PART III of V: 5 Advertising Mistakes Retailers Make Let’s avoid textbook definitions of GRPs, reach and frequency, CPP and CPM and get to the point. The vast majority of retailers do not have a clue when it comes to buying media. They often assume that because they listen to a particular radio station or… Read More: Part III: Media – Retail Media Buying – Audience vs… »
I have worked in both the US and Canada one thing I have found curious is that the markets have approached Diversity and Inclusion in two different ways. First the US: When I worked there twenty five years ago, there were quotas for “minorities” to appear in commercials. Clients required these quotas to be met… Read More: Diversity & Inclusion in Advertising; A Tale of Two Solitudes »
One example that randomness can bring order is the theory that an infinite number of monkeys hitting keys at random on a keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare. The odds of this happening are obviously infinitely small. There have… Read More: Infinite Monkeys Spell: Gazortenflap »
There has been some recent controversy about whether the Canadian government got their money’s worth when they spent an estimated $56,000 to have Finance Minister Jim Flaherty stamp the final Canadian penny produced for circulation. It was staged as a publicity stunt in May at the Royal Canadian mint in Winnipeg with accompanying press conference.… Read More: Did the Federal Government Get Its Penny Worth? »
Our brains really don’t understand math all that well. And I am not talking about the average person’s ability to solve quadratic equations. As mentioned in earlier blogs, our brains can be easily fooled. And advertising is there to make our clients look good, sometimes with shifty logic. As advertisers, for example, we can take… Read More: Logic Can Be Confusing in Advertising »
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. … Read More: Rule Number One in Advertising: Get Noticed »
Be careful with translations. Relying on Google or any other digital translation can bring you problems, Not just small mistakes; but mistakes where the meaning is jumbled up and confusing. Effectively using a language that you to communicate with customers requires understanding the cultural context that it comes in. The title of this blog is… Read More: Between, Between and Drink a Chair »
We have seen a lot of commercials that just don’t sell. One reason can be the context of the message. By context, I meant the executional elements that round out the message and provide a framework for it. The strategy might be “Tide cleans clothes better.” But there needs to be a commercial execution around… Read More: Context Is Almost Everything In Advertising »
On a recent visit to Florida, I ended up seeing a lot of pharmaceutical commercials for all manner of pharmaceutical products that I had no idea about. The commercials all have a similar pattern. They introduce a product name, all seem to be something like “Prolaxatrol,” or some other made up name that might suggest… Read More: Footage to Minimize Anal Leakage & Possible Death »
PART IV of V: 5 Advertising Mistakes Retailers Make Some ads from retailers, especially newspaper ads, make understanding the DaVinci code a simple thing. You need to call Tom Hanks to help you figure out what you need to know. They seem to think that if you throw an entire vegetable garden at the wall… Read More: PART IV: Ads Filled With Information But No Message »