem from other angles; inside-out, from behind, in reverse.

Get the answers to these questions to identify an angle of approach that will move the sales needle:

What do your customers love about what they buy?
How does it improve their daily life?
How would they defend their purchase choice if challenged?

A word of warning about the answers you’ll get: 1) They may not make sense to you. No big. You’re not the customer. And, 2) These answers are only the stepping off point for shaping your presentation, they’re not your marketing destination.

Shaping your marketing with an effective angle of approach magnetizes your message. You’ll know it’s working when you stop saying what’s important to you and begin speaking to the heart of what your customer truly wants.

1 Comment

Does having a split brand personality pay?

Marketing success demands branding focus: the more focused your brand personality, the more effective your marketing. Then again, one flavor appeals to one segment. What if you want to aim your brand at multiple markets. Old Spice has that challenge and solves it by having a split brand personality.

Hacking away fragmented branding elements to zero in on one core message is a fundamental early step in building a marketing strategy. Being one thing consistently is pretty basic stuff. Doing that alone will net results. Doing it and successfully reaching multiple markets is tricky.

I’m on a horse

Actor Isaiah Mustafa’s Old Spice body wash ads are the stuff of legend. Ask anyone about seeing the guy saying, “I’m on a horse,” and they know ad what you’re talking about. It’s especially good because people remember what was advertised. We’ll talk more about that another time.

Old Spice chose to target women because women buy body wash for men. It’s a 180-degrees opposite angle of approach than the conventional it’s soap for men, market to men approach used by others in the category. It was a huge success by every measure. Almost.

Men buy soap too

Fragmenting markets have taken the mass out media. More channels, remote controls, and DVR’s have freed people to shape their viewing experiences. The net result: huge audiences have become rare. There’s more viewing, but it’s more spread out. That’s actually good news. It makes segmenting markets easier.

That’s exactly what Old Spice has done. While the Mustafa ads are reaching women, there’s an entirely different campaign reaching out to young men in terms they can understand. Here’s an example:

Chances of the women who like “I’m on a horse,” seeing these ads is small. It’s partially because of placement. It’s also a matter of viral connectedness.

Paid impressions on both these campaigns pales in comparison to the earned impressions. That is, the number of people who’s seen it because a friend has sent them a link, or prompted a search to see them.

Not really so split after all

Take a minute. Watch both ads. Listen to what they’re selling. They speak the same truth using different languages. Both ads deliver the same message, but each speaks to different customers in their respective language; different words, same message.

While focus still determines success, delivering the message sometimes requires different routes. That’s what Old Spice has done. You can do it too. Here’s how:

Define your core message: Speak it in seven to ten words max. What is it people buy from you? (Hint: it’s what they buy, NOT what you sell.)
Segment the target customers: Determine where different customer groups don’t overlap. Mature homeowners and first-time home buyers are different customers. Both have similar needs, but express them differently.
Identify each segment’s terms of satisfaction: What matters most about your core message to each segment. Using the homeowner example: mature homeowners may want fast service while first-timers may value trust more.
Speak your core message in each one’s terms: Think about how each segment speaks. What do they say when they call? Frame your message in their words.

It’s a matter of choosing appropriate angles of approach to the same destination. Once you undestand angle of approach, you can not only segment markets, but you can sell the unsalable. I’ll show you how that’s being done right now in my next post.

Remember when?

In the meantime, enjoy this spicy-scented blast from Old Spice’s marketing past.

Yeah, those were the days.

Thanks for reading. Want to learn how they took Mustafa from shower to boat to horse in one continuous take? Click here for the inside scoop on the magic. Just remember, once you know the trick, it’s no longer magic. Think it over because sometimes it’s better to know less and marvel more.

1 Comment

Who’s thumb do we trust as a rule of thumb?

When you’re right you’re right. When you’re wrong, you might be right. Trust a rule of thumb and you’re more likely wrong. The fact is, there’s only one measure that matters and it has nothing at all to do with thumbs.

If a book of hard-fast rules of marketing and advertising existed, don’t you think everyone would be using it by now? One book. Every answer. Take the Bible. It’s a widely trusted source of principled thought. But, not everyone trusts it. David Ogilvy’s timeless Ogilvy on Advertising is about as close as you’ll come to an advertising bible. But, even he says says don’t always follow the rules.

The simple rule is, there are no rules. But, that’s too big to accept or comprehend. So, instead, we seek out some pattern that gives us a sense order or reason for why things are as they are. Then, brilliant marketing experts use those made-up rules to make up reasons for why we should do this or that in advertising. It’s a train wreck of thought in the making because it lacks the right tracks.

It’s more of a guideline, really

When I hear someone starts spouting off a hard-fast advertising rule of this or that, I wanna slug them. It’s only worse when that voice is my own. Rules are for schools, governments, and bureaucracies. The only reason I can think of for a rule of thumb is to establish a baseline which advertising defies in order to become effective.

Defying rules makes advertising better because it surprises Broca–the gatekeeper of our conscious thought, as my partner Roy H. Williams explains in his book, The Wizard of Ads: Turning Words into Magic and Dreamers into Millionaires. Ideas that upset patterns of thinking elicit a response in our mind that, if spoken, would sound like this: “huh?” Lighting fast our logical left brain laterals the idea over to the abstract right to make sense of it. And, just like that, what was unknown penetrates conscious thought. Bam: your idea is on the radar.

Mission accomplished. Almost.

Showing up on radar is one thing. It’s not even a particularly difficult accomplishment. Showing up and staying on gets tricky. It’s where those rules-driven trains of thought run out of track.

How much what you’re saying matters to the person hearing it determines your staying power. Be compelling, be remembered. Prompt an emotional response, prompt action. The idea is the train. How much it matters is the track.

Internet videos can’t be longer than 2:00

It’s our internet video rule of thumb around here. After years of watching viewing metrics, I’ve noticed attention spans drop off at about two minutes; by three you’re talking to yourself. So, we keep them shorter.

Then, I saw this:

Moments from Everynone on Vimeo.

4:12 is longer than 2:00

Moments is twice the length viewers typically sit through. But, it’s setting view records because it’s compelling. It’s relatable. It touches you. It moves you. The touchy-feelies among us shed a tear. If it ended with a Kodak logo, you’d think of similar pictures in your life. If it ended with an insurance logo, you’d think about everyone you love.

Whatever came at the end would have enormous attached meaning because here’s what happens in your head: the left brain sees it and says, “huh?” The right sees it and says, “oh wow man–that means THIS.” And, the Left says “oh, I get it.” Because it mattered, meaning is attached.

Therein lies your advertising challenge: does it matter? Does it lay tracks for a train your mind can’t miss? Or, does it stick to rules of thumb that matter only to you and the ad guy who made them up? Advertising only gets a thumbs-up only when it matters to your customers.

Tell your story in a way that matters. Get measurable results every time. No thumbs about it.

Paid vs. earned: secrets of better advertising ROI

Social media solutions are peddled the same way as quick weight loss programs. And, we buy into both for the same reason: we want to believe there’s a quick, instant, easy way to get a better return on our advertising investment. Sure you can. Just like you can get buff without workouts and responsible eating. As one who’s been (and still going) through the fitness mill, I find it particularly satisfying to see a universal truth of the gym proven in advertising: you gotta workout to work it off.

Social media’s Kool-Aid sweet treat is seductive. Who wouldn’t want the viral impact of the Coke Zero-Mentos campaign, or sex appeal of Old Spice’s shower guy ads. But, is it really more cost-effective to earn exposure instead of just paying for it?

While social media’s viral engagement may occasionally generate miraculous results, experience proves it can’t predictably deliver the round-house reach punch of paid media. Evidence is mounting that earned media’s cost-efficiency is best realized as a compliment to paid media; paid drives the eyeballs, social earns engagement.

Co-created engagement

Ray-Ban, Levis, Activision, and Nike are some of the examples used in this discussion where even the largest social media efforts still require paid support to initiate the wave of earned distribution. What does this have to do with your advertising? Invest time to watch this round table on the topic.

Push with paid, pull with earned

You don’t have to be Activision or Nike to apply these same principles. But, you do have to think ahead to synchronize your advertising and social media messaging. Here are five ways you can leverage better results from both:

Synchronize messaging. Populate your blog with content tied to your advertising message: when putting specific products on sale, create authentic consumer-centric stories about them on your blog. Speak to your customers’ WHY.
Be engaged. Customers will give you their spark, you must provide the fuel. Monitor comments on your blog to isolate points of interest and pour gas on the fire: join the conversation, add information. You will be communicate with greater connectedness and cement a deeper relationship.
Take a stand. Shamelessly take a stand for what you believe. Yes, you will hack off some people. But, you will define yourself clearly to those who agree. Being liked is nice. Being loved is better. My partner Tom Wanek illustrates this point brilliantly in his book Currencies that buy Credibility. Read the chapter about Patagonia. Where do you draw the line?
Invite participation. This one is tricky. New Coke is a cautionary tale of what happens when customers are asked what they would like in a new product. Don’t go there. Customers only know about what they already know. Instead, ask how they use your product in unexpected ways, how it has made their life better, why they gladly pay for it. “What do you like about….” If you have done the first three things listed here, you will get answers.
Expose yourself. Put a face on your company. Whether you use pictures, Flip videos, or professionally produced videos, bring customers behind the curtain to see who you are. People do business with people. Be personable. Be real. Be available.

Please pass on the Kool-aid

There’s no denying the benefits of earned media. But, it’s only part of the equation. Paid and earned media is like diet and exercise. You build muscle with exercise. You shape up with diet. Paid media is the exercise. Social media is the diet. The work best when you work them together. Just another one of those pesky universal truths.

By the way, the difficult truth about universal truths is, they’re universal. Which brings us to another one: you get what you pay for. How much do you suppose this cost?

2 Comments