The scary thing for most managers is that rule #1 of advertising is: GET NOTICED.
Or the rest of the rules don’t matter.
Many managers like to be conservative and prudent in the things they do. Which makes plenty of sense in almost everything, except advertising.
In advertising, you have to stick your neck out. We have blogged about the five mistakes advertisers make. It is about improving retail advertising. But the overarching #1 rule is **GET NOTICED.**
Why?
Because if no one notices your advertising, you have wasted your efforts and wasted your money.
That’s why goofy retailers are often successful, even though we might snicker at them. They get noticed. Sacrifice their dignity, maybe, but they get noticed.
Their message might not be as finely honed as more sophisticated folks, but their message gets through to the audience.
When clients develop their own copy, it most often lacks a spark that gets it noticed.
When broadcasters toss in creative with a media buy for retailers, the creative they develop is often driven by their production capabilities and the desire to have something easy to produce. Ever wonder why there are so many “Announcer Reading Script” commercials on the radio? That’s because they can be knocked off in batches at a time. Efficient for the stations, but after a while they all sound the same.
So if an advertiser thinks they are the same as all their competitors, there is no need to care about being different and no need to expect sales to increase compared to competitors either.
Being different doesn’t mean trying to be clever. It does mean being provocative and being clear and consistent.
And remember, half the audience is below average and only about 10% will be interested in what you have to say. So don’t aim too high or you end up being so different and so cryptic that you are noticed but not understood. Understood?